in West Tennessee, not far from Graceland, nine women -- or "The 9 Nanas," as they prefer to be called -- gather in the darkness of night. At 4am they begin their daily routine -- a ritual that no one, not even their husbands, knew about for 30 years. They have one mission and one mission only: to create happiness. And it all begins with baked goods. “One of us starts sifting the flour and another washing the eggs,” explained Nana Mary Ellen, the appointed spokesperson for their secret society. “And someone else makes sure the pans are all ready. We switch off, depending on what we feel like doing that day. “But you make sure to say Nana... posted on Jun 29 2012 (1,772,893 reads)

a thought, reap an action; sow an action, reap a habit; sow a habit, reap a character; sow a character, reap a destiny.” In 1989, Stephen R. Covey penned The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (public library), a book that went on to sell millions of copies worldwide and defined a new genre bridging self-improvement, business management, and personal productivity. This week, Covey passed away at the age of 79. Here’s a look back at his legacy with some of the keenest insights from his beloved bestseller: Habit is the intersection of knowledge (what to do), skill (how to do), and desire (want to do).   Sow a t... posted on Jul 23 2012 (18,176 reads)

like your neighbor, but being able to depend on one another instead of a government or corporation gives you genuine independence. Tanya chimed in with vigor, “Trade instead of buy whenever you can.” As we talked, you could see that they were of one mind in having true, good, change-making conversations about depending on community rather than corporations. “Serve your place, and allow your place to serve you.” We talked further about the dangers of religion, the business of war, and how words like “public education,” “environment,” and “free market” have been hollowed out. We talked about the death of small towns in America... posted on Aug 15 2012 (14,515 reads)

of science that focus on the unknown as an entry point — a more inclusive gateway than the known. In one of the most compelling passages of the book, he broadens this insistence on questions over answers to the scientific establishment itself: Perhaps the most important application of ignorance is in the sphere of education, particularly of scientists… We must ask ourselves how we should educate scientists in the age of Google and whatever will supersede it… The business model of our Universities, in place now for nearly a thousand years, will need to be revised. […] Instead of a system where the collection of facts is an end, where knowledge i... posted on Aug 21 2012 (18,292 reads)

age, advocating income redistribution as the solution to social ills. He studied economics and history at Duke University in the United States, which he attended on a soccer scholarship, and later moved to Paris to earn a doctoral degree in management and public administration. Paris was a marvelous education in the possibilities of urban living, and he returned home with aspirations of bringing European-style city comforts to the working class of Bogotá. Several years working as a business manager moderated his ideological views but not, he hastens to tell me, his quest for social justice. Credit: Pattancito Thinking about Equality in New Ways “We live in... posted on Aug 24 2012 (21,060 reads)

worst thing that is likely to happen, usually it’s not that bad. If you lost all your possessions today in a disaster, how bad would that be? How would you cope? What opportunities would there be? What new things could you invent from this blank slate? ** Develop a change toolset. Learn how to cope with changes, no matter what they are. Have a fall-back plan if things collapse. Have friends and family you can call on. Develop some skills where you can get a job or start a new business no matter what happens with your current job or the economy. Learn ways of making friends with strangers, finding your way around a strange city, surviving on little. With a toolset like this... posted on Oct 17 2012 (32,484 reads)

of supporters from the local and worldwide community and raised more than $50,000 dollars in just under two months.     Vivie's project went viral after Nicholas Kristof, a New York Times op-ed columnist, tweeted about @vivienneharr and #MAKEASTAND LEMONADE. She's also been featured on many media outlets including the BBC, Yahoo and is slated to appear on Jeff Probst's talk show, which debuts on Sept. 10. All the business acumen that Vivie had was selling lemonade. She took a stand and did something – selling lemonade was in her power to be a voice for the voiceless.  Rain or shine, Vivie plans... posted on Oct 21 2012 (18,571 reads)

wasted, especially when you believe you could do a better job. But that’s different than disliking them. Just think about how you respond differently to someone you like who can’t run a meeting (you want to help them) versus someone you don’t like (you want to stop working with them, or, if the meeting is really long, kill them). The typical advice you hear about working with people you don’t like is simply to depersonalize the relationship. Just transact whatever business you need to with them and move on. In other words: Grin and bear it. But I have found that almost impossible to do.The people we don’t like drive us crazy and we waste a tremendous ... posted on Oct 22 2012 (42,847 reads)

13th is World Kindness Day! In honor of this, we've compiled 10 diverse and heart-warming pieces honoring extraordinary acts of kindness, love and compassion by ordinary people. These stories include bus-drivers, bakers, basketball players, canine heroes and much more...reminding us of just how universal and essential the spirit of kindness is in our world. Read on and be inspired to do an act of kindness of your own today. 1. The Angel of Queens: Jorge Munoz is a school bus driver by day and an angel by night. Every night for more than 5 years, he has gone home and cooked food for hundreds of people on his old stove. He then goes to a street corner in Quee... posted on Nov 13 2014 (227,616 reads)

plugged in and constantly juggling tasks at work and at home, many of us feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things we need to do. But wouldn’t it be awesome to feel like you had more time? In fact, a new study suggests that experiencing awe—which psychologists define as the feeling we get when we come across something so strikingly vast in number, scope, or complexity that it alters the way we understand the world—could help us do just that. What’s more, awe might make us more generous with how we spend our time and improve our overall well-being. In one part of the study, researchers induced feelings of awe in pa... posted on Dec 3 2012 (14,423 reads)

days ago, I was in China, speaking to a bunch of influential business leaders. One of them posed a challenge: "You speak about Vinoba Bhave, the spiritual heir of Gandhi, and how he walked 80K kilometers across India and inspired people to donate 5 million acres to their neighbors. Yes, it might've been an unprecedented feat in the history of mankind, but really, how many people remember Vinoba today? Instead, think of how many people remember Steve Jobs and the legacy he left behind." From a short-term impact point of view, it's a thoughtful dilemma. In fact, Forbes magazine did a piece which reflected similarly, asking the question: "Who has changed the world ... posted on Jan 7 2013 (74,000 reads)

while his colleague George Mason, in the Virginia Declaration of Rights, speaks of pursuing and obtaining happiness as a natural endowment and right. And it is in this time that the French revolutionary leader St. Just can stand up during the height of the Jacobin revolution in France in 1794 and declare: “Happiness is a new idea in Europe.” In many ways it was. When the English philosopher and revolutionary John Locke declared at the end of the 17th century that the “business of man is to be happy,” he meant that we shouldn’t assume that suffering is our natural lot, and that we shouldn’t have to apologize for our pleasures here on earth. On the ... posted on Mar 7 2013 (13,476 reads)

health. We need a healthcare system that prioritises both mental and physical health and provides high quality support for all those struggling with anxiety, depression or other mental illness. Education For Life. Education is about learning for life, not just gaining academic qualifications. We need schools that help children develop character and learn essential life skills, like emotional intelligence, mindfulness and resilience. Responsible Business. Truly successful businesses have happy employees and a purpose beyond profit. We need workplaces where people feel valued and trusted and where sustainable and ethical behaviour is at the heart of all decision making.... posted on Mar 20 2013 (24,010 reads)

never at ease in social situations, always fighting the instinct to make herself invisible, retreat to a corner. With aikido, she says, she learned to “extend” and assert herself in relationships, without being domineering. “You’re not trying to take a person down, be aggressive,” she says. “It’s the idea that if you can successfully lead a person, they’ll follow.” Shah says she still tends to be a quiet presence in situations like business meetings, but she notices that when she does speak, people listen. “I attribute that to my aikido training,” she says. Arlene Shinozuka found aikido changed her in a different... posted on Apr 1 2013 (16,437 reads)

Think about something delightful or uplifting (not your to-do list!). Review photos of your kids on your phone (studies show that looking at photos of loved ones provides a big mood boost). Listen to an audiobook. 5. Look for a way to feel grateful. It’s a lot better to be bored while waiting in a doctor’s office than to be in agony of suspense about your test results. It’s more fun to sit around the breakfast table talking about clothes than to be away from home on a business trip. Maybe the other line at the drugstore is moving even more slowly. Etc. 6. Consider: “Am I the boring one?” La Rochefoucauld observed, “We always get... posted on Apr 17 2013 (34,901 reads)

have kept the café running by paying up even when they could have got away without it. That there are enough people not governed by greed—something he had set out to test in the first place. However, Sthalekar admits that the transition in his mind from market to trust economy did not occur overnight. “Initially, I used to put price tags on customers as they walked into the café,” he says. That’s in tune with the rationale of profit maximisation that business schools teach and the corporate world practises. So, Sthalekar often spent more time at the table of a potential Mr 3,000 compared to the table of a tea-stall owner, who was in his perception... posted on Apr 29 2013 (31,185 reads)

And I mean, in that moment when, as you say, it's up close and personal, you know, does it become a little harder to say, "This is a liberation. This is a natural part of life"? Does it challenge those ideas? Ms. Halifax: You know, in the case of my father, no, it was not harder. It was so much easier. No. But I didn't take his death for granted in the sense of, "Oh, he's liberated. Now let's see. Let's get onto American Airlines and get back to business." Ms. Tippett: It was still a loss. Ms. Halifax: It was a huge loss. It's the case. But the loss is mine, not his. Part of me was just so relieved that the last hours... posted on Jun 5 2013 (25,477 reads)

is held in language itself. The experience of writing, for me at least, isn’t confidence or wisdom; it’s closer to desperation. You are naked as Odysseus when he’s lost his ship and all his men, before he’s met by the courageous young girl Nausicaa—a version perhaps of the rescuing muse, who helps us find our way back into the world shared with others but only if we bring our own resourcefulness to the situation as well. There is some faint memory that this raft business has worked before, some memory of knot-tying, of the intention to live. There is that in us that recognizes: “this is water; this is land.” A poem is land found, as if for the fir... posted on May 23 2013 (17,031 reads)

possible to nurture the growth of employees.  ** 10. Building community. The servant-leader senses that much has been lost in recent human history as a result of the shift from local communities to large institutions as the primary shaper of human lives. This awareness causes the servant-leader to seek to identify some means for building community among those who work within a given institution. Servant-leadership suggests that true community can be created among those who work in businesses and other institutions. Greenleaf said: "All that is needed to rebuild community as a viable life form for large numbers of people is for enough servant-leaders to show the way, not by... posted on Jun 4 2013 (122,064 reads)

years I assumed that the Titanic tragedy was a result of human arrogance, the belief in the indestructibility of the newest, largest, fastest, fanciest ship of all time. But actually the Titanic went down because of distraction. Other ships had been warning about the iceberg-filled waters for days, but the Titanic’s captain changed course only slightly and did nothing to slow the ship’s speed. When the radio operator received a call from a ship that was surrounded by ice—this was less than an hour before the collision—he responded, “Shut up, shut up, I’m busy.” By the time lookouts spotted the iceberg ahead, it was too late to... posted on Jun 7 2013 (68,326 reads)