KEEPING LEVEL BLOG
Leadership and Luck: Recognizing Everyday Miracles
There is a lot to be grateful for that is impossible to attribute to any other human being. As a result, we tend to acknowledge and thank God, a Higher Power or perhaps we may attribute our good fortune to serendipity. For example, think of the gift of being alive today ! Life truly is a miracle that is difficult to fully understand.
A recent experience made me realize <more>
Your brain is a magnet: how to train it to attract what you want
Whether you realize it or not, your brain is a magnet. It notices and attracts whatever dominates your thinking.
If you worry, focus on what could go wrong, ruminate over past mistakes or an unpleasant future, your brain is going to <more>
How to prevent your gratitude practice from going stale
Last week I received an email from an audience member who participated in one of my programs on the previous day. He had a question:
I’m writing my gratitudes today and they don’t look much different than what I wrote yesterday. How do you avoid your gratitude practice becoming mechanical ?
<more>
Leadership Lessons from a Grandmother’s Love
For the past year our two-year old grandson Liam has been having a weekly sleepover at our place. I just discovered that after Lynda drops Liam at preschool in the morning, she sends a text to his parents - and she does so as if Liam is sending the message.
Before you read Liam's text, one thing you need to understand is that Lynda’s gramma name is "Me". Yes, it is very confusing and we blame that on our oldest grandson, Max who coined the name Me.
Anyhow, here is Liam's most recent message to his Mom and Dad,For the past year our two-year old grandson Liam has been having a weekly sleepover at our place. I just discovered that after Lynda drops Liam at preschool in the morning, she sends a text to his parents - and she does so as if Liam is sending the message.
Anyhow, here is Liam's most recent message, <more>
Gratitude and Grief: A Paradox Explained
Last week, a participant in a program asked a very powerful question,
Can I be grateful while I’m experiencing a lot of grief - like I am right now ?
My response, <more>
From Frustration to Solution: A Mindset Shift
We recently got approved for financing to add solar panels to our home. It’s a pretty sweet financing arrangement and I wish I could say the process went as sweet.
Let’s back up.
I’ve got everything entered into the online system and <more>
What if you only had what you’re grateful for
Reading other people’s gratitudes is an important habit to cultivate to build a world class mindset. To support people with this practice, I send a weekday email that has 6 gratitudes—3 from me and 3 from a guest and each week we have a different guest.
One of our recent guests, Laura Vaughan, shared an idea that stopped me in my tracks: <more>
A Miracle for Dad’s Vision
For the past 5 years I’ve been accompanying my Dad at appointments with his Ophthalmologist. Having had 3 cornea transplants, now blind in one eye and very poor vision in the other eye, the doctor follows Dad closely.
For at least 4 years, Dad has been <more>
A Grandfather’s Promise of Hope
Think back to June 2020. We’re 3 months into Covid and I’m out on the street playing with our 5-year old grandson. We’re having a ball but I can tell he’s distracted. For starters, he can <more>
The best answer to "What do you do ?"
A couple weeks back I’m dropping off my car in for regular service and the Service Advisor says, "Are you in the aviation business ?" He catches me off guard because I'm in my running gear and about to run home. So I give a rather short reply, "No." Looking back, I might have been a tad curt.
Grinning from ear to ear, he asks, "So what do you do ?"
I say, <more>
How to grow your business - a not so obvious insight from a junior golf camp
Our 9-year old grandson attended a golf camp last week. I was particularly keen to see what skills they would be teaching the kids and when I saw what they were taught, I was flabbergasted.
I was expecting <more>
The comedian's reminder - something everyone should be proud of
As part of a conference where I spoke last week, the organizers featured a comedian at the gala dinner. The conference was in the beautiful town of St Andrew’s by the Sea, New Brunswick and the comedian was <more>
Begin anyway: Dealing with unsupportive leadership
One of the biggest challenges leaders face in trying to implementing gratitude into the fabric of their culture is that they have a limited scope of responsibility and that higher level leadership isn’t fully supportive. I know this as I frequently hear this is challenge for many leaders. In these situations their question is, "So what should I do ?"
My answer begins with a story. <more>
Misplaced Mindset - the root of all organization dysfunction
Have you ever witnessed someone go from fully engaged at work to within a few months, all out rebellion ? This happens because of what I call, Misplaced Mindset - and unfortunately <more>
Mindfulness vs. Forgetfulness: How to overcome the biggest threat to being grateful
I have a smartwatch—a watch so smart, it notices when I’m inactive and it nudges me to stand up, to move, to exercise. It’s paying attention to a few basic markers of living an active life. The data connects to an app on my phone which looks for trends and lets me know when I’m off track and on track. It’s been a game changer for me.
Just as physical activity is to physical health, so is gratitude to <more>
Greed or Gratitude - Guess what I picked ?
A couple of weeks ago a concert we were looking forward to was canceled. This was disappointing as we were looking forward to seeing the artist and it was going to be a fun weekend away. The good news is that the concert has already been rescheduled and the new dates do not conflict with our schedules.
Our airfare and hotel were refunded but we ended up stuck with 2 tickets to a hockey game. So I decided to put the tickets on the resale market and thought, "Maybe I can make some money on these babies." <more>
Why you should have a gratitude practice
Why do we instruct our kids to wear a helmet every time they ride their bike ? And why do we ensure our employees wear their PPE all the time ?
Simple. Because <more>
The Power of Ethical Leadership
It’s 1993. I’m working at the electrical utility and we have a long standing supplier who has an innovative new product they’ve developed. We test a couple dozen for a few months and the account rep says, <more>
Caring Leadership: The key to engaged teams
If you don’t care about your people, you can stop reading now.
So here’s a question for those of you who care, "Do your people know and believe you care about them ?"
Many of your people will fall into one of two very distinct categories <more>
The Beauty of Failure
Over the last 4 years I’ve had close to a dozen clients complete a certification program geared to being an effective corporate director. Without exception, everyone has raved about the program.
A couple weeks back, two clients who were part of the most recent cohort were talking and one says, "Did you hear about the final results ? A couple people failed the oral test (this is where candidates are assessed on their performance in a mock board meeting)." The other said, "I heard. I can’t believe it. That’s not good."
This was my cue to jump in <more>