One of my very first blog posts, entitled Fighting the Right Fight, celebrated the arrival of Carbon Motors to the small city of Connersville, Indiana in 2009. The manufacturer of the next generation of high-tech police cars, the company was going to bring 1,500 jobs to a flyover Midwestern city you’ve probably never heard of that is on the verge of strangulation from rampant unemployment. Two weeks ago, Carbon Motors pulled out of the Connersville plant and halted operations without ever producing …

I want to lead like Kevin Ware someday. Landing awkwardly during a routine shot block attempt during Sunday’s NCAA basketball tournament, the Louisville star suffered what CBS sportscaster Jim Nantz called “the worst injury he’s ever seen in basketball“. If you want to see it for yourself, you can – but not here. I watched it live and it made Joe Theismann’s compound fracture during a 1985 NFL game look like a rug burn. Lying in agony directly in front …

Waking up at 3:31am today to take the dog out.  Realizing while shivering on the porch at 3:34am you haven’t had a dog for 9 years. Looking for your lost iPhone with an intensity that makes the SEALs from Zero Dark Thirty send you a medal.   Scanning eBay for Predator drones you can use on anyone who has kept you on hold longer than 19 seconds. Thinking you’re just one fantastic Tippy the Turtle drawing away from starting a whole new career …

Over the course of my career, I’ve had the privilege of mentoring professionals of all ages from all corners of the world. It’s some of the most rewarding work I’ve ever done. During that time, I’ve developed a core group of 10 questions that help the mentoring relationship get off on the right foot: What do you do at your company? Why do you do it? Why do you want to keep doing it? What do you want to do …

For years, I thought the best way to start a conversation with someone was to lead off with “I want to talk to you about something.” It’s not, because: It assumes he actually cares about what I have to say. Which is a pretty big assumption about the weight I think I carry with him and the overall importance of my message. Furthermore…  It implies that I don’t care about listening to him. After all, I’ve framed the interaction not …

This is the SeQual Integra 10, a 10-liter portable oxygen concentrator. When coupled with a nasal cannula, it helps the user get the oxygen they need so they can actually enjoy the process of breathing. It’s kept me functional for the last 36 hours. It also taught me a valuable lesson during that stretch. I’m in Snowmass Village, Colorado as I write this, the lead-off speaker for the five-day CUES Execu/Summit Conference. Have been since Sunday afternoon. It’s beautiful here. Heaven …

A friend asked me recently why I blogged. I responded, “Because I’m ‘Committed to Memory‘.” His confused look prompted me to tell him what I’m about to tell you: I called my first blog Committed to Memory. The title was inspired by the famous quote from George Santayana: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” To which I humbly added a coda: “Those who cannot remember the best of this life will never truly live.” This is …

There are days when I wonder if what I do makes a difference. Then I get this in my inbox, shortly after a day spent speaking and working with a great group of credit union folks: “I felt at times like the whole thing was directed at me. You would have had no way of knowing this but for the past several days my wife and I had been having trouble communicating. We have been married for a few years …

I didn’t coin the condition titling this post. C.S. Lewis and Owen Barfield did, defining it as “the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited.” In other words, any belief, art, or science of an earlier time sucks but their present-day counterparts are soaked in awesome-sauce.  While it’s obviously a fallacy, that hasn’t stopped me from committing the sin countless times in my life. So I confess to: …

I’ve written extensively about how movies can give us some hints on how to make heroes at work and at home - even created a site honoring heroes in the credit union industry. But what about villains? We all have them in our lives, our offices, maybe even sitting next to you as you read this.  What makes them tick? And how can we avoid becoming like them? There are 3 nasty traits to watch out for:  “It’s all about ME!” It’s seen clearly in villains like Kreese (The Karate Kid), the …