In American society today, we have opportunities to leave an indelible mark. We are fortunate. In some societies, people must focus on mere survival, worried about securing life’s bare necessities. Among the most impressive ways to leave a mark is through personal branding. Customer service is not synonymous with personal branding, but it should be. In a word, customer service is an anomaly. It shapes your career as well as your personal and social life. How you serve others reflects on you. Customer service is not difficult, although it is often overlooked and underappreciated. Customer service is not complicated and may be easily applied to our daily lives. It is so fundamental to the core of your brand because it is a measure of a person, who makes the extra effort, the extra force to do what they believe is right, and not only for a reward or accolades. We all can remember times when we confronted a

We have all witnessed over the past year an absence of strong leadership, effective communications, and compassion for others – whether it be the national dialogue on race relations in our country, the heighten saber rattling in our interactions with North Korea, or just dealing with colleagues on the ups and downs of running an effective organization to achieve common goals.  Added to this:  making substantive change in the midst of chaos and confusion. There was a recent incident at an air force cadet training facility where 4 young African American cadets were singled out with racial slurs.  See how this commanding officer, the superintendent of the US Air Force Academy handled the situation. This is a great example of Leading From the Front.  This officer took the bull by the horns and addressed the racial issues head on.  TRUE LEADERSHIP!

Italy appears to stand in ‘no man’s land’ after voting against Prime Minister Matteo Renzi’s constitutional referendum on government reform. I reference ‘No Man’s Land’ because it’s characterized as the area between two opposing forces. There certainly seems to be a chasm with Italian citizens voting to throw Renzi out, and the country’s senate voting in Paolo Gentiloni who quickly reappointed almost all of Renzi’s ministers.    It’s too early to predict how this decision will affect Italy’s future and the country’s place in the European Union. While the government has changed hands from Renzi to the new Gentiloni government, all signs appear to point to a continuation of the old guard with the ghost of Renzi hovering in the background.  Just how and if Italian citizens will get the change they overwhelming called for will be revealed in the days and years to come. Italy could be seen as a microcosm of

“When a person shows you who they are, believe them” Maya Angelou When thinking of a topic for my inaugural blog many subjects came to mind, none stuck out as much as of the topic of Donald Trump, “The Donald”, the 2016 Republican Presidential nominee for President of the United State and how much do we really know about him?  Go to Google and type in his name and there you have it, everything from his career, business deals, family, and much more.  But do we really know who Donald Trump is? Love him or hate him, before he entered the 2016 Presidential race Donald Trump was thought of as a smart, self-assured, very rich billionaire, an expert at marketing and branding himself, and a great deal maker.  He touted himself as invincible, and as many revere him just as many distain him.  When we think of Donald Trump, we