My sister recently told me a story that I want to retell.  She had had a bad day going, all the common stuff, but  it seemed to be happening all at once.  She decided to treat herself to her favorite holiday coffee at a Starbucks.  As she pulled up to the window to pay, the lady told her that the car in front of her had already paid for her coffee.  She asked the clerk why, and her response was that they just wanted to do something nice for a random stranger. continue reading...

I was recently talking with a guy that I do sales training for and a great topic of discussion came up. This man owns a company with a very large sales force and he is constantly complaining about his employees’ lack of gratitude for him and what he has given them. With all the sacrifices he makes for them, he believes that they at least owe him that. In response to this, I told him that he needed to remember that a gift that is given with expectation of something in return is not a gift, it’s a trade. continue reading...

I sat next to a man on a plane recently and, though neither of us was the type to yak their neighbor’s ear off, we both did so. We started off with the basic plane small talk, but we quickly discovered that we were both interested in what each another had to say and we kept it up until the plane landed. continue reading...