Recent Blog Articles

There IS Such a Thing as Too Much Responsibility

This is different than you’ve seen from me before. I wanted to share a transcript from one of my more unusual clients. If you enjoy it, please let me know, and I can share more like this. 😉   Peter: Everyone I get close to gets hurt. Josef: Say more. Peter: I constantly have to…

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Cut the Bullshit Part Three: They’re Not The Problem - Employee Problems - Clear and Open

Revisiting the Responsibility Paradox

The core of what I teach my clients is that if you want to grow, you have to get used to living with the discomfort of examining how you cause your own problems. It’s easy to find any number of excuses for things that are going wrong in our lives. But once you embrace the reality…

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Your Employees Want a Mentor, Not a Supervisor

I thought I was done with the series I did on The Matrix, but I’m not. That’s what epilogues are for! It’s like a P.S. for writers, and who doesn’t like a good postscript? If you read the series, which started with Part One, you probably appreciate now more than ever that it’s a film…

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Stop Getting Better at Doing Easy Things

I was a springboard diver as a kid. I was good, but I was never great. I understand why now. There are two principles that make the difference between good and great in any endeavor. When you learn to dive, you start with the easy stuff, of course: front dive, back dive, maybe a single…

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Zen And The Matrix Part 5: The Oracle

This is the final installment of my series on The Matrix. Have you seen Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4 yet? Neo’s meeting with the Oracle is quite built up, so we share Neo’s disorientation when he walks into a shabby kitchen and meets who looks like a mitten-knitting grandmother when we’re…

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Accountability: What We All Want But Won't Ask For - Clear and Open

Zen And The Matrix Part 4: Agent Smith As Ego

Last week in part 3, of the series on The Matrix, we discussed how Neo learns he must let go of his sense of control in order to find the truth. We’ve touched on the idea of the mind prison, wherein we trap ourselves by believing our thoughts are us. Inside this prison, we’re compelled…

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you are not your thoughts

Zen And The Matrix Part 3: Taking The Red Pill

This is part three of my series on the Matrix, which was released 20 years ago. If you haven’t already read Parts One and Two, you might want to review those first. Perhaps the most famous scene from The Matrix is when Morpheus asks Neo to choose between the red pill and the blue pill.…

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Excuses, Excuses: Whataboutism

Today we’re going to talk about Whataboutism, one of the most popular ways people deceive you. Early last year, the Oxford English Dictionary added the word whataboutism to its catalog: “The technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counter-accusation or raising a different issue.” Whataboutism is the perhaps…

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How NOT to be “The Man” in Your Employees’ Eyes

One of my favorite movies is the cult classic, “Office Space” written by Mike Judge, the nefarious creator of Beavis and Butthead. In the film he portrays management as being so incompetent that it’s comedic. But it’s easy to miss the powerful lessons amidst the caricature. Let’s unpack one of the most-loved scenes to learn…

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One Powerful Way to Create Instant Change in Your Life

What if there were a way to instantly get the results you want? More money, more time, better employees—whatever you want? I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t that the result of hard work?” “Don’t I have to change as a person?” “What if I haven’t earned those results yet?” You’re thinking too small! You may…

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