“Be a living expression of your values, wear them, speak them, make decisions aligned with them.” ~Anonymous Living Your Values or Are They Just Words? Knowing what you stand for and living your values is not always an easy thing to do. This is true for organizations as well as individuals. In fact, it seems…
“True Grit is making a decision and standing by it, doing what must be done. No moral man can have peace of mind if he leaves undone what he knows he should have done.” ~John Wayne The movie: True Grit (the original starring John Wayne). The scene: John Wayne, on his horse in a meadow, 50…
“Be yourself – not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” – Henry David Thoreau Integrity, Authenticity & Finding Your Authentic Self For years we have talked ad nauseum about integrity. It seems to be a non-negotiable or a must have in any situation, corporate vision statement, or personal mission…
Aligning Your Purpose in Life … Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. Helen Keller The purpose of our lives is to be happy. Dalai Lama How many of us were told as a child that your purpose in life…
The Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others™: Integrity & Authenticity A section from Joe’s new book, The Art of Leading, Coaching, & Influencing Others™ coming out later this year. Integrity & Authenticity Years ago when I was married, my wife and I were going through a rough patch and so we separated for a while.…
The Autobiography of a Self-Proclaimed Leader … “The human brain is a complex organ with the wonderful power of enabling man to find reasons for continuing to believe whatever it is that he wants to believe.” ~Voltaire Once upon a time there was a man who believed he was a great leader. Once a week he…
The Art of Listening vs. The Ignorance of Interrupting 72 Interruptions … Yes, count them! Vice Presidential Candidate Tim Kaine interrupted his opponent or the debate moderator 72 times in a 90 minute period. That’s once every 75 seconds! He wasn’t interested in debating, he had an agenda and he was driving it home. He…
Leadership Faux Pas #9 – Confusing Humility With Humiliation “True humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” ― C.S.Lewis Sometimes leaders confuse humility with humiliation. Look up the definition for humiliation and you will see words like … embarrassment, shame, indignity, and degradation. Look up the definition of humility…
Leadership Faux Pas #2 – Being Faux Real Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the last 6 months you have been bombarded faux people making faux claims in an attempt to come across as being faux real! All in an attempt to be elected to the highest leadership office in the world. It feels like…
This is a story about a book, a book about what happens when authenticity and risk collide. I started writing my soon to be released book, I Could Love No One Until I Loved Me in early 2009. At the time, I was going through a pretty traumatic time in my life. It was the onset of what some called the ‘second depression’ and my business had been significantly impacted. In what felt like a matter of days, we went from having our best year ever to having one of our worst … overnight.