Sometimes we just get bad breaks with staff. Sometimes we hire and almost immediately realize we should have paid more attention to that little voice in our mind. And sometimes even the smartest and most careful hire just goes sideways. In other words, from time to time, we just get handed a staffing lemon. We…
Nearly every vehicle speeding down the highway is powered by an engine composed of thousands of parts pounding, spinning and whirling hundreds of times per second in an environment just two degrees cooler than Hades. That all these bitties work purposefully together in unison, and do so for a decade or more, is a testament…
Murphy, of Murphy’s Law, has a particular interest in professionals. It’s because he knows that professionals need to get things absolutely right, and Murphy’s role in life is to make sure things go absolutely wrong. If you’re the pizza delivery guy, it’s only when you ring the doorbell that you discover the pizza was boxed…
In the War, my Uncle Vic fought in the Italian Campaign. He came home with his medals and his stories. One such story which most caught my fancy was that of his encounter with one of the legendary Gurkhas who fought alongside the Allies as they fought their way up the Italian peninsula. The Gurkhas…
When you stop and think about it, the heron has a poor prospect. He gets his dinner by standing on his spindly legs in the shallows waiting for an unsuspecting fish to come his way. And waiting. And waiting. And waiting some more. If you’ve ever stood in the shallows, you’ve probably noticed that not…
Everyone wants to be successful and happy, but few really nail it. Yet there is a key which works for most of us, most of the time. Almost every successful and happy person you know has this characteristic: they’re doing what they were born to do. All of their natural talents, experience, and training are…
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have an unending stream of perfect clients asking us to do the very thing we love to do, that is, to provide the very service at which we excel? Wouldn’t it be heaven to have each new case be an opportunity to burnish our reputation? And how about being paid…
Today I said a fond goodbye to two old friends, may their soles rest in peace. Faithful old work boots, trusty through thick and thin. Together we have gardened and plowed snow and cut firewood and dug ditches and built decks, and more, and more, and more. They’ve kept my feet warm and safe and…
In the course of a career, in the course of a relationship, in the course of our lives, there are times when we need to face up to the fact that things are not working. And in all such cases, it’s time to do something about it. When we lie awake at night, the mind…
Most professions are practiced in some form of partnership, be it a duet, or a cast of thousands. And most professional partnerships function at something less than optimal. At any given time, at least one of the partners is agonizing over why he or she should remain in the firm, convinced that he or she…