Pay attention to what I am about to say. This post will rile some people. It will certainly contradict some of your beliefs. But it is the plain truth. I hear a great deal these days in management thinking about how we somehow repress parts of ourselves at work. We are urged to bring our …
Don’t Search for New Places. See With New Eyes.
What I am about to share with you can have a huge impact on your life. It will improve your life greatly if you think about it and let the idea seep into your head and take hold of your mind. I came to America in the Fall of 1972 to begin my Ph.D. in Marketing at Columbia Business School. I had a …
This Thief WILL Get Everything You Own!
Sometimes a joke can convey an important life lesson. You have to be open to it and the stars have to align and then the punch line can crack you open and give you an insight into the predicament in which you are stuck. We spend our time and energy collecting stuff. Look in your closet. I …
Don’t Try to Give Up Desires. Give up Desiring!
More than two thousand years ago the Buddha proclaimed the Four Noble Truths. Suffering exists. The cause of suffering is desire. Suffering can end. The eightfold path is the way to end suffering. Many dedicated seekers have devoted enormous time and energy to their efforts to give up …
Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows? (Part 2)
In my last column, I narrated the tale of “Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows?” My coaching clients and alumni of my course remember this as one of the most useful lessons they learned from me. Suffering does not begin when an event occurs. Suffering begins the instant you label that event ‘bad …
Good Thing, Bad Thing, Who Knows?
I have been teaching my course, Creativity and Personal Mastery, for close on three decades and many of my earliest students are still in touch with me and are part of the alumni community. I ask them what they found particularly helpful in life and what they remembered from the time they took …
The Song That Almost Died
We have a model that talent will somehow come out and be recognized. That, in some inscrutable way, the best will triumph. Maybe. Maybe not. I was in Nashville in August for a meeting of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 and a most xenial event it was. I was at a table with Greg and Susan Jones who …
WHO Makes the Decision?
There was a wonderful gathering of the Marshall Goldsmith 100 in Nashville, and I enjoyed it greatly. I was inducted early into the group so, I guess, I am a senior member. Marshall, as is his wont, makes pithy statements and this event was no different. He said something that I have heard him …
Don’t Be Grateful For … Just Be Grateful!
All the management consultants and trainers are talking about gratitude these days. It is good to be grateful they tell us. Companies want you to be grateful because, when you are, you don’t notice how terrible your work environment is! Appreciation and Gratitude has been one of the cornerstone …