change – Page 3 – CainEllsworth

Only So Much Patience

“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

Always Learning

“One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature, for these too may have a valuable lesson to teach us.” – Black Elk Last week in this space the idea was that leaders need to make decisions and deal with issues that need to be dealt with, rather than hesitating until someone or something … Read more

Be Real

“The world changes in direct proportion to the number of people willing to be honest about their lives.” – Armistead Maupin Last week in the is space, the conversation was about letting go of what’s worked in the past in favor of what can work in the future. That’s a hard thing to do. And … Read more

Quit Looking Backwards

“When you’re through changing, you’re through.” – Bruce Fairchild Barton One of the most challenging things leaders have to deal with is what I call a “legacy of success”. Leading an organization with a long history of high achievement sounds like it should be a great thing. It usually means a solid foundation of people, … Read more

Something Different

“Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive.” – Elbert Hubbard Normally in this space we’re talking about leadership, or change, or some kind of challenge we face in our organizations. Today is a little different. It’s still about a challenge, but that challenge is of a completely different … Read more

Almost Nothing Is Permanent

“It is what we know already that often prevents us from learning.” – Claude Bernard Most of the successful leaders I know pride themselves on being lifelong learners. They like to talk about how they’re always seeking new knowledge, new ideas, new ways of doing things, and that being open to all that kind of … Read more

Choose Your Own Adventure

“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.” – Alan Alda I’ve been reminded a number of times over the past several weeks of the impact that our beliefs and attitudes have on our lives. That maybe sounds like a pretty … Read more

Things Left Unsaid

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw So many leaders I talk to express frustration about the situations they find themselves in. The organizations they lead aren’t performing the way they’d like, something’s wrong with their people or products or services, or maybe they … Read more

Play Your Part

“I am in competition with no one. I have no desire to play the game of being better than anyone. I am simply trying to be better than the person I was yesterday.” – Unknown I’ve had several eerily similar conversations with leaders over the past two weeks that really forced me to stop and … Read more

Are You Any Different?

“You don’t have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great.” – Joe Sabah One of the things I hear leaders talk about negatively on a regular basis is people. They’re frustrated that their people don’t want to work, or don’t want to work enough, that they have a bad … Read more

GPS Blog

It's time to go "Beyond the Numbers".