As a leader, you have the honor of caring for the tone of your culture daily. Some days, that may feel like a privilege and other days it may seem a burden. What’s the difference? It’s how you’re relating to the complex beings around you and the interpretation you have about how they “should” be versus how they “are.” I…
I love being active outside in the summer. I wake up full of energy and excited for the many things I could be doing. While on the water, my mind can wander, and I find clarity in the meditative repetition of the waves, birds, and paddling. While paddleboarding yesterday, it occurred to me the activity is a great metaphor for…
Journaling. It’s something all great leaders practice. Not the good ones, the great ones. Most good leaders think they can skip it, or at the very least, dabble at it. Nope. It’s about consistency and perspective. Why? Here are three of the best reasons: Don’t know where to start? Try our Maximizing Success Journal. We designed it for people who don’t…
Information, knowledge and wisdom. They’re not the same. Often, people treat them as if they are the same. Our world is filled with information. You can “Google” anything, watch a YouTube about how to do most things, and learn without interacting with anyone or anything other than a screen. Many people think this is the same as knowledge. Knowledge is…
Recently, I was recognized by a team as being fearless. Though I was touched from what they offered as a compliment, I had to laugh out loud as well. If there’s anything I’m not, it’s fearless. I believe I’m courageous and confident in my abilities, yet I don’t think of that as fearless. In the same way I appreciate the…
When you’re grounded in your life and centered in a way that you have perspective, even amongst busyness, commitments, and challenges, they are just that – challenges. When you’re untethered in your life and you’re disrupted at a fundamental level, the smallest interruptions, curve balls, and challenges (like traffic) seem like insurmountable events. Gratitude, journaling, sleep, and exercise play a…
When things change it opens up space. Space in your mind, your environment, your beliefs and your possibilities. You can focus on what you’re losing, what’s going away, how “hard” it will be, or what you don’t like about the changes. You can also focus on what you’re gaining, what’s emerging, how “fun” it will be to learn and grow,…
“Most serious mistakes are not being made as a result of wrong answers. The truly dangerous thing is asking the wrong question.” – Peter Drucker When people begin to work through issues, often they tell stories, give examples, and rehash events and conversations. Rarely do they slow down, take time to think, and pause long enough to determine the root…
An extraordinary team is an ordinary team with an extraordinary commitment. The extra refers to their commitment, not the players. Relatively speaking, any team can be extraordinary. To be extraordinary, you must align yourselves and be resolute in your collective commitment. This means a firm determination, shared by all. When push comes to shove, an extraordinary team will always find…
There’s nothing solid that will come of “squishy” commitments. When I’m working with leadership teams, we spend a great deal of time working on concrete language and it becomes a superpower once you learn it. The world at large is “squishy.” What I mean by that is it is more common to encounter people who communicate with fuzzy, malleable, unclear…