As I sit down to write this, I have tears in my eyes. No, they are not tears of sadness. They are not tears of joy either. They are tears of cat allergy! My wife and I had added a clause to our marriage contract that we were done with pets in the house…until our daughter moved to Australia and couldn’t take her cats with her. The basic contract of “Until death do us part  Read More »A Tale of Two Kitties
One story that has been around for centuries gives us meaning today. From the Hebrew Bible comes the allegory of a quarrel between the olive tree, the fig tree and the grape vine about who should be king. Each decided to decline and keep their day jobs bearing fruit [actually, I added the “day job†part]. Only the lowly bramble steps up and begins making threats to the others as to the consequences of not… Read More »Are You a Bramble Bush?
Leadership works because it is taught to those who would be in charge and there are not any courses given for followership. From universities to the military, the topic of how to lead has been dissected, defined, detailed and decrypted ad nauseam. I know what it means to lead. You know what it means to lead. There is a high probability that my concept of leadership and yours are entirely different. When asked how to… Read More »Power, Authority, Impact and Influence
There is a raging debate on how much bad news we should share with those around us. My day usually begins with reading several newspapers keeping an eye on the business and careers sections because that is the way in which I can keep informed on things that apply to my work. Often my cut-and-paste mentality kicks into high gear and I share things that interest me with my colleagues. Private emails and follow-up phone… Read More »Optimism in Times of Trial
Somehow our society seems to have lapsed into a culture of mediocrity. It seems that in everything we do standards of “minimum performance†tell us how far we have to go until we arrive at comfortable complacency. I’m told that this is negative thinking on my part and that it is typical of boomer mentality to think that excellence should be the goal of everybody. If that is true, so be it. I will wear… Read More »About Plodders and Heroes