Blog

Exploring the Possibilities

I wanted to share my friend Stephen Hacker’s latest message from Transformation Systems International. Please contact me directly if you think Transformation Systems International can help your organization chieve higher performance, greater confidence, and more engaged partnerships. Best, Marvin “As we in the Northern Hemisphere are experiencing the transition from long summer days into autumn coolness, I am reminded of the constancy of change.  I welcome the four seasons as the changes in weather produce new exercise routines, social engagements, work patterns, community events...

Read More

What the world needs now …is Listening

It has been a while since my last blog. One reason is that this is generally the season of holidays, family get togethers, and travelling. The second is reason is that I have wanted to add something to the conversations happening in the United States about the tensions between Black Americans and the police, the Confederate flag, and the state of uneasiness between blacks and whites. However, like the good academic I am, I did not want to say something until I thought I had a sound basis for doing so. Here are my thoughts. My biggest reflection on the current situation is that Jesus, Martin...

Read More

The Beauty of Doors

One thing I have learned over my 20 years of working with leaders and thinking about leadership is that we can learn lessons from anyplace. So, if you are interested in learning where I got the idea for this blog, continue reading. If you just want the lesson, skip to the fourth paragraph. Coaching basketball is one of my biggest passions and I find many things to observe while doing it. Like the time I was at a basketball clinic and the instructor commented on a drill that just about every basketball coach runs, which is the layup line. This is how it works: one group of players line up on...

Read More

What is passion?

I was listening to Sirius Satellite radio the other day and comedian and writer Greg Behrendt, the author of the book “He’s Just Not That Into You,” was doing his stand-up routine. He was saying that the reason most of us dread work is that we think of our jobs as boring. In contrast, he described rock stars as people to also have jobs, but infuse so much passion into their jobs that they actually become rock stars. That got me thinking about super-star athletes. Think about how many people pay enormous amounts of money to watch grown men drive a car in a circle (NASCAR), hit a white ball in...

Read More

What is your purpose?

In every business cycle there are different words to describe that cycle. If you have been in business long enough, you will have gone through diversity training, total quality management, activity-based costing, balanced scorecard, and more recently sustainability as the buzzword of the cycle. Well, the new buzzwords today are purpose and passion. In this post, I want to talk about purpose. Another word for purpose would be mission. Simply put, mission answers the question “Why am I here?” Much like the Wise Men followed the North Star to guide their journey toward the baby Jesus, so too...

Read More