When you’re in “inside” sales, customers come to you.When you’re in “outside” sales, you go looking for customers. When I was a baby ad-man in outside sales, I had the good fortune to spend a day with Gene Chamberlain. He taught me three things that day that made me a lot of money. Today I’m […]

I have long heard the sound of the French language in the paintings, architecture, music and food of France. Likewise, the sound of the German language is in the paintings, architecture, music and food of Germany. And the sound of Italian is in the paintings, the architecture, music and food of Italy. Do these connections […]

Roy, I think ye be correct. Part 1 … People are like Water … we become what we touch. It’s like water. We think of water as water, but the characteristics of water depend on where it comes from and what it touches. Water is the universal solvent. It becomes whatever it comes in contact […]

A story by Jack Booman on the blog of Daniel Levis states, “It’s from the book by Edward DeBono, Serious Creativity. In it, DeBono talks about the patterns our brains tend to follow in order to simplify our lives. ‘At the beginning, we’re moving along an EXPECTED pathway. For instance, let’s say your mind is […]

I was bagging my groceries when the checker handed me my receipt and said, “Happy Yesterday.” Unsure of the correct response, I just smiled at him and nodded. A few moments later I realized he had said, “Happy rest-of-your-day.” But that brief exchange put my mind on an interesting track: can we choose to have […]

Vertical and Horizontal Thinking Vertical thinking is step-by-step, procedural, outcome-focused. It helps you get things done.  Always asking, “What is the obvious next step?” vertical thinking leads to incremental evolution and refinement. It is a ratchet that maintains what you’ve accomplished, then “click,” gives you a little bit more. The Japanese call it kaizen, “continuous […]

Back in those days you didn’t shoot nobody unless they really needed shootin’.  So when someone showed you a gun, you knew there was a reason. You didn’t always know what the reason was, so the polite thing to do was ask.  “What’s with the hog leg?” “Keeps folks from takin’ the cash box.” “I […]