Class act
‘People first’ is part of CEO Brian Scudamore’s business credo. Today he picked up the phone and called me to say ‘thank you’ for the Game Plan column I wrote about 1-800-GOT-JUNK?
Love that. Way to practice what you preach, sir.
No ‘junk’ in this philosophy
I am no longer surprised when people who subscribe to the Law of Attraction find their way to me. Case in point, Brian Scudamore, the CEO and founder of 1-800-GOT-JUNK? and his cool story of success, which includes regular appearances on AMC’s Hoarders.
Read the story that helped shape this man in today’s Game Plan: No ‘Junk’ in This CEO’s Philosophy.
Catholic heads in the sand
The church gave up its credibility for Lent.
–Maureen Dowd, Should There Be an Inquisition for the Pope?
Thank you, Maureen Dowd, for your outrage and for pounding this home. I am so tired of Catholics putting themselves in the position of “discriminated against” because it’s only “a few” priests and “other religions” do it and just aren’t picked on as much.
Get a grip. The people have the power here and refuse to use it. Demand change. Stop writing checks to this corrupt, arrogant institution. This kind of leadership is not moral, religious, spiritual, Christ-like or legal.
I’m pretty confident your God will understand.
Bravo, Ricky
A decade ago, no one liked to watch Ricky Martin move to Livin’ La Vida Loca more than me and nothing has changed in that regard. I am thrilled that this week he has taken a step to bring him closer to peace.
Excerpted from his Web site:
Allowing myself to be seduced by fear and insecurity became a self-fulfilling prophecy of sabotage. Today I take full responsibility for my decisions and my actions.
If someone asked me today, “Ricky, what are you afraid of?” I would answer “the blood that runs through the streets of countries at war … child slavery, terrorism … the cynicism of some people in positions of power, the misinterpretation of faith.” But fear of my truth? Not at all! On the contrary, It fills me with strength and courage. This is just what I need especially now that I am the father of two beautiful boys that are so full of light and who with their outlook teach me new things every day. To keep living as I did up until today would be to indirectly diminish the glow that my kids where born with. Enough is enough. This has to change. This was not supposed to happen 5 or 10 years ago, it is supposed to happen now. Today is my day, this is my time, and this is my moment.
What will happen from now on? It doesn’t matter. I can only focus on what’s happening to me in this moment. The word “happiness” takes on a new meaning for me as of today. It has been a very intense process. Every word that I write in this letter is born out of love, acceptance, detachment and real contentment. Writing this is a solid step towards my inner peace and vital part of my evolution.
I am proud to say that I am a fortunate homosexual man. I am very blessed to be who I am.
RM
Interviewed by Dan Schawbel
What a kick to be interviewed for Dan Schawbel’s award-winning Personal Branding Blog. Touted as a Gen-Y branding expert by Entrepreneur magazine and a personal branding guru by The New York Times, Schawbel has logged over 250 of these interviews that include George Foreman, Jerry Springer, best-selling author Seth Godin, and my respected coaching colleague at Martha Stewart Radio, Maggie Mistal.
Catch my answers to Schawbel’s five questions — Personal Branding Interview: Nancy Colasurdo.
Boy Meets Girl Meets Marketing
Stacy M. Igel is one of those great ‘bootstraps’ stories and it was a pleasure to talk with her recently about how she’s using all the tools at her disposal to crank up sales for her company and its clothing line, Boy Meets Girl. You never have to twist my arm to write about fashion, so today’s Game Plan is about How One Designer Rocks Viral Marketing.
Take heed all you business folks who still think social media is for people with too much time on their hands. It’s all about learning to work it.
Earth to the Vatican
According to the Associated Press:
[Pope] Benedict’s actions have been marked by “transparency, firmness and severity in shedding light on the various cases of sexual abuse committed by priests and clergymen,” the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano said in a front-page article.
It lashed out at what it said was a “prevailing trend in the media” to ignore facts and spread an image of the Catholic Church “as if it were the only one responsible for sexual abuses – an image that does not correspond to reality.”
Sort of like Charles Manson pointing to Ted Bundy and saying, “He murdered people, too.”
Seriously, is that the Vatican PR team’s strategy? Do they really think this is all about quantity and comparison? Newsflash, folks, ONE abused child whose perpetrator was transferred by ONE bishop and ignored by EVERYONE up the line is too many. Did you forget somewhere along the way that you’re a CHURCH?
Yeah, this problem is all about the media.
Note to self
If I’m any kind of life coach at all, it’s essential that I get some perspective from the personal events of today and extract the lesson for myself just as I would for a client. So here goes.
Stop lowering your expectations. In fact, raise them. A lot. You deserve fantastic, exceptional, luminous.
Listen to people when they tell you who they are. Seeing the glass half-full is a nice default way of being, but it’s not always your best route. Sometimes realistic trumps idealistic.
Manifest the vision, baby.
Listorious
Shout-out to Stephen F. Smith for including me on this “Twitters Worth Following” list on Listorious.com. Can’t say I’ve ever been on a list that includes Michael Strahan and Martha Stewart.
Quotable
Courtesy of today’s Writer’s Almanac:
“The writer should never be ashamed of staring. There is nothing that does not require his attention.”
– Flannery O’Connor
