Matt Heemstra 
“Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined.” – Leo Rosten Safety is enticing. It’s been that way for ten thousand years. When our ancestors were living in caves, the entire goal was safety. If you had something to eat, and a cave, and a fire, you had it made. Why go outside … Read more
“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.” – Chinese proverb Being a leader is hard. We all have ideas about what we want to do and what we want the organizations we lead to look like. That’s the easy part. Making those ideas a reality … Read more
“We are at our most alert when we are in danger of failing. The greatest growth comes from being alert, scared, and striving.” – Dan Sullivan We’ve spent the past couple of weeks (here and here, in case you missed it) in this space having a conversation about passion and energy and finding your own … Read more
“There exists in the world a single path alone which no one can go except you: whither does it lead? Do not ask, go along it.” – Friedrich Nietzsche Last week in this space the conversation was around the idea that greatness can’t happen without energy, and energy can’t happen without passion. None of us … Read more
“We must believe that we are gifted for something, and that this thing, at whatever cost, must be attained.” – Marie Curie When I was growing up, most of the people I knew didn’t seem to like what they did for a living. Whenever people would talk about work, it would usually be some kind … Read more
“Pioneering is never done in front of cheerleaders urging on a roaring grandstand of popular approval.” – George Takei We like safety. We’re wired for it. Ever since our ancestors were living in caves, our number one goal is to be safe. If those ancestors were in a cave, with something to eat, and fire, … Read more
“I cannot say whether things will get better if we change; what I can say is they must change if they are to get better.” – Georg C. Lichtenberg Here’s a quote I’ve heard a lot lately: “I sure hope we have a better year next year.” That’s great. I think virtually everyone who’s ever … Read more
“Because things are the way they are, things will not stay the way they are.” – Bertolt Brecht Humans are interesting creatures. No matter how many times certain things repeat themselves, it seems like we’re always surprised. At this point you would think that after thousands of years we would have learned all the lessons … Read more
“Be yourself – not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” – Henry David Thoreau Last week in this space the conversation was about making your business what you want it to be, not what somebody else thinks it should be. That topic got me thinking about how the … Read more
“Don’t dance for the audience; dance for yourself.” – Bob Fosse Some leaders allow things to happen, and some leaders make things happen (see last week’s conversation). Obviously, as leaders, we want to be the ones making things happen. That seems pretty simple. What’s much less simple is this: what exactly do we want to … Read more
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