Common sense for uncommon times
Why we are where we are . . . and what we can do about it.
Common sense for uncommon times
Why we are where we are . . . and what we can do about it.
However much you deny the truth, the truth goes on existing.
Aldous Huxley
My Journey as a Writer
Back Online
Those who know me know that I took time off from this blog to write novels. That was a hugely satisfying detour. I published a suspense thriller, Storm Warning, in 2023. I followed it with a science fiction novel, The Cerulean Ark, in 2024. You can read more about both novels in the "My Novels" section of this website. I recently completed a sequel to Storm Warning called Storm Damage. That book is in post-production now. I expect it to be published this summer. Now I'm starting a sequel to The Cerulean Ark. I also wrote a play entitled Ex Terminus. As you may know, I've also published many nonfiction business-related books on leadership, interpersonal skills, and marketing. I wrote most of those books while CEO of Lore International Institute. Now retired, I write for pleasure.
With the second election of Donald Trump as president (his devotees might call it the Second Coming), I feel compelled to speak out again in this blog. I am not a Democrat or a Republican; I am an independent. But what is happening in our country compels any right-minded person to be concerned and speak out--in blogs like this, in letters to the editor, in emails to your elected representatives, and in any other way you can. Like many commentators, I am concerned about Trump's desire to remain in office and exert total control, and I believe that if we are not watchful, he could destroy our democracy. If you don't agree with me, that's okay. The point of democracy is to permit differing views and choose how to be governed through ballots, not bullets. So if you voted for Trump and like what he's doing, I hope the result of his term in office will be what you prayed for. But I also hope you will keep an open mind and at least read or listen to those who are sounding the alarm bells. The sky may be falling, and if you don't want to live under a dictatorship or imperial rule by Trump and his family, then now is the time to pay attention. It is considerably harder to depose dictators than to prevent them from getting dictatorial power in the first place.
Terry's Current Blog Articles (Article Archive below)
Trump in the Mirror
What the Democrats Get Wrong
Donald Trump has long touted his business acumen as a cornerstone of his public persona and a principal reason voters should support him. Yet beneath the glittering surface lies a series of failed ventures, broken promises, and lies. In this article, I hold a mirror up to Trump and view the man through the lens of what he's actually accomplished--or not. Much of the image he projects is a carefully crafted illusion.
What the Democrats Get Wrong
What the Democrats Get Wrong
If the Democratic Party were a house, it would need a radical makeover. The Party fared poorly in the 2024 election, and approval of the Party is at a record low. I’m neither a Democrat nor a Republican, but I’m concerned about the direction the country is heading under Trump, and I believe we need a strong two-party system to keep our government in balance.
Hail the Republican Language Police
Hail the Republican Language Police
I published an article on the Republican language police. The publisher of The Durango Herald asked me to turn that article into a poem, which I've done in this blog post.
Hail the Republican language police
Who ordered many words to cease
They banned climate science in utter defiance
Of evidence-based logic--another contrivance.
Covid and injustice are clearly outmoded
Mental health and clean energy, also demoted
My Novels
Storm Warning
Storm Warning is the first Sonny Marshall thriller. Sonny is hunting a girl who was kidnapped 7 years ago. She vanished without a trace but was seen recently at a truck stop in Wyoming. Sonny has few clues to her whereabouts and is teamed with Kat Hastings, a by-the-books police detective who thinks he should stay out of police business. They discover that the missing child is no ordinary kid, and this is no ordinary kidnapping.
Readers have described this novel as "a gripping, edge-of-your-seat thriller; filled with excitement, mystery, and action; a dark classic; a great thriller; an engaging crime tale; electrifying; a classic crime thriller; dark and brooding--and so much fun!; and a rousing good story with an exciting finish."
Storm Damage
In the sequel to Storm Warning, Sonny seeks an elusive biochemist who is making designer drugs that either send people into endless rapture or turn them into psychopathic mass murderers. Kat has been shot by one of the killers, and as she recovers, she tries to help Sonny find a man who thinks he's a powerful medieval wizard and who has no qualms about unleashing hell on as many people as he can.
Storm Damage is in post-production now and will be published in the summer of 2025. Look for it on Amazon.com and other online book retailers.
The Cerulean Ark
The Cerulean Ark
Bradley Adamsson is dying. He's a high school senior, top of his class, but he has an incurable disease that will destroy all his dreams. Then he discovers an alien spacecraft buried in a hill. It's a hundred thousand years more advanced than Earth, and it holds incredible power--so much that every nation on Earth will kill to possess it. With an unlikely companion--a girl he's admired for years--Bradley is forced to decide whether to turn over his discovery or forever escape all who are pursuing him.
Reviers of this novel had these comments: "A captivating sci-fi adventure, an enthralling SciFi masterpiece; a wild ride and thrilling read; sci-fi at its best; a poetically written cosmic adventure; and epic and emotional--this book will transport you."
My Books on Business & Leadership
The Elements of Power
Based on groundbreaking research, this book reveals where power comes from, how it works, and how you can tap into it to achieve your personal and professional goals. It describes the eleven sources of personal and organizational power and how to build each of them. The Elements of Power is not about manipulating people; it's about how to build lasting sources of power that enable you to influence others ethically while achieving your goals.
Elements of Influence
The companion book to The Elements of Power. This book describes the techniques people commonly use to influence others, including ten positive and four coercive techniques. Based on research, the book offers numerous examples and details how to use each influence technique effectively. The techniques include logical persuasion, appealing to values, legitimizing, finding common ground, and influencing by asking the right questions.
What People Want
What People Want reveals the truth about what it takes to build employee-manager relationships that matter--both to the people involved and the bottom line. This book is a roadmap through today's workplace and offers a multitude of tools and advice for building trust, creating a respectful environment, being sensitive to others, setting the right tone, and development productive relationships.
Adaptive Coaching, 2nd Ed.
Adaptive coaching is the art and practice of a client-centered approach to performance improvement. The book describes how you assess your clients' needs, adapt to your clients' preferences as you coach them, drive deep and lasting change, and become a far better coach. It includes numerous examples, including coaching dialogues. Cowritten with Laurie Voss, PhD.
Winning Behavior
The best companies differentiate themselves based on their behavior--how they treat customers, employees, suppliers, and partners. Behavioral differentiation is a key winning strategy in highly competitive markets. "Outbehaving the competition--thereby raising your client's expectations and your own performance--is a significant leading edge concept. --David L. Myers, President, Executive Impact." Coauthored with David G. Pugh, PhD.
The Behavioral Advantage
Business is a lot like chess, a battle in which outmaneuvering your opponent requires a delicate balance of advance planning and responsiveness to unexpected moves. Success depends on confident and flawless execution of specific opening, middle, and endgame strategies. Examples from McKinsey & Company, PepsiCo, Hall Kinion, Safeway, Centex Construction Co., and Harley-Davidson. Coauthored with David G. Pugh, PhD
Powerful Proposals
Effective People Skills 5th Ed.
Selling to Major Accounts
The Golden Rules for crafting superior proposals that are compliant, responsive, and compelling. This definitive guide to proposal writing is virtually guaranteed to improve your win rates. Reviewers comments include: "an intelligent, experience-based examination of what it takes to create proposals that will break your company from the pack"; "the brass ring to all willing to reach past the conventional wisdom of how to win"; [their process] "has been the single most contributing factor to my success in sales." Coauthored with David G. Pugh, PhD
Selling to Major Accounts
Effective People Skills 5th Ed.
Selling to Major Accounts
In most businesses, 80% of the revenue comes from 20% of the customers--a disproportionately important group that must be managed in a completely different way. Selling to Major Accounts is a complete blueprint for building stronger and more profitable relationships with your key customers. Loaded with tables, checklists, worksheets, and real-life case studies from the author's vast consulting experience, the book supplies the critical strategies and hands-on tactics you need.
Effective People Skills 5th Ed.
Effective People Skills 5th Ed.
Effective People Skills 5th Ed.
The comprehensive, practical guide to being effective interpersonally. Includes understanding individual differences (knowing yourself and understanding others), influencing with integrity (core concepts of influence, reading influence cues), communicating effectively (reducing noise, asking questions, responding to questions, giving and receiving feedback), and handling conflict (handling overt and covert conflict, handling conflicts of ideas, being assertive, and listening). This book has been adopted for college business programs.
Effective Coaching
Effective Coaching
Effective People Skills 5th Ed.
Effective Coaching is a user-friendly guide to the adaptive way to help people grow. It teaches you how to determine what people want from coaching; how to adapt to their wants and needs; how to make the best use of coaching sessions, how to ensure your coaching is effective, how to measure progress, and how to end the coaching relationship.