Robert Ringer Archives


The Rocky Balboa of New Zealand

Posted on October 16, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (17)

A friend of mine just returned from a trip Down Under, and I was saddened to hear him tell me that the visible destruction in Christchurch, New Zealand, my one-time home, is still enormous. Christchurch suffered a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in 2011 that killed one hundred eighty-five people and destroyed scores of buildings. This got […]

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With or Without You, Life Goes On

Posted on October 14, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (18)

I never cease to be amazed by the uncertainties of life. Americans have been cruising along for years, enjoying the nonexistent economic recovery, rooting for their favorite thug teams, and piling evermore vacations, cars, and all kinds of frivolous and discretionary goodies onto their credit card balances. But times they are a-changin’ — beheadings in […]

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The Circle of Life

Posted on October 9, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (26)

Throughout much of my life, I paid little attention to the miracles that surrounded me. I was too busy thinking about business and money … too busy being annoyed by annoying people … too busy being too busy. I had no time to think about the realworld — the one that actually matters. Nature and […]

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Relativity and Perspective

Posted on October 7, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (56)

Some years ago, while on a nationwide seminar tour, I happened to be staying overnight in Houston. After a particularly tiring, stressful day, I made an appointment for a massage at the health spa in the hotel where I was staying. By the time my appointment rolled around, I was in a pretty gruff mood […]

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The High-Speed/Low-Cost Catalyst

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (27)

In the Preface to Stephen M.R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust, his father, Stephen R. Covey (of Seven Habits fame), stated: “My interactions with business leaders around the world have made it increasingly evident that ‘speed to market’ is now the ultimate competitive weapon.” Just think about that for a moment — the ultimate […]

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Whom to Believe?

Posted on September 30, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (20)

It’s amazing how often we automatically assume that someone’s words represent set-in-stone fact. Nothing amazes me more than when someone says, “I know that for a fact,” then, when pressed for his source of information, says that Freddie Fibber told him so. Of course, just because someone tells you something that turns out to be […]

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The Wisdom of Charles Koch

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (28)

Here’s a great excerpt from a book I’m reading that I think you’ll want to pay close attention to: This brief company history may leave the impression that our experience has been one of ever-improving results, with one success after another, each building on the one before. Nothing could be further from the truth. Progress, […]

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The Glorification of Sports Thuggery

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (62)

The uproar over the Ray Rice domestic-abuse incident cries out for a truthful, politically incorrect article, so I decided to volunteer for the job. Rice’s Ali-like left jab to his then-fiancée’s kisser is but a blip on the crime screen of the hoodlum-saturated National Football League. Stuff like this, and worse — much worse — […]

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Turning Losses Into Gains

Posted on September 11, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (13)

Sometimes it’s difficult to muster up the positive mental attitude to see opportunity in a bad situation. Things get so out of hand that it’s easy to become discouraged to the point of feeling despair. Those are the times when your mettle and sinew are really put to the test — sometimes very long tests. […]

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Chaos Theory and You

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Robert Ringer Comments (9)

Oversimplified, chaos theory is about the underlying chaos that exists in seemingly orderly systems. The so-called butterfly effect comes into play here, because a small change in initial conditions can dramatically change the long-term behavior of a “system.” A system, of course, can be just about anything — the weather, a mathematical formula, a sporting […]

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