[Life Back West] January 2012 – Paging Amelia Earhart

Trailblazer, aviator and stereotype breaker Amelia Earhart once said “When a great adventure is offered, you don’t refuse it.

Amelia, however, wasn’t helping raise a son. She also hadn’t just rebuilt a coaching practice working with individuals and teams back to pre-Great Recession levels.

Taking a risk for her, covering a gamble, was perhaps easier, with less downside to go along with any upside.… Read the rest

Shame? When the Business Icon Stumbles

It may have missed your radar, but two North American business icons waved the financial white flag in the last three weeks.

Harry & David filed for bankruptcy, and the storied Los Angeles Dodgers baseball franchise was taken over by Major League baseball. The organizations are deeply in debt, and the path forward is tricky for both.

What happened?

In the case of Harry & David, that Medford, Oregon-based purveyor of fine fruits and friendly customer service, a large portion of the blame is being cast toward H & D’s owner, private equity firm Wasserstein & Co.… Read the rest

If You Only Had ONE Job Interview Question to Ask? – Revisited

The question “If You Had Only ONE Job Interview Question to Ask” was posed this past May. The suggestion merits revisiting based on an aside Carol Dweck made this past week when I caught her presentation at my son’s grade school, Marin Country Day School.

Dweck’s research – which has more depth and vigor than I’ve distilled here – has pointed to the existence of two types of mindets – that of a “fixed” mindset and that of a “growth” mindset in children as well as adults.Read the rest