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If you were to build a house, how would you proceed? Could you do it without planning? Could you just start picking up some planks, nails and start hammering? You might be able to get lucky, but it is likely your structure will look and function with major flaws. Blueprints
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I reread Mike McDerment's open letter to his tribe both for its inspiration and the story he shares. It took him 10 years to become an overnight success. There was a lot of uncertainty, hard work and perseverance characteristic of entrepreneurial leaders. I love his story and his
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I heard a wise man tell me once, "Be careful about getting into an argument with a dummy. People might not be able to tell the difference." It's hard to work well with a dummy. I am not talking about the people who have a good
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We love the fancy new gadgets and all the news of Google and Apple on the airwaves. It's part fashion and slight advantage if we can know and use the new technology coming out. At least it feels that way. I know my gadgets have their place, but
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Here's the problem when you have been doing what you do for a long time - it becomes mediocre. Mundane. Nothing interesting. I can tell you don't care. Here's the opportunity if you do something for a long time and treat it like art - you
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Leadership can get tricky when we are presented with noise. A lot of knowing how to lead others and ourselves well is to understand what are exceptions and to what degree we should address them. Perhaps you have a customer that is completely dissatisfied with a feature in your product.
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I was disheartened to see the Harvard Business Review's article, "For Those Who Want To Lead, Read," and the declining rates of readership and scholarship in the world. However, I could identify with Petraeus' intrigue with Doris Kearns Goodwin, the author of Team of Rivals,
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One of the most difficult decisions a business leader or entrepreneur faces is when to pivot, or change course. This is especially difficult when you are invested heavily in a business, process or way of doing things. After all, there was a lot of learning and price to pay to
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"As much as possible, deal only with good and honorable people. If you deal with good people, you won't need a contract, and if you are dealing with bad people, no contract can protect you." - Adam Aron, Chairman and CEO of Vail ResortsGood agreements lead to
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"A fancy tool just gives the second-rater one more pillar to hide behind." - Hugh MacLeod in book Gaping Void Do the tools really make you better? Perhaps it is more comfort than a performance boost. I bet if you looked around, you could easily remove five things
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Living intentionally takes more work than just drifting through days. One of the important parts of leadership is to get away from the noise and reflect. Examining our lives and staying in tune with our priorities helps to align our decisions and actions to what is important. Otherwise, we are
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If you are like me, then ideas come continually in waves. In the waves, there are a mix of promising and mediocre ones. The ideas are essentially raw materials to something that may prove fruitful. Between making an idea happen as a reality and the conception of it, there'