Years ago, Dean purchased his father’s company and took over the day-to-day leadership. Dean shared with me his fears about whether he would be able to lead his father’s company as successfully as his father. He also expressed fear that the wealth he was coming into might tempt him into actions he would later regret. Fortunately, Dean overcame his fear ...
After many years working in the communications department, I was promoted to lead the team. I was ecstatic. Finally, I could pursue the projects I wanted in the way that I wanted. But my immaturity quickly tripped me up. I launched changes that confused and upset team members and did little more than advance my own ego. It took ...
King Josiah discovered the Word of God. It had been lost in the temple for years. After studying the scrolls Josiah was grieved at how far his people had strayed. It was time for a new beginning. In 2 Kings 23:3 we read, “The king stood by the pillar and renewed the covenant in the presence of the LORD—to follow ...
Likely one of the first American business coaches was a Paxtuxet Indian named Squanto. You may remember the first Thanksgiving story from your childhood. In 1621, the Pilgrims were dying from hunger and disease. Squanto, an escaped slave that understood English, coached these struggling settlers on how to build a farming and fishing enterprise in this new country. Even though ...
My cousin, Jack, negotiated with a hotel manager to host our family reunion. The manager agreed to waive the banquet room rental fee if enough of our family rented hotel rooms. Unfortunately, we didn’t meet his expectations. The manager was inclined to waive the fee anyway, until one of his investors demanded that we get charged for the room. Although ...
Unfortunately, our nation’s history includes seasons when laborers have been abused and oppressed. In the 1880s that was the case as the railroad barons required laborers to work on average 60 hours a week. When one individual feels they’re being abused, it’s hard for that one person to individually overcome their employer’s demands. But when abused workers stand collectively, they ...
Moses was allocating land to each tribe of Israel, but one tribe had no sons to accept the inheritance. The daughters of this tribe felling unfairly treated complained about being left with nothing. God could have just resolved this one problem, but he knew that similar situations would arise. So God solved the problem and established a policy. God ...
When I was a banker I worked with hundreds of small businesses, most of whom never had a budget for their business. They sometimes pulled together projections to obtain a loan, but they rarely used them for comparison purposes later. Although a budget is simply a tool to help you compare your original expectations to your actual results, it ...
Years ago, a banking customer of mine owned a chain of three retail stores. The owner assigned each of his two sons one store to manage while his third store was assigned to Ron, a close friend of his sons. By far, the best managed store was the one led by Ron. I recommended that the owner leverage Ron’s ...
Scooters Coffee franchisee, Tracy Bouwens, shared with our network about her transition from being a stay-at-home mom to owning her first Scooters store. She hired a new employee, gave her a Scooters uniform, and instructed her to start work on Monday. On Monday, the employee arrived but wasn’t wearing her uniform. Tracy considered possible reasons for her disobedience and ...
Equipping Others to Do Work Differently
