Blog

FamilyFeaturedPersonal Growth

What’s in Your Heart?

Scrooge is a cold and harsh man, and his heart only warms seeing his distant memories, and bleak future.  The Grinch is… well… a Grinch until he discovers the spirit of Christmas, and his heart grows three sizes!  Science has taught us that the heart is an organ that runs…
Philip Martin
December 5, 2020
BusinessPersonal Growth

6 Ways to Keep It Together

When we started this pandemic interregnum we hoarded food, invested in canned goods, and stockpiled toilet paper.  We queued Netflix and found a couple good books, ready for a long “winter’s night.”  Little did we know it was going to turn into an arctic night.  We set up home offices,…
Philip Martin
November 5, 2020
BusinessPersonal Growth

6 Tips for Improving Your Focus

The year was 1976.  One young actor was about to bring things to a crashing halt.  The Pioneer Memorial Theater was filled to the brim for a production of the show Kismet.  As Warzir sang his song “Was I Wazir?” the young actor behind him let his mind wander.  He had…
Philip Martin
October 12, 2020
BusinessFamilyPersonal Growth

Limited Skill Isn’t a Liability

“Irving Berlin has no place in American music. He is American music.” - Jerome Kern September 22 marks the death of one of the most influential composers in the history of American Music: Irving Berlin.  In the first half of the 1900s, Berlin was able to capture America’s burgeoning energy…
Philip Martin
September 24, 2020
BusinessFamilyFeaturedPersonal Growth

Opportunity in Restriction

Hollywood gave into pressure and agreed to censor what they would show in motion pictures.  In the 1930s the Catholic Church saw itself as a moral compass and presented Hollywood with the Production Code, a document with drastic restrictions for movie production.  They said ‘it’s my way or the highway’…
Philip Martin
September 10, 2020
FamilyPersonal Growth

Being Grateful and Making it a Habit

Captains log: quarantine date 156.  In facing monotony and the mundane, I am grateful.  No I haven’t rewatched the entire original Star Trek series… but by now I could have!  I have, though, ventured out of my house with my colorful personalized PPE, and driven past my favorite restaurant, drooling…
Philip Martin
August 28, 2020
BusinessPersonal GrowthQuotes

The Gift of Rejection

It was Sunday morning when I got to know Jim Gaffigan.  Well… I got to know him by reading the Parade Magazine in our local paper.  I already knew that Jim (we’ll use a first name basis) was both hilarious and likable, but I found out that he’s quite insightful…
Philip Martin
August 13, 2020
BusinessFamilyFeaturedPersonal Growth

Do Not Move

Your big idea is waiting on you.  You might have the greatest idea the world will ever see, but if you do not act on it, what good is it? You might have a vision—a dream— that could change the world, but if you are not willing to share it…
Philip Martin
August 3, 2020
BusinessPersonal Growth

How to get the BEST input from your team

  On the first day of rehearsal I stand in front of the assembled group of talented and diverse actors and crew.  Each has their own strengths, weaknesses, methods, and idiosyncrasies.  My job, my responsibility as the director, is to mold the group of individuals into a high functioning cohesive…
Philip Martin
July 17, 2020
BusinessFeaturedPersonal Growth

Become Brilliant at the Basics

In December of 1960, the Green Bay Packers played in the NFL Championship game against the Philadelphia Eagles: and lost 17-13. Author David Maraniss, in his best-selling book, When Pride Still Mattered: A Life of Vince Lombardi, explains what happened when the team gathered on their first day of training…
Philip Martin
June 22, 2020