success – CainEllsworth

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

Busy Doesn’t Matter

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” – Sun Tzu When I ask business leaders how they’re doing, the standard answer I get is some variation of “I’m really busy.” And it’s true. Any leader that’s earning their pay is always going to be busy. … Read more

Fear = Growth

“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

Road to Somewhere

“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

Just Me

“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

What YOU Want

“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

It’s Your move

“The best years of your life are the ones in which you decide your problems are your own. You do not blame them on your mother, the ecology, or the president. You realize that you control your own destiny.” – Albert Ellis Everyone faces challenges and barriers in their lives, both personally and professionally. Life … Read more

impact

“If your vision is for a year, plant wheat. If your vision is for ten years, plant trees. If your vision is for a lifetime, plant people.” – Old Chinese Proverb One of the things I appreciate about most of the leaders I get to work with is that, for the most part, they’re in … Read more

Stop putting off great

“I always wanted to be a procrastinator but never got around to it.” – Anonymous A week ago in this space, the topic was avoidance. That topic was framed around the idea that leaders have a tendency to avoid things that are unpleasant. Maybe it’s a difficult conversation, maybe it’s a difficult decision, whatever. Today’s … Read more

GPS Blog

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