Business/Leadership
27Sep 2009
I don’t know about you but a lot of my daily life can be contaminated by anxiety— not major, life-crippling anxiety, but those small little worries about daily life activities and events. And if I am not careful, anxiety can almost rule my day. While I’m doing one thing, I’m worrying about the next event or meeting. What a waste.
19Sep 2009
This week I had the opportunity to attend a conference where both John Townsend (author of Boundaries) and Henry Cloud (author of Integrity) spoke on leadership. Here are some notes of thoughts that I felt were interested and helpful. John Townsend Research is verifying the relationship between character, interpersonal skills and performance outcomes. That is, if you work on the
13Sep 2009
Most of the work I do is with families — family-owned businesses, families who work together, families who have sold businesses and now manage the resulting assets together, and just plain families. And in my everyday life I have the opportunity to interact with and observe families of all configurations. Add my own personal life, of being a son, and
09Aug 2009
Given the multiple “hats” that I wear professionally, some people know only about certain areas of service I provide (for example, consulting with successful business families) and not with other areas (evaluating individuals with ADD / ADHD and learning difficulties). So I thought I would share some about the ADD / ADHD side of my work. Although many people talk
02Aug 2009
Part of my job as a psychologist is to observe — observe patterns of behavior, be attune to my own thoughts and feelings, and to derive some potentially helpful information form patterns I see. In recent months and weeks, I have observed some factors in life that really wear people down — they are not really hidden but are often
19Jul 2009
I like to learn from others who have been successful. In our culture, some people look to successful business leaders; others look to athletes or entertainers. I find some of the best advice from wise people from the past — from classic literature from previous civilizations and cultures. Here are some thoughts from a king and writer of literature from
09Jul 2009
I am not an economist (thankfully). But economists, meteorologists (those who try to predict the weather), and psychologists are somewhat in the same situation — our ‘sciences’ are not very “hard” — that is, they often are not solidly grounded in data and they lack power to predict. For example, last night there was no prediction at all of any
19Jun 2009
Recently, the reality of people losing their jobs has been hitting quite close to home. Living in the city where most aircraft are built in the U.S., and the struggles aircraft manufacturers are experiencing have made knowing individuals who have been laid off from work a personal experience. And the secondary job losses are significant as well — suppliers to
11Jun 2009
An entry I wrote in April about the challenges owners and managers of businesses face in today’s economic environment was published in today’s business section of the Wichita Eagle. If you missed it previously, you can read the article on the Wichita Eagle website.
02Jun 2009
I live outside of town (for those who grew up in a rural setting, it would be a stretch to say we live in the “country” — although for those who live in an urban setting, they would think so — lots of trees and animals, and we live on a dirt road). And I love to take walks in