Today is about external success vs. internal exhaustion. I see it as an epidemic out there. One of my most successful clients told me something today that shocked me. He said, “I am exhausted by my life.” Not because anything is going badly. His business is doing extraordinarily well. It is growing. It out pacing the benchmarks of others in his industry. Personally, he is financially thriving. He is well respected in his industry and in his community. He is in great shape, an

This week as I consulted with two clients, I was struck by a very common issue with business today. We are controlled by our success, our wealth, our status, etc. I say we because I have been there myself and I can tell you from experience, that you deny that is the case if and when you are confronted with it. This week was no exception. I was hired, in both cases, to tell them what I saw wasn't working with their company. After my initial review, I determined that the system

After four decades of consulting with leaders of businesses, I think one overarching issue has emerged in today’s business world. Leaders are struggling to make fast, high-quality decisions in an environment that is more complex and uncertain than ever. It is not surprising because I see it in life in general. We live in a world of constant uncertainty. There is tradeoff between speed and alignment with what really matters in life. There is a lack of trust—in government, in s

A few weekends ago, my grandson was taken to the emergency room by his parents. He had a fever, and was tired and lethargic. After many tests, the diagnosis was dehydration, growth spurt, possibly too busy, and he needed rest. He and his siblings are so busy. It is kind of the way life was for us when we were raising our boys. And there was a time when I believed that being busy meant that I was doing something right. A full calendar felt like it was progress. Constant moveme

So, today's topic is bad news. It is difficult to find good news anywhere these days. I went to Breakfast Club this morning and everyone wanted to talk about bad news—what a way to start your day! How do we deal with all this bad news? This was the topic that was given to me by the organization that I just did a keynote speech for. Have you ever been around someone who sucks the energy right out of you? Maybe they can’t stop talking about themselves. Or they are not shy about

I need your ideas! But before I ask, I need to tell you a story. About 10 years ago I began making speeches frequently and I had the pleasure of speaking all over the US and Internationally. And in those speeches, I would usually use a baseball story to illustrate some key point. Late in 2016, a man who is a well-known business leader told me that I was a very good speaker but that I should really consider putting my stories in a book. Well, I continued to write stories about

I met with a very successful client this week and he asked me a serious question. He asked, “How much more can I take?” He had just lost the third executive from his team. They all joined one of his competitors. The way he said it made me think that he doesn’t realize that everyone has hardships. Actor and comedian Drew Carey once said, “Just because you’re a celebrity and you have money doesn’t mean that bad things don’t happen to you or you don’t have bad days. Everybody’s

Wow, I have been doing some public speaking which has given me the opportunity to see what others are speaking about. As I do my keynote in these major resort areas, I actually have the opportunity to hear others give theirs. Recently, I listened to one that talked about time blocking, priority management strategies, and margin-building habits (basically steps that you might take). I have listened to several of these keynotes now—it is certainly a trend. But why? They propose

One of my coaching clients is thinking of leaving a very lucrative career in sales to start his own business. Not knowing is very uncomfortable for all of us but it is particularly so for someone like my client. Outside of God giving us step by step instructions or guidance (which is not the usual life experience), we are tempted to just get stuck. When do we stay put? When do we move on? What is it going to look like? Am I prepared financially and emotionally? Is my family o

I have a client who has been hearing some pretty tough things lately. She is a very successful CEO but lately she has been hearing some very negative feedback about herself from her team members. It is not easy to hear others say bad things about, make fun of, or belittle you. And thanks to social media we have millions of talking heads who often have bad things to say about anyone at any given time. Everyone has an opinion on everything, and they are not afraid to express it

I have been consulting with a company for the past few months and many of the organizational issues within the company have been addressed and fixed. But one problem remains and I don’t think it will be solved very soon, because it involves getting companies to work together. The world today seems to be so competitive that even if the companies are not in competition, each feels like they need to “win." Whatever that means. So, in conversation with my client I asked the quest

I visited with one of my coaching clients this week, and I found out that he is a huge baseball fan. I am too! I played the game for a long time, and I coached it for over twenty years. I spent a long time building businesses and merging them, and now I am coaching businesses and CEO's. It got me thinking about baseball and how it relates to business and to life. Baseball starts with a plastic ball, a plastic bat and a backyard that seems like Fenway Park. You don’t know the

I have spent a good part of the last two weeks consulting with clients that are transitioning, selling, or merging their businesses. One of them said to me, It has been a long season." I asked him what he meant by that, and he told me that there are seasons of life and his business has been a long one, but now he is ready to start a new season. It got me thinking about the long season. Eight years ago, we built a new house. To be honest it was a lot of fun to build it. We fou

It seems like worry is everywhere—in the board room, in the office, at home, in the schools, and even in the church. This week as I worked with a consulting client, she worried about AI and how it would effect her business. And a coaching client was worried that his new gig would fail, despite several months of testing it and running it. One client was worried that a new franchise that she purchased would not do well—despite the fact that others who owned the same franchise a

I worked with three consulting clients last week on the same basic issue. Frankly, I didn't expect to be working on the same thing with all three leaders. Fear in the workplace can significantly hinder employee performance and engagement. It often stems from various factors. For example; the culture, the interpersonal dynamics, leadership style, or even change happening on the outside of the organization. A famous industrialist said that if the change on the outside is greate

I heard it again today! I was working in a company with a lead executive when they said it: “The biggest problem I have here is that no one takes ownership.” So, I responded, “Success doesn’t wait for permission. It doesn’t wait for perfect timing. It starts when you stop pointing at conditions and start owning outcomes." The hustle culture that we live in today glorifies hours worked. And that culture is well ingrained in most companies today. But it must go! Leverage beats

I had a consulting gig this week and it caught me off guard. I have to admit, after several decades in this business, I am not used to this. And I never expected to hear it in a business setting. But with AI infiltrating the business setting, I suspect that this may be more and more of a problem. As I sat in the conference room discussing the issues facing this leader, I heard one prevailing thread—loneliness. It is not just a problem in the business world; it is a problem in

It's Ted Tuesday (February 3, 2026!)! It is also the day when 20% of us no longer carry on with our new year's resolution, and another 40% will drop off on April 21. So, I have a question for you: Which number one secular music hit song has the distinction of having the oldest lyrics? The answer is “Turn, Turn, Turn" released by the folk-rock group The Byrds in the early 60s. The song was originally written by Pete Seeger in the late 50s using the words of Ecclesiastes 3:1-8.

A while ago, a plane from Thailand was headed to London. But a fire shut down Heathrow Airport, and London Gatwick Airport was full and could not handle the traffic. The pilot told all the passengers the situation and then added that he didn’t know where they were going to go. The aircraft ended up landing in Brussels. This is not all that uncommon. I have been on a few diverted flights over the years, but it seems like this might be occurring more frequently these days. Per

Recently, my grandson has told me how good he is at something—math, football, baseball, basketball, reading—there is no shortage of confidence. At first, I thought that I should teach him some humility. But then I thought about it some more. Based on some recent research which looked at key leadership issues in over 7,000 organizations and 48,999 leaders, one of the top 20 issues is understanding how others perceive them and recognizing their impact on others –along with impr