Posts Tagged ‘change’

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Managers wanted: Must possess self-awareness, be coachable and able to coach others

By Jim Whitt I stopped at a fast food place the other day which had an interesting message on its marquee: “Managers Wanted.” Not help wanted but managers wanted. I went inside and discovered just how desperately they needed managers. I stood at the counter waiting while two employees were busy serving customers at the drive-through window. The only other employee I saw was the manager on duty who was wandering around talking on his cell phone. He nearly bumped into me but completely ignored me. No “hello,” no “I’ll be right with you,” no nod of the head, no… Read More

February 28th, 2012 at 8:49am

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The seeds of solution are found inside our problems: Let’s get to farming

By Jim Whitt The seeds of solution are found inside our problems: Let’s get to farming I have good news and bad news. First the bad news — a sampling of recent online headlines: • 46.2 million Americans are now poor… • 22% of children in poverty… • Dramatic drop in median income… • Likely to worsen… • ABBAS: Palestinians want full UN membership… • Netanyahu set for UN showdown… • Anti-Israel subway signs in NYC spark religious war of words… • Bloomberg warns of riots Our world is in a state of disruption. Our nation is in a state of disruption. Business is in a state of… Read More

September 19th, 2011 at 8:10pm

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What will the world look like in 30 years?

By Jim Whitt While speaking at a meeting in Australia I shared the platform with Steve Tighe, a future strategist. This was in the fall of 2008, which coincided with the “fall” of 2008 when the economy collapsed. Keep in mind that many major corporations and financial institutions were so totally unprepared for this free-fall that their only salvation was a taxpayer bailout. The devastation was so severe that the economy still hasn’t recovered. How and why did this happen? Part of the answer comes from a recent article Steve wrote entitled: Time to Slow Down: “For many companies, it’s… Read More

August 8th, 2011 at 7:48am

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Fail Fast, Fail Forward, but Do Something

By Jim Whitt Years ago I spent a couple of days with Kenny Sherrill, owner the Union Stockyards in McAlester, Oklahoma. Most of the cattle in Oklahoma those days were sold at livestock auctions like Kenny’s or traded privately but a new method of selling cattle was creating a buzz. Cattle were videoed and sold via satellite feed. The primary advantage was that distance was eliminated. Instead of traveling to live auctions you could sit in front of a television and buy cattle regardless of where they were located. While many auction owners considered the satellite auction to be competition,… Read More

July 20th, 2011 at 10:21pm

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Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

By Jim Whitt Psychologist William James offered this simple but extremely accurate observation about the human species, “Compared to what we ought to be, we are half awake.” Most of us are sleep walking through life. It is only when we are provoked from our slumber that we take a look around at the new world we wake up in and ask, “Where am I and what am I doing?” That provocation most often comes in the form of adversity. Adversity is like a slap in the face. Mild adversity may only interrupt our slumber long enough to make us… Read More

July 6th, 2011 at 8:51pm

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What Charlie Sheen and Mel Gibson Can Teach Us about Change

By Jim Whitt A few months ago, Charlie Sheen seemed to be on top of the world. Then his world turned upside down. What’s really sad is that Charlie thought he was, to use his terminology, winning. And why shouldn’t he? He was raking in millions of dollars as the star of the highest rated sitcom on television. By many standards Charlie Sheen was a success. He probably really believed he possessed Adonis DNA and Tiger Blood. He saw absolutely no need to change. Now he has no show. Mel Gibson, another celebrity whose problems are well documented, knows what… Read More

April 28th, 2011 at 1:58pm

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Déjà vu All Over Again

By Jim Whitt On Groundhog Day one of the cable channels was running the movie, Groundhog Day, back-to-back all day. This was appropriate since the movie revolves around the life of Phil Connors, who inexplicably finds himself reliving the same day, Goundhog Day, every day. The movie is a case of, to borrow a phrase from Yogi Berra, déjà vu all over again. Phil is an egocentric TV weatherman who at first takes advantage of his unusual situation. He can do anything he wants with no repercussions. No matter what he does, good, bad or indifferent, the day starts over… Read More

February 2nd, 2011 at 5:13pm

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Management Block

By Jim Whitt I found a treasure trove of ideas in responses from readers to my article about Writer’s Block on September 29 (if you missed it you’ll find it at http://www.purposeunlimited.com/blog/). One of my Canadian friends called and asked me exactly what caused Writer’s Block. I told him I thought my case may have been caused by brain overload. If the cognitive circuitry is taxed beyond capacity (not difficult to do with my brain) it may continue to supply the brain power necessary to handle normal daily activity but there’s not enough juice left over for anything else. “Oh,”… Read More

October 6th, 2010 at 8:00pm

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Writer’s Block

By Jim Whitt If you have not been receiving my Eletter lately it is not due to technical difficulty. It is due to cognitive difficulty. In my case the cognitive difficulty is what’s known as Writer’s Block. Simply put Writer’s Block is when you sit down to write and you can’t. Your mind is just as blank as the screen on the computer. I’ve read about writers who have suffered from this malady but have never experienced it myself – until now. So, I have taken a sabbatical from writing the last few weeks. It really wasn’t like I had… Read More

September 29th, 2010 at 8:05pm

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How to Break an Old Habit and Build a New One

The following was originally published January 22, 2001  By Sondra Whitt  When we develop a habit or routine, we’re creating a neurological pathway in our brains. Each time we repeat the routine the same way, we strengthen the pathway, or connections between the neurons. This is what creates a habit. The more repetitions, the stronger the connection. So how do we break an old habit and create a new one? We have to throw a “road block” in the neurological pathway by breaking the routine. When we break the routine, we stimulate the brain to create a new pathway instead… Read More

August 5th, 2010 at 9:52am

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