“The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland.” – Jeff Haden People like to talk about work ethic. It’s one of the core things that we value. Questioning someone’s work ethic is considered by almost everyone to be a huge insult. Any suggestion that we lack work ethic is a personal affront. And lots of … Read more
“Although you may not always be able to avoid difficult situations, you can modify the extent to which you can suffer by how you choose to respond to the situation.” – Dalai Lama The world we live in is challenging. Regardless of where we start our journey, regardless of the opportunities or difficulties that come … Read more
“When you say ‘Yes’ to others, make sure you are not saying ‘No’ to yourself.” – Paulo Coehlo It’s the first blog post of the year, and we could spend our time doing exactly what thousands of other blog posts and podcasts and books and articles are doing right now – talking about what things … Read more
“The responsibility of each generation is not to please our predecessors – it’s to improve conditions for our successors.” – Adam Grant A few weeks ago, I was working with a leader who faced a frustrating, but not unusual problem. He was dealing with what I’ll call an Alumni Leader. The individual who had been … Read more
“If you don’t modify workloads to retain your best people, you’ll be forced to modify workloads when they leave.” – Jeremy Clopton Last week in this space the topic was people, and how no matter what great ideas we have, or what great products and services we offer, we won’t get very far if we … Read more
“Everybody believes in innovation until they see it. Then they think, ‘Oh no; that’ll never work. It’s too different.’ “ – Nolan Bushnell I’m fortunate to be able to work with leaders from a wide variety of backgrounds and industries. Learning about each of their unique situations is one of the best parts of my … Read more
“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.” – Steve Jobs People talk constantly about how busy they are. For some people it’s a badge of honor, as though being busy is the ultimate goal in life. For others it’s a … Read more
“The world changes in direct proportion to the number of people willing to be honest about their lives.” – Armistead Maupin Last week in the is space, the conversation was about letting go of what’s worked in the past in favor of what can work in the future. That’s a hard thing to do. And … Read more
“Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Almost everyone likes to brag about their work ethic, or at least likes to feel pretty good about it. I can’t remember the last time I heard a leader say “Boy, I sure don’t work very … Read more
“I am in competition with no one. I have no desire to play the game of being better than anyone. I am simply trying to be better than the person I was yesterday.” – Unknown I’ve had several eerily similar conversations with leaders over the past two weeks that really forced me to stop and … Read more
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