I recently read a post in www.themommiesreviews.com about the value of puzzles for children who are struggling, including with trauma. Puzzles are amazing: they can be a shared activity (with or without conversation), they can enable concentration (remember looking for that double flat edged corner?), they produce a deliverable — an image, they develop fine motor skills, they enhance visual acuity, and they enable a sense of accomplishment with each linking piece found. And one can select puzzles with images that have meaning — places visited, favorite animals, fantasy scenes with dragons or unicorns.
2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020 2020: Yes, a New Year is coming and a new decade. For many, this is a time of celebration — witnessing the passage of time with loved ones and/or friends or on one’s own. And, in what amounts to a nano-second, we move from 2019 into 2020. A ball even falls in celebration (shouldn’t it rise?).
The term billionaire refers to a person who has money and property that is worth at least a billion pounds or dollars. But, for me, the definition means more. When I hear the word “billionaire”, I think of people who aren’t just financially wealthy.
Ron Galimore is one of my great friends—he also happens to be the son of the former Chicago Bears great running back Willie Galimore who tragically died in a car accident when Ron was a child. Ron went on to follow in his athletically gifted father’s cleats to become the first African American Olympic gymnast as a member of the 1980 Olympic team . . . games which we unfortunately boycotted. Trust me when I tell you he would have won the gold in vault. He and his wife, Loree, along with my wife and our now grown sons spent this Thanksgiving together. We binged on turkey and gravy and more than a few assorted seasonal pies, sat on the couch sipping bourbon, and watching the Bears versus Lions while Ron entertained us with stories of his past interactions with his dad’s old teammates and admirers—like the time he met Mike Ditka at his steakhouse and was embraced in a huge bear hug as Ditka spoke of his fond memories of Ron's father and mother, or the time they closed down Studebaker’s in Schaumburg with Walter Peyton, or the time his mom and dad went to a baseball game with “Cassius Clay,” as the autograph on the back of the Polaroid said.
Teamwork might seem like an indistinct or vague concept to many, but there is no doubt that there are real benefits for companies and individuals when they all get along. Over the past year, you’ve probably noticed that I have been talking a lot more about the importance of teamwork and collaboration.
I think many of us have had negative associations with the term “blue hair.” We think of older women with white hair except their hair looks unintentionally blueish. It has an odd blue tint. I always thought that was the aftermath of a certain hair dye on white hair. We often speak negatively about all the “blue hairs” at a particular event as if to message that everyone in attendance is old. I used to go to symphony years ago and remark at all the white-blue Q-Tips that occupied the rows in front of me. A sea of Q-Tips. It made me feel classical music was on the way out.
No one said management was going to be easy. Whether you are a newly promoted manager or an experienced one, being in that position of authority is going to make you feel like jumping out of a plane without a parachute.