Media

I turned off the light and refused to look back into the dark, empty office I spent thousands of hours in over the past 10 years. There were several reasons I closed the door gently and quietly walked out with two of my longest tenured employees. It was surreal, and I felt a mix of emotions including sadness, pride, excitement and apprehension, but I felt no regret leaving the DC Chamber of Commerce. There was no looking back because after 13 years and two locations at the organization. I was ready for my next challenge. I admit I did shed [�]

After last week’s election, my faith in the American people has been somewhat restored! Like many Americans, particularly women and those of color, I had become increasingly concerned and despondent at the threats, vitriol, and divisive rhetoric we saw during the 2016 presidential campaign and the first year of the Trump Administration. The name calling of friends and foes alike, insulting our allies, the disrespect for American tradition and American institutions, the disparaging of women and people of color, the support of white supremacy and just engaging in issues that should not be for a US President to engage and [�]

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 [�]

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 [�]

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, [�]

“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 [�]