Bonus Track

Saving Sandcastles – Making Sound Choices Today

by Ray_anne

Last summer, I sat in my beach chair, flanked by my two daughters and enjoyed the Sunday afternoon sun as we watched our surfers. The day had started off a bit foggy but the midday heat soon erased the memory of our cooler morning. The sounds of children delighted squealing and mothers’ seagull-like beckoning filled [...]

January 6, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Removing the Wedge

by Ray_anne

When I was twenty-seven years old, my parents divorced. It was a difficult time, I thought my parents would always be together. But change happens, it is the one constant. And with that change came many others. I doubted myself and my own marriage. I questioned who I was and underneath it all, I found reasons [...]

January 5, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

What Makes a Team Work?

by Ray_anne

I have been in on numerous meeting that have resulted in, “I told you so” moments. One meeting in particular? It wasn’t actually said out loud but it was felt by all in the room. Being a part of a team can be a wonderful, exhilarating, delightful, excruciating, debilitating, and/or harrowing experience. Navigating the roads [...]

January 4, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Do You “Show Up” to Work?

by Ray_anne

“Much good work is lost for the lack of a little more.” ~Edward H. Harriman A few years ago, my mom sent out an email out to our family that I would like to share with you… “Every morning on my walk, a little red V.W. rolls by me filled with newspapers. Behind the [...]

January 3, 2012 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Whew! What a Year…. 2011!

by Ray_anne

I know it…, I can’t believe it either. Where did 2011 go? It seems to have flown by, but when I look back at it realistically? There was a heckuva lot packed into those 365 days. And I am kinda glad 2012 will have one more day in it than 2011. What will you do [...]

December 29, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Challenging the Idea of Talent Community

by Ray_anne

Community. It seems to have been the talk of the town for a few years now. And as of late, the “talent community” talk has quite a few excited but still others baffled that this concept could even subsist, let alone – money be made from it. For those of us who have worked hard [...]

December 23, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

The 4 Elements of Empowerment

by Ray_anne

“Perhaps it would be a good idea, fantastic as it sounds, to muffle every telephone, stop every motor and halt all activity for an hour some day to give people a chance to ponder for a few minutes on what it is all about, why they are living and what they really want.” ~James Truslow Adams [...]

December 22, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

5 Questions to Test Your Influence

by Ray_anne

Are you successful? Is it possible to be completely satisfied? I spend a lot of time striving for more, wanting more. Working hard to get ahead seems like an endless race against the rest of mankind. Kind of like laundry at my house, it is never completely done. In and of itself, hard work can be [...]

December 21, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Solving the Wobble with the Feedback Loop

by Ray_anne

Recently I went to lunch at a local cafe with some work associates and found that the bistro table at which we were sitting wobbled, it wobbled significantly. Have you ever been in a café and sat at a wobbly table? If another table is not available, what is a solution? I typically reach for [...]

December 20, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Social Media: When Sociology and Technology Collide

by Ray_anne

What is Social Media? The fusion of sociology and technology, transforming monologues (one to many) into dialogues (many to many) and is the democratization of information, transforming people from content readers into publishers. Three years ago, this was part of the definition of Social Media given by Answers.com, as stolen from Wikipedia. I find the [...]

December 19, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Break Out the Good Stuff: Use the Phone

by Ray_anne

I love to shop for antiques. It is my favorite kind of shopping. I always find wonderful pieces of jewelry, surprising bargains and, of course, junk. About three years ago, I went to an antiques’ flea market in Pasadena, CA. One of the first tables I passed had an set of etched champagne flutes. There [...]

December 16, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

A New Revolution

by Ray_anne

A world that finds distress necessary seems to be emerging. I don’t really understand it, but it seems to be true even as we recognize the need to ease distress, solve an issue, change a course, innovation and provoking thoughts or actions occur. Provocation has, on more than one occasion, driven home the need to [...]

December 15, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Succeed in Doing What is Necessary: There is No Try

by Ray_anne

I finished my day yesterday unfinished. I know that seems weird but it is, nonetheless, true. Too many things left to complete. Too many calls left to make. Too many tales to tell. Too little time to do it all in. Is it just me or are the days getting shorter? I have theory that [...]

December 14, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

The Right Timing

by Ray_anne

“Everyone who has been in this industry has had a chance to participate in something very exciting. It is kind of like early steam engines or factories or something. The timing was right for the people who got to do it. And that is a lucky thing…” ~Bill Gates Having spent most of my adult [...]

December 13, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Placed in Learning Moments

by Ray_anne

Every day, I sit at my computer, typing away, with inspiration looming somewhere…, in the back of my brain? just beyond my finger tips. Question: Can you force inspiration? Can you nurture it to make it grow or sprout where once there was none? It would be easy for me to say “yes” because I [...]

December 12, 2011 CONTINUE READING THIS POST →

Thinking is the Greatest Torture in the World

by Ray_anne

“Take charge of your thoughts…” ~Plato Have you ever stood in line at a grocery store and half-listened to the conversations going on around you? Drifting in and out of the myriad of would-be networking at a place of business can take its toll on you and drive you to distraction. One time, I was so [...]