leaders – Page 6 – CainEllsworth

Take The Wheel

“Destiny is a name often given in retrospect to choices that had dramatic consequences.” – J.K. Rowling I can’t remember the last time I was in a meeting or having a conversation with leaders and one of them used words like “fate”, or “destiny”. Those aren’t the kinds of words that typically get used in … Read more

Start With Yes

“I’m no longer quite sure what the question is, but I do know that the answer is yes.” – Leonard Bernstein It’s easy to live in a world of “no”. The world seems chaotic and often scary, and when we’re surrounded by chaos and fear, as humans we have a natural tendency to seek safety. … Read more

Act On Culture

“Take action. Success is not guaranteed, but inaction will guarantee failure.” – Ken Poirot I’m fortunate enough in my career to spend a lot of time with people who lead successful organizations. Those organizations provide a wide array of products and services, come in all shapes and sizes, and are structured in a variety of … Read more

The Right Stuff

“If I’ve got one thing that I really believe about fiction and life, it’s that there are no minor characters.” – Jane Gardam One of the most frustrating things for me to watch is any organization that underachieves. When you see a group of people with talent and nothing to show for it, it feels … Read more

Discomfort Zones

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch It’s in our nature as humans to seek comfort. It probably dates back to our time as cave dwellers. If you’re sitting in the cave, and you have a fire, and you have food, why go outside where the lions are? Just … Read more

Zero In

“Wherever you are, make sure you’re there.” – Dan Sullivan Human beings are easily distracted. We might be in the middle of doing something we think is really important, and then suddenly a bright shiny object appears and we’re completely distracted. It seems like we’re always looking for the next exciting thing that’s going to … Read more

Don’t Just Wish

“There are two kinds of companies – those that change, and those that disappear.” – Anonymous Some of the most fascinating sentences you will ever hear begin with the words “I wish”. They’re fascinating, not because of whatever words follow “I wish”, but because of whatever action follows the conversation. Those sentences can be wildly … Read more

Impact

“I worry that our lives are like soap operas. We can go for months and not tune in to them, then six months later we look in and the same stuff is still going on.” – Jane Wagner A few weeks ago in this space the conversation was about the reality that so many organizations … Read more

Believe and Act

“A pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill We’ve spent a lot of time in this space talking about characteristics of great leaders – almost thirteen years, to be exact. And while all leaders are unique, those same characteristics seem to show up over and … Read more

Culture Ambassador

“Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go.” – Oscar Wilde Leaders are asked to do a lot of things. Some of those things are tactical, some are more strategic, some are tangible, some more intangible, etc. Regardless, most leaders choose to be extremely busy, and while they’re busy doing lots of things, … Read more

GPS Blog

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