by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners
I have been very happy with my results from following the diet and exercise advice of Joe Dillon. I started the program in April of 2004 and quickly lost 26 pounds, reduced my resting heart rate, improved my cholesterol levels, and increased my strength and endurance. Since I like the food and workouts are easier than what I had been doing, I have stayed with the program ever since and am enjoying the longest non-obese period of my life.
A foundation of the program is a high-protein, low-carb diet. This is not Atkins. No shock, no bad breath, and–woefully–no bacon. The most convenient way I have found to get enough protein is with a shake. My recipe is below. Don’t be put off by (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Executive Coaches
That the only thing that really matters in life are your relationships to other people.
–Dr. George Vaillant, Psychiatrist
Harvard Study of Adult Development
What Makes Us Happy?, in the June, 2009, issue of the Atlantic has attracted a lot of attention. It is an interesting story, or collection of anecdotes, but does it provide any useful guidance for CEOs or their executive coaches?
Vaillant sorts people according to their (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, Stress Management
“There is quite a bit of evidence now suggesting that the more people you have contact with, in your own home or outside, the better you do” mentally and physically, Dr. Kawas said. “Interacting with people regularly, even strangers, uses easily as much brain power as doing puzzles, and it wouldn’t surprise me if this is what it’s all about.”
And bridge, she added, provides both kinds of stimulation.
“People stop playing,” said Norma Koskoff, another regular [contract bridge] player here, “and very often when they stop playing, they don’t live much longer.”
—At Bridge Table,
Clues to a Lucid Old Age
New York Times
by Tony Mayo | For Executive Coaches
Werner Erhard
The Transformation of a Man:
The Founding of EST
by W. W. Bartley, III
This is the only book I ever found so useful, inspiring, and compelling that, immediately upon completing it, I turned back to page one and read it again. That happened fifteen years ago. I just finished reading it a third time and got just as much benefit again.
I first encountered life coaching and executive coaching in 1992 when I participated in the Forum at Landmark Education Corporation. As for many graduates, that weekend course remains one of the most beneficial experiences in my life. I continued to participate in Landmark programs and I became curious about the man who originated the work.
Werner Erhard founded est in 1971 and “The Training” became a major cultural phenomenon of the 1970s, with hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic graduates around the world, including leading academics, for example Harvard Business School’s Michael Jensen and MIT’s Warren Bennis, and many celebrities such as John Denver, Valerie Harper, Ted Dansen, and Raul Julia. Tiger Woods’ first and most important coach, (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners
Business owners all seem to be very busy and over-worked. For most of them, the reason is that most of what they are doing is just creating more things that have to be done, instead of making the business more successful.
Want more time to relax? Stop trying to fix everything.
—Dan Wertenberg
Serial CEO and Vistage Speaker
(Paraphrased.)
The human immune system is a wondrous mechanism. It detects and destroys invading bacteria, viruses, and debris. It is vigilant 24×7 and extends into every tiny and obscure part of our body. Our immune system is adaptable to changing threats because it learns from and emerges stronger from many infections. A fantastic model for an executive to learn from as she designs monitoring and control systems in a business.
The immune system has a flaw that may also be instructive for managers. It can (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, Leadership Development
I was very pleased to be invited to a meeting with former MCI Worldcom internal auditor, Cynthia Cooper, sponsored by Accelerent. She is the employee who discovered and “blew the whistle” on the $11 billion financial fraud that, along with Enron, changed corporate governance in America. Unfortunately, similar frauds continue to be perpetrated. Her story, also told in Extraordinary Circumstances, illustrates an important principle of business integrity.
Business crimes are seldom committed by evil people searching for opportunities to lie, cheat, or steal. Most misdeeds, from pilfering pens and misusing the copier to billion-dollar stock frauds, are carried out by regular people who have rationalized small steps over the line. At MCI Worldcom, accountants reclassified some reserves into revenue because the CFO said (more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches, For Salespeople, Recommended Books, Sales Techniques
On Killing:
The Psychological Cost of
Learning to Kill in War and Society
by Dave Grossman
Capsule Review
I read this book and I review it here not because of any particular interest in sanctioned killing, rather because of my interest in institutional means of getting people to do difficult yet important tasks. I train salespeople and other business leaders.
I first heard the author, Dave Grossman, on a radio interview promoting this book. I heard him say that that in the history of combat from Alexander the Great through World War II only about 15% of soldiers in battle were trying to kill the enemy. He’s not talking about the long administrative and logistical tail of the army. Only 15-20% of the people with guns or swords in their hands, who were facing a threatening enemy, were willing to kill that enemy. I know this is hard to believe. I first heard this statistic from a pacifist and I called him a liar. Then I heard it from this author, a former US Army Colonel and military historian, who references the research of the US Army’s official W.W.II historian as well as many other scholars.
(more…)
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, Stress Management
One topic eventually appears in nearly every conversation with my executive coaching clients: stress. Everyone is aware of increased stress. For many, stress is the dominant experience. Let’s examine the mechanism, symptoms, and treatments.
Stress is a word imported from engineering, where it refers to pressure sufficient to cause a body to deform. High stress can permanently alter the form and function of the material bearing the load, even to the point of destruction. No wonder that endocrinologist Hans Selye chose stress to describe the reactions of lab rats to his injections of what would later be labeled stress hormones: cortisol, adrenaline, etc. You and I do not need an injection to experience the symptoms of stress; we make plenty of these hormones ourselves.
Some immediate symptoms of excessive emotional stress are:
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, How to Set Goals
According to an article by Michael Shermer, Ph.D. in the September 2007 issue of Scientific American, several elements are needed for a movement or an idea to gain acceptance:
- The idea takes a stand for something, not against something, and is based on a positive assertion.
- The idea uses an intelligent, rational approach to tackle myths and raises consciousness and awareness.
- The idea embraces the uniqueness of self and others, and it requires us to respect each other.
- The idea encourages exploration, experimentation and a sense of adventure.
— Carole Carson
Here’s a radical idea:
getting fit is fun and contagious
LA Times
January 12, 2009
by Tony Mayo | For Business Owners, Stress Management
Gratitude changes your life for the better.
Gratitude – The Secret to Getting Back Up©
By David J. Pollay
Greater Good Magazine, founded by Dacher Keltner, a California-Berkeley psychologist and highly regarded researcher, recently dedicated an entire issue to gratitude. The Summer 2007 issue is entitled, Building Gratitude.
Increasing your gratitude is good for you and for the people around you. Gratitude changes your life for the better.
Gratitude Researcher, Robert Emmons, author of Thanks! How the New Science of Gratitude Can Make You Happier, made the case by (more…)
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