I just finished reading an excellent book titled Work Rules! by Laszlo Bock, the head of People Operations at Google. In his book, Mr. Bock mentions an article written by Chris Argyris, a professor emeritus at the Harvard Business School. Professor Argyris looked the performance of Harvard Business School graduates ten years after graduation. For…
Recently David Brooks, Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, wrote an essay titled “The Moral Bucket List” that was posted in the SundayReview section of nytimes.com. He began his essay with this paragraph: “About once a month I run across a person who radiates an inner light. These people can be in any walk of…
When someone smiles at me, it makes me feel better and it puts a smile on my face as well. The same holds true when I smile at someone else. Research has shown that there are many benefits associated with smiling. For example, people who smile feel better, look better to others, live longer, are…
One of my observations from being on Facebook is that there are a fair number of people who are trying to live in the past. They regularly post videos from YouTube featuring musical groups and recording artists from “their era” and they talk about going to dances featuring bands and music from the “good old…
Micromanaging One of life’s most difficult lessons is to come to grips with the fact that the tools that have taken you to where you are, are not the tools that are going to take you to the next level. For example, micromanaging, where you are constantly looking over other people’s shoulders, may work well…
Starbucks has long been known for doing the right thing for its employees. Early on, the company offered health care to its employees when competitors considered the practice a waste of money. Recently, it announced that it was investing $250 million to help at least 25, 000 employees graduate from college by 2025. While this…
I recently came across a blog post on Linkedin Pulse by Jeff Haden titled, “10 Habits of Genuinely Charming People.” As it turns out, we’re naturally attracted to charming people—“…individuals who are genuinely polite, modest, agreeable, kind.” Note, the watchword here is “genuinely,” you can’t fake this stuff. I have listed several of the 10…
I recently read a post on Brad Aronson’s Blog regarding how acts of kindness can change people’s lives. According to the post, in 1985, a man named Gabe Sonnier was the janitor at an elementary school in Louisiana. One day the principal told him that he should be “grading papers [rather than] picking them up.”…
The original of just about anything is always more highly prized than a copy or reproduction. The same holds true for people. That’s why it’s important for you to be yourself instead of trying to impress people by trying to be someone you’re not. Being yourself is what makes you authentic–an “original” if you will. …
QuikTrip is a convenience store chain located in the southwest United States that also sells gasoline. The company has about 600 stores and it is known for doing things right. Stacia Naquin recently wrote an article for The Arizona Republic which discussed a customer named Gary Whitman’s experience at a QuikTrip store not far from…