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How C.S. Lewis & J.R.R. Tolkien Collaborated Despite Conflict

By Tom Ruwitch

I just started reading a book called “Bandersnatch.” It’s about the writers C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien and their relationship as colleagues and competitors. In the 1930s and 40s, Lewis and Tolkien were members of a literary club called The Inklings at Oxford University.  Members critiqued one another’s works-in-progress.  “Bandersnatch” explores how Lewis and Tolkien…

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You Won’t Believe What This Top Executive is Willing to Do For The Team…

By Tom Ruwitch

Last week, I toured EPCOT at Walt Disney World with my friend Vance Morris who used to work there and now is the planet’s leading expert on how to “Disnify” your business. As a surprise, Vance invited his pal Dave to share some insider secrets about how Disney World operates today. Dave is a top-dog at Disney.…

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How Intention and Action Lead to Beautiful Creations

By Tom Ruwitch

My friend Caren Libby posted a beautiful photograph on LinkedIn last week — a meadow with Black-Eyed Susans in full bloom. (That’s the photo above.) In her post, Caren wrote, “I stumbled across this lovely burst of blossoms in the John F. Kennedy trail in Forest Park.” I loved the post, and I shared it.…

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How an Impulse Buy Led to a Legendary Business

By Tom Ruwitch

While on vacation in 1986, a future legend bought a coat in Jackson, Wyoming that changed his life. John wasn’t a legend yet. He was a sales consultant, vacationing in cowboy country. The coat was a full-length “duster.” The kind of coat real cowboys wear. John saw the coat, hanging in the back of Schaefer…

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How Yoga Can Help You Become a Better Storyteller

By Tom Ruwitch

I attended a yoga class last week. First time ever. I worked muscles and tendons that hadn’t stretched since the Reagan administration. Some of those muscles protested mildly. Others screamed, “You’ve got to be kidding me!” Our instructor, Jessica, asked us to bend at the waist and touch the ground. She spotted me in my…

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Why You Don’t Need a Muse to Master Marketing

By Tom Ruwitch

There’s a movie I like called The Muse. Albert Brooks plays a screenwriter named Steven Phillips who has lost his “edge.” Everyone says he’s past his prime. So Steven gets a Muse. Not a figurative muse. A literal muse — as in a real-life Greek goddess, a daughter of Zeus. Her name is Sarah Little (Sharon…

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I Met a Remarkable Woman

By Tom Ruwitch

I met a remarkable woman yesterday. Her name is Sarah Walugembe. She lives in Uganda. Her mom left her when she was two months old. Her dad died a few years later. She married when she was 14. She thought marriage was her ticket to a better life. But her husband was a bad man.…

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