Alex Hoffer

robert hoffer

Walking Your Factory Floor: A Letter to My Grandfather

Special Post

Dear Grandpa,

Every year, I have a moment while walking through the company when the significance of our work hits me anew. Last week, Dennis retired after 46 years at the company. He kept his emotions in check until it was time to punch out for the last time. He simply could not do it. 

So, Nadia did it for him. 

And then they both wept. 

I have pondered that moment all week. It reminds me that our work matters in ways that I often forget. 

Though this year brought its usual share of challenges, stresses, and frustrations, watching Dennis struggle to punch out that final time put everything in perspective. His emotion showed me what Gretchen, Charlotte, and I are really stewarding here – not just a company, but a place that becomes woven into people’s lives, a place worth caring about this deeply. So, thank you for the business you founded. We mold much more than plastic parts here. 

We mold lifelong relationships.  

A Personal Check-In 

In many ways, I have been on the verge of a mid-life crisis this year. Contemporary Western culture prioritizes its identity in self. While there are some good aspects to it, it has often tempted me to become too self-centered. The pursuit of a refined “me” has led me to feel like:

  • A mediocre CEO — despite taking advantage of executive coaching and driving myself to exhaustion with books and podcasts.
  • A stressed-out husband to Sarah and father to my three kids. 
  • A body showing its age, despite my stubborn belief that discipline and hard work would somehow make me the exception to time’s rules

In sum, chasing my identity in “self” has continued to produce a mostly stressed out, often joyless, and definitely aging man who does not do a good job of spreading the joy of Jesus to others. 

What I am changing 

I came to the above conclusion over Christmas break this year. It led me to confess that I was looking horizontally for my identity. I have been running myself ragged, trying to prove to the world I am worthy. 

Despite what I said to others, my life wasn’t showing that I trusted Jesus about my identity. In short, I could speak Christian, but I was not acting like one. 

Looking vertically, here is what I learned: 

I am sufficient as a CEO as long as I am centered on God. I will read books and listen to podcasts when I want to. But I rest in God’s sovereignty and find my worth in Him. 

Full stop.

The most important relationships I have on this planet are with Sarah and then the kids. These come after God but before everything else. They deserve a me that is fully available to them, not centered on self. 

My body is aging. As my Marine buddy reminds me, the aches and pains indicate a life lived well to this point. I must accept this — and all the other things I cannot change through discipline and hard work. And the hope is in what will only come when I am given a resurrection body, one with no aches, pains, or imperfections!

The Real Marker of Success 

When I find my identity vertically, I am then freed from the need to find validation in horizontal markers. As a Co-CEO, this does not mean I am off the hook for business results. The markers of a business are extremely important. I am proud that our sales and profits grew last year. But, my life and worth are not better because of this. And this reality allows me to work hard and then rest.

It is not up to me. 

My identity is tied to the vertical, so I am on solid ground, no matter the weather. On solid ground, I can be there for people and do so from a place of joy. Sarah counsels me often that this is my most important work.

As always, she is right.

Gosh, I wish you had gotten to know her Grandpa. 

To come full circle, I want to close by telling you about three significant retirements this year at your company. These people all worked with you:

Lizzie retired after 54 years  

Mary retired after 48 years  

Dennis retired after 46 years 

All three said basically the same thing: This was their family away from their family, so all three reminded us never to lose sight of the power of relationships. 

I imagine that if you had been here, you would have told us the same thing. 

In fact, I can hear that whisper as I walk through the production floor. 

That, and to get more presses running. 

Roger that. 

I miss and love you. 

Alex

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Slowed-Down Leadership: My Four Guiding Themes for 2025

Personal Growth

This past December, I spent some time creating a personal development plan. In it, I clarified my leadership themes for the upcoming year and identified the books and podcasts I plan to explore. 

Today, I’ll share those themes with you. I hope reading my themes will encourage you to develop your own, clarify your intentions, and focus on the right things.

Here are my leadership themes for 2025: 

I am practicing a slowed-down spirituality.

Reflecting on how I led others in 2024, I realized I was often in a hurry. And I realized this wasn’t a good way to share Jesus’s love in my leadership. After all, Jesus was never in a hurry. No Scripture states that Jesus “ran” to the next obligation. Rather, Jesus walked, prayed, and spent time in solitude. 

Regardless of what you believe about Jesus, his life exemplifies how one stays present in the moment and how one should interact with people lovingly. This, of course, oversimplifies the Gospels, but you get the point. 

I am a better person when I practice a slowed-down spirituality. This starts with my morning Bible reading, extends to a mid-day five minutes of stopping and being in solitude, and finishes with a devotional reading, gratitude journal, and an evening prayer with Sarah. 

Certainly, there’s plenty of chaos between work, kid’s activities, and all the other things that come with being a husband, father, friend, and co-CEO. But sticking to this discipline has helped me slow down and remember the most important reality of life: I am not God. Therefore, I must look vertically to Him and find my energy, wisdom, and everything else I need from Him. 

I am leading with optimism and a growth mindset. 

Reflecting on the final month of 2024, I realized I was starting to have a fixed mindset toward others—a belief that people cannot change. A growth mindset, on the other hand, recognizes that people can grow and change. As a leader, it is my job to grow people. Therefore, I must embrace this role and make it my top priority. 

In other words, December’s frustrating results were ultimately the result of my leadership. Not only do I have to grow as a leader, but I also have to help others on that journey. 

To do this and lead with optimism, I am primarily focusing my personal growth studies on optimistic leaders. I will also read about many people I admire: the books by Teddy Roosevelt and Abraham Lincoln are already in the queue. I am also paying attention to the Founders podcast I mentioned in December to learn from entrepreneurs. 

I am doing the best that I can do. 

Last May, our executive team underwent a multi-session Enneagram training, during which I learned I was an Enneagram Type 1. As such, I am extremely hard on myself. I have an “inner-self critic” that loudly voices all my shortcomings in my head. 

Sarah and I were watching an old season of The Amazing Race with our kids last fall when I saw the phrase “I am doing the best that I can do” in action. (Retroactive spoiler alert!) In Season 33, Penn and Kim Holderness win the race. At some point along the way, Kim talks about her anxiety and how when it strikes, she reminds herself that she is “doing the best she can do.”  Her vulnerability was both inspiring and instructive. 

Since then, I have turned this phrase into a question: Am I doing the best that I can do? Often, the answer is yes. When it is, I tell that inner critic to be quiet. When the answer is no, I regroup and ensure I start doing the best I can. After all, this is all any of us can do. 

Time is limited; I am “living like I am dying.” 

In late 2024, I found myself overwhelmed by memories of Christmas celebrations with my grandparents, all four of whom have passed away. As I watch my own children growing up so quickly, these memories have taken on new meaning. They’ve awakened in me a profound realization: our time is precious and limited.  Like the Tim McGraw song, I want to live like I am dying. To me, this equates to embracing each day fully, living with intention and presence, and knowing that every moment is a gift that shouldn’t be taken for granted.

While I want to be grateful for the past and optimistic about the future, I also want to soak up every moment of today. 

Clarifying my themes for 2025 has already been a massive help for me starting the year well. What does 2025 hold for you? I encourage you to take the time to clarify your themes! 

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Beyond Business: Using Success Statements to Create Unforgettable Family Moments

Leadership

I started the year off by writing about success statements from a business perspective. As a refresher, success statements help do three things:

Success statements help me get clear on what winning looks like. 

Success statements help align the leader to the follower and the follower to the leader.

Success statements help evaluate how things are going in real time. 

While all the above is a natural fit for business leadership, it also helps plan a family vacation. 

While I admit that may sound a little “out of left field,” consider this: What family vacation would not benefit from a clear understanding of what will make it a success and ensure everyone’s aligned toward that goal? 

I think all family vacations would. So I put this into practice during our family’s first European vacation with all five of us. 

How we made it happen

One night after dinner, I explained success statements to my family. I asked my three kids, “For you to consider our vacation a success, what are the one or two things you want to do in Europe?” 

I then went on Amazon and ordered notebooks for their trip. Each of them picked out the color they wanted — blue for the boys and pink for Sadie, naturally! They then took some time to consider what success would look like for them. Meanwhile, Sarah and I discussed what success would look like for the entire family. After all, we also needed success statements for our  “company”! 

Here’s what we came up with: 

Family success statement 

Our family will stay safe, have fun, and learn something new every day of our trip.

Individual success statements

Will: I will remain flexible about the lack of sleep due to the time change and embrace each day’s adventure with a positive attitude. 

Ben: I will go all-in on our day at Normandy, soaking up every second of that adventure.  

Sadie: I will get a picture of myself at the Eiffel Tower. 

Dad: I will be present by leaving work in the States, seeking adventure, and thanking God for each moment. Additionally, I set a rule for myself: I would limit checking my work email to before and after our sightseeing for the day. I would only do the necessary decluttering and save the rest for post-vacation. 

Sarah hadn’t clarified what her personal success statement was beforehand. But it was clear that she was present at every moment, tended to every need the kids had (two were sick the entire time we were there), and was all-in on our family success statement. 

Evaluating each vacation day

Not only did we all write the family success statement and personal success statement in our journals, but I also challenged everyone to keep a journal while on vacation. 

The prompts I gave the kids, and the ones that I used were the following: 

Three questions

  1. How well did you meet your success statements today? In other words, was it a green, yellow, or red day? 
  2. What was a highlight or win?
  3. What was something new you learned, found interesting, or something fun you ate? 

We spent a few minutes answering these questions each night after we got home from dinner. This led to even more conversations about what had happened during the day. 

For example, one day, Ben called me out for processing a work issue out loud on the train. Because of this, he said my success statement for the day needed to be yellow. I told him he was probably right, so yellow it was. I ended the trip with two yellow days, and everything else was green. This would not have happened unless I had clarified what success looked like to me and everyone else.

How did everyone else do? 

Bless his heart, Will kept a great attitude despite having walking pneumonia and not sleeping well. 

Ben walked Omaha Beach in an absolute downpour. I will never forget the image of my two boys collecting sand off the beach in the rain. Combine this with watching the flag ceremony at the American Cemetery, and it is safe to say that this day is one none of us will ever forget. 

Sadie got her picture underneath the Eiffel Tower. I even went down on the ground to take it, which I am not known for doing—being that “touristy” guy. But I knew what success looked like for her, and I was all in. The cloudless Paris sky on a perfect 70-degree October day was simply a foretaste of heaven. 

Our family stayed safe, had fun, and learned something every single day.  It was a great success. Does this mean we were the perfect family? Heck no. The kids watched way too many screens in the hotel rooms. I still thought about work a lot, and I sometimes had to nudge everyone to do their journals each night. But by clarifying what success looked like in advance and getting everyone on the same page, we leaned into the moments that mattered. And that is a success in itself! 

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From Accountability to Affirmation: Why Success Statements Matter in 1:1s

Leadership

One of my foundational beliefs as a leader is the value of the 1:1 weekly meeting. Leadership is doing things with and through other people. Therefore, we must spend time with the people we lead to cast vision, provide feedback, and hear input to achieve and maintain alignment. 

In my last post, I discussed how the power of success statements helps clarify what winning looks like and align the follower and leader in that pursuit. Today, I discuss the next step in the process: evaluation. 

Here are three benefits of using success statements in 1:1 meetings:

  1. Self-accountability 
  2. Uncovering obstacles 
  3. Affirmation 

Self-accountability 

Success statements force us to evaluate our performance. I do this using an Excel file that lists each success statement and allows me to select a color-coded drop box to mark each statement with red, yellow, or green. Each color corresponds to how well I met each success statement. 

Red = Not true 

Yellow = Inconsistently true 

Green = True 

For example, consider the personal success statement I developed for our family’s European vacation last October: I will be present by leaving work in the States, seeking adventure, and thanking God for each moment. 

I used this statement to evaluate each day, giving it a green, yellow, or red rating. While most days were green, there were two days that I rated yellow — and the exercise helped me get back on track the following day. 

On the work front, I’ve found that success statements help the people I lead see their strengths and weaknesses. As I often remind them, a red rating doesn’t equate to failure, but it is a wake-up call that requires us to take action to correct the course. Weekly 1:1 meetings are helpful because they are — you guessed it — weekly. They allow us time to evaluate and make changes, unlike yearly performance meetings, which, in my opinion, are an abdication of leadership. 

Uncovering obstacles 

Success statements also help uncover obstacles to success. For example, one of my team members leads our customer service team. She identified two team members she wanted to invest more time in, building them up and helping enhance their performance. For two months last summer, however, she consistently ranked those success statements as yellow. 

By rating them yellow, I knew to ask the obvious follow-up question: “What is getting in the way?” And we got to the bottom of the issue; she was filling in for one person’s vacation, doing quarterly pricing updates, and handling several other essential tasks. We discussed how she could prioritize and identified smaller tasks she could delegate. We also jointly recognized that this situation was temporary and largely related to the seasonality of jobs and summer vacations!

This may seem like a small example, and it is—but there’s a crucial reason I brought it up. As a leader, I have discovered that small things can frustrate those I lead. For instance, if I were to push harder on this team member—someone who works extremely hard during a season when they have more on their plate due to vacations—they likely wouldn’t receive it well. It could cause them to become dissatisfied, frustrated, or potentially consider leaving the organization. 

Success statements allowed us to have a productive conservation about her workload. They let us get aligned to where she was during that particular season and allowed me to clarify what was important given the limits of her time.

Affirmation 

This leads us to the final element of this blog post: affirmation. Expanding on the example above, seeing those green success statements let me affirm where our team leader was achieving success. I could articulate what I appreciated and share the good things I saw. This helped encourage the team member at a busy time of year when she likely needed a boost.

I’ve discovered the same to be true with our VP of Operations and Director of Engineering, two people who have been in their roles for a little longer. While each tends to give one the impression that they are “tough” and don’t need affirmation, they’re still human beings — and success statements give me a good reason to praise their hard work. Unsurprisingly, after these conversations, there’s an observable shift in their body language. They suddenly sit a little bit taller. 

Giving affirmation does not come naturally to me, which is one of the reasons I love success statements so much: They provide me with specific actions to affirm! For example, I returned to our customer service leader the following month and let her know that I could see the work she was doing building into her team and had heard positive feedback from the sales team about their performance. Giving this specific level of feedback was extremely valuable to us both. 

Needless to say, I’ve found success statements to be extremely valuable. Now it’s your turn; I challenge you to spend some time today creating success statements for your role and co-creating them with those you lead. You won’t regret it!

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Clear Goals, Better Results: The Magic of Success Statements

Leadership

In 2023, I began working with a new executive coach at Path for Growth, and the most powerful tool my coach Kyle has taught me about is the success statement. Success statements are clear, measurable descriptions of what it looks like to achieve a goal. They are written in plain language and so clear that even a fifth grader would understand what counts as a win. 

3 Reasons Success Statements Have Been Powerful

Success statements help me get clear on what winning looks like. 

Writing success statements, whether for myself or my team members, helps clarify exactly what we need to achieve to be successful. For example, in writing success statements for our VP of Operations, there were two important quality metrics I wanted us to focus on: external quality (or external ppm) and internal quality (internal ppm). While our external quality meets standards, our internal defect rate was too high – suggesting we rely too heavily on inspection to catch problems. My goal is to shift our mindset from catching defects to preventing them entirely, embracing a “zero-defect” standard.

Instead of writing one general success statement about quality, I wrote two different ones. For our operations to succeed, our internal and external quality must be world-class. That is the expectation, and it was clear to our VP of Operations and me. 

Success statements help align the leader to the follower and the follower to the leader. 

Continuing with our example from above, I presented the success statements to our VP of Operations. This was not a mandate but a discussion—he could push back or suggest an alternative measurement. That doesn’t mean I’ll never mandate a success statement—some things like “zero recordable accidents” are non-negotiable—but I like to be open to making changes to these success statements to help gain buy-in. The goal of success statements is for everyone to be on the same page when it comes to defining success — and that’s why I am open to some debate about what winning looks like. 

Success statements also have to be achievable. “Zero recordable accidents,” for example, is an achievable metric, but “never having one single plastic part on the floor” isn’t achievable today — though it is my vision for tomorrow! But things like measuring internal ppm and driving a zero-defect mindset will help us on the journey to that vision. And I am happy to report that our VP of Ops and I are aligned on our goal. How do I know? Because we did this exercise together! 

Success statements help evaluate how things are going in real time. 

Since this topic deserves a deeper exploration, I’ll dedicate my next blog post to it entirely. Stay tuned! In the meantime, I want to challenge you with these questions:

What does success look like for your role? 

Do you have clarity, and are you aligned with your leader? 

Conversely, are you clear and aligned with those you lead? 

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A Year in Learning: The Resources That Shaped My 2024

Personal Growth

Instead of writing one last blog post to wrap up the year, I am doing something different. In an attempt to provide value to you, the reader, I am going to share some of the most valuable resources I have utilized this past year:

Three Business/Leadership Books Worth Reading  

I read (or listen to) a lot of books throughout the year. While there are several honorable mentions, the three books listed below are so far ahead of the rest that they deserve special mention. You would do well by focusing on these three books in 2025.

  1. Clear Thinking by Shane Parrish: “Few things will change your trajectory in life or business as much as learning to think clearly. Yet few of us recognize opportunities to think in the first place.”  
  1. Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidera: “The must-read New York Times bestseller that’s redefining hospitality and inspiring readers in every industry. “  
  1. From Strength to Strength by Arthur C. Brooks: “The roadmap for finding purpose, meaning, and success as we age, from a bestselling author, Harvard professor, and the Atlantic’s happiness columnist.”

Two Podcasts Worth Listening To 

I have an on-again, off-again relationship with podcasts. It’s sort of like George Costanza’s “It’s not you, it’s me” because I am commitment-challenged with podcasts. With that caveat, here are my latest crushes:

  • The Rest is History: Hosts Tom Holland and Dominic Sandbrook are engaging and fun and allow for differences in opinion. I started with a series on how the Nazis came to power, then did one on the Kennedy assassination, and another on 1968 America. All were phenomenal. 
  • Founders: Shout out to Dr. Brian Hollett for this recommendation. The Founders is an extremely efficient and engaging way to learn from history’s greatest entrepreneurs. I have only listened to a couple so far, but this will be a staple in my podcast rotation. 

One Historical Subject Worth Studying 

I’ve always been interested in Napoleon, but my fascination with him deepened this year after two events: discovering my ancestral connection to Andreas Hofer (whom Napoleon executed, according to my great-grandfather’s 1920s writings) and an inspiring October trip to Paris. 

While there are countless excellent resources on Napoleon, including many podcasts and books (I’m currently 600 pages into Andrew Roberts’ biography), the most compelling reason to study Napoleon is his fundamental role in shaping modern Europe. Without understanding Napoleon’s impact, it’s impossible to grasp how today’s European institutions, legal systems, and national boundaries came to be. 

And a Few Final Lessons to Cap the Year

I began this post by jotting down several lessons I’ve learned but have since trimmed my list to these final three: 

  1. Prioritize what matters. I wrote about this a lot in the fall, most notably in my 10/14 post about rediscovering my priorities.   
  2. Embrace rest, solitude, and Sabbath. Pastor Pete Scazzero often teaches on The Emotionally Healthy Leader Podcast that “you cannot give what you do not possess.” It is only out of our abundance that we can give to others. Therefore, rest/solitude/sabbath (all three!) are vital to a healthy leader. I am at my best when embracing my limits so that I can rest, be in solitude, and observe the Sabbath.  
  3. Don’t presume you have extended or limited time left.  Pastor John Piper made this point in episode 2096 of the Ask Pastor John podcast, and it really stood out to me. I presume I have decades left because the odds are on my side — for now! But there are no guarantees. Therefore, I need to soak up every second I have left. (And as Piper points out, the same can be said for someone in their 80s. They presume they don’t have decades left, but how do they know?). Simply put, human beings do not have control over their days. 

Come back in January, when I’ll share the leadership tool that had the most significant impact on my work during 2024. Until then, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy New Year. 

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The Power of “We”: 3 Tips for a Solid Marriage

Special Post

Marriage is a journey of continuous learning and growth. And recently, a conversation with my accountability partner sparked insights so valuable, I knew they had to be shared. Our discussion challenged conventional wisdom and reinforced timeless truths about what makes a marriage not just survive, but truly thrive.

Read on to learn three tips for nurturing a successful marriage.

Be 100% to 100%

One often repeated idea about marriage is that each person has to work to a 50/50 split. The intent behind this usually revolves around compromise. The thinking goes that if each person gives in a little, the couple can avoid unnecessary conflict. 

The problem with this approach is that if I want to go to New York and Sarah wants to go to Phoenix, ostensibly, the compromise would be going to some city in the middle of the country. But neither of us would be happy with that compromise! Instead, I would be better off traveling to Phoenix and being 100% in on Sarah’s choice. Or conversely, she would be better off going to New York. 

An all-in marriage — where both partners are 100% — is the way to go on every issue, not just a hypothetical travel conundrum.

One team  

It is easy to be 100% all-in when you view your marriage as “one team.” To be clear, I don’t think I have ever used the term “team” to describe Sarah and me. But that is how we act. We are one unit that is in lockstep and fully aligned. 

If a big decision needs to be made, what matters is not what I want (or what she wants) but what we want.

If one of our wonderfully behaved kids tested our boundaries (okay, they do all the time because they are kids!), it is now not how I react but how we react. We agree on the next steps. 

Marriage is a commitment before it is anything else. It is always WE before ME.  

Never use the word divorce — even in jest 

My accountability partner talked about how seriously he has taken this “rule” with his wife. This reminded me of some off-hand joking comments I made early in our marriage (don’t judge) about divorce. Sarah gave me one of those looks that stopped me in my tracks. Some jokes are off the table. 

There’s a good chance someone reading this blog has been through a divorce — and I want you to know that I share this principle with absolutely no judgment. I do not think I am better than you, nor do I think I have all the answers, nor do I believe my marriage is divorce-proof. I think my marriage, and any marriage for that matter, can dissolve when two human beings are involved. For this reason, I believe this principle is a good one. 

What this principle conveys is that there should be a stickiness to marriage. The vows say it best: through sickness and health. I could add my own junk here: through my annoying sports rooting meltdowns, my aging body that no longer looks like it did when I was 24, my constant self-induced pressure to be better at every aspect of life, my insecurity around my leadership, and how I carry all that junk home and often am irritable, tired, and discouraged. 

You can pray for Sarah, and given what I listed, there could easily be times when she could joke about divorce.  “Keep this up, buddy, and you’ll  ….” 

But she never goes within a million miles of that. 

Why? 

We are 100% to 100% 

We are one team — it is about WE. 

We are all in. 

And what about Sarah’s imperfections? No way. I’m no idiot! (See, now that’s the kind of marriage humor I embrace!) 

My prayer is that these tips help those of you who are married. 

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Learning from Ben: A Birthday Letter to My Son

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Series Introduction 

It has become my annual tradition to write birthday letters to my kids on this blog. I was recently traveling on a business trip, and my mind turned to this year’s letters. 

My kids have so many attributes that I admire and treasure. This reminded me of Paul’s writing in Galatians about the “Fruits of the Spirit” (Galatians 5:22-23). As Paul teaches, these become evident in people when they abide in the Spirit of God. Or, in modern words, when we connect our charger to God, He powers us to display the attributes Paul refers to. 

I am totally biased and bragging, but God has produced these fruits in my kids. Therefore, in this year’s letters, I will identify three fruits that come to mind for each child. Before beginning, here is the scripture to keep in mind while reading these letters: 

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance (patience), kindness, goodness, faithfulness, [23] gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. [24] Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. [25] Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. [26] Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. — Galatians 5:22-26 NIV

Dear Ben, 

One of the moments I often recall happened when one of my friends came over to watch Game 3 of the World Series. He observed how you kept both your mom and me on our toes. You were just shy of your third birthday at the time, and quite frankly, you were determined to teach us to be more flexible in our plans for the night. My friend looked at me and said, “God knew you needed Ben in your life.”

Amen. 

Like your siblings, there is so much to celebrate in you. What follows are three fruits of the spirit that God has gifted you in abundance: 

Joy

The first thing that I think about when I think about you is joy. You find joy in so much of life: You are the first person on your baseball team to take the field — and by that I mean you run out of the dugout with excitement, delight, and in a full sprint. You are the first person to cheer for your teammates, and you do so with enthusiasm. And at the mention of ice cream, your face lights up like it is both your birthday and Christmas morning. 

One of my favorite moments this past year was the morning I told you that Will’s baseball coach needed a replacement player and wanted you to “play up” with his team. Your reaction was like I was telling you that Dairy Queen was giving you free ice cream for a year! You were fist-pumping, running around the family room, and yelling, “Let’s GO!” I remember thinking to myself that I needed to file this moment away. 

I later realized how much I needed to learn from this moment. I am the kind of person who thinks past the excitement and to the results, so often, my mind goes to all that might go wrong. It is not a healthy way to go through life, and you reminded me that morning that I need to take the opportunities when they come. I was proud of how you approached the game that night, and it was fun watching you excel on the field.  

Goodness 

Another defining characteristic about you is your goodness. Where this comes across most is in your inquisitiveness towards others. For example, I know that when you’re sitting with your uncle at a Blackhawks game, you will ask him 900  different questions. This is another thing I am learning from you as I often struggle formulating questions. You, on the other hand, fire away. Please never lose this. It is such a gift to nurture and further develop. 

As the middle child, you often get pulled in two directions at the same time. This is another area where your goodness shines through. You can play Legos with Sadie and even entertain her by being funny at her level, and then go outside and play a game of football or golf with Will. I appreciate this, and so does your mother. 

Faithfulness

When I think of Biblical faithfulness I think about how the spirit of God makes one trustworthy and reliable. Ultimately, this happens when we trust God and do what his word says. We trust it in the sense that we follow it — to the best of our ability and despite our imperfections — and, therefore, are faithful people. 

I see elements of this in you. When you read God’s word, it is clear you are reading it to follow it. These seeds show up in how you treat your siblings and friends by being someone they can rely on. One of the things I appreciate is how you speak of your friends. I cannot recall criticism; I can only recall you talking about them positively. Carry this into adulthood, and others will describe you as faithful, trustworthy, and a genuine friend. 

A Final Word… 

You have so much potential. I naturally think that about both of your siblings as well and take zero credit for any of it. Rather, I think God has gifted you each uniquely and it is my job, along with your mother, to steward what he has given us. 

With this, I have two specific prayers for you. 

First, I pray that you and your siblings stay close. I pray that you learn from each other as well — I pray that you learn some of Will’s discipline to do hard things, and I pray that Will learns some of your inquisitiveness. I pray that both of you learn how to love like Sadie loves, and that Sadie learns from you and Will that men have self-control and are faithful. Finally, I pray that the joy you possess in abundance characterizes the relationship you all have for the decades to come! 

Secondly, I pray that you root yourself in Jesus. I am not saying this because it is the “Christian thing to say.” I am saying this because I had (and on the wrong day, still have) an appetite for worldly things. That might have been ice cream at one point in my life, but as the years went on it ranged from girls to pleasure to success. None of it fulfilled. The more I sought my life, the more I lost it. The more I tried to find happiness in terms of how our culture defines it, the more I found myself hurt — or worse, hurting others. 

I came to Jesus because I was desperate for life. More than a crutch, however, he was a Savior. I found what he said to be true. I also did a lot of research on the tomb, what happened after his death, and how his earliest followers mostly found similar deaths. I could not wrap my head around someone dying for something they knew to be false. 

So, I made my decision. 

I pray that you, and your siblings, make yours. 

Regardless of what you choose, and regardless of what you do, I love you. 

There are no conditions. 

Love, 

Dad 

Learning from Ben: A Birthday Letter to My Son Read More »

Love Thy Neighbor

Best Of

RE-POST: I invested the last week traveling with my family. Therefore, I am re-posting this letter I wrote to my grandfather for this week’s post:

Dear Papa,

We live in interesting times these days. An opinion article in the WSJ recently pointed to one of the differences between our generations and yours: “In 1960, only 5% of Americans had a negative reaction to the idea of marrying somebody from a different political party; now it’s 38%.” 

This statistic encapsulates our current state as a society. Politics is becoming the primary characteristic of our lives, leading to division.

I usually write blog posts about leadership, and I firmly believe that leadership can be taught. This belief stems from a growth mindset rooted in critical thinking. Unfortunately, I often observe that the most fixed-minded among us are those with the strongest political beliefs: Republicans are evil, Democrats are evil, and both are evil. It is no longer “I disagree.” It is, “Those people are evil.” 

Apparently, it is even “you better not marry one of those people.”  

This makes me sad and concerned about where it will lead our country. 

Having said this, I do not long for a return to the 1950s. While some reading this post might long for the good old days, there has been progress that we should be proud of. Our team at Hoffer Plastics is more diverse than ever, which is a blessing. I am co-CEO with my two sisters, which would have been unheard of in the 1950s.  

But I also have to be honest: not everything we call progress is progress. Our culture is both the most individualistic and, by most studies, the most unhappy, perhaps ever. So, we are not only becoming more politically divided, but we are also becoming more sad in the process. 

I am sharing this because you and your generation prioritized three things that are instructive to me in this cultural moment that we are living in: 

Sacrificial Service

We call your generation the greatest generation because of sacrificial service. Later this year, I will once again stand at Omaha Beach and walk every last gravestone at the American cemetery in Normandy. This is the ultimate example of sacrificial service. These soldiers died together regardless of political identity. 

I also know that you embodied this at a personal level. After V-J day, you came home and worked diligently for your family. You set aside your ambition in music to work at your father-in-law’s pharmacy. This was a personal sacrifice. Your sacrificial service helped your family, which eventually led to me. For this, I am thankful. 

Community 

On one hand, our generation tends to prioritize family over everything else. We easily attend more events than your generation did. But at the same time, I fear that our view of family is smaller in scale than it was for your generation. What I mean is that your generation knew your neighbors well, whereas our generation waves as we drive by our neighbors heading to the next Little League game. We are too busy and scheduled to really know them. 

Your generation also tended to live near grandparents and prioritized family gatherings. Our generation tends to use technology like FaceTime and text messaging to stay in touch. On the one hand, I am thankful for how these technologies keep us connected, but I am also sad at how hard it is to make time for extended family. We tend to live lives that are too scheduled for family reunions. So, we are more connected and yet less known. 

This often leads to surface-level relationships. Our distant relatives’ political rants on social media drive us crazy, not to mention the sign of the opposing party that our neighbor puts up. We roll our eyes in disgust as we drive by, but we do not know much about them outside of this sign in their front yard or the rant on social media. So, it is easier to indulge in our anger and judgment because we have failed to prioritize our community and getting to know them.

Getting to know them would open us up to who they are. We might even discover that while they have different political beliefs than we do, they have an interesting perspective. Community regularly leads to growth: It is hard to hate your neighbors when you know them. Conversely, it is easier to be graceful when you know them.  

Unity

Finally, your generation prioritized unity over division. Decades after the fact, I can still remember dinners with some of your friends, many of whom were veterans of World War II. For the life of me, I cannot remember any of their politics. I cannot remember who was for/against Vietnam, who liked Reagan and who did not, nor can I remember political discussion being all that important.  

What I do remember is a lot of laughter, good food, and better memories. In fact, I still get goosebumps when I visit my friend John and go to Evansville Country Club. I can still hear the laughter and feel the memories come back to life. 

My fear is that our generation’s lasting memory won’t be that of unity but of tribe. We are busy bodies with little time for depth. Our surface-level interactions make us easily offended. No wonder some messages are deemed “unsafe.” 

An Invitation 

But what if we got to know each other? What if we spent time getting to know what makes our neighbor tick? Or, what would happen if we got to know why one of the parents at the Little League game wears a political T-shirt of a candidate we disagree with? 

My guess is that we would learn something in the process and become a little less divided.

As I close, let me assure you, and anyone looking in, that I am not a doomsayer. I believe all things can be restored.  

I am also of this generation, and I have to confess that I can fall into my own tribalism when I am at my worst. Simply put, part of my sadness is a recognition that I sometimes bite the apple and believe this “election is the most important election of our country.” 

But the news will say the same thing in two years, let alone another four. Their business model relies on us biting this apple. 

What I know is that we would be best off putting others above ourselves, getting to know our community, and prioritizing unity over division.

Like your generation, I still believe our best days are yet to come. But these better days are certainly not guaranteed, nor are they promised. They will only come if we wake up and become people worth following. 

The kind that loves their neighbor like themselves. 

I will always miss you. 

Love,

Alex

Love Thy Neighbor Read More »

Rediscovering My Priorities

Leadership

I spent the last few days at the Path for Growth Leadership Experience. The content was amazing, and the people attending were even better. My hope for every person reading this blog is that they find a conference or group where they can be encouraged and replenished as I was at this event. 

I was there to learn about leadership and gain insights about our business. 

My goodness, did I ever! In fact, there are too many lessons to list. I am sure I will sprinkle them into this blog in the coming months. 

The conference reinforced several vital ideas that are worth revisiting. In fact, I’m intentionally emphasizing three points I discussed in my previous post. This repetition serves two purposes: firstly, these concepts are crucial and deserve additional attention; secondly, one of the leadership lessons I learned at the conference was the importance of consistent reinforcement. Leaders must continually remind their teams of essential principles. So, consider this your reminder of these vital concepts:

Put God first

First, I need to put God first in my life. Let me cut to the chase: I have struggled with inner peace this summer. Nothing profoundly bad has happened, but there have been a bunch of little things that have been frustrating. Isn’t this how life works? 

The problem is that I’ve been centering my prayers on external circumstances — like some hip pain I have experienced playing golf or other physical symptoms. There is nothing wrong with praying about minor health ailments. In fact, if you are going through one right now, there is no better place to turn. 

But God is not a genie in the bottle. 

I have discovered that peace is found only after turning to the off-ramp of your circumstances and onto the country road of God’s sovereignty. It is born from the prayer “Let your will be done,” which isn’t to say that you should not ask for the things that are on your mind, but that you should ask from a place of trust that whatever happens is God’s will and therefore better. 

I need to seek him first, my needs second. 

I confess that I have lacked peace this summer because I drifted. If you have similarly drifted, maybe this is your reminder to seek God first. 

Home life with Sarah

I spent a lot of time this week reflecting on my home life with Sarah. As I said in my last post, I want to be a better husband. But what does “better” even mean? I am considering writing success statements for my marriage, starting with I want to adore my wife and make her feel adored. 

She would have to chime in and evaluate how I have done this year. What I can say is that I know there have been times when I allowed stress to eat at my joy. Often, she and the kids have gotten the leftovers of me, not my best. This is not how I define success.

This was another area of drift for me. With the peace of God, I am rejuvenated to be the best version of myself for Sarah.

My opportunity to make a lasting impact on the world

Third, the conference reminded me that my relationship with my kids is my best opportunity to make a lasting impact on the world. The people they become, the relationship we mutually create, and how they glorify God in their lives — this is primary. 

I need to enhance my attention, focus, and energy here. The years are flying by — as I knew they would — so I need to be intentional about how I am investing my time with them. Furthermore, I need to come home knowing that my purpose is only beginning that particular day. Therefore, I need to be at my best for the three kids God has blessed me with. 

This was another area of drifting for me. Again, with renewed focus on what matters most: God and Sarah, I can be recharged to be the best version of myself for my three kids. 

A time to reprioritize

I went to a leadership conference — and quite frankly it was a reprioritization conference for me. 

I love the work we do at Hoffer Plastics. I hope I convey that in these posts. 

But life is an all-inclusive adventure, which means that leadership is too, because leadership is about humans doing things with humans. 

Therefore, I implore you, and myself, to get these things right. 

As Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” Seeking this first has been the only way I have found the fullness of life. 

Rediscovering My Priorities Read More »