I am blessed. I awoke this morning in my home, healthy and with food and water. 22,000+ victims of the cyclone in Myanmar did not wake up today. Tens of thousands more did wake up wondering if they could find food and water and perhaps contemplating if they’d ever have a home again. To say…
Aristotle believed in the golden mean, the midway point between too little and too much of anything. Just as wordiness is too much, sometimes brevity can be too little. If you find yourself defending your brief communications, the clue phone is ringing for you. Recently a friend was justifiably incensed by something he read online.…
I’m on the phone with a friend who wants Darla and I to come to an open house for a home his company just built. We plan to do so but I finish our conversation by saying, “We’ll be there unless something dramatic happens.” I really didn’t need to add those words. I’m the kind…
Today’s Wall Street Journal has an important editorial piece about John McCain I really encourage you to read for two reasons (click here). First, there are some powerful stories about McCain’s character that will give you insights into who he is that you probably haven’t and won’t see elsewhere. Second, there is a lesson to…
My friend Bill is a successful entrepreneur in Southern California. While having lunch recently he commented that whatever happened at the upcoming elections and whoever was elected really didn’t matter to him. He went on to explain that while he was concerned about what was best for our country and that he planned to vote,…
Larry Bossidy’s book Execution was a bestseller. My friend Sam Giest just wrote a book called Execute…or Be Executed. Both books speak to the crucial need for leaders to create results. The road to Hades, as it is often said, is paved with good intentions. The road to success is paved with results. Nearly fifty…
The best way to deal with jerks is not to be one. Gratefulness is a path through trials and disappointments. Mastery creates confidence. We make our decisions then our decisions make us. C.S. Lewis said the most important question isn’t “What do you think of God?” The most important question is “What does God think…
We hear much about our next president providing America hope…but what kind of hope. Lloyd Ogilvie said, “What we hope for determines the vitality of our lives. But the question is: When we have arrived at where we are going, where will we be; when we get what we want, what will we have; when…
Dan Sullivan, in his book The Great Crossover, suggests four things to teach kids to create an entrepreneurial attitude: 1. Self-learning: how to acquire new knowledge and skills without a teacher. 2. Self-motivation: setting and achieving goals in a systematic manner. 3. Self-management: the effective organization of time and money. 4. Self-promotion: the ability to…
Frances Hesselbein is one of my favorite leadership thinkers. She helped reinvent The Girl Scouts of America and it thrived under her leadership. Of late she is involved with the Peter Drucker Foundation and writes and speaks on leadership issues. She is a livewire and a delightful person. Here are some of her ideas I’ve…