Its Nice to Be Back

Hi there. Its nice to be back. Yours truly took a month off, accidentally as it were, as a number of forces collided to sidetrack me. There is the wonderful position that opened almost magically after I turned down three other roles in the past few months. The rain that wouldn't stop that hurt many …

Start Me Up

Habits become us. I've just taken the next step in my career. Throughout my worklife I've been very fortunate working with incredibly intelligent and creative people. Starting with P&G, then Dell, Apple and The Home Depot, I found people with passion and conviction and determination. Most of them turned out to be nice as well. …

3 Keys to Monday Morning

Ah, Monday morning... Few times of the week have such a distinct feel. Whether you've had an invigorating few days as a weekend warrior, spent time catching up with the kids or just surfed the couch its time to head back to the office. For another five days... Is it Friday yet? The truth though …

The Power of You

What if I told you you had a secret weapon? You do. Many times I write about improving systems and practices at work. I believe in this: many if not all work places can be improved - some dramatically - if these elements are re-thought, re-imagined and just plain re-engineered. But there's another tool that …

Forecast

How's the weather?Like you perhaps I sometimes check the weather forecast. Which is, considering the amount of time I spend indoors or in a car, sort of funny. I mean it doesn't matter that much.In the past I've been involved in several different agricultural businesses. Believe me, I paid a lot more attention to the …

Plan B

Sometimes you need a Plan B.Not long ago I helped a friend with some work around the house. The truth is I'm pretty handy with home repair and renovation projects and as my ex would tell you, I never met a tool I didn't like.As far as jobs go my friend's request wasn't very difficult …

Change Happens

There is no such thing as change management.Frequently, in my field, we talk about change management. In fact, many of my peers are expert in this process and frankly I've turned to them for help in particularly odious cases.Yet the manner in which we talk about change oft implies we have some sort of choice …

Academy Award

And the award goes to... Friends and long-time readers know I love the movies. I mean I love them. While television leaves me cold and stupid (watching tv makes you dumber) I love the cinema. And so I am aware of the Academy Awards, although, as a proper tv snob I don't actually own a …

Social

How are you?Did you ever meet a group of people for the first time and find yourself being exceedingly nice? Polite, positive and personable? You know, a new job, first time at a church or maybe a neighborhood social you haven't been to before. You find yourself being so agreeable, nodding, smiling and affirming. And …

Mrs Dunn & Me

Its elementary my dear.Today in an attempt to increase information security recovering forgotten passwords is a function of memory.First childhood friend? City parents met in? Favorite teacher?Thankfully I can remember the last one so thus far have not been locked out of the internet age.Mrs Dunn was my third grade teacher. She was not in …