Matt Heemstra 
“Everything you can imagine is real.” – Pablo Picasso Many hours have been spent over the years trying to define what characteristics and behaviors define great leaders. Some things show up over and over again – work ethic, intelligence, integrity, etc. Those kinds of things will always matter. The world is always changing, though, and … Read more
“Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress.” – Mahatma Gandhi Today’s conversation is about something that’s both obvious and incredibly difficult. I’m not sure I have anything wise to add, and I know I don’t have any magic bullet to make it easy. Every human being is unique. Each of them has different … Read more
“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” – Lao Tzu I’ve had a number of conversations lately with leaders whose organizations are going through some chaos. There are lots of reasons for that chaos – changing industry, changing personnel, etc. – but each of them is dealing with … Read more
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” – Benjamin Mays Leaders are busy. In my entire career I can’t remember ever talking to a leader who was bored, or who said they just didn’t have much to do. Whether business is booming … Read more
“You don’t have to become something you’re not to be better than you were.” – Sidney Poitier Continuous improvement is something that every great leader strives for. They understand that performing at the same level in the same way today that they did ten years ago won’t work. They need to develop new skills, and … Read more
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou Last week in this space the conversation was about how the choices we make are typically not permanent. We can choose, and if things don’t go the way we like, or even if they do, we … Read more
“Life is a series of commas, not periods.” – Matthew McConaughey I recently was fortunate enough to work with a small business that has been experiencing incredible growth. As with all growth, it came with a number of challenges. Those challenges have caused the business to have to come to terms with a number of … Read more
“As you start to walk out on the way, the way appears.” – Rumi The last few weeks in this space have been about change and not accepting defeat and not settling for less than our best. Our brilliant readers (not being sarcastic) have pointed out that each of those things sounds great until you … Read more
“When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals, adjust the action steps.” – Confucius We’re a month into 2026, and all I keep thinking about is change. Not just the global change we see, or technological change, but change for us as leaders in our own small piece of … Read more
“Growth is painful. Change is painful. But, nothing is as painful as staying stuck where you do not belong.” – N.R. Narayana Murthy Last week in this space the idea was that doing things to stay safe don’t necessarily keep us safe. After watching some leaders this week, I’m still thinking about that idea. It … Read more
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