Crafting a Lasting Influence

In my early teens, I failed to earn my Environmental Science merit badge as a Boy Scout because I wasn’t willing to follow through on the required 500-word essay. Most of my struggles throughout high school were due to having no interest in similar writing assignments and a complete rebellion agains...

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Fostering Mutual Respect

For more than two and half decades, Cindy and I have worked incredibly hard at coming to terms with our worth and overcoming self-imposed limits. We’ve each approached the process a bit differently but praise God we’ve been able to do it together. That said, there have been plenty of times where we’...

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Asserting Your Value with Courage

Uncovering our hidden strengths so we can get to a point where we begin to comprehend our true worth can be a grueling process. Without overcoming the self-imposed limits we’ve placed on our own value, often for years or even decades, there’s little chance of genuine modesty being involved in situat...

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Overcoming Self-Imposed Limits

I mentioned earlier how difficult it’s been to establish appropriate cost structures for the services we provide, especially as we first got started. Although we were building a level of confidence in our area of strength, coming to terms with our worth - even after reflecting on guidance from our c...

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Reflecting Through Guidance

Uncovering my own worth and uncovering my hidden strengths have likely been the biggest challenge I’ve had to work through in my career, maybe in my entire life. My work ethic and drive to keep up as best I could regardless of who I was competing against certainly helped offset some of my self-impos...

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Overcoming Resistance with Influence

I realize I’ve shared it several times already, but I don’t believe it’s possible to overstate John Maxwell’s comment that “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.” As I detailed how having the humility to ask our son to change his behavior (while still explaining the potential results ...

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The Confidence-Humility Balance

Let’s be clear, positional authority can get results - as long as the individual with that authority is present and willing to crack the proverbial whip. But the authentic influence we earn through humble leadership earns a level of discretionary effort that even the most demanding chain-of-command ...

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The Myth of the Self-Made Leader and the Power of Humility

We started down this path with an emphasis on the reality that there is no such thing as a self-made leader. For someone like me with a highly DRIVEN behavioral style, it would be nearly impossible to get much value from anything resembling a candid conversation with someone who believes they’ve bec...

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Strategic Growth Eliminates Overconfidence

A lack of strategic growth and self-awareness can manifest as overconfidence in one's abilities and decision-making. A leader who is overly confident may underestimate risks, ignore warning signs, and fail to seek input from others, potentially leading to poor decision-making.

How does strategicall...

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Cancel This!!!

When we’re willing to be actively engaged in that arena we looked at last time, taking action to make a difference for the team we’re a part of and for the people we care about, we won’t likely have a lot of time left over to worry about pointing fingers or placing blame. To that end, I can’t think ...

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Do Not Cheat Yourself By Doing This!

When we strive to become more aware of us we give ourselves a chance to grow in the areas we need to. 

A friend called me (Cindy) recently with a revelation about some of the individuals she was choosing to spend time with. I passed on an intentional action a mentor shared with me when I found myse...

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Are You Willing to Pay the Price, Again?

Through the last several blogs, we’ve taken a look at some of the things we need to be prepared to do as leaders in order to develop and empower our team members to reach their full potential and help us carry the load as our organizations grow. That requires a significant degree of trust, confidenc...

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