Tag Archives: John Steinbeck

Give Your Problems Their Last ‘Writes’

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By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to enhance your problem solving skills. Reading time: 2:57.

Two executives are tugging away at a vexing problem. It’s getting late in the day and both are frustrated. “What do you think?” says one. “Not sure,” responds the other. “Okay, here’s a way forward. She reaches into her purse and says: “Take two of these and call me in the morning.”

Oh, what a headache! Both smiled at the two sharpened pencils. They knew those pencils would do what no aspirin could: help them think.

After all, “writing is thinking on paper,” as author William Zinsser notes in his book On Writing Well. Writing is proven method to organize your thoughts, establish your point of view, pose and defend your argument to make decisions and solve problems. Continue reading →

Breaking Out of Your Personal Perception Prison

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By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you become more aware of your surroundings.

One night at sea, a ship’s captain saw what looked like the lights of another ship heading toward him on a collision course. He had his signalman blink to the other ship: “Change your course 10 degrees south.” The reply came back, “Change YOUR course 10 degrees north.”

The ship’s captain answered, “I’m a full captain – change your course south.” To which the reply was, “Well, I’m a seaman first class – change your course north.”

This infuriated the captain, so he signaled back, “Dammit, I say change your course south. I’m on a battleship.”To which the reply came, “And I say change your course north. I’m in a lighthouse.”

That’s how then Senator Joe Biden told the Battleship vs. Lighthouse story in a 2005 speech. Continue reading →