Values. Values is a topic not that often talked about, but one that plays a huge role in behavior and results. They are personal and not always clearly defined. Thus, they remain an important but under-discussed and under-appreciated part of who you are as a person and a leader. Today, I want you to think about your

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This week’s Resource Recommendation: The Checklist Manifesto: How To Get Things Right by Atul Gawande This book is about the value of the “lowly” checklist. Its author is a working surgeon, a two-time author, a contributor to The New Yorker and a consultant to the World Health Organization on, among other things, checklists. It is,

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This week’s Resource Recommendation: Making Them Believe:The 21 Principles and Lost Secrets of Dr. J.R. Brinkley-Style Marketing by Dan S. Kennedy and Chip Kessler First, to give you some context for this highly interesting and entertaining book, here is an excerpt from the back cover: DR. JOHN BRINKLEY was, at one time, the wealthiest doctor

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Earlier this week I wrote a post  about seeing what we are looking for, and even talked about how the news plays into that process.  (Read it now for some background for this post). So now, just a few days later,  comes a practical application of this principle. News Story 1:  The Dow drops almost 348

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I heard it on the local morning news about ten minutes ago.  “A new poll shows that one in ten people think pets are better listeners than people.” Really? So I went to find the background on the web.  As I was starting the search my son asked me what I was doing.  I told him what

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Sunday  I was in Ludington Michigan on a cloudy overcast day.  The weather forecast was for rain most of the day.  I was about to eat breakfast with my Mom and Step Dad.  When I sat down the waitress asked me what I wanted to drink, then she asked me the question that lead to this

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This question is said out loud often, but it is asked far more often in people’s minds and under their breath. It is sometimes asked in an earnest tone, often it’s uttered in a quizzical way, and far-too-often it’s said in exasperation. Whenever it is asked it hints at a gap in communication and understanding

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Last week I wrote a post titled Do We Nurture or Build Relationships?   I was trying to distinguish between nurture and build as concepts, and I think I was pretty successful.  The wise commenters talked about building relationships and then nurturing them once formed.  They are of course, correct AND  their comments  reminded me of an important

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I recently read somewhere (I’m sorry I can’t trace my steps to where I read it or who wrote it) about the difference between spam and noise; spam being something unwanted, unrequested, an too frequent – and noise being irrrelevant or meaningless. I believe leaders sometimes don’t communicate as much as they should because they don’t

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This month, proactive leaders who are continually improving their leadership skills as members of the Remarkable Leadership Learning System are focused on Communicating with Confidence.   Yesterday was the Guest Conversation for Silver members (and above) and it featured Kate Atkin, leadership and confidence expert, and author of The Confident Manager.  (She also wrote a blog post about

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