In June of 2000, I was only about a month into my new role facilitating (I’m intentionally not calling it leading and you’ll see why shortly) the 5S implementation across 200,000 square feet of the facility I worked in. In case you’re familiar with the idea, Sorting everything in a work area, Settin...
I’ve often heard the phrase, “Experience is the best teacher.” While I believe that can be correct, I’ve learned that far too many people refuse to evaluate their experiences, completely missing out on some of life’s most crucial lessons. In all the years we’ve studied John Maxwell, I’ve often heard...
I frequently share how, through all the years I worked indirectly for Rod (Kevin was my immediate supervisor and Rod was his), there was always an expectation for me to focus on how any action I took would impact productivity in each business unit we supported. While safety and human resources are g...
Cindy and I recently adopted two (more) rescue dogs. We’ve had dogs since we got married, all of which have been rescues for the last fifteen years. The one that has been our most heartwarming success story to date had been dealing with several health issues and we had to put him down. As tough as t...
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...
Every title and position has its limitations; for our investments into relationships to have a lasting impact, the influence we earn will always trump any authority we hold. That influence, especially when balanced with a healthy dose of humble confidence, can produce a ripple effect that reaches fa...
Earlier while looking at the importance great mentors have in all our lives, I shared one of the quotes I’ve heard most frequently from John Maxwell over the years: “Leadership is influence. Nothing more, nothing less.” Since then, we’ve also looked at the (often) untapped power that lies in honest ...
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 ...
Make no mistake, the part I was raising my hand about had nothing to do with “the great people” I’ve known - but I have indeed underestimated the value I can add to others through one-on-one mentorship. Later on, we’ll take a focused look at how some of the most humble mentors I’ve had in my life ha...
The 33rd president of the United States, Harry S. Truman once said, “It is amazing what you can accomplish when you don’t care who gets the credit.” Putting that statement into practice is a key difference between the humble confidence and all out arrogance I referenced before. Let’s face it, we can...
As we looked at investing in mentorship for exponential returns, I shared how Kevin Arnold frequently taught me things that he had learned from his mentors. I can’t remember a single time where Kevin took credit for how much he knew about workplace safety or the results he achieved. He was always qu...
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...
