The most important work we do in relation to our growth, we do alone.  Behind the scenes. Under the hood. It’s the blacksmith’s shop where we forge and hammer out our own character.

What is the point of winning at business if we we are losing at life?

We need to focus on being bigger on the inside (character) than we are on the outside (influence), as John Maxwell likes to say.  I find that by focusing on activities that form my character, my priorities...

I’ve noticed many high-achievers don’t spend much time thinking about the past.  I was recently catching up with a senior public-service leader who has been a mentor to me over the years. We kicked around this idea of ambitious people being forward-focused.  “Yeah, we just rip the rear-view mirror right off”, he quipped.  That visual struck home.

Often, ambitious people are so forward-focused we lose track of where we’ve come from.

I’m...

Understanding what’s behind our ambition is a critical pursuit for driven personalities.   In There Will be Blood, Daniel Day Lewis portrays a ruthless oil man named Daniel Plainview.  In one scene, he has a heartfelt conversation with a man pretending to be his long lost brother.  The conversation gets real.

Daniel Plainview: Are you an angry man, Henry?”

Henry Brands: About what?

Henry Plainview: Are you envious? Do you get...

What idea or feeling comes to mind when you hear the word growth?  Do you sense a twinge of anxiety because you know growth requires change? Or are you energized?

In my years as an entrepreneur and leader, I have observed that healthy people and organizations are generally growing.  Admittedly, growth may have developed a bad rap in some circles because of the occasional "culture of greed" that over-emphasizes revenue and profits to the detriment of real growth in other...

Alexander Solzhenitsyn was sentenced to a Soviet gulag (labor camp) for eight years after being accused of producing anti-Soviet propaganda in private letters critical of Stalin’s war.  He entered prison an atheist and emerged a man of faith.  Looking back he said, "I bless you prison - I bless you for being in my life - for lying therein on the rotting prison straw, I learned the object of life is not prospering as I had grown up believing, but the maturing the soul".

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My daughter just graduated from college with a business degree.  As a serial entrepreneur, and the son of an entrepreneur, it's been an interesting challenge to help her think through "career choices" as she launches into this ever-changing work world.

Before I talk about how to pick a career, we need to acknowledge that "career" is possibly an outdated, or at least changing, concept.  Career implies structure and reliability.  In today's economy, I think it's more...