Financial decisions, especially those made during tight economic times, are harder to make than those of previous times of prosperity. Especially dicey are tough calls that demand a difficult decision to hang on or cut the cord. No one makes the … [Read more...]
Never Lose Sight of Your Best Alternative
Choices -- and the decisions we make -- determine which roads we travel. Some of those decisions will be right, some wrong, and a few may require a U-turn and do-over. All of this is fine and normal. Little in life follows a straight, predictable … [Read more...]
The 3-Day Rule: How to Deal with Disappointment
For the past six weeks I have been eyeballs-deep mediating a heck of a mess. The goal -- an executive and company divorce -- has so many interwoven business and emotional complexities that a bearable solution tied to an volatile transition seems like … [Read more...]
“We Got to Play Baseball” Now in eBook Format
978-1-61897-983-4sample As baseball's regular season winds down, "We Got to Play Baseball" (60 Stories from Men Who Played the Game) is now available in eBook format. To download a sample, including chapter one, click the hot link to the left … [Read more...]
Why Worker Worries are Changing
Results of a recent survey by Harris Interactive caught my eye due to its revealing evidence of behavioral change in the American workplace. Elizabeth Olson wrote a beautiful piece about this in Fortune and I thought the subject of her work is timely … [Read more...]
Why Politics Inflame Emotion
As an impatient and confused America lumbers toward an uncertain eenie-meenie in November's presidential election between two flawed candidates, ushering us along the way are flood tides of political truths, half-truths, mistruths, and laughable … [Read more...]
Ocean Palmer’s 20 Keys to Better Writing
About every three weeks I am contacted by an aspiring writer searching for advice in advance of writing a story or book. Since it is easy to write but hard to write well, here are 20 things I suggest they consider: Have a voice. Do not copy someone … [Read more...]
Why the Olympics Survive
As calendar pages peel away to mark the midway point of the 2012 Summer Olympics, London, as we knew it would, has been a splendidly gracious host to all 204 participating countries. Although I'm not sure why Hong Kong, which is part of China, or … [Read more...]
Why Great Leaders Can Weaken
The same skills that propel a woman or man to become a terrific businessperson frequently circle around to bite them on the butt and make them a less than stellar leader. This is a maddening but increasingly common coaching phenomenon: How do you … [Read more...]
More Bullets, More Bodies, Same Reason
A little over thirteen years ago, ten miles west of my home two attention seeking teenagers chose a Wednesday in April to turn Columbine High School into a shooting gallery. Twelve students died, as did a heroic teacher. Two dozen more classmates … [Read more...]