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?

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 all share common goals, but rarely do we have an opportunity to share a cup of coffee and break the ice. Yet, studies show … Continue reading Get to Know Me, From My Company’s Portal Blog →

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 the income statement is net income. Income statements are one of the core financial reports for a business (along with balance sheets and … Continue reading Expense Savings Go Right to the Bottom Line →

Gut Check – Getting Back Up

This barber, he had to be seventy, was telling me once while trimming me up how he just had a whole bunch of cancer surgically removed about a week earlier. Tough old dog, I thought. "I can't believe you're back to work already." "You ever been in a fight before?" he asked. I nodded. "Then you know … Continue reading Gut Check – Getting Back Up →

Management Skills: Create Symbiosis

That's a picture of a cute little clownfish, we'll call him Remo, swimming among sea anemone. Most fish would not be feeling too good right now, because those cool looking tentacles of the anemone are laced with stinging poison. Good thing Remo's ancestors evolved a thin layer of mucus that protects him from the poison. … Continue reading Management Skills: Create Symbiosis →

We All Know About the Same: Nothing

I'm a fraud and so are you. We run around pretending we know a thing or two about a thing or two. And we're surround by all of these experts on subjects from economics to science to sociology to religion and the Big Question. Everyone's such a smartypants. I sometimes post advice on this blog … Continue reading We All Know About the Same: Nothing →

Strategy: Cortez the Killer

In 1519 Hernán Cortés the Conquistador led a flotilla of 11 ships to the eastern shores of Mexico against the direct orders of his superiors. You see, power and hubris had driven Cortés mad, and whether he realized it or not (everyone else did), his mutinous power quest, fueled by bloodlust, was indeed insane. Cortés' fleet would … Continue reading Strategy: Cortez the Killer →

Baby Brain

I've had some serious writer's block lately. I've been tired. New assignment at work. New baby at home. So tired. In addition to a lack of blogging, I've noticed the following side effects resulting from the condition I've come to know as "baby brain": I'm very forgetful (I actually almost forgot what I was going to … Continue reading Baby Brain →

Leadership Style: Fake it till you make it

About a year ago, I wrote this post about how to articulate my/your leadership style. Thanks to Google, this has become my all time most viewed post with over 1,000 views. Today I'm writing about how my leadership style has evolved over the years. I think. Either that or it's a coming of age post. … Continue reading Leadership Style: Fake it till you make it →

Real World, Fake World: How to be a successful manager, leader, and person

As I detailed in this kind of weird article, the work world is not the real world. Work is a made up place, work hierarchies are made up things, and there's really no such thing as bosses and employees. Bosses and employees are just regular people pretending to be these things in a fantasy land … Continue reading Real World, Fake World: How to be a successful manager, leader, and person →

It’s Only Work

Not only is business management my vocation, it's also my avocation. In my free time I write this blog, manage two three-family investment houses, and help with two companies as an unpaid board member. I'm some kind of 24/7 work machine - The Manager-Bot 5000. What's wrong with me? It's a disease, and I'm not … Continue reading It’s Only Work →

Management Skills: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick

I swore I wasn't going to be one of those parents who would toss empty threats at their kids to try to coerce them into good behavior. You know the old, "If you don't stop I swear we're not going to the park," routine. I can hear my son thinking, "Who you kidding dad? The … Continue reading Management Skills: Speak Softly and Carry a Big Stick →

Management Skills: Be Fit

Getting into shape is a good business decision. And this isn't one of my weird and abstract metaphor posts that's really about mental fitness or business fitness or something. This post is about why I think maintaining physical fitness is important for managers. First, a bit of background on my health. I slowly gained about … Continue reading Management Skills: Be Fit →

Not All the Turtles Make it to the Sea

Jack and I watched this movie called Tortuga, about an adorable sea turtle's journey from birth through adulthood. The movie starts on a beach where adult female sea turtles have dug hundreds of nests in the sand, each containing up to two-hundred eggs. Thousands of eggs simultaneously hatch. The infant turtles instinctively dash for the … Continue reading Not All the Turtles Make it to the Sea →

Management Skills: Be Nice

When I was a boy a family friend told me, "You get more flies with honey, kid." I used to hear that saying a lot as a boy because my resting facial expression has always looked like an angry sour-puss. I can't help it. Being nice is something I've had to work on. Smiling was … Continue reading Management Skills: Be Nice →