When I was a banker, I inherited a loan to a lumber yard with multiple locations. This company was losing significant amounts of money and asked me to increase their line of credit. After examining their situation, I realized that more money wasn’t going to solve their problem. They needed to address many underlying management and leadership issues. So, I ...
Jack had a problem. One of his top salesmen was stirring up trouble, again. This salesman was a know-it-all that was constantly being argumentative with the rest of the team. Jack and I discussed possible solutions. But, when we discussed terminating his salesman if it didn’t get any better, Jack became anxious. “He’s my top salesperson. I don’t think I ...
Sally began by sharing, “I have an employee I need to fire.” After gaining understanding, I asked Sally if her employee was aware of her concerns. She said “no.” Finally, I asked, “If you terminated him today would he be blindsided?” Sally thoughtfully answered “yes.” Sally owed it to her employee to clearly communicate her expectations for his job and ...
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 ...
Imagine riding your bicycle. When you begin picking up speed, something happens to cause you to come to a full stop, forcing you to start over. In most workplaces, this goes on regularly, when we stop to review incoming emails or attend to distractions. Author, Mauro Thomas, believes there are three things that can help us overcome distractions. Become aware ...
In the Bible, the qualities of a good shepherd are similar to six qualities Jim Collins identified as Level 5 Leaders in his book, “Good to Great.” The fourth quality is to “develop discipline.” Jim Collins wrote about what he called an “indomitable will” in great leaders. These leaders were extremely disciplined and persevered through any trials in order to ...
Although many employees leave work early on New Year’s Eve, some businesses require harder work at the end of the year. When I was a banker, I occasionally had to help customers finance their purchase of a business or major equipment before the tax year ended, making New Year’s Eve a long work day. When you’re surrounded by many who ...
Years ago, I owned a consulting practice. There were seasons when I had engagements that kept me very busy. It was easy to get comfortable because I had cash flow. But when engagements would end, I realized that I hadn’t invested the time necessary to fill the pipeline for the future. Candidly, it was due to a lack of discipline ...
At the time of writing this article, unemployment claims hit a 50-year low. There are now more jobs available than we have people to fill them. With strong employment it would be a great time for consumers to pay down their debt, freeing themselves from bondage. Instead, the American Banker claims household debt hit a record high exceeding $13.5 trillion ...
Rick Betenbough, founder of Betenbough Homes, recently told some business leaders that God fired Moses. Rick pointed out that according to Deuteronomy 34, Moses was still in good health even at 120 years old. But because Moses dishonored God, he was removed from his position of leading the Israelites into the Promised Land and replaced by Joshua. In Deuteronomy 32 ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
