Today I had the opportunity to participate in a “live” webinar presented by Branding Experts and Business Consulters – Dan Weedin and Betsy Jordyn. The content was superb and informative and I highly recommend their upcoming webinars. So, with anything “live” comes the possibility of something not going as planned. Murphy’s Law always seems to rear its head at the most inopportune time. That was not untrue this morning. This particular event was very well attended with partic

Negotiation happens on a daily basis whether we are aware of it or not. Whether we are “negotiating” with our children to get them to wear the items we want or are trying to get our significant other to choose our favorite restaurant for dinner, persuasion is something we all use in our personal life. Negotiation also happens to be the key to true business success. There is no company or business on the face of the planet that has succeeded without some form of negotiations,

I am not sure if this was your experience as a child, but as a kid, my family vacations were often little more than chaos. They were almost reminiscent of an episode of the National Lampoon’s “Vacation” series. You never really knew what to expect going into it, but you knew that it would be colorful to say the least. Most of this “color” came directly from my old man. He was the loveable and ever present “Clark Griswald” type of a man always trying to do something good for o

After a long and hard winter in the US, most of us are ready to experience the rejuvenating warmth of the springtime. The smell of fresh cut grass is in the air, the daffodils and tulips are blooming and the world is bursting with life. It is a marvelous time, one that most of us look forward to after the cold reality of winter. Of course, without winter we might not be able to appreciate the beauty of the springtime. Spring also conjures up memories of better times and warm

Influential leadership skills include the Law of Reciprocity or… if you do a favor for someone they feel obligated to do something back for you. Almost like the “Golden Rule”, reciprocity is giving something and getting something back in kind. The leadership application of this law is the understanding that if you invest yourself in helping others become successful, they will in turn help you become successful. One of my mentors Zig Ziglar once said “You can have everything i

Like many other young children, I was extremely adventurous in my youth. I felt almost unstoppable and unbreakable in any given situation. Perhaps it was the newness of life that made me feel as such, or perhaps it had to do with the energy and vigor that coursed through my veins, either way I was carefree. This was never truer than in the warm summer months when my friends and I headed out the door after breakfast to search for adventures in our neighborhood. We always manag

As a child I, like many others my age, spent my Saturday Mornings watching cartoons on my family TV. It had one knob, and there weren’t but a handful of channels to choose from. Fast-forward a decade or two, and today there are over a half dozen 24-hour cartoon networks. Not just cartoon shows, but networks devoted entirely to entertaining children. Some of my favorite cartoons are the classics from Warner Bros. Merrie Melodies productions. One of my favorite episodes in part

A Ballard, WA home for sale on NW 46th Street is adorned with balloons and is surrounded on three sides by the menacing concrete walls of a shopping center. The tiny house was once owned by Edith Macefield, who in 2006 turned down $1 million to sell her home to make way for a commercial development. Her remarkable story of defiance inspired the acclaimed Disney movie UP. The house still stands all these years later in defiance. Why would this elderly woman, who knew she only