Vision Accomplished

Many of you know that over five years ago a vision was established. My daughter Morgan and I committed ourselves to summiting the 46 high peaks of the Adirondacks in upstate New York. On July 26, 2013, we summited the first of those high peaks: Cascade Mountain. We had no idea what was ahead of us or exactly…

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The Great Eight: Commitment

(This post was first published here on August 15, 2016.) In Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he lists five characteristics of a dysfunctional team. One of those five is “the lack of commitment.” When people have not had the opportunity to air their opinion or challenge others, they often do not have the…

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The Great Eight: Common Goals

(This post was first published here on August 8, 2016.)  Imagine you are running a race. All the runners gather together, stretching muscles, bouncing on the balls of their feet to warm up, drinking a last few sips of water, popping in their earbuds. The loudspeaker fires up to give the final warning, the starting gun…

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Putting It Out There

My fellow leaders, I’ve put it out there and I can’t take it back. Too many people know. Too many have heard. I’ve talked about it too many times. There is no turning back. And I do have some fears. What if we don’t make it? What if the current favorable conditions change? What is she gets pregnant? What if there is a downturn…

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Time Flies (Away)

(This post is written for alumni of LEAD 365, although all are welcome to read it.) I’m supposed to be in New York visiting a friend right now. Instead, I’m sitting in my Grand Rapids home office writing this post with a new understanding of the risks of flying super low-cost airlines during hurricane season. Travel…

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The Great Eight: Commitment

(This post is written for alumni of LEAD 365, although all are welcome to read it.) In Patrick Lencioni’s The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, he lists five characteristics of a dysfunctional team. One of those five is “the lack of commitment.” When people have not had the opportunity to air their opinion or challenge others,…

Read More

The Great Eight: Common Goals

(This post is written for alumni of LEAD 365, although all are welcome to read it.) Imagine you are running a race. All the runners gather together, stretching muscles, bouncing on the balls of their feet to warm up, drinking a last few sips of water, popping in their earbuds. The loudspeaker fires up to give…

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Purpose, Vision, and Values

(This post is written for alumni of LEAD365, although all are welcome to read it.) Today we are reposting a blog post that first appeared here November 23, 2015.  Mission and purpose are two words we often use interchangeably. Purpose answers the question “why do we exist?” For individuals and organizations, having a clearly developed…

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Leading Change: Pulling It All Together

(This post is written for alumni of LEAD 365, although all are welcome to read it.) When we began this LEAD 365 alumni blog six months ago, we had some intentional objectives: Provide you with some review of the content you experienced in LEAD 365. Provide you with some new content being covered in the…

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What Not To Forget

(This post is written for alumni of LEAD365, although all are welcome to read it.) I recently had a coaching session with the CEO of a West Michigan Company. In preparation for the session, I had accessed the website of the company.  Not surprisingly the website contained the mission, or purpose statement, of the company as…

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