“Pitch me outside, and I will hit .400. Pitch me inside, and you will not find the ball.” -Roberto Clemente Roberto Clemente, who played 18 seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates before his untimely death, was one of the greatest baseball players to ever grace the field. Although he was before my time, as a born […]

I am the CEO of my organization, and from keynote speaker to road crew and everything in between – if there’s a need and I’m able to fill it, I will. Now I’m wondering – did one of the following characterize your first thought when you read that sentence? • “That’s a really great way […]

He was born to farmers of modest means in 1863, but when he died, Henry Ford’s net worth was equal to that of Elon Musk’s today. As America’s second billionaire, the father of mass production, and the Ford Motor Company founder, Henry Ford has a lot to teach us about determination, ingenuity, leadership, and life. […]

In 1953, Sir Edmund Hillary made history when he and his climbing companion, Tenzing Norgay, planted the very first human footsteps at the top of Mount Everest. If you ask him how he did it, he’ll tell you very simply: he decided to do it and he did – one step at a time. But […]

“Excessive, inordinate zeal.” “Entertaining wild and extravagant notions.” “Obsessive enthusiasm.” Did the above descriptions strike you as positive or negative? If you said “positive,” you just might be a fanatic – according to Webster’s dictionary. Whoa, wait a minute. A fanatic? Not you! Or me. Right? Well, that depends. Consider this quote by Ralph Waldo […]

“Would I rather be feared or loved? Easy—both. I want people to be afraid of how much they love me.” – Michael Scott, The Office Fictional Dunder Mifflin paper company leader, Michael Scott, spent a lot of time accidentally swerving into profound truths. He was so wrong that he was almost right, in some cases. […]

You may be familiar with the analogy about good conversations and mini-skirts: both should be short enough to grab attention but long enough to cover the subject. That’s an easy way to remember one of the golden rules of good conversations: Be brief but thorough. The rest of the guidelines might be a little more difficult […]

I’ve lost count of the times I’ve seen different variations of the meme floating around the internet saying, “Another meeting that could have been an e-mail.” They’re usually followed by a hashtag acronym that stands for choice words of frustration. My recent partnership with Lori Greiner has made me more aware of the need for […]

Mark Cuban doesn’t make his bed. (Someone probably does it for him, but that’s not the point here.) Recently, I saw a product on Shark Tank designed to help people make their beds faster and easier: The Better Bedder. The pitch was barely underway, when Mark weighed in and said that long ago he calculated […]

I wonder how Jamie Siminoff, CEO of Doorbot, felt in 2013 when he appeared on Shark Tank, was rejected by four out of five Sharks, and offered a less than attractive deal from Kevin O’Leary, which he turned down. That kind of showing would seem to be a pretty reliable indicator that you may want […]