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Be Prolific: What I’ve Learned From 10 Toastmaster Speeches
Last week I achieved Toastmaster’s “Competent Communicator” (CC) award (I know, I’m officially competent, hooray!). I’ve been working towards this since I started the Toastmasters program early this year, so it felt like a big accomplishment. To achieve a “CC”, Toastmasters need to complete 10 speeches, most being between 5-7 minutes long. Each of the…
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Leading from Second Fiddle
When the orchestra conductor, Leonard Bernstein, was asked what the most difficult instrument to play was, he answered without hesitation: “The second fiddle. I can get plenty of first violinists, but to find someone who can play the second fiddle with enthusiasm.” Few of us aspire to take a supporting role, to work in the…
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Love the Process
I have a friend who loves fishing. Even after years of pulling fish out of the water – long after most of us would have gotten bored with the sport – he still gets excited about every fish. He loves getting out on the water every day, whether the fishing is good or bad. He…
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Remember
I’m currently reading Viktor E. Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning, which offers his perspective, as a psychiatrist and prisoner, of being in a concentration camp during World War II. His stories of the incredible evils inflicted on millions of people are astonishing, as are the stories of survival and courage. The distance of time and…
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Don’t Aim at Success – My First Tapestry
I recently heard about Tapestry, which is an app with an interesting take on visual storytelling using words, photos and the simple “tap”. The combination of text, visuals and pacing caught my curiosity. It’s kind of like a slideshow (sans cheese) that you view on your phone. Below is my first test drive of the…
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Don’t Aim at Success – Viktor Frankl
“Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side-effect of one’s dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of…
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The Curveball
One of the marks of a great leader is their ability to deal with unexpected circumstances: curveballs. You can do all the planning you want, unexpected things will happen at the last moment. The only question is what you’ll do when they’re thrown. And in fact, curveballs can be a good thing. – I remember…
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Seeing
“I wonder how many people I’ve looked at all my life and never seen.” -John Steinbeck
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Climbing the Ladder of Leadership
When we talk about “climbing the ladder”, we usually assume an upward climb. It’s as though the climb to leadership is a big king-of-the-hill battle. The goal is to be on top. But you know what happens when we assume… Leaders know that climbing the ladder is, in fact, a climb downward on an inverted…
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Temporary Beauty
Sand mandalas are a Tibetan Buddhist tradition which involves creating a mandala out of coloured sand. After hours of meticulous work, the mandala is ceremoniously dismantled. Gone. The first time I heard of this artform, my immediate reaction was, “What a waste!” It seems a shame to create something so intricate and beautiful just to…
