Rejection Without Shame

Rejection comes in a litany of flavors: “We don’t have any conflicts here.” “We deal with conflicts really well here.” “We don’t really need your services right now, but if we do, we’ll give you a call.” “[silence]. Who are you again?” “How do you say your name?” “I don’t Read more…

Three Places to Thrash

When faced with a project there are three places to thrash: Early—before the project begins. Middle—as the project is proceeding. Late—as the project ends. When you (or your team) thrashes early, brainstorming becomes a way to develop new ideas. Speed and immediacy become the primary goals of early thrashing: Speed Read more…

[Advice] There Are No Shortcuts…

The quality, or trait, of getting up and doing what needs to be done, particularly when you don’t want to do it, is sometimes called “will” or “grit” or “courage.” But these are fancy labels for something a lot deeper that people can’t really, collectively describe. And anybody who wants to Read more…

[Strategy] Bad Ideas

The equation is simple: Talents + Knowledge + Skills + Effort = Strengths Talents are non-teachable. They are naturally recurring patterns of thoughts, feelings, or behaviors that can be productively applied in a person’s life. Effort is also non-teachable. Effort is based on intrinsic motivation, as well as extrinsic influencers. Read more…

[Opinion] The Other 95%

The people who start a project and eventually have the ability to finish a project—whether it’s a project to build peace in their lives, their neighborhoods, their families or their organizations—are in the low numbers. This is because starting is easy (we celebrate starting school, starting a new job, starting Read more…