The idea of staying where I am scares me, what about you? I think we have to step into this idea of realization so we can experience a transformation. It has to be about flipping the page like flipping the script to make this year your best year ever. How's it going? Have you quit already? I hope not. And I hope you'll continue to just move forward.

The reality is most people, after about the first two weeks, give up on their dreams or goals, their new year's resolutions, whatever you want to call them. I went to the gym on the first Monday of the new year. And there was not a parking spot when I got there. I mean there was, but normally when I go, I've got my choice of parking spots. I can kind of drive around and get the best...

2020 has been the year you probably want to forget, but maybe not. This week, millions of people will celebrate Christmas by opening gifts, and even though this year will be different because of limited travel and family gatherings it is still a time of joy for most people.

Have you ever gotten a gift that you didn’t really care for?

What about a gift you loved but you never quite figured out how to use or get the most out of, maybe a musical instrument or some sort of tool?

My kids are constantly teaching me how to use my MacBook… they know how to get more out of it than I do because they have grown up with technology where I didn’t see my first computer until I went to college. Yes, I am that old.

There are gifts...

What I like to do is talk about leadership and how as leaders we can move things forward. I'm a believer that the world's screaming for leadership. Your leadership is needed now more than ever. And so, what I want to talk to you about today is three things your followers need right now to move forward and to get unstuck in the middle of this chaos that is the pandemic. Whatever you want to call it, whatever term you've given it. As a leader, you've got to step forward. My mentor, John Maxwell says, ‘leaders know the way, show the way and go away.’ And so that's what we're talking about. Here are the three things you need to take your team, your followers, your organization with you to move forward.

No matter if you're an...

“When we view our path with clarity, we move with accelerated purpose and intent. We go forward with a full and committed heart.” ― Kevin Hall

What is the greatest tool you have as a leader? Every leader has this tool in their box, but not every leader has the skill to use the tool effectively, if at all. Notice I said tool and not skill.

Suppose you had a paintbrush and wanted to paint a beautiful piece like the Sistine Chapel. Could you do it? Maybe you could, but I am no artist so, no one would rave about my art. Just because I have the tool or paintbrush, doesn’t make me an artist. And just because I have the tools of leadership, it doesn’t make me a leader. Having the tool and having the skill to effectively...

“The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people.” ~ Theodore Roosevelt 

Strong relationships begin with respect, and respect is about valuing people. This does not mean placing value on what they can do for us, or what we can get out of them, but truly valuing them as people.

On a scale of 1 to 10, we should treat every person as a 10. This is not as easy as it sounds. My observation, having worked as a leadership trainer for decades and in many different organizations, is that the number one issue leaders face is the inability of people to get along. Getting a team of individuals to work together is their biggest challenge.

These are adults in professional...

"Great leaders are not defined by the absence of weakness, but rather by the presence of clear strengths." ~ John Zenger

What does it take to be a leader? Are some personalities natural-born leaders while others of different personalities are exempt?  Can someone in a support position be considered for a leadership position? 

These are some of the questions I encounter as I work with organizational leaders to fill positions within their respective companies. They are important questions, too, because placing a person in the wrong role can have costly consequences – both financially and in the performance of the team as a whole. 

In my observation through many years, leadership is not limited to one certain...

"We all die. The goal is not to live forever; the goal is to create something that will.” ~ Chuck Palahniuk

 What does legacy mean to you?

To me, it means leaving an impression or a memory that lingers long after a person is gone.

Recently, my son and I were having dinner after hitting some golf balls on the driving range. As we sat in the clubhouse, my son then asked me about my grandmother, who died in 1998. Immediately, I was hit with a flood of emotion. I began to stare off into space, and my eyes began to water.

What caused this in me?

It was the legacy that my grandmother left in my life, the impression that is still imprinted on my heart.

When I visit my hometown, I can mention my grandmother’s name, and people...

Something in our nature cries out to be loved by another. Isolation is devastating to the human psyche. That is why solitary confinement is considered the cruelest of punishments. ― Gary Chapman, The Five Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts

In his book The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love That Lasts, Gary Chapman talks about the five different ways love can be communicated. The premise is that not everyone “hears” love spoken the same way. 

How can we apply these in the workplace? 

Because we live in a very politically correct and regulation-based society, we have come to a place where we go to extremes to treat everyone the same. The issue with that is that everyone is NOT the same....

 “What do I mean by concentration?

I mean focusing totally on the business at hand and

commanding your body to do exactly what you want it to do.”

- Arnold Palmer

The word for this week is FOCUS.  It is the magic key to carrying through on those IDEAS we talked about in our previous article. 

We all know people who have a case of “shiny object syndrome” – in fact, we all have shiny object syndrome at times. Maybe you’ve started out checking your email with the intent of completing an important project your manager has just sent you…and ended up an hour later looking at decorating ideas on Pinterest. As the boss walks back in to see how it’s going,...

"Success is not final, failure is not fatal; it is the courage to continue that counts. 
- Winston Churchill

Have you ever heard the saying that if someone is not mad at you, then you are not leading?

I suppose there is some truth in that. Over my life and in my leadership, I have made plenty of people upset at me. I never do this purposely, but in leadership, we just can’t please everyone.

As leaders, we can never look at a lack of consensus as failure. And yet, I know many who do. A failure to gain agreement for every idea and every direction we need to go as a leader or as an organization is not failure.

I do believe that, as a leader, you need to work really hard to gain buy-in. In John Maxwell’s book The 21...