One of the great regrets of my life is not having served in the military. I’ve become painfully aware of my lack of service since moving to the D.C. area, where it […]
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John Demma
Welcome to my blog. I have been a manager for fifteen years, and for the past five years I have been leading teams of 500 people or more as a director and VP for large growth companies. I share my leadership journey and thoughts here with the hopes of helping and inspiring other leaders.
Banning the “O” Word
Age doesn’t make us old. Admitting defeat to Father Time does.
For my fellow thirty somethings, and certainly for people in their twenties, calling ourselves old is just insane.
Management Skills: 5 Ways to Develop Mental Toughness
How do middle class people of the developed world keep the edge, work ethic, and values their immigrant ancestors had? How do we develop mental toughness?
How to Overcome the Fear of Flying (or, my strange journey back to 30,000 feet)
The fear of flying is an emotional issue, and trying to overcome a strong emotional fear with logic is like bringing a knife to a gun fight. If you’re stuck on the ground like I was, you’re going to have to address the underlying emotional concerns before you’re ready to hear the statistics.
How to be a Little Less Afraid of the World (advice from Jack London)
Jack London is one of my go-to mentors for manliness. What follows below is a snippet from his memoir about sailing around the world, The Cruise of the Snark.
How to Use Your Vacation and Paid Time Off
This post is for anyone thinking they shouldn’t use their PTO because it might upset their boss or cause their boss to look unfavorably upon their work ethic. Because that’s just not the case.
8 Tips on Weightloss: What I learned so far from my experiments with nutrition
Here are my 8 simple tips for losing pounds and maintaining a healthy weight, in order of importance:
My Stand Up Desk Experiment
I decided about two months ago to give a stand up desk a try. A stand up desk is just like it sounds – it’s a higher desk that lets you stand up while working instead of sitting.
Demma’s 4 P’s: The fundamentals of management
Those fundamental principles that lead to sound business management: Demma’s 4 P’s. A meaningful framework for doing the job of management effectively.
Transcendental Meditation
“Do you just Google weird [stuff] to do in Virginia?” – anonymous friend My latest life experiment has been a strange journey into the world of transcendental meditation. Strange the best word […]
This is the Golden Age of Radio – How podcasts can change your commutes
The golden age of radio was not the 1920s (or whenever) when families would huddle around giant wooden transistors listening to fake stores about aliens. The golden age of radio is happening […]
Brazilian Jiu Jitsu
A vein bulged from my forehead, looking like it was going to burst. My face was beet red, and I was getting sleepy. This was all on account of the instructor’s thigh […]
Get to Know Me, From My Company’s Portal Blog
This month my company featured me on our portal in a blog-style interview. I thought I’d share since I haven’t posted much about work lately. Here you go: Get to Know John Demma We […]
3 Quick DIY Life Hacks to Save You Money
People seemed to like my personal finance posts from the past few months about things like getting rid of cable and saving money on food, so I figured I’d share some other […]
Expense Savings Go Right to the Bottom Line
You may have heard someone say that expense savings go right to the “bottom line”. What does that mean? What is the bottom line anyway? For a business, the last line on […]