Joe Contrera is the Founder and President of ALIVE @ WORK LLC, a leadership development company dedicated to helping Extraordinary Leaders Achieve Extraordinary Results. He is the author of three books. His latest, Extraordinary Results: Mastering the Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others, is quickly becoming a must-have resource for leaders in organizations across the country. It will not only change what you believe about leading, it will help you build your leadership skills so that you can successfully influence others.
Blame, Projection & Your Shadow I do my best to stay away from political commentaries and hotly debated topics. So let me begin by saying this blog has nothing to do with politics and everything to do with personal growth & self-development. Yours and mine. Carl Jung, one of the great psychologist of our time…
Will 2022 Be A Happy New Year? As 2021 comes to an end, you might be having a reality check. That being, you didn’t accomplish what you intended to accomplish when you started this year twelve months ago. Maybe you’ve started reflecting back on this year. It’s possible that you’ve already asked yourself, “Why am…
Holidays – Blessing or Curse? The holiday season is going full throttle and for some folks this holiday season is starting off extremely difficult for a number of reasons. Maybe you lost someone dear to you earlier this year and this will be the first holiday season without them? It might be you’re facing a…
Change Your Story – Change Your Life! “Those who do not have power over the story that dominates their lives, the power to retell it, rethink it, deconstruct it, joke about it, and change it as times change, truly are powerless, because they cannot think new thoughts.” A. Salman Rushdie Have you ever sat in…
Closing in on Your Purpose In my last blog, I discussed the difference between talents and skills. I also shared information on how talents and skills relate to being extraordinary and discovering your purpose. Well maybe got you thinking enough to ask yourself…ALIVE So how do I know if I’m getting closer to my purpose? Getting…
Talents, Skills, and Being Extraordinary! People often use the words talents and skills interchangeably, as if they had the exact same meaning. I believe that talents and skills are different. Talents encompass your strengths, your brilliance, and your genius. By genius, I mean in its original form found in the word – genie which means…
My Worldview: It’s What I Make It Mean! Sometimes a quote comes along and just smacks me upside the head. That happened recently when I read this quote from Richard Rohr, “Most of us do not see things as they are; we see things as we are.” I think this is profound, because it quickly…
Is It Manipulation or Praise? There is a tremendous amount of articles written on the importance of praise and its positive effect on a person. Whether it’s an employee, coworker, or your children, healthy praise can both motivate and inspire. It can also cause others to feel good about themselves and their work. That said,…
Judging Others & Projection Have you ever been in a situation involving another person where you thought to yourself… “You know if they would only: apply themselves, work harder, smarter, do what I do, take my advice, be more like me, etc. they would be so much better off?” Maybe you exited the highway, and…
Finding Balance: The Pendulum Effect When we speak of balance, many times it is in the context of work-life balance. Trying to find balance in any area of our lives can be difficult. As with all things, there is always two sides of the coin. Pushing too far towards either end of the spectrums can…