By Scott Westerman “Act as if what you do makes a difference.  It does.”  ~William James Abel looked at me from behind a mask. He could hardly breathe. One of my favorite Comcast technical supervisors had cheated death. But his doctors had just told him he would always need an…

By Scott Westerman “What people expected of me was too much. Too much to try to live up to. Too much to try to be.  And I wanted out at some point.”  Whitney Houston The wall to wall coverage of Whitney Houston’s death is a testament to the unrealistic pedestal on…

By Scott Westerman It is said that at any given time, we are either going into a crisis, in a crisis our coming out of a crisis. How we behave in each of those spaces will reveal who we truly are. Character is defined in adversity not in affluence. The…

By Scott Westerman We all work for ourselves. You may align your personal brand with an organization for a time, but never forget that you are your most important shareholder. There’s no way around it. We create our professional persona everywhere we are, in everything we say and do.

By Scott Westerman “Disneyland is a work of love. We didn’t go into Disneyland just with the idea of making money” – Walt Disney Every time I go to Walt Disney World, I spend a lot of money. I don’t regret it. And I keep coming back for more. Why? For…

By Scott Westerman A man ninety years old was asked to what he attributed his longevity. I reckon, he said, with a twinkle in his eye, it because most nights I went to bed and slept when I should have sat up and worried. – Garson Kanin Colleen’s grandmother passed…

By Scott Westerman Our biggest fear is that all our dreams might just come true. It was my best year ever. We grew the business in both market share and with double digit increases in operating income. Employee satisfaction was at an all time high and customer complaints at an…

By Scott Westerman “The first law of business communication: Speak their language.”  How many times have you said “Thank You” this holiday season? Do you think the other person got the message? The highlight of our year was the arrival of our first grandson. At age six months, he’s learned…

By Scott Westerman “Our greatest fear is that we will be found out.” The December evening was unusually warm. We were sitting at the best table at one of the best restaurants in downtown Chicago. My dinner companion is, by all definitions, one of the smartest, successful and compassionate people…

By Scott Westerman In every boy’s life there is a Ralph Parker “Red Ryder Christmas“, the year when he got that one present that forever defined his youth. My Red Ryder Christmas happened in 1966. At 1926 Hampton Court, Christmas season officially began with the tree. For many years it…