Shrinkingthecamel

LATEST ARTICLES ( 354 )

• Six Ways to Take Your Micro-Sabbatical

  

  My pastor recently took a three-month sabbatical. I imagined him sleeping in until ten every morning, followed by extensive periods of crossword puzzles and... Read more

  Posted on 14 October 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Don’t Mistake Doing What You Love with Doing What’s Important

  

  A few moths ago, my wife texted me, “Don’t forget to buy Megamillions tickets!:)”Upon learning of the $656 million jackpot, we couldn’t help ourselves from... Read more

  Posted on 29 September 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Acknowledging People Takes SO Much Work!

  

  Several executives were standing around my office the other day, debating what to do about a particular employee. Not that someone was in trouble – rather,... Read more

  Posted on 21 September 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• How to Lead With Confidence in a Company That Stabs People in the Back

  

  Years ago, I worked for a computer maintenance company, leading a team of college students who received and cleaned the computers. Often, the problem with a... Read more

  Posted on 12 September 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Is Work a Curse, Or Inherently Good?

  

  I recently overheard a conversation where a middle-aged, mothering woman was asking a scrappy-headed and pockmark-faced young man in his mid-twenties how he... Read more

  Posted on 10 September 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• The Spiritual Value of Wasting Time at Work

  

  I was on speaker phone the other day with a colleague, Bruce, closing up several items regarding some new deal activity.After five minutes or so, the business... Read more

  Posted on 01 September 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Are You Supposed to Know ‘God’s Will’ for Your Job?

  

  The other day my friend asked a rather blunt and personal question: “Do you think it is God’s will for you to be at the company you’re with right now?”What I... Read more

  Posted on 26 August 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Feeling Beat Up at Work? Three Great Ways to Manage Yourself Through the Stress

  

  A friend confided that, lately, he goes home from work every day feeling like a failure.He is in charge of a sales organization that has been slipping ever sinc... Read more

  Posted on 19 August 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• New Study Suggests Prayer Is So Boring People Prefer Painful Electric Shocks

  

  Timothy D. Wilson, Sherrell J. Aston Professor of Psychology at the University of Virginia, helped write “Just think: The challenges of the disengaged... Read more

  Posted on 11 August 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• You Can’t Compete with Grace

  

  I recently attended a Strategy conference featuring some fancy Harvard Business School professors at a swanky California seaside hotel. During one of the... Read more

  Posted on 10 August 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Got the Job, But Not the Dream. Now What?

  

  After two years of unemployment, my friend Mark finally landed a sales job. It’s not exactly what he had in mind as a seasoned management professional, age 52,... Read more

  Posted on 03 August 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• The Next Big Breakthrough Business Idea: Be Nice!

  

  A colleague was telling me about an epic deal he was working on, involving dozens of high-powered lawyers and bankers.“It was incredibly intense,” he said. “We... Read more

  Posted on 23 July 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Two Essential Ingredients to Effective Communication with Your Team

  

  Once upon a time, I put together a brilliant plan for change. It was simple. It was easy. It moved people on my remote team from working in isolation to... Read more

  Posted on 18 July 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• How to Not Suck as a Leader

  So much has been written on the subject of leadership over the past thirty years that sometimes I honestly wonder if there is anything left to say. Popular... Read more

  Posted on 09 July 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• 5 Teamwork Lessons from Playing Soccer Naked

  

  All of this World Cup stuff reminds me of the time I played soccer naked.I was 16-years-old, a foreign exchange student in Germany, looking to leave my friends... Read more

  Posted on 05 July 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Too Many Meetings? Creating Spiritual Clarity at Work

  

  Several years ago, the senior executives of my company gathered in the Board Room to have a meeting about meetings. Apparently, some people had been... Read more

  Posted on 30 June 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• So You’ve Been Asked to Pray at a Sexy Drinking Party…

  

  Where I live, folks love to relive prom. Middle-aged guys dress up in tuxedos. Mothers become ladies after spending all afternoon on their hair and slipping int... Read more

  Posted on 25 June 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Shrinking the Camel is BACK!

  

  Hello Friends.Well.It’s been a while. How have you been? You may or may not have noticed, but I have been on a blog hiatus for over a year now, and for good... Read more

  Posted on 23 June 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Forced Fun

  

  I once worked with a leadership coach who asked me to write out a vivid description of my ideal life in the future. It was one of those visionary-exercise thing... Read more

  Posted on 05 June 2014 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY

• Four Tips for Dealing with an Intimidating Audience

  

  A friend of mine, Mark, was telling me of his harrowing experience in dealing with his Board of Directors. His latest business venture had brought in some... Read more

  Posted on 03 July 2013 SELF EXPRESSION, SPIRITUALITY