I usually avoid getting into political discussions because the extreme partisan positions of many people make it almost impossible to have a truly BALANCED discussion. Values-based leaders truly need to understand all sides of the story. I strongly believe the words of St. Francis who taught us to “seek to understand before we are understood.” However, since I spend so
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I always focus on my second principle of BALANCE when discussing any issue…..that is “take the time to understand all sides of the issue,” or as St. Francis stated, “Seek to understand before you are understood.” As a result, when I am having a debate with someone, I try to never say, “I don’t understand” because that seems ignorant. I
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[Guest blog post by Rick Waddell, Chairman of the Board, Northern Trust] My personal journey as a leader began in Pittsburgh, PA where I was born. College years were spent in Hanover, NH where I met my future wife, Cate, who was one of the first women to graduate from Dartmouth College. Upon graduating in 1975 I was offered a
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Since it wasn’t cold enough in Chicago, the “Kraemer Gang” (as usual) drove up to Minnesota to spend Christmas with all of our Jansen and Kraemer relatives — always a fantastic time! Luckily, the day after Christmas, as the Minnesota temperature descended to negative 10 degrees (that doesn’t include wind chill), we all flew down to Sarasota — resulting in
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As the former CEO of a multi-billion dollar company and a business school professor at Northwestern Kellogg, I definitely understand the concepts of efficiency and economies of scale. I also realize the benefit of leveraging operating expenses and improving the operating margin. Yup, that all makes sense. However, as two recent incidents reminded me yet again, too many businesses take
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I have yet to meet the person whose life is a forever happy, straight line with an uninterrupted positive slope upward from birth to death. After all, life tends to be an assortment of highs (graduating from school, getting a good job, maybe getting married, having children, getting promoted, etc.) and lows (losing a job, the death of a friend, etc.).
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I often reflect on how unfortunate it is that people in many situations focus on the differences in our spiritual beliefs rather than focusing on the many things the great majority of us share in common: Treating one another the way we want to be treated (the “golden rule”), giving one another the benefit of the doubt, forgiving one another
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