Authors Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton used research by the Gallup Organization to craft the bestseller “How Full Is Your Bucket?” Their basic theory is that we start out every day with a bucket that is emptied or filled by what others say and do to us. We each also have a dipper. We can use it to fill other people’s buckets by delivering positive messages or we can dip from others’ buckets by delivering negative messages. When we fill …
June is Men’s Health Month. Even though our society doesn’t talk about it much, men’s health is an important topic for all of us, men and women. If we take a holistic approach to the topic and think about men from the point of view of physical and mental health, we see how crucial it is to well-being for all of society. Here is one startling fact: At every age, American men have poorer health and are at a higher …
I believe that for a man with children, striving to be a great father should be his highest purpose. Unfortunately, the macho messages men receive in our society makes this a difficult task. For over 40 years, I have been working on being a good dad, studying fatherhood, and writing about what it means to be a man. Here are a few of the key lessons I have learned about how to be a great dad. Learn how each of …
Over the past few weeks, many of us have experienced the rush of pride as we attended a graduation ceremony of a loved one. I had the honor of attending the graduation of a family member from the Harris School of Public Policy at the University of Chicago. In these moments when we celebrate accomplishments, it is important to recognize how much effort is required to finish any difficult task. Often a huge obstacle to success is procrastination. As an …
I’ve been asking questions for a long time. Here are a few of my favorites: What can I do to help you? Where did you grow up? What is your your special gift? Yankees or Tigers? If you said Yankees, forget about it Who do you turn to for help? Do you like ketchup on your hotdogs? If so, forget about it. When it comes to music, do you like the oldies only? Or do you like to listen to …
Today, I present you the key leadership lessons from Cynthia Wilbanks, Vice President for Government Relations at University of Michigan and the new Chairman of the Board at Spark. Cynthia presented these lessons last month at my Leaders Connect Breakfast event. Building bridges is an important a feature of finding success. Once you’ve you gone to the trouble of building bridges, don’t burn them down. Remember that ‘the only people who like or enjoy change are babies with wet diapers” …