Which would you find the easiest to do? (a) Change your mind. (b) Change your weight. (c) Change your religion. The most obvious response is (a). But, if you apply a time factor to the situation you can see how your answer might be affected. For instance, let’s say that a while ago you agreed […]

How much risk you are willing to take depends upon how you view failure. When failure looms it’s natural to react by withdrawing or limiting your efforts. It’s normal also to interpret the lack of encouragement from friends and family to mean that you don’t have what it takes to succeed. But, this may not […]

What is criticism, and why are we so afraid of it? Just because you don’t like how it feels to be criticized doesn’t mean the act itself doesn’t have value. Criticism contains important information that can be both useful and confirming if you don’t personalize it. Yes, it hurts and you may feel some pain […]

Self-examination is a great way to discover what it is you don’t know. Most people have little interest in learning without some external motivation. Perhaps you’re the exception and are eager to know how self-directed learning takes place. Stage 1: You don’t know what you don’t know. Even though you’re missing the mark, you’re unaware […]

Your mother was right about first impressions being important, but they’re not always the ones you want to rely upon when it comes to building a working relationship. This is particularly true if you think the other person lacks the ability to do the right things the right way based upon what you’ve heard from […]

It is difficult even for Doers to do their best work in a tension-filled environment. So, consider what it would mean should the conflicts you’re currently embroiled in remain unresolved. Not everyone is comfortable disclosing his or her frustrations in an open forum. Hence, the best option for sharing your truth with others is to […]

As a Doer your purpose in offering criticism – constructive or otherwise – is to achieve clarity and build trust, not to hurt the other person’s feelings. But that may happen anyway especially if that person has not invited your comments or has not been open to your feedback in the past. Early attempts to […]

Attracting Doers and keeping those already on board from jumping ship when a more challenging opportunity comes along is a two-pronged problem. The enduring attractions to high performers are opportunities to grow within their profession, to make a measurable difference in the lives of others and to accomplish something within your firm they could not […]

Full disclosure regarding the potential downside of what lies ahead exposes everyone to the truth about the difficulties they’re about to face. More importantly, it triggers the search for new tools and new ways to make change happen. Lastly, it generates critical questions like: Are we missing something? What current resources are available? Whose help […]