Some of My Grandfather’s Traits I want to Emulate
I have been thinking a lot about my grandfather as the clock clicks towards Father’s Day. Here is a collection of his of his traits that I want to emulate: I want to emulate my grandfather’s ability to not bring work home. I’d imagine that he did. No person in human history has not, to […]
The Best Ideas (Should But Often Don’t) Rise to the Top
Four years ago, our family moved into a newly constructed home that was built on an old farm property. In the early fall that year, we contracted someone to plant grass seed. As the spring approached, we waited in anticipation for our beautiful green grass to sprout, and some of it did. But more frequently, […]
EL Summit Diary
This post was written in real-time on site at the Entreleadership Summit (April 28 – May 1, 2019). The purpose of the post is to share how beneficial Summit was, share interesting nuggets of wisdom, and what my takeaways were from the experience. April 28, 2019 I have arrived in San Diego, checked-in, worked out, […]
#TheoThursday: The Reality of Self-Doubt
I mentioned in an earlier post that I recently heard criticism about how I am leading the company from someone at an event our team attended. In sharing this criticism with my accountability partner, he advised not to turn this blog into a response to the critic. I share this because the experience got me […]
3 Actions for “Following Down the Chain of Command”
One of my core beliefs is that leaders can learn from anyone. To that end, one of my most highly recommended leadership books is Extreme Ownership, specifically its chapter on “leading up and down the chain of command.” It has largely impacted my views and challenged me to handle a recent situation differently—and better—than I […]
#TheoThursday: Leading by Listening
The book of James was written by Jesus’ half-brother, James. The book of John (7:2-5) shares that James did not at first believe in Jesus’ divinity, but after witnessing the resurrection he did. He then became a leader in the messianic mother church in Jerusalem (Acts 12,15). This was one of, if not the very […]
The “Family” Core Value Makes Us Hoffer Plastics
One of the most clarifying moments of 2019 was when I received criticism for leading the business with “family values.” The critic believed that running the business with a value of “family” weakened our position, and that caring for people first will eventually be our demise. To this, they may be right. Most businesses eventually […]
The Leader (should) Look Up.
I often write about looking down. I’m a believer that the leader of an organization needs to understand what is happening on the production floor, inside the business, and understand all the inner-dynamics of the organization. But the leader also needs to look up. In March, I was at our kids’ school gala. It was […]
4 Meeting Enhancements
Much has been written on meetings in the past several years. Are they good? Bad? Productive? Or just frustrating interruptions to the flow of the day? My position is that meetings are becoming MORE essential than at any other time in corporate history. With digital technology at a premium, meetings serve to bring people together […]
#TheoThursday: Wishing things were like Yesterday
I don’t know about you, but I seem to have an innate ability to remember how good things used to be. My golf game was incredible in 1999, and so was my hair. While I am continuing to work hard on the former, I got rid of the latter before Bill Clinton left office! But […]