Growing up, Easter was a very typical holiday for my family. Just like many othe families in my neighborhood. We’d get some new clothes for a sunrise service at church, hunt easter eggs, devour too many chocolate bunnies, and maybe have a family dinner with relatives after church. But it wasn’t until I was an […]
I was driving and listening to the radio (KLOVE) when a song by Mercy Me started. It gripped me from the opening line. “Dear younger me, where do I start?…” The song itself is powerful and it made a lasting impression on me because it made me think. I’m 30 years out of high school […]
I was asked to coach the CFO for a company in downtown Houston. I asked her more about why we were meeting. She said, “I told them (her audience) they complain too much and they should like this new HR plan. Later my boss (CEO) said I came across harsh and abrasive.” Wow… you think so? As […]
My wife and I were both excited to attend the leadership conference! The lineup of speakers included one of my favorites and one of my wife’s favorites. I was amped to hear from Craig Groeschel on topics like leading change and building systems. My wife was most excited about Lysa Terkeurst and her talk on […]
I knew it wasn’t going to be your normal conference kickoff keynote when I entered the ballroom and found a bongo at every audience seat. I was in the audience that day with about 400 other attendees. We couldn’t help but pick up the bongo, inspect it and experiment with tapping on it. Then one […]
“How is leader presence any different from normal presence?” My student asked this question immediately after I defined the two elements that make up a first impression; your perceived confidence and your approachability. My student persisted with a follow up question before I could even respond, “I mean, isn’t your presence just these two things, […]
The conference call went silent for only a second while she was thinking. Then my boss said, “Russ can be there. Set up the meeting.” Well, it looks like I was about to book a flight to Boston from Houston. Without any thought to my personal schedule, my pregnant wife, or my 2-year-old son. I’m […]
When I begin a communication workshop the topic of first impressions always comes up. We start by defining the three areas of impression your audience will have of you. One student will usually say, “So I just need to make sure that when I start speaking I’m demonstrating all three of these, right?” Well, the answer […]
It’s Wednesday and I’m in St. Louis getting some work done in my hotel room before I speak this afternoon for my customer. When I opened my Blogging Dashboard I noticed something… this is my 100th weekly blog post. That’s two years, almost 100,000 words, and the equivalent of two published books. I paused for […]
My son had his eyes set on the biggest stuffed animal, but throwing the balls into the basket was not going to be as easy as it appeared. After three failed attempts at tossing the balls he looked up at me and said, “I want to try again.” I could see where this was going. […]
