When it comes to credit cards—there’s an important topic to consider: beware of the minimum payment trap. Millions of Americans think they’re doing just fine as long as they make the minimum payment each month. But, believe me, if that’s all you’re paying you’ve already got one foot in the financial grave and the other on a banana peel! Credit card companies love people who…

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Which type of leader are you? As I discussed in my book, ReTooled & ReFueled, there are essentially two leadership models. The first is power-driven leadership. This is where a person with power leads through fear and intimidation. At its worst, this is a slave master who abuses a slave. More often today, it’s a boss who is more focused on his own career than…

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The only thing worse than a conflict is an even worse conflict. Here are four ideas from my bestseller, ReTooled & ReFueled, which you might find helpful. 1. Picking the wrong time and place. Little good is accomplished when we are tired, stressed, ill, or focused on too many other issues. Sometimes the best thing to do is schedule an exact time for discussing a…

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It’s hard to see the big picture while living in a world filled with small thinking people. We tend to start projects with high goals, but somehow drift into the weeds of life, making it difficult to remember what’s most important. Take the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright who made their first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. On…

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To quote the great 20th-century philosopher, Mayberry’s Deputy Barney Fife, one of the best ways to avoid consequences is to do the right thing in the first place and simply, “Nip it in the bud!” Succinctly put, conflict often happens because people tend to be gutless. I’ve heard it said, “If you want to have less conflict, have more of it.” I think that’s profound….

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The only thing worse than a conflict is an even worse conflict. Here are four ideas from my bestseller, ReTooled & ReFueled, which you might find helpful. Picking the wrong time and place. Little good is accomplished when we are tired, stressed, ill, or focused on too many other issues. Sometimes the best thing to do is schedule an exact time for discussing a conflict….

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“There is nothing new under the sun.” If he had never made another statement, this comment would have proven Solomon’s wisdom. Each generation goes to great lengths to convince itself that their generation is the worst and most depraved one yet. But the fact is human nature is pretty predictable. Conflict among humans has been around as long as there have been humans. In frontier…

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As you may know, I am a professional speaker. Each year I travel nationally and abroad and speak about 150 times. Bottom-line: I fly a lot…about 100 flights annually. So, it doesn’t take me long to size up a flight attendant’s mood. This is an important skill because the flight attendant’s mood is a good predictor of how enjoyable the flight will be. Recently I…

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One of the lessons I’ve learned as I travel America speaking to all sorts of audiences: It’s human nature to desire success without effort. But unless you have a big inheritance (or a mask and a gun), that probably won’t happen. The ancient biblical proverb says, “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” The most successful people…

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In the spring of 1977, Bon and I determined to begin our own business…an ad agency in Nashville. But, due to terrible spending habits, I’d wasted all the money I’d earned in the three years since graduating from college in 1974. The only money we had was $4,000 that Bonnie’s family and friends had given us as investors in our new business. (To this day,…

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