During a session with John Maxwell a few years ago, I heard him share the approach he frequently took when any group he was part of had an idea that concerned him. Rather than squashing the idea outright, he would gently suggest that those most interested for a committee to analyze all the details f...
Without experiencing some of the challenges and barriers I fought through during high school, regardless of how insignificant they seem now, I wouldn’t have had the foundation to navigate my early career stumbles in order to make the necessary pivots. Even minor adversities can play a tremendous rol...
I chose not to go to college for two primary reasons, with a third that could arguably make that list if I’m being honest with myself. I hated sitting still during class all through high school and had zero interest in paying for the opportunity to do more of it at the next level. Since my natural b...
Still far from being the most talented in the workforce, or even in my home department for that matter, I built some solid career momentum through 1998 and into 1999. My role as bouncer for my former coworker’s sister had turned into far more than that initial evening of her driving and me being a h...
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...
To this point, I’ve shared intentionally basic high-level scenarios and I’ve purposefully shied away from anything remotely adverse. Not only am I sure you’ve experienced similar situations, I’d bet you’ve been through far worse - and I’ll bet you’ve found yourself back in that headspace as I allude...
It’s one thing to be humble enough to seek help in the areas we struggle with but are still required to produce great results - or at least stay in compliance - but practicing that same approach in areas isn’t always as simple. We can’t overcome a knowledge gap we don’t know we have. We’ve all seen ...
I’ve mentioned barely graduating high school several times to this point. I also shared that neither Cindy or I had graduated college when we started our leadership journey (and still haven’t). While my less than stellar performance in high school was more a factor of me being bored, our lack of col...
In What’s KILLING Your Profitability? I referenced how I frequently caught flack from our plant operations manager because employees across his areas routinely bypassed the chain of command by taking issues to behavior-based team members for resolution rather than their immediate supervisors. Throug...
As we worked through the process of investing in mentorship for exponential returns, I made a brief reference to how long-time supervisor, Kevin Arnold (no, not from The Wonder Years; he heard that shit all the time…) was always so quick to me praise for successes he and I achieved together - even w...
To have any hope of taking advantage of the untapped power of honest feedback, we absolutely must develop the skill set of accepting that feedback without justifying our existing performance or allowing the feedback to eat away at our confidence. I mentioned earlier how much it stung, especially ear...
I’ll share this thought with you one last time:
“Organizations of all sizes invest significant amounts of time, money, and energy on improving their processes with hopes of becoming more profitable. Sometimes this is based on a goal of becoming best-in-class but sometimes it is just to stay compe...
