Have you noticed? Disney has a lot of money. They can thank my family and me for some of it. Every time they build a new theme park, roll out a new attraction, make a movie (okay forget Star Wars), or launch a cruise ship, it’s impressive. They really know how to do it “right.” When it comes to entertainment, they have not…
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My acting instructor, Julie-Anne Liechty says, “Acting is being real in pretend situations. Anything else looks like acting.” To paraphrase the Chevrolet commercials, however, most of us are real people, not actors. (Although I have met some pretty real people who are actors and some “real” people who are anything but.) Even if you never…
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Acting classes—should you be taking them? I am. Just so you know, this isn’t something I have done a great deal of—acting or acting classes or film or theater. I am not counting the facades, personas and personalities I may or may not have affected throughout my life. I am also not counting times I…
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Last week I wrote about the wisdom in minding the gap that exists between a thought and action. The focus was on the kind of thoughts that would lead you to questionable actions, things that if done wouldn’t be considered to be in your or another person’s best interests—lashing out verbally in anger to a loved one instead of taking a moment to rethink what…
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How often have you witnessed someone do something absolutely stupid and asked yourself, “What were they thinking?” Or maybe you concluded that they just weren’t thinking at all. The reality is that we are always thinking—even when it might be hard to believe otherwise. Problems can arise when we cross the chasm that exists between our thoughts and our actions. We don’t always make that crossing so…
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What do writers do when they don’t have an idea to write about? What do runners do when they just don’t feel like running? What about the salesperson who doesn’t want to prospect? I guess that depends on a few things—like commitment and determination. Maybe vision as well. As one of my favorite writers, Steven Pressfield,…
Read moreHR Rocks. So proclaims the button I picked up at the annual convention of the Society for Human Resource Management. The button was being passed out by the O.C. Tanner Company and attached to a piece of cardboard that had the following printed on it: People create People invent People discover People dream People build…
Read moreFor the last ten years I have lived at the Crossroads of the West—Salt Lake City. The other day I found myself at the Crossroads of the Word—Disney Hollywood Studios in Florida. As I looked up at Mickey Mouse, standing on a globe atop a giant tower proclaiming that you are at the Crossroads of…
Read moreI have asked myself many times when it comes to my dreams, am I really willing to do what it will take to get there? You have probably read or heard the following quote by W. H. Murray. It’s quite inspirational and a bit romantic. (It also misquotes Goethe but hey, it is still a…
Read moreI asked a friend who climbs mountains if there was a term for a place on a mountain that looks like the peak of the mountain but isn’t. A place that once you reach, you realize the real summit still is up and ahead of you. He said, “Oh yea, it’s called a false summit….
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