Damien and I have had many conversations about our upbringings and how vastly different they were. In one of our recent conversations, we got on the subject of how those around us, while we were growing up (and in some cases even still today), tend to put up walls. We were...

Some days, I read passages in these books and can sit down and write out my thoughts right then. Then, there are other times when the passages are so thought-provoking that I need time to digest and reflect on what I have read before putting my thoughts onto paper. The...

Sometimes, you’ve just had a day.  But these always seem to be the days that everyone wants to test your patience via email.  You can only respond so many times before you snap and type what you really feel.

I have written two blog posts (Book Brew 33 and Book Brew 66….too bad this one isn’t #99 for a cool pattern—though I suppose 76 is still a neat number... if you squint.) on the topic of empathic listening and effective communication, so you would think I have said all...

I just finished reading the section of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People on the fourth habit of Think Win/Win. While reading through it, I had to stop quite a few times to sit and reflect on what I had just read because it was very insightful into some of the...

Eugene Schwartz is a legendary direct-response advertiser.  If you do anything with marketing, advertising, copywriting, etc., you are probably using one of his strategies or tactics.  

Edward de Bono (Six Thinking Hats, Lateral Thinking, so many other books) was brilliant and creative.  If you don’t know who he is then I recommend looking him up.  Any introduction that I would put together won’t do him justice.

Have you recently been promoted and now have to officially lead others for the first time?  Have you been in a management position for a while and you’ve realized that you are expected to have a new skill-set that nobody actually told you about?

Do we ever really listen anymore? Truly, deeply, connected listening? Not listening while doomscrolling, not while the TV is on or music is playing, not while multitasking, but being totally and fully present for the person you are communicating with? We seem to have lost...

To say that I am a fan of the 6 Thinking Hats would be an understatement.  If you aren’t familiar with it, check out this post.