My ten-year-old grandson, Liam, has a creative and inventive mind. When he is at Camp YaYa (i.e., over at our house), he is constantly looking for materials he can experiment with. Sometimes he builds with no specific project in mind, but he’ll continue to create until he ends up with something, like a cardboard fort. […]
Category Archives: Mentorship
Our Future is in Good Hands
As a frequent speaker to financial services audiences, I talk often about the future customers of financial institutions, including Gen Z, the youngest generation, who are mostly still in some form of school as I write this. So when I have a chance to interact with an actual Gen Z member, I generally ask a […]
Counting the Apples in a Single Seed …
Every July, I teach at the University of Colorado’s Graduate School of Banking for two weeks. This is an amazing experience for these bankers since they are being groomed by their institutions to become future leaders. Many of the students I teach will become C-Suite members in the years to come, so I take my […]
Making a List, Checking it Twice
As a speaking coach, I consistently remind my students that their performance from the platform is only a small part of what it takes to be a great professional speaker. One of the elements I stress is a checklist of details they must carefully address right before their talk. These include checking in with the […]
Reverse Brainstorm To Great Insight
In July, I teach two weeks at the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Colorado (GSBC). One of my students once showed me a great video called “7 Ways to Maximize Misery.” The idea is to get people to focus on happiness by showing how absurd it is to embrace being miserable. I […]
Insights into Influencers
I had a chance to meet the fascinating Jon Levy at the Destination Experience. He said, “I’m a behavior scientist. When I’m not consulting, doing research out of C Lab or speaking, I spend my life convincing strangers to cook me dinner and I travel around the world studying the science of adventure.” Sounds like […]
Dr. Kingsley Chin and Knowing Your Why
Upon arrival in Jamaica, I was alerted that one of the Destination Experience advisory board members would come to the airport and pick us up for the long ride from Montego Bay to Kingston. This saved us from an even longer bus ride. We met up with Ron McKay and during that 3-hour drive, I got […]
Sailing Through Customs
I had a planned business trip from Atlanta to Montego Bay Jamaica to speak at The Destination Experience. During the meeting with the planner before this, I began asking about issues involving getting in and out of Jamaica customs: “Is there any option available that would assist us in getting through customs in a streamlined fashion”? Now, […]
Does Experience Negate the Need for a Coach? No Way!
I was blown away by this comment of his and realized that regardless of our current state of proficiency, there will always be someone better than us. I wrapped up a strategy call with my speaking coach today. You might ask why someone who is a member of the National Speakers Association and has performed […]
Changing Lives with Blue Water
In perusing my latest copy of Cruising World magazine, I came across an article about a program called SailFuture that is based in Sarasota, Florida. The program was started by Michael Long, and his co-founders Mark Hunter and Hunter Thompson. It uses the art and science of sailing to target at-risk youth, an idea […]