Blog
What are You Fighting For?
Often we’re told: “Pick your battles.”This is sound advice for those of us lucky enough live in placid times when we have the privilege to decide where we spend our effort, what we fight for, what hills we want to die on. But, do we really? Are we the ones...
How to Develop Lasting Grit
Studies show that the most important skill that kids will develop isn’t a language, or math, or even coding, but grit. In an age of immediate satisfaction, instant gratification, and trophies just for showing up, the ability to persevere in the face of challenges turns out to be in short...
Create Achievable Life-Changing Goals
Are you committed to life-changing goals?We’ve all experienced it: a diet gone astray, an exercise routine run off track, a home improvement project left unfinished, a new year’s resolution forgotten. Why is it that we always fail when we commit to big, life-changing goals?Simply put: it’s because of the very...
Five Secret Ingredients for Leaders to Succeed
For 20 years I studied, recruited, and stewarded executives and organizations through some of the most difficult and uncertain leadership transitions. My searches (and those of the team of exemplary search consultants whom I was privileged to lead during my time running NPAG) resulted in a higher than industry average...
The Confidence to be Wrong
Being wrong sucks. It’s inefficient, it’s embarrassing, and sometimes even downright dangerous. It’s a real haymaker right in the old kisser, that’s for sure. And, it’s also the best thing that can happen to you.Why do I say this? Because it is in those ego-shaking moments between the realization of...
See Yourself As Your Champion
Be the person your biggest champion sees.“You can do it. I believe in you. And, I will help.”Those were the words my running coach said to me when he looked me in the eye the first day we met, the day that I stood before him and told him that...
See Your Own Greatness
A few months ago, I got an email from a young woman I know. She wrote, “I took your advice and applied for the Assistant Director position when I really didn’t think I could get it. And, guess what? I have an interview tomorrow! I never would have applied if you hadn’t...
Rock Your Moxie, Sleeveless or Not
I recently read an article suggesting that studies show that women who wear sleeveless dresses on stage appear to their audience members as less intelligent than their be-sleeved counterparts. It was based on a study in Yale Scientific that reported that people assign a higher degree of intelligence to those...
Be the Party of Possible
Thank goodness for evolution. You know, evolution: that thing that has trained up over millions of years to (mostly) not do really hare-brained, death-inducing things.Jump off that bridge? Instincts say no. Stick my head in that lion’s mouth? Seems like a pretty bad idea. Eat day old sushi from my...
Who Are Your Giants?
Several years ago, Arnie Miller, my second boss, asked me to escort him to the cemetery to visit the grave of Eli Segal, my first boss, on what would have been Eli’s 73rd birthday. Arnie has Parkinson’s Disease and was told by his doctor that he shouldn’t drive anymore; he...
Say Yes Better
So, you’ve gotten a request for your time. You should say yes, right? It’s just a little advice, just a little got-a-few-questions, just a little massive disruption of your entire day. Not so fast, cowboy.First, ask yourself: Am I the right person, the only person, the most important person to...
The Key to Happiness
Misery is contagious. It’s slippery, it’s insidious, and it’s sneaky. You don’t even realize it’s shaded your sunshine until it’s too late. And then there you are: stuck. Stuck in a dark vortex of unhappiness, having lost all momentum to live your best life.But, here’s the thing: Joy works exactly...