Yesterday, Alex (my older daughter) and I went to see The Hobbit: The Battle Of The Five Armies. It might seem like a strange activity for a 48 year old dad and his 19 year old daughter, but our "journey" with all things Middle Earth has been a truly memorable 10 year experience. It's also taught me much about how one can judge the quality of a day, year, or even a lifetime.

At the General Hugh Shelton Leadership Forum last week, an executive from Cisco Systems made an interesting comment. He said that we are in the season of expressing gratitude that begins with Veterans Day. He's right. I find myself having a stronger focus on being thankful during this time of year than any other. It also caused me to wonder how well we do in saying "Thanks" to others in the workplace. I was disappointed by what I found. Consider the following statistics from a study at Berkeley: