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How’s The New Year Going?

It’s now February and I want to ask you how’s the new year going? Is it going the way you planned? Or are you struggling to make progress?

One thing I know for sure. You were so excited for January 1st. You had your list of New Year resolutions you were dying to jump into.

Fireworks in a night sky

Photo by Melanie Hughes

Maybe you considered:

  • Improving your communication with your spouse but the communication has broken down even more
  • Losing those holiday pounds but you stepped on the scale this morning and there were two extra pounds
  • Increasing the company’s bottom line but expenses have continued to rise

You started off with great goals. You expected to reach the goals you had set. But the buts began to set in.

The results were slow. They didn’t line up with what you expected. The inverse of your goals began to happen.  Read more...

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Quotes And Leadership Lessons From Knives Out

Knives Out is Rian Johnson’s magnificent take on a Clue-like movie. Intrigue, suspicion, and who-dun-it questions pepper the movie. For being a movie with a two-hour, ten-minute runtime, Knives Out flew by.

The world of Knives Out is filled with colorful characters. Most of whom are descendants of the quirky mystery novelist Harlan Thrombley (Christopher Plummer). The mystery truly starts when Harlan is discovered dead, his throat slit. The police say it was suicide. A lone detective, Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig), disagrees. Blanc believes Harlan was murdered because of a mysterious note and a stash of cash.

The cast of Knives Out sitting down

Harlan’s eccentric family are all suspects. Especially after he discovers each family member was cut off from Harland’s will the night of his 85th birthday and death!

Johnson did a great job writing a mystery movie that will draw viewers in. The twists and turns leave you wondering who did it right up until the end. And then Johnson twists again with something else.  Read more...

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Managing Triggers In The Workplace

Everyone brings their inner children to work with them. Some unhealed parts of us left unattended, however, bleed into our emotions and can affect our behavior.

We see the consequences of unhealed parts of us acting out all the time.

  • A colleague stops talking to you for no known reason.
  • A boss, who has no sense of core values, frantically attempts to make his employees happy and tanks the organization.
man massaging his temples due to stress

Photo by Siavash Ghanbari

As an educator for 30 years, I would be triggered by one or two students in a school year who inadvertently informed me that I had more healing to do.

One year an obese kindergartener, Bella, entered my classroom. She had little academic skills. She did not know any letters of the alphabet or numbers. She had little language development. On top of that, she was very uninterested in learning and would cry when you insisted she finish her assignments.  Read more...

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Do You Know What You’re Communicating To Your Customers?

I was recently perusing Facebook. I do this from time to time to kill time and see what’s going on in my area.

I’ve joined multiple local groups on Facebook. On this day, what I saw saddened me.

Photo of apps on a Samsung Galaxy phone

Photo by Christian Wiediger

A local businessman was being criticized for what he had posted on his personal Facebook page. When I looked deeper, I could see why he was being criticized.

You’re always communicating something to your customers.

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This business owner had chosen to share racially insensitive memes on his Facebook page.

You’re Always Communicating

I’m not sure what this business owner was thinking when he shared these memes. Was he even thinking at all?

I don’t know… What I do know is that he was communicating with his customers and potential customers.  Read more...