Motivational

I want to introduce you to a woman named Judie, who is an incredible example of how making a difference for others can directly improve the quality of your life. As of 2010 Judie was in her 70s, but 30 years ago, when her three sons were finally off to elementary school, she found herself […]

I once read about a big benefits-management company that conducted a survey where it asked 365 CEOs and sales-management executives, “What are the three key factors that separate high-performing sales professionals from moderate- to low-performing sales professionals?” Both CEOs and C-level sales executives (all people who don’t sell, but rely on their salespeople to get

For most people, the inefficient and faulty nature of memory can cause frequent hassles, from forgetting to pick up dry cleaning to drawing blanks on important new names. Many people also regret how much they could improve their lives and businesses if they could only retain more information from reading materials. Ron White, a top

I hear it all the time: “I wish I could be a great leader like that.” Or, “I sure would like to have the kind of business success that person has.” What they really mean, if you cut right down to it, is that they would like to reap the benefits of business and leadership

When you think of best-selling children’s books, you probably don’t imagine nonfiction. Well, maybe it’s time to start. As adults, we tend to forget how alluring true stories are to kids. We assume, perhaps incorrectly, that children prefer to be plied with fantastical tales unlike anything they might see in the real world. Thankfully, Maria

Day 1 The two emails come before noon on a Monday. One confirms interest in a story I’ll write about a trip to North Dakota. The other offers me an unsolicited assignment to write about the relationships that formed after a retired soldier suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder sent his Purple Heart to a NASCAR

Once upon a time, Thales of Miletus, one of the seven sages of Ancient Greece, was asked, “What is difficult?” His reply was, “To know yourself.” Compared to how easily we perceive our external environment, our view of our inner self does not come naturally. It requires humility to bridge the gap between who we

Nice people don’t always finish first. The more money at stake, the more cutthroat a business is likely to be. All the hedge fund managers in Greenwich, Connecticut, probably didn’t pay for their Ferraris by being nice to people. But what works on Wall Street—at least some of the time—is probably not going to work

At this moment, I’m on a plane to what should be a long R&R weekend in Cancun, Mexico. Instead, I’m writing this editor’s note and acknowledging, once again, my ongoing relationship with procrastination. I’d love to tell you that it wasn’t always this way. I’d love to tell you that once upon a time, I

My friend had just taken his company public. He was worth a fortune (think winning the lottery every week for a year). I wanted to know the details, so I said: “You had a big vision. You fought for it every day. Naysayers lined your path. Yet you never gave up. And now you’re the