Actor Denzel Washington was the commencement speaker recently at the University of Pennsylvania. He had the following advice for the graduating class: “I’ve found that nothing in life is worthwhile unless you take risks. Nothing. Nelson Mandela said, ‘There is no passion to be found in playing small – in settling for a life that’s…
Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger is the retired U.S. Airways pilot who on January 15, 2009, successfully landed his Airbus A320 aircraft in the Hudson River after it hit a flock of large birds which disabled both engines. Recently he was the commencement speaker at Purdue University. His talk contained some very solid advice for living a…
According to a study recently reported by Janice Lloyd in USA Today, Americans who are 65 and older are physically and emotionally healthier than any other age group. A number of factors contributed to this superior state of well-being. For example, these older people smile and laugh more and they’re still learning new things. They…
Many of you are like me in that you go at your routine six or seven days a week for months on end and the wonder why you’re felling run down and are not as creative or productive as you once were. When this occurs, your mind and body are telling you that it’s time…
Unforeseen circumstances that life sometimes throws at us can derail our best laid plans. When this happens we can either choose to make the best of the situation or we can play the victim and feel sorry for ourselves. This is where the expression, “If life gives you lemons, make lemonade,” comes from. Recently, a…
The above quote is advice from Eleanor Roosevelt on how to overcome fear. As a child, she was consumed with fear and self-doubt. Feeling she was a disappointment to her parents, she dedicated herself to overcoming her fears. Her success at doing so set the stage for her to become an extremely successful American First…
Most of us have been in situations where we’ve had to choose between doing the right thing and doing something that would compromise our integrity. Furthermore, some of us have learned the hard way that compromising our integrity by doing something we know is wrong can have serious consequences. A case in point is former…
USA Today recently commented on the last episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show. The article Oprah as saying, “I’ve spoken to nearly 30,000 people on this show, and all 30,000 had one thing in common: a need for validation.” Validation reinforces a positive sense of worth in people and makes them feel really good about…
I just returned from a trip to Bogota, Columbia where I gave a presentation on my new leadership model to a Latin America business forum. I stayed at a wonderful hotel that was part of a Columbian hotel chain and I was the only person staying there who wasn’t fluent in Spanish. When I arrived…
So says Mary Bernard, deputy director of the National Institute on Aging in an article the recently appeared in USA Today. She went on to say, “With all the gains we’ve made over the years allowing people to live longer, it would be nice if more people took advantage of exercise to improve the quality of…