I had been to a lot of religious retreats, but never one exclusively for men.  I was arriving exhausted, weary, and pretty much at the end of my rope.  I didn’t have much left in my tank.  The thought of having to muster a bunch of “praise God” or “I’ll pray for you, buddy” or other religious contrivances might have put me over the edge.

I never expected that something so simple and proscriptive could turn out to be such a rescue.  Their simple instruction on the first night allowed me to drop my guard, settle in, and wrestle with God in ways that have changed every day of my life in the 15 years since…

It was ripe for a man like me to get caught in the trap of arrogance.  I am an Enneagram 8, full of self-determination and believing that everything I think is right.  With a high D & I on the DISC scale, I am used to driving to my conclusion and convincing others I am right.  As a buy-side investment manager with billions under my direction, there were a lot of people that wanted to stroke that sense of my being right.

I remember wrestling with the idea that all that stuff I had done or experienced in my past was forgiven.  I guess I bought into the idea that a lot of that stuff could be overlooked, but all of it!? There were things that were so egregious, painful, and defining, that they couldn’t possibly be included in that “get out of hell free card” I was being offered.  Right?

This is my favorite time of year.  Yes, it is a big day in our spiritual calendar and pretty important stuff is celebrated in our faith.  And, I will be with all six children, son & daughter in law, and two grandchildren (with two more on the way in the next few months ).  That is getting rarer as the years pass and I don’t take one moment of it for granted.

But there is something else happening in greater frequency that we are experiencing this time of year.  We are challenging everyone we coach to memorialize this point in time…

Carroll Shelby has been tasked with the impossible: to beat Enzo Ferrari on his home turf.  And not only win but bring the Ford motor company into the limelight as a premier automaker of high-performance racing machines and not just a “big ugly factory” that makes “big ugly cars” as the Ferrari crew seems to believe.

In order to accomplish the impossible, it is going to take doing things unconventional and even uncomfortable.  Ford historically created by committee…

It all started with the desire to help businesses of all sizes have a similar experience to the one our corporate clients were enjoying.  It would require us breaking down the processes and methodology we use to coach larger clients into bite-size, fill in the blank type experiences.  We called it a roadmap.

We’ve spent the last three years refining that process with dozens of clients of all sizes and types.  Once people experienced and got comfortable with the roadmap, they started to suggest other demographics that might benefit as well….

In our frantic pace and overwhelm where everyone seems to be looking for “life hacks” to simplify their lives, this saying has become an increasingly adopted filter.  The genealogy probably goes back to something Jim Collins once said, but what doesn’t (at least in the business leadership world!).

We tell the leaders we work with that when they say “yes” to something, they are saying “no” to a whole list of other things.  For instance, when I say “yes” to additional work, civic duties, or even church responsibilities, I am likely saying “no” to more time with my children, my wife, or maybe even with God. 

While the phrase “less is more” is often associated with the architect and furniture designer Mies Van Der Rohe, it was first coined by Robert Browning in a poem he published in 1855.  The phrase was the birth of a design esthetic tied to the notion that simplicity and clarity lead to good design.  It reminds me of one of my favorite people, Bengie Daniels of Latitude Architects, who creates architecture that is warm, dry, and noble.

This idea became a movement called minimalism that is practiced by minimalists.  And while it has typically been associated with the various areas of design…

I’ve been on mission trips, but I’ve never felt called to be a missionary.  At least in the traditional sense.  

I’ve never felt that I was supposed to be headed, the gospel in hand, to South America, Asia, Africa, or any other foreign destination. I have felt called, however, and even gifted, to challenge, encourage, inspire, coach, and support business leaders.  

I am a fifth-generation entrepreneur.  The generations before me died too young along with their businesses.  Likely, because of their businesses.My desire to help business leaders runs very deep.  My favorite thing we hear our clients say is that they are surprised…

I was in Seattle last year for coach training, and we were paired up with another trainee for a short exercise. The instructions were just to listen to the other person talk about a particular issue and ask curious questions for 20 minutes. That’s it. No fixing, no offering advice, just listening and asking questions when appropriate. 

I was matched up with a guy from Germany. He was an older man with a thick, slow accent. When our time began, he told me all about the several companies he was managing…

We live in a post-honor culture and people feeling the esteem of others is in incredibly short supply.  We work mostly with leaders and the weight they carry is particularly heavy.  Them feeling a sense of honor and nobility in their leadership has incredible ripple effects through their families, their employees, and virtually everyone their leadership comes into contact with.

Getting companies clear on a more inspired future and designing that team that will fulfill that future forces some challenging, but incredibly valuable conclusions.  We create the organizational design of the future without names.  It has only boxes that are occupied by the positions, position agreements, and functions required to accomplish that future.

Then we start mapping the current team to that future.  It requires that you acknowledge so many important things…

By way of full disclosure;  I have never actually experienced a literal snow day.  Meaning, I have never had a day when I couldn’t go to work or the kids couldn’t get to school because of the snow.  That includes the 2 years we lived in Chicago!  Ironically, it would be more likely that school/work would be called off in Texas due to snow given the incredible preparedness of the people in the Windy City.

We have, however, experienced some philosophical “snow days” in our business.  The first was accidental, but the next and everyone in the future will be planned…

Friday night, our little homeschool association played a public school 1A six-man team that was about a three-hour drive from here.  They were so remote that with no dinner options for our folks after the game, the school cafeteria cooks for all their fans, players, and all of ours.

There is visual testimony to their success everywhere (signs, flags, big bold numbers right next to our stands) and they didn’t pull any punches in reminding you audibly as well.  The PA announcer told the crowd…

When I was in the banking investments world, we talked about this phenomena all the time.  Because of the portion of banking I was involved in, we had various securities and banking examiners.  We also had internal and external auditors.  We had risk assessors.  We often said we were on “perma-audit”.  The next one seemed to start even before the last one was finishing.

Like vines overtaking a tree and eventually choking the life out of it.

It was especially frustrating because we worked hard to play by the book and really keep our noses clean.  For example, even after the market crash…

I have a confession to make.  It is a little embarrassing.  There is a phrase I often use at the peak of my frustration.  Maybe it is one of your “go-to” expressions as well.

“I have already told you that a hundred times.”

It is always associated with my disappointment with things not happening as I expected.

Okay, so they say that people need to hear something three times before it resonates.  Marketing firms have long held that it takes seven times before a prospective client will take action…

Our E-Myth coaching certification taught us that there were three conditions required in order for change to occur:

1. A person had to be in pain (meaning they don’t like their situation)

2. They need to be motivated to make changes

3. They have to be coachable

You might be saying “duh” to all that, but it is not as much of a given as you might think.  What we find is…

Our tribe is relatively small compared to some others.  While our leaders represent thousands of employees, they are only several dozen strong.  Small allows for some great advantages.  We know all of them very well and they know each other similarly.

We celebrate their successes.

We rally aggressively in their times of trial.

Well, most of the time.  Our ability to help someone is conditional to several crucial things…