passing the baton

If you ask people to describe themselves as leaders, a word that often comes up is coach.  How you coach can define what the working relationship will look like with your team. Great coaches typically have people that stay longer, find more purpose in their work...

Companies have a turnover problem. We see it everywhere and it's only compounded along the record number of job openings as well. Signs at local businesses that people don't want to work anymore (Show 292 4 phrases to remove from your vocabulary), the well-documented...

As leaders, or leadership teams, start to think about how to handle performance on their team for the first time, they often focus on who they deem as underperformers first. As a result, you'll see leaders begin targetting their underperformers openly or subvertly....

I love scuba diving. Between the calmness of the water, the unique experiences, and how you tune in different parts of your body that you normally don't pay attention to, it's a wonderful activity to participate in.  Last summer, I attended a Scouting...

I love the sport of rowing. It's exciting to watch the boats as groups of 4-8 rowers work in unison to get the small vessel, sometimes only as wide as your waist, to the finish line. It's not uncommon for these races to come down to the wire with a second or less...

Dolphins are loved across the world for their intelligence, playfulness, and curiosity. You'll likely be hard-pressed to find a person who has a grudge against dolphins unless you are John Oliver.  There are several things that we can learn from dolphins to apply...

Vinyl records have certainly made a comeback over the last several years and now account for over a Billion dollars a year in sales. New Vinyl factories are being built to handle the large surge in demand and more are jumping into the vinyl collecting community every...

I think all good leaders deal with guilt on occasion in their leadership and life walk. It shows that they have at least a decent moral compass, and while carrying guilt certainly is not fun and can impede your long-term effectiveness if it lingers, working through...

"How did this happen?" This was Max Dickins asked himself as he thought about proposing to his girlfriend and realized that he didn't have any close friends that she could ask to be his best man.  Max considers himself to be an outgoing guy with decent manners,...

I can honestly say that I have been blessed with some amazing friendships over the years.  My closest friends have been there to celebrate the great times and to support me during the hardest times of my life.  Great friendships always bring out the best in...

Have you thought to yourself or said to someone else, "I just need to get out and do something?"  I know I do at times! Micro-adventures are a great way to get away, reset, let go of some stress, and learn a little along the way.  While there is a lot of...

Being suddenly thrown under the proverbial bus is one of the worst feelings there is in a working relationship. It's the sense of being betrayed by someone that you likely had some level of trust built with for their own gain. Perhaps you were blamed for something...

Storytelling is an art that a great leader and speaker know about. There's a reason why you remember the illustrations that others share in their presentation and how you'll often remember the stories and analogies from a minister's sermon before you recall the points...

Living your personal values leads you to live an authentic life that you will enjoy and be proud of, but it certainly isn't always easy. I've had to let some great professional opportunities, old friends, and other valuable things go because they didn't, or no longer,...

I have built a career by tieing my work ethics, leadership priorities, and expectations around company values. Sometimes it was easy as others were aligned, to begin with, sometimes I was a hero as I entered a bad culture that desperately wanted change, and other...