Matt Heemstra 
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive.” – Howard Thurman Whenever I’m in a large metropolitan area, I always marvel at the number of businesses there are. Manufacturers, retail, restaurants, you name … Read more
“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need … Read more
“There is no innovation and creativity without failure. Period.” – Brene Brown Virtually everyone would agree that being a leader is huge challenge. There are people to manage both internally and externally, there are customer issues, technology changes, and on and on. A list of things leaders deal with would take up an entire page. … Read more
“Efficiency is doing things right; effectiveness is doing the right things.” – Peter Drucker Most leaders – most people – feel constantly pressed for time. There are so many things we want to do, things we feel like we need to do, and we never feel like we have time to do them all. It’s … Read more
“If you want what normal people have, then do what normal people do. If you want something different then you have to be a little different.” – Mark Uhlenberg For all the talk you hear from people about striving for greatness, or chasing excellence, or achieving full potential, the reality is a little less elevating. … Read more
“What seems to us as bitter trials are often blessings in disguise.” – Oscar Wilde We live in a chaotic world. When you turn on the TV, or pull up your favorite news or current events-related website, or look on social media, you see one crazy thing after another. There seems to be no end … Read more
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself – and you are the easiest person to fool.” – Richard Feynman There are a lot of balancing acts that leaders are expected to perform. Leaders need to consider what’s best for the business without losing sight of what’s best for customers or employees. Leaders … Read more
“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.” – Steve Jobs We spend a lot of time in this space talking about leading organizations. Today, I’m thinking more about us as leaders, and what it means to lead ourselves. I know a lot of leaders who work really hard and put … Read more
“The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.” – Alvin Toffler There are a lot of leaders who like to talk about how hard they work, how many hours they’re putting in, all the sacrifices they make, etc. For those … Read more
“Intuition will tell the thinking mind where to look next.” – Jonas Salk Sometimes as leaders we struggle to figure out what’s next. We know things need to change, whether it’s how we lead, what we expect from our people, what we do for our clients or customers, or any number of other things. There … Read more
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