In the first lesson of our Emerging Leader Development course, Cindy and I stress the importance of developing the self-discipline to address issues as soon as they arise, before emotion takes over and we lose control of a situation. All too often, I’ve seen folks in leadership roles opt not to addr...

I’m sure if we were having a conversation over coffee, we could list no less than a dozen reasons someone with leadership responsibility would avoid soliciting honest feedback. Before moving on, I’ll emphasize my intentionality for using the phrase “someone with leadership responsibility” rather tha...

As I wrapped up the final chapter in The Values Advantage, I detailed why Cindy and I rarely do anything resembling a check-the-box survey at the end of the large public events we host. While we work to set very clear expectations for attendees, we know we’ll only have limited interaction with many ...

I’ve benefited from great relationships more than I could have ever imagined. While I’m sure I don’t do it enough, I do make a point of periodically reaching out to several of the folks who have mentored me, thanking them for all that they’ve invested into my life. One that I’ve mentioned several ti...

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to interview Mark Cole (CEO of Maxwell Leadership) for our Leading At The Next Level podcast and to promote him as the wrap up keynote speaker at our 2025 LeadershipLegacy Experience. Cindy and I have received some amazing mentorship from Mark over the last decade...

The role Terry played as a mentor wasn’t limited to answering an occasional question or serving as an example for how to speak in front of others, I also watched how he worked to connect with others. While he could have relied on the authority of his position, he was very intentional in how he dedic...

Here’s where I found myself: riding high and feeling mean, one of just four people selected to lead the implementation of an exciting new process throughout a nearly one million square foot facility with close to a thousand employees. What an incredible opportunity for a kid who barely graduated hig...

Shortly after accepting a spot on the behavior-based safety process steering committee, I had the chance to sit in on and help with a small portion of the training for new observers; the same course I had squirmed through less than a year prior. I can’t pretend that I actually offered anything of va...

If I’m being completely honest, I didn’t like Terry Ward very much when I first met him. The limited interaction I had prior to his portion of the behavior-based safety observer training was adversarial at best and I thought his delivery as a trainer was incredibly annoying. Looking back, I know my ...

I grew up in a rural area, about ten miles outside the town the high school I graduated from was located. I used to joke during the hundreds of new hire orientation sessions I did over the years that my hometown only had two stop signs, and we rarely used those. The majority of the groups I was part...

Just a few months before accepting the position I started immediately after getting married, I interviewed for a role with responsibility for the behavior-based safety process that I had been involved with for a year or so prior on a volunteer basis. In addition to performing the observations that p...

I can’t begin to count how many times I’ve heard folks reference different individuals - in business, in politicks, or any other walk of life - as natural-born leaders. I think the most humorous anecdote I ever heard around that idea was when John Maxwell mentioned being asked if leaders are born or...