Last winter I received an email about coaching my daughter’s 10-year-olds fastpitch softball team. I was one of three parents who got the request to step up and be the “head” coach. Since one of the other parents was new to our town and the other was new to coaching, I jumped in to take
At age 17, Kirstie Ennis enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, following in her parents’ footsteps. On tour in Afghanistan in 2012, enemy fire shot down her helicopter. Six people died. She barely lived. The physical and emotional pain got so intense in the years that followed that she attempted suicide. Then, in 2016,
With the release of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” this past November, I have fully jumped on the Mister Rogers bandwagon. Or shall we say, “neighborhood trolley.” Even though “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” was on air for all of my childhood, my puppets of choice at the time went by names like “Cookie Monster” and
I have this recurring nightmare. It’s like the one where you are late for class or show up at school in your underwear. In my dream, I’m presenting to a large group of people and no one can hear me — or wants to. Everyone in the audience is either distracted, obscured behind physical barriers,
It seems hard to believe now, considering more than 367,000 people work for his company and its subsidiaries, but for years, this man had arranged his life around his fear. Fear had limited him in his leadership and in his ability to connect with others. But he had the courage to overcome that fear. In
Perhaps you’ve heard about the historic feat climber Alex Honnold accomplished on June 3rd. He became the first person in history to free solo climb (by himself with no ropes or equipment) El Capitan in Yosemite, which is a 3,000-foot vertical wall up the Freerider path. He did it in under four hours. Mind-blowing. I
Have you ever been thoroughly excited about your ideas, only to see them shot down without any serious consideration at all? I still vividly remember the experience of presenting my exciting new idea to the senior leaders in our company years ago. Expecting enthusiasm, interest or at least alternative solutions, instead my carefully prepared plan was
In recent posts, I’ve explained the importance of valuing ourselves and others for who we are more than what we do. In fact, who we are is at risk, but we do everything possible to minimize it. And the harder we try, the more anxious, bitter and tedious we get. In attempting to minimize all
What risks and challenges will you face in the new year, and how will you respond? Like all of us, my colleague Pat Griffin has been broken several times in his life. The hardest might have been seven years ago when he moved his family from Iowa to Montana to start a consulting practice and
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE