"The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start and keep going." -Unknown As we go through life, there are so many “races” that we run both personally and professionally.  And most of the time those races test our mental fortitude and sanity, they push us to be a little uncomfortable, and sometimes they completely exhaust us.  But I would guess at the end of most of lifes “races” we would do it all over again even knowing how hard it would be.  Why is that? I believe its because when we are [...]

Have you ever considered the difference between the price of a decision vs the cost of a decision?  I recently attended an event and had the pleasure of hearing Terry Slattery speak about his book, The Cinnamon Story. His message regarding the differences between focusing on the price you are paying for any product, service, or staff versus the cost you are spending to achieve your targets and goals, brought this simple yet complex conversation to light. In business, whether we are looking at this issue as a consumer of products and services or as a provider of products and [...]

“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”  - William Pollar Leaders are not all created equal. In the world of leadership training and development there is one key factor that I have seen as a differentiator between good leaders and great leaders.  Great leaders tend to be interested in continuous learning and personal development. They jump at the opportunity to expand their experience or shift their paradigm with new information. The corporate environment is full of people who have spent many years gaining [...]

For those of you who have teenagers, you will get this. Our household has entered the world of video games in the last year. And while I don’t “understand” how someone can sit for that long and play something, as I started thinking about it, the draw to continue to play a video game is a little like our constant journey to success. I’ll get back to that in a moment, let’s talk about the definition of success first. There are so many resources that will coach you and help you along the journey to success, but where all [...]

There are tons of books, articles and discussions happening around the topic of Millennial’s.  More than I can ever remember, with any generation, we all seem to be fascinated with this “different” generation.  There are hundreds of books and articles focused on helping you understand them, market to them, communicate with them and hire and retain them.  I find it fascinating because while they are a generation that has different experiences, upbringing, access to technology, they are not as fundamentally different as many of us are led to believe. If you speak to people in the Greatest Generation, those people born in [...]

This time of year, we are all thinking about how to make 2018 better than any year yet.  But what will it take to make it different than any other year?  Think about December of 2016, you were full of hope and drive to make 2017 better, you rang in the new year and hopefully set some strong goals.  Stats show that 41% of Americans make a New Year’s Resolution and of those that make a resolution (ie, goal), 42% of them never achieve that goal. What could we all do to make this year different than all of the [...]

    Does it feel like everything is so much more complicated than it needs to be in our lives lately? What if we could give less attention to all the noise, drama and complication and focus on the one thing that drives real happiness? I read about a study completed with a group of 65-year old’s.  They asked them what made them happiest in their lives and the answers might surprise you.   Their true happiness didn’t stem from money, although money can take away a good amount of stress.  Their happiness didn’t come from fame or recognition.  Their level [...]

Have you ever wondered how some people have strong positive influence on those they come in contact with? The secret is they have learned how to use their communication skills to become a person of influence. This concept is talked about in one of my favorite books by John Maxwell and Jim Dornan, Becoming a Person of Influence – How to Positively Impact the Lives of Others. How can we positively impact those people in our lives on a daily basis? The answer is in how we communicate and influence their thoughts, feelings and actions. A Person of Influence has or does the [...]

I work and interact everyday with Entrepreneurs, Business Owners and Business Leaders who are good at what they do. But one thing I have noticed with 80% of them is that they don’t invest in themselves. They spend their time and energy on everyone and everything else – their employees, their business, their community groups, their families and friends. It’s very honorable to serve other people and I’m a huge advocate of the Servant Leadership approach. But what happens when you are giving, is that you are spending all of your emotional capital helping others improve, grow and advance themselves. [...]

When I speak to large rooms of people, I always ask the question; How many of you are in sales? The response is always the same, some people raise their hands high, some hesitate and give a small hand raise and some sit there with their hands in their lap. That question is a trick question. Every single person in that room is in sales. It doesn’t matter what their title, responsibilities or even job status is. You are in sales. You sell your product or service, you sell yourself and your skills, you sell ideas to your peers, boss, [...]