Personally Touched “Touchy-feely” is a condescending term used to put down management tools that openly focus on people and meeting their needs.  The connotation is that such tools are somehow grossly inferior to the more common hard-nosed managemen tools that use fear as a motivator and ignore people’s needs.  What touchy-feely really means is that…

Rewrite Your Script A friend of mine once told me, “If you don’t like the play, step off the stage and rewrite the script.”  This wisdom is particularly useful for dealing with bad days.  Instead of whining or playing the victim, step back, take a deep breath, and say to yourself, “I’m going to rewrite the rest…

The Right Thing Doing the right thing makes you look good and it energizes those around.  Often we are faced with situations where we ask ourselves, “Should I do the right thing or take the easy way out?” I was on a Hertz Rental Car bus not long ago at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport.  A…

The Golden Rule Treating others the way you want to be treated is often referred to as the Golden Rule.  The reason it’s called the Golden Rule is that it has such a high payoff associated with it.  People absolutely crave to be treated with kindness and respect.  So, when you treat them this way,…

I’m sure you’ve all heard the old adage, “You can go to the well once too often.”  It means that you can only ask another person for favors so many times before you wear out your welcome.  This is true only if you fail to maintain your relationships.  As long as you maintain your relationships,…

Many people try to avoid difficult situations by taking the easy way out.  The reason is that the easy way out appears to involve less effort, less hassle and less stress.  While that may be true, taking the easy way has some very costly consequences:  First of all, there’s no payoff.  Taking the easy way…

  Mistakes Some people are so afraid of making a mistake that they let this fear paralyze them into inaction.  What we have to remember is that life is all about making mistakes–and learning from them!  If you’re not out there making mistakes, you’re not growing.  It’s impossible to be creative, innovative or achieve progress…

Nothing is more frustrating or demoralizing than to go the extra mile and have nobody notice.  Such an experience can really take the wind out of your sails and quell your desire to do it again.  On the other hand, people absolutely thrive in an environment where their efforts get noticed and they become very…