Matt Heemstra – Page 14

You Actually Have To Do It

“Few days are sunny. Few days are perfect. Instead, most days have something wrong with them, us, or others. Stop waiting for perfect days and start marching forward.” – Jim Collins Early in my career, I thought the most important part of my job was going to be helping leaders figure out what they and … Read more

Excellence? Maybe, Maybe Not

“Whatever you are, be a good one.” – Abraham Lincoln It’s pretty common to hear leaders talk about their desire for excellence. They’ll talk about delivering excellent products to their customers, or they’ll talk about their excellent customer service, or they’ll talk about their excellent people, and on and on. It would seem that the … Read more

No Regrets

“The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe Quite often, my conversation with leaders involve decisions they’ve just made, or situations they’re dealing with, or occasionally disasters that have just happened. There are always comments about things that could have or should have been … Read more

Your Beliefs = Your Outcomes

“Man is made by his belief. As he believes, so he is.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Here’s an obvious statement: there are a lot of things in our lives and careers that we have absolutely no control over. Weather, people, governments – the list goes on and on. And a lot of these uncontrollable … Read more

The Most Important Things

“It takes something more than intelligence to act intelligently.” – Fyodor Dostoevsky One of the things that leaders are most proud of is their work ethic. If you talk to most leaders long enough, at some point they’ll mention how hard they’re working. And for the most part, they are working hard. The question that … Read more

The Starting Point

“Strategic planning is worthless – unless there is first a strategic vision.” – John Naisbitt Last week in this space the conversation was around the idea that at some point everybody has to stop “hunkering down” and start thinking about the future. That means vision, strategy, all that good stuff. Based on some responses I … Read more

Vision is Not Optional

“Drive thy business or it will drive thee.” – Benjamin Franklin A few weeks ago, someone forwarded to me a survey that had been taken of business leaders around the globe. These leaders were asked a lot of different questions about their concerns, priorities, initiatives, etc. One of the interesting things that came out of … Read more

What Are You Looking At?

“Concentrate all your thoughts upon the work at hand. The sun’s rays do not burn until brought into a focus.” – Alexander Graham Bell Today’s topic isn’t new, but it never gets old either. Leaders everywhere feel like they don’t have enough time. They show up for work, work hard all day long, and at … Read more

Everything Has An Impact

“If you want to achieve excellence, you can get there today. As of this second, quit doing less-than-excellent work.” – Thomas Watson One thing I hear almost every organization talk about is their commitment to providing their customers with a quality product or service. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve … Read more

Do Things That Need Doing

“What must be done eventually should be done immediately.” – Jeremy Foley I’ve had a few meetings lately with leaders where someone in the room said something like “Well, at some point we should probably ________”. Then the conversation moves on and the really important thing “we” should do gets pushed aside and forgotten. I’m … Read more

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It's time to go "Beyond the Numbers".