Personal Pep Talk

Most of us seldom get to hear a great Pep Talk. The great coaches, company presidents, generals, business icons … don’t happen to be at our “beckoning” to fire-us-up. No, we are all pretty much left on our own when it comes to preparing ourselves for the … encounters, surprises, conflicts, setbacks, struggles, and tasks we face every day. Some people start their day with one or more of the following things on their mind:

Hardheaded Humanism

I am a fan of L.S. Barksdale. He has been described by those who personally knew him as a man of superb intelligence, deep insight, and sincere compassion for his fellow human beings. Upon retiring after a very successful business career, he decided to become an expert in the field of self-esteem. His beliefs and writings were not wishful thinking, but more direct and to the point. One colleague described his writings as "hardheaded humanism."

Put Down the Glass

I want to discuss one aspect on leadership that I feel gets overlooked far too often; pushing yourself and your employees too far. Years ago, a speaker gave a great example on stress management (the author of the example is unknown). He held up a glass of water and then told the audience…

Vainglorious

So, you’re the boss, the head person in charge. Have you ever thought about how you got there? Have you ever considered all the people who helped to push your career along, until you finally made it? Have you ever given any consideration to the support personnel you have on staff who make you look good, make you look efficient, make you look smart, every day? The folks who handle the little, tedious, or sometimes annoying things that need to be handled, so you can concentrate on the big stuff … have you ever thought about them?

The Same Thing

Experience has taught me that we should always be striving to improve, move forward, stretch our limitations, try something new or different and doing the “SAME” thing is a deterrent to all of those. As Dr. Seuss said, “Why fit in, when you were born to stand out?”

Killing Ideas Can Hurt Your Future

So, you have called a meeting and there they all sit; Bias, opinionated, have favorites, scared of senior management, narrow-minded, open-minded, power seekers, egotists, young, old, seasoned veterans, inexperienced rookies, risk takers, and others who always play it safe. Then someone makes a suggestion and the games begin. The idea doesn’t stand on its own. Oh, no … quite the contrary. Unfortunately, most people “size up” the person who shared it. The definition of “sizing up” is, to examine something or someone carefully and decide what you think about it, him, or her.”