The wait is over!  The movie, Waitress, opened here over the weekend.  The long holiday weekend was a good one to reflect, relax, enjoy and get some things done.  It seemed that most went to see the new Pirates movie (as anticipated) but I headed to see the refreshing independent instead.  This was a great movie, all the more touching due to the writer, producer and supporting actress's murder after the film was completed and never knowing how well received her first, and only, film would be.  I won't give too much away, but suffice it to say, Jenna is not thrilled with being pregnant, or being married.  She finds bits of happiness in the unlikeliest of sources, including the character played by Andy Griffith.  In the end, she chooses a happiness that she never expected and starts a fresh path for herself.

Many of us have those moments of "is this the way life is supposed to be" or "is it always going to be this way" but it doesn't have to be like that.  If you choose, you can remake your life and stop questioning. Are you on a fresh path?  Let me know how you are doing!

Anissa 

  

I am sure this has happened to you. A song starts playing and it immediately whisks you back to a high school dance, or college date, or maybe a road trip.  As the song continues to play, you have shifted to that time. You can almost feel the sun, the breeze, hear the cadence of a conversation, the melody of your senses are playing now.  Most times, the time travel elicits a shared story of good times past. Other times, a reminder of a painful situation like a breakup. For me, it also sets my geographical compass.

I moved around quite a bit when growing up.  At the time, I didn't see many advantages of it other than I was able to reinvent myself for about 10 minutes at my new school, in the new state.   Except for one instance when we moved during the middle of the school year as a sophomore in high school, I was fairly ok with the nomadic experience. I wasn't exceptionally excited or distraught and I credit my parents for moving during the summer to reduce the strain on my sister and I.  Looking back, I am very grateful for having moved around so much. I have learned more about different people, states, cultures, styles,  and customs.  You would think I moved to another land, but living in places like Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Virginia - they are each unique and offer vastly different experiences.   For me, I can't remember the years of songs (or titles for that matter) or often can't quickly name the year an event took place, but I can tell you exactly where I lived and which house (if we moved a few times within the same city, which happened often too). Heck, I can still give you all of my addresses back to when I was a baby.  The geography of my life is set to music and for most songs of the 70's, 80's, and 90's, I can tell you where I was, what I was doing and most importantly, where I lived.

Even now, as I listen to a song coming from my iPod from many years ago, I can picture myself sitting in the car with my sister as we go to Kroger with mom for our weekly grocery shopping.  We live in Indiana, I am in third grade and we just passed the Dairy Queen that we frequent for celebrations after my sister and my softball games.     Ahhhhh, the power of a song. Where does it take you?

Anissa 

We would all love to be blessed with a great boss. One who cares about our career, recognizes our accomplishments, has strategic vision, is a great communicator and has integrity.  As you read that, were you wishing it also?   In my former life, I had the misfortune of working for the most domineering, controlling, insensitive, corrupt, petty, immature, unstable, and unprofessional bosses I had ever had experienced in all of my professional life. That she was a female made it all the worse.  I am not sure how many of you have heard of the book, The No Asshole Rule, by Robert Sutton, PhD. I absolutely recommend it and encourage you to read it, check out his blog, and if need be, send the quiz to those that need to have their eyes opened about themselves.  I related well to the many stories of bad bosses and the wreckage they can cause. If you find yourself in a related situation, Sutton's book has some great strategies to consider.  Or you can consult with me and we can work together.

If anyone else has a story to share about a bad boss situation, I would love to hear it!

Anissa

Living in North Carolina can be truly wonderful at times. For example, when you can wear shorts in January.  But there are moments when I miss living close to a big city (i.e. the DC metro area).  I know many of you are anxious to see (or have seen) the new Spidey movie and the previews for the new Pirates movie is right behind that one.  But me, I am waiting for the movie Waitress to come to the artsy-fartsy (aka movie theater for independent films)  theater.  It could be next week or the week after. It's time like this that I miss living in an area that gets preview releases or at least first run releases.  Let me just remember this past Thanksgiving spent on the deck in beautiful 60⁰  weather. Ahhhhh

By the way, I finished the latest James Patterson, The 6th Target.  I found it a bit disorganized at first, but then it really hit its stride and was great entertainment. I love a good page-turner that makes you stay up to see what will happen next.   I am on the prowl for additional mystery book suggestions for anyone out there who has read a good one recently. Let me know your thoughts!

Anissa 

I hope that you read that question and answered yes!  When I think of a professional, I think of a Very Important Person.   Within any organization, I truly believe that each employee is the more important aspect of the business.  I know, I know, it begs the question about CEO pay and compensation structures, but that's for another day.  The CEO may be the visionary, the leader, the commander of the ship, but he alone cannot make an organization sustainable. Without the many employees doing the work, creating the product, servicing the customer, managing the vendors, there would be no organization to helm.

Unquestionably, my strength is working with staff, supervisors, managers and senior management to recognize their skills, to clarify their vision, to take charge of their inaction, to  determine what they want and then get it.   By coaching one person, that person will in turn positively affect another and another.  I truly believe in "human performance improvement" and that by working independently with each person and understanding how to uniquely engage, motivate, and guide, you will inspire the person to greater professional depths.  Something to think about!

Let me know what you think!

Anissa 

I welcome you to my blog. From time to time, I will post information tidbits, quotes, thoughts, and miscellaneous things here. Please feel free to comment, share, or suggest. I am very open to hearing from you!

I love to read. It is one of my greatest joys.   I absolutely love escaping into a good book and can even forget to eat or resist going to sleep if I'm really involved!  I love mysteries, fiction, but I also love reading certain non-fiction subjects.  I am deeply interested in all things leadership and have recently read all of the Gallup books in the series related to strengths and talents (First, Break all the Rules, Now, Discover your Strengths, The One Thing You need to Know, Strengths Finder 2.0, and Go Put your Strengths to Work).  Each of these authors has a unique voice that speaks directly to you and really makes the concepts easy to understand, consider and in some cases, validate your current style. 

But the book I am highly recommend right now is Thomas L. Friedman's The World is Flat.  His voice, his research, is style of writing, his threading of ideas - all amazed me and kept me fascinated from the first page to the last. If you don't think the world is flat or don't know what that means, I truly encourage you to pick up this book.  I was very aware of how the world had been changing, but didn't understand the way that he and many others framed it.  It really made me consider my own future from a whole new vantage point.

Lest you think this is the only type of book I read, you would be mistaken. I just finished Jonathan Kellerman's latest, Obsession. To me, it was as good as any prior book he had written! I am not a book critic and quite frankly, for books like this, I am looking purely for the enjoyment factor. I have also just started reading James Patterson's The 6th Target.  I'll let you know what I think!

I look forward to hearing from you and what you think, are reading, or doing!

Anissa