Al Watts Blog

by Al Watts and Lola Fredrickson Who’s the wisest person you know?  Why does that person come to mind, and what are some characteristics of other wise people you know? Competency, skills and expertise are desirable, but cannot take the place of wisdom.  There are competent, highly ski

What’s the first thought you have about your work or employer when you wake up? Are you energized, enthused and eager to get on with your day, or just hoping to get through it?  If you’re energized and looking forward to the day, you likely reflect the 21% of nearly 90,000 employees s

by Bill Gjetson (This month’s guest author is Bill Gjetson, who shares my belief that stories play an important role shaping a leader’s and organization’s identity.  After a 30 year career in Human Resources  with Caterpillar, Bill is now engaged in experience-based leader

We pulled out a time-honored family recipe over the holidays, and that got me thinking about what a recipe for success in 2012 might be.  I tried to follow the criteria for most good recipes: they should be relatively simple and clear, employ what is ideally at our disposal, allow for

This article is brought to you by my left hand (I’m right-handed) – courtesy of a torn rotator cuff and surgery a few weeks ago.  I am a firm believer that almost any hardship, unfamiliar situation or adventure offers lessons for life and leadership, and a few weeks with my righ

It is sadly ironic that Penn State University and its leaders, concerned as they were about legacy, will perhaps best be known for their failures.  Over fifteen years, at least eight young boys were molested, some at Penn State’s athletic facilities, by the defensive coach of its reve

Can you remember the last time you were the beneficiary of a “random act of kindness” – an unsolicited, totally unexpected kind act from a stranger?  How did you feel, and how did that affect the course of your day?  Can you remember a time when someone else benefited from your random

“What’s the difference between a line and a rope?”  That is one of my favorite questions to ask new LOON crew members.  The answer is that a rope just sits there, with no purpose or use yet, like a pile of rope on the dock or extra rope in your locker.  A line is rope with a purpose t

I just returned from ten days sailing Lake Superior.  After crossing from Bayfield to Grand Marais, our plan was to take three or four days circumnavigating Isle Royale, one of my favorite destinations.  Five miles outside of Grand Marais’ harbor LOON’s water pump broke, and with abso

Rupert Murdoch pulled the plug on NEWS OF THE WORLD, Britain’s nearly 170-year-old tabloid journal, in the wake of its unethical and illegal phone hacking practices.  As I heard that, I couldn’t help thinking of the analogy about “closing barn doors after the horses escaped.”  Shocked

My wife and I recently had the pleasure of visiting our daughter Alison in China, where she has been living and working for eight months.  There is enough about that adventure to fill a few volumes – most of it very positive.  One interesting experience involved our visit to an “authe

Do you remember being warned as a kid about “hanging out with the wrong crowd,” and that if you did you were likely to get into trouble?  That was pretty good advice, and it still holds true.  These days I think of that when “bad things happen to good companies” mainly because of the