For most of us, the start-up phase of our business involved a lot of fear. Speaking for myself, I was terrified that I couldn’t make a living. That every client that hired me would be the last. Or someone would figure out that I was making this whole thing up as I went. That makes…
You might have heard a lot about this concept of Founder Mode recently. (If you haven’t, count yourself lucky, delete this email, and get back to work. You’re living right!) The term grew from a post by Paul Graham about a talk that Brian Chesky gave at a Y-Combinator event. (Again, if you don’t know who those people are or what…
I’ve come to see that the only problem anyone ever has is believing things that aren’t true. ~ Steve Chandler As I talked to this agency owner about growth, she was getting fired up!1 “How much do you think I can grow in the next 12 months? Could I double my fees? Could I triple…
“…the strength of the pack is the Wolf and the strength of the Wolf is the pack.” ~ from Rudyard Kipling’s The Second Jungle Book Those who know me would tell you about my focus on improving daily. I strive to improve my craft, become a better listener, and grow in my ability to lead myself and influence…
When I was six years old, and my father was teaching me to ride a bike, we lived on a street with a big tree right in the middle of it. There was plenty of room to drive around it on either side, but the road was paved right up to the tree with no…
There was a day you decided to start that business. On that day, you had no idea what you were getting yourself into. You just began, and when obstacles came, you learned how to get over or around them to keep moving forward. Since that day, you haven’t stopped. You have consistently taken steps toward…
Last week, we talked about how I attempt to gather all my “parts” before I enter into a high-stakes conversation, especially if there’s potential for hurt feelings or nuance that might be missed. I do that because I need my analytical mind, spidey-sense, bridge-builder people skills, and hard-nosed business skills; I need all of them…
I like to think of myself as being a coherent whole person, but that description isn’t fully accurate. I’ve got some parts. (I’m betting you have some too.) On the one hand, I’ve got a very analytical, rational, and logical side—that part of me that loved calculus and engineering, who turns everything into a puzzle…
“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.” ~ John Quincy Adams Reading this made me wonder, by Adams’ definition, how am I doing as a leader? Dream More Learn more Do more Become More There’s nothing more valuable to a company, or that…
I’ve been thinking and reading about leadership lately. Specifically, I’m trying to more clearly articulate what I mean when I say, “Better humans make better leaders.” What does “better” mean in that sentence? Mature? Enlightened? Capable? These words have the same problem. What do they mean? How do you measure them? So, I’ve started to…
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