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The Much Overlooked Discipline of Taking a Break
We talk a lot about discipline as if it only lives in grit, in late nights, in pushing past limits and proving something to the version of ourselves that keeps score. But there is another discipline, quieter and far less glamorous, that almost never makes the motivational posters. The discipline of stepping away. The discipline…
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Are You Naming the RIGHT Problem?
Leaders spend an extraordinary amount of time trying to solve problems, and far less time asking whether they are solving the right ones. We gather smart people in rooms, analyze data, debate options, and emerge feeling productive because something has been clarified. Yet clarity, by itself, is a slippery comfort. It can give the impression…
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Compromise is NEVER a Viable Strategy
I recently read a headline about the Grammys and by the end I was questioning my own habits of compromise. For sixty-eight years, the award for Album of the Year had never gone to a Spanish-language record. Not once. Then a man who once packed groceries in a small Puerto Rican supermarket ended the streak…
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What Courage looks like in HR
The final day of the CANTO HR Conference did not disappoint. After two days of panels, keynotes, hallway conversations and a lot of earnest talk about “people first,” Liberty Caribbean took the stage and did something refreshingly simple… They talked about what they are actually doing. Just a clear walk through policies they’ve tried, decisions…
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Why is it that only 2 percent of HR execs become CEOs?
If every company on earth says “our people are our greatest asset,” why is the person who understands people best almost never handed the baton? The corporate world treats people leadership like the orchestra pit instead of the conductor’s podium. We say the words with such confidence. We carve them into mission statements. We repeat…
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Before you think “SELL” – think – “Start a Conversation”
I have often said to people that my job is primarily a sales job. If I don’t sell, I don’t eat. That is the unromantic truth of being self-employed for more than thirty years. And yet… despite all those years, I still lose my way sometimes. I lose it when I start focusing too hard…
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What your taste in music can tell you about your alignment
As a musician you’d think I’d remember to play music during the course of my day. Yet I often work in silence… forgetting my love for music. Today I remembered. The second my favorite playlist started, my mood shifted into high gear. No negotiation. I started at 6 and I’m still working five plus hours…
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What if we replaced Mission Statements with Oaths?
Mission statements are meant to foster commitment amongst employees and most companies have one. Except it is often viewed as window-dressing, seen as abstract, and often totally disconnected from the daily reality of the work. When these statements are created top-down without employee input, or when company actions contradict the stated values, they can lead…

