“A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned” Benjamin Franklin “Too many people spend money they haven't earned, to buy things they don't want, to impress people that they don't like.” Will Rogers I was shaped by the values of my parents. My father grew up on a farm in Iowa and survived both the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. Life was so hard on the farm that he ran away at the age of 16 and joined the US Army to fight WW II. He fought in North Africa in WW II, then stayed in the m

“It happens; incompetence is rewarded more often than not.” Jeff Lindsay, Darkly Dreaming Dexter “Never give a clown too many balls to juggle.” Will Leamon I was a victim of “cancel culture”. In the beginning I wasn’t even aware it was happening. I went from being the second in command of a non-profit to being completely removed from that organization in less than 6 weeks! If you haven’t read the story, you can find it beginning on my October 14 post. Had I realized I was bei

“The most dangerous irony is, people are angry with others because of their own incompetence.” Amit Kalantri, Wealth of Words “Secrecy breeds incompetence because where there is failure, failure is kept secret.” Julian Assange I was a victim of “cancel culture”. In the beginning I wasn’t even aware it was happening. I went from being the second in command of a non-profit to being completely removed from that organization in less than 6 weeks! If you haven’t read the story, yo

“The problem with incompetence is its inability to recognize itself.” Orrin Woodward “When success and incompetence meet, disaster is not far away.” Robert Kiyosaki I was a victim of “cancel culture”. In the beginning I wasn’t even aware it was happening. I went from being the second in command of a non-profit to being completely removed from that organization in less than 6 weeks! I have been an executive in a large organization for almost two decades, so that was quite an i

“A campaign ought to demonstrate the basic human decency of the candidate. That means your First Amendment rights end at the tip of your opponent's nose - even in the matter of political rhetoric.” Mike Pence “It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.” H. L. Mencken Cancel culture is part of our society now. You can’t just disagree with someone

“This is the culture of the micro-aggression, where people literally seek out opportunities to be offended....Victim status is so desirable that it's constantly faked or exaggerated, and claims that one is not a victim are met with indignation.” David French “He knew how much pride his people took him being forever misunderstood.” Davis Bunn, Lion of Babylon Cancel culture is part of our society now. You can’t just disagree with someone; you must destroy them. A friend and I

"Cancel culture is not actually about justice. It is about control. People use cancellation to force conformity to ideals.” Teal Swan “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.” President Barrack Obama I got canceled. I wasn’t even aware that it was occurring, but it happened. I am a seasoned executive who has traveled all over the world working complex and challenging issues. I have led complicated projects and have participated

“People. They're not all bad, but do you really want to risk it? Perhaps that was the unofficial motto of the Soviet Union...” Dmitry Dyatlov “And thus, the pendulum must swing right to correct what is wrong so that it can in turn swing back when all that is wrong will be blamed on those who are right.” Volker G. Fremuth If you are working from home, the past several months are beginning to take on a “Groundhog Day” feel. Every workday feels almost exactly like the next. You

“I thrive in structure. I drown in chaos.” Anna Kendrick, Scrappy Little Nobody “Structure significantly influences behavior, thereby dramatically impacting results.” Chris Hutchinson, Ripple: A Field Manual for Leadership that Works People need structure. The alarm clock goes off and the ritual begins! We turn off the alarm, get the coffee started and take a quick shower. We take care of our grooming needs, pick the right outfit for the day, and head out the door ready for b

"Remote work is the future of work." Alexis Ohanian, Reddit "You can never over-communicate enough as a leader at a company, but at a remote company, nothing could be truer. Because you don't physically see people in-person, information doesn't spread in the same way, so leaders need to do the heavy lifting for evangelizing the message." Claire Lew, Know Your Team On Friday, January 31, 2020, officials from the US Government officially announced “Foreign nationals other than

“Overthinking is not a disease; it is due to the underuse of your creative power.” Amit Ray, Meditation: Insights and Inspirations “Your feelings might seem overwhelming but they are not your entirety: you are more and beyond what they can overwhelm.” Dr. Jacinta Mpalyenkana, PhD, MBA I have a confession to make. My stomach hurts all the time and I am beginning to have trouble sleeping. I should be thriving during this pandemic! I am resilient by nature and my employer has do

“One believes things because one has been conditioned to believe them.” Aldous Huxley, Brave New World “Without education, we are in a horrible and deadly danger of taking educated people seriously.” G.K. Chesterton It is estimated that Project Managers spend over 90% of their time communicating, so it is important that they get good at it. I have found that it is helpful to condense complex ideas into simple phrases that anyone can understand. Here are a few of my favorites!

“But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” George Orwell, 1984 “Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say infinitely when you mean very; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.” C.S. Lewis The English language contains more than a million total words and at any given time 170,000 are actively used. The speaking vocabulary of the average adult American is in the range of 150,000 words, or 15

“Put a good person in a bad system and the bad system wins, no contest.” W. Edwards Deming “Management by results - like driving a car by looking in rear view mirror.” W. Edwards Deming Even allowing for hyperbole, the Deming Quality Wheel is an amazingly important concept. It was designed to bring the scientific method first developed by Galileo to the business environment, and has been subject to reinterpretation by giants in the field of quality like Shewhart and Ishikawa.

“We're exploring the possibility of building a wall to stem the exodus." "Don't be ridiculous," Goddard said. "Only idiots build walls.” Neal Shusterman, The Toll “When we image borders, we fail at imaging God.” Tristan Sherwin, Living the Dream?: The Problem with Escapist, Exhibitionist, Empire-Building Christianity Prediction 4 – Borders matter. There will be an increase in nationalism. The foolishness of many "elite" positions were completely exposed by the COVID-19 pandem

Proper framing would have helped many organizations be better prepared for COVID-19

Proper framing of issues is a huge predictor of success! Even in your strategy to pay for college...

The Titanic sank because those in charge looked at the voyage through the wrong frame!

Many mistakes are made because of a bad frame!

Providing honest feedback is a crucial habit to pick up as a manager.