The 11th Hour is a documentary that reveals a startling variety of global events. What are your thoughts as you view it?

Blog Action Day is almost here so do your part for the environment. This is an important event and one I’m proud to be some small part of.

If you haven’t already signed up to be a part of this, there is still time. Visit this link to sign up.

October 15, 2007 will be a great day for the environment. Blogs large (Mashable, TreeHugger, John Chow, and Read/WriteWeb) and small (special people like you and I) are all critical additions to the cause.

How many times have you heard someone use the phrase, “live each day as if it were your last?”

The incredible man you’re about to meet in this video has taken that message to an entirely higher level. View it, listen to it, share it and then…live it.

By Dennis Heath

One of the most common areas for development that arises when coaching executives is the need for more assertiveness. The problem is that “assertive” is often confused with “aggressive” or dictatorial.

Those that subscribe to an aggressive style to produce results may well deliver the goods in the short term. However, over the long term, team members will feel disrespected, become demoralized and look for opportunities outside the organization.

The longer term outcome is a steady decline in results as attrition rates climb, which also affects members of related departments as they see their colleagues being victims of aggressive or bullying behavior. Such behavior is a common career derailer, particularly for those in senior positions or those who are highly ambitious.

At the other end of the spectrum are passive managers. Managers who fail to assert themselves have a similar, negative impact on morale and productivity. Passive managers can be indecisive, poor mentors, uninspiring and equally as damaging as Mr. Aggressive.

Team members working for a passive manager may find it hard to gain support for their ideas and initiatives, be uncertain about where their focus should be and concerned about the ability of their manager to represent their needs and concerns at senior level.

Assertive managers are able to lead, direct and motivate without the need to bang the table, play the dictator or criticize their direct reports. Some managers however, hesitate to embrace assertiveness because they mistakenly equate it to aggressive behavior.

Assertiveness and aggression are two entirely different things. Whilst aggression is emotional and counter-productive, assertiveness is all about clarity of communication and intent. An assertive statement or request has five key elements:

1/ It is not open to misinterpretation.

2/ There is absolute clarity of what the speaker requires from the listener.

3/ It is free of negative or aggressive emotion.

4/ Body language is congruent with the spoken words.

5/ Words used and body language show respect to the receiver.

As well as enabling a manager to give clear, unequivocal direction and leadership, assertiveness has an important role to play in giving positive motivational messages to team members. Compare the following two statements:

Read the rest of this entry »

On Memorials Day this year, my brother-in-law walked across the street to share a few laughs with his sister, brothers and his father. A half hour later, he was lying in the street because his heart stopped. September 5th was my birthday.

This year, there was no joy in the day as our loved one was removed from the ventilator sustaining his tenuous grip to this planet. Today, Sept. 11th was his “going home” ceremony.

The question was asked, “What do you do when you don’t know what to do?” It’s totally wrenching to see your family so distraught knowing there’s really nothing you can do to ease their suffering.

One speaker was a childhood friend. I kept wondering how someone keeps a solid friendship going from age eleven until just shy of 54 years old. To me that was inspiring. It speaks about the caliber of a person.

Today has been one of reflection for the entire nation. To all those who lost loved ones previously, may your memories sustain you and bring you some measure of peace. Even though the stories may have faded from the eyes of the press, in your hearts and lives we know they are ever present companions.

Choose today to:

• Make each moment count
• Speak only what you will not later regret
• Ask forgiveness while you still can
• Resolve issues that keep you stuck
• Let others know they matter to you
• Honor someone long overdue
• Smile instead of curse
• Bless instead of belittle
• Support instead of sacrifice
• Hug rather than hurt
• Rebuild rather than replace
• Build up not tear down

What else is on my mind today…

The Jena Six Case (And Why You Should Care)

Justice In Jena

Jena Six updates: Slant Truth 2.0

Is One Form Of Injustice More Important Than Another?

“When competing against respectable adversaries the difference between success and failure, between victory and defeat, is achieving…incremental advantage.”

~Incremental Advantage

Incremental Advantage is that small, possibly insignificant thing that happens when you’re trying to accomplish something. What results is a huge mega effect from that performance that’s way more dynamic than it should have been. In other words, the way I see it is “little things applied consistently can create rapidly dramatic changes.”I was considering this from the Incremental Advantage site as I reflected on my son’s first football game (yeah!).

The score was 41 to nothing and it was so great to see their reward for all the days of non-stop push ups, chin ups, bear crawls laps run in the mud and rain, all the high humidity levels they endured, the zillions of mosquito and no-see-um bites received. It was awesome and I felt so proud of each and every one of them.

Have you ever seen a celebrity or someone else you really admired and thought highly of, only to see an action or hear harsh comments they made that tarnished your view of them?

There are many examples of incremental advantages and disadvantages all around us if we care to look for them. Times when we want to quit with everything in us only to push forward one more time and achieve success, moments when we pay attention to random comments for a change and discover a life altering concept or way of doing business.

View Post Here On the road to success, pay attention to times when a bit of a push might make a huge shift occur in your life. Consider these statistics I found on the Incremental site:

“The act of running 40 yards in 4.3 seconds and running it in 4.4 seconds—a 2% difference—was more than $1 million per year in salary for wide receivers in the National Football League.”

Another entry that caught my eye was “Don’t Be Penny Wise And Pound Finish”, detailing the story of Ross Perot (tycoon) and the founders of Home Depot (adventurers). These recently fired Handy Dan employees sought investment capital to launch a new concept for doing business.

They needed $2 million dollars from Mr. Perot but he refused. Why? Because Bernard Marcus was driving an older model Cadillac and Mr. Perot felt he should be driving a Chevy. Marcus also believed the rejection was influenced by the mustache sported by his partner Arthur Blank.

Who knows what the real objections were. The point is that if Mr. Perot had invested what to him must surely have been a nominal amount of money, he would be worth more than a hundred b-b-b-billion dollars by now.

Lesson learned? Stop focusing so much on the forest that you can’t see any trees.

See complete entry here