On December 11th, I had a Grounded keynote address in Birmingham for PaymentsFirst, a non-profit payments association. My talk was not until 1:15, so I was chillin’ in the vendor area and I noticed a shoeshine station. It turns out PaymentsFirst had sponsored free shoe shines. I decided I would love a shoe shine and walked […]
Monthly Archives: December 2015
Always have a plan
Sailing is an exciting adventure and, for the most part, you have the seas to yourself. No matter how many boats are out in the ocean, the ocean is always vastly larger. But when you are coming into or out of an anchorage, there are a lot of boats in a tight space and you […]
My great nephew: A Young, Grounded Millennial
I had lunch today with my great nephew. He is thirteen years old and lives in the San Diego area with his parents and an older sister. He is a soccer fanatic and pretty good player. And he’s Grounded. He is articulate, well read, inquisitive, and extremely courteous. He asks questions–really, really good questions. Questions that make me […]
This holiday season, give the gift of love!
During the Holiday Season, its easy to get wrapped up in gifts, parties, and football playoffs. Just remember that there are people who are less fortunate and in need. Or just lonely. Don’t skip the gift giving and office/football parties but act “Grounded” and find someone that may be alone or hungry and bring them […]
Navy Seals discuss Good Leadership
I viewed an extremely powerful video from Facebook, check it out here. The video shows two Navy Seal veterans talking about the qualities that make one a good leader. You might think the difference between a good and a poor leader is mental toughness or lack of physical ability. Nope––not even close. In the video, they […]
What made you happy today?
I saw this sign today in a diner in central North Carolina: I understand the sentiment of the sign, but I immediately thought how small and limiting it would be if you in fact adopted that attitude. Assuming you sleep for eight hours, you have 57,600 seconds of time each day. And you are probably doing something […]
On Being Grounded
What’s the first thing you think of when you hear the word “grounded”? Perhaps you hear a parent saying to a teenager, “You are so grounded, young man!” Or maybe you think of a ship running aground, as in, “The captain of the Costa Concordia grounded the ship on the rocks off Tuscany.” But grounded […]
Being Fearless
I read a great post from Mike Brown in his blog, Brainzooming, about “hustling” and how it ties directly back into individual leadership. A hustler is defined by Merriam Webster as “an enterprising person determined to succeed; a go getter.” Mike Brown asks the question, “are you a hustler?” My first reaction was negative. We tend to think of […]
Have a great attitude and you won’t get chopped
I love to cook and am addicted to the Food Network show “Chopped.” Each episode, four contestants get a mystery basket of ingredients and have a short window of time to transform the often-mismatched contents of the basket into a delicacy. After they make their dishes, they face three judges who sample and comment on their work. […]
Effective Communication Makes All the Difference
I was recently on a Southwest Airlines flight from Minneapolis, MN, to Atlanta, GA. We left the gate and taxied out, but wound up waiting on the tarmac for ten minutes or so. Then the plane’s engines revved up, and we all thought we would be taking off. But instead, we returned to the gate. Uh […]