Who Are You? Why Identity Matters

When you were a kid, you may have had many ways to identify yourself: activities related to grade school, family life, and extracurriculars like clubs, sports, and music. Perhaps you went to college and identified with university associations. When you began your career, you may have claimed a particular profession (or professions) or hobby as...

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How Much Problem-Solving Energy Do You Have?

When you think of a patient person, what comes to mind? Mister Rogers? Mother Teresa? Mahatma Ghandi? They were definitely champions for patience in a world where instant gratification constantly causes plenty of problems. Patient people have learned to not be reactive in the middle of frustration, and that is certainly a part of patience....

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Judgment, Not Personality, Is the Key to Success

In our culture, the word judgment isn’t thrown around positively much anymore. People say, “don’t judge me!” for eating a whole sleeve of Oreos or an entire pizza (no judgment here!) or go to a gym that boasts a “no judgment zone.” This kind of judgment or shaming or condemnation is not the kind of...

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It Might Be Time For A PITA Fee

The Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce held a monthly CEO roundtable discussion, and this time, I found myself the one to bring the question. The whole point of CEO roundtables like this one is to connect with other local business leaders to discuss issues that impact businesses in the community. They can be incredibly productive,...

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Content Is Only As Good As Your Context

“It’s lonely at the top.” But it doesn’t have to be. In fact, it shouldn’t be. Leaders of all kinds have bought the lie that leadership is a solo sport, and they must be strong for whoever they’re leading. That kind of thinking may leave a leader feeling invincible in the short term, but in...

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Good News For The Busy Leader: You Might Not Have To Finish The Book!

Leaders are readers. A quick Google search on that sentence produces over 200 million results. It’s a widely-known idea, confirmed by the multi-million-dollar leadership publishing industry. Visit your local bookstore or library and see the scads of books dedicated to leadership, organizational development, and success. Except — let’s be honest — some books feel like...

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Don’t Live In An Echo Chamber

There’s this thing that sometimes happens inside our heads when we think thoughts. Sometimes — maybe even a lot of the time — when we have thoughts, we assume they’re right and true, just because we thought them. You don’t have to let your imagination run very far without figuring that this assumption might be...

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Yes, You Need A Peer Advisory Group

We are living in the information age — we have the world’s knowledge literally at our fingertips 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s pretty awesome when you think about it! But when you start digging to find the information you need, it can be overwhelming. There are so many voices, a deluge...

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