Kent Blumberg

Are you a workaholic?

Are you a workaholic?  In preparation for my radio appearance on August 4, my friend Fran sent me this on-line quiz that might give you a clue.  It is based on the work of Dr. Bryan E. Robinson, from his book Chained to the Desk: A Guidebook for Workaholics, Their Partners and Children, and the Clinicians Who Treat Them (NYU Press, 2001, 280 pages). 

Take it yourself, and then ask the most important person in your life to take it (but answer the questions about you).  Compare the results and talk about it.  My wife and I both took the quiz with me in mind.  I scored myself at 57 (not a workaholic, just efficient).  She scored me at 67 (workaholic).  Interesting food for discussion!

"Equations = Memorable Communication" Contest Winner

Last week I announced a contest to come up with equations that conveyed truths about life and business.  The contest prize is a 40 minute free coaching session with me.  Seven readers contributed 21 equations.  The drawing has just been completed, witnessed and verified, and I am ready to announce the winner. But first, here are all the equations in one place, for your ready reference.  Which of these speak to you?

Fruits and vegetables in a Hong Kong market

I'll be on WHUR, Washington, DC at 8 am on Saturday August 4

On Saturday, August 4 at 8 am I'll be the guest on "The Audrey Chapman Show" on Washington, DC's WHUR (96.3 FM).  The theme of the show is "Am I A Workaholic?"  The show will be live, and we'll be taking calls from listeners.  If you are in the DC area, c'mon in!  If you are out of the area, you may be able to listen in on the station's website.

WHUR is the number one station in the DC area.  Audrey Chapman is "The Relationship Expert."  She has appeared on Oprah, Good Morning America, and most of the other cool places to appear.  Her show is the top-rated, relationship/self-help program based in Washington, DC.  (I'm just me - number one for my wife and dogs.)

If you have thoughts on workaholism, please share them in the comments section below.  I'll try to work the really good stuff into my time on the air.  Some key questions we will be exploring are:

• What are the signs of workaholism?
• What can it do to you and your relationship?
• What can you do to recover?

Are you coachable?

Are you coachable?  Are you at the point where you can benefit when your boss tries to coach you toward better performance?  Are you ready to get maximum return from working with a professional coach?  Take the short assessment below, which is from Coach U's Essential Coaching Tools: Your Complete Practice Resource (Wiley, 2005, 518 pages), to find out.

Thursday Links: some fun, goals, networking and more

We begin with a bit of light comedy.  If you're like me, you hate those forwarded emails that promise you great riches if you just send them along to ten friends.  Chris Cree has the antidote - a mantra you will want to use daily.  Do be sure to listen to the short audio file on the blog.  It's awesome!

My friend, Mike Schaffner is a serious, sober, senior IT leader.  Just look the photo on his blog - this guy is no nonsense.  So I'm sure this YouTube video he found is completely serious, too.

Leading with stories

I've been thinking about stories and business leadership lately.  My friend Dave Krueger talks about the power of "old stories" that keep us mired in ineffective behaviors.  The Slow Leadership blog wrote last week of how old stories can lead us to make poor decisions.  And most recently, Harry and Christine Beckwith's book, You, Inc.: The Art of Selling Yourself, reminded me of the teaching power of stories.

What do you do when you don't get that promotion?

You just heard the news.  That promotion you were expecting went to one of the other candidates.  You really thought you had this one in the bag.  And the successful candidate - give me a break!  No way that was a good decision, as far as you can tell.  You don't know why you got passed over, nor what it means for your career at Acme Does It All, Inc.  Is it over?  Are you washed up?  Or do they have something better in mind for you.

What do you do?

Equations = Memorable communication

Equations convey much information in short, memorable snippets.  Think, for example, of Einstein's E=MC squared and all it has led to.

Equations are useful for leaders, too.  As Chief Innovation Officer at Carter Holt Harvey I often used the equation

Ideas + Action = Innovation

to stress the point that we needed more than just ideas - we had to do something with them.

Me in the moon

This is a composite of three shots:  The tree in the backyard of our New Zealand residence (about five years ago), a telephoto of the moon, and a recent shot of my face.  Unfortunately I've lost the technical processing details.