Ecological Human Services Management

The air is thick with tariffs, or is it? We hear about more and more tariffs and tougher and tougher negotiations. But is that the truth of it, the bottom line? I think not. I suspect the truer story is more and more taxes on each of us. That's the real negotiating strategy. Press play and come to your own conclusion.

Do you know someone who is proud of being his or her own person? By that, they mean that the social rules and customs that apply to most of us just don’t apply to them. They think that conforming and predictability are for everyone else but not for them. They are their own person and others will just have to deal with it. Let’s think about how that might work out over time. Press play and join me.

Do you see a committed relationship in your future or perhaps a renewed commitment to an ongoing relationship? If so, you may do well to listen and consider if you are actually ready to commit.

ockerell, Lee. Creating Magic: 10 Common Sense Leadership Strategies From a Life at Disney. New York: Doubleday, 2008. Each of the fifty-nine thousand Cast Members is trained to treat each and every Guest with the utmost care and respect. And they do this consistently because they are treated exactly the same way by the Disney leadership: with the utmost care and respect. ...they fail to appreciate the critical difference between managing and leading. I learned the hard way that managerial skills are absolutely essential for getting results, but they are not enough to drive excellence. Excellence requires common sense leadership. ...all everyone wants is to feel special, to be treated with respect, and to be seen as an individual. ...leaders have to set the proper tone by staying cool, calm, and collected under pressure. No matter what's going on, they have to focus single-mindedly on doing the best they can with what they have instead of blaming, whining, or wishing that things would change. Just as

iseman, Liz and Greg McKeown. Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc., 2010. It isn't how much you know that matters. What matters is how much access you have to what other people know. It isn't just how intelligent your team members are; it is how much of that intelligence you can draw out and put to use. The Diminisher is an Empire Builder. The Multiplier is a Talent Magnet. The Diminisher is a Tyrant. The Multiplier is a Liberator. The Diminisher is a Know-It-All. The Multiplier is a Challenger. The Diminisher is a Decision Maker. The Multiplier is a Debate Maker. The Diminisher is a Micromanager. The Multiplier is an Investor. Would your people describe you as someone who recognizes talented people, draws them in, and utilizes them at their fullest? Would they say they have grown more around you than any other manager they have worked for? Or would they describe you as someone who pulled them into your organization not as a talent to b

This one is just for listening. Kevin does his magic to brighten up our day, especially if it is still Monday where you are.

Whether the thirty tips from James are actually paths to success is an open question. Even so, they are thirty tips that help us come closer to that success we want. I think James has actually discovered thirty ways of making the same point, and that point is well worth five minutes to be sure we never forget. Please listen and remind yourself.

Thanks for giving me a few minutes to share a couple of thoughts about leadership and taking care of business. I found an interesting book that has some ideas worth consideration. In Leadership and Self-Deception: Getting Out of the Box, produced by the Arbinger Institute and published by Berrett-Koehler Publishers in 2002, I discovered what I think is an important truth for everyone but especially for leaders. It starts with a simple but rather strange proposition. Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life. There you go. Let me share it again. I don't know for sure about you but I personally find the assertion very strange. Self-deception determines my experience in every aspect of life. Okay, I'll move on. The arguement works like this. 1. An act contrary to what I feel I should do for another is an act of "self-betrayal." 2. When I betray myself, I begin to see the world in a way that justifies my self-betrayal. 3. When I see a self-justifying world, my view of reality becomes

With twenty or so Dems running for President and Trump fronting the Repubs for re-election, the every-four-year circus is upon us. Campaign season is underway. I thought we might all benefit from a short history of politics and a reminder that politics isn't always what the politicians tell us it is. Please press play and come to your own conclusion.

Over the years, we accumulate quite a variety of rules and philosophy tidbits for life and living. How often do we take time to question them? For most of us, the answer is, "Not much." In this episode of Audio Tidbits, I take a look at one area of well-tested advice that may need a second look.

I agree that having it done is usually better than getting it done, but may or may not be as much fun. Even so, this time, getting it done is a very nice outcome. Please have a listen and see how it works for you. Kevin has contributed another one of his cool tunes to the mix for us. That gives us half talk and half fun tune. That's a mix that is hard to criticize.

Last year, I shared on PPOV.net an excerpt from a speech given by President Trump that focused on the promises he made to all of us. I think it is worth re-publishing for your consideration. Mr. President, I have just again listened to your victory speech from 2016 from the night you learned that you were the President-elect. You said some very hopeful things in that speech and let us know that you had great plans for our country. You said a couple of things that I think need revisited. You seemed to have promised more than you are delivering, more than you seem to have any intention to deliver. Maybe its just too much to expect, but I think you and I should chat about it. Okay, I know that’s not going to happen. You are way too busy to have little chats with retired liberals in Ohio. Since I’m not likely to be able to share my concerns with you, I am sharing them with my listeners. If you happen to have a few minutes to listen, just press play and we can pick that bone together.

The big crash is why I have not added any episodes to Audio Tidbits for quite a while. All went south around the first of April. My good fortune was that I had a backup from the middle of March. I was able to get things working again but lost everything between the middle of March and the big crash day. From there, it took three weeks to get back on-line. If you are interested in the four minute version of the sad story, please press play. If you only want to listen to one of Kevin's cool tunes, skip the first three minutes and fifty-seven seconds. All things considered, I'll just talk it up to a learning experience; and a learning experience it was.

Not everyone can be in charge. We certainly know that too many cooks…, too many chiefs…, and the old sayings could be continued. It's a principle that we have all heard and even sometimes take to heart. There are times though, when we seem to forget. Consider this example from my past. Perhaps you have an example of your own.

"Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference," according to Winston Churchill. But if a big difference is a bit more than you want to take on right now, a slightly better attitude is a good place to start. If perhaps you think that changing your attitude won't really make any difference, consider this from William James. "The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes." It's worth mentioning that Norman Vincent Peale agreed. He said, "Change your thoughts and you change your world." Just how much change you want is up to you. What is stopping you from that attitude change James and Peale think are so important? Mahatma Gandhi had this advice for us, "I will not let anyone walk through my mind with their dirty feet." I think the point is to figure out who in our lives is feeding the attitude we have and making sure their dirty feet are not pulling us in the wrong direction. I suspect that attitudes are contagious and it's pretty easy to b

The title pretty much sums it up. We all have had to deal with one of those fault finders and finger pointers. It's frustrating sure enough. The podcasting team has a collection of examples for us, just in case they have temporarily slipped our mind.

From time to time, it's time to revisit The Friend Factory. This is the time, no matter whether you are eight or eighty. We all need reminded now and then.

Let's let the title stand on its own. Maybe not on Facebook likely covers a lot of things, but here's one I am pretty sure about.

Do you have the key to perfect intimate relationships? The problem is that there are way more than a single key. But having 1 key is a good start. Try this one. It may unlock more than you might expect.

Do you have your answer yet? Are you old yet or is there still time for your future? It's at least worth a listen.