We all know how important listening is, right?  

But client / Forbes columnist Dan Woods took that a step further — to realize that the tools he learned in his coaching held the secrets of great leaders and business innovators from Steve Jobs to Jerome Robbins. And it's not just how to listen, but to what: products, companies, and ideas will actually talk to you if you know how to invite them to do so. (And apart from writing a great article, Dan was also kind enough to plug me and fellow coach Gale West for our contributions to his thinking.)

Check out the article, Listen to Your Product: Design Lessons from Fiddler on the Roof

You'll find it especially useful if you're tackling something entrepreneurial, or any other creative endeavor where an additional muse would help you.

Originally posted on the Trusted Advisor Associates LLC Trust Matters blog.

I was recently chatting with a good friend, Mark Hurwich, about some of the struggles we encounter when it comes to walking into a sales meeting. I think Mark hit the nail on the head when he spoke about how we can really be run by inner pre-adolescents that can take over even when we’re the most prepared — inevitably keeping us from closing a sale. I asked him to speak more on the subject — and it turned into this week’s guest blog post.

Originally posted on the Open Door Publication, Inc. blog.

Got a great idea for a book or article, enough skill to write it … and it’s not getting done? Or, worse still, maybe you’re successfully forcing yourself to write, but despite months of work aren’t producing anything you like.

You hate this block, and quite possibly yourself, too … right?

Salvation can actually lie in befriending your writer’s block, or at least what’s behind it. If you really want it to leave you … find a place to love the parts of you that created it.

Originally posted on the Natural Awakenings Magazine blog.

Achieving meaningful personal growth isn’t easy, particularly if the goal is real transformation instead of incremental change. A tool to try for achieving major change is the “Miracle Question.”

It originated in solutions focused therapy, and is particularly useful when individuals are lost in the depths of a problem with no clear path forward. What is the Miracle Question?


Imagine that, when you went to sleep tonight, a miracle occurred that started to solve the problem you’re struggling with. But since you were sleeping, you didn’t know. When you woke up, what small things might you notice that would tell you the miracle had occurred?