SRA Updates

Humans speak their first fully-formed words sometime between 9 – 12 months of age. It’s a big deal, delighting our parents and launching us into the world of interactive communication. For the rest of our lives, words are the foundation of (almost) everything we do. Psychologist and author Dr. Jordan Peterson says, “If you can [...]

Alton Maiden played Defensive Tackle for The University of Notre Dame under legendary Coach Lou Holtz. In late October 1996, the Fighting Irish arrived in Dublin, Ireland to prepare for the first-ever Shamrock Classic – a November 2 football game between Notre Dame and the United States Naval Academy. During their time in Ireland, the [...]

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish American businessman and philanthropist. He led the expansion of the steel industry in the United States and became one of the richest men in the world. During the last 18 years of his life (which ended in 1919), he gave away the 2022 equivalent of roughly $10 billion to charities, [...]

Few things will improve the quality of your life more than learning how to make high-quality decisions. Yet amazingly, no one really teaches us how to do it. Not in grade school; not in high school. Most college majors don’t require courses in critical thinking or decision making. Has anyone ever told you that their [...]

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor and a Stoic philosopher. On the throne from 161 to 180, he was the last of the rulers knows as the Five Good Emperors and the last emperor of the Pax Romana, an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire. Marcus acquired the reputation of a [...]

You've likely started to see a shift in headlines. No longer focused on what we have been through, the new emphasis is on what’s to come. Though it’s impossible to predict the future, it certainly seems reasonable that the forecast could be correct: a mass employee exodus is coming. How can you stop it? And [...]

Resilience. It’s one of the secrets to survival, both professionally and personally.  It’s what’s gotten you to where you are, and it’s what will help define who you will become. Looking back at some of the toughest situations you’ve endured, you may have felt there was no other choice. It was a natural instinct. And while [...]

We have a question to ask you. But you have to slow down to answer it. Stop scrolling. Take a moment. Take a breath. Question: Knowing what you know now, having all of life’s experiences thus far behind you, what would you do differently? The Present Why is this important? Because if you are still [...]

Change is inevitable. Growth is optional.” – John Maxwell There are times in life, both personally and professionally, where circumstances can change at such a rapid speed that our opinions, perspectives, and course of action can change by the day, if not by the hour. When faced with such circumstances, there are generally three groups [...]

"What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.” Reflect on that statement for a moment. You may even have an immediate connection to it, with your own delinquent “to-do’s” catapulting to the center of your attention. It was entrepreneur, author, and investor Timothy Ferriss who most recently voiced this assertion [...]

Countless articles, including several SRA Updates, have addressed one of the most important tasks given to senior leadership within any organization: the ability to identify the next generation of future leaders within the firm. We look for passionate individuals who wake up each day craving success, but who can channel that passion into actions and [...]

Motivate and inspire. The two words are often used interchangeably, echoed perpetually in the minds of any leader trying to spearhead the charge. However, view the two as the same and you are missing a critical component in your evolution as a senior executive. Why? Motivation is of the ego, while inspiration is of the [...]

Business coach Peter Drucker was known for dispensing some sage advice that still rings true decades later: Do what you do best and outsource the rest. What comes to mind when you hear that mantra? An immediate list likely appears of all the tasks you know are not the greatest use of your efforts and [...]

When it rains, it pours; most are familiar with this phrase. It’s what we use to describe the inertia of negative circumstances building and snowballing. Can you think of the equivalent phrase used to describe the opposite? The experience of positive inertia? “Just look at the bright side”… “turn lemons into lemonade”… “there’s a light [...]

It's probably a fair statement; if you are the kind of person who needs to read an article on how to be authentic, is the very act of reading such an article in and of itself inauthentic? Setting aside that seemingly debatable fact, the topic of authenticity is likely often discussed in counseling sessions but [...]

As recruiters, there is a powerful question we ask candidates which typically elicits immediate pause, reflection, and authenticity in the answer. It is a question that catches most off guard, creates a feeling of nostalgia, and sometimes even prompts a smile. “At what point in your career did you feel most fulfilled? When did you [...]

Imagine this scenario: a colleague offers to flip a coin and give you $20 if it lands on heads. If it lands on tails, you give him $20. Stop and ponder; would you accept that bet? For most of us, the answer is no. Behavioral science experts Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman performed an experiment [...]

If you had to pinpoint a turning point, it was perhaps the launch of CNN in June of 1980. Prior to CNN, news programming delivered relatively factual information for an hour or two a day. After CNN, although it was an amazing accomplishment to cover events live as they happened and to have an endless [...]

No matter your role or how long you have been in it, we all have situations we would rather avoid. Scenarios can range from taking on a project in which you are not sure you will excel, having a difficult conversation with a client or colleague, or even simply interacting with coworkers in a social [...]

Take a moment to reflect on what has now been a long-circulating article via the internet and social media. Although it has a somber tone, it sets the stage for the purpose behind this month’s SRA Update. First, I was dying to finish high school and start college. And then, I was dying to finish [...]