"We were thinking, we can work within this space," Ms. Shick said.
When my coach, Ron O'Brien, asked if I wanted to continue, I responded, without thinking, "We worked too long and hard to get there, and I don't want to give up without a fight".
We even met with the then CEO of BT Retail (now CEO of BT) and his direct reports – all of us thinking we were working toward a distribution agreement.
One night, thinking we needn't work so hard to prevent a pregnancy that we might soon wish for, we didn't use birth control.
There's an arrogance there, you thinking we'd want to work for you again, as well.
A When we started the firm in '76 — when the recession was pretty bad and unemployment for architects in the city was 60 percent — a wealthy friend said to me, 'Your success will be measured by the work you turn down.' I'm thinking, 'We don't have any work, and I have three kids going to school and no money.' But my friend was absolutely right.
For instance, if we're performing a job that requires some "outside the box" thinking, we may have to avoid working in cubicles.
The house was in a terrible condition but, thinking we were secure there, I worked for many days cleaning and decorating, then I totally overhauled the rubbish-filled garden.
Whether it is continuing to hire the wrong people because of a bad hiring protocol, sticking with the same marketing plan even though it isn't working or thinking we are going to become more profitable by underpricing our competition, many business owners stick to what they have gotten comfortable doing and hope it will start producing better results.
"He started off thinking we could work with them – we just needed them to understand Russia better.
