Global disruptions and sudden, system-wide chaos often feel overwhelming or like the complete erasure of hard-won progress, but when rooted in prior lessons of consistency, responsibility, and values-driven service, they forge adaptive resilience and a pleasing personality that earns influence even ...
I don’t think anyone could have predicted all that unfolded globally from March 2020 through the end of 2021. To that end, I could make a strong case in saying we’re still experiencing many of the ripple effects from all that today. And as I’ve stressed so many other times to this point, I’m certain...
Time provides us with distance from adversities, adversities that often seem monumental in the moment. Those same adversities, when viewed through a lens of time, end up being relatively insignificant in our bigger picture. That’s absolutely the case when I look back on that 2017 event. Our entire c...
Through sheer work ethic, I was able to build some solid career momentum in my late teens and early twenties. Never one to pass up an opportunity simply because I didn’t have the qualifications listed as required on a job posting, I took some chances that I was far from capable of - at least in the ...
Not long after making the decision to stop drinking completely, Ron (who I now reported directly to in my 5S implementation role) decided to step away from the behavior-based safety facilitator role and return to a manufacturing supervisor position. I don’t remember why but I distinctly remember bei...
Making the pivotal decision to give up drinking completely was one thing, backing it with action required far effort and commitment. I can’t point to any specific leisure activities in the decade prior to that where I didn’t consume a tremendous amount of beer. That said, I never viewed it as a prob...
I had a few things going for me leading into the interview for the behavior-based safety facilitator role: a tremendous work ethic, a willingness to jump at any opportunity that was even mildly offered, and a hunger to advance. That said, there was very little polish to any of it. Couple my rough ed...
I can barely wait to push forward in sharing more about how impactful serving as bouncer for my friend’s sister was as well as how my working relationship developed with the maintenance supervisor who walked by my machine a few times each day. We’re not quite ready for that yet, though. First, we ne...
Even at fifteen years old and riding a bicycle to the job sites each day, showing up on time consistently and giving it everything I was capable of - even when I wasn’t capable of all that much - helped me earn moderate respect from the men I was trying to keep up with. Carrying that same work ethic...
Consistency nurtures seeds from bad situations, turning quiet efforts into visible growth and preparation for bigger roles. During my second year as a second shift manufacturing employee, I applied the same persistence I was developing during my shift to my new found love for working out. Throughout...
Knowing that I had so much untapped potential academically stung a bit, even if that was only subconsciously at the time. If I was doing anything back then to intentionally grow just the slightest seed, it was through my role in the workforce. I produced solid results and had some great opportunitie...
My senior year of high school was a whirlwind. While I did the bare minimums to skate through my required classes, I was working as hard as I knew how in what turned into a full time job before I even graduated and dove in head first to every other kind of shenanigan I could find as soon as I clocke...
