“I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element.  It is my personal approach that creates the climate.  It is my daily mood that makes the weather.   I possess tremendous power to make life miserable or joyous.  I can be a tool of torture or an instrument of inspiration.  I can humiliate or humor, hurt or heal.  In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis is escalated or de-escalated, and a person is humanized or dehumanized...

Recently I overheard a father and daughter in their last moments together at the airport. They had announced the departure.

Standing near the security gate, they hugged and the father said, ‘I love you, and I wish you enough.’

The daughter replied, ‘Dad, our life together has been more than enough. Your love is all I ever needed. I wish you enough, too, Dad.’

They kissed and the daughter left. The Father walked over to the window where I was seated...

“There are none so blind as those who will not see.”

Contrary to popular belief this phrase popularized by Mathew Henry in his commentary on the Whole Bible (1708) is not a quote from the bible. This kind of misattribution, as I am learning from winner of the 2002 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, Daniel Kahneman in Thinking Fast and Slow, is not at all uncommon. We are all thoroughly convinced of many, many connections that are not true.

One such misbelief that is shared by most p...

I am currently re-listening to Daniel Pink’s To Sell is Human.

I like to listen when I run and I find I get something new every time I listen.  This is round six for me which brings up several new ideas and one concern.  I will start with the concern because I was always taught to eat my vegetables first.  It could be that most people are much quicker at absorbing ideas, applying the knowledge and changing habits than I am...

There are always payoffs for the lies we tell ourselves and the easiest to maintain are those we share with others which carries the appropriate scientific title of “Bandwagon Effect”.  The Bandwagon that I had worked hard to be part of was that of the Charismatic Champion of Change.  The fallacy was that regardless of my mastery of the topic or skills as a professional communicator that change does not happen from the top down or outside in but must be generated by champions from within.

Th...