James Cagney never said “You dirty rat” in any of his films. Nor did Humphrey Bogart say “Play it again, Sam” in the movie Casablanca. The Caesar salad isn’t named after Julius Caesar. It was named for its creator, Caesar Gardini who first prepared it in his restaurant in Mexico. The cashew isn’t technically a…
If you are truly leading, you are truly learning. If you aren’t learning much, you aren’t leading very effectively. I am working on an article for a friend’s ebook. The focus will be on “what I wish I had known about leadership at the beginning.” Here’s an insight learned over many years of leading: “How…
That is the focus of The Journal Report in today’s WSJ. The section provides some interesting insights into the dollars and cents of ethical behavior. Such questions, however, miss the point: if ethical behavior didn’t pay, should it be abandoned? What’s the alternative? I know business professionals are interested in the implications of ethical behavior,…
My friend Laura Stack (“The Productivity Pro”) has a new book coming out this week called The Exhaustion Cure: Up Your Energy from Low to Go in 21 Days! It’s packed with ideas and worth checking out if your want to get more done and feel better doing it. Click the link (or image) to…
Leadership Lessons ezine by Mark Sanborn
Today a well-known baseball player under scrutiny for alleged steroid use (which he denies in the face of some substantial evidence) also denied beginning an affair with a well-know country western star when she was only 15 (which she did not confirm but rather said she could not deny). Said athlete admitted that he had…
I am blessed. I awoke this morning in my home, healthy and with food and water. 22,000+ victims of the cyclone in Myanmar did not wake up today. Tens of thousands more did wake up wondering if they could find food and water and perhaps contemplating if they’d ever have a home again. To say…
Aristotle believed in the golden mean, the midway point between too little and too much of anything. Just as wordiness is too much, sometimes brevity can be too little. If you find yourself defending your brief communications, the clue phone is ringing for you. Recently a friend was justifiably incensed by something he read online.…
I’m on the phone with a friend who wants Darla and I to come to an open house for a home his company just built. We plan to do so but I finish our conversation by saying, “We’ll be there unless something dramatic happens.” I really didn’t need to add those words. I’m the kind…
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an important editorial piece about John McCain I really encourage you to read for two reasons (click here). First, there are some powerful stories about McCain’s character that will give you insights into who he is that you probably haven’t and won’t see elsewhere. Second, there is a lesson to…