A Shaved Head for Fred
Leadership Lessons ezine by Mark Sanborn
Mark holds the Certified Speaking Professional designation from the National Speakers Association (NSA) and is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame. He was recently honored with the Cavett Award, the highest honor the NSA bestows on its members, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the speaking profession. In 2020, Global Gurus named Mark the #5 Leadership Authority in the world.
Ten Things to Improve Your Life Today
1. Get healthier Eat smaller portions Eat 5-6 times daily Stay hydrated Aim for a minimum of 30 minutes of physical activity if you’re really serious, 2. Call a past customer and ask what you could do to get him or her back. 3. Send a thank you note. 4. Write a personal note of…
Break the Lame Chain
Some of my least favorite junk mail includes requests with the phrase “…please don’t break the chain.” Those words alone cause me to delete the email. It shows a lack of intelligence and/or effort on the part of the sender. Keeping “the chain” or any chain intact is not on my daily list of things…
Freedom from Religion
The Freedom from Religion Foundation has sponsored some billboards across the U.S. that say “Imagine no religion.” That’s pretty easy. Imagine millions of hours of effort and billions of dollars of aid donated by faith-based organizations suddenly gone. Imagine tens of thousands of homeless people with no shelter because missions are closed, and as many…
The Leader’s Voice
We often use “voice” to refer to a leader’s message and style. Today I’m referring literally to your voice as used in your ability to speak. One of my dearest friends has lost his voice. He is a professional speaker in the advanced stages of cancer and side-effects from the disease have left him unable…
The Importance of Experience
Now that it appears Obama has locked up the democratic nomination, it is important to give careful consideration to his qualifications, not just his ideas (and the same is true for McCain). Although a political activist prior, he was first elected to public office in 1996. From first elected office to president in 12 years?…
The Upside to a Rotten Cold
I’ve had the worst cold/mutant virus from hades I can recall for many years; the kind of miserable affliction where you feel rotten awake and you feel rotten trying to sleep. I’m not going into deep theology here, but one upside to such a condition is that is reminds us how good we feel most…
Self-Absorption Stinks
I stopped by the grocery store and as I was parking my motorcycle in the parking lot, some slouchy rider pulls his bike onto the sidewalk near the entrance to park. What’s that about? Maybe he wants the attention. Maybe he’s lazy. Almost certainly he’s self-absorbed. Why does everybody need to walk around his vehicle while…
Improvement without Change
Improvement without change? It doesn’t happen. Not all change is an improvement, but all improvement requires change. I’ve been involved in an effort to improve some significant processes within an organization. Most everyone want to improve the processes; few are willing to actually change them. Recently someone threw up the old “change for the sake…
Inform to Perform
Our family just returned from a trip to Mexico where we’ve visited many times before. This time we stayed at the Princess Resort near Playa del Carmen. Our experience was extremely disappointing despite the beauty of this new hotel. As Darla and I reflected on our disappointments, we realized that probably 80% of the problems…
