I was attending a lunch last week with members of a committee where I have had the privilege of serving for a number of years.  In the midst of a conversation on leadership, one of the members said, “I am just not a leader.  When I read articles on leadership I say to myself, ‘I could never be that.’”

For the purposes of recounting the conversation, I will refer to this person as Dianna.

Her contention was that because she sought to avoid conflict, she could not be a leader.

My wife and I had lunch recently with a young woman who was promoted into a significant leadership position.  She wanted to ask some questions about areas of leadership that she was facing in her new position.  As we listened, we offered our perspective (when asked). The conversation took a turn when she asked her last question, “Now that I am the Leader of the Team in the office, I find that I am all alone. I don’t have any peers at work because I am now their leader.  I am discovering that leadership can be isolating – and actually quite lonely.”

A friend was reviewing the budget for his company with an eye to minimizing expenses.  And I agree that it is always good to review the budget with this mindset.

Along the way he asked me what I thought about his marketing expense (he is a friend, not a client, so he knew my answer would be objective...).

He pondered aloud, "Should I cut my marketing expense this year?"  Here was my response: Henry Ford said it best:

“Behavior that gets rewarded, gets repeated.”

For anyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest there is only one dominant topic that has captured the center of conversations lately: the Seattle Seahawks trek to the Super Bowl and subsequent 43 - 8 rout of the Denver Broncos.

“Humility does not mean you think less of yourself.  It means you think of yourself less.” - Ken Blanchard