Thank You Saying thank you will directly impact your success and enrollment of people around you. Some people do work for money, most do it for pride, purpose and connecting with others. People want to feel engaged and appreciated for the work they do and contributing to something bigger than themselves. When you say “thank you”, give one or two examples in how they contributed to your success. A project or deal is not done until you thank everyone who made major contributions. Add more thank you’s into your upcoming weeks and you will see the difference a few minutes of your time makes. Thank You for being a reader and giving me the inspiration to continue to write. Have a great Thanksgiving long weekend for those in the US. Colin

Having tough conversations with a peer or employee are some of the tougher things we do.  Keeping each person in a positive space during the conversation is key. Empathy for the challenges being faced keeps us in the problem-solving part of the brain vs fight or flight.This is a great article a friend shared on how to prep for these types of conversations.   Here is number 1:   What is your purpose for having the conversation? What do you hope to accomplish? What would be an ideal outcome? Watch for hidden purposes. You may think you have honorable goals, like educating an employee or increasing connection with your teen, only to notice that your language is excessively critical or condescending. You think you want to support, but you end up punishing. Some purposes are more useful than others. Work on yourself so that you enter the conversation with a supportive purpose.   Read the rest of the article here. Colin

As a Canadian, I grew up watching Liberals, Conservatives, and Democrats in our Political system.  Now that I am in the US, you can’t help to be glued to the current political landscape. What is telling is how great leadership crosses party, community and different phases of life.   There is a great opportunity to learn when icons pass and reflect for yourself how you would like to be remembered when you are gone.   Two Statements below from Barrack Obama and George W. Bush.   Obama:   “John McCain and I were members of different generations, came from completely different backgrounds, and competed at the highest level of politics,” Obama, 57, wrote. “But we shared, for all our differences, a fidelity to something higher — the ideals for which generations of Americans and immigrants alike have fought, marched, and sacrificed.   The statement continued: “We saw our political battles, even, as a privilege, something noble, an opportunity to serve as stewards of those high ideals at home, and to advance them around the world. …