Looking for the perfect gift for the aspiring woman in your life?  

Purchase your copy of “Lady Leader: 10 Ways to Play in Big Boy Business” by Mary Stier at Amazon.com, The Book Store or Beaverdale Books.

 

Don’t Go Back to Sleep

I was recently asked the following during a Q and A session: “Which is more important when making a decision…your intuition or analytical research?”

I answered that one needs to consider both the reasoning left brain and the emotional right brain to formulate a full and complete answer in the decision making process.

But the question lingered long after I answered it. In looking back at the important decisions I have made in my life, I realized that in my younger years I relied a lot more on my intuition. As I got older (and not necessarily wiser) I relied more on my analytical side, weighing the positives and negatives in an endless pro and con list.

It’s humorous to me that as I reflect on my recent decisions I have begun to trust my instincts again and go with my gut. There is something to be said about taking a leap of faith.

I bought a card recently in my travels, drawn to a quote on its front cover. If you are wrestling with a decision perhaps these words will also speak to you:

“The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don’t go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don’t go back to sleep.”

---Rumi

And when you hear the answer, don’t push it away. It’s there for a reason. Most of all, DON’T GO BACK TO SLEEP!

 

Graduation Season

Well graduation season is upon us. Like many of you, I’ve been making the rounds to ceremonies and celebrations.

Although each graduate is unique, I marvel at one thing that is the same: the universal expression on the faces of parents. The guardians’ gaze is a combination of bursting pride mixed with subtle sadness.

So for all those graduate’s parents I remind you of the wise words of Kahlil Gibran:

“Speak to us of children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backwards nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that his arrows
may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness.
For even as He loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.”

Congratulations to all our graduates…and your parents!

 

Building for Brilliance May 24

In just two weeks, Sandy Hatfield-Clubb, Charlene Bell and I will be conducting our seminar “Building for Brilliance” at the Hy-Vee Conference Center in West Des Moines, Iowa. 

I hope you can join us for a half day that just might change your life.

I know that sounds pretty lofty but when we conducted the seminar last July, we repeatedly received this feedback.

No matter where you are on your leadership journey, I encourage you to take a half day out of your life and spend it with us.

Our thanks to the Business Record, Hy-Vee and IWLC for sponsoring our conference in Central Iowa.

You can register by clicking on this link. See you there!