“Be yourself – not your idea of what you think somebody else’s idea of yourself should be.” – Henry David Thoreau I like that quote. I wish I had a way of measuring how much time we spend in our businesses and our lives trying to do things only because we think other people think … Read more
“All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward.” – Ellen Glasgow During 2014 we’ve spent a lot of time working with people around the idea of growth. After several years without much growth to speak of, people want to grow. Growth is fun to talk about & it energizes people. Unfortunately, a … Read more
“Growth demands the temporary surrender of security.” – Gail Sheehy Last week’s blog centered around some ideas for kick-starting growth in your business. Someone mentioned to me that a lot of the ideas mentioned apply to a leader’s personal growth as well. That’s true. So here’s the sequel to last week’s post, from that slightly … Read more
“Growth is never by mere chance; it is the result of forces working together.” – James Cash Penney We’ve been pushing people this year to think about growth, and while everyone’s initial reaction is excitement, that excitement usually changes to hesitation fairly rapidly. The question usually is, “How do we go about doing that?” Good … Read more
“Wherever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.” – Peter Drucker I love that quote. Sometimes I think success and leadership (and maybe lots of other things) are summed up in those twelve words. As leaders, we cannot hope to ever be successful without making courageous decisions. Yet, so many leaders … Read more
“It’s not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It’s because we dare not venture that they are difficult.” – Seneca As leaders we all spend a lot of time talking about change. So does everybody else for that matter – if you google “change” you get 1.14 billion hits. Everybody agrees that … Read more
“Victorious warriors win first and then go to war, while defeated warriors go to war first and then seek to win.” – Sun Tzu A recent Mindshop survey asked business leaders around the world to pick what they thought was a likely theme for their organization in 2014. The most common response was “Growth”. Based … Read more
“People are tired of simple things. They want to be challenged.” – Umberto Eco I recently finished reading an interesting book called The Challenger Sale, by Matthew Dixon and Brent Adamson. I’m not big on reading book reviews disguised as blogs, so I’m not going to spend 1000 words talking about the book. I’ll just … Read more
“The person born with a talent they are meant to use will find their greatest happiness in using it.” – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe One of the most challenging aspects of leadership is managing to stay focused on things that really matter. So much of what we run into every day is really not that … Read more
“Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals and win big success.” – David Joseph Schwartz Last week’s post was about attitude. I’ve been reminded of the power of attitude & belief again over the past week, albeit from a slightly different angle. I was visiting with a somewhat successful business owner about … Read more
Get to know our proven, forward-thinking accounting, planning and business consulting experts.
1008 Third Avenue Sheldon, Iowa 51201 • (712) 324-4614 & 5130 E. 57th Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57108 • (605) 610-4611
© 2025 Cain Ellsworth & Company, LLP
Sheldon:
1008 Third Avenue Sheldon, Iowa 51201 • (712) 324-4614
Sioux Falls:
5130 E. 57th Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57108 • (605) 610-4611
© 2017 Cain Ellsworth & Company, LLP
