long escalator with man walking off bottom

Are you a de-escalator?

May 7, 2018

Imagine someone on your team sends a mass email to you and the rest of the team that seems to challenge you or your ideas.  What’s your response? Or, imagine that your four year old has disobeyed you for the 34th time since lunch. They’re pushing all the right buttons, and you feel like you […]

men taking in yellow chair

The Break Room Doesn’t Lie

May 3, 2018

I was speaking recently with one of our plant managers when they shared a tremendous insight: “The break room does not lie.” What they meant by this statement is that in order to understand what is really happening in their plant, they needed to go to the break room and listen to their team. To […]

one dollar bill

“Your bid is not competitive?”

April 30, 2018

If you’re in the business world, you’ve been turned down by a customer claiming that your bid just isn’t “competitive.”  What exactly does that mean? Does it mean: They can buy it cheaper elsewhere? Everyone else is cheaper? That our competitor has better quality than us? That they deliver faster than us? That they’re more […]

overhead view of business meeting

3 Changes I Recently Made to Meetings

April 26, 2018

Most people dread going to meetings. I think this is the case because there is too much wasted time in meetings. So, I will get to the point. Here are three changes I recently implemented to meetings: 1.  I am cutting the length of every meeting I lead in half.  Here are the reasons why […]

organizational accountability screen capture

Organizational Accountability

April 23, 2018
man looking over cliff

Confession: The Need to Counterbalance

April 19, 2018

The amount of information these days is absolutely staggering. At the risk of completely exposing myself, here are inputs – information of various kinds – that I typically interact with daily. Each day starts with the Bible around 515 a.m. A business or leadership podcast while I am getting ready. LeaderBox book during breakfast (I am […]

coffee beans and coffee cup

80,000 Variations

April 16, 2018

An article a few years back claimed that Starbucks offers more than 80,000 drink combinations. At Starbucks, you can apparently have your cake, and eat it, too. But, you can’t negotiate the price of any of those 80,000 variations. In fact, the price for your grande, half calf, no whip, 2% peppermint mocha is not […]

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Always Make Your Future Bigger Than Your Past

April 12, 2018
what's truly essential screen capture

What’s truly essential?

April 9, 2018
you got this written in chalk on blacktop

Who Needs Encouragement?

April 5, 2018

If you’ve been following my blog for any length of time, you probably get tired of me whining about our collective need for encouragement. The fact remains that we all have an inner-critic that does not tire easily, especially when what we are attempting is not easy. Avid reader of this blog, and friend, Mark, […]