In this series, we are looking at five traits common to successful entrepreneurs and how unconventional business leaders should approach each. Today’s trait is Compassionate Empathy. The definition of empathy is "the ability to identify with or understand another's situation or feelings." Compassion is "deep awareness of the suffering of another accompanied by the wish to relieve it." Empathy involves ...
In this series, we are looking at five traits common to successful entrepreneurs and how unconventional business leaders should approach each. Successful entrepreneurs see how the world is changing and how that creates opportunities and challenges, and from that they develop a strategy for how they can create value for their stakeholders in the midst of this turmoil. Unfortunately, many ...
Leading up to the first Labor Day celebration in the 1880s, a typical workweek was 10 hours a day, six to seven days a week. It wasn’t until 1938 when a 44-hour work week was mandated with overtime pay for over 44 hours. Changes came when employees were in great demand or had a better bargaining position because of labor ...
Some 57% of United States and Canadian workers reported feeling stress on a daily basis, up by eight percentage points from the prior year. United States workers rank as the most stressed workers on the planet. There is hope, however. Faith at Work: An Empirical Study administered by Gallup asked over 7000 responders if their faith helps to guide them ...
Do you ever pause to consider other people’s perception of your leadership style, your personality, or your behaviors? One challenging area of leadership is self-awareness. Sometimes for me, self-awareness comes through my wife. She can point out things about me, and how others receive me, that may not be easy to hear, but are necessary. For example, sometimes my unemotional ...
When we host events, there are so many moving parts that inevitably we know there will be problems that surface the day of the event. That’s why when the event is over, it can be challenging for us to spend much time dwelling on the successes. Instead, we tend to dwell on our mistakes. Personally, I would like to do ...
“Stakeholder capitalism” encourages companies to be run for the benefit of all stakeholders, including customers, suppliers, employees, investors and communities. But what is a CEO to do when different stakeholders have different priorities? In today’s world, different stakeholders demand attention for the environment, racial injustice, and political issues, while expecting you to still run a profitable company. For Biblically grounded ...
Recently, Kathy and I had the opportunity to tour the facilities of Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa. One of the more impressive parts of the tour was witnessing the thought given to developing efficient processes in all parts of this enormous plant. Vermeer’s pursuit of continuous improvement has no bounds. They even chose to analyze the processes around their company ...
When Dan became a medical director, he had big dreams of making changes to the hospital’s processes and procedures. His recommendations were so radical that one of his peers urged him to reconsider. Dan’s friend was confident that Dan’s unconventional approaches would result in Dan’s termination. But Dan had a secret weapon. Dan married into an extremely wealthy family. Dan ...
If you’re like me, you have likely allowed words to escape your lips that have caused far greater harm to someone else than you considered. A word of gossip, or a critical word, can undermine the credibility or reputation of the one you mentioned. When we learn of something said about us personally, it can cut us to the core, ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
