Author's articles

Convenient Mistruths

By Nan Russell · 8 years ago

The subject line of the email read: "We met at ..." and the name of a conference where I'd recently spoken. Thinking it was from someone who attended my session, I opened it sooner versus ...

On our first morning of vacation, we were pleased to find open tables when we arrived for breakfast at a popular and highly recommended café. With several people actively filling walk-up specialty coffee orders at ...

The Not-Me Syndrome

By Nan Russell · 9 years ago

A common pastime at work, it seems, is pointing out flaws, missteps, and problems – especially the boss's, a coworker's down the hall, or that roadblock person in some other department. Stories of performance and ...

Winning at Working--Perpetuated Myths

By Nan Russell · 9 years ago

Myths. Beliefs. Conventional wisdom. Even our own eyes get in our way. Consider what happened to Galileo. In 1589, he gathered the world’s most learned professors to the Leaning Tower of Pisa for a demonstration ...

The Next Essential Skill

By Nan Russell · 9 years ago

"Remember, the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running." Those words from Olympic swimmer and author Sarah Connor capture the ...

Off Track

By Nan Russell · 9 years ago

Unfamiliar with the city and location where I was to speak, I added the address to the GPS before leaving home. Arriving in the conference city hours later, I turn it on and dutifully followed ...

Which Clock?

By Nan Russell · 9 years ago

I hesitated before I answered the question. It was just a slight hesitation, but the question took me by surprise. Someone asked me how could they work on self-improvement and development on the clock. And ...

Blurred Lines Require New Skills

By Nan Russell · 9 years ago

Instead of an early start, with time to read the news, check key messages, and write uninterruptedly for a pending project, I spent it down a rabbit hole. What I expected was a five or ...

Winning at Working--Want More Balance?

By Nan Russell · 12 years ago

WANT MORE BALANCE? Despite efforts on the Wii Fitness balance game, Wii persists in rating me as "unbalanced." And while it's true I'm feeling a bit stressed with a new book coming out in May, ...

Winning at Working--Wishing and Hoping

By Nan Russell · 12 years ago

Years after Disneyland was built, after the completion of Walt Disney World, the story goes that someone went up to Mike Vance, Creative Director for Walt Disney Studios and said, "Isn't it too bad Walt ...

Winning at Working--Workplace Heists

By Nan Russell · 12 years ago

Seated in the courtyard of a sports bar during a playoff game in the home city of one of the teams, it was an energetic crowd that Sunday. While we'd come for a quick bite ...

Winning at Working--About Your Future

By Nan Russell · 12 years ago

When faced with catching a fly ball, Lucy missed again. "The past got in my eyes," she told Charlie Brown, "I thought I had it, but suddenly I remembered all the others I'd missed." In ...

Winning at Working--Cherry-Picking

By Nan Russell · 12 years ago

Personable and enthusiastic about her work, it took me months to uncover the problem. Calling Cheryl to my office for a quick question, I inquired why the information I needed wasn't in the file. "Oh," ...

The Art of Change

By Nan Russell · 12 years ago

From the iron age to nearly the industrial age, blacksmiths prospered. Villagers needed plows, shovels, iron tires for wagons, nails and tools to build their homes, all of which the blacksmiths forged. They needed their ...

Winning at Working--Check Your Thoughts

By Nan Russell · 12 years ago

It was clear she was having "one of those days." But to be truthful, I didn't care. I was too nervous about my surgery to pay attention to Doris, the nurse grousing about how overworked ...

Winning at Working--As If They Were You

By Nan Russell · 13 years ago

"Treat everybody else as if they were you." These words gave me pause. I wonder what it would be like if we each did what this "unknown author" is advocating? Would she still have abandoned ...

Winning at Working--Shades of Gray

By Nan Russell · 13 years ago

A paperweight sits on my desk, etched in silver with the message: Life isn't always black and white. It serves as a reminder there are few absolutes at work (or in life). Yet, it would ...

Winning at Working--Boosters and Drainers

By Nan Russell · 13 years ago

Like a balloon with air pouring out, deflated and flat at the end, I hung up the phone, drained. For the most part I'd offered a supportive ear with occasional contributions of asked for advice. ...

Winning at Working--What Are You For?

By Nan Russell · 13 years ago

Resist. Resist. Resist. That seems to be the congressional model these days. Whatever one party is for, the other is against. Before an idea makes it to the blogosphere, opposing party political pundits are railing ...

Herd Mentality

By Nan Russell · 13 years ago

Booths featuring products and services related to employee engagement, mobile learning, global performance, and results measurement were overflowing with conference attendees as I walked the trade show at a national conference where I was speaking. ...