Derek Weber

I didn’t realize until fairly recently that I have food sensitivities, but the challenges created from the symptoms have actually made me a better leader and entrepreneur. It sounds crazy, but it’s true.   One of the biggest hurdles many entrepreneurs face is making the leap from the early years as the jack-of-all-trades hero doing everything, to the visionary leader setting the tone, direction, and accountability for their team to accomplish.   In fact, when …

How Food Sensitivities Inadvertently Made Me a Better Leader Keep Reading »

I recently heard a story about a tribe of indigenous people who had been completely isolated from society in the mountain jungles of their country. When first contact was made, the mayor of the local city invited the leaders from the tribe to visit the city and see how different things were now.   The mayor was bursting with pride and excitement helping them “discover” modern technologies: skyscrapers, airplanes, computers, and on and on.   …

They Just Don’t Get it… Keep Reading »

“…and this scar is from when I hit my head on the corner of the brick fireplace…and this one is from when my cousin and I stood on opposite sides of a roll of fencing, he jumped off on 2 instead of 3 and it coiled up splitting my eyebrow open, barely missed my eye actually…and this one…”   The scars on my face (and there\’s a lot of them) tell the story of how …

Leaders Can’t Only Learn From Your Scars Keep Reading »

A few years ago, my wife and I were visiting some friends in LA. When we got to our dinner spot, there was a bit of a wait, but it was one of those restaurants where a lot of the kitchen was visible from the floor, and one station in the front particularly caught my eye.   The person that really captured my attention was a salad chef…who was more like a salad artist. Ticket …

Nobody Needs Another Boring Business Keep Reading »

In every professional sports championship winning interview, I inevitably hear some version of “these are the best group of guys I’ve ever played with, it took every person on the team to get it done”.   I’ve played sports my entire life, and I can tell you winning is fun, a lot of fun; winning bonds people together forever… losing sucks, losing pulls people apart at the seams.   Something I’ve never been able to …

Do Teams with Chemistry Perform Any Better? Keep Reading »

When it comes to problems, it often feels like whenever it rains, it pours…whenever there is one big issue, there are soon to be ten. After a particularly hard day of body blow after body blow, I found myself reflecting on why my stress response isn’t specifically tied to the size/severity of the onslaught.   My realization…my emotional reaction is almost entirely based on the mental frame I place around the problem.   When I …

Happily Ever After Mindset Keep Reading »

“So what do you do?” goBRANDgo! is a marketing company that works with $25M-$250M B2B companies in the manufacturing supply chain whose owners are in their 50s-60s looking to make a successful leadership transition in the next decade or so…they typically have a couple grandkids, a lake house, and ride motorcycles.”   Eyes widen, jaw drops…then several follow up questions ensue:   “Wait, what?!? How did you identify that niche? Did you start out there?” …

Why Niche Markets Work Keep Reading »

I’m often asked about my founding story…   I originally started the company the summer before my senior year in college selling t-shirts and sweatshirts to student organizations on campus.    My plan was to do that until I graduated and got my real job…here we are almost two decades later, and I guess I’m still waiting for that real job.   I will always remember the moment my future path became clear.    As …

To Go For It or To Play It Safe? That is the Question. Keep Reading »