I spoke with a couple of friends today who got to the same place from very different beginnings. One has been self-employed for 30 years; the other has worked for a number of prominent companies for about as long. Both are unhappy, both are concerned, both want to make changes in their lives. And somehow both ended up with the same realization. Continue reading
Tag Archives: life lessons
30!
I hope you don’t mind indulging me for a minute. Today marks the 30th anniversary of our wedding ceremony. I’m not sure if it’s persistence or laziness (as in, too lazy to break up), but 30 years, 2 kids, a few dogs, guinea pigs, hamsters, frogs, and who-knows-what-else-is-under-the-couch later, here we are.
All sorts of interesting and appropriate things happened on this date. In 1791 – Louis XVI was suspended from office until he agreed to ratify the constitution. I’m passionate about our leaders – business and political – not being above the rule of law (or corporate governance). In 1951 – J.D. Salinger’s novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” was first published. It’s one of my favorite books and my eldest daughter’s as well. 1969 – Apollo 11 blasted off from Cape Kennedy, FL, and began the first manned mission to land on the moon. Less than 10 years later, we undertook our impossible (seemingly) mission to become partners for life. So far, so good!
1973 – Alexander P. Butterfield informed the Senate committee investigating the Watergate affair of the existence of recorded tapes. What an unreal summer that was, but good, our Constitution, and a free press prevailed. Today, it’s a good reminder to everyone that in this Internet age, we all leave tracks everywhere and those funny Facebook photos may not be what employers are wanting.
A year after our wedding, in 1979, Saddam Hussein became president of Iraq after forcing Hasan al-Bakr to resign. Nice to know we lasted longer than he did. Some other bad things happened on July 16- JFK Jr.’s plane went down, a bad Philippine earthquake, France rounded up a bunch of Jews for the Nazi’s, and Czar Nicholas II and his family were executed.
My favorite tidbit is that 1774 Russia and the Ottoman Empire signed the treaty of Kuchuk-Kainardji, ending their six-year war. Why is it a fave? Because it’s about the joining of two on a day when we did the same. Hopefully we’ll last as long as it has!
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Filed under What's Going On
Listen Up
Someone told me today that the only difference between the Chinese words for “book” and “stupid” is one of tone. Many of the languages of Southeast Asia and Africa are tone languages. These languages use pitch to signal a difference in meaning between words, so it’s critically important that one listen carefully to anyone who is speaking so as not to misconstrue what they are saying.
Interestingly, one of the first, best lessons I got in sales was to listen carefully and speak a lot less than I listened for exactly the same reason.
How often have you started to think of the reply before you’ve fully heard the question? How often do we think about what we’re going to say next and ignore what’s being said to us? I’m not sure if it’s the ADD induced by the pace of information being thrown at us or just plain self-centeredness, but we all need to listen a lot more carefully. There is meaning in tone and information in complete sentences.
Filed under Helpful Hints
Consult Keith 