Insights through words aimed at helping you make an impact.
I had a discussion the other day about the line between courage and recklessness. This conversation led me to conclude that it might be helpful to share brief generalizations on what it looks like to act courageously versus settle for mediocrity versus acting recklessly.
Read MoreEffective communicators will rule the future. The mediums will change but the basic blocking and tackling (or scale for my musical friends) will stand the test of time. The best communicators share content in ways that bring others into the story. They are able to influence others into action by making sure the value is felt. They are willing to learn about and then be empathetic to the experience that others filter the message being shared through.
Read MoreThe books on culture, leadership, and success I read last year provided consistent advice for teams, leaders, and companies that want to be great. Get exceptionally good at knowing what the most important things are, talk about them constantly, execute against them flawlessly and measure success. The advice is basically: Be more intentional.
Read MoreAs I was reflecting on my reading list from 2021 , two things stood out. First, it’s a much shorter list this year. I only read 27 books. This was mainly because my family bought a farm, which required me to divert my time resources for three months away from reading and towards packing, moving, unpacking, and then restoring our full of potential fixer upper.
Read MoreIt is not uncommon for our family to receive solicitations from organizations asking for help in doing good. Donate here, give to this cause, make a difference in these lives. Not going to lie; most of these get recycled with no action taken. However, on one occasion, it was our daughter Jenna who intercepted the catalog from a group called World Vision.
Read MoreMy family completed our holiday tradition this past weekend. We gathered as a group and gave back by handing out Thanksgiving Meal kits at a local charity. We then broke bread as a family celebrating relationships and then headed to the grocery store to check the items off a secret Santa list.
Read MoreChange and personal growth are the keys to life. There is no stagnation you are either growing or atrophying. Don’t overcomplicate what it takes to grow. Start with a simple process.
Read MoreIn part one, I focused mostly on the personal impacts of moving, so in part two, I will talk about what I learned about getting work done. I learned a lot about executing and bringing a large project to life. In no particular order, here are five things that you can apply in life or on the job.
Read MoreHaving experienced the reality of barely surviving (more truth than hyperbole in that statement) the stress, discomfort, lack of control, and fatigue of moving. I on fully on board with the research that concludes the physical, mental and emotional demands of moving lead it to being one of the most stressful events in your life.
Read MoreIf you are actively engaged in living, you will encounter problems. However, especially in the workplace, some people choose to live life as if one of the definitions of success is never letting anyone know you have encountered a problem. Success looks like being so buttoned up and so over-prepared that things appear always to be going as planned. There is a better way.
Read MoreWe all receive feedback continuously. Everything from projects we are working on to teams we are a part of to the apps we use involves feedback loops.
Since feedback loops are everywhere, it is not whether or not they exist that dictates the effectiveness of the feedback, but how we choose to engage in the loop and react to the feedback that dictates if we move closer to or further from achieving a new future state with better outcomes. Meaning YOU own if the feedback becomes a tool or a weapon.
Read MoreSo, although the process exists for a reason, and there may be parts of the process that are necessary because they enable you to follow the rules/laws, or they keep you/others safe or enable success today. The goal of your job is ALWAYS BIGGER than the process. I guarantee it. How can I do that? Because if the BIGGER thing didn’t exist, there would be no need for the process. The process exists to achieve the thing, not the other way around.
Read MoreI know I have a problem because the microwave says :01
Great people, teams, and businesses are great because of the things they achieve. They achieve greatness by always growing, always moving forward, and always pushing past mediocrity. Replacing comfort and contentment with healthy amounts of discomfort and stress. This requires team members to speak boldly, candidly but always with positive intentions.
Read MoreIn life you will enter into dark places, all people do. Living life trying to avoid dark times is not helpful. Figuring out how to leave the dark place as quickly as possible having learned the intended lesson is a much healthier approach. Here are thoughts on how to achieve that.
Read MoreChange is hard but a requirement for long term sustainable success. It goes against human nature and business nature so you must be willing to be persistent in a respectful way as you challenge the status quo knowing what got you to here won’t get you to there.
Read MoreAccording to a book I was recently reading, Your Oxygen Mask First, most leaders who are chasing after their version of greatness suffer from a pretty severe tendency to neglect themselves. This apparently has adverse effects on a leader’s ability to achieve the greatness they are chasing. Put me on that list. I am probably an all-star in that endeavor, maybe even a future hall of famer.
Read MoreIts important to freely share information because The concepts that information is still held firmly under lock and key and that the flow of information is something to be closely controlled are radically and irresponsibly flawed ideas. In a world full of information that is free and easy to come by, context has replaced content as the key driver of value in information. We must stop living like ostriches with our heads in the sand, shocked that people know “secrets” and instead share information and context freely. It is for the greater good to do so. Allow others the professional courtesy of being treated like an adult who can be trusted and allow others to trust you.
Read MoreLet me share a brief personal story with a broadly applicable life lesson. Our youngest daughter is adopted. She joined her forever family at the age of 6.
Read MoreThe world has evolved into a real-world Wanka Factory (think of Willie Wonka and his chocolate factory with the room made of edible goodies where Gene Wilder encouraged us to live in a world of pure imagination).
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