Long before all the conversation slamming the NCAA for upholding rule barring the football team from competing for a conference championship or bowl game despite a remarkable start to just their second FBS season, our local university’s namesake was known for being “the Father of the...
A beginner’s enthusiasm is a wonderful thing. This type of enthusiasm is what brings the energy of wonder, curiosity, and openness that helps us learn and discover. The more we learn, grow, and master, the better we become. Over time, though, we often forget the beginner’s...
“Although Jefferson left the cabinet voluntarily, Washington never forgave him for his actions, and never spoke to him again.”
The wikipedia article on Jefferson, while detailing his time as Washington’s Secretary of State, shared how staunchly opposed he was to Alexander...
I have no doubt that you could put together a list of Jefferson’s strengths that’s significantly longer than what I’ll touch on here - and that’s OK by me. My goal here isn’t to be complete and comprehensive but to highlight a few key attributes he brought to the...
Before we pick up by looking at a couple of Benjamin Franklin’s peers, and specifically their leadership characteristics that you and I still benefit from today, I’ll share one last invitation to join us on Friday, December 8 (likely around 3p or so on Zoom) to get the specifics on...
With all the characteristics that worked in Benjamin Franklin’s favor to earn influence ( and the leadership that comes with that earned influence), he certainly wasn’t perfect; no one is - not even you or me! In his presentation at Grand Valley State University, Whitney mentioned...
As I mentioned before, Benjamin Franklin’s voice as a Founding Father didn’t carry such significant weight because of any particular position he held, although he did make a significant impact in several different roles. His influence was largely something he earned throughout the...
While many think of him with quotes like “a penny saved is a penny earned” or “early to bed, early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise,” I’m quite fond of the response he gave Elizabeth Willing Powel when she asked, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a...
Having worked through what felt like a fairly comprehensive list of ways ineffective leadership and poor communication kill profitability in far too many businesses over the last several months, let’s change gears a bit and revisit an idea I introduced in this series in early 2020 - one I...
I’ll share this thought with you one last time:
“Organizations of all sizes invest significant amounts of time, money, and energy on improving their processes with hopes of becoming more profitable. Sometimes this is based on a goal of becoming best-in-class but sometimes it is just...
Whether it’s been through the customized approach to Developing Effective Trainers that I just explained or any of the other resources that Cindy and I have developed to helping leaders address the things that are killing profitability in their businesses or teams, we’ve always worked...
As we looked at the cost of a poor promotion, I shared some stories with you about a few different rockstar employees I had worked with over the years. One of them had been an assembly line lead for close to four decades but absolutely refused to even consider taking the next step into a...
