27 Years
“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to the struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which [...]
Genius: The Modern View
Why do we love the “underdog” story? Susan Boyle. “Mine that Bird” (Derby this weekend). Slumdog Millionaire (brilliant fictional drama). To some degree, I think it’s because it represents more of “us.” Where we think we are, and what we hope to someday do or be. But the reality is that we’re less than an [...]
Lesson from 54A
Thanks for tuning in this past week for excerpts based on my recent Servant Leadership article “Lessons Learned from Mother Teresa.” Funny as the way life goes, I had many great blogging ideas this week (seems to always be the case in the rare event that I’ve got a weeks worth of entries already considered). [...]
“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” -Mother Teresa
The following post is part of my weeklong series “Lessons Learned from Mother Teresa” (read that post first). This excerpt is part three, the final component, of the Direct Selling News article from March. I’ll post the full article and link this weekend. “Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.” [...]
“One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.” -Mother Teresa
“One of the greatest diseases is to be nobody to anybody.” -Mother Teresa There’s a lifestyle component to our industry that sometimes we feel that we need in order to sell “the opportunity.” There’s nothing wrong with lifestyle; nice homes, comfortable cars, and exotic trips are all part of our industry at various times. There’s [...]
“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” -Mother Teresa
The following post is part of my weeklong series “Lessons Learned from Mother Teresa” (read that post first). This excerpt is part two of the Direct Selling News article from March. “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” -Mother Teresa When you arrive in Kolkata, despair, more [...]
Lessons Learned from Mother Teresa
In January I took two weeks off to go to Kolkata, India to do some volunteer work and personal study at Mother Teresa’s organization called the “Sisters of Charity.” About the time I was leaving, I was asked to write an article on Servant Leadership for the Direct Selling News publication. So the decision of [...]
Energy (UPDATED WITH PICTURES!)
Starting this weekend I’m going to do a multi-part series of posts over the next week on Servant Leadership, specifically as it relates to some of the lessons I learned from my trips to Kolkata, India. Originally, I was going to start the series today, but today, after our most recent Univera Celebration Cruise I’ve [...]
Incredible, Neal Boyd
I said I couldn’t do three reality show blog entries in a row, so I broke it up with the Road Tour highlights. So here it is, for my third (but not consecutive) and possibly final reality show blog entry here is Neal Boyd (thanks to Mary Lou Kaiser for this reco). And what I [...]
One Last Look…
I know what you’re thinking… “Hey, Raz has yet another one of those Susan Boyle/Paul Potts videos for us.” Well, actually I do but not for today. Though as I’m on it, there’s another really great video with a super touching story about an American guy who has a special relationship with his mom and [...]
And to Paul Potts, too
So with all the fanfare with Susan Boyle and her amazing performance on “Britain’s Got Talent”, and my many many views of her performance in the last few days (to the point that my wife is teasing me), I’ve become captured with a few other great stories ofnormal people doing exceptional things that have been [...]
Thank You, Susan Boyle
Sometimes there are certain moments that words don’t describe well. Which is why I won’t try to share much about today’s posting and I’ll let this seven minute video taken from “Britain’s Got Talent” give you chills from seeing someone’s dream realized. I wish I could embed the video itself, but that feature has [...]
Dogged Pursuit
Can we agree on a few simple premises? 1. There’s a huge need for secondary or replacement primary income right now? More than ever in the past three decades, perhaps longer? Everybody is faced with the prospect of layoffs, 401k matches missing, salary reductions, and on. Not to say that everyone is going through [...]
Rockin’ Reno
What happens when you pull together 500 people who… Have high energy? Great leadership? Are excited about a new paradigm to feeling great? And ready to take hold of their own financial future? httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUV-QV_jp0w Well, when you combine all of those things in the dynamic city of Reno, and a huge portion of those [...]
The Phoenix VLOG
This is one of my first-ever predominantly video-blogs (vlogs), but it’ll tell the better story comprised of a few different clips from a great evening. Thanks to all the Phoenix leadership, including Barry and Connie Lucas, Kenny and Esmerelda Rossi, Ron Faunce, Dr. Jack Burns, and many many others who participated and helped. Thanks to [...]
Rocky Mountain High
Growing up we did the annual trip our West, generally Colorado. We’d start in Columbus, Ohio, and 24-hours later we’d arrive into the Denver area. Lots of memories evolve from those trips, including a few funny prospective blog stories, but one of the things I remember most about the journey was the dialogue and the [...]
Austenver
This entry started as what would be a combination of two events, Austin and Denver. Thus the name, Austenver. Then, I started looking at all the great pictures and people from Austin, and I just couldn’t bring myself to pull the two events together. As I type we’re en route to Denver, placing bets of [...]
Nashville (creative heading, huh)
My creativity brain cells are, I believe, starting to diminish. But the excitement on the road for Univera isn’t! Sometimes when I write these entries about the Road Tour I feel like it might read as a bit of over-enthusiasm for these events, but really, if they weren’t good events I either wouldn’t write about [...]
Chi-Town
Chi-town rocked tonight. It was a good sized group, about 150, but there were a lot of guests there. At least half. Probably more. And, Stephen? On fire. On message. Nailed the products. Was dead on time, exactly 20 minutes. Hilarious. With not one diversion. Yep, today we (re) introduced Stephen DVD. And while not [...]
Memories and Mo(mentum)
I’ve got lots of New Jersey memories. My parents moved out there when I was in College, a big move for them. My younger sisters were all raised there. My parents home in New Jersey served as an escape after we lived downtown during 9/11, a place where we ended up staying for quite some [...]
Bon Jour Montreal
We arrived in Montreal on Wednesday night, with a bit of a prolonged adventure what with our RGL and NGL experience which I already addressed in another blog post. Thursday was a day of meetings regarding the Univera/Matol integration, with lots of leadership from Bijan and Jonathan. I can’t mention all the names of the [...]
Leaving On a Jet Plane
What a great song, it was perfect for this past Wednesday morning as a departure song but it was trumped by my gate experience that day. Since it’s the first official start of the Road Tour tomorrow morning I’ll use this as my beginning post for our many-city tour across North America to share the [...]
Happy 4th Birthday Buddy
The reason I write in my blog is to connect with people. Not just from one segment of life, but from many. And as part of the thread of stories I try to share experiences and observations in leadership, volunteerism, wellness, as well as some stories that are simply personal experiences that fall in none [...]
A Tale of Two Gates
Travel can be a lot of fun, albeit in doses. And I certainly prefer personal over business, as a lot of the road wears on you and in many ways that people who don’t have to travel simply do not realize or appreciate. But it can also be very rewarding and the experiences provide so [...]