Category Archives: Uncategorized

Be Thankful For Failure   I entered the real world as a credit analyst at Texas American Bancshares, Inc. in Fort Worth, Texas. Back then an analyst had to become a quick study on different business models and learn how to analyze the highlights quickly for the loan officers and then articulate those ideas wellContinue reading “Be Thankful for Failure”

Chocolate Chip Cookies   J. Paul Humphrey, my father, followed in his father’s entrepreneurial footsteps when in 1973, he quit his job at Standard Packaging to become a stockbroker at age 42. He had a mortgage and three children, and off he went!! For those of you who know U.S. economic history, this was aContinue reading “Chocolate Chip Cookies”

The Loan: A Birdseye Story Stories sell! The better you are at telling stories, the more successful you will be in your career and in life. I use stories to inspire and motivate because I believe in my core that everyone can learn the Connect for Life methodologies. If one person turns over a newContinue reading “The Loan: A Birdseye Story”

Texas was a long way from northern New Jersey, but there I was hugging my mom and dad goodbye at Newark International Airport. They bought me a ticket and gave me some money and off I went on a flight to Texas.  When I arrived, I took the Super Shuttle to the Hilton Hotel onContinue reading “A Plane Ticket and a Quarter”

I sat there staring at the phone as though it would make the call by itself. This was back before the Internet, email, and cell phones, at a time when appointments were arranged by phone calls, followed by visits to prospective clients and pitching deals. I was nervous, not trembling, but had that pit-in-my-stomach feeling you get in anticipationContinue reading “The Knowledge Worker”

People can spend their entire career trying to answer the question “Why?” across a wide range of topics: Why do we work so hard? Why are people mean? Why am I being held back from being successful?    I don’t know on the psychological level why we ask why, but for me it is simple.Continue reading “Why Connect At All?”

Books have a life. If you’ve never done it, it is hard to describe, creating something out of nothing. In a perfect world you have this idea, you think it is unique and you sit down and the words flow into your computer. It doesn’t work that way! Books are born. They start with aContinue reading “A Book’s Journey”