Category: Voice/Tone/Trust Building

It Ain’t The Meat, It’s The Motion

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34 COMMENTS

The first job I had after graduating from college was as a bank teller at the Brookline Savings Bank in Brookline, Massachusetts. (Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have a liberal arts degree.) It was a great job – the best one I ever had, before or since. Fast-paced, varied, independent, and thanks to the fact that at the end of each shift you were responsible for “balancing” all the transactions, it had a built-in means of determining how successful you had been over the course of the day. […] Click to read more…

In a Pickle

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19 COMMENTS

Maybe you’ve heard. Tennis and Ping Pong had a baby – they named it “Pickleball.” This game/sport is kind of a hybrid of the two, played with paddles, a wiffleball and a court with painted lines and a net strung across the middle. I’ve been playing it for the last couple of months, something I never anticipated. First, because I decided long ago that I would commit what little competitive testosterone I had left to playing basketball. But with that shut down for the foreseeable future, I was in search […] Click to read more…

Emotional Rescue

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22 COMMENTS

(Listen to this post, here.) Unlike many of my married, male friends, I do a fair amount of the household grocery shopping. Not because I’m so wonderful, mind you (although I am distractingly good looking). Rather, it’s because years ago, as a first-time father, I realized that a trip to the grocery store came packaged with 60 minutes of diaper-free peace and quiet. And so, all these years later, it’s still an activity I share with my wife, Linda. But, as you’ve probably noticed, grocery shopping today is a totally […] Click to read more…

What To Say Now

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12 COMMENTS

(Listen to this post, here.) Assuming the weeks haven’t morphed into one continuous day by then, causing time itself to cease, come this June, it will have been 20 years since I quit my job and went off to work on my own. Back then, this newsletter had about 30 subscribers and was called, Different Rules, Different Tools. I gave it that name for two reasons. First, because I love rhyme and alliteration (even on vacation). Left to my own devices, my daughter’s name would likely have been Kitty.   Second, because back […] Click to read more…

Cuomo Mojo

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12 COMMENTS

(Listen to this post, here.) I don’t know much about Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York. I left the state 40 years ago when I graduated from high school, and other than occasional visits to see my mom and big brother Al (there’s your shout out, now stop whining), New York isn’t really on my radar. That all changed a couple of weeks ago, when I stumbled upon one of Governor Cuomo’s daily COVID-19 press conferences. Once each day, late morning, he appears before the cameras and a small, appropriately-distanced group […] Click to read more…