Words are power.

Their impact often out of proportion with their intent.

Denigrating words wound long after their issuer has been identified as mean-spirited. Validating words generate exponentially more energy, creativity, loyalty and cooperation than ever went into voicing them.

Negative labels are word weapons used to diminish, marginalize, and rob others of their voice.

Calling out the positive attributes and contributions of others are investments which inspire confidence, build trust, and deepen credibility.

You are more powerful than you imagined.

To what end are you currently using the power of words?

Reflecting on the power of words, how might you go about using your words differently?

Happy New Year!

Let’s choose to make 2009 a very good year.

Let’s make an intentional decision about what will make 2009 “good” for us.

The new year is not something that is going to happen to us, but something we are going to make happen. While much is out of our control, there is much to choose, intend and purpose.

Are you “waiting to see” if 2009 will be better than 2008?

Join me in actively participating in the form that 2009 will take, both for your own sake and the sake of those you love.

Happy New Year!

- Karl Edwards

The distractions are many.

At best the economy feels fragile, though for some it has collapsed. Many of us are hustling to keep our current jobs or secure our next job before this one disappears.

The holidays are upon us with their strange mix of frantic activity and pronounced loneliness. We feel fragile ourselves.

This year we prepare for the arrival of yet another politician who has promised hope and change. We greet the possibility as if this were the first time a world leader has ever offered such, and we look forward with enthusiasm to the coming inauguration of a better future.

Interesting that during this particular Christmas season we are looking to the most powerful leader in the world (maybe even in the history of the world) for hope instead of the powerless infant of Bethlehem.

Understandable, but the story of hope and change through the centuries has oddly accompanied the powerless, not the powerful.

Powerful world leaders come and go, but the memory, impact and inspiration of one particular child endures.

Before you rely on the reigns of power as a source of hope, consider the Christ child who was born powerless and died powerless, and who has inspired life- and world-changing hope for millennia.

Have you noticed? Starbucks has declared war on its regular customers.

Their store remodels of late are stripping out the hospitality that used to make an extended visit to Starbucks irresistibly attractive.

In an short-sighted attempt to increase turnover, they have decided there shall be no space for the self-employed, the writers, the consultants and other independent operators who have enjoyed the tables and power outlets which invited us to stay for an hour or two.

Granted it’s their property and their decision for what sort of clientele they design. While their efforts to chase away those of us who might overstay our welcome will certainly succeed, I question whether our absence will result in an increase in walk-through customers they seem to prefer.

Losing some of their most enthusiastic evangelists, they change the alternative facing their remaining prospects. If the choice for good coffee is between getting in and out at Starbucks or in and out of McDonalds, McDonalds is the “in and out” winner.

It was wonderful while it lasted. Thank you for the delightful place to work for so many years. But I get the message. I won’t bring my clients to Starbucks anymore. We’ll leave what spartan space remains to all those new customers who need a place to sit while waiting for their drinks to be prepared.

If they show up.

Carrows doesn’t get it.

I‘ve been taking each of my three daughters to weekly one-on-one breakfasts at Carrows for over seven years now.

We know everyone on staff by name and many of the other regular customers as well. I don’t even want to think about what we’ve spent on meals there through the years.

For the first time one of my daughters asks the local manager to place an ad in her middle school’s yearbook. The price is nominal and gives Carrows positive exposure to the local families they serve.

Carrows doesn’t get it, though.

That the local manager said, “No,” to sponsoring an ad is not the problem.

What’s troubling is that he didn’t even have (more…)

Inhaling deep wafts of the morning mist, I push my way into the day—that now familiar mix of courage and impotence coloring each step.

Foreign are the airs of confidence and self assurance that others seem to wear so effortlessly. But I press forward. Destiny’s beckoning promise continues to visit in the night, dancing gracefully along the horizon of my imagination. My appreciation for this encouraging angel erases every suggestion that she is but a teasing whore.

I am different. I am different for a reason. I am different because I have something to do. I have something I must do.

First published in Nuance Alley, April 2004.

Today would be my father’s birthday if he were alive.

He, unfortunately, passed away 23 years ago at the untimely age of 51.

Most memories are fuzzy at this point. I pull out photos to remember his smile.

His voice, though, I still hear.

Three lines in particular accompany me, bolster me, and continue to challenge me.

You can do anything you set your mind to.

Keep a hand extended. You never know when someone will need it.

You’re my hero.

Those words reverberate differently to a son now in mid-life himself. But speak into my life, inspire my heart, and test my mettle, they continue to do.

Thanks Dad.

What is the difference between self-promotion and self-promotion?

Yes, I used the same words. And therein lies the problem.

All of us who sell professional services must find ways to inform others about the value we have to offer for the dollar exchanged.

Of course, we each would like that value to be perceived as highly as possible. When that perception gets “enhanced” out of proportion with the underlying value we are able to offer, we are engaging in other forms of self-promotion.

So back to my question… What is the difference between self-promotion and self-promotion?

Perseverance is not always a matter of mustering sheer will power.

While determination on our part is crucial, we come up against obstacles, opposition, and constraints that hold us back, sabotage our efforts and attack our spirit. What once felt like an indomitable fount of energy, creativity and genius slowly crumbles beneath us even as we scramble for higher ground.

I‘ve been learning that perseverance requires tactical preparedness, as well as inner strengthening.

More than sheer commitment to our own project or dream, we need to be aware and savvy about the people and forces that work against us. We have to including contingencies in our planning to account for opposition, and initiatives to head off anything we can anticipate in the way of trouble.

There is no room for naive idealism. To deny the reality of difficulties is to participate in one’s own defeat.

We also need an inexhaustible spirit and strength of character. Such inner resources don’t appear from nowhere. Two lifelong tasks to this end are: 1.) digging a deep well of resources that restore, refresh and renew you, and 2.) learning to draw on those resources when needed.

Which is your stronger suit when mustering the determination to push forward in spite of all that would hold you back? Do you lean on your sound planning or your inner tenacity? What might we learn from your success in persevering?

Decision-making requires choices. But choices do not always suggest what decision needs to be made.

We would like our options to lay themselves out neat and tidy as easy-to-compare alternatives where the pros and cons of each translated into a prioritized ranking with the clear winner presenting itself plainly.

No such luck!

Instead, a myriad of unrelated issues collide into incoherent and often contradictory alternatives from which every gain involves its share of setbacks.

My suggestion is to give up trying to make the “right” choice and settle on making the next choice. The next choice can be made over and over again, with appropriate adjustments for learning from previous choices.

Trying to discern the “right” or “correct” choice can quickly absorb a disproportionate amount of time and energy. The “next” choice can be incremental, experimental, and partial. You will be in motion making your “next” choice, which is far more productive than sitting still while searching for the “right” choice.

Do you have trouble making choices when no clear alternative presents itself? I’d love to hear a story or two about a recent decision-making quandary you faced.

On your side,

- Karl