I want to close this with something I mentioned at the very beginning and I’ve stressed several times along the way. I’m not looking for sympathy from any of the adversities I’ver shared, not a single one. In fact, I don’t even want it. This has been one of the most awkward things I’ve ever done, bu...

Naming the adversity for what it is, finding whatever seed we can draw from it, and owning the role we played in how it happened starts the process. If we stop there, though, we’ll stand little chance of ever capturing the greater opportunity available from it. And that leaves us with nothing more t...

I kicked all of this off by sharing how close I came in my late teens to tangling with a giant oak tree just a few miles from where we live today. Just after that, I shared the two conversations I had while mulling the idea behind Making the Best of YOUR Bad Situations, and one the men followed up o...

I’ve been very intentional about sticking to a timeline, with the exception of the overlap between how global disruptions forced us to adapt through unforeseeable situations and how we had to take a firm stand in defending the vulnerable during that stretch. My goal in following that step-by-step pr...

To be sure I’m pounding the drum as hard as I can, here it is again: “Every adversity, every failure, every heartache carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit.” That statement only becomes true when someone finds the seed and does the work. The eleven attributes we’ve worked through a...

Any time you get kicked in the pants, especially in a case like we experienced in late ‘24 where it comes from behind but connects up front, there’s a temptation to decide “we’ve paid enough,” rather than make the harder choice to continue reflecting, keep serving, and keep your door open for everyo...

In late 2015 or early 2016, just weeks after accepting a new role as a Safety and Human Resources manager for a mid-sized construction company, I was invited to lunch by one of the vendors who provided a specific service to that organization. He picked me and the CFO up at our office and drove us a ...

For years in our Emerging Leader Development course, Cindy has emphasized that one of the toughest things about defining moments isn’t just the adversity involved but the fact that we don’t get to choose when we have to deal with them. With more road now behind me than I have left in front of me, I ...

I realize there will be folks who read what I’ve shared here detailing the conflicts we experienced while doing all we could to advocate for Granny during the most vulnerable time of her nearly 97 years as throwing stones at a particular organization. While some of this may have been soft lobs in th...