I’ve been consuming lots of podcast content over the past year. The show that’s captivated me the most is called What It’s Like to Be…with Dan Heath. It’s fun and thought-provoking, but what I find most fascinating is Dan Heath’s self-restraint. His understated, concise questions get his guests to say the most unguarded and interesting
Monks practice their faith with self-denial and dedicated simplicity. The original Christian monks lived in the Egyptian desert. One day, Abbot Macarius said to his fellow monks, “Brethren, flee.” Confused, one of the monks asked, “How can we fly further than this, seeing we are here in the desert?” Macarius placed his finger to his
Flawless. That was my impression of this executive after our first few meetings. He had exceptional integrity, personality, decision-making ability, and everything else to be successful in life. Then I spent more time with him. I discovered that he avoids conflict and can be overly harsh when challenged. Not surprisingly, these tendencies had contributed to
When it comes to not winning a championship, Minnesota is number one. It’s currently in the unenviable position of having the longest dry spell of any U.S. pro sports market. The drought has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, after the Minnesota Vikings won 14 of the first 16 games of the 2024 regular season,
A leader recently asked me: What type of person is a bad candidate for a coaching or training program? He had someone on his team who he suspected might be a bad candidate. He didn’t want to make an investment and not see it pay off. I love this question because it also implies the
At a conference recently, I had an opinion on the discussion topic that I wanted to share. But two alarms went off in my head. First was whether I should share my opinion at all. Maybe my colleagues wouldn’t care about what I had to say, or maybe they’d think I was too opinionated. The
It was almost exactly seven years ago that my mentor challenged me to sit in silent contemplation for five minutes every day. Every day, I’d set the timer on my phone, close my eyes, and pay attention to insights or ideas that would come to the surface of my conscious mind, such as: Your anxiety
Recently I’ve been paying more attention to my interior peace — or lack thereof. I’ve been more aware of agitation, restlessness, nervousness, worry, insecurity, discomfort, stress, and frustration. The English word I’ve been using as shorthand for all those feelings is anxiety, which comes from the Latin word for uneasiness and the Greek word ankho,
I’ve recently learned a lot about presenting your value from university admissions tours with my teenage twin boys. In these tours, one of my goals has been to “decode” the structure and flow as the tour guides pitch the school. What I’ve found is that the best tour guides — the ones who captivate a
There I was, kicking off the big meeting, standing anxiously in front of 50 people in a large corporate conference room. I really wanted to engage the group and inspire them to action, but I was worried that my slides had too much detail and that my topic was too complex. Adding to the pressure,
Matt Norman is president of Norman & Associates, which offers Dale Carnegie Training in the North Central US. Dale Carnegie Training is a global organization ...READ MORE