From the Boardroom to the Living Room: Lessons in Leadership from the Heart of My Home
In the prime of my career as a COO of a leading Atlanta CPA firm, life handed me an unexpected leadership challenge: overseeing the well-being of my aging parents, who moved in with my family. This transition brought with it lessons in leadership, management, and business acumen that went beyond the corporate walls. Shifting to…
Crafting Business and Life Plans: A Seamless Strategy for the Future
Do you often wonder how many business plans you have? Most professionals have at least one, primarily focused on their work. Have you ever considered the bigger picture—your life plan? Crafting Your Path Forward Let’s draw inspiration from Mary Oliver, who tells us to pay attention to the details, find pleasure in the little things,…
Are You a Loyal Dissenter?
Business leaders are most effective when surrounded by loyal dissenters. Motivation, when unbalanced, can upend the best corporate strategy, leaving a management trail of failed plans and unattainable goals. From Harvard Business Review: “…you can’t be an effective leader in business, politics, or society unless you encourage those around you to speak their minds, to…
Make a Difference by Unleashing Your Potential to Achieve Greatness
The companies I worked with provided me with some of the best training of my career. The training was only sometimes technical; it focused on me. My favorite activity was learning the whole job concept. The whole job concept is looking at what you do beyond the obvious. For example, how does what you do…
Quieting Your Inner Judge
Each of us has an inner judge that talks to us daily, and its mind chatter can be debilitating. I’ve learned a technique that quiets my brain so I can think more clearly and turn down the volume of my inner judge. The technique is self-command. Check out these examples of PQ Gym exercises courtesy…
What Are Your Strengths?
As a 5 ft 4 in basketball player, I knew my strengths would be better served in another role. While there was the thrill of sinking 3-pointers, I realized early on that my height was a disadvantage, and I needed to explore other options to pursue my passion. Passion for what you love to do…
Is Your Company an Employer of Choice?
There is much competition for talent. How do you make your business an employer of choice? As a former COO, this concern is not new, especially as our industry’s reputation was sometimes less attractive than others. We have unique barriers to entry, including long hours, billable time tracking, difficult promotion tracks, and higher education requirements.…
Revolutionize Your Business
It’s no secret that building a people pipeline is difficult. Is it harder today, or have people changed? Are we more cash-flush? Have we returned to the days of the ‘one wage earner’ per family? Has inflation been wiped out so our purchase power is maximized? Do we treat our people at least as well…
Pursue your Passions with Fervor and Dedication
When you began your career, were you filled with anticipation and exhilaration at the possibilities that lie ahead? Of course you were! This is likely true regardless of when you started your career and to which generation you belong. The future is still bright, and what lies ahead is mostly up to each of us…
Where Technology & Mental Health Meet
We live in a world of speed, where fast is the expectation. Gone are the days when tools such as the typewriter, Dictaphone, teletype, mail, and payphone slowed us down. Can you imagine a world without email or your mobile phone? Communication was slow, and you had to wait for it. It’s a cliché to…
Get Ready for Future Challenges & Opportunities
I recently read a bold statement by Angelique Rewers: “AI will be the greatest disruption to the business world – and to life in general – that we’ve seen thus far in human history.” That got me thinking about those just starting their careers and also about mid-career business professionals in their 40s and 50s.…
Move On to Better Things
Each morning I spend time reading something inspirational. Sometimes my spouse and I will pick a book to read together in the morning and discuss it before we launch into our day. As a young adult, I was introduced to the writings of Napoleon Hill. While my dad was a follower (the book “Think and…
Reduce Quit Rates with a Sense of Community
As a business leader, you are responsible for establishing, promoting and embracing your organization’s culture. In business, it is often said that people do not leave organizations, they leave their bosses. People leave jobs they find fulfilling because they no longer trust, or have faith, in the company’s leadership. Betterworks’ research on unhappy employees says…
Think Critically to Identify Truth from Fiction
How can you tell if someone is lying? Do you have an internal truth-o-meter that sends you alarm bells when something seems off? I am often fascinated by how many people take what they hear at face value without digging a bit deeper to validate the information. Your values and who you are as a…
Learn to Excel in Relationship Mastery
I just returned from a vacation, the first real one where I got to go away and relax since February 2020. This trip was exceptional for personal reasons and ranked at the top in the column, “savor the memories; the stars were aligned.” From a business perspective, each day was a reminder of the power of…
Diagnostics are Useless Unless They Spur Action
The other day, in response to a diagnostic score, I was asked, “is this normal?” There are often benchmarks associated with diagnostics, but I had not given much thought to what is normal and avoid looking at things in absolute terms. In the last 10 years, there has been a proliferation of business diagnostics designed…
Quiet Your Inner Judge
At what point does your work experience peak, and you start to question where to go next? In our 20s and 30s, the race is on to learn as much as possible to hone our craft and practice it daily. When we reach our 40s, we are at middle age, by today’s social security projections…
Attitude Impacts Job Performance
I believe a person’s attitude plays a significant role in how well they perform their job. While you can attempt to mask your feelings, ultimately, those feelings come through in your performance. As a business leader, how aware are you of a person’s attitude? When do you realize something is amiss with your attitude or…
Open Your Mind to Other Perspectives
Our stories are based on our reality. It’s impractical to approach leadership strategies and management decisions from one point of view. However, what our brains see may often not be reality. For example, 5 years ago, I bought a white car. Occasionally when I looked at that car, I questioned if it was white. It…
What Sparks Your Curiosity?
As a kid, I learned much about curiosity from my twin brother, Rick. We were too young to verbalize much; it was just through his actions that I was motivated to be curious as well. During our childhood, we left no stone unturned. Curiosity has served me well throughout my life. I’ve learned that curiosity…