The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Humor heals, even when life seems to careen out of order. I’m living that right now. On Friday morning, November 22nd I’ll be having open heart surgery in my hometown. I expect to make a full recovery, but nothing is guaranteed. A percentage of folks have serious problems and pass away from aortic heart problems. The actor John Ritter did, many others as well. So, in anticipation of facing this operation Susan and I...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Kevin Bacon is one of the hardest working actors in Hollywood. With over 485 film credits to his name, he always has been. He’s also the center of the entertainment universe, (or so three “snowed-in” Pennsylvania college students determined in 1994.) They noticed that he seemed to be EVERYWHERE on the tube. They began to wonder who Bacon had worked with - and how many degrees of separation there were between other...
about 2 months ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed It’s a fascinating dilemma: When should a person resign from an organization, a board, or a position of authority? To put it bluntly as a gambler: “when should we ‘fold’ and throw our cards on the table?” Please take note, I’m NOT asking you when it’s good to become a ‘quitter’, in the sense that most people would use that term. What I AM asking is how do we know when it is right to open the door for another person to...
about 2 months ago • 3 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed One of my favorite James Taylor songs is entitled “The Secret O’ Life”. There’s just something about it that has stayed with me for 47 years. I’d like to challenge you today with the self examination that I’ve gone through over the years, past and present, from the lyrics and music of this song - to encourage you as the time moves forward in your life. The secret of life is enjoying the passage of timeAny fool can do...
2 months ago • 4 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” This may be one of the most iconic opening sentences in literature; it’s from Dickens’ book, A Tale of Two Cities. Iconic? Yes… but is it accurate? The next paragraph holds the answer. “(I)t was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it...
3 months ago • 6 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Have you ever experienced the phenomenon of doing, seeing, or hearing something and suddenly you start experiencing that “something” over and over via other people, places, or times? It seems to be everywhere – all at the same time. Maybe, it’s bumping across people from your home state… like an extended version of The Sopranos in New Jersey. Or maybe it’s your new car suddenly seems like everyone is driving…or...
3 months ago • 7 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed In my previous newsletter I suggested I might travel to my third-and-final 50th high school class reunion. It did happen. Last week I traveled to Mt. Clemens, Michigan to be with “kids” who attended 5th through 10th grade with me in the late 1960s and early ‘70s. (I transferred to a high school in So Cal midway through my Sophomore year.) It was a marvelous reunion evening that allowed me to process four key thoughts:...
4 months ago • 5 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed My bride, Susan, and I just attended two separate high school reunions in the last few weeks and I’m getting ready for a third one in about twelve days – and all of the reunions are ours! Wait, people only graduate from one high school, what’s up? You’re correct. Here’s the simple solution - They are Susan’s reunion, Dennis’s reunion and … Dennis’s other reunion (I’ll get to that in a bit.) Though we didn’t meet until...
4 months ago • 8 min read
The Mansfield Newsletter Empowering you to overcome challenges and succeed Think of one of the most precious photos of yourself or your family in a lovely frame. Got it in your mind? Now close your eyes and imagine the framed image 100 years in the future… on a wall of a restaurant chain property that’s located on a truck route in Nebraska… And then shiver from the embarrassment? Arghhh… Maybe, maybe not. Let me start to unpack my thought. Years ago, while sitting in a local Cracker Barrel...
6 months ago • 5 min read