I recently wrote about an incident that occurred at a Marriott and my arranging for a ride to the airport. The driver in that story is a nice young man named Joseph. He was in a tough spot, his manager and the meeting planner made a change in plans that directly conflicted with the specific […]
Tag Archives: life lessons
Embracing the Black Swan
One of the early peaks in my Grounded keynote is where I am describing my reaction in 1979 to not seeing the Bahamas Islands where they should have been. I go on to describe this as a “black swan” event, something that is totally unexpected. I have a worksheet that I use for the attendees […]
Prepare and Launch
Recently I spoke a keynote on Grounded, at the campus of Tennessee Tech University in Cookeville TN. This keynote a part of their executive presenter series for the Business School. Dr. Thomas Payne is the Dean of the Business School, and he knew about me from my speaking for the Tennessee Bankers Association. He was […]
The Power of Books
The other day, I was at a large payments conference in Phoenix Arizona. This conference was put on by NACHA and is attended by the executive management of all of the countries regional payments associations. I had recently delivered a keynote address for WACHA, one of the regional associations, based in Wisconsin, and I had […]
A Grounded Moment at the Hotel
I was speaking today at the Marriott Madison West in Madison Wisconsin. My keynote was to end at 4:45, but I was anticipating that it might start late and thus end late. I had another keynote the next day and needed to make a 6:45 flight at the airport. So in advance, I checked […]
Can Two Wrongs Make a Right?
I know a bit about sailboats. Powerboats? Not so much. I own a 23’ Proline center console, fishing boat, which I keep at a marina in the panhandle of Florida. I recently decided to move the boat from one marina to another one about 75 miles away but closer to our home in South Georgia. […]
Brainstorming: How to Respond, Not React
I was recently reading about Seal Training Tips (check out SEAL SURVIVAL GUIDE: A Navy SEAL’s Secrets to Surviving Any Disaster – Gallery Books by author Cade Courtley). One of the techniques they teach SEALs is to think through scenarios that might occur and then process through what their response would be in that situation. For […]
Navy SEALs on Leadership: The Importance of Being Grounded
Recently, I viewed an extremely powerful video on Facebook showing two Navy SEAL veterans talking about what limiting factors determine whether an individual is a good leader or not. The video is a little over two minutes long, check it out here: [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Sqr-Ksn8Lg&w=640&h=360] So what do these longtime SEALs say about what qualities […]
Your Discomfort Zone
I gave a keynote address today in Madison, Wisconsin for the Wisconsin Bankers Association. This particular keynote was called “Who Moved My Customers?”, and it highlights a growing issue that banks face of low in-branch visits. Basically, due to the rise of the virtual branch and mobility, fewer people “have” to go to a bank […]
High Class High Regard
One of the Grounded In traits is regard for others. Now, most people think this simply incorporates being altruistic; being a decent human being. Not to say I do not think you should be those things. However, there is also other positive byproducts of keeping a high regard for others. Let me give you an […]