Why cynicism is easy: 1. It gives us an out. We can dump the responsibility somewhere else, so the failure isn’t our fault. After all, effort is a risk, while blaming a poor economy, not enough time or not having support removes that risk. Remember – this also means the success doesn’t get to be
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Tonight I’m at the Kauffman Founders School to see Daniel Pink, author of To Sell is Human, speak. I’ve been a fan ever since I read Drive and A Whole New Mind. Tonight’s talk was from his latest book, and Daniel was billed as “offering a fresh look at the art and science of sales
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For some, 20 years of experience is 20 years of continuously learning new skills, gaining experience and becoming a seasoned specialist in your area of expertise. For others, it’s doing the same work each year for 20 years. In other words, one year of experience repeated 20 times. If there’s a down-turn, who gets laid
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In the first education session Friday, Past International President Chris Ford spoke about Leading From the Middle. Chris opened with an interesting story contrasting his beginnings in the Canadian Armed Forces and the parallels to work and volunteer leadership. I really liked how he gave a bit of his experience, and then related it to
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The Toastmasters International Convention is coming next week, and I can’t wait to be there! There will be great speakers, awesome contests and lots of seeing good friends again for four full days. Here’s the schedule of events – http://www.toastmasters.org/Members/Convention/2012Events.aspx If you can’t be there, there will be some live streaming options, YouTube and photos for sale
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Are you a leader that will roll up your sleeves, get in there and make things happen? More importantly, do you know when to not get in there and muck about? I had an instructor once who spoke about the difference between delegation and abdication. She really helped me understand the difference between rolling up
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What is the next thing on your “if I just had more time to do” list? For me, I just bought and set up a new site that I plan to launch by 1 June. My next “if I had time” task is to create 3 videos, one as a promo for the site, one
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I had the good fortune to be passing through a town called Nevada Missouri last week. Nevada has a population of about 9,000, and this evening in late April they were +1, thanks to Willie Jolley. About 200-300 people filled a local church to here Willie speak on attitude. Specifically, Willie talked about the need
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“Branding demands commitment; commitment to continual re-invention; striking chords with people to stir their emotions; and commitment to imagination. It is easy to be cynical about such things, much harder to be successful.” I recently saw this quote, from Sir Richard Branson. The second line is what caught my eye – it’s easy to be cynical…much
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Rory Vaden is the author of the new bestselling book, Take the Stairs – 7 Steps to Achieving True Success. In promoting his new book, he recently spoke here in Wichita and to a packed house in Salina, Kansas. I was fortunate to be able to see him at those events. Rory’s concept of “Taking
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