The touching story behind Rudolf, the reindeer
In 1939, Montgomery Ward asked employee Bob May to write a Christmas story for them to give away at Christmastime. It ended up being one of the most well-known original Christmas stories of all time. Why did it strike such a chord?
There is no secret ingredient!
There is no secret ingredient! One of my all-time favorite movies is the brilliant animated film, Kung Fu Panda, by DreamWorks. It’s 91 minutes of pure awesomeness. In it, the overweight, clumsy, and kung-fu-less panda bear, Po, is selected to be the chosen Dragon Warrior, who will bring peace to the valley and defeat the […]
Two lessons from Michael Phelps
Two lessons from Michael Phelps Friday night, Michael Phelps fought to win his 7th straight gold medal in the 2008 Summer Beijing Olympics, allowing him to officially tie the prior record from former Olympian Mark Spitz. With all that was riding on the race, and in spite of having exhausted himself from so many other races, […]
Someone who decided to make a difference 2
Someone who decided to make a difference 2 I just read another inspiring story over on CNN (you can find the full story here). Here’s a summary: Ann Mahlum, who lives in Philadelphia and is a veteran marathon runner, got tired of running by all the homeless people and decided to do something about it. […]
Gravity’s lesson on influence (watch your environment)
Gravity’s lesson on influence (watch your environment) Yesterday’s experience at the car dealership caused me to reflect on a principle I’ve often taught and thought about. It’s the power of gravity. Gravitation is the natural phenomenon by which all objects with mass attract each other. Every object in our environment exerts a force upon us. […]
The importance of opposition
The importance of opposition Today one of my favorite bloggers and business thinkers, Seth Godin, posted an interesting post in his Blog titled “The forces of mediocrity.” He describes how you’d expect that when you’re doing something right, smart, valuable, or constructive, that people would line up behind you. But, in fact, the opposite is […]
Opportunity is like a bar of soap
Opportunity is like a bar of soap One day at school, we did soap carvings. I was about ten years old, and remember the day distinctly. I had come with my bar of soap and my little pocket knife, bristling with excitement because we were finally doing something cool in school. I remember our teacher […]
Self-imposed limitations
Self-imposed limitations When elephants are freshly caught in the wild and taken into training, their trainers will take a strong chain and tie their leg to a long steel pole which they drive deep into the ground. The elephant will pull and fight—for a while. Then they stop because they learn that they can’t pull […]
Placebo – the power of belief
Placebo – the power of belief In pharmacological research, every test that is done on a group of individuals must also have a “control group.” Instead of getting the real test drug, they get a placebo—an inert drug. It’s simply a substance that resembles the actual drug in appearance, but is nothing more than water […]