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Respect & Integrity

by DW Green — September 13, 2023

Respect isn’t about agreement.

Respect is like integrity. Integrity is strong, “works,” and is constructive and successful, whereas its opposite fails. Integrity is therefore practical; its absence leads to weakness and collapse. The same is true with respect. It’s opposite fails and its absence leads to weakness and collapse.Many times, respecting rivals or groups or individuals who hold a differing “truth” or “belief” is difficult. But respect isn’t about agreement. Respect is about acknowledging and honoring the other person(s) position, perspective, or point of view. Respect is about, as Bob LaBonne Jr. says, living by the Golden Rule. Treating others the way we want to be treated. One can choose to accept the situation as it is, attempt to change it, or leave it all together. But regardless of the choice, one should BE respectful and kind to the individual(s) involved.Well, my “take” on respect anyway!

Read More – Late

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Appearance

by DW Green — September 6, 2023

Many things are clearly apparent yet do not truly exist.

Ever wonder why stuff shows up in your head? I was thinking of the expression “perception is reality.” Perception is not reality, but, admittedly, perception can become a person’s reality because perception has a potent influence on how we look at reality. We don’t realize how much stuff we believe is true only because we perceive it to be so. Like water in a mirage, a dream, an echo, a phantom emanation, a reflection, a castle in the air or a hallucination, all things are clearly apparent yet do not truly exist. While they do not exist, they appear to, and yet have no basis in reality. All this is to say, it’s wise to review your customers perception of your store. Quality, selection, service and value! Perceived or true.

Read More – Breakup

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Fear Is A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

by DW Green — August 30, 2023

“The combination of power, fear, and mania can be deadly.”

“Only the paranoid survive,” Andy Grove, a former CEO of Intel, famously said. It might be true. But we also know that the paranoid often destroy themselves quicker and more spectacularly than any enemy.The combination of power, fear, and mania can be deadly. The leader convinced that he might be betrayed, acts first and betrays others first. Afraid that that he’s not well liked, he works so hard to get others to like him that it has the opposite effect. Convinced of mismanagement, he micromanages and becomes the source of the mismanagement. And on and on—the things we fear or dread, we blindly inflict on ourselves.The next time you are afraid of some supposedly disastrous outcome, remember that if you don’t control your impulses, if you lose your self-control, you may be the very source of the disaster you so fear. It has happened to smarter and more powerful and more successful people. It can happen to us too.

Read More – Saying What You Think

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Holy Moly

by DW Green — August 23, 2023

“The image we carry about ourselves is extremely inaccurate and incomplete.”

I’ve always liked the phrase Holy Moly. It has a nice sound to it! Holy moly means “an exclamation of surprise, shock, or astonishment.” Or, as in Wow! (the exclamation used by the comic book character Captain Marvel.) Holy moly! A whole quarter! Shazam!” Shazam is a pretty neat word too! Holy Moly, as an exclamation of surprise, dates back to at least 1892. Wow! Shazam!However, this blog isn’t about Holy Moly. It’s about Ego! Holy moly! We have an ego due to social convention, but the fallacy we all make is that we treat this abstraction (ego) as if it were real and physical. But the ego is merely a composition of ideas and images about ourselves. This image is obviously no more us than the idea of a tree is a tree. Additionally, the image we carry about ourselves is extremely inaccurate and incomplete. My image of me is not at all your image of me, and my image of you is not at all your image of you.The good news is, is all that is required to become free of the ego is to be aware of it, since awareness and ego are incompatible. As Deepak Chopra writes, “If you want to reach a state of bliss, then go beyon...
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Funny How That Works Out

by DW Green — August 16, 2023

“It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Stories about lottery winners tend to share one lesson, suddenly coming into a great deal of money is a curse, not a blessing. Just a few years after they get their big check, many lottery winners are actually in worse financial shape. They’ve lost friends, they’ve gotten divorced. Their whole lives have been turned into a night mare as a result of their obscenely good fortune.

It’s like the Metallica lyric (fittingly from a song called “No Leaf Clover”): “Then it comes to be that the soothing light at the end of your tunnel / Is just a freight train coming your way.”

And yet the most common response from a cancer survivor, the person who went through the thing we all dread and fear? “It was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Funny how that works out, isn’t it.

Read More – Make no mistake about it

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Don’t Let Your Attention Slide

by DW Green — August 9, 2023

“Einstein didn’t invent the theory of relativity while he was multitasking at the Swiss patent office.”

Winifred Gallagher, in her book Rapt, quotes David Meyer, a cognitive scientist at the University of Michigan: “Einstein didn’t invent the theory of relativity while he was multitasking at the Swiss patent office.” It came after, when he really had time to focus and study. Attention matters—and in an era in which our attention is being fought for by every new app, website, article, book, tweet, and post, its value has only gone up.Attention is a habit, and letting your attention slip and wander builds bad habits and enables mistakes.You’ll never complete all your tasks if you allow yourself to be distracted with every tiny interruption. Your attention is one of your most critical resources. Don’t squander it!

Read More – Who’s your obsession

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Mind Games

by DW Green — August 2, 2023

We all play mind games with ourselves practically every day.

I usually think of mind games as something individuals intentionally play on rivals, subordinates, and peers. It happens in politics, office politics, in sports and relationships, used to gain advantage, manipulate or intimidate. It all seems pretty creepy to me. But as it turns out, we all play mind games with ourselves practically every day.This internal mind game consists of the tricks your mind plays on you, making you see reality according to old memories, fears, wounds, prejudices, outworn beliefs, second-hand opinions, and early conditioning. When you are aware your mind is filtering your reality based on the past, you can change it with that awareness. In fact, awareness is the change.Awareness is huge. Seemingly so simple, yet so difficult to cultivate and sustain.

Read More – There goes my hero

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More Cool!

by DW Green — July 26, 2023

Brand marks are like punctuation symbols.

So Adam is talking about cool. Cool, as in the context of slang, as an interjection to express acceptance, approval or admiration. And what’s more cool—neat, nifty, boss, keen, groovy— than a brand mark or Icon. Brand marks are simple, clean, and an easy to remember graphic representation of a company’s Brand name. Brand marks are like punctuation symbols:. stop, pause; pause longer! exclamation mark? question markBrand marks and icons can represent a deeper meaning of a company’s purpose or an abstract expression like the Nike swoosh. We have a Northwest client whose brand mark is a sailboat. Who would have thought of a sailboat icon for a food store? The sailboat is very meaningful to their company culture. It’s meaningful to me too. I’m proud to wear their caps and jackets that showcase their company icon.The DW Green icon reflects our design mantra “Less is greater than more.”So, if you’re considering a new or updated design for your company’s brand mark, give us a call.

Read More – Old’s Cool

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Are feelings relevant in an organization?

by DW Green — July 19, 2023

Begin to see ourselves in much richer dimensions.

Growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, I became a non-conformist, a maverick, and a Beatles fan, always questioning and challenging the status quo. I think that’s why the study of brands is so appealing to me. Branding is about connecting companies emotionally to their customers and helping them differentiate themselves in their markets. It’s about leading, not following. It’s about competing with yourself, making your company better, stronger, staying relevant in an ever-changing world and creating the best possible shopping EXPERIENCE for the customer.Take a look at a different organizational paradigm. Consider refocusing on the deep longings we have for community, meaning, dignity, purpose, and love in our organizational lives. Begin to look at the strong emotions of being human, rather than segmenting ourselves by believing that love doesn’t belong at work, or that feelings are irrelevant in an organization. Begin to see ourselves in much richer dimensions, to appreciate our wholeness, and hopefully, to design organizations that honor and make use of the great gift of who we humans are.In a word, it’s purpose. What is the underlying purpose of your organization?

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Blamesville

by DW Green — July 12, 2023

The buck stops here.

A sign on President Harry Truman’s desk read, THE BUCK STOPS HERE. As president, with more power and control than pretty much anyone else, he knew that, good or bad, there wasn’t anyone he could blame for stuff other than himself. There was no one to pass the buck to. The chain ended there, in the Oval Office. Blaming others or things seem to be an increasingly popular exercise in today’s America.As the president of our own lives—and knowing that our powers begin and end with our reasoned choice—we would do well to internalize this same attitude. We don’t control things outside that sphere, but we do control our attitudes and responses to those events—and that’s plenty. It’s enough that we go into each and every day knowing that there is no one to pass the buck to. It ends with us.

Read More – At Least I’m Consistent

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