Look to the Goal, and Stay out of the Ditch

Posted by on Dec 20, 2014 | No Comments
Look to the Goal, and Stay out of the Ditch

I took a motorcycle class to get re-certified and learned an important principle that goes way beyond riding two wheelers. The instructor emphasized over and over in both the classroom and on the course that when you’re making a turn you want to look through the turn—look where you’re going—and not at the obstacle near […]

A Higher Calling for Story Telling

Posted by on Jun 25, 2013 | No Comments

“The only reason for giving a speech is to change the world.” John F. Kennedy I love telling stories but now is the time to raise the stakes for this blog.  And the best way to explain why is, of course, through a story. If you’ve watched the movie, Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham […]

Hope for the Next Generation?

Posted by on Apr 9, 2013 | No Comments

Several friends recently despaired about the fate of grown children raised by their “helicopter parent” friends. According to them these college educated twenty somethings, including one with a Master’s Degree from Notre Dame, had been coddled from the cradle and were now having problems making it in the real world without mommy and daddy to […]

The Art of Selling

Posted by on Jul 17, 2012 | No Comments

The best sales people don’t rely on a smarmy pitch or underhanded tactics. They find out what people want, and then deliver.   I spent one Seattle summer working as the ice cream man, selling my wares from a three-wheeled truck. My best route included Alki Beach a sandy summer hangout on the west side of […]

In Honor of Memorial Day: The Forgotten Sailors

Posted by on May 27, 2012 | No Comments

In honor of Memorial Day I’m re-running this post about men who made the ultimate sacrifice in a lonely stretch of the  Pacific Ocean. On a personal note, I did “process [the] advice” from the publisher I mentioned and have made some significant progress. On a narrow canal in a Midwestern city lies a memorial to […]

Everyday is Valentine’s Day?

Posted by on Feb 14, 2012 | No Comments

Ten months after Laurie and I started dating we had our first Valentine’s Day together. We were both freshman at the University of Washington and commuted together to the campus. During a break between classes she presented me with a card to celebrate the occasion. Like a typical clueless college boy, I had neglected to […]

The Unexpected Gift

Posted by on Jan 24, 2012 | No Comments

What do you get a blind woman for Christmas when you’re on a tight budget? In one case a little creativity on the part of a friend resulted in a unique, and very touching, gift. My mother-in-law lost her sight to macular degeneration over a  decade ago and we often struggle to find appropriate gifts […]

Predictably Bad

Posted by on Jan 19, 2012 | No Comments

History is littered with those who made monumentally bad predictions. In 1901 Wilbur Wright told his brother, Orville, that man would not fly for fifty years.” Two years later the brothers made a mockery of Wilbur’s prediction. At Yale, a professor gave a student a “C” for his paper suggesting that you could make a […]

The Accidental Capitalists

Posted by on Nov 29, 2011 | No Comments

As I recover from my annual Turkey coma (prolonged by leftovers) I recall that the Pilgrims are often remembered for their “Protestant Work Ethic.” I think it’s fascinating that they didn’t start out that way. You see, for the first few years in the wilderness that would become the United States of America this important […]

Against the Odds

Posted by on Nov 14, 2011 | No Comments

What happens when you ignore common business sense? Sometimes doing the right thing pays off—despite being totally against the odds. Earlier this month I had the pleasure of speaking at a local conference on cost benefit analysis for businesses trying to decide on which projects to start—and which to dump. It happened to be a […]

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