Dan J. Harkey

Master Educator | Business & Finance Consultant | Mentor

Personal Growth & Development

A practical guide to getting better results in your work, your time, and your life.

If you’ve collected enough advice to fill a bookshelf but still feel like your calendar owns you, you’re in the right place. My articles focus on the successful practices that move the needle: goal setting, time management, sales and relationship-building, negotiation, more intelligent time allocation, and reinventing yourself when the old version stops working. Less inspirational theater. More execution.

Most people don’t fail from lack of talent—they fail from drift. I write about how to build clarity, protect your time, strengthen relationships, negotiate better outcomes, and create a repeatable system for progress. Practical, direct, and occasionally funny—because growth is serious, but it doesn’t have to be grim.

Search Results

Bait-and-Switch Government Tactics:

Does the Government Use Bait-and-Switch Tactics When Delivering Facts to the American Public?

Bait-and-Switch in Dating

12 Common Tactics (and How to Handle Them)

America’s Rolling Micro-Homes: Living in Your Car

Who Lives in Vehicles—and Why (2024–2026)

“Bait-and-Switch” Meaning:

The Sales Tactic Behind Too Good To Be True Deals

Ah, Shucks!

Meaning, Origins, and Why This Folksy Phrase Still Charms

The Fox That Guarded the Hen House:

Meaning, Origins, and Modern Lessons

“Back Is Against the Wall:” Leadership in Question

A Leadership Playbook for High-Pressure Moments

Back Is Against the Wall: Nonprofit Organizations

A Nonprofit Leadership Playbook for High-Pressure Moments

“Back Is Against the Wall”: When Your-

A Business-Friendly Guide to the Idiom (and Why It Matters)

“Dashboard:”

History, Meaning, and How a Mudguard Became a Data Hub

In the Village of Cockroachville

It is Cockroachville where we first set the scene.

Joseph M. Juran: The Man Who Made Quality a CEO Job

He was also partially responsible for transforming Japan into a world-class manufacturing competitor.

Kaoru Ishikawa, Another Post-WWII Titan That Transformed the Japanese Manufacturing Enterprise to Become A World-Class Competitor.

W. Edwards Deming, Joseph M. Juran, and Kaoru Ishikawa were the three manufacturing titans who transformed Japan into the world-class manufacturing giant it is today.

W. Edward Deming and Joseph Juran: Post WWII Titans Who Transformed Japan.

Why Post-WWII America Rejected Deming and Juran (and Paid for It Later)

Competitors vs. Observers Sitting on the Sidelines in Business:

How Every Sector Balances Drive and Discipline

Competition: The American Cultural Obsession- and Why?

From Little League fields to corporate boardrooms, America often feels like one big contest. Why does the U.S. embrace competition so fiercely—sometimes to the point of obsession?

(A Case Study: Optimum Health Institute of San Diego [OHI], a Model of a Well-run Nonprofit Organization)

Visionaries | Innovators | Leaders| Nonprofit Entrepreneurs | Facilitator | Instructors | Managers | Employees | Volunteers

Knowledge vs. Wisdom:

Same Family, Different Superpowers

Grifter: What is a---

To understand a grifter, consider someone who uses deception to trick people out of money or property, relying on psychological tactics rather than force.

Optimum Health Institute: The Core Mission

The official mission statement of Optimum Health Institute (San Diego, California, and Austin, Texas) is: “We will serve as a change agent for humankind by improving the physical, mental, and spiritual well-being of everyone we touch.”