"Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence." - Vince Lombardi

Perfectionism, it sounds like such a noble aim doesn’t it?  Yet whether we’re working with or under a perfectionist, or dealing with our own perfectionism, it can be crippling. 

When I’m helping pu...

In Meredith Willson’s 1957 Broadway hit “The Music Man” (in which I was lucky enough to have a leading role eons ago), a traveling salesman comes to small-town Iowa posing as a band director to scam parents out of money for uniforms and instruments.  Without any plans to do any actual teaching, Haro...

“The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or a hostile universe.”  Albert Einstein

Homework for actors in a play or musical often begins by clearly defining his/her relationship with every other character on stage.  Do I like, love, hate, respect, admire, or l...

There is an app called WeCroak whose mission is to help you ‘find happiness by contemplating your mortality’.  Five times a day at random times (just like death),  the app will send you a message that says “Don’t forget, you’re going to die…”  and then lets you open a quote  about mortality for cont...

Let’s first assume that you know your content really well and now want people to fully  appreciate all the hard work that went into creating it.  We’ve all heard the buzz words ‘personal presence’ and ‘the power of the pause’, and for good reason.  But what’s underneath our ability to bring these th...

Part of my role as a board member with the Association for Talent Development is to introduce speakers at chapter meetings.  Once, in a multi-chapter event, the President of the other organization (who I'd just met), decided at the last minute that she was going to introduce me.  She pulled old info...

Bill Treasurer, Courage Guru and former member of the US High Diving Team, was a high-school swimmer when his coach saw an opportunity to get him a college scholarship -- by taking his effortless dive and moving it up. Way, way up. The problem was, Bill was afraid of heights. So they agreed to move ...

Since President Trump's Congressional Address last week, I heard Vice President Mike Pence in several interviews put 'great leader' and 'broad shoulders' in the same sentence.  He received a lot of attention around this 'broad-shouldered leadership' narrative during the presidential campaign last fa...

I’m crammed into a small plane with three other people, I have no idea how high we are, but definitely too high to feel safe.

One of the instructors releases the latch on the door, letting it fly open in the wind. Newport and the bay, usually so beautiful and serene, suddenly look threatening from ...

By now you’ve crafted and practiced your message in a down-to-earth, user-friendly, conversational style and It’s Show Time!  But be prepared -- despite all that practice and your hard-won confidence, you could still experience a physical anxiety response, just as you prepare to step out and face an...

If you think of yourself as an Introvert, or if you're anyone who falls into the category of “fears public speaking more than death,” you probably know you’re not alone. Many people find it intimidating and distracting to speak before a crowd, and are more comfortable expressing their thoughts in wr...