“The extra mile is a vast, unpopulated wasteland.” – Jeff Haden People like to talk about work ethic. It’s one of the core things that we value. Questioning someone’s work ethic is considered by almost everyone to be a huge insult. Any suggestion that we lack work ethic is a personal affront. And lots of … Read more
“Stop making excuses. You’re the only one stopping you.” – Issa Rae Life can be overwhelming. There are literally thousands of pieces of information coming at us on a daily basis. A study done not that long ago determined that we are hit with the equivalent of 150+ newspapers’ worth of information every day. It’s … Read more
“Courage is the resistance to fear, the mastery of fear – not absence of fear.” – Mark Twain Way back in January – that seems like years ago – we declared 2025 the year of No. Now that the year is nearly a third over, it seems like a good time to revisit that declaration. … Read more
“Never be so focused on what you’re looking for that you overlook the thing you actually find.” – Ann Patchett Last week in this space, the topic was vision. Creating a clear, compelling vision isn’t easy, and most organizations never really get it done. Even organizations that succeed in terms of vision are faced with … Read more
“Imperfect action stops incessant overthinking.” – Jake Thompson It seems like an oversimplification to say that many leaders suffer from paralysis of analysis, but just because it’s simple doesn’t mean it’s not true. Leaders everywhere routinely fail to make decisions or take action because they can’t stop thinking. Obviously, you shouldn’t make decisions or take … Read more
“Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” – Saadi We would all love it if the world went exactly the way we want. We make a plan, and everything falls into place. We take some chances, and every potential roadblock disappears. We make some assumptions, charge ahead, and find out that every … Read more
“Opportunity is sometimes hard to recognize if you’re only looking for a lucky break.” – Monta Crane Last week in this space the topic was patience. More specifically, the idea that a lot of leaders have a tendency to use the term to hide the real issue – passivity. At some point, we have to … Read more
“God gives every bird a worm, but he does not throw it in the nest.” – Swedish proverb Patience is a complicated virtue. The dictionary says that patience is “the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering without getting angry or upset”. We prize patience, we tell people they should be patient, we … Read more
“Not to decide is to decide.” – Harvey Cox I talk to a lot of leaders who say that “being decisive” is a key trait of a leader. I’m not sure exactly what they mean by that. The dictionary says that the word decisive means “settling an issue” or “producing a definite result”, or “having … Read more
“The success combination in business is: Do what you do better…and: do more of what you do.” – David Joseph Schwartz Leaders get pulled in a lot of different directions. That’s true whether you’re leading a small business, an international corporation, a local nonprofit, or any other group of people anywhere. Everyone in the group … Read more
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