Life Stages/Life Challenges
13Jan 2013
I have been working with families, kids, teens and young adults for 30 years now. One of the most common challenges I see individuals experience is knowing when to let their family members experience the results of their choices and when to intervene and “rescue” them from the negative consequences they will be facing. (Interestingly, the situation often occurs with
12Nov 2012
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) in Atlanta are known worldwide for their work in preventing outbreaks of diseases and research in understanding viruses and bacteria. Now, the CDC can help us in understanding how to successfully transfer positive values to our children and future generations. But I am talking about a different “CDC”. One of the most common issues
30Sep 2012
The level of unemployment in our nation is at one of the highest levels since the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Although the official “unemployment rate” cited by the government and media continues to hover around 8% of the national workforce, it is well documented that this is almost assuredly an underestimate of those who would like to be working
26Aug 2012
Recently, I was privileged to hear Patrick Lencioni speak at the Willow Creek Association Leadership Summit, and I have also been reading his excellent book, The Advantage. Patrick believes that, while most companies and organizations have the technical and knowledge aspects of business down, “the advantage” the more successful organizations and businesses have is being a “healthy organization”. He defines
02Apr 2012
I have just returned from a week in Beijing, China, where I was invited to attend a conference sponsored by the publisher who is translating and publishing Dr. Chapman’s and my book, The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, in Chinese. The conference attendees were various Western business and organizational leaders and we were addressed by a variety of
05Sep 2011
Labor Day used to be a day to recognize the benefits of organized labor and, more broadly, celebrate the American work ethic. More recently, however, it serves as a painful reminder of the deterioration of the American workplace. The national statistics, with unemployment between 9 percent and 17 percent depending on whom you ask, are bad enough. But even for
01Aug 2011
Friends, I am excited that the book project I have been working on with Dr. Gary Chapman for the past 4+ years is fully released to the public today. It is available at www.amazon.com , www.bn.com (Barnes & Noble), www.booksamillion.com, www.christianbook.com and you can also go to bookstores and it should be there (it should be a “front table” display
03Jul 2011
I thought I would write a piece that would attempt to help those thousands of wives and mothers who don’t understand why their husbands and sons (and sons-in-law) spend perfectly good money to blow up things and possibly set some part of the neighborhood on fire. And I use the terms “wives/mothers” and “husbands/sons” purposefully, because this does appear to
24Jun 2011
This past week I had the privilege of taking a short vacation to the mountains in Colorado with my wife. We had a delightful time (just the two of us, our four kids are ‘out and about’.) We were in awe of the majesty of the mountains; we couldn’t believe how many trees there were (alive and dead); and we
12Jun 2011
Businesses are primarily focused on selling their products or services to customers and making the profit (or creating value in the business to be captured when the business sells). That is the essence of business. And that can be done in lots of ways — by treating your employees well or “using” them, by providing quality products or by scamming