leaders – CainEllsworth

Change On Purpose

“It’s not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent; it’s the one that’s most adaptable to change.” – Charles Darwin I’ve been around a number of leadership teams lately that are extremely impressive for their intelligence. These are people who’ve got years of experience, and they’re extremely knowledgeable about what they … Read more

You Should Be Fighting

“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

The Best Us

“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

Start Walking

“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

Don’t Make Peace With Underachieving

“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

No Pain Tolerance

“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

Safety Isn’t Safe

“If you dislike change, you’re going to dislike irrelevance even more.” – Gen. Eric Shinseki Human beings are wired to seek safety. I think that probably goes all the way back to our days living in caves. People in those days were facing death on an almost constant basis, so if they were safe in … Read more

We’re Not All the Same

“Being led with parity is like running a race where everyone ties for last.” – John Sensiba Treating everyone you lead fairly should be a no-brainer for leaders everywhere. Regardless of people’s individual characteristics, no team member ought to have to deal with unfair treatment. Not only that, as an organization, it can and does … Read more

Break Out

“He who knows others is wise. He who knows himself is enlightened.” – Lao Tzu Most of us have some kind of daily routine. We get up in the morning, we workout or meditate or eat breakfast or whatever, then we work, there are more meals in there, maybe a coffee or two, then we … Read more

Leave The Cave

“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

GPS Blog

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