My friend, Larry, has worked hard to build a significant lawn care and tree service business with hundreds of employees and multiple locations. Yet, rather than sit in his office commanding the troops, Larry frequently goes out in the field trimming trees or helping a young employee with a lawn care treatment. He has discovered that by working closely with […]

If you’ve ever watched a TV show where a lion is hunting its prey, you will recognize the lion’s common practice of finding the slowest or weakest gazelle and isolating them. Once their prey is isolated, victory is easy. Our enemy also desires to isolate us so that we can be taken down morally, knowing that we are at our […]

In 1 Samuel 25, David and his men needed food. David’s men had been protecting the sheep of a wealthy Jew named Nabal. Therefore, David sent them to ask Nabal for food. In verse 11, Nabal said, “Shall I take my bread and my water and my meat that I have killed for my shearers and give it to men […]

A recent article by Fortune magazine business experts claims, “Many companies will need to rebalance their priorities, making additional resiliency measures as important to their strategic thinking as cost and efficiency.” Resiliency, due to coronavirus, is finding its way to the top of the priority list of strategic plans of businesses across the nation. Resiliency requires a level of flexibility […]

My wife, Kathy, had a disappointing experience with a restaurant server recently. Our server was very pleasant, but he made several significant mistakes. Significant enough that Kathy discussed the issues with him and with his manager. Some managers are rash enough to terminate someone immediately, especially if they’re having a bad day themselves. It made me ponder the best way […]

When I was a young professional, a peer I’ll call Sally began a smear campaign of lies about our boss. Sally’s stated goal was to get our boss fired so that she could replace him. Our boss’ supervisor researched the claims and concluded that Sally had malicious intent and couldn’t be trusted. He concluded that the punishment Sally deserved should […]

One of the challenges we had as an organization during the Covid shutdowns is the impact on our processes. In the office, we had our filing systems and processes readily available. Suddenly, our regular disciplines and routines met a significant distraction when we all began working remotely. It became harder to pass items to the next person in the process. […]

In 1882, the first Labor Day parade was organized by the Central Labor Union. Laborers in that era were forced to work seven days a week for 60 hours or more! Many laborers felt like they were being worked as essential laborers but treated as nonessential. Due to Covid, the government this year declared some workers as essential while others […]

Fortune magazine suggests, “As the coronavirus pandemic reveals or heightens awareness of social fractures, business will be expected to be part of finding long-term solutions.” In an age of “social fractures,” businesses have, once again, an opportunity like never before. Businesses around the world can use the talent and skill and passion to step into the fracture and become a […]

Years ago, I listened as a bank customer became loud and verbally abusive to one of our personal bankers. He said hateful things that crushed her spirit and had her in tears. Greg, our bank president, heard what was going on and intervened. He rebuked the customer, handed the customer a check for the balance in his account, and told […]