I found myself in an unfortunate place this past week, on an early morning flight from Nashville to Seattle in order to get to the hospital to see my father who was unexpectedly fighting for his life. Dad put up a brave fight but died peacefully on Friday afternoon. M. Wayne Blair of Bainbridge Island, Washington was…
Late last Thursday, after a good day with our leadership team focused on finishing the year strong, I was one of a number of recipients of an email from a teammate at one of our sites expressing significant concern about how things are going at GreenPoint. It was several pages and was blunt. They had…
My thoughts this week center around belonging – about why and how we create a sense of belonging throughout our organizations and teams. Belonging is one of those touchy-feely words which can often make some nervous (the whole “Real men don’t talk about their feelings” so many of us are spending time trying to unlearn),…
My thoughts today are about Mother’s Day and all the moms out there, working at home, chasing a career, or doing both. My favorite high school teacher, Anne Johansson, once said, “Feminism will be successful when a woman can choose to have a career or to stay at home to raise a family and be…
Through some scheduling changes, last Tuesday afternoon, I found myself with a block of time with nothing on the calendar. I was tempted to jump back into my normal pattern of catching up on emails and tackling my long “TO DO” list. Perhaps because I had just finished a long Zoom call and the thought…
Have you ever felt like you’re playing in a game rigged against you? It doesn’t take much reading of the news these days to feel like the deck is stacked. I had the pleasure of listening to both Oakland A’s General Manager, Billy Beane, and Michael Lewis, the author of the book, Moneyball, talk about…
As we turn to celebrate Earth Day, I’d like to make the argument that if you really want to save the rainforests, use more fertilizer….and GMOs….and today’s modern crop protection. With the world’s population expected to reach between 9 and 10 billion by 2050, to feed ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren, we have a…
“It’s the thing no one sees that leads to the results that everyone wants.” Craig Groeschel I was driving home from a customer meeting this past week listening to Craig Groeschel’s leadership podcast. Craig was interviewing Jamie Kern Lima, founder of It Cosmetics (She’s amazing…Episode 107…I’m just saying). The topic was the challenges young businesses face scaling up. At…
Everyone has a monkey mind. Like the Curious George of our childhoods, our monkey mind is always playing, wandering off, and often getting us into trouble. Some peoples’ monkey minds think about the past, ruminating over missed opportunities, real or perceived slights, or how they might have done something different. Others like me focus on…
Our company recently hit a key safety milestone. We’re far from perfect but we’re making progress. As our team discussed ways to celebrate, I was reminded of my time as a peacekeeper with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment in 1999 and how hard we worked just to make sure nothing happened. My thoughts this week…
