A few years ago a magnificent and transformative book was published, called “The Dragonfly Effect,” which is a model that taps concepts from social media, marketing strategy, and consumer psychology to help people achieve a single, concrete goal. They ingeniously named it after the only insect that can move swiftly in any direction – and even hover – when its four wings are moving in harmony.

The four “wings” of their model really struck me as actions we could all strive to take in 2012.

As we fully embrace the arrival of 2012, many of us are revisiting our 2011 business approaches and outcomes. As a result, we may be considering integrating changes, improvements or different disciplines and habits. A friend of mind shared a great link from Inc.com which highlights a few simple, yet salient, tactical tips on how to improve our sales results. We can all benefit from these smart suggestions, which are easy to implement – if we just make it a practice. I, for one, am going to discipline myself as we fully enter 2012:

As we enter 2012, many of us engage in individual (and collective) plans for continued growth and ongoing improvement. This ritual of writing New Year’s resolutions – from my experience – can quickly turn into depressing, heavy albatrosses hanging around our necks by the second week…or even the second day of the new year!!

Bull & Bear Essentials offers an excellent list of top ten tips for success in life. These tips were consolidated from a series of interviews which Barbara Walters conducted with four billionaires. Those who have heard me speak over the past few years and/or read my blogs will recognize some familiar themes. I have highlighted those which resonate with a few key points from my recently published book, “Is This Seat Taken?”

A recent article in Forbes draws a relevant correlation between the recent movie on baseball and business. In a nutshell: what truly matters to the endeavor of baseball, and how can we measure what truly matters in business?

The article is worth reading, as we begin our 2011 recap and 2012 business planning and strategic discussions. Two key takeaways for me:

Many of you are currently interviewing for a new position/promotion within your existing company or in some cases other positions outside your current employer. You are likely a seasoned veteran who has not had to formally interview in quite some time. So – how can you get noticed and stand out when so many of the individuals you are up against are equally qualified?

This is an art – not a science – as we all know. Yet, there are a few easy tips to keep in mind…

As many of you know, my first book, “Is This Seat Taken?” was released this week on 11/1/11. This story book is a collection of highly personal vignettes from my life as a global traveler over the years. My intention in remembering and sharing these stories is simply to highlight the wisdom of the many virtually invisible people who cross our paths each and every day. The only prerequisite to benefit from these individuals is for us to be awake in the present moment to hear and see what is right in front of us. These insights helped me on my own individual road to alignment.

But writing a book is not for the faint of heart.

Over the past few weeks, there have been front cover articles on two of the world’s most powerful women: Condoleezza Rice and Hillary Clinton. These leaders serve from opposite sides of the political arena, yet, I believe that they possess several of the same leadership qualities which have no doubt served them well. What can we learn from them?

Several of my clients are what I would call true entrepreneurs. The characteristics are the same, regardless of the playground on which they are playing. There is a fabulous book which actually does a phenomenal job of capturing common behaviors, or “rules” as the author frames them, which offer the ripest ground for entrepreneurial success. This book will leave you inspired by three extremely successful entrepreneurial stories of Harvard Business School graduates, and their deviation from the standard path toward success.

I believe we can ALL learn from these perspectives, regardless of what our chosen career path may be.

On a recent American Airlines flight, I was reading an article about PGA Tour caddy John Wood, and I thought a few of his tips were relevant for business, as well as our golf game.

Each of these tips on how to play like a pro golfer are easy to offer, but hard to do! Guess that is why there is only one Tiger Woods; yet there are still plenty of strong golfers in the world.