Stephen Covey’s 7th habit is called ‘Sharpening the Saw.” His point is that if we are too busy cutting to take time to sharpen the saw blade, it gets dull and takes more effort to accomplish the task. Eventually the blade gets so dull, it becomes impossible to cut. Similar analogies are taking time to […]
I have stood in front of high school and college students and asked, “If you squeeze a tube of toothpaste, what comes out?” After some quizzical looks, I hear mumbled answers, “toothpaste.” I next ask “Why?”. Now my audience thinks I am a bit odd with these questions and stumble on this answer. I often
It was Monday and I was leading a customer panel discussion on emerging technology. While discussing his reluctance to look at the new product, the customer used the phrase “no one ever got fired for buying Cisco.” This phrase, which also uses companies like IBM and Microsoft in place of Cisco and dates to the
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On my business trips I do what I can to keep exercising and prefer a morning walk through a local park instead of the treadmill in the hotel’s fitness room. On one of those walks I came across a plaque for the woman who spearheaded and developed a park in Rockford, IL. The plaque had
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I was working a trade show with a business colleague of mine and we were discussing his sales style that is heavily weighted on relationships. The reason for the conversation was that he had just met a new and very significant decision maker at the account he handles, a top 3 account for the company.
I am not exactly sure where or when I first heard the phrase “hope is not a strategy.” In fact, it is debatable as to who conceived the phrase. I have seen it attributed to former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani who used the phrase, “Because ‘change’ is not a destination, just as ‘hope’
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It is early February and time for a furry rodent to stick his head out of the ground and tell us how much longer winter will last. It is also “Candlemas Day” and the two are related. Yes, Groundhog Day has its roots in the Bible. The Gospel of Luke (Luke 2:22-40) describes the
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Most golfers, myself included, look to hit the biggest shot every time. When we step up to the tee, we pull out a driver. We whack the ball, hopefully we whack it harder and farther than those playing in our foursome and then we proudly stride up the fairway, planning the next big shot. We
The concept of Unity came forefront in my mind while listening to a sermon at a wedding. This was one of the better wedding sermons I have heard. It focused on the oneness in marriage and in the married couple’s purpose; moving forward in a mutual direction for the common good of all involved with
The most revealing statement I made during college about my faith was soon after the football season in the fall of 1981. That fall, no one in the country at any level of college play, had more interceptions than me – I had 10. When the season ended and I started fielding questions about the
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