Personal Responsibility

September 27, 2012

Email – The Lowest Form of Communication

Although I like the Internet and most of its features and benefits, when it comes to sending and receiving communications of any substance, I hate email.  I long for the good old days (20 years ago) when people wrote real letters, folded them up, placed them in envelopes addressed to the intended recipients, and mailed them.

September 15, 2012

Is There Opportunity In Humiliation?

Over the past year I’ve gotten to know a young man who works at a local restaurant.  (For the purposes of this discussion, I’m going to call him Rusty.)  I see Rusty at least once a week when I pick up something to eat at the restaurant.  Rusty is a devout Christian.  He’s 36 years old, married, and has three children.  He works hard, is honest, has a good attitude, and appears to get along well with everyone he comes into contact with.

August 25, 2012

Engaging In Conflict

A client (I’ll call him Joe) recently agreed to do some home improvement work for a couple.  Joe called me after he was almost finished with the job and told me that the couple was accusing him of not doing the work in accordance with their agreement.  Although he had an initial proposal that was signed by the couple, they had changed the plans a few times and added several new items to the original proposal.  Unfortunately, Joe didn’t have any of the changes or additions in writing.

August 18, 2012

The Poison Pipeline

I recently settled an auto accident injury case for a university professor.  For purposes of discussion, I’m going to call him John (not his real name).  John told me that he originally came to the United States in the early 1980s to attend college.  After graduating, he accepted a job offer from a large U.S. corporation.  He eventually became a naturalized citizen of the United States.

August 4, 2012

Living a Life of Quality and Personal Leadership

Last month, there was an event that caused me to stop what I was doing and think back to 1989.  That was the year I purchased The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, a book written by Stephen Covey.  The event that caused me to stop and think about Covey’s book was a report on the news that he had passed away.  Covey died on July 16, 2012, at the age of 79.  At the time of his death, he was a professor at the John Huntsman School of Business at Utah State University.

June 30, 2012

Cooperation Among Strangers

The Ford Quadricycle

May 5, 2012

The Religion of America – As Represented in Disney Productions and The Hunger Games

Katniss Everdeen - District 12 - The Hunger Games

January 14, 2012

A Resolution To Commit Suicide?

During the 1980s and 1990s, I had the great fortune of working with Herman Heilman, a commercial and industrial real estate appraiser.  I was introduced to Herman by my Uncle Tony Couri.  Herman and Uncle Tony were good friends who went back a long way – Herman was born in 1904, and Uncle Tony was born in 1912.

January 7, 2012

A Dilbert Resolution

In last week’s article, Habit Gravity & Escape Velocity, I told you about a New Year’s resolution I imposed upon one of my teenage daughters last year.  The resolution was for her to make her bed every morning immediately after waking up.  In the article, I provided one of the primary reasons most people don’t keep their resolutions – they fail to develop the new habits that are necessary to follow through on the resolutions.  I also provided a formula that can be used to help facilitate the development of new habits.