A recent Inc. article caught my attention. It describes four items that are vital for leaders and team members to be successful in their careers. Start today and it will be easier to become a leader that inspires, influences, and achieves amazing results tomorrow.

Loving others is about more than just politics or international boundaries.  It is not only about romance and organized religion (far be it for organized religion to teach us to love.  It does not have a great track record, I am sorry to say). It is about becoming better colleagues and global citizens. It is about an owner’s love for their employee, a manager’s love for those they supervise, and an employee’s love for their fellow co-laborers. There is ample opportunity for everyone to love. 

Leaders who move from “I will try” to “I will do” or “I will be,” and mean it, inspire others to do the same. Your teams will no longer “try,” they will confidently act and succeed. Helping a team identify specific goals that they “will do” is a key aspect of mentoring. We all want to be everything to everybody, but as Warren Buffet warns, what we say no to is often more important than what we say yes to. 

All too often leaders do not spend the requisite time determining how peers, supervisors, and employees improve their personal emotional wellness. We prescribe whatever works for us and expect everyone around to just “get well soon”. Emotional wellness is first and foremost about recognizing when our emotions are not in a good place.  Second, we must be able to manage those emotions in order to improve our performance. 

What have you learned today? This was a question I asked my children every day when they got home from school growing up. It was a way to check in, as well as force them to distill the knowledge of the classroom into retainable pieces. It is also a question I believe leaders should be asking themselves daily.

Environmental wellness has two distinct components that impact our overall health. The first is the natural environment—the air, water, and land in which all living things reside, including humans. The second is the micro-environment or the immediate space that surrounds you and me. This is our personal environment. Both environments are important for exceptional wellness; however, this blog will focus primarily on the second aspect.

Occupational wellness is the fourth in our series on holistic wellness. Occupational wellness is what we do either for a living, in retirement, or in preparation for employment, such as school. Exceptional occupational wellness is achieved when there is a “fit” between the individual and what is being done.

Spiritual wellness is often considered the glue that binds the other wellness dimensions together. It is a connection to someone or something larger than oneself—a “unifying force” if you will. For some of us spiritual wellness is a prayer life or a belief in God, Allah, Yahweh, or a deity of another name. For others, this dimension of wellness exists in a yoga pose on the beach or a walk on a mountain path. In reality, spirituality is a connection

“There isn't time. So brief is life for bickering, apologies, heartburning, calling to account. There is only time for loving. And but an instant, so to speak, for that…" —Mark Twain. Reach out to a friend you have not connected with in a while, or a family member that is distant and rekindle a friendship to make you and them healthier.

Physical wellness is the characteristic most often considered when an individual thinks about wellness. To be clear physical wellness incorporates exercise, sleep, diet, personal hygiene, the use of drugs or alcohol, and more—all lifestyle choices that affect a person’s physical self.

Today and over the course of the next seven weeks, I will explore the seven elements of wellness that can improve both an individual and a company.  There is a plethora of research to support that each of these dimensions are both professionally and personally valuable. 

Every business and every individual must measure what matters. When talking to companies and business students at Johnson County Community College it is emphasized that food cost percentage and labor costs are equally important. A company can easily lower food cost by throwing labor at it and a company can lower labor costs by throwing convenience items at it. It is vital that an organization make certain that the measurement adds value and is accurate.

Anyone who has heard me present has likely heard me talk about “betting on leaders.” I’d say you have to bet on those with the most potential because you cannot invest in everyone. Lately, I am reconsidering this idea. Maybe I got it all wrong.

Every heard of the “Five Why” approach to problem solving? It’s a method of analysis that seeks to get to the bottom of any problem by asking a series of “Why” questions. Take this recent example by Peter Cohan who used the technique recently to analyze the Silicon Valley Bank failure. Note: My interest is less in the bank collapse and more in why the “Five Why” method can be so powerful in issue resolution.

Recently, while coaching a team as part of Leadership Development, one member of the team told their leader that they needed a different coach because “Brett” would be too nice and not hold them accountable. This was an interesting revelation for me and one that has irritated me for the better part of several weeks. How do I do a better job of holding individuals accountable; especially as a professional coach?

This morning I listened to Brad Pasley’s new song “Same Here.” One of the stanza’s goes: “I've got a friend across the ocean // Seems like a million miles away // He says our worlds are very different // Yeah, that's true, but I gotta say // He's got his own kind of football team that // Lets him down every year // A wife he loves and a bunch of dreams // For his country he holds so dear // He prays for peace and freedom // Same here.” The song is about the similarities between human experiences.

One of my goals for 2023 was to break an 8-minute mile for two consecutive miles. I had run an 8:07 mile recently, so it was not out of the realm of possibility. However, I was also not confident that it would happen anytime soon as I had been stuck above 8-minutes for some time. Just last month, I ran 2-miles in 15:36 or a 7’44” pace. Happy dance!

When we look to lead and manage employees it is all about the individual employee. A recent report from Bain & Company supports the fact that there are different types of employees working in your organization and they are motivated by different things. We as leaders need to understand and embrace this reality

When we consider selling a hotel room, a restaurant meal, a leadership development program, or even hiring a new employee, it is paramount that we identify the guests' needs. Yes, the employee is as much your guest as everyone else in the room

We have the opportunity each new year to change, to do things differently, and go another route in life. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to embody hope in work and in the world, and I think much of this has to do with being intentional about choosing a different way. We can stay stuck or we can choose another path.