A Curator of Strategy, Leadership, Spirituality, and Rock and Roll…. "Changing the world…one "contact" at a time…."
By J. William DeMarco “There must be a pony in here somewhere." Optimism... something I struggle with...but I am getting better... Our future will not be determined by our complaints....life is full of issues, surprises, events we never saw coming... and I have yet to have a bad assignment or a bad job...so, perhaps it …
Continue reading "Pony Optimism or the Wisdom of Ronald Reagan"
In 1946, the late, great, legendary Ray Charles heard "Lucky" Millinder’s band was coming to town. Charles worked miracles to arrange an audition, and he was sure this was his chance to get noticed--if he could connect and play with Millinder, that would almost guarantee a ticket to the big time. When his opportunity came, the …
Continue reading "Ray Charles, Self-Leadership, Resilience, Preparedness, and Talent–DeMarco Banter"
Throughout history—there has always been a link between leadership and courage. I know it might sound obvious, but have you ever worked for a leader that was a coward? How did that go? Its also easy to sit here at our computers and think—well, not me—I’m very brave. Years ago I was training in martial …
Continue reading "Leadership and Courage: Neo-DeMarconian Thought"
Wow… who does not love this song? It peaked at #71 on the UK singles chart, and was an elegy for Neil Young's first car, a 1948 Buick Roadmaster hearse. This was apparently a different hearse than the one Stills spotted Young driving around Los Angeles in 1966 which led to the formation of Buffalo Springfield. Neil's beloved Pontiac hearse, "Mort" (a.k.a. "Mortimer …
Continue reading "Neil: Talk to me…. Long May You Run? DeMarco Banter"
“Reason shows us there is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.” ― Seneca, Letters from a StoicFailure is an inside job--inside our head. So is success--all depending on how we define it. If we want to achieve, we have to win the war in our mind first. We can’t let the …
Continue reading "Stoic Thinking and Failure: Adjust Your Thinking–DeMarco Banter"
A bud of mine, Josh Zaker, passed this piece to me over 8 years ago and I came across it again just the other day. It was written for Foreign Affairs in the Spring of 1957... amazing at how relevant Dr Kissinger's words are still for us 63 years later. I have pasted the conclusion …
Continue reading "Strategy and Organization by Henry Kissinger Foreign Affairs (Apr 1957)"
In all the classes we teach here at ACSC on leadership—mentoring is always a topic that comes up. In the past decade or so—there has been increased talk of “coaching” vs mentoring and honestly, it is an interesting conversation. I worry at times we get stuck in the minutiae and forget the big picture—what are …
By J. William DeMarco So true...think about it and then ponder...who are you serving? Yourself? Your office or organization? Your family? Your wallet? God? Bob Dylan took five months off at the beginning of 1979 to attend Bible school. His subsequent album Slow Train Coming reached No.3 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and included …
Continue reading "Bob Says ya “Gotta Serve Somebody” … Do you?"
Most people think they are good listeners; most people are wrong. I have been spending time reviewing some of my favorite leadership books and came across The Contrarian’s Guide to Leadership by Steven B. Sample...and I know listening is something I need to get much better at. According to Sample...A contrarian leader is an artful …
Continue reading "A Contrarian’s Thoughts on Listening–DeMarco Banter"
Great conversation with Karla Nelson at People Catalysts—who believe it is not just the people. It’s their chemistry—of course we at The Mastermind Century Group could not agree more. Karla and her team have a great assessment (Movers, Shakers, Provers and Makers) to help assist in getting a deeper understanding of your leadership vehemently—check it …
