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By August Turak on January 17, 2012
Whether God exists is a legitimate question. That man needs a God is an incontrovertible fact. – Carl Jung One day at Mepkin Abbey monastery, Father Christian and I were in the breezeway that separates the monastic offices from the refectory. While chatting we were approached by a self-professed atheist who said he was visiting [...]
Posted in Personal Transformation, Writings | Tagged Carl Jung, Doubt, Dread, Faith, Mepkin Abbey, Michael Washburn, Monks, T.S. Elliot, Thomas Merton
By August Turak on May 16, 2011
Obviously, education, training, prior experience, financial rewards, and traditional ways of measuring intelligence don’t account for all this creative achievement. So what does? More importantly if great leaders are creative leaders, what can we learn from prisoners?
Posted in Personal Transformation | Tagged Asceticism, Blog Talk Radio, Breakfree to Success, Business Success, Creativity, Doug Foresta, Innovation, Keys, Leadership, Lessons, Passion, Prisoners, Psychology, Service and selflessness, Success, The Doug Foresta Show
By August Turak on May 9, 2011
Every once in a while I read something that is just so cool that I wish I was smart enough to write it. Method: Eight Things Stand-Up Comedy Teaches Us About Innovation by Paul Valerio is just such a piece.
Unfortunately, knowing about something usually doesn’t mean we’re any good at it. But Valerio’s piece is one of those rare works on innovation and creativity that is actually innovative and creative.
Posted in Career Success | Tagged Business, Grand Master, Innovation, insight, Knowledge Creation, Knowledge Management, lens, Mo, Paul Valerio, Personal Development, Psychology, Social Sciences, Stand-up comedy, Steve Jobs
By August Turak on May 2, 2011
Jack Welch, GE’s former CEO and leadership maven made headlines by castigating Hewlett Packard’s board for gross negligence in the wake of the scandal that cost CEO, Mark Hurd, his job. However it was not the scandal per se that drew his ire, but that HP had done such a poor job in succession planning and overall leadership development.
Posted in Transcending Capitalism | Tagged CEO, civilization, Divorce, Duke Chapel, GE, General Electric, HewlettPackard, HP, human nature, Humility, hunting and gathering, Jack Welch, Leadership, Leadership development, Mark Hurd, People, single mothers, Socrates, Succession planning, Wall Street Journal, Wil Willimon, WSJ
By August Turak on April 25, 2011
As CEO I always told job applicants that my primary job was increasing pressure while decreasing stress. Most people equate pressure with stress, but they are actually not synonymous. So what is the difference between pressure and stress?
Posted in Transformational Organizations | Tagged Anxiety, Attention, CEO, CMO, Empowerment, Health, Job Applicants, Leadership, Mental health, Pressure, Stress, Success, World Health Organization, Zen, Zen Master
By August Turak on April 18, 2011
As I moved from sales into management, I also moved from the sell side to the buy side of the proverbial “street.” And as a buyer I became involved in a strange ritual. At the end of each month my phone would ring incessantly as sales reps desperate for business eagerly tried to outdo each other offering me discounts.
Usually price had little or nothing to do with the fact that I was not ready to make a decision, but since these reps never bothered to ask, I felt no obligation to tell them. Instead I played along …
Posted in Transformational Organizations | Tagged allowances, Business, Buying, Decision making, Discount, Home & Garden, Lamborghini, Marketing, Pickpockets, Price, Sales
By August Turak on April 11, 2011
When we consider “the competition” as other companies offering similar products we are only partially right. There are three levels to competition and our direct competitors are only the first and most obvious.
Posted in Transcending Capitalism | Tagged Business, Campbell's Soup, Dan Bricklin, Fear of Change, Heinz, IBM, Lotus 123, Microsoft, MTV, Progresso, Spreadsheet, VisiCalc, Wall Street Journal
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