In the movie Invictus, national rugby team captain Francois Pienaar faces a challenge shared by most South Africans: He’s asked to change his beliefs and his ways. Newly elected president Nelson Mandela has set bold objectives for racial reconciliation after years of apartheid. The movie beautifully depicts the true story of how Mandela influenced Pienaar
The following post was written by my good friend Isaac Vogel, who owns a successful painting company. I appreciate the simple, actionable, relevant guidance here for anyone in any role. I’ve spent most of my career in sales and I always bristle a bit when I tell people I’m in “sales” or when a customer
Do you remember the scene in “Back to the Future” where George McFly musters the courage to punch Biff the bully? He’d just pulled Biff out of the car to stop him from assaulting Lorraine Baines. George and Lorraine’s future son, Marty, had inspired him to take that stand against Biff. Marty knew what was
I almost didn’t write this article. The idea came to me while I was walking my dog, but I didn’t write it down. It could have been gone forever. Fortunately, though, I remembered it later when I was showering — and I made a point to write the idea down as soon as I got out.
Nine years ago this week, I wrote my first post on this site after declaring to my wife in the stands at our sons’ hockey practice that I would become a regular writer. It was a goal that seemed absurd at the time: young kids, busy work schedule, and no strong background or training in
Jennifer began her day with a well-crafted to-do list and good intentions. She ended her day exhausted and deflated. If she worked in a vacuum, maybe she’d have gotten through the list and felt accomplished. That’s not real life for her though. Too many things come at her during the day — email questions, childcare
A memory from the 11th grade still stands out to me today. I’m sitting at my bedroom desk, wringing my hands and finding every possible distraction from the assignment in front of me: Write an essay explaining who you are. What does that mean? Where would I begin to explain who I am? And why
One of my favorite “hacks” is re-typing highlighted portions of non-fiction I’ve read. The process of highlighting once then re-reading and re-typing later tends to lock concepts into memory for later retrieval when it’s most useful. Below are my re-typed notes from David Epstein’s recent book Range, which I found to be extremely interesting and
How do you sell (or outreach, fundraise, negotiate, network, interview, or gain buy-in) when the people you’re trying to reach are remote and afraid? Being socially distanced can prove to be challenging but also full of opportunity for new growth and outreach. Giving in to fear and isolating yourself beyond necessary means will only lead
In the wonderful documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, revered sushi chef Jiro Ono does something completely uncommon and unnecessary. Despite being 85 years old and widely considered the world’s greatest sushi chef, he never settles. We can sum his constant push toward perfection in the Japanese word shokunin, meaning “craftsman” or “artisan.” But even beyond technical
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