Yesterday, as part of the Concordia University Chicago College of Business Guest Speaker Series, I shared key principles that have been integral to my professional and personal journey. Among those principles: *Stretch beyond your comfort zone on a regular basis;*Ask for help and seek out mentors in your field of endeavor:*Value all people–not only those you think […]
In a lifetime, most people don’t spend more than a few months in a hospital—and some can measure those stays by a handful of days, or perhaps weeks. It’s a different situation for 6-year-old Dominic Hamilton. Over the past 2 ½ years, the Joliet boy has been a regular patient at Lurie Children’s Hospital in […]
A few weeks ago, a funny thought occurred to me: maybe President Trump is the perfect leader for our times. Now, don’t get me wrong–I don’t mean funny in the “ha-ha” sense, since the closest Trump’s administration can be linked to humor is that it has been one protracted punch line in an utterly, outrageously cosmic […]
What? Who? When? Where? Why? How? In simple terms, those questions drive story-telling. Beyond the “what?”–which obviously covers a lot of essential ground–the most vital question to answer is “why?” Tackling the “why” of something that has happened or is happening requires expertise and insight and nuance and, yes, even sticking out your neck with […]
The brilliantly stupid film Zoolander…ESPN’s Mike Greenberg…and the topic of vandalism—all make cameos in a sprawling chat that I had last week with Mark Bazer of The Interview Show. As I mentioned to Mark in my opening remarks, he was on my list of candidates in part because he has blazed the trail so well for interview shows […]
Trying to make heads or tails of health care, with its seemingly endless changes and complexity, is enough to make just about anyone queasy. Against that backdrop, a retirement planning expert who speaks with clarity and authority is the perfect antidote. That’s one of the ways that Inside Edge PR introduces Jim Flanagan. In this […]
The Amazon delivery began with such extraordinary promise. Not only did it include the super-affordable and Gumby-like-flexible tripod Smartphone holder, but also a note from the top dog at the device’s distributor. And this communication was no lip-service brimming with empty platitudes. Instead, what greeted me was a warm, earnest note pledging supreme customer satisfaction, […]
In my 40-plus years as a basketball player, coach, referee and all-around zealot, I have found that there’s no reliable metric when off-the-charts talent meets out-of-your-mind poor judgment. A standout player can make what appears to be the worst decision, and somehow make it right. This is especially true when that out-sized talent is rivaled […]
I began inhaling Sports Illustrated cover-to-cover when I was 10 years old, after my dad hooked me up with a subscription for my historic double-digit birthday. It was summer on the South Shore of Boston, my beloved Red Sox were miles ahead in the American League East, and the cover of my inaugural issue featured a […]
In my latest installment of “As the Jussie Smollett Debacle Turns,” I closed with this thought: If there is sufficient evidence to convict Smollett of these charges, then his sentence should be stiff enough to deter others from trying anything similar. That was one humongous “IF,” as it turns out. Hot on the heels of […]