I’m leaving the cabin for the season tomorrow. Always a bittersweet day. I’m flying to Minneapolis for my annual one-on-one session with my business coach and then on to deliver two days of patient service and leadership communication training for a pediatric group practice. Tom will wrap things up at the cabin and make sure it will be strong and …
Gems of Greatness
Katie Beckley graduated from the University of Baltimore with a law degree. She came to it naturally as her parents and grandparents were steeped in business and law backgrounds and founded a major department store in Maryland. It was in her blood but not in her soul. By her third year in law school, she realized she was much more …
Music Monday: How Bad Do You Want It?
It’s Labor Day Monday so… most of you are reading this on Tuesday! And it’s good that you are. Labor Day celebrates all Americans who work to support themselves, their families, their communities, and pay their taxes thereby supporting their nation. It’s the one day of the year we set aside to celebrate the working man and woman and give …
Milestones
Saturday, I turned 60 years old. And, it’s happening. All of it. I’m a little “stiffer” in the morning when I roll out of bed. I have some recurring aches and pains. And what’s with the random gaps of memory!? (Where are my car keys, anyway?) My bedtime is getting earlier and earlier and afternoon naps frequently sound delicious. And, …
You Can Fly!
Mary Kay Ash once said, “Aerodynamically, the bumblebee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumblebee doesn’t know it, so it goes on flying anyway.” Rules in life and business are necessary and important. They maintain order and protect and support us in many ways. But sometimes as a coach, I’m struck by how often we assume that the way …
On Your Mark… Go!
Okay. I’m doing it. I’m writing a book on Courageous Conversations. Yep. It’s outlined and the first chapter is complete. And, guess what I’ve discovered? Starting was the hardest part. I wouldn’t say that trying to write a book is the easiest thing I’ve ever taken on but once I got started, I almost instantly gained momentum. In this new …
Music Monday: Welcome to my Revolution
We made it! 2019. Despite political upheaval, super storms, and dire predictions, we have somehow miraculously made it into the New Year… as we always do. On this first Music Monday of 2019, I chose “A Brand New Year” by SheDaisy. It’s a perfect song for the start of a new and pivotal year as it’s not so much about …
Music Monday: An Instrument of Peace
I’m not Catholic, but I love many of the beautiful traditions of the Catholic faith. My favorite is the lovely story and mythology surrounding the 13th century Italian Saint Francis of Assisi, the church’s patron saint of animals. My mother always had some stone version of St. Francis in her flower gardens, usually surrounded by birdfeeders and birdbaths. Often the …
Standing for Peace
It’s Christmas Eve, and like many of you, I have my holiday playlist on repeat throughout the house. I decided to recycle a popular Stretch this week based on the Christmas song, “Belleau Wood”, by Garth Brooks which relates a first-person account of a true and extraordinary historical event called The Christmas Truce, which occurred during World War I along …
Music Monday: My Thanksgiving
I’m invoking author’s privilege and publishing Music Monday a couple of weeks early in honor of the Thanksgiving holiday… because I have the perfect song: Don Henley’s, My Thanksgiving. What we like in music is such a personal choice, but, in my humble opinion, Don Henley is one of the greatest songwriters of our time. I’ve contended for years that …