Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I can count on one hand the number of people who have walked a similar path ahead of me who took the time to look over their shoulder, notice I needed a hand, stopped to listen and then helped put an action plan together.

Not just a coach…

Not just a leader…

Not just a facilitator…

Not just a confidante…

A close, close friend.

Some days a sunshine pump and other days a curious collaborator.

Together, we have navigated multiple challenges:

•loneliness in the CEO chair making excruciatingly difficult decisions, realizing it probably won’t lead to sustainable success, or winning popularity contests, but you do it because it’s the right thing

•managing family dynamics that stem from extreme investment of time and talents to build something that creates momentum for thousands of families and for decades to come

•wrestling with personal choices like putting your health first because you can’t help others if you aren’t mentally sharp and physically fit

Today, we share joy and tragedy, and everything in between, with spouses who complete us.

Circumstances have changed but the relationship keeps growing.

Thank you, Clayton!

If you don’t have a mentor, I’d encourage you to search one out.

And depending on where you are in your own journey, you might consider paying it forward and becoming a mentor yourself.

The two are not mutually exclusive.

I’ve come to believe the best mentors are also willing to be mentored.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

When it comes to profanity, some will argue it’s a sign of emotional authenticity and others will contend that profane words are simply sentence enhancers. Others believe there is no place for cussing, regardless the circumstance.

A few examples:

•I grew up as a general contractor’s kid in a Christian household. We were taught early that profanity was bad. “Do not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain”. I was able to get my drivers license at 14 and was hauling gravel in a different state alongside (ahem) well-heeled operators. I heard them swear, I wanted to fit in, so I … expanded my vocabulary. I’m sure they were laughing privately wondering where this potty-mouthed kid came from.

•I worked with a Mensa-smart attorney for a while who was judicious with his word choice. We would get into a regular discussion on whatever topic after hours, winding down from an stress-filled day and he shared a tidbit about what his father had advised him regarding profanity. He would imply it was a measure of intelligence, saying, “You must not be smart enough if you cannot convey thought without the inclination to swear”.

•I was watching a quick video clip on LinkedIn yesterday where Tom Brady was explaining how his old coach, famous for saying “Do your job” would actually say, “Do your f***ing job!” Mr Brady does not strike me as a foul mouthed dude but when he used it in this instance, it represented emotional authenticity AND a sentence enhancer.

What does all of this mean?

I think profanity is like a bottle of hot sauce and you need to use it sparingly, depending on the palette of your audience. Sounds straightforward, but it’s really more subtle than most people realize.

-Some people, like family members, take extreme offense at any profanity. (I ate soap more times than I care to remember.)

-Some people might privately think you are simple and fall into a stereotyped demographic where every other word is used as a sentence enhancer but it becomes so tired that people tune you out completely.

-Some people…use it in the right situation, with the right audience, to establish credibility and spice things up, just enough.

Know your audience.

Be both authentic and judicious with your word choices.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Do you recall that moment in your life when you were genuinely moved to do something that you hadn’t thought of before … or maybe you’d teased with the concept but couldn’t rationalize the actions necessary to make it happen?

Was it tied to an event or a person?

I’ve heard countless versions of someone recalling an interaction with someone that was so powerful it absolutely changed the trajectory of their life.

If you are a parent, you hope that you could have this kind of influence over the formative years of your children.

If you are a spouse, you should be spending energy identifying what you can do to be influential to continually improve your connection. To do more, to be more, to become inseparable and indispensable.

If you are a child, you may be inclined to manipulate mom & dad early to get your way but ultimately, your desire should be to demonstrate reasons why they are proud of who you’ve become, that you listened, understood, took action and accomplished…better than they could have ever imagined.

If you are a leader…

•You are not trying to create followers-that is selfish.

•You are not trying to pound your chest and assert your authority-that is hubris.

•You are not the focus of attention, on magazine covers, speaking on panels and taking credit for everything positive that’s happened in your organization-that is bullshit.

If you are an actual leader…

•You measure success by how many leaders have been created, by those you’ve influenced. Not just the immediate impact of directing and supporting your team members.  Generational impact.

•As the military asserts, leaders eat last. You don’t need to be noticed, lauded, praised or celebrated. You already made it. It’s your time to invest, pay it forward and develop generations.

•You exemplify humility and seek out where you can elevate others to reach their full potential. Set the tone and invite others to the stage. Identify the high potential/high performers and invest in them. Create a succession plan early. Push your self while you coach and pull them forward.

If you have been blessed with achievement and success, it is not meant to be hoarded for your own enjoyment. It is best when passed on, wisdom imparted.

Be that someone who inspires others to achieve what they never thought possible.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

This week I had the opportunity to experience live music several times. Different venues. Different artists. Different styles. Yet every performance reminded me of the same leadership lesson.

Anyone can play the notes.

Not everyone can make music.

A five-year-old can sit at a piano and stumble through Chopsticks. Every key is technically correct. The notes are there. The melody is recognizable.

Then someone like Beethoven composes a symphony that has stirred hearts for more than two centuries.

The difference isn’t simply talent. It’s mastery of the fundamentals.

Leadership works the same way.

Many people hold leadership titles. They conduct meetings, approve budgets, assign work, and deliver presentations. They’re playing the notes.

The leaders people willingly follow are making music.

Their teams trust them. Their words carry weight. Their organizations move with purpose. People leave conversations energized instead of exhausted.

That doesn’t happen by accident.

James Kouzes and Barry Posner, in The Leadership Challenge, identified five practices of exemplary leadership:

• Model the Way
• Inspire a Shared Vision
• Challenge the Process
• Enable Others to Act
• Encourage the Heart

These aren’t advanced techniques reserved for extraordinary leaders. They’re scales.

Every accomplished musician has spent countless hours practicing scales—not because audiences buy tickets to hear scales, but because mastery of the scales makes beautiful music possible.

Leadership is no different.

Model the Way… every day.

Encourage the Heart… every day.

Enable Others to Act… every day.

Practice these fundamentals until they become instinct rather than intention.

Too often we chase the next leadership hack, the newest strategy, or the latest management trend. Meanwhile, the leaders we admire are simply doing the basics with extraordinary consistency.

Great conductors don’t wave the baton harder.

Great musicians don’t memorize more notes.

They master rhythm, timing, dynamics, and harmony so completely that everyone around them wants to be part of the performance.

Leadership isn’t about making more noise.

It’s about creating something others want to join.

When you faithfully practice the fundamentals, your leadership stops sounding like someone learning Chopsticks.

It begins to feel like a symphony that people remember long after the final note.

So here’s the question I’ll leave with you:

What are you practicing today—the notes of leadership, or the music?

Because titles may get people to listen for a moment.

But leaders who master the fundamentals create a cadence others choose to follow… and together, they make music worth remembering.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I work out … and if you’ve followed me at all, the last 16 months, I’ve taken it seriously. I have several “secret weapons” I’ve shared; a supportive spouse, an Oura ring, a couple of blogs I follow (like Dan Go and Luke Carlson), I do blood panels outside of my primary health care provider and I studied macronutrients to better understand what fuel I should be adding and what shit I should stop consuming. A friend I’ve known for 5 years but haven’t seen for 6 months said a couple of weeks ago, “You look good!”. (Feeling good, Lewis!)

The biggest contributor for sticking to a regimen is my trainer. When I started, I had pain that simple stretching wasn’t taking care of. We found the right mix of things to do to eliminate that. He starts each session with an enthusiastic greeting and a basic question, “How’s the body?” We go from there. Customized, work through the pain, focus on the weak spots, boost the confidence, build rapport along with muscle.

Earlier this week I got a text. He and I have a flexible system and we try to be timely and respectful if we are unable to make a previously scheduled commitment. This one came in 2 minutes before we were supposed to start the workout. I was disappointed because I look forward to our sessions. This wasn’t a dog-ate-my-homework excuse, it was someone hurting, dealing with a private health concern, physically and mentally locked up and couldn’t move off the stairs he found himself sitting on.

I had a few ways to respond; 

•Thumbs up emoji

•OK

•Thanks, sorry to hear, see you Friday? 

…but none of those would have been right, or compassionate.

I sat down after my stretch and warm up and started typing. I shared a personal story that was similar, I eased his concern about missing our session, reassured him his choices were understood to be best for him at the time, added some humor he commented later was a help to get unstuck.

What does this mean going forward?

We all deal with difficult situations and empathy (yes, I’ve had training on this subject) goes a long way toward understanding what people are facing instead of being pissed that someone missed our expectations.

In business, compassion and commerce collide regularly. “I can’t afford to be nice” is bullshit. Instead you should be thinking,

“What if this was my [kid, spouse, close friend]?” 

How do I want them to feel? 

What kind of relationship am I willing to invest in here?

Do I extend trust or do I hold the line and lose the audience?

I was raised … tough, but fair.

I’ve become … fair, but trusting…with limits…starting out with more compassion.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

There was a time—not that long ago—when “work from home” wasn’t just accepted; it was celebrated. Companies proved they could operate remotely, employees enjoyed newfound flexibility, and many wondered whether the traditional office had become obsolete.

Fast forward to today, and the pendulum is swinging.

Some of the world’s most recognizable companies—including Amazon, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Dell, and Tesla—have made a clear statement: Come back. For many employees, that means returning to the office five days a week.

While each organization has its own story, their reasoning is remarkably consistent. Five themes continue to surface.

1. Collaboration. Leaders believe innovation happens faster when people share the same space. The conversations before meetings, the quick whiteboard session, and the ability to solve problems in real time are difficult to replicate through scheduled video calls.

2. Culture. Culture isn’t built by policy manuals. It’s built by watching how leaders behave, how teammates respond under pressure, and how success is celebrated. Those moments are easier to experience than explain.

3. Mentorship. Many organizations describe themselves as apprenticeship businesses. New professionals don’t simply learn the technical aspects of their jobs—they learn judgment, communication, and leadership by observing experienced colleagues. Proximity matters.

4. Speed. Whether the data fully supports it or not, many executives believe decisions are made more quickly when people work together in person. Fewer delays. Fewer misunderstandings. More momentum.

5. Accountability. Leadership requires visibility. Coaching opportunities arise naturally when managers and employees interact throughout the day, rather than only during scheduled meetings.

Whether you agree with these decisions is almost beside the point.

The lesson isn’t really about returning to an office.

It’s about understanding what leaders value.

Organizations are signaling that relationships, collaboration, mentoring, and culture are strategic advantages worth investing in. Technology remains an incredible enabler, but many leaders no longer believe it should completely replace human connection.

As leaders, we should ask ourselves a different question.

Are we creating opportunities for our teams to connect, learn, challenge one another, and grow? If the answer is yes, the location becomes less important. If the answer is no, no amount of remote technology—or office space—will fix the problem.

The office isn’t magic.

Neither is remote work.

Leadership is.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I’m flying back from HQ while I write this. Anne and I booked a long weekend on the North Shore last November and the weekend is upon us. We are excited to get away, if only for a little while to hike and bike and watch a camp fire dance.

Earlier this month, lightning struck some trees up by the Boundary Waters Canoe Area and before you know it, we got ourselves a smoke show. We’re hearty folk (code words for stubborn and not easily deterred) so we will take a drive and see what we see.  If the visibility becomes an issue, we’ll slow down, stop or improvise.

Have you ever planned things for months, looking forward to that day, that trip, that weekend … and something outside of your control creates challenges? How do you handle it? Do you start thinking doom and gloom and generating worst case scenarios? Do you gravitate to the optimistic side and scenario plan to minimize (or avoid) disappointment? Where does your energy go?

No one can control every situation. There are things we must accept and make the best of the ramifications that follow. Historically, I was inclined to go into full-on problem solve mode when all the situation really requires is to exhale, consciously relax those tight muscles and let that peaceful feeling wash over your brain. Ahhhhh.

Big picture, we are getting away to spend time together with few interruptions and recharge with some natural beauty. It helps to not lose sight of the reasons behind your plans. There is more than one way to realize the goals you planned for. Loosen your grip, Eric. It’s gonna be good.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

I’ve spent a significant part of my professional career in management and leadership.

Age has taught me that wisdom isn’t measured by the answers we collect, but by the questions we refuse to stop asking.

Three have stayed with me:

• What makes a great leader?

• How much is enough?

• What’s the meaning of life?

Entire industries have been built around answering those questions.

I’ve concluded that’s because they aren’t math problems…they’re mirrors.

The answers reveal less about the questions than the person answering them.

Then it occurred to me:

Perhaps they aren’t three questions at all. Maybe they’re one question that follows us through life.

At 25, I wondered, How do I become a leader?

At 50, I wondered, How much is enough?

Today, at 61, I find myself somewhere between those questions and another that feels even more important.

By 75, Less to do with life’s meaning and more like…

Was I faithful with what the Good Lord entrusted me with?

John Bogle eventually settled on one word:

Enough.

I’ve come to believe enough isn’t a number, it’s clarity.

Knowing what matters and living accordingly.

Perhaps the meaning of life isn’t something we discover.

Perhaps it’s revealed in thousands of ordinary decisions…one relationship, one act of service or one typical day at a time.

Until one day we’re no longer asking,

“Was I successful?”

but,

“Was I faithful?”

For me, a life well lived can be reduced to three quiet declarations:

I led with purpose.

I defined enough before the world did.

I was faithful with what the Good Lord entrusted me with.

…and the numbers in the title are really just reflection points of stewardship at different times in our lives, real or anticipated.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Saturday is Independence Day and a milestone one to boot!

Like many Americans, I enjoy the traditions of the Fourth of July. Flags wave, grills fire up, and fireworks light the sky. But this year, I found myself thinking less about the celebration and more about the man at the center of our nation’s beginning.

George Washington.

History remembers him as a brilliant military commander and our first president. Both are true. Yet what may have made him indispensable to America’s founding was a trait we don’t often celebrate in leaders today.

He knew when to let go.

After leading the colonies to victory, Washington could have held onto power. In fact, some believed he should become king. Instead, he resigned his military commission and went home to Mount Vernon. Years later, after serving two terms as president, he did something equally extraordinary.

He stepped aside.

In doing so, Washington established a precedent that leadership is stewardship, not ownership. He demonstrated that the purpose of leadership isn’t to accumulate power, but to build something strong enough to endure beyond your tenure.

I find that lesson increasingly meaningful as I’ve moved through different seasons of leadership. Early in our careers, we’re often focused on proving ourselves—earning responsibility, building credibility, and creating impact. Over time, however, a different set of questions emerges.

Who are we developing?

What will remain after we’re gone?

Are we creating dependence on ourselves, or are we building people and systems that can thrive without us?

Perhaps the true measure of leadership isn’t how tightly we hold the reins but how intentionally we prepare to hand them over.

George Washington became the Father of His Country not simply because he led at pivotal moments, but because he repeatedly chose principle over position. He understood that his legacy would not be defined by the power he accumulated, but by the example he set.

As we celebrate our nation’s independence this weekend, I hope we also reflect on that quieter, timeless leadership lesson.

The strongest leaders are often the ones secure enough to walk away, knowing they have left something better behind.

Have a blessed holiday weekend! Enjoy some summer activities and reflect, if only for a moment, how incredibly fortunate we are to live where we do.

Eric

Good morning, Team! It’s Friday!

Years ago, I participated in Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends and Influence People training. One concept that stuck with me was how people interpret communication, often referred to as the 7-38-55 rule.

Albert Mehrabian’s research is often summarized this way:
● 55% body language (facial expressions, posture, gestures)
● 38% tone of voice
● 7% actual words

In a nutshell, here is what it means (to me).
People hear our words, but they decide whether to trust us by comparing those words with our tone and behavior. Communication is most powerful when the message and the messenger are in alignment.

That captures the spirit of Mehrabian’s research without overstating the famous 55% figure.

Recent: I was walking through the office the other day and a colleague was at the front desk. I waved and said hello. Apparently, I also raised an eyebrow. That eyebrow was the only thing she noticed and quickly announced. Confirmation of some element of Mehrabian’s research.

A number of years ago: Some dear friends experienced a tragic family loss and let us know about it. We dropped what we were doing to be there for them. I’ve questioned myself a thousand times about what I should have said to comfort them. In that moment, words were not the critical element. Our intent was conveyed through our actions.

Going forward, I want to be hyper-conscious of this idea: Communication is most powerful when the message and the messenger are in alignment.

Good morning!
How are you?
What’s on your plate today?
Any plans for the weekend?
Can I help in any way?

The words matter. But my facial expressions, tone, attentiveness, and intent may communicate even more.

How do you communicate?

If someone were to video your interactions, would the replay match how you “see” yourself?

Sometimes the most powerful things we communicate go beyond words.

Have a blessed weekend!

Eric