2024 is complete, and we welcome a new calendar year tonight. In the past year, we have traveled one revolution around the sun and experienced many ups and a variety of downs. The good news is that we can use this time to give thanks for the past and look with a positive attitude toward the future.
Have a safe New Year’s Eve, and welcome 2025 with new aspirations for a better life and peace for all!
Christmas is a celebration of life! It is the birth of a Savior. A creator made human, so a real-life experience was present here on Earth. Regardless of your faith affiliation or none at all, as human beings, we cannot dismiss this experience we call living. Life is more significant than all of us, and we are all better off for having a creator we celebrate the birth of on Christmas.
May you and your loved ones enjoy a Blessed and Merry Christmas.
Another calendar year has flown by. In the final days of 2024, you need to pause and look back at the accomplishments and challenges you navigated during the past 300+ days. If we simply keep pushing forward and do not learn from what has happened, we limit our ability to grow at a more complete rate of speed.
Authentic feedback is one of the most valuable growth tools a leader can use and accept. Without a feedback loop in your organization, leadership is increasingly isolated. For feedback to be of the greatest value to navigating current and future growth, it must be of the highest integrity, and thus, it starts with real trust amongst all parties—owner, employees, vendors, customers, and the community.
When you hear this word, the sound or thought of it can raise the hair on the back of your neck. Its meaning is heavily dependent on the context in which it is associated. Fear of failure creates one dynamic, while fear of success creates a different set of dynamics. Fear itself can be very valuable and stimulating, prompting urgent action, such as in fight-or-flight scenarios. Fear can also cause stagnation or procrastination as one overthinks one’s next steps. Get comfortable with understanding your fears so you can navigate them to assist rather than distract.
As we approach this Thanksgiving, we pause to express our gratitude to God, our Clients, our Colleagues, and all of our Patrons. The original Thanksgiving was not just a feast but a gathering that brought pilgrims and native Indians together in a spirit of peace and mutual support. Let’s follow in their footsteps and see the value in each other, fostering a sense of unity and appreciation for our shared humanity.
One of the most valuable things a leader can do is help your staff identify and develop hidden talents. People can sometimes be placed into a given role based on their current skills, based only on their past. Allowing people to be stretched to grow allows them to discover hidden talents, which can add self-confidence and self-worth to their future.
In business, when a strategy goes sideways, we should not get angry at the strategy. We need to look first at ourselves. How did we participate or not support the plan? What could we have done differently to affect an alternate outcome? Challenges are opportunities to grow and learn more about ourselves and those with whom we work as a team.
After months of media hype, election day has arrived. It might be simple to go along with the hype and the crowd, but ask yourself and look deep into your well-formed conscience, as voting is a freedom that should never be taken lightly.
By having a Purpose energized by Passion and guided by Core Values that you hold yourself accountable to, you will have unlimited persistence to achieve whatever you set out to accomplish.