Recently, I was talking to the leader of a nonprofit organization who was complaining that volunteerism was at an all time low. “Even when people volunteer, most of them don’t show up or follow through,” he said. “They just don’t seem to be engaged.” This is a common problem in the for-profit world as well. […]

Setbacks are inevitable. They make us stronger and develop our character. But only if we maintain our perspective and use them to grow. Here’s how.

Leading others starts with leading ourselves. That means leaders must be be committed to personal development if we’re going to have long-term success. But some paths to personal development are more direct than others. My friend Ian Cron is both a priest and a therapist. He’s also an expert in the Enneagram, an ancient personal-development […]

During a recent Launch Conference, my friend Ken Davis joked from the stage, “All you have to do to become an expert is read five books on the same subject.” Everyone laughed. But in our get-smart-quick culture, it sometimes seems that way, doesn’t it?

Trust is to an organization what oil is to a car engine. It keeps the moving parts from seizing and stopping forward motion. But trust is not something you can take for granted. It takes months—sometimes years—to build. Unfortunately, you can lose it overnight.

We all have things we do really well. In our businesses, these are usually the tasks that drive revenue. But if you’re like most entrepreneurs and executives, you probably only spend 20 percent of your time on these tasks. The rest goes to solving other people’s problems, wading through oceans of email, attending inefficient meetings, […]

I’ve been a serious student of productivity for a couple decades now. As the primary income earner in a family of seven, I had to be. When I first started in business, I lived in a constant state of feeling overwhelmed. Work took my best, and I struggled to find time for my family and […]

A year after the New York Times published a brutal exposé on Amazon’s 24/7, on-the-job culture, the retail giant announced it was experimenting with a thirty hour workweek for some of its employees. As far as I’m concerned, this is great news. When I talk with entrepreneurs, executives, and other leaders, I regularly hear they’re […]

I’m an assessment geek. I’m always looking to improve my own performance as well as my team’s. And I find measurement essential for upping our game. I first started using personality tests over a decade ago when I became the publisher of Nelson Books. It was a way for me to peek under the hood […]

If you are feeling distracted and unfocused, here are seven steps for becoming more productive. They are not that revolutionary on their own. But practiced together, they are like a defibrillator for that stuck project that’s still on your to-do list.