The first job of a leader is to define reality for their team. This doesn’t mean a leader redefines actual existence, though. It means that a leader defines the parameters within which we pursue success. From the models of work, to the profitability models, to the culture itself, leaders create the ...
“Progress is not achieved by luck or accident, but by working on yourself daily.” Epictetus
I have a group of guys with whom I lead a retreat that are all either in upper leadership positions or own businesses. Each year, we come together to help invest in the rest of the group, bringing lessons fr...
I sometimes use an opening in my speeches where I ask someone if they have a $20 bill and if they would come to the front with the money. I then wave a $20 bill of my own. I ask the person if we could exchange the money. Then, I exchange my $20 for their $20. I thank them, and they head back to thei...
Each of us operates under a certain rhythm we have developed throughout our lives. Everyone is driven by this rhythm, but most never know what it is. The rhythm has been called a habit loop, daily patterns, preconscious thought, and a host of other labels. No matter what it is called, it is what dri...
Charles Cooley suggested that we are not simply what we perceive ourselves to be. Instead, we are what we imagine others perceive us to be. His theory, known as “The Looking-Glass Self,” proposed that we create the value of ourselves based on paying attention to what others around us think of us. Th...
In Malcolm Gladwell’s book, Outliers, he talked about the 10,000-hour rule as the basis for a person becoming an expert in a given area. I was fascinated with the book and have always loved his writing. He told a number of stories demonstrating that experts in various areas gave 10,000 hours of effo...
One of the great fallacies of our thinking is looking at those who do the same thing as us and believe they are the competition. Things changed significantly in my life when I realized the only real competition that existed was who I used to be. This realization shifted me from making decisions base...
We are in a place where the real talent war begins with leaders who can attract and keep great talent. We have organizations that are struggling to let go of some of the old ways of leading and others struggling to get over some of the new ways of messing up a work culture. We must go back to the be...
My wife and I were talking about our experiences from yesterday. She told me about working with her class and how she was helping them focus beyond their limitations. She described 2 words that start a sentence that determine the direction of a person’s thoughts. Used in one way, these words evoke r...
Dr. Joe Dispenza said in a video I watched recently… “The average human thinks 60,000 thoughts per day, and less than 1,000 of those thoughts are any different than yesterday’s thoughts.” Hearing that made me wonder why we spend so much of our life on repeat. We get up with the same thoughts, go to ...
I was working with one of my clients that runs a feed yard, and he told me a story that he had once told his kids. He was getting across the message that we often fight with others over things that simply don’t matter. He wanted them to get the proper perspective in their mind before reacting to thi...
There is nothing worse than running confidently in the wrong direction. This is a thought I have had about multiple leaders over the years. To see someone absolutely certain about their “rightness” without regard for the outcomes and without proper research on the likely outcomes of their decisions ...
