Be True to Yourself

I was having dinner this week with a close friend and we started talking about past missteps, relationships, jobs, and family stuff. It's so very easy to look back with the wisdom of now but we never get that then so why do we torture ourselves with something in our past we can't change and how we'd do it differently?

She shared a story of a former relationship she thought was based on trust and found it was built on lies. Been there? Yeah, me too. It's worse than coming home to realize someone has broken into your home. In these cases, someone has broken into your heart and trust. How can someone be so selfish and mean? Because some people are selfish and mean.

Watch for Oncoming Traffic

It sounds so blissfully simply to suggest we need to take care of our own needs first. Secure your mask before helping other passengers, they say. And yet we walk into these situations throughout our lives. Perhaps it's an innocent way to put it but if we know the element is hot, we may not want to touch the stove this time. It shouldn't make us mistrust everyone but we may want to heed the warnings this time.

You will run into people who will lie to you; I will as well. You will wonder if it's okay to be true to you; I will too. And the best way we can navigate these challenges it to look back for the lessons, try not to repeat them, and when they show up again, stop them quicker. If they lie to you, they will lie to others and it's not your fault.

Let's not forget ourselves in our own lives.
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Seeing Each Other

I've been looking closely at relationships lately. I've always found human behavior a fascinating topic but it seems to be something that has seeped into all aspects of my life in the last year or so.

How we communicate. How we look at the past. How we heal and grow and move forward. How we interact with each other. How we let others into our lives - in a deeply honest and open human way. How we create a healthy relationship with ourselves.

Dr. Starla Fitch has a look at relationships and how we see others.


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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

It’s a Dirty Job and We All Have to Do It

It was a plain beige room with uncomfortable chairs. My grade school guidance counselor sat behind his desk looking through piles of paper to find my file. He looked up, cleared his throat, and launched into a diatribe I remember to this day.

His point was that I was not to close any doors or hold myself back. I was 13! All I wanted to do was play hockey. I had no clue what I wanted to do for a career and this guy was laying all this heavy stuff on me. I didn’t get it then, but got it many times over the decades after that chat.

Follow Your Passion?

I’ve done a lot of reflecting lately – about work, passion, relationships, careers, and life. The conversations with friends and colleagues have been rich with these topics and my guidance counselor was right – we shouldn’t limit ourselves or close doors.

But there’s one critical element missing. And that is to understand what limits mean. I have spent decades on this planet thinking they mean reach, stretch, and go for more. Mike Rowe – host of Dirty Jobs – lends a wider perspective that we need to heed in his TEDTalk from a few years ago.

The first part may be tough to watch but keep watching. Mike makes some outstanding points about work, life, following our passion, and most of all, respecting each other.


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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

TED | Mike Rowe

Learning Trust

We see the claims everywhere. On billboards, websites, annual reports, company material, political campaigns, and marketing collateral. Other words for it include; reliance, faith, belief, hope, confidence, or evidence that you are trustworthy.

Onora Sylvia O'Neill – Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve – is a philosopher and a crossbench member of the British House of Lords who outlines our three most common ideas about trust and how they may be misdirected.


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Kneale Mann | People + Priority = Profit

TED | Onora O’Neill