“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.” – Lao Tzu I’ve had a number of conversations lately with leaders whose organizations are going through some chaos. There are lots of reasons for that chaos – changing industry, changing personnel, etc. – but each of them is dealing with … Read more
“The tragedy in life doesn’t lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach.” – Benjamin Mays Leaders are busy. In my entire career I can’t remember ever talking to a leader who was bored, or who said they just didn’t have much to do. Whether business is booming … Read more
“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
“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” – Maya Angelou Last week in this space the conversation was about how the choices we make are typically not permanent. We can choose, and if things don’t go the way we like, or even if they do, we … Read more
“Life is a series of commas, not periods.” – Matthew McConaughey I recently was fortunate enough to work with a small business that has been experiencing incredible growth. As with all growth, it came with a number of challenges. Those challenges have caused the business to have to come to terms with a number of … Read more
“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
“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
“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
“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
“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
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