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Thoughts on what to tell children about the US Presidential Election

When the dust settled on the all-nighter that was the US Presidential election, some were wondering “what should we tell our children about this outcome?”

I have a few ideas, and what I would tell my children, were they not already adults:

Tell them that this is just an election. It doesn’t signal the end of the world as we know it. It doesn’t mean that things will change dramaticallyfor them…

A review of my 2015 goals…

If you are a reader of my blog (back before it went dormant in 2015), you know that I am a goal setter. I like to lay out goals, then make plans to achieve them. Last year, on this date, I set out some goals for myself for 2015. As I said back then, I don’t make “resolutions”. I even remarked that they are all-too-often forgotten before the calendar turns away from January. With that in mind, I…

May 13. “Real difficulties can be overcome, it is only the imaginary ones that are unconquerable.” (Theodore N. Vail)

Do you worry? I do. As much as I have worked to eliminate worry from my life, it persists. Among all the unproductive things I may do in a day, worry has to rank near the top.

Recently I was talking to a friend who was under a lot of stress, worrying that she wouldn’t accomplish…

May 12 – Kick starting my writing

May 12. “Writing is a form of prayer.” (Franz Kafka)

A while back I wrote about, and talked about, how I was in a funk. I had hit a plateau in my weight loss, and my life in general seemed to be in neutral. At times I was even teetering on the brink of depression. That funk lasted a while, and I am happy to say that it has abated some.

When I consider myself and ascribe characteristics to my…

Where have I been?

As I was heading here to write this post I noticed that my last post was published on April 3, when I finished the series on How to Win Friends and Influence People. Truth be told, I actually wrote that post on the Monday before it published, so it has been almost 4 weeks since I wrote anything here.

When I started my blog, I read a blog on how to blog that said one should never apologize for the…

The capstone principle for Human Relations

“Happiness…consists in giving, and in serving others.” (Henry Drummond)

We are near the end of a long journey of discovery with these 30 Human Relations Principles. We have started out by eliminating criticism, condemnation and complaint. We have wended our way through the idea of avoiding arguments, and avoiding telling people they are wrong. In these last 9 principles we are are working our way…

Don’t over complicate things

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.” (Confucius)

For the last 15 years my primary job at work has been Project Management. One could argue that for 5 to 10 years before that I was doing the same thing, just without the title. I also spent 5 years as a process improvement specialist, helping people find ways to do their jobs with fewer needless steps. One thing I have…

Make people believe in themselves, and they will not disappoint you

“Build your reputation by helping other people build theirs.” (Anthony J. D’Angelo)

While thinking about this next principle, I looked up quotes about reputation. Many of them dealt with the idea that it takes a long time, and a lot of work to build one up. Henry Ford said “You can’t build a reputation on what you are goingto do.” (I added the italics). And, he is right, of course. My reputation…

Give praise – SINCERELY

“Sandwich every bit of criticism between two layers of praise.” (May Kay Ash)

Many of you who read these articles might, like me, be parents. And probably all of you have been around toddlers at some point in your life. Think about how we teach very young children how to do something as basic as walking.

At first we hold them under their arms and get them in the position. We giggle with them as…

Maintaining a person’s dignity encourages loyalty

“When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.” (Angela Merkel)

As we are working through these principles on how to improve the performance of our people, you might be tempted to wonder whether it might not be better to replace them. To be certain, there are times when the best course of action is to part ways with a person in our organizations. Some people are just not a good fit…

The right questions will often lead to the best solutions

“Asking the right questions takes as much skill as giving the right answers.” (Robert Half)

One thing I have learned is that I do not have all the answers, and the moment I start to think that I do, I am headed for trouble. When I am approaching a problem, whether it is one that I need to solve myself, or a situation where I am correcting someone, I find that asking questions will most often lead…

When correcting mistakes, start by disclosing your own

“Nothing is more intolerable than to have to admit to yourself your own errors.” (Ludwig van Beethoven)

If Beethoven’s quote is true, then it must be even harder for us to admit our errors to others. I can tell you from my own experience, that both thoughts are most definitely true for me. I do not like admitting my errors to myself, and I like it even less when I have to admit them to those…

When the need arises to criticize, be gentle

“Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots.” (Frank A. Clark)

I love a good analogy to get my mind turning on a subject. The quote above gives some great advice when it comes to delivering criticism, and the analogy really does help make it real.

Have you ever planted a garden, or maybe re-seeded some grass? If you have, then you know…

Start with praise when the need arises to correct an issue

“If you’re not making mistakes, then you’re not doing anything. I’m positive that a doer makes mistakes.” (John Wooden)

With this post we begin to look at the final section of Dale Carnegie’s 30 Human Relations Principles, as written in How to Win Friends and Influence People. These last 9 principles fall under the sub heading of Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or…

“The way to get things done is to stimulate competition. I do not mean in a sordid, money-getting way, but in the desire to excel.” (Charles Schwab)

If you do a Google search on “what makes people happy at work?”, you will get 738 Million results. I didn’t take the time to read them all, but I did browse a few, and I have done some reading on this in the past. One item that seems to come up on…

Don’t just tell me, show me

“A Picture paints a thousand words.” (Fredrick R. Barnard)

Many of you, like me, probably have a DVR or Digital Video Recorder. My wife and I rarely watch TV live, opting usually to record our favorite shows so we can watch them commercial free. When we do watch, we fast forward through the commercials. I have noticed that as DVRs increase in popularity, commercials on TV are changing. They still…

“The moment there is suspicion about a person’s motives, everything he does becomes tainted.” (Mahatma Gandhi)

There are really not that many villains in the world. There are few people who sit wringing their hands and uttering a maniacal laugh as they plot evil schemes to conquer their fellow humans. Really, most people want to do the right thing.

Most people not only want to do the right thing,…