TheChangeAdvantage – CainEllsworth

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

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

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

Add Your Mind To the Mix

“As you enter positions of trust and power, dream a little before you think.” – Toni Morrison Everybody loves data. People talk about making decisions based on data, measuring performance based on data, etc. Data can be an incredibly valuable tool. Data can sometimes keep us from doing stupid things. Sometimes data can portray a … 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

Mindset Matters

“The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person who is doing it.” – Chinese proverb Being a leader is hard. We all have ideas about what we want to do and what we want the organizations we lead to look like. That’s the easy part. Making those ideas a reality … 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

GPS Blog

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