How to Deal with Difficult People
Hello Outperformers, I’ve spoken for leadership and management teams all over the country and, without a doubt, I’ll typically hear about – sometimes secretively – a person in the group that is “difficult.” We’ve all seen this and it is tough, right? It can disrupt the culture of an entire team or organization. So, what…
What Running 100 Miles Taught Me About Trust
“You’re going back out there.” It was 6:38pm on Saturday, June 7, and I had been running for over 12 hours, since 6:00am that morning, in the 100-mile Kettle Moraine Ultra Marathon. Looking up, the hot sun still commanded the summer sky…and showed no signs of relenting anytime soon. I sat—slumped—down for only the second…
4 Keys to Creating a High Performance Culture
Hello Outperformer, Great sports teams and great businesses all have certain things they do to perform at a high level, day in and day out. “It’s not enough to perform well for a week, or a month, or a quarter, or a season –sustained excellence and high performance is the name of the game.” Here are…
A Story About Mastery and Struggle
Hello Outperformer, On Saturday afternoon I caught a flight to Colorado. We were delayed about 30 minutes so I had a chance to do a little “people watching” at the gate. The entertainment came from a small kid with big blonde hair (he couldn’t have been more than one year old and he bore an…
No One Ever Asked Me This Question
Hello Outperformer, One of the first people I learned from when I started studying self-help and personal development was Jim Rohn. He had a great saying, “Courage weighs ounces. Regret weighs tons.” It makes sense in the grand scheme of life, doesn’t it? On Wednesday night I spoke for about 250 high school kids in…
Leaving a Lasting Impression
Hello Outperformer, Last week I spoke at Mystic Lake Casino for a group of senior managers on creating an Outperforming customer experience. In the presentation I shared two stories that have happened to me in the last week: One was a simple technical “snafoo” with my CRM and trying to get it to sync with…
When Things Don’t Go as Planned…
Dear Outperformer, This isn’t the post I thought I’d be writing. Last week I talked about demanding more of yourself and this crazy Grand Canyon run I was going to do. I figured today would be a continuation of a similar theme of never stopping, even when things get hard, until you’ve achieved your goal. I…
7 Surprising Benefits of…?
Dear Outperformer, In 1969 my Dad won a national championship playing football for the NDSU Bison. Over the last few years, it has become a cool father-son tradition for us to meet up and watch at least a couple games together (it gives him a chance to relive the “glory days.”) I can tell he…
A Curious Case of Leadership
Hello Outperformer, On Tuesday I spoke for a great group of Project Managers in Milwaukee. My presentation was part being your best; part getting the best out of others. In addition to speaking, I was selfishly looking forward to hearing the closing keynote by Bo Ryan. Unless you live in Wisconsin or are a college basketball fan,…
How Successful People Achieve More
My favorite quote of all time is by former University of Alabama football coach, Paul “Bear” Bryant, and it’s simply what I call “The Price Of Admission.” It goes like this: “Winning is not normal, and people who constantly win do so by following an abnormal path. The discipline, dedication and sacrifices are incomprehensible to…
