Laughter as medicine
Waking up in Chicago, jet-lagged from a late arrival, I hear my 11 month old granddaughter screeching and crawling to her sister’s room. I jump out of bed fearing my daughter and son-in-law were overwhelmed and run upstairs to find the kids playing a game the 11 month old invented. She was screeching and crawling […]
Seasons
Visiting Chicagoland just before Labor Day, everyone was taking their last trip to the waterpark, visiting the beach before it closes, and planning for the fall. Someone on the street was talking about Halloween decorations. At the same time in LA, we are bracing ourselves for the hottest time of the year. September to early […]
Learners stay young
Sometimes it is kinda fun at a dinner party to just sit back and listen to the conversations going on around you. On one side, there may a jousting competition of who gets to talk more, who throws the funniest barb. On another side, there is an earnest discussion of who will go to the […]
Make more money
I was meeting with a business owner the other day, and we had a conversation we have had several times before: How can they make more money? Does this sound like you? They are investing in more people, they are opening more locations, and they have more sales. Isn’t that pretty sweet? AND, their bottom […]
The dog days of summer
Ugh! I’m tired of the heat and it is barely August. August came in July. Does that mean September will come now? Well, the fires have already started. That used to be a September thing. Last night the neighbors were in the pool until well past midnight. Why not? We all need to cope. Complaining […]
The gift of an introduction
For people living in Los Angeles, introductions can be like the currency of belonging or prestige in one of our main industries – film. streaming. tv. This is not as true in manufacturing or distribution – or many of the industries our Vistage members play in. Yes, we have Hollywood but we also have LA-Long […]
Assume positive intent
Fraught conversations with people who do not feel safe is something we all have experienced since childhood. In order to protect ourselves, we prepare to be verbally savaged. We stay awake at night planning retorts or revenge. Having a skillful verbal retort gets us some space to think and creates a momentary protective shield. Wait, […]
“Wordle” it
Do you know about or are you addicted to playing wordle? It is a NY Times owned game that you can access for free that asks you to guess what 5 letter word they have in mind in 6 or fewer tries. You can only play it once each 24 hours and it takes less […]
Plan tight, process loose
Creating and then executing a strategic plan is not a simple thing. It is at the heart of long term organizational success. Yet, we get distracted by the day-to-day, by the bumps in the road, detours, changes of team members, disruption in cash flow, etc. Still, we must get back to the plan and its […]
Unwinding
Hard driving business leaders find it extremely difficult to unwind. Give them quiet time and their minds race with all they must get done. Many have embraced meditation or mindful breathing for short periods multiple times a day. If you are doing this, your future self thanks you. It is this daily practice that will […]