Insights & Expertise

A really cool shop closed yesterday in my town, Saline, Michigan. It opened in 2017 and when it survived the pandemic, I thought, “Whew! Thank goodness McPherson’s made it!”

I shopped there many times because I could always find something for my sister or one of my gal pals and the owner grew to recognize me (such a great feeling). But it’s not like I went there weekly or even monthly. While my shopping habits didn’t change much post-pandemic, others did and the impact has been huge in the last 18 months. Even the launch of their online shop couldn’t balance the lack of foot traffic and the fact that we love things delivered the next day to our doorsteps.

Everyone must make the effort to support local small businesses if we want cha

I heard a small business owner say this about his supervisors regarding online training they were required to take. My first thought was, “You’re the one in charge, why don’t you know?”

This type of thing is all too common because leaders assume that their people act on the direction given and they do not follow up.

It doesn’t automagically happen because that’s what we want. You may operate in a way where once you’re given an assignment, you complete it without a reminder or follow up. But that is you and you cannot expect others will operate in the same way. A culture of accountability is created by -

• Implementing processes and other measurable systems.<

You are not alone so the question you’ve got to ask is why?

The thing is, people forget about all the benefits, flexibility, vacation time, raises, and training when they face something they don’t want to do. It’s worse when they also believe it’s not necessary. Simply telling them it’s required and even explaining why is often not enough to get them to do it.

You can say something is required but if nothing happens when it’s not done, then it’s not really required and your people know this. It’s hard to find and keep decent employees so I’m not suggesting the traditional 3 strikes and you’re out for every infraction, but you do need to take action. 

For required duties that are not related to safety or

Don’t worry, I had my Google Calendar so I didn’t miss critical meetings but I took a break from planning out my week in the detail I normally have. Here’s what I learned.

Sometimes a lot of structure feels confining and during this pandemic I was feeling VERY confined beginning in June. I took lots of walks and bike rides and opted to do my own grocery shopping over delivery. But that wasn’t enough and I could tell I was feeling trapped like a caged animal. Funny thing I noticed was my planner pages were full of things I didn’t complete and in mid-June, there was very little on the page. Don’t misunderstand, there was plenty to do but I wasn’t planning much and there was a noticeable lack of color which is odd for me-I LOVE colorful pens!

This is the first blog post originating from my new website hosted and designed by my wonderful friends at Jottful! Welcome, everyone!

Back in January or February, which seems like a lifetime ago, I admitted that my cadence of blogging was leaving me feeling burnt out and uninspired. So I came up with a new tag line “Calm the Chaos” and I let my subscribers know that content will come when it feels right, and my best guess was about every month. Well, that didn’t happen.

But it IS happening now because it feels right.

March started out amazingly well because I was kicking butt at the gym and I signed 2 new clients. Then like grains of sand slipping through my fingers, despite my tight grip, it all seemed gone. At least that’s what it felt lik

I get it. You’re excited for a new year and new goals so that means lists, notebooks, folders, and STICKY NOTES!

Do yourself a favor and step away from all that for a minute or, better yet, an hour.

Why? Because I don’t want you to feel defeated by Friday.

You have a lot to get done and don’t want to forget anything so you just keep adding. Before you know it, you’ve got enough work for 2 weeks instead of one day. When making a To-Do List write everything down, rank each item, then write the list again in order. Now take your red pen and draw a line between the first and second halves of the list. The items below the red line are your parking lot items. Put them in aside but don’t lose the

A personal vision is more important than a professional one. Stick with me here. If you don’t know how you want your life to look and feel how can your professional goals work to achieve that? I say this a lot-we are the same beings in all facets of our lives and each facet will affect the others.

Take a business owner who’s 23, single, and has no children. She envisions her life being very business-focused for the first 5-7 years so she has her company stable and making money by the time she turns 30. At that point, she’d like to find a partner and explore creating a family with pets and perhaps kiddos. At 40 she’d like a 4-day work week and her ultimate goal is to retire by 50 or 55. These are broad and may change but at

When I was in the Fortune 500 world, I saw people promoted to a leadership role because they were an excellent individual worker. This tactic often meant miserable consequences for all involved.

Read that again.

Great news! So, who’s going to teach them? Well, YOU are. Leadership is largely learned so what kind of leader do you want in your company, your community, and in the world? As a leader yourself, you have an opportunity to step into the power of your position and teach others. Let’s get to it!

The ‘Do what I say, not what I do,” approach doesn’t work. People emulate what th

I attended a great personal development event a few weeks ago and left with several lessons that are great for all areas of life including professional endeavors.

Success Leaves Clues  –Nick Suino

Thank goodness we’re not having to start from scratch.  The business owners and managers before us have left clues so find them and use them!  One of my clients checks in with other business owners when he’s curious how they tackle an issue and he’s gotten great results from implementing some of the strategies.  He’s not afraid to tweak them to be a better fit for his business and that is the biggest lesson.  Get the golden nuggets, tweak as needed, take action for your business.

Take Frequent, Consiste

How many times in my “29” years on the planet have I had the opportunity to begin again? Too many to spend energy counting. Sometimes I see the opportunity right away-YIPPEEE! Many times I’m frustrated because I stop being consistent and find myself beginning again.

Today I’m beginning my blog again for the third time. I love blogging but I knew it had to evolve to be a better fit for my readers and me. The first time I stopped I was tuckered out and realized I needed to adjust the format to be more sustainable. It was better but something was still off…and no, it wasn’t me! Ok maybe a little but I’m a quirky one. I kept trudging along and wasn’t thrilled with the content-neither were you, my subscribers. My second pause came in May when I chose to take a br

I’m all for collaboration, partnership, and servant leadership and I’m also for leaders using their experience and authority to take charge. Balance, as usual, is the key to everyone’s success.

People like to depend upon themselves and prefer autonomous work. Occasional collaboration and team projects are one thing but don’t try to micro-manage them. It’s great when people feel trusted and empowered but just as we try to fill awkward silences, humans will attempt to fill perceived leadership gaps. When leaders don’t use their power to facilitate collaboration, they’ll often have a strong team member step into that role. It’s great to have strong people on your team but too much autonomy is the enemy of consistent, cohesi

Outrage motivates people do be brave and take on challenges they otherwise would not. It prepares us for confrontations of all types from big games to political elections to confronting bad behavior. It requires a lot of energy and is not meant to be sustained over long periods of time. What happens when we dwell in outrage? Let’s explore.