Blog

The Power of Presence

I’ve observed that of the things many of us struggle with is being present — not living with regrets from the past or fears of the future, but simply being here now (as Eckhart Tolle or Ram Dass have eloquently expressed it). It’s perhaps one of the greatest skills you can master throughout your lifetime as it allows you to fully be with those around you now, in real time and as importantly it allows you to be with yourself more fully and mindfully in the moment. When you do that you cultivate peace of mind for yourself, you can enjoy our surroundings, feel more ease, and have more joy and balance. You’re no longer carrying the weight of anguish, anxiety and fear with you at every turn — and you can really breathe. How precious is that? …

The Power of a Weekly Sabbatical

One of my business mentors is Alan Weiss (aka “The Million Dollar Consultant”); he’s the global authority on educating and coaching consultants, and I’ve been working with him for well over a decade at this point. Alan shares best practices from his own experience and teaches us how to grow and expand our businesses, how to be leaders in our respective fields, and essentially how to thrive under all circumstances. Alan is constantly re-inventing himself and coming up with compelling new programs and services for his audience.

One of my favorite programs he crafted was a weekly video series entitled “The Weekly Sabbatical” where he’d share five-minute insights on the fine art of taking time for ourselves every week. There were two aspects of this series; one was that we could (and should!) give ourselves permission to work less and enjoy our lives more, and the other was that Alan would share a specific idea for us to consider and try on for size in just five minutes a week. …

Commit to Expansion in the New Year

At this time of the year, people often come up with a list of ‘resolutions’ most of which don’t live past the first month (or even the first week!) of January. They often don’t work out because of one or a combination of several factors. Firstly, they’re often vague goals without specific actions or metrics of success fleshed out to achieve those goals. Further, they’re often about what you think you should do to appease others or be more socially acceptable vs want really matters to you at a deep level intrinsically. And finally, there’s often no commitment and no accountability — so inevitably they fizzle out pretty quickly. So what does work?  …

Everyone Needs a Coach (The Secret Game Changer)

What do major athletes, tech innovators, actors, rock stars, and successful CEOs all have in common? Many if not most of them have a coach, mentor or trusted advisor in some form or fashion. I only recently learned that Bill Gates did a TED talk awhile back entitled “Everyone Needs a Coach” where he stressed that no matter who we are we can all benefit from having people around us to give us feedback, provide perspective, and help us reach our goals. There are many examples of corporate CEOs and other highly successful and influential people using coaches — like Steve Jobs and Jeff Bezos, who shared Bill Campbell a coach, Alan Mulally (Ford CEO) & Frances Hesselbein (Girl Scouts CEO), who shared Marshall Goldsmith as their coach, and Oprah — whose coach was Maya Angelou; and on it goes. …

The Show Must Go On (Harvest Summit)

I attended a wonderful event earlier this month on November 10th, in Sonoma County — called Harvest Summit. I go to a lot of events, but this one is truly exceptional. Dubbed an “innovator’s field trip”, it’s a gathering of some of the best and brightest minds in the world today — all hand-invited and curated from across multiple industries. We had representatives from technology, medicine, transportation, food, wine and so much more. This was the second year of this annual event, and both times it’s been held in an undisclosed location at a private wine estate in Sonoma County — in the heart of wine country. Both years, the settings have been beyond inspiring. …

Crisis Management — How You React Makes All the Difference

In the past six weeks, we’ve experienced unprecedented disasters of scale — some delivered by nature in the form of the big hurricanes affecting Texas and Florida, and the major fires in Napa and Sonoma counties; and some by man as was the case with the music festival massacre in Las Vegas. While these disasters wreak havoc and change lives in untold ways, how we react to them when they’re going on makes a huge difference in how we (literally) weather the storm, and in the recovery once we’re on the other side. It makes good sense to reflect on lessons learned before, during and after these disasters. Here are a few ideas to share: …

In Conversation with Tamer Rashad, Founder and CEO of Humtap

Tamer Rashad, Founder & CEO of Humtap was a guest on All Access Radio recently, and if you’re interested in seeing what being a leader on the forefront of a major game-changing technology looks like then you won’t want to miss this fascinating interview.

Tamer is a business leader with a background of over 25 years of general management, corporate strategy, M&A start-up and business development experience in the finance world across the US, Europe and Emerging Markets. Tamer and I share a passion for both music and technology and Humtap is the perfect marriage of both in my opinion. Have you ever hummed and tapped a melody in your head that sounded pretty good? What if you had an app that would turn those hums and taps into original music you could use as a unique soundtrack, royalty free, underneath a video clip you create to share across social media? What if you wanted it to sound a little like Cold Play or David Bowie or another artist? What if you wanted it to have an ethnic flair from another culture, or wanted it in a certain musical genre? …

In Conversation with Lawrence Gowan, Musician, Keyboardist and Lead Vocalist for Styx

Recently I had the pleasure of interviewing Lawrence Gowan of Styx on All Access Radio. In case you missed it, this was one of my favorite interviews to date! Lawrence is a Scottish-born Canadian musician, and for the past twenty years he’s been keyboardist and has shared lead vocals duties with Tommy Shaw for the legendary American rock band, Styx.

Sometimes there’s an extra special synergy in my conversations with luminaries on All Access Radio and my conversation with Lawrence was one of those. This was truly a fireside chat and Lawrence was incredibly generous and masterful in in sharing his story and his passion for his work. One of the topics we touched on, near and dear to my heart, was the idea of the concept albums. Some of you may be scratching your heads and saying to yourself, “concept album? what’s that?” …

Don’t Wait — Do It Now

It may be a trite statement, and yes maybe overused, however how many of us are living from this mindset? In the wake of things like the Vegas concert massacre earlier this month — or losing another beloved rocker (Tom Petty), I was reflecting on how fleeting life really is. The best way to honor those whose lives may have been cut short is to live each day fully, fully present, in the moment. To express yourself with those you care about, let them know how you feel. To do the things that matter the most to you now, today — because the harsh truth is that someday may not exist! What if you just acted on a thought or an idea when it came to you, or called someone when they came to mind? Your life would be lived more fully in the moment, and your velocity and results would surely increase. Try it!

I love what Steve Chandler says in his terrific new book “Right Now: Mastering the Beauty of the Present Moment”, …

Bumper Cars — Be Safe & Sane in Parking Lots

Over the past couple of decades, cars have grown larger and parking lot stalls seem to have shrunk; or at least that’s the way it seems. While out running errands today, I wound up in three very small and overcrowded parking lots that don’t seem to have been designed for the times — and that just adds to challenges posed by oversized vehicles and inexperienced, impatient or frazzled drivers. I slowed my own pace to bear witness.

It was amazing to me how fast cars were zipping around and through cars trying to get in and out of stalls, how there was little to no patience, and how inconsiderate people were about how they parked within the stalls (not considering whether the car next to them would have room to open their car doors). They just didn’t seem to pay attention or maybe they just don’t care. Driver courtesy went out the window. Everyone was in a hurry, and I saw Suburbans and large, oversized SUVs and trucks parked in compact spaces — and of course since they didn’t fit, an extra space was taken away. It’s amazing there weren’t more accidents involving the cars themselves and pedestrians.

From research I’ve done, it seems something like 20-25% of all accidents happen in parking lots. And over 50% of injuries resulting from backing-up accidents happen when a vehicle backs into a pedestrian in a parking lot.

Here are some things to consider that can allow you to keep yourself, your car and others around you safe and sane: …

Search Resources

Topic Areas & Guests

Categories

Join our mailing list

For insights on industry trends, and for details on special projects/events. We respect your time and your privacy.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact

Join our mailing list

For insights on industry trends, and for details on special projects/events. We respect your time and your privacy.


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: . You can revoke your consent to receive emails at any time by using the SafeUnsubscribe® link, found at the bottom of every email. Emails are serviced by Constant Contact