Here’s Why Knowledge Transfer from One Generation to the Next Is Rarely Effective

Knowledge transfer is critical for the survival of mankind.  However, as each generation eliminates threats, the knowledge that is transferred has to account for that.  In previous articles, I wrote about the unintentional knowledge transfer that sabotages the best efforts of any person or society.  That happens because people still have the mindset that was necessary when the threat existed.  In this article, I will outline one of the most

Can You Unlearn the Addictive Behaviors You Learned?

Everyone with a healthy brain is influenced by their environment.  Everything in your environment that you see, hear and touch is recorded in your brain.  Those recordings become part of your memory and shape what you think, say and do.  Therefore, it’s imperative to expose your brain to that which makes you smarter and more effective.  Except, in the human paradigm, you unknowingly

Interview with Ted Santos: Corporate consultant motivational speaker

Ted Santos: Corporate consultant motivational speaker: Ted Santos advises executive teams to create disruptive strategies. He then works side by side with key personnel to transform corporate culture in a way it supports those disruptive strategies. Through his work with midsize to large corporations, businesses have created quantum leaps in top line growth. He helps them identify and exploit untapped markets …

Are You Passing Your Addictive Behaviors to the Next Generation?

In the past, I wrote an article about second chances.  In the article, I talked about the need to coach, guide or train people before you give them a second chance.  Otherwise, they will most likely repeat the same mistake.  They may repeat the same mistake because they may have retained the same mindset they had for the first chance.  This first chance mindset is not only possessed by the individual it is

In the Words of Yoda: The Counterintuitive Path Take, If You Wish, From Breakdown to Breakthrough Go You Will

The way is the problem you want.  The problem is the way.  To avoid the problem is to avoid the way.  In other words, problems are not theproblem.  Believing problems are problems is the beginning of your problems.  It is not chaos or problems that are problems.  It is how you think about them.  And it is how you think about

Nope, It’s Definitely Not Persistence That Will Get You to the Championship

Last week I talked about how inherited conversations cancreate mental barriers.  Those mental barriers create a mindset that can derail personal or professional aspirations.  Today I would like to use myself as an example of what happens when the mental barriers are

Do You Believe Persistence Creates Success?

For centuries, people have chanted that the most persistent person wins the prize.  In this article, I am going to challenge that belief.  I assert that it is not persistence that makes the difference.  It is the stripping away of beliefs that allows an individual to keep going.  While I understand that people in the stands watching a sporting event have opinions about successful athletes.  On the field, there is something happening that the fans

Would You Choose Eudaimonia Over Happiness?

Eudaimonia is a word from ancient Greece.  People like Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and others taught it in Greece.  (Where they learned it is another article.)  In English, it is often misinterpreted as happiness.  However, the Greeks had no obsession with happiness.  They were focused on fulfillment.  Furthermore, they sought fulfillment through

Why Most People Rarely Learn Anything New

The human brain has an enormous capacity to learn.  The paradox is it is filled with blindspots that limit learning capacity.  For the most part, you only think the way you were taught to think.  In effect, the way you do things is the way you do everything.  The way you do things is shaped by the way you see things.  The way you see things is shaped by the way you think or your thought process.  Your thought process is an amalgamation of your brain’s syntax.  Your environment shapes your syntax.  And your environment gives you the facts of life.  Unlearning the learned facts is

Should You Give People a Second Chance?

People talk about second chances in various ways.  They say: “if I knew then what I know now.”  “If I had an opportunity to do things over.”  “Please give me a second chance.”  “Can we start over?”  The list goes on.  Most people actually believe they learn from their mistakes.  However, when you look closely, you see

What Happens When We Disagree?

Disagreement is part of the human paradigm.  The human paradigm is like nature.  In nature, there are plants that sustain life and there are plants that destroy life for humans.  If you have not been trained to eat healthy plants in nature, you can easily eat a plant that will poison you.  And there are plants that can help and hurt your body, depending on the amount administered.  Principally speaking, the same happens with relationships from elements in the human paradigm.

For example, disagreement is thought to be

Does the Board of Directors Affect Corporate Culture?

What is the role of the board of directors?  Some say it is to protect the shareholders’ value.  In other words, they are there to ensure the money of investors continues to grow.  Others say the board is there to oversee the CEO and make sure he or she constantly and profitably grows the business.  Perhaps the board is there to ensure all

Is Coaching Worth the Investment?

In a world where time is money, managers need people who can take action immediately.  They search for employees who already have the skills, competency and capability to work with little supervision.  Combined with ever changing businesses and technology, companies claim there is no time to train and coach people effectively.  Instead they chant do it now!   

However, the idea of do it faster, smarter, and better is in

How Prepared Is Your Board for Cyberspace?

In the wake of the recent Equifax debacle, boards of directors are rethinking their cyber security readiness.  Equifax was warned about the weaknesses in their cyber security and did nothing.  When they did discover it was breached, they waited months to inform the public.  As time went on, it appeared they were focused on covering their butts.  The result is 143 million people have had

What Will You Leave Behind?

As part of my entrepreneurial growth, I created meaningful relationships with CEOs. Some became clients.  Others were sounding boards for my clients and myself.  Through those relationships, I have been able to explore and transform leadership at its highest level.  In that mix of CEOs, some were running companies, while others were retired. One of the amazing conversations with retired CEOs of Fortune 500s is their desire to contribute.  Like all people who contribute, they seek some level of self-interest.  That self-interest can be summed up in one word

You Can’t Go Back

Yesterday is gone.  No matter what you do January 1st, 2001 will not come back.  It doesn’t exist and neither does tomorrow.  To lament over actions you took or didn’t take will not change what actually happened in the past.  Yet, so many people live with regrets that create emotional paralysis.  They live with the philosophy of ‘if I could have, should have, wish I had, etc.’.  To my knowledge, no one has been given the

What’s a Better Mindset to Start with?

Last week I wrote about mindset.  I talked about a mindset that accomplishes very little.  In this article, I will discuss a mindset that can accomplish extraordinary results. 

As I said, the person who complains, protests, vents, whines, etc. is the person who secretly believes they will never get what they want.  As a result, they consume time by taking action that makes

You’ll Never Get There from Where You Are

For some, this is a delicate topic.  Some of you may be offended, even though that is not my intention.  This subject is rarely addressed in the way I have laid out.  By addressing it, I understand the potential consequences.  Speaking bluntly on the topic could result in hate mail or silent adversaries.  Nevertheless, the intent is to create an awakening. 

With that said, when I say ‘where you are’, it has nothing to do with

What Stops Leaders from Transforming Corporate Culture and Driving Innovation?

Before the 2008 recession, large corporations took pride in buying back shares of their own organization.  This financial reengineering was a great way to boost earnings and attract shareholders.  As a result, the stock price would rise.  However, while billions of dollars were spent buying back shares, opportunity costs were being created.  It could be said that share buy backs create

How Exercise Can Increase Your Ability to Innovate

In a rapidly changing world, the ability to transform self is essential. While most believe change is difficult, there are exercises that you can incorporate into your daily life to facilitate transformation. This video explains the basics.

See demonstration of an effective exercise. 

Can Weightlifting Really Make You Smarter?

Exercising and moving the body can enhance brain function. In this video I give a demonstration of an exercise that is healthy for the mind and body.

Learn why exercising is important. 

Why a Competitive Advantage Means Nothing

In a previous article, I wrote about the importance of being able to change.  That article focused on the need to transform individually and enterprise wide.  Neuroplasticity is the technical term given for making paradigm shifts in the brain.  In a book called, The End of Competitive Advantage, by Rita Gunther McGrath, she talks about how market dominance can be fleeting.  Companies unable to quickly change can

Should You Be Thinking about Neuroplasticity?

Every healthy brain has neurons.  Those neurons store and carry information tied to your thoughts, education and experiences.  Those neurons travel on paths in the brain, which are called neuropaths.  The information the neurons carry helps you move, speak and think.  In addition, those paths help you make sense of the world and relate one topic to another.  For example, you can use mathematics to assess the amount of

Demonstrating an Intentional Breakdown with Curl Exercise

How Do You Transform Breakdowns into Breakthroughs?

Watch me demonstrate an intentional breakdown with a curl exercise.  Click here.

Is Integrity Really That Important?

When people think of integrity, they think of ethics and morals.  For the purpose of this article, integrity is doing what you said you would do.  And doing it when you said you would do it.  One definition is: the state of being complete or undivided.  Integrity is a way of being whole and complete.  Without integrity, things tend to remain in a state of

How Do You Assess Your Life?

It’s been a while since I’ve spoken with the man I consider to be the wisest in the world.  As usual, he filled my ears with his perspective about life and people.  Today his concern was about a built-in trap that is part of the human paradigm.  He said this trap is one that blinds people and makes them believe in problems that don’t

What Is the Disruptive Leadership Model? - Ted Santos

How Do You Find Your Life Purpose?

3 Important Rules of a Game Changer

It could be said that Michael Jordan changed the game of basketball. Steve Jobs changed the game of cell phones. There are many more examples of game changers, like the Wright Brothers or Thomas Edison.

In the case of the Wright Brothers, they pursued a goal in the face of being

Why Do Cannibals Lead the Pack?

When your company is doing well,that is the time to orchestrate transformation.  These are the immortal words from a former CEO of a Fortune 500.  However, too often, CEOs are so focused on maximizing profits from existing revenue streams.  As a result, when a competitor introduces a disruptive product or service, the incumbent is not prepared.  That leads to being

To Build or Not to Build: That Is the Question

From the perspective of business executives, there are two ways to grow an enterprise: build or buy.

They ask whether it is appropriate to build a new business idea, product or service from scratch.  Or should the company buy an existing corporation that already provides the desired product or service?

The answer to that question: it depends. Either way, the solution is never simple.

Often, purchasing another organization is an

What Differentiates Leadership from Management?

Most of what is taught in business school has a focus on steady, incremental improvement.  I don’t want to throw that out.  I do, however, suggest that businesses can create quantum leaps.  And the difference between the two processes is what defines leadership.

So, where do I start?  I ask:  What’s the difference between a manager and a leader?  Managers become managers because

How Do You Know If You Are Living Your Purpose?

As a society, we continuously contemplate the meaning of life. In trying to define the reason for being, we attempt to understand the purpose of our own lives. That said, how do you know your purpose? 

Some believe that purpose can be derived from

Are Your Decisions Influenced by Things You Don’t Know You Don’t Know?

When I first meet with a client, I tell them something profound.  Within the first 20 minutes of that meeting, I tell them they are still making decisions as a five year old.  In every single case, they tell me that that does not apply to them.  Over the next 90 minutes, they say something different.  They come to the