Blog

New employee joining your team? Prepare the nursery!

September 18, 2013

A colleague of mine and his wife, Jeff and Kerry, are expecting their first child, a boy. The excitement they share as they anticipate this event is palpable. When they talk about doctor appointments, preparations, things they’ve purchased, and preparing the nursery, you can feel their positive energy and they glow with eager anticipation. Shift now, to your organization. What happens in preparation for a new employee? Having been the new employee in a number of different organizations over the course of my career, I can say my experience has been varied, but only a couple of places stand out for doing it well; one of them was significantly more prepared than any other. A couple of days after I accepted the offer at this particular company, I received a

What window are you bumping up against?

June 23, 2013

Perception = Reality. This beautiful bird spent the better part of four weeks fluttering up and down this window. You see, it thought it was flying into a tree. And it was persistent! It literally fluttered up and down this window most of the day; occasionally flying off into the trees you can see beyond it. The window has reflective film on it, to keep the heat of the sun out of the office. If you look at the window from the outside, you see the trees and bushes (which you can see as you look beyond the bird in this photo) reflected in the glass — pretty clearly, too. No wonder the bird thought it was flying into a tree…and behaved in a frustrated manner that it couldn’t get

Are you just going along for the ride?

June 21, 2013

I’ve been thinking about this for a few weeks now. Originally, my thought was “are you hitchhiking through your life?” But as I thought about hitchhiking, it didn’t make as much sense. You see, hitchhikers often have a specific destination in mind, as they step out onto the road and stick out their thumbs, or hold up their sign about where they want to go. And they accept rides with folks, usually headed in the same direction…getting at least a few miles closer to their chosen destination. But, truly, they are pretty much at the mercy (in more ways than one) of whomever’s car/truck they climb into when they accept a ride. Meaning, they may get closer to where they want to go, or they may just get farther away

Words are inadequate — Guatemala Update

June 13, 2013

This morning, the John Maxwell Team and all of the Guatemala Trip support staff (John Maxwell Company, EQUIP, Guatemala Prospera, and La Red) met in a conference room to prepare to meet our translators. All told, there were probably 170 of us in the room. Guatemala Prospera (Prosperous Guatemala) arranged for the interpreters who will support us in our mission this week. Some of them are professional translators, some of them — many, in fact — are high school and college students studying English and translation, and they all volunteered to help us this week. We were told there would be more of them than there were of us. This make sense because our schedule is somewhat fluid, and some of them may not be available every time we need

Transformation begins with me!

June 12, 2013

As you may be aware, I am in Guatemala City this week with John Maxwell, the John Maxwell Team (~150 coaches), La Red, Guatemala Prospera, and EQUIP. Our mission is to teach a process that will allow leaders within the seven streams of influence (government, business, media, faith community, arts & entertainment, family, and education) to facilitate growth within small groups over the course of the next 30 weeks, using content from John’s 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth, and 15 corresponding values defined thru a survey of 12,000 Guatemalans as being critical for the future of their country. We have spent the last day and a half learning this new process and going through it ourselves, to experience the power of it first-hand. It is simple, elegant, effective…powerful. It requires

The Birthday Fight — a story of perseverance!

June 4, 2013

Folks: As you know, this month I am writing about perseverance, and while updating my Facebook page today, I came across this story from my friend and accountant, Rebecca Dimit. It struck me immediately as a tale of perseverance in many aspects. I asked her for permission to share it with you, and she graciously agreed. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. “For the past few months, my three year old son, JJ, has been planning (on his own) a suprise birthday fight for my dad’s birthday. So we decided to make the party a suprise also. In April, JJ loaded up a bag of toy weapons and took them to my parents for the fight. He has been very persistant about it. He decided it would

Empowerment Mentoring — Follow up

May 15, 2013

If you weren’t able to join us on the Empowerment Mentoring Orientation call last night (14 May 2103), but are interested in listening to the recording, send me an email or leave a comment and I’ll send you the link. If you’re interested in transforming your life, you want to be in this process with us!

Differences in Passion

May 15, 2013

I spent some time reflecting on today’s blog post about a time when someone disagreed with something I am passionate about. I can say this has actually happened to me many times throughout the course of my career. As you will have figured out by reading anything on my web site, any blog post, I am passionate about developing myself and others. I typically think of the impacts on people when I’m working with change, decision making, etc. And over the course of my career, working in the corporate world including many manufacturing companies, I was usually in the minority with respect to my focus and perspective. It put me in the position of often presenting an opposing view in an arena full of financial people, manufacturing/operations people, engineers, and

Join me for a Free Call on Empowerment Mentoring Program

May 13, 2013

As you know, I’ve been preparing to roll out a new mentoring program, and the time has finally come! It is called Empowerment Mentoring, and it is designed to empower you to really focus on where you’re headed and what you need to do to design the life you want to lead and move — with greater self-awareness and intentionality — proactively into your future. As you know, I’m really passionate about the work I do; there’s nothing more energizing and exciting to me than working with and seeing people like you experience the life-changing “aha!” moments, gain new insights, reach new levels of understanding, and see your life — and its many possibilities — in new ways. Empowerment Mentoring is a powerful program, and your life will not be

Where is your “here” and what “there” are you striving to reach?

May 1, 2013

Several months ago, I participated in a Mastermind Group / Book Club exercise with some people from an organization I belong to called Outside Counsel. The books was What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Marshall Goldsmith. I loved it! Goldsmith describes 20 behaviors that cause people to get stuck in their careers (although work life is really the focus on the book, Goldsmith acknowledges these behaviors permeate all aspects of a person’s life), even though the behaviors may have actually served the person well at an earlier point in his/her life. This made a lot of sense to me, as I have lived it. I grew up in circumstances that drove me to become a very self-sufficient, independent, over achiever. I did everything myself, not expecting or

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

I Had a Dream. This is How it Unfolded…

June 22, 2021

She’ll Give You “Permission to be Human” with MaryBeth Hyland, Founder & Chief Visionary – SparkVision

June 15, 2021

Leading When You Have No Official Authority with Brent Jackson, MD, VP & CMO Mercy General Hospital (Dignity Health)

June 8, 2021

Let Your Journey Start Now

Whether you’re feeling stuck, facing an uncertain future, or overwhelmed by what’s ahead, I’m here to help you gain clarity, confidence, and a renewed sense of purpose. Let’s explore a path that aligns with your vision and values.