March, 2014 “On Saturday night, Coots was handling three rattlesnakes at his small church, the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name, when one of them bit him on his right hand. He lost consciousness and was taken home, where his family refused antivenom treatment by an emergency medical crew. Jamie Coots was pronounced dead about […]
Stop little problems before they get bigger By Todd Ordal The day I wrote this, I had two interactions with a company that sent a shiver up the CEO’s spine when I told him about them. In both cases, a relatively “junior” person (I don’t like the word “junior,” but it gets the point across) took […]
Their people will follow them anywhere By Todd Ordal “Steve, the Iraqi interpreter, summed it up best. On our last day in Fallujah, he shook my hand as we were heading out of the city, and with a prideful tone in his voice, he said, ‘When the bombs and bullets come at us, we run and […]
January, 2014 “What they are doing is making themselves dysfunctional by taking all this data.” —William Binney, former senior NSA official talking about his previous agency I was fortunate many years ago to visit Trinity College in Dublin with my children and see The Book of Kells. My wife is a talented artist who has […]
“I prefer a confident president to a certain president.” —Madeleine Albright I like this quote a lot. It reminds me of our now retired family medical doctor, a down-to-earth guy with many decades of experience. Although he had the silver hair and degree that allowed him to answer most questions with certainty, he had the […]
Learning from the rest of the universe Years ago when Kinko’s was growing rapidly, our founder took the senior people to the graduate business school at the University of Southern California for an annual week of development. If you have been through an MBA program, you’ve likely encountered the case study format of learning—nothing new […]
A friend sent me an email the other day with some quotes from Will Rogers, the famous cowboy cutup from the early 1900s. My father-in-law, whom I admired, used to say things like, “Let’s mount up!” when we were supposed to get in the car to go to dinner, so it struck a chord with […]
I’m fortunate to be staying at the W Hotel in Hoboken, N. J., for a meeting as I write this. If you haven’t recently been on this side of the Hudson River, it ain’t the New Jersey from years ago! Looking at the Manhattan skyline from my window, I realize I’ve never had an opportunity […]
“Open your hips before you shrug and drop faster under the bar!” shouts my CrossFit® instructor while helping me improve my squat clean technique. It’s one of those weird moves that takes many repetitions to perfect — to align brain cells so it’s memory versus concentration. It’s like changing your golf swing. Until it’s memory, […]
From the minute we engage with other humans (and even pets!) our parents tell us, “Be nice!” This is intended to be a catchall for don’t hit, scream, cry or make someone else feel bad. “Now look at what you did! Little Lisa is crying! Be nice!” As we get older, we’re rewarded for being […]