I was introduced to the amazing work of singer/songwriter Natalie Hemby* during the 2010 holiday season when Target used her song “Perfect Gift” in one of their commercials. I was hooked. I immediately went to google to find out who she was and where I could find more of her music. The who was pretty simple but the where proved … Read More

Your legacy will not be about what you did for yourself. It just won’t. How might that knowledge influence the choices you make and the actions you take this week? (I was influenced to make a giant sign for my office to remind me of this every single day.)

Last night my beloved Yankees were eliminated from the playoffs by the Houston Astros…and I guess I’m okay with that. A few years ago I would have been really upset, but today I have a somewhat healthier perspective. Would I have preferred to watch the Yankees win and advance? Absolutely, but the days of my emotions being influenced by a … Read More

My friend is afraid of dying. The fear of dying is probably not altogether rare, but the conversation I shared with my friend this week got me thinking. Fearing death seems like a bad thing because it often causes us to freeze, to play it safe, and to focus on scarcity. But there is also a lot of value in … Read More

Forgiveness is the kind of injustice that sets you free.

It was just me, a pen, and a pad of paper, sitting quietly a dimly-lit hotel room. It was a couple hours before I would be facilitating a customer service session with leaders from a major medical facility in Anchorage and I was struggling to find the missing ingredient that would tie everything together. Ugh. I was frustrated. I felt … Read More

There are a million things you can’t control. The way you choose to react is not one of them.

I am about to get on an airplane for the last bit of travel I currently have scheduled for 2015. Finally.

Taking unusually good care of people is a commitment to do the messy, unpredictable, and deeply personal work of engaging your humanity to help someone else.

You are not alone. Most people are doing something that terrifies them, or are avoiding doing something that terrifies them, every single day. The fear is a constant, but maybe knowing that everyone is dealing with it will help you do your meaningful work in spite of the fear.

Going the extra mile to take unusually good care of people matters in every interaction you have with the people you serve, but the effects are amplified when things aren’t working like they are supposed to.

1. Think of five people you can encourage this week. 2. Encourage one of those five people each day this week. Don’t make it complicated, just send them a card, give them a call, go visit them, or do whatever else you deem necessary to gently encourage these five people. If you get tangled up on the part where it … Read More

It seems presumptuous to think that we should share our ideas about business, but after being invited to give dozens of talks about these ideas it seems selfish to keep them to ourselves.

10 years, 7 months, and 9 days ago I signed a seemingly endless number of documents as a promise to make a seemingly endless number of payments, all so I could take ownership of half of a printing company.

Whether it’s best to break up or stay together depends on the relationship. (Or the job, or the partnership, or the blog, or the non-profit, or the…) Quitting when things are difficult is an obvious choice. So is refusing to quit when things are easy. What’s less obvious is doing the opposite of the thing that seems natural because you … Read More