My wife, Kathy, and I recently toured the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. Occasionally, you hear of a politician that was well-loved. President Lincoln, on the other hand, was well-hated. Most southerners hated Lincoln, resulting in immediately after President Lincoln’s election, the southern states seceded from the Union. In Washington DC, the political establishment hated him. Even many slaves and former ...
The week of the NATO Summit, the Wall Street Journal displayed a picture of fourteen world leaders staring into the sky, observing NATO aircraft flying above. Thirteen career politicians were all angled to their left, while the one business person, Donald Trump, was angled opposite of the group, and pointed to the right. This picture is symbolic of the different ...
Always be in beta mode. Michael Hyatt refers to being in beta mode as a metaphor for not waiting to be perfect but be in the mode of continually improving. This concept is the key component of a champion. For example, in nearly all great athlete’s stories is the idea that they were always trying to get better. They were ...
Harland Sanders had a life full of challenges. Vocationally, Sanders tried the Army, being a blacksmith, a life insurance salesman, and even as a lawyer. Sanders started multiple businesses, but most failed. At 65 years old, Sanders persevered to make one last attempt to use his God-given gift of cooking! By the time he was 73, Colonel Sanders had 600 ...
Former NFL quarterback, Neal Jeffrey, is a stutterer. When he tried to call a play in his early football days, his speech often would become stuck, resulting in delay of game penalties. Neal’s coach came up with a creative solution. One of Neal’s teammates began calling the plays in the huddle for Neal and the fullback would call out the ...
Phil Vischer, creator of VeggieTales, shared with my wife and I that when VeggieTales videos began having success, he had a dream. His dream was that God was anointing him to be the next Walt Disney for the Christian community. He didn’t realize it at the time, but Phil’s dream eventually became an idol. Phil summarized for us what he ...
According to David Blight’s book, “Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory,” May 1, 1865 was the first Memorial Day. On that date, 10,000 people gathered in Charleston, South Carolina, mostly freedmen, to honor those Civil War soldiers who died to free them from slavery. Blight wrote, “African Americans invented Memorial Day in Charleston, South Carolina. What you ...
Frequently I receive calls from young people who have new business ideas. The excitement of youthful leaders tends to lend itself to chasing fantasies. The most successful businesses, however, are the ones who take their new idea, develop a plan and work that plan diligently. There’s a distinct difference between focused entrepreneurs who have a new idea and creative people ...
My friend, Rick, shared some exciting news! His wife had been asked to give the commencement address at this year’s Business School graduation ceremony for a major university! Rick went on to say, “Denise has given many important speeches and I’ve never seen her nervous. But this time she’s nervous.” I pondered several reasons why this talk might have her ...
During my childhood my mother worked outside the home full-time and somehow managed to raise five kids. With that as a backdrop, when I married Kathy, I assumed she would always work outside the home as well. She did, until we discovered that my son, Jeremy, had autism and needed more help than a daycare could provide. Kathy’s new vocational ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
