Dissecting The Founder

I found the movie, The Founder, an interesting study in personalities. If you have not taken the time to watch it, the movie is the story of Ray Kroc and the McDonald brothers, Mac and Dick. The movie shows first the positives and then

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Gifts: A Means to an End?

Some Gifts are Intangible and some are Character Gifts. Refrain from using them as a means to an end. “No, you did not give me a gift, you gave me an obligation,” quipped Sheldon, in the TV sitcom The Big Bang Theory, to his

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Questions That Need Answers

Do you want the same? OR do you want me to try to do a better job? I laughed inside when the hair dresser asked me if I wanted a better job than last time. Of course! In the same way, would any employee

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Work Your Natural Talents

For Excellence, Work Your Natural Talents With the Strengths Finder The Gallup Organization’s Strengths Finder 2.0 is a valuable assessment tool for individual personal and professional growth and for team development. Karla Brandau routinely uses it in Workplace Power Institute workshops and training programs for

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Managers: Start the Day Out Right!

Hello! Good Morning! How are you today? Did you know these three phrases can start the morning right for you and for everyone you meet on the way into your office? As a manager of even a small team, these words can make a big

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How Watching World-class Athletes Can Improve Your Career

Watching the highest level of professional athletes is an exhilarating experience. Two events are fresh in my mind: The FIFA World Cup soccer championship in British Columbia when the United States women beat Japan and Wimbledon where tennis players Williams and Djokovic won the

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Ambiguity

Is Ambiguity a gift or a problem? As a leader, “Let’s nail this down!” a familiar American idiom, sounds like the most productive thing to do, right? You are getting to the point, ruling out bad options and moving forward. Not so fast! It

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How Do You Handle Rejection?

Are you a classical music lover? I know it is hard to compete with the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Gladys Knight, or popular rap artists like Jay-Z, Kanye West or Eminem. Chances are, however, you recognize Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s (translated into English as

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The Charismatic Leader

Charisma comes from the Greek word, kharisma, and anciently it referred to divinely conferred power or talent. Starting in the 1950s the term has gained popularity, perhaps more in the personal success world than the corporate world. I think it is time to make

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Creative Tension

Creative Tension or Tension Stress?

Understand the difference between creative tension and tension stress and you’ll have new breakthroughs in personal productivity. Many executives and futurists are saying that the world is experiencing another paradigm shift. A paradigm is a mental model of how we see the world and

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