One of my clients had to laugh last week when I pointed out I knew his schedule for the day so I was only going to meet with him for 45 minutes so that he had enough time to hit the restroom before his next meeting started up. He agreed and with a chagrined look, thanked me for the extra time and told me he would use it to check emails! There is just not enough time to get everything...

I have a birthday this weekend on May 19th. I have a bit of a tradition in that I like to celebrate my birthday during the whole week leading up to that day. Each day this week, I’ve been doing something special to help me appreciate my world a bit more. For example, on Monday I posted on my Facebook page that I’ve recently joined the Board of the Women’s Center and Shelter here in Pittsburgh and so to acknowledge...

I just presented to a group of senior staff members on being adaptable and resilient. Their organization is going through a number of significant changes including new leadership, high demand for their products, and needing to bring in new staff to help grow the business. They told me that coming to work every day not knowing what new demands might be put on them, hearing from colleagues that work is “crazy”, and finding the responsibility for growing the business has...

One popular phrase I disdain is when people tell me… “the reality is…” It’s as if the speaker wants me to know that there is just one explanation for an event or phenomenon and not surprisingly, the speakers’ perspective is the correct one. I always think to myself, “No, that is not the reality, it is your reality” Anna Devere-Smith, the acclaimed actress and McArthur “genius” was in town last week bringing her unique approach to dealing with multiple realities,...

An exercise I did during a Resilience Advantage presentation at the Million Dollar Consulting® Conference in Boston last week led to an observation by the audience that they generally just don’t bounce back from adversity or even bounce forward but that for many of them, the change had a sling-shot effect propelling them out of trouble and into something exponentially better. Our discussion was around their careers and they found that when they had a downturn (loss of job, failed...

I received my income tax returns from my accountant, Michele, over the weekend and am getting a small refund. Whew. As a practical joke this year, I came to her office to deliver my well organized material but instead of sharing that with her, I told her I did not have time to categorize material and was instead just dropping off a legal box of papers hoping she would have time to go through everything…Not funny I’m sure she thought!...