For many of us, 2020 has upended our established routines or habits. As we get ready to move into the busy holiday season, it can be even harder to get back on track. Consider what habits you’re missing in your daily schedule. I want to challenge the idea that in order to create a new […]

Habits tend to become ingrained in our routines without us ever intending for them to be. Whether we realize it or not, humans center their lives around routines. But without taking the time to step back and create intentional habits, we could be allowing our lives to become centered around the wrong things.  I want […]

You can be successful externally and still deeply dissatisfied. To be satisfied in your work, you must posses three components.

You can be successful externally and still deeply dissatisfied. To be satisfied in your work, you must posses three components.

You can be successful externally and still deeply dissatisfied. To be satisfied in your work, you must posses three components.

To lead others, you need a compelling vision. But lofty words are not enough. A vision statement must draw a crystal-clear picture of the future that guides action. In 2000, I took over Nelson Books, a major division of Thomas Nelson. I quickly discovered that it was the least profitable of the fourteen units in […]

I have worked with authors for more than three decades. Based on my observations, here are 7 characteristics that separate the highly successful ones from the others.

Trying and doing are two different things. Learning about this distinction is the key to success. Here’s how you can do it for yourself.

Whenever I feel overwhelmed or uncertain about the future, I follow the advice I was given by an older, wiser colleague. It is surprisingly simple but enormously effective.

Charisma may be useful in attracting a following, but it is largely useless when it comes to achieving a long-term, positive impact on the people and organizations we lead. For this, we need character. In helping people build their platforms, I frequently meet people whose public image is better developed than their personal character. They […]

Being still is tremendously difficult in our world. Noise crowds into every empty space, leaving us spiritually, mentally, and emotionally exhausted. Here’s how to reclaim some interior margin.

Writing your goals down is one of the most important actions you can take to obtain the life you want. Sadly, most people don’t do it. Here are five why reasons you should.

Building a successful organization requires interpersonal skills as much as knowledge of finance or marketing strategies. Perhaps the most important tool in the relational toolbox is the tenacity to have tough talks that lead to the sort of necessary change that makes growth possible. Here, three individuals relate their most difficult conversations, revealing insights and […]

Decision making is a big part of leadership. As a leader, one is expected to take decisions all the time. Some of these are of a routine nature, while others have the power to change the course of a business. A lot rides on a leader’s decisions. They can impact the livelihood of the staff, […]

The Wharton-educated bank executive quits weekend bird-watching excursions after missing a prothonotary warbler (rare orange and yellow-headed songbird) sighting. The tenured physics professor storms out of the kitchen because her batch of gazpacho soup turned out a tad too peppery. First-world problems, to be sure. But they’re also the type of increasingly common complaints hyper-accomplished professionals […]

With divorce rates hovering between 40 and 50 percent, experts spend countless hours discussing the reasons why so many Americans can’t make their marriages work. Arguments over money, sex, and kids are perennial fire starters. But there’s another issue that is critically important—especially for husbands and wives with demanding careers. Courtney Barbee credits the success […]

The patience of Job; the patience of a saint; a “fruit of the Holy Spirit”; a virtue. “He that have Patience, can have what he will,” predicted Poor Richard’s Almanack way back in 1736. As you might expect from that august build up, a lack of patience has also been associated with societal rot and […]

I used to take yearly sabbaticals. For three glorious months each summer my time was more or less my own. I did whatever took my fancy: running around the yard with my siblings, reading books, pestering my parents. You probably did, too. We were little, so the associated learning was not exactly productive. Luckily, sabbaticals […]

Picture this: you’ve been with the same employer for many years and they want to reward your loyalty with the recharge of a sabbatical. Typical sabbaticals can last anywhere from 1-6 months in length, for the sake of this article (and because I’m a teacher that is on sabbatical every summer) we will plug in […]

Solomon was said to be the most successful king that Israel ever had—renowned for his wisdom and his riches. His heir Rehoboam, not so much. Of the 12 tribes of Hebrews that constituted the nation of Israel, 10 revolted under Rehoboam’s reign. Later leaders would manage shaky alliances. But after Rehoboam, it was no longer […]

Your intuition is a lot like Shawn Spencer. If you’re not familiar with the hit TV show Psych, Spencer is a private detective with a twist: he has everyone convinced he is psychic. In fact, his supernatural, detecting power is nothing more than exceptional attention-to-detail. How is this like intuition? Though people are apt to […]

If thou gaze long into an algorithm, the algorithm will also gaze into… well, not exactly thee, right? More like a patchy portrait of your likeness churned out by a mimeograph low on ink—sharply delineated in a few areas, sure, but hazy and obscure in many others. Yet close enough in the broad strokes to […]

You will never make a fully-informed decision. Accept it. The reality is that every choice involves using limited information, can have unforeseen consequences, and, because of conditions that change before your very eyes, may end up being the wrong decision anyway. Then you will have to change your mind. Yet you still can make good […]

You are often your own worst enemy. It starts with the words out of your mouth and the voices in your head. From telling yourself that you aren’t knowledgeable enough to take on a new challenge to the nagging doubts about important career moves, the negative words in your mind are obstacles to the success […]