Tag Archives: integrity

“The essence of honesty and integrity is not the words you use, it’s the message you convey.”

Honesty. It’s something that has always been of extreme importance to me in life. Perhaps being raised by a father who was in the FBI and who valued absolute honesty without exception had something to do with that, but I know that I was raised to value honesty and integrity above all else. I tried […]

What Will Matter?

Given the recent passing of a loved one my thoughts have been turned toward each of our own lives and what will matter to each of us as we face our time to pass from this life. I’ve thought about what we take with us, what we leave behind, and what will truly matter. I came […]

Have we forgotten how to stay sharp?

Once upon a time, a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant and he got it. The pay was really good and so was the work condition. For those reasons, the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he […]

The Parable of the Rocks

A philosophy professor stood before his class with some items on the table in front of him. When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, about 2 inches in diameter. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They […]

One Chapter Ends And Another Begins

Last week I shared five blogs that each gave clips from different emails we had received from our daughter during her 18 month mission. I hope you all enjoyed hearing the life lessons she shared in those emails. Today was the final event of her 18 month journey – she gave a homecoming talk at […]

Avoid Blessing Blockers. Surround Yourself With People of Integrity.

When we surround ourselves with people of Integrity our lives are always made better. And by that same token, when we associate with people who lack integrity our lives will always be made worse. I refer to people who lack integrity as Blessing Blockers. Throughout my career I have had the blessing of associating with many great people of integrity. […]

Land of the Free and Home of the Brave (Happy Fourth of July!)

In 1776, after the Second Continental Congress adopted the Lee Resolution that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent,” John Adams wrote the following to his wife: “You will think me transported with enthusiasm, but I am not. I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure […]

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”

“All that is necessary for evil to succeed is for good men to do nothing.”-Edmund Burke I have been thinking about that quote a lot as of late. I think we sometimes let ourselves think that if we aren’t doing anything bad, that we are therefore, good enough. But in this world where so many […]

Dads. Our First Love and our Forever Heroes.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Fathers out there! How do we even begin to pay tribute to all the men out there who grew up to be amazing Dads?! I have come to learn that any man can make a baby, but it takes a true man to raise a child. A Dad isn’t defined […]

Integrity Isn’t Situational

I recently have been dealing with a situation where I became aware that someone has been doing things under false pretenses in an attempt to get personal gain. When I brought these activities to light to those in authority to rectify the situation the person in charge seemed resistant to confront it. He agreed that […]

Declare your life a Drama Free Zone

Declare your life a Drama Free Zone – what a brilliant idea! Here is what it comes down to: People are going to disappoint us. They are going to make mistakes. They are going to hurt us and do dumb things. That is part of life. And it is up to us to forgive them […]

There Is Only Black and White, Not Any Shades Of Grey

When I was young I used to get frustrated that my Father always saw everything as black and white – there was never any grey as far as he was concerned. As a little kid I would always try to explain to him why the grey sometimes existed and without fail I would end up […]

May the Fourth Be With You!

My son told me today that if my blog wasn’t titled “May the Fourth Be With You!” tonight that he would be straight up offended! Now let me be honest with you…I had NO idea what he was talking about until my husband explained that May 4th is Star Wars Day.  Who knew that Star […]

Our life tomorrow is the result of our attitudes and the choices we make today

Each day we go through life making choices. Sometimes they are carefully thought through choices and sometimes they are impulsive. Sometimes we make them based on what we want for the future and sometimes we make them based on what we want right now. And while we all get to make our own choices, we […]

Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself. Avoiding Self-Sabotage At Work (Forbes Article)

I was standing in the security line at an airport when a TSA worker came walking alongside the line yelling out in an animated way, “No liquids, no aerosols, no gels or creams on the airplane…You better check yourself before you wreck yourself!” I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud. As the CEO of […]

Justification is a slippery slope

Justification is a slippery slope that will drag you downhill fast if you allow yourself to engage in it. Just think about it, the entire purpose of justification is to try and make some that is just plain wrong appear to actually be right. It’s an attitude that the ends justifies the means – but […]

Motherhood Is Not A Liability To A Woman’s Ability In Business, So Don’t Act Apologetic As If It Is (Forbes Article)

When I started my first technology company in my early 20’s it never even crossed my mind that I was a bit of an anomaly being a female CEO in a male dominated tech industry. Frankly, the first time I really even became aware of how few women executives there were in the tech industry […]

The Character of an Honest Man

As President’s Day comes to an end I wanted to take a minute to pay tribute to George Washington, the man President’s Day holiday was originally setup to honor. His story is an amazing one and the things he accomplished with his life are truly incredible. He was a man of integrity who didn’t seek […]

The Traits I Admire Most

Today I have been thinking a lot about the character traits that I admire most in people. I sat down to make a list of traits I see in a person I very much look up to in my life and here was the list that came to mind: Integrity – does the right thing, […]

The Fastest Way To Achieve Success Is To First Help Others Succeed (Forbes Article)

Without a doubt, the fastest way to achieve success is to first help others succeed. Yet, there seems to be a belief in the business world that the only way to get ahead is to only watch out for ‘number one’. That is simply not the case. Brian Tracy explained it best when he said, […]

Don’t Disappoint the Man (or Woman) in the Glass

If you had to choose just one virtue to uphold in your life – choose integrity. It will always be your most valuable asset. It is worth more than money or power or fame. You have complete control of this asset and no one else can ever take it away from you. It is yours […]

Ordinary Miracles

Life is full of ordinary miracles. Sometimes we recognize them and sometimes we don’t even realize they have happened until much later. Back in July of 2011 my family was headed down to Lake Powell when we experienced some pretty cool ordinary miracles happened to us. I shared the experience in a blog I wrote […]

The Future Can Be Better Than You’ve Ever Imagined

“Just because the past didn’t turn out like you wanted it to, doesn’t mean your future can’t be better than you’ve ever imagined.” -unknown Everyone has a story of disappointments they have faced. Times when things didn’t go their way. Times when the thing they were praying for didn’t happen. Times when they tried their […]

Talk to each other rather than about each other

“A lot of problems in the world would disappear if we talk to each other instead of about each other.” Talking negatively about others is an easy trap to fall into. It typically starts innocent enough with a simple comment about something as trivial as the outfit someone has on that day, but then over […]

Life’s Short – Live it Honestly.

If there is one thing in this world that I cannot tolerate it is being around a person who blatantly lies. I can forgive a lot of things but I struggle to forgive when someone tells bald face lies. I recently sat listening to a person spew lie after lie without any shame whatsoever. This […]

It’s Never Too Late to Change for the Better

As long as we are still alive it’s never too late to change our lives for the better.  And there is no better time to start working on it than right now, this very minute.  It’s always good to step back and to recommit ourselves to keeping focused on living life each day in such […]

The Most Amazing Advice Ever!

A young girl just starting High School this fall emailed my daughter Ashley (19 yrs old) to ask her what advice she could give her. My daughter sent her the following letter and as soon as I read it I instantly knew I had to share it with everyone! Every single one of us needs […]

Eventually all the pieces fall into place

“Eventually all the pieces fall into place. Until then, laugh at the confusion, live for the moment, and know that everything happens for a reason….”   -unknown For anyone who is currently going through a time of uncertainty, or working hard to make something happen, or trying to figure things out…so pretty much all of us…this […]

Don’t Do Something Permanently Stupid Just Because You Are Temporarily Upset

There are always things that are going to happen that will cause us to be temporarily upset. That’s just part of life. But when those things happen we have to find a way to keep our wits about us so we don’t do something permanently stupid that we will regret later. Instead we should focus […]

The Person We Should All Hope To Be

Somethings are so powerful you just have to read them again and again, and this particular poem is one of this things. I know I have shared this poem in past years, but today I read it again and it really hit me how much this poem describes the person we should all hope to […]