One of the keys to success in today's professional climate is making your clients and colleagues feel you are accessible.  If they feel accessible, then they feel heard.  If they feel heard, then you're telling them they matter.  Their opinion of you and loyalty to you is a function of your accessibility and feeling heard. Continue reading "The Promise of Accessibility"

I'm convinced life is simple.  We tend to make it complex.  It can be summed up in one word, relationship. It's what we crave.  It's what we seek.  But we often get it wrong.  Why? It goes back to our origin, which is not what you think.  It's not the origin of time, or evenContinue reading "Being Made Right"

Any good financial advisor will tell you the best long-term investment strategy is to diversify for a smoother ride.  As with finance, the best long-term strategy for a meaningful life involves diversifying investments in your time and money.  To find your life's purpose, your "time and money portfolio" should include the following funds: Growth FundContinue reading "The Scientist and The Subject"

Your impulses are either working for you or against you.  When you're feeling generous, your action benefits others.  When you're angry, your tendency is to lash out.  When someone hurts you, you want revenge.  Self-control is learning how to interrupt your impulses by connecting with your goals during those crucial moments.  Create rules for howContinue reading "Interrupting Impulses"

Do you believe people are basically good?  I must admit, I used to hold this belief.  You might be thinking ... Marc, what a "glass as half empty" view of humanity.  Please hear me out. First, let's examine us in our natural state as small children.  We want to be feed.  We want to beContinue reading "Myth Buster: People Are Basically Good"

I've recently learned something from Joseph Grenny, a leading social scientist for business performance: There are six sources of influence that are either working for you or against you, You can profoundly change the way you feel about any choice by changing the frame of the decision, and Change requires both motivation and skill. ForContinue reading "Tender Heart, Tough Hide"

Every person is worthy of respect.  Stable families and societies are built on respect.  Husbands are called to respect wives.  Wives are called to respect husbands.  We are commanded to honor our parents and respect civil authority.  No one is exempt.  We are asked to show proper respect to everyone regardless of their beliefs orContinue reading "R-E-S-P-E-C-T"

As I get older and more empathetic, my sensors for detecting insincerity are maturing.  And the second I detect it, my guard goes up.  I immediately become skeptical about anything that is said after that moment.  Even with the benefit of the doubt, I question their motive.  To the extreme, I completely distrust everything theyContinue reading "People Don’t Care What You Know Until They Know That You Care"

That's my grandfather and my son, 94 and 14 years of age, respectively.  Yes, that's a delta of 80.  On this Father's Day, I'm going to have the pleasure of eating dinner with both of them.  I am thankful to have that opportunity. My pap is veteran of the Second World War.  He was in theContinue reading "My Pap, Happy and Likable"

boot·strap·ping. 1.    to help oneself without the aid of others; using one's own resources. She spent years bootstrapping herself through college. 2.    to succeed only by one's own efforts or abilities. I admire him for pulling himself up by his own bootstraps. In today's team-based cultures, we can't lose sight of the needContinue reading "Bootstrapping"