When the World as You Know It Stops and Plans Evaporate

Beginning in November 2017, Cindy and I had both stepped away from full-time employment. Less than 18 months prior, our combined salaries were nearly triple what we had earned as recently as 2012. When Cindy stepped away from her position and into the world of self-employment, it was based on a sign...

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Adversity Turns Systems into Values-Alignment

If you’ve spent much time with me at all, and you have even a basic understanding of the DISC Model of Human Behavior, you likely already know just how Driven I am; extremely face-paced and very task-focused. That said, getting results and winning are what fuel me. I would have enjoyed few things mo...

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Cooperation and Courage Honed Through Adversity

A few times to this point, I’ve referenced our 2017 experience in hosting that event an hour away as a “battle.” While it certainly seemed like one at the time, it was really just another adversity we had to work through - and a relatively minor one at that. It was by no means the most significant i...

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Justice Emerges in Institutional Conflict

Attendance at the event we hosted an hour north of us was just under half of what we had locally. Considering it was just two weeks after our local event, in an area where we had few existing relationships, and considering all the nonsense with the institution (whose campus was just a few miles away...

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The Noncompete Trigger

As I closed Leveraging Leadership Growth, I stressed the importance of constantly working to grow and strengthen every professional relationship possible. When Cindy and I left our roles in large organizations, we both had extensive networks internally but found ourselves starting from scratch exter...

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Doing More Than Paid For in the Rebuild

The definite decision I made in late August 2017 to leave my full time position and join Cindy in our business took a while to play out. With Cindy’s backing, we indeed had unwavering courage - even if our definite plans left a bit to be desired. I worked out the full two months I committed to; it t...

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Financial and Emotional Strain

In Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill shared that “Unwavering courage is based upon knowledge of self, and of one’s occupation. No follower wishes to be dominated by a leader who lacks self-confidence and courage. No intelligent follower will be dominated by such a leader very long.” When Cindy left...

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Leaving Security for Shared Purpose

Cindy accepted a position with a company that was in the process of building their facility and brand new to our area around the same time I stepped into the HR/Safety manager role. As their very first employee, her responsibility was creating visibility, and thereby enlisting clients for that new b...

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When Stability Starts Feeling Like a Cage

2015 likely held as many life changes as we had ever experienced in a single year. Shortly after taking a week-long vacation to celebrate our fifteen anniversary, which may have been the first full week we were away from our jobs at the same time since our honeymoon, I completed the SHRM prep course...

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Purpose Clarified Through Adaptability

Accepting a position with a new organization after spending nearly my entire adult life with one company was a tremendous shift. The tasks I was responsible for on a daily basis were indeed similar to what I had been doing for years, but the industry and the team members I was serving were wildly di...

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The Decision to Transition - Burning the Ships

I had been with the same organization since I was 19 years old and was at a spot where I earned four weeks paid time off each year when I received the demotion promotion in late July of 2014. And if I’d max out at five weeks in March 2016 when I hit the 20 year mark, the most a salaried employee was...

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Definiteness of Plans Emerges in Uncertainty

Years ago, I heard a story of a traveler stopping at a farmhouse along a country road to ask for directors. As the traveler spoke with the old man sitting on the front porch, he noticed that the dog laying beside him was constantly moaning, albeit quietly. The traveler asked the old man if there was...

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