There’s a time to benchmark and a time to innovate “Shoot Low, Boys—They’re Ridin’ Shetland Ponies” —book by Lewis Grizzard If I can be self-absorbed for just a minute. … I have a new book coming out: “Never Kick a Cow Chip on a Hot Day—Real Lessons for Real CEOs and Those Who Want To […]
HUMINT or SIGINT? I still want to be a spy. I’m 58 years old as I write this, but I’m pretty sure that a recruiter from some clandestine government agency will call soon and teach me how to take out a bad guy with a clothespin. I guess I read too many spy novels. The […]
Properly diagnose the problem and really “see” the issue Feeling good because my first cast landed a rainbow trout, I confidently tried to cast underneath a low hanging tree and ended up with a tangled mess of flies and line that took 10 minutes to unravel. I’m relatively new to fly-fishing and am amazed (and […]
Unless you just crawled out of the primordial ooze, you’ve heard a lot about how you must optimize your business to make millennials happy. Coddling, free time and pet-happy policies are mentioned often. In working with many companies that question what to do about this and observing what does and doesn’t work, I concluded the […]
Get On Board! Taking The Right Step Onto The Train Years ago, I worked with a large company in which the CEO hired a new senior executive right before a large annual meeting, which was to be his first real introduction to the company. Apparently, little thought was given to how this executive would integrate […]
I admit to having an affinity for the “awe shucks” people in the world. I’ve met combat veterans who are not fond of attention and will tell you that they were just “doing their job”—of getting shot at to protect you and me! My father-in-law was of this variety (and as a WWII vet, the […]
Whoever said you can have it all either had a small wish list or a small capacity for reason. Oh, I’m a big fan of shooting for the stars and fearless behavior. I also believe you should do what makes your heart sing — as long as it doesn’t make someone else’s quit! However, too […]
Over a beer recently, a friend recounted putting together a new grill that he described as large enough to have a sleeping cabin. He said he had his head down focusing on the details only to realize when he stood back that he’d put the shelves on backward. I appreciate his experience because numerous times […]
My friend Dave and I have something in common: We’ll both die at least twice. Each of us had medical occurrences that caused breath and blood to stop flowing — his very recently, mine when I was a young man. I’d like to keep it to two; the first occurrence wasn’t so fun. Unlike physical […]
Let’s not assume that great leaders are necessary for success! Success in business requires a number of ingredients and if you get some of them right, you can make progress. I like to cook and occasionally I produce something that is pretty good, maybe even darn good, just not as good as it could be. […]