There's nothing new about the observation that laughter is good medicine.  It goes back hundreds, even thousands of years when the court jester had the task of entertaining royalty and the heads of state.  If he was good at his job and performed well, his rewards would be considerable, and if he put on a lousy performance there was a reasonably good chance that he would lose his head - I mean like REALLY lose his head!  Over a period of time, however, these court jesters learned that being humorous did much more than just entertain.

As a young salesman, I was taught the "Ben Franklin Close." Franklin used this technique to persuade someone to his way of thinking. He drew a line down the center of a sheet of paper. On one side he would put "Reasons Why" and on the other side, "Reasons Why Not.

A comprehensive article in Executive Excellence by Craig Hickman, Chairman and CEO of Management Perspectives Group, gives the best and clearest distinctions between managers and leaders I have ever read. He points out that too many people think of managers as dull, impersonal, plodding, tedious, unimaginative and stagnant, whereas they think of leaders as inspiring, personable, charismatic, charming and creative.

In this day and age, customer service is truly a "buzz word" in corporate America. I'd like to quote a couple of statements from The Executive Speechwriter Newsletter which say a great deal.

"Because the customer has a need, we have a job to do.

An article that appeared in The Dallas Morning News was particularly fascinating because the author was writing about Vitamin A (for affection) which is advocated by Inez Bloomingdale who is the owner and director of Miss Bloomingdale's Academy, a child care center in Las Colinas.

Recently, as I was driving from the airport to my home, I was listening to a call-in radio program hosted by an African American minister who is working to improve race relations. He was gently reminding us that throughout our history black people have suffered tremendously as a result of racism.

A wise person once said that we teach people what we know, but we reproduce what we are. The prophet of long ago taught that the student is not above the teacher, but that the teacher has not taught until the student becomes as the teacher. Yet another person says that "people will not always believe what you say but they will always believe what you do.

Jim Norman, the former CEO of The Zig Ziglar Corporation, compiled a quick-reference list of definitions which I found fascinating, profound and useful for those who are serious about change and improvement.

Alcohol - A means of sustaining the agony of combining fantasy and reality and promoting that as life.

For most of us the arrival of a highly-anticipated event such as the birth of a new baby, a long-awaited vacation, the return home of a loved one, the big game we've been looking forward to, etc., seems to take forever.

On the other hand, if it's one of those dreaded events like April 15th, the date a divorce becomes final, admission to the hospital for major surgery or any event that brings pain, despair, or a sense of loss, the calendar rushes forward with breathtaking speed.

When someone wonders if I remember such-and-such an event or so-and-so, if the answer is “no” one of my favorite responses is to smile and acknowledge that no, I don’t. Then I explain that I have a brilliant memory – it’s just awfully short.