Joy Phenix's Blog

“Excuse the mess, but we live here.” Rosanne Barr Have you ever known someone who disappears whenever someone in their life has a crisis? I have one friend, let’s call her “Debbie,” who is notorious for such behavior. The people around Debbie have come to expect her disappearance act and most of the time give [...]

Congratulations!!!  You made it to Friday!!! The weekend’s ahead and I hope you get a day or two off. However, before you get too far away from the work week, take a few minutes and reflect on what happened in the previous 5-7 days.  After all, if Socrates was even slightly “onto something ” when [...]

Sometimes expressing your feelings and being “authentic” is over-rated. I think it’s better to fake courtesy even when you don’t feel like it. Here’s a reminder of why… *** REPOST *** If you’ve been routed through or stopped in the LA airport in the past 3-4 years, you’ve probably noticed that the place is stuck [...]

“Experience won’t make you better, only evaluated experience makes you better.” Howard Hendricks Have you ever been in charge of putting together a report, proposal, or creative piece? Have you given a presentation, introduced a speaker, or otherwise led in a meeting? Have you thrown a dinner party, hosted company, or been in charge of [...]

I was walking to the bus stop recently and a young neighborhood kid ran past me gleefully tattling on her older brother, “Did you hear? Tommy said a bad word!!!” Her mother, trailing behind, rolled her eyes and said, “Nothing gets by kids.” Fortunately, that’s true. Kids pick up on most everything and they can [...]

This week Yahoo! news reported on a woman in Belgium who drove 900 miles out of her way because she was following her GPS to a train station. The station she was aiming for was only 90 miles from her home, but she claims she was “distracted,” so she kept driving. For TWO days she [...]

Early in my management experience I had an employee, let’s call her “Stephanie,” who was – ahem – “challenging” to coach.   No matter how I tried, I couldn’t seem to give Stephanie feedback without her becoming angry, defensive, or shutting down. Many times she’d go through all three phases in rapid succession. This frustrated me [...]

I probably shouldn’t eavesdrop, but on a plane recently I overhead an exchange between a couple of guys sounding something like this: Window Man:  “My son is so difficult these days.  I can’t help but scream at him.” Aisle Man: “Sure you can help.  You don’t have to scream; that’s your choice.” Window Man: “You [...]

” Pride goes before destruction, and arrogance before failure.” Proverbs 16:18 CJB I had a breakfast meeting recently with clients to cover our typical business issues.  It had been a while since I had last seen them, so I was certain to present a comprehensive “state of the business.” We ate at a lovely restaurant [...]

My son can make loud, annoying sounds that drive my daughter into a tailspin. He knows when he makes these noises, inevitably his sister will move from a polite request (“stop, please”) to a scream (“CUT IT OUT!”) to a smack upside the head.  Still, he’s the little brother and part of his job description [...]