Winston Churchill was first credited with saying, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” It’s my hope that we’ll all find a silver lining in the extra time as we are all hitting the pause button. In the meantime, I am working in my yard in the evenings and parallel planning for the future. …
It’s easy to focus on the person at the head of the table. That person is undoubtedly important, but I would argue that he or she wouldn’t be there without the team of people sitting nearby. I’ll add that for us, it’s a long table. Those in leadership make big commitments, but someone must back …
Strange indeed. We are all facing this same trifecta, a worldwide pandemic with severe health implications, crippling markets and now oil wars to top it off. I got to thinking about my own parents and others who spent a decade scratching out a living after the Depression, then they had to fight a world war …
Last Saturday, I got to attend a symposium entitled, “Faith Meets Business: Climate Solutions for the Common Good.” One of the panelists included our friend Dr. Jim McClintock, an endowed Professor of Polar and Marine Biology at UAB. Jim is recognized internationally as one of the leaders in this field. Coincidentally, I read this past …
I spent some time recently with a couple of long-term customers. Both have national presence, but one is small and the other large. Each is successful in its own way, with the smaller company’s strategy relying a fair amount upon the corporate culture and its boots on the ground, and the larger historically using a …
If I was a college football player, I would want Dabo Swinney for a coach. Like most Division I coaches, he’s talented in strategy and implementation, but to me, what sets him apart is his empathy, passion and ability to see things others may not. That’s all true both on and off the field. A few years ago, a …
This month has been a rough one for the Auburn family, as we lost legendary quarterback Pat Sullivan. He played under coach Shug Jordan, along with my friend Dick Schmalz, one of Sullivan’s favorite receivers. I had a conversation with Dick this week about Coach Jordan. He served in the Army as a Captain during …
It’s the season for holiday parties, when we’re often catching up with folks we haven’t seen in a while and meeting a few new faces. It’s a good time to dust off best practices for getting to know people, whatever the setting. Here are a few that have proven most powerful for me: Name recall. …
At some point in life, I feel like many of us are guilty of reaching that “got to have” goal we set for ourselves and then not hitting the “pause button” after we get there. Instead, we just set off chasing another goal. Sometimes it’s hard to stop and reflect on what has been accomplished, …
Each year, we make a pilgrimage to South Dakota, west of the Missouri River, near the Black Hills, to spend a few days with our friends at Lame Johnny Ranch. We spend our days chasing pheasants wherever the dogs’ noses lead us. This was my 30th year to make the trip, and I’ve watched as …
A Greek poet by the name of Archilochus famously said, “The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows one big thing.” In this conflict, a fox would seem to be an obvious winner, “but not so fast,” as Lee Corso might say. Foxes are sleek, quick and sneaky, spending their time devising strategies to be …
Today marked the conclusion of the 24th World Scout Jamboree, where 45,000 Scouts from 167 countries came together at the Summit Bechtel Reserve. For 2 weeks, the Scouts participated in skill challenges, learning a bit more about each other’s countries, enjoying diverse food and more importantly, learning to respect each other’s differences in religion and …