When we bother to look up, we might register somewhere in the depths of our minds that the sky is blue and a wisp of clouds floats by.  Birds sing, though we hardly notice.  

Until something changes all of that.  The sky is grey.  There is no depth.  Your eyes tear-up from the ashes that fill the air and choke the breath from your chest as it hurts to breathe.  And you wonder if you’ll see the sky again.

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In all honesty, I’m having trouble writing this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne.  

It seems like there are natural and human-made disasters hitting this blue marble (or is that blue marvel), one right after the other.  

I live in Northern California about a half-hour from Napa.  So much of what I knew, have fondly visited, and have driven to and through is either threatened by fire, currently on fire, or has been destroyed by fire.

I’m one of the lucky ones.  Today, my...

Have you ever been around someone who makes you think differently?  Perhaps just because of who they are or how they present themselves, you stand up straighter?  I don't know why it happens, my daughter is a Marine and when I'm around her, I find my posture improves.  

There’s something about excellence that you can sense in a person.  

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Welcome to this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne!  Let’s dive a little deeper into the Excellence Expectation thing, shall we?  You see, I just finished doing a training session on leadership and excellence at the Ritz-Carlton in Southern California.  You know what?  The way they execute their service delivery got to me.  Everything they did was a deliberate act of customer service excellence.  Their goal is to anticipate the needs of the guests and have things complete before the request is even made.  They’re like ninjas,...

I celebrated my birthday last week at an indoor skydiving place.  Really, it was awesome… except for the part that wasn’t.

In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, you’ll get three key points that apply to business, leadership, and life.  I learned them while being supported by winds above 100mph.

Here’s a short video for you, too!

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There are some really great lessons that can be learned from doing indoor sky-diving.  Apparently, my wife and I are really great students and had no problems with control.  I think the thing is, we take instruction really well.  We want to succeed and we’re willing to learn what works for others so that we can maximize our experience.  And, because we’re different people from the instructors or from each other, we learned to adapt what we’ve learned to ourselves.

Lesson #1:
Learn what works.  Model what works.  Adapt it to your own situation.

In...

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Have you ever been really hard on yourself for starting something and then not following through?  Your diet failed.  Your exercise plan failed.  Your “read a book a month” plan failed.  So… did YOU fail?  

Here – you’re forgiven and you get a “do-over.”  Yes, in this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, you’ll move from being down on yourself to taking positive action.

So many people condemn themselves to feeling like a failure that the REAL failure is that of forgetting to take inventory of where you are right NOW.  Current state is the baseline.  Not where you were.  Not what you thought you’d be able to do.  And certainly not your New Year’s resolutions.  

The thing is that, at this point, we’re almost into Q4 of this year.  So what?
That’s a calendar’s assessment of time.  What you have is NOW.  

In a...

So powerful are these words and this sentiment:  I see you, Human.  

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Who are we in the world if not to recognize another?  In your role(s) as leader, parent, friend, or dishwasher, isn’t it important to humanize the people in your world?  At a restaurant, it’s a human that takes your order and brings you food.  In a professional setting, both patients and practitioners are human.

Acknowledging the human experience is just SO important.

About 20 years ago, I started writing my first book.  The working title was A Worthy Struggle because I recognized how each of us has something that is uniquely ours.  We might have similar struggles.  We are unique in our perception and interpretation of them.  And, my point was that the struggle we engage in, as a human, is so worth it.  It really is A Worthy Struggle.  That book evolved because I found myself focusing on the pain....

I just heard a speaker say that you don’t need to tell people your problems, 90% of people don’t care and the other 10% are glad you have them.  It’s interesting.  When I share things, it’s not about the “problems,” but actually simply about what’s going on.  I don’t look for sympathy.  Certainly, it’s as simple as understanding.  In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne I’ll take you for a look at problems… mine and yours.  So, why am I shaking…?

Why Am I Shaking?

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Here!

I was at dinner with a friend I don’t get to see in person much.  I explained that she might see my hand shake a little.  I could feel it coming on and wanted to let her know I wasn’t having a seizure or going through DTs.  My conversation was simply to convey information – there’s a hereditary condition that has to do with what’s known as...

Have you ever found yourself worrying about something so much you were almost to the point of tears?

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(Am I, Or Am I Not, Wearing Pants?)

Traffic is terrible.  The people you’re waiting to get an answer from aren’t calling you back.  There are two meetings in different places you’re supposed to attend.  You’ve got multiple projects going at work and more projects going at home.  You’re juggling and stretching the resources you have.  You wonder how to get it all done, how get in that workout, and how to eat right, AND still to have some downtime.

Today’s Wednesdays With Wayne isn’t about productivity; it’s actually about saluting the absurd in honor of humor and your health.

By acknowledging the small absurdities in your life, you actually gain a perspective that allows you to put the bigger stuff in a handle-able order.  That is, when you get tense about being tense,...

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Over the past year, I’ve been sharing the topics that have cropped up in my life during the week.  They’re current.  They’re real.  And this week, on more than just a handful of occasions, the topic that’s THE key ingredient for great leaders has shown up – over and over and over again.

From research noted at some of the greatest international companies to personal contacts with clients, the thing that predicts your success is your willingness to grow yourself combined with your drive to grow the people in your organization (business, family, or community).  

So in this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, I ask this question:

What do you get when…

What do you get when you invest in your learning?

• You learn more (obviously).  And a mind, once expanded cannot go back to the way it once was.
• You push others to learn and to live up to your new level of operating.  
• You get...

A funny thing just happened to my friend, Mike.  It reminded me so much about a story that I tell, that I just had to bring it to you!

In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne we look at how YOU are so much like a Dragonfly, you might need someone to “shoo” you on your way.

A dragonfly got into the house.  That’s supposed to be lucky… unless you’re the dragonfly.  Or you have cats and you’re trying to have a restful afternoon.

Watch the “Dragonfly” video here
(you’ll enjoy these quick few minutes)

So this dragonfly gets in and buzzes around and then it finds the glass door!  It hits the glass pane.  It buzzes up against the glass pane.  It pushes hard against that clear glass pane.  It pushes against and flies into the glass over and over and over again.  You can tell it’s trying to get back out.  It knows it can do it.  It must.

In fact, the door is open....

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No one sets out to make a bad impression.  Sometimes we stress about making a good impression, especially if it’s the first time we’re meeting someone.  

But a subtle mistake stops people from deepening a relationship with you – whether that’s a working relationship or a personal relationship.  In this week’s Wednesdays With Wayne, you’ll see the difference in approach as you engage with others.

There are two styles in engaging with others:

You could show up like a puppy, wagging your tail, tongue hanging out, and piddling on the carpet.  “Do you like me?  I’m likable!  I like you!  Do you like me?”

Approval seeking in whatever form it takes never creates the desired outcome you’re after.  In essence, you’re saying, “I want you to like me so much, I’ll be who you want me to be.”  If that’s the...