The 5 W’s of an Encouraging Leader
For 13 seasons, Tony Dungy spent Sunday mornings giving pregame pep talks to star football players in the NFL. Two years into retirement, he still gives motivational speeches regularly, but his audience has morphed dramatically. Instead of addressing locker rooms full of millionaire athletes, Dungy now speaks at cafeterias packed with felons at correctional facilities…
Read MoreWho Finishes Strong
Who Finishes Strong? Leaders with Visions to Fulfill In 2005, 97-year old Joseph Rotblat penned an op-ed to the New York Times pleading with readers to oppose the use of nuclear weapons. His words carried weight since, as a young man, Rotblat had helped the U.S. Government to build the first atomic bomb. In the…
Read MoreEncouraging Educators
Summer vacation has slipped away and yellow buses are back on the streets, carrying children to schools. Some of the kids will endure classes disinterestedly, longing to hear the bell ring at day’s end. Others will get wrapped up in the excitement of studying new subjects, learning with joyful fascination. Perhaps more than anything else,…
Read MoreResolving to Finish Strong
I once heard that 91 million Americans make New Year’s Resolutions, but that 70 million Americans break those commitments within a week! Going to a health club seems to confirm the stats. During the first week of January, gyms are packed. All of the treadmills are in use, people are lining up for a turn…
Read MoreActing Against Discouragement
It’s hard to imagine a time when Samuel L. Jackson wasn’t an A -List celebrity, but twenty years ago he was a frustrated, little-known actor who couldn’t seem to breakthrough. Despite his prodigious talents, as of his 41st birthday Jackson could claim nothing more notable than a few minor cameos. Intensely discouraged, he turned to…
Read MoreWhat I've been reading, Winter & Spring 2011
Have you had a busy first quarter of 2011? I know I have. It seems that time has flown between January 1 and today. But regardless of how busy I am, I make time for personal growth. And one of the best ways to spark new growth in myself is reading. Here are some of…
Read MoreHow well do you see the big picture?
An Egyptian librarian once heard that the sun could be seen shining at the bottom of a well in the town of Syene on the longest day of the year. He surmised that to make a reflection in a well, the sun had to be directly overhead on that day. And a sun directly overhead…
Read MoreJoin me at Leadercast!
Last Tuesday, at noon EDT, I participated in something I’d never done before. In fact, it was something I’d never SEEN done before: an interview conducted via Twitter. A “Twitterview,” if you will. Suddenly, people used to seeing 1-2 Tweets per day from me, received one solid hour of them coming every 2-3 minutes. Sorry…
Read MoreDon’t use a hammer to swat a fly off someone’s head.
My wife, Margaret, and I were married in June 1969, and like most couples, we naively believed that nothing but smooth sailing lay ahead of us. Of course, it didn’t take long for us to find ourselves in the kinds of minor disagreements that all couples experience, especially when they’re first adjusting to married life.…
Read MoreThe joy of not knowing…
Some people believe that great leaders have all the answers. Not true. Successful leaders don’t know everything. But they know people who do. If you ask me a question related to one of my organizations and I don’t know the answer, I know which person in the organization does. If you ask about my profession,…
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