A book review by Reg Adkins. You Were Born Rich (1997 LifeSuccess Publications), by Bob Proctor. I read Bob Proctors landmark book some years ago, and I continue to see the message it contained proclaimed over and again by successful people (Sam Kalenuik, Grant Sylvester and many others). When I saw that the book was made…

Effective leaders treat others with a positive regard. Specifically, effective leaders understand the power of appreciation. This goes beyond the Carnegie precepts of “Be hardy in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” Effective praise is a skill set that must be learned like any other. As leaders we often find ourselves spending and inordinate amount…

One of the challenges faced by great leaders is coaching others into accepting responsibility for their own actions and behavior. We all make mistakes. In order to grow from those mistakes we must be able to accept ownership of the mistake. There is a good metaphor about a storm that looks at responsibility. A person’s behaviors and…

There is a little rebel in all of us. The question is when an employee breaks the rules what should you do about it? It is an important question. The decision can have an impact not only on the employee but the whole department in which he works. Every manager should make it a habit to periodically…

In most any professional environment you will encounter those who are feeling the repercussions of long hours and impending deadlines. The pre-burnout conditions can manifest themselves in any of the following behaviors. Little or no demonstrated interest in the business at hand. Few outside interests or hobbies. Statements of apathy. Limited or no goals for professional or personal…

A series on becoming a more successful leader. There’s no doubt about it. Being in a leadership position is a very difficult job. We are required to do so much and to be all things to so many people. The advice we get is often great in theory, but falls short of the mark in practice…

A book review by Reg Adkins. The Creating Brain: The Neuroscience of Genius (2005, Dana Press), by Nancy C. Andreason. This book is not written for the technical reader. It has a conversational tone and does very little to address neuroscience as the title would lead you to believe. However, the book is a good place…

The following numbers track the increase in obesity in children from 1963-2002 by percent. 1963-1965 4.2% 1976-1980 6.5% 1999-2002 25.8% Here are some more facts for adults. Many of the statistics come from U.S. data bases others are taken from the World Health Organization. 24.1% of men aged 20-34…

A Michael Gurian, Kathy Stevens book, published by Jossey-Bass, reviewed by Reg Adkins. Michael Gurian begins the book by describing the current crisis in the education of boys. He takes careful steps to note the indicators of this crisis in detail noting facts including boys get the majority of D’s and F’s boys…

Studies by Dimetri Christakis at the Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle have determined that the brain need touch, hearing, seeing, smelling, and tasting stimulus to grow fully. Now consider the following facts about the youth of today. The average child spends 900 hours a year in school and 1,023 hours a year watching television. In…

Food prices are on the rise again. After the relative stability of the last ten years, this past November (latest finalized data analysis I could find) packaged food makers began increasing prices last year to cover the rising cost of raw ingredients. Specific examples include: Oscar Mayer lunch meats Capri Sun juice pouches Wheat Thin crackers Fig Newtons Jolly Ranchers Twislers Natures Own breads Sunbeam…

I recently did a series which compared the usefulness of tools. Since I’m rather linear in my mental processes, that got me thinking about the usefulness of certain foods. So I took a walk to the refrigerator for inspiration. Do you have disgusting things in your refrigerator? I think some of the things in my refrigerator…

If you have been reading my count down, I’m sure it is no surprise to any of you that my number one greatest tool of all time is the knife. There are hundreds of different kinds of knives designed for the kitchen alone. To choose a knife that is of good quality and best fits your needs…

What is more useful than a nice hefty rock? You can almost always find one the perfect size (which is just a little bigger than your fist). Yes it’s primitive but it sure makes an “I’m all business” statement. Look down this list and tell me you haven’t used a big ole rock for at least…

Number 8 on the greatest tools of all times list that most versatile of all binders, Bailing Wire. Here are a few of its most common uses. Key retriever. Combine a length of bailing wire with a sticky piece of chewing gum to retrieve the key that fell through the sewer grating. Chum Tie. Grind up your…