Nina’s Thoughts of Life and Business Blog

Three of my friends are currently fretting over the writing of their books, or rather, their lack of it. I too know this feeling from time-to-time. An idea can brew around in one’s head for quite a while, but getting those first few words down are always the hardest, especially when you feel your motivation … Read more

My darling 12 and a half year old Soft-Coated Wheaten Terrier, Angus, was diagnosed with terminal, inoperable Oral Cancer on August 6, 2009, but is still in fine enough shape for now to be with us a while longer. He’s just in need of some special consideration and TLC. I’ve started pureeing Angus’ food in … Read more

Yesterday at the gas station a woman locked herself out of her car while it was still running (purse and keys inside). A man offered to help her (he, coincidentally was a locksmith and had the means)…for $30.00!!! I commented that it would be nicer if he helped her just to be kind…to be chivalrous??? … Read more

I had a stellar experience being of service to a particular client a couple of days ago. They were a class act from their very first call of initial enquiry regarding the booking of my services, clean on through to their superb efficiency at handling and processing all administrivia between us, and then on to … Read more

I got sloppy about taking care of some personal business today and, as a result, found I’d best choose a speedier than normal route to completion. Doing my very best to protect the actual name of the organization in question, I arrived at their doorstep expecting to pay a premium for speedier service…and was fine … Read more

My grade 9 history teacher taught me an important and even profound life lesson, all those years ago, about appreciating what you have right now. I’d received a mark of 29 out of 30 on a term test. While debriefing the test with is class, my teacher explained, question-by-question, how he awarded marks. From that, … Read more

Back on March 13, 2007 the Globe and Mail newspaper ran a little ditty on its fun and quirky Social Studies page that revealed, “In Japan, fortune tellers are advising those who want to be successful in life (and at work) to start by scrubbing the bathroom (reported by Reuters). Apparently a recently published Japanese … Read more

Are professional graces and manners–polite on-the-job behaviours and attitudes once thought a matter of “common decency”–going the way of current stock markets? Are many workers, of all stripes and in all industries, experiencing such a sense of smoldering stress that they either cannot or will not demonstrate anything beyond the bare basic technicalities of their … Read more

The other day a beautifully dressed young man, attired in full business regalia, knocked on my door wishing to make his professional introductions as a newly minted financial advisor with a well known financial institution. He was inspired to try the good old fashioned, door-to-door approach of stirring the pot to secure new clients. Funnily … Read more

I’ve been speaking for a living for more than two decades. I’m still going at it strong and am booked each year to the extent I wish (and often times repeatedly by the same clients). So I must still be doing something right, as my client “Accolades”–well documented at ninaspencer.com will attest. Still, from time-to-time, … Read more

How to get the best bang for your conference buck Here it comes…almost back-to-school time once again, and time for something else, too! The professional conference season–autumn meetings and beyond–is almost upon us, as well. Attending such events offer up such a deluge of information that, as one colleague expresses, “It feels like you’ve just … Read more

July is raspberry time in my backyard and the choice pickings go on and on for weeks! The quiet of this past early Sunday morning was picture perfect for plucking an ample bowl for breakfast and folding in a working meditation along the way. When my mind strayed, it went to thoughts of the mantra, … Read more

I recently was the closing speaker at two events where speaker after speaker after speaker–all senior executive-types–read, word-for-word from their scripts, while hiding behind the podium in half-light and letting the bells and whistles of PowerPoint presentations deliver the main thrust of their messages. One “reader” would have been bad enough, but four? five? and … Read more

Happy Valentine’s Day to you! This date marks the second anniversary of the launch of my first book, Getting Passion Out of Your Profession: How to keep loving your living…come what may. And what a passionate year it’s been, indeed, fulfilling a record number of client demands and engagements for my conference keynote and workshop … Read more

Okay, this is it. Don’t get scared. Here we are–finally!–the last of 2007. For many, this week marks the home stretch before holy-days and vacation time. For others, the end of December merely represents a couple of extra days off work, followed by the stress of holding down the organization’s fort while coping with the … Read more

Organizations have embraced teamwork for at least the past two decades. Now comes the importance of recognizing the art of internal and “on purpose” networking. Many people still think networking is an on-the-side, personal activity for career pathing beyond their current positions and organizations, but employee dedication to broadening personal influence and wisdom, while still … Read more

Sometimes, in some “sick” corporate cultures (bewildering as it may seem), expressions of staff appreciation rarely, if ever, occur. What’s an individual to do? It’s nice, and even feeds the soul, when your employer acknowledges and appreciates your professional gifts and talents but, if they are not being recognized, at least acknowledge them for yourself…it … Read more

I traded in my old modem for a new one today; this required a visit to one of my service provider’s retail outlets. Now I’m in “the business” of championing service excellence, employee motivation, how to feel and how to demonstrate authentic passion for your profession (whatever it is you “do” for a living), so, … Read more

I’ve paid my respects to two different families, at two different funeral homes, in less than 7 days…and this is what I’ve noticed…service excellence is definitely in the attention to detail (or lack there of). While departing the first of these two facilities, I chose to walk along a corridor leading to the side door … Read more

A couple of weeks ago I spoke at the World Council of Credit Unions’ Annual Conference. What a terrific bunch they were, and what an honour and great fun it was addressing such a diversity of delegates from over 50 countries–an honour that almost didn’t happen, I might add. Why? Because sometimes my job is … Read more

Have you ever thrashed around in the emotional pain of indecision, or found yourself suffering from “paralysis of analysis” regarding a particular personal or professional issue or choice? Of course you have. Everyone “goes there” at some time or another, don’t they? And–thank goodness–sooner or later we all find our way through the instability of … Read more

The other day I stood third in line at the post office to Xpress Post an order of books to a client. While awaiting my turn, both myself and the man in front of me, simultaneously noticed that a couple greeting cards from the adjacent shelves had fallen to the ground, immediately in our path. … Read more

I cut my first teeth (years and years ago) in organizational development under the banner of a large organization–large enough to sustain its own intimate coral of management development workshop facilitators. After a few years I felt under appreciated, under recognized and under utilized, therefore I quietly–as most do in such cases–started an external job … Read more

Back on April 26, 2007 I blogged about the challenges and down-right fright of flying in small, weight-imblanced planes and drew parallels between imbalanced planes and imbalanced work lives. I also mentioned–in that blog–another air-bourne fright I experienced trying to get home from a speaking engagement in the Bahamas during the first hours of 2004’s … Read more

A couple of weeks ago I flew to a speaking engagement in Northern Ontario. Times in the airline industry being what they are, long gone are the big jets to get me to little places. Instead, it was a small plane that was my flying chariot. You know the kind…the kind that, even when departing … Read more

What is it? Well here’s one of my dirty-little secrets…I watch American Idol. Yup–Religiously. It started off as something that my daughter and I could sit down together and watch and have a laugh and be entertained, chat, etc. And then she got bored and abandoned ship (weeks and weeks ago). What became of me? … Read more

I recently fell in love with a grand Victorian reproduction Aged-Iron Bed by Wesley Allen, while window-shopping in a West-End Toronto neighbourhood full of little independent specialty stores. It was the blandest part of late winter when I pressed my cold nose to the window of this beautiful bedding shop and drooled, imagining this piece … Read more

One of my biggest email pet peeves is receiving important business emails all folded-in with my daily SPAM…and I don’t mean luncheon meat! Like you, I receive a fair amount of SPAM and, therefore, several times a day (when I feel the need to shift gears and do a bit of mindless work), my finger … Read more

With amazing regularity I read newspaper articles and the likes, about workplace stress getting the better of workers and undermining maximum workplace productivity. These articles always put the blame on the stresses of the job, but I’ve noticed something quite interesting about stress and the seeming “weight of the world” bearing down on me, while … Read more

“Age may wrinkle the face, but lack of enthusiasm wrinkles the soul.”, so says Samuel Ulman. So how are you protecting your working soul from “wrinkles”, these mid-winter days? Where are you at regarding your daily stores of enthusiasm for all you do on-the-job? No energy for enthusiasm in these doldrums days of seemingly endless … Read more