Motivation

Unnecessary Leadership: The Best Leadership of All

June 20, 2011

When I was a kid, I used to wonder if police officers thought everyone drives the speed limit. Because whenever police officers are around, everyone does drive the speed limit. But as soon as they turn off, traffic lurches forward. That’s the problem with the concept of management. Employees step up their performance when the [...]

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Motivating Employees: Finding a Good Fit

May 9, 2011

Angela giggled as she joined me onstage during my keynote on motivating employees. She was a petite thirty-something and I asked her to pull on a 3X Large t-shirt over her outfit.  She almost disappeared in the loose garment. The audience laughed at this ridiculous image. “Is there a manufacturing flaw with this shirt?” I [...]

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Excel at Being You

January 20, 2011

By nature, you already have everything you need to excel at being you. The problem is, most people try to be someone they’re not. In the process, they neglect the very qualities that make them special. Be authentic – always – and your life will be extraordinary.

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What Motivates More, Pain or Pleasure?

November 14, 2010

The job of a motivational speaker is pretty self-explanatory. Motivational speakers are supposed to motivate.  This means giving people a stronger sense of their feelings in an effort to mobilize them (or more accurately, help them self-mobilize). If my audience members feel good but don’t do anything, then I haven’t done my job. While good [...]

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Just Do It… Right Now

November 3, 2010

Last week a colleague pulled me into her office to ask advice. She’d met a man she’s really falling for, but couldn’t invite him to her birthday party because she had a date with another guy. The first guy found out about the party and was hurt he wasn’t invited. My colleague didn’t know how [...]

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The Fun in Fear

October 31, 2010

Halloween is a day (OK, night) where we delight in fear. We watch scary movies, visit haunted houses and don our most frightening masks. We venture through the dark streets and throw caution to the wind, gladly taking candy from strangers. It’s fun to cover our faces and peek through our fingers at the fright [...]

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The Value of Pain

October 28, 2010

In a recent interview on “The View,” Stephen Colbert from Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” shared lessons he learned from his mother, a courageous woman who raised nine kids on her own after Colbert’s father and two siblings were killed in a plane crash. Barbara Walters asked him how his mother did it. “Strong faith,” [...]

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Coping With Criticism

September 11, 2010

As a motivational speaker I’ve had my share of criticism. My programs are often formally evaluated by the audience. It’s amazing how one harsh review can negate a large stack of accolades. Criticism feels like a knife wound and heals more slowly. It demoralizes us. And although most criticism is directed at behavior, we usually [...]

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Get In Over Your Head Because You’re Taller Than You Think

September 8, 2010

“What am I doing on this stage?” I wondered. “I have no businesses speaking to this audience.” For three years, I had been a youth speaker, giving presentations exclusively to teenagers. Now I was giving my first corporate keynote at a national sales meeting for a sporting apparel company. I’d worked like crazy to prepare. [...]

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To Step Towards What You Want, Step Away From What You Don’t

September 4, 2010

I recently coached one of my employees to discuss her life goals. She’s got big dreams, all o f them achievable. In the two years I’ve known her, however, she’s made virtually no progress. She has no problem with the idea of a new life. Her problem is letting go of the old one. To [...]

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