“Leaders will suffer significant effects of stress without taking time to breathe, find white space for the mind and reflect deeply on their actions and reactions. The body handles stress poorly, even when you are not cognitively aware you are stressed. Before you lose your cool, fly off the handle, make rash decisions or have a cardiac event TAKE A BREAK and take a breath.” J Loren Norris

​“Many people fail to thrive because they allow the unqualified opinions of others to sway their belief about themselves. The stories we tell ourselves and the stories we others about ourselves shape what we believe to be true about us. The stories others tell about us - that’s our brand. As leaders we must manage the narrative at home, at work and at large for ourselves and our team.” J Loren Norris

“I know this as a matter of reality: every action has a reaction. That goes for attitudes as well. If leaders do not draw the line and clearly monitor it, consequences will be drastic. Draw the line. Announce the consequences. Enforce the penalties. That’s one aspect of leadership many have shied away from.” J Loren Norris.

“If you desire to make radical, transformative change in a large group of people you must start with early adopters. Those are generally found among the youngest and most impressionable people because they are most open to new ideas, not yet set in their ways and willing to try almost anything when it feels right to them. The more seasoned among societies tend to trust their expertise and past experiences to validate what will work over their emotions or cultural pressures. Old dogs and new tricks? Not easy to do.” J Loren Norris

“Friendships should be great investments of time, energy and emotion.  The effort exerted to maintain a strong friendship will have a great return on investment when done well. Friends will watch your back, remain dedicated to your success, speak health to your romantic relationships and perhaps even work for you. The good leader will know where to draw the line between loyal friends and loyal employees.” J Loren Norris

“A good leader knows the power of a poker face! The ability to hear, see, know, understand and still keep your opinion a secret is a great tool for leadership. Not everything a leader thinks should be expressed. Not every stoic emotional response means IDK. When observing a team or a crowd, be willing to ask and answer questions of those who appear to be least engaged. They may very well know more than they say.” J Loren Norris.

“Leaders and team members alike are HUMANS. This means relationships can be complicated and complex. Some people are ‘with you’ for life. These people believe in you, your vision, your mission, and your way of doing business. Others want to gather from you all the insight and opportunity they can then move along. A leader who cannot determine the difference will not know who to launch, who to promote and who to hold on to.” J Loren Norris

“The number of people who suffer with victim mentality seems to be growing daily. The challenges of culture, society, politics, education and economics reveal the observable disparity and damage of inequality. The real issue rests in the sad truth that many people find victimhood both comfortable and profitable. Leaders need to help those they influence to identify their uniqueness and to maximize their potential. Equity of outcome may be a myth but equity of opportunity rests in living your fullness in your greatest gifts!” J Loren Norris

​“When the ‘cause dejour’ drives the passions of your team, the power behind your core values might be challenged. The ability to maintain the focus on the cause of your organization requires awareness, devotion and intention. Leaders must know the difference and stand their ground to direct the passions of those they lead.” J Loren Norris.

“The stories we tell, tell the world all they need to know about us. We can only deflect the false narratives, bad ideas, misinformation and masked agendas when we are firmly grounded in our own values. Values and passion are not the same. One can be passionately wrong and yet determined to express their passion in a persuasive manner until they succeed at leading others astray. Good leaders stand their ground in the face of confusion and adversity rather than ceding the ground to fleeting and whimsical notions. ” J Loren Norris.

“It takes great clarity to see an adulterated version of an original, especially three to for iterations away from the core. This truth is evident across the board from culture to politics to education to economic policy to monetary theory. The corrosive manipulation of sexuality, the principles of leadership, the power and authority of relationship structures et al will destroy civilization as we know it. We need to remember and perpetuate ideological theories based on the natural laws they were built on.” J Loren Norris

“No matter how good you are as a leader, one trait and skill you share with other effective leaders, even the ones who are genuinely not good people, is the ability to communicate an effective narrative. Using the story to linguistically put yourself and your organization in the most favorable light is job #1 of effective leaders. If you are second to the table of narrative distribution, you are already too late.” J Loren Norris

“If you’re human you have a dark side. If you’re a leader you have faults, short comings, room for improvement and blind spots. You must spend the emotional energy and focused time to identify and rectify those areas. If you do not address those issues, you will never shine as bright as you could from every facet of your personality. There will also be important people you will remain unable to connect with until you become aware and take action.” J Loren Norris

​“Good vs bad or good vs evil is hard enough to discern on a regular daily basis. When we add the art of deception or agendas hidden behind questionable intentions, it takes well honed skills of people reading to mete out the truth of good or bad. Leaders must pursue the ability to interpret, clarify and strategize the mine field of disguised intentions.” J Loren Norris

”It is one thing to speak an inaccuracy for lack of knowledge, to be more accurate, to speak inaccuracies out of ignorance. It is an entirely different thing to speak non truth for the purpose of deceit and misdirection. The darkest form of misinformation is that which challenges long established, credible, provable fact simply because it does not comply with common causes and modern social expectations.” J Loren Norris

“Leaders have great results when they are guided by good intentions to truly help others. Leaders, whether hands on, social, cultural, business or political who use tools to alter the emotional state or biophysical state of those they lead, have results which should be held in question IMHO. Motives and intent are as important as the way you make people feel. Leaders are responsible for all of these at once.” J Loren Norris

“There are times when leaders feel like their behavior is above reproach. There are also times when they know their behavior is reprehensible but BEYOND reproach. This will cause an incredible sense of entitlement and arrogance in a leader who feels above the law and beyond the reach of justice. Leaders and those under their influence should be clear in this. Justice will always come! Often justice will come just in time, when it doesn’t, justice will without fail, come in eternity. Justice is undeniable, so be accountable NOW while you have time to apologize and make amends.” J Loren Norris

RSS Feed

“When it comes to things outside our control, many people would put their own emotions in that category. They would be wrong. But emotions of others would definitely meet that definition. Everyone you influence has their own feelings, opinions and ideas. A leader insisting the superiority of their emotions, opinions and ideas is a recipe for disaster. Give people space to experience their own while not allowing their emotions  to control you.” J Loren Norris

”Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. This old adage speaks volumes about the choices we make and how we make them. Whether sales, leadership or coaching, we should all ask, NOT can I do this job, meet this need, provide this service? Instead we must be asking SHOULD I do this, can I do it better than anyone else, is this client a good fit? Life is too short to waste on bad relationships and a bad client relationship is not exempt.” J Loren Norris

​“If you can’t remember what you said a week ago, a year ago or a decade ago and that scares you, transparency is an issue for you and integrity might be as well. If you want the peace of knowing you won’t be help accountable for past utterances, that is delusional. If you really want to live at peace with yourself, your conscience and others, learn to be consistent with transparent truth and deception will not haunt you.” J Loren Norris