“It doesn’t pay to worry. If you went through last year’s files marked “important”, chances are the only things you’d keep are the paper clips.” – Robert Orben What keeps you up at night? There’s a laundry list of things leaders can lay awake worrying about if they choose. Markets, people, products, customers, technology, civil … Read more
“The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint to keep from meddling with them while they do it.” – Theodore Roosevelt I was fortunate enough recently to have the opportunity to assist the leaders of a 120+ year-old business that was … Read more
“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.” – Dale Carnegie There are times in our leadership journeys when the seas seem pretty calm. There’s stuff going on, but it feels manageable. We deal … Read more
“You’ve got to continue to grow, or you’re just like last night’s cornbread – stale and dry.” – Loretta Lynn With all the preaching about comfort zones lately (here, here, and here, for example), I’ve heard from a number of people offering similar feedback. “That’s great,” they say, “but once I find stuff I’m good … Read more
“One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature for these too may have a valuable lesson to teach us.” – Black Elk Last week in this space I wrote about the importance of making sure we learn whatever lessons 2021 can teach us before we turn our focus to the new year. We … Read more
“All failure is failure to adapt; all success is successful adaptation.” – Max McKeown I recently had the opportunity to work with a 100+ year-old business that was thinking about leadership. The company President of 30+ years was retiring, and the board of directors was beginning the search for the next President. The company had … Read more
“If you wait, all that happens is you get older.” – Larry McMurtry Sometimes as leaders we deal with issues head-on. We know there’s a problem, we figure out exactly what the problem is, we identify possible solutions, we choose the one we think is best, and we implement it. We get people involved who … Read more
“You may not control all of the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.” – Maya Angelou Most years, we start off the month of January with big ideas about growth, or increased profitability, or some new product or location, or any number of “business” things that … Read more
“Courage is the capacity to confront what can be imagined.” – Leo Rosten I spend most of my time with business leaders talking about the future. While every business or industry has some unique characteristics, in general they’re all very similar. They all have customers or clients, they all have a product or service, there … Read more
“The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings.” – Kakuzo Okakura Change is constant. There is no part of our businesses that is exempt from it. Our customers change, our competitors change, or people change, our products change, the rules we’re required to follow change – there’s no end to it. … Read more
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