Category: Personal Reflections
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Passion
We are only gated by our ambition. I was chatting the other day about my heroes and what I found so remarkable about them. I was recounting the first time I met Richard Branson, and what amazed me most was the way he thinks in terms of “Why not?”. The guy realizes that airplane travel is…
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Maybe So
“I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.” – Albert Einstein Maybe So My mentor at Microsoft used to share this Chinese proverb occasionally as a reminder that things are not always as they appear to be… more to follow after you read the proverb. One day in late summer, an old farmer was working in…
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Make Your Bed
“There are two types of people who will tell you that you cannot make a difference in this world: those who are afraid to try and those who are afraid you will succeed.” – Ray Goforth Make Your Bed There is an old saying… “The difference between people is the books they’ve read and the people they’ve…
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Look For Opportunities to Learn the Best Quality of Every Person You Meet
“Each and every one of us is a leader. Some of us just don’t know it yet.” – Umair Haque Opportunities “Don’t look for opportunities to compare yourself to others, but look for opportunities to learn the best quality of every person you meet.” I wrote this down one day when I was a young manager at Nordstrom.…
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Fearless
“Obstacles are like wild animals. They are cowards but they will bluff you if they can. If they see you are afraid of them… they are liable to spring upon you; but if you look them squarely in the eye, they will slink out of sight.” – Orison Swett Marden Fearless Hi Everyone, I hope you…
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Optimism…Nature v. Nurture
Some people say I am optimistic, others say I’m too optimistic. I am certain the second group says this only because they don’t want me to get my hopes up and then be disappointed. Either way, I am optimistic by nature, but what does that really mean? I am currently reading The Effective Executive by Peter Drucker.…
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It’s Not All Digital Marketing
I like writing about economics, cultural concerns, technology, and of course digital marketing. I realize that sometimes I can be a bit pithy and more aspirational than reality. So I am going to depart from my norm and talk about one of my passions: Barbecue! For the better part of 20 years, I’ve been traveling…
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The Experience Economy: Part 1
I have long contended that history goes in reverse—that is, time goes backward, not forward. If you want to know what is happening today—or, more importantly, if you want to know why it is happening, you have to look at yesterday and the day before that and so on to truly understand how we got…
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Reflection and Gratitude
One of the nice things about the US Thanksgiving Holiday is that it provides a moment of pause to be thankful. There are many studies that demonstrate that taking a moment every day to remind yourself of the things that you are grateful for contributes significantly to an overall sense of wellbeing and happiness. While…