Leadership

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 »

Most creative solutions come from looking at the same problem in a new way; reframing by asking “What are we really trying to accomplish here?” over and over until a new insight is unlocked.   It reminds me of a story I heard about a moving truck many years ago that was being driven through Colorado. They were navigating for hours through the tough windy switchbacks and ultimately came upon a tunnel that had been …

The Best Question to Unlock Creativity Keep Reading »

Have you ever been in a conversation and someone questions your idea or strategy making you get just a little frustrated and annoyed? Yeah, me neither.   Recently this happened to me and I found myself getting a little short/snippy with my team and was not receptive to the suggestions and feedback they were providing. Fortunately, we’ve built enough trust as a leadership team that they came to me afterwards and had a courageous conversation, …

Why My Vision Didn’t Connect With My Team Keep Reading »

I know with 100% certainty if not for Entrepreneurs\’ Organization and its Accelerator program, I would not be in business today. During our early days of growth when trying to get over the hump of my first few employees and $300k of revenue, I had come to a pretty resolute determination that owning a business was not something I was good at or should be doing. It seemed like no matter what I did or …

Pain is the Process Keep Reading »

We just completed a 3.5 month sprint of acquiring a 25,000 square foot historic school building that will be the new home of The Conflux and goBRANDgo!. When I say sprint…what would normally be a 12-18 month process was crammed into one quarter. Moving with that speed enabled us to get a great price on the building.   All real estate transactions have complications and challenges, but all the fast-moving parts of the timetable, historic …

What’s Your Default Leadership Stress Mode? Keep Reading »

Culture. You can’t go anywhere or read anything without someone telling you about the importance of culture. But when you ask those dozen people what they think culture is, you’ll get a couple dozen answers that may or may not sound anything alike.   It may be easier to start with what culture is not. It’s not ping pong tables, open bars, or an open floor plan. It’s not the vacation policy, management structure, or …

What Exactly is Culture? Keep Reading »

If you walk into our office on a Monday morning at 8:30am, you will find our entire team congregating for one of the most important meetings in our company. Where our values, culture, and purpose are consistently expressed, reinforced, and cemented. Where we share our stories and where we often laugh until we cry. Where the soul of our company emanates. All this power, all this impact, all from a simple stack of Post-It notes. …

Power of Wins Keep Reading »

The value alignment of our employees over time is very similar to water skiing. When skiing within the wake zone, the boat breaks most of the waves making the water really smooth. But once outside the wake zone, you are out on your own feeling the full impact of every single wave in your legs.    When in alignment with our values, there is very little friction; the work is still hard and demanding, but …

Why Employees Burn Out & What to Do About It Keep Reading »

One of my team members is a former restaurant manager. After working together for several years, I’m now convinced that there is a food (and/or sports) analogy for pretty much anything. When it comes to building an effective team, it’s sometimes hard to put into words what exactly we’re looking for besides “a good cultural fit” which we diligently focus on, but we sometimes struggle to identify the root cause underlying the friction that occurs …

Do You Have a Team of Short Order Cooks or Sous Chefs? Keep Reading »