Hindsight – how I wish we could have it on the front end of situations instead of going through hardships to figure out what you shoulda, woulda, coulda…but I guess then it wouldn’t be called hindsight 🙁 Today was a day when hindsight made it very clear what I shoulda done differently in a situation […]
The most powerful personality traits to develop in one’s quest for success are incurable optimism and integrity. Optimism is defined as “the belief that good things will happen to you and that negative events are temporary setbacks to be overcome.” (-Mayo Clinic). Integrity, as I would define it, is “doing the right thing, at the […]
In life we all have a choice. We can be pretty good, or we can be GREAT! The difference in those two often comes down to paying attention to the details. I used to keep a sticker on my desk that said “If you don`t have time to do it right the first time, how […]
One of the questions I am asked the most is, “How do you do it? How do you balance work life and home life?” The honest answer is, “I don’t.” I don`t do it all. No one can. For years I battled the guilt of not being able to do it all, especially during the […]
When someone isn’t performing well at their job; or when they aren’t the right fit for a particular position; or when their personality isn’t a match for the company culture, one of the biggest disservices you can do to them is to not tell them the truth. As a CEO, I found that one of […]
People ultimately choose to do business with people they like, and everyone likes someone who appreciates them. I once read a quote by the ever so brilliant writer known as Anonymous. It states, “People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But people will never forget how you made them feel.” […]
A while back I was able to attend a seminar by Dr. John Lund on communication where he gave some amazing advice on how to better communicate with others. His input was simple and easy to follow, yet powerful. The best quote of the entire event was this: “Don`t communicate to be understood; rather, communicate […]
It takes tremendous fortitude to utter the words “I was wrong, and I am sorry”. I love that word: fortitude. I could list the dictionary definition of fortitude, but let’s be honest, why go to that trouble when Bill Gates blessed us with Microsoft Word’s single click to see its synonyms, which are: strength, courage, […]
Five incredibly important lessons to live by in your career and in your business: First – Only do business dealings with people of character and integrity. And no matter what, never ever let yourself break that rule. It will never, ever, be worth it. Not ever. Second – All the contract language in the world […]
Passive-aggressive behavior in any company is one of the most destructive cancers to a culture that ends up killing both a great company, and the self-esteem of the individuals working there. For any wondering what passive-aggressive behavior looks like, I will try and give some examples that paint a picture. A passive-aggressive person is someone […]
Behind every company, whether it’s a multinational corporation or the smallest startup, is an intersection of talent. Each person is uniquely capable of performing their job: the company spokesperson is a gifted public speaker; the administrative assistant is a master multi-tasker; and the CEO is excellent at setting the vision and leading the team. Every […]
I have spent many years as the leader of several companies. I hope that during that time I have learned a bit about what it takes to become a great leader. Many of the lessons I am still learning, but I wanted to share a few of the things I have come to learn thus […]
I moved around a tremendous amount growing up. My family lived in Oregon, Washington, Michigan, Virginia, Tennessee, Texas, California, and finally Utah. Living in so many places was rough as a kid, but as an adult I found that it came to help me tremendously when it came to finding connections with people which helped […]
One of the greatest lessons I learned during my time as a CEO was that great employees are not replaceable. It isn’t the technology or the product that make a company great, it’s the people. And companies who see their good employees as “replaceable” are wrong. Good employees are not replaceable. Let me clarify what […]
Today I was invited to attend the Credit Suisse Entrepreneurs Conference being held at the Sundance Resort. For our dinner tonight Tony Hseih, CEO of Zappos.com spoke to us. Years ago I read Tony’s book “Delivering Happiness” which, by the way, is an excellent book and a must read for entrepreneurs and leaders. His understanding of […]
Some days I get really frustrated at the fact that there are a million things I really want to get done, yet there are just not enough hours in the day to do them all! And trying to pick and choose which things to put first can be one of the most challenging parts of […]
As I start off each new week I always try to find some sort of quote or thought that will help inspire me to improve myself as I head into that week. I am a HUGE believer in the importance of trying to constantly improve ourselves. I think when we allow ourselves to become complacent […]
Every single job in a company has vast importance, and far too often people lack an appreciation or an understanding of just how impactful each position is to the overall success or failure of a business. In my many years as a CEO, I would often watch as employees across various departments would either feel […]
Good Leaders are invaluable to a company. Bad Leaders will destroy it. When good leadership is in place in a company it can be felt throughout the entire organization. There is a corporate culture that isn’t forced, it has been developed. Communication is daily and open. Everyone understands the vision and goals of the organization […]
We all spend much of our lives working with the hope that one day we will achieve a level of financial freedom that will allow us to pursue our dreams. For me, the Grand adVenture that I dreamed about was starting my own mentoring and angel investing firm that would allow me to take all […]
I remember well those words spoken in a Pantene shampoo commercial back in the 1980’s. The attractive woman with the fabulous hair looked right into the camera and made the plea “Don’t hate me because I am beautiful.” That phrase became front and center once again earlier this year when UK columnist Samantha Brick wrote […]
As many of you probably did as well, I have just finished watching the Presidential debate on television. Normally I don’t voice my feelings about politics (so this is likely a one timer from me on this subject as I don’t really enjoy political debating), but tonight I feel compelled to express my thoughts on […]
“Crying is how your body speaks when your mouth can’t explain the pain you feel.” The truth is that I am not much of a crier, especially at work. But I have to admit that this week I have cried several times. As excited as I am for my next phase of life, this week […]
Today marks the two year anniversary of me writing my daily employee tweets every single day without missing one (actually they are more like daily blogs, but were originally going to be tweets which is where they got their initial title from for those who haven’t been here the full two years). I cannot believe […]
I want to start today’s CEO message with an explanation as to what this daily message is and the background on why it came about… As the company grew from a mere 70ish employees when I took over as CEO in 2004, to over 1,000 of us worldwide, I struggled to find a way to […]
Get every new post delivered to your Inbox
Join other followers
