1: “Do you know the concept of proprioception, of how you know where you are and where you’re oriented?” film director Harold Ramis asked.  

Harold was reflecting “on the reasons behind the fading career of Chevy Chase, one of the stars of [Harold’s movie] Caddyshack, writes Marshall Goldsmith in What Got You Here Won’t Get You There: How Successful People Become Even More Successful.  

“Chevy lost his sense of … continue reading

1: Tony Horton is the founder of the wildly popular P90X fitness series. He is one ultra-fit individual.

So, what are our assumptions about Tony? Number one: This guy obviously loves to work out.

Actually, he doesn’t.  

In fact, he tracks how he feels before starting his workout. He says, depending on the day, three different voices show up in his head:  

o 21% of the time, the voice says: … continue reading

1: Getting better at getting better is what RiseWithDrew is all about.

Monday through Thursday, we explore ideas from authors, thought leaders, and exemplary organizations. On Friday, I share something I am working on, or we are doing at PCI in our quest to earn a spot on Fortune magazine’s 100 Best Companies to Work For.

Last Friday, I wrote about my experience articulating my purpose, which I first did … continue reading

1: Tony Dungy couldn’t win the big game. That was the rap.

In 1996, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hired Tony as their head coach. At that moment, the Bucs were then one of the worst teams in the NFL. Actually, one of the worst teams in the history of professional football, writes Charles Duhigg in The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business.… continue reading

1: Mandy walked into the counselling center at Mississippi State University.  She was 24 years old.  For as long as she could remember, she had bitten her nails.  

“Lots of people bite their nails,” Charles Duhigg writes in The Power of Habit.  “For chronic nail biters, however, it’s a problem of a different scale.  Mandy would often bite until her nails pulled away from the skin underneath.  Her fingertips … continue reading

1: Proctor & Gamble, one of the largest consumer goods firms in the world, was convinced their promising new product Febreze was going to be a big hit.

P&G should know.  They are the company behind Pringles, Oil of Olay, Bounty, CoverGirl, Dawn, Downy, Duracell, and dozens of other successful brands.

For Febreze, “they spent millions perfecting the formula, finally producing a colorless, odorless liquid that could wipe out almost any … continue reading

“An organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage,” former GE CEO Jack Welch tells us.

Ultimate.  Competitive.  Advantage.

Spoken by one of the most successful CEO’s in history.

But how does an organization become a learning organization?

At PCI, we focus on two specific strategies.

First, we look outside for new ideas that will make us better.  We are big believers … continue reading

“I’ve got nothing to lose,” said the attendee at one of Stephen Covey‘s workshops. 

The stakes were high.  

“All of my eggs were in this one basket.  All of them,” the man shares in Stephen’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  He was trying to close a big commercial real estate deal in Chicago and all the signals indicated he was going to lose.  

“So I … continue reading

“If I were to summarize in one sentence the single most important principle I have learned in the field of interpersonal relations, it would be this: Seek first to understand, then to be understood,” writes Stephen Covey in the Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.

Seek first to understand is a gift we can give those we care about. Next to physical survival, Stephen observes, the greatest need of a … continue reading