Tag: failure

Overcome Your Fear and Lead

January 11, 2021 Personal Effectiveness
“Never take council of your fears.” That’s a quote attributed to many legendary leaders over the years. They knew what many of us are still discovering – that fear has the power to cower the best of us into making foolish decisions or taking irresponsible actions (or inaction). We all…

3 Ways to Pursue Productive Failure

October 1, 2018 Personal Effectiveness
Winston Churchill declared, “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.” He wasn’t the only leader who recognized the reality of failure on the journey to success. Late Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy admitted, “When you fail, you have to start all over again from a lesser…

Put Fear in its Place

September 21, 2015 Courage Personal Effectiveness
Fear is an intensely human experience. We’ve all felt it. We probably learn to live with most of it. But the emotion often translates into crazy, irrational behavior. For an individual, that’s one thing. But what happens when a team or an organization hangs in the balance? I’ve become convinced that…

Handling Unexpected Setbacks Like a Winner

April 6, 2015 Strategic Thinking
What happens when you fall down? I have a pastor friend whose church plant recently had to shut its doors after a couple years of financial, emotional and time sacrifices. Another friend’s restaurant wasn’t able to renew the property lease and now it’s closed. Several colleagues have had high profile work…

Leadership Profile: Truett Cathy

April 1, 2013 Leadership Profiles
I grew up in the midwest and didn’t get to experience a Chick-fil-A sandwich until I enrolled in college in Tennessee. Boy was I in for a surprise. Not only was the sandwich (and fresh squeezed lemonade!) amazing, but people were thoughtful and caring. My senior year, I was assigned…

How I Cashed In on My Own $77 Million Mistake

February 18, 2013 Inspiration Learning
“Good morning, this is Nathan,” I greeted the caller on my cubicle phone several years ago. “Yes, this is Bill. I’m a Vice President at First Big Bank. I need to know where our $77 million is.” “Uh, yes,” I gulped. “Well… do you have an account number?” I was…

Leadership Profile: Zig Ziglar

January 7, 2013 Leadership Profiles
I had the privilege of meeting the late Zig Ziglar (1926-2012) a couple years ago at a seminar in Richmond, VA. Zig’s words and ideas have impacted my life probably more than any other thought leader out there. It was truly one of the highlights of my year getting to…