Tom Izzo is the coach of the Michigan State Spartans basketball team. He has led the Spartans to 6 of the last 13 Final Fours in the NCAA tournament. He is a future Hall of Famer when it comes to basketball. This weekend the Spartans upset third ranked Ohio State in a Big 10 matchup. In the post game interview, Izzo described “listening to his team” as one of the keys to victory. Team leader […]

Lyle Lovett is a country performer. I would call him a singer but it’s the poetry of his songs that sets him apart. I was reading an account of an interview. He said this: “I got into a significant scrape with a bull of mine. My leg was broken. Really, it’s a miracle I can walk. That bull was just doing what he does naturally. I learned to keep my guard up and allow him […]

I was impressed with the manner and the substance through which Eli Manning led his team to a Super Bowl victory on Sunday. Eli just plays. His interviews are bland. He credits his teammates, his owners, everyone else. In a game where quarterbacks are valued for swagger, he is low on the swagger index. His teammates say you can’t faze him. Whether winning or losing, he just plays the next play. He withstands hard hits. […]

In honor of our colleagues in Livermore Falls, Maine who are eaten up with all things New England, I will be rooting for the Patriots in the Super Bowl Sunday. Bill Belichick is the coach of the Patriots. He is on television a lot this week as the game is upon us. Belichick is among the most successful coaches in NFL history. He is not a flashy coach with a lot of PR pizzazz. He […]

How engaged are you at work? A recent Gallup Poll said that 27% of the employees in this country are actively disengaged. Ken Blanchard, a leading management consultant, describes being actively disengaged as “quitting and staying.” In other words, the actively disengaged do only the minimum necessary to keep their job. Blanchard says that everyone in the organization can contribute to fight active disengagement. The higher up you are on the organizational chart, the greater […]

The new season of the TV show Undercover Boss has started on CBS. It’s on following 60 Minutes on Sunday nights. You probably know the drill. A boss puts on a disguise and goes to work doing jobs in the company he or she doesn’t usually do. It makes for a good show because the CEO proves to be inept and most of the show demonstrates that ineptness. What surprises me is that they are […]

According to researchers, one of the most important factors to having a fully engaged work force is based upon the degree an employee feels understood and appreciated. The study goes further to say that the reason most people don’t express appreciation more is that it can feel “fake.”  It made me think of baseball. I played baseball as a kid, mostly first base and some as a pitcher. One of the things you get taught […]

Do you use checklists? I must admit that I don’t. I have written to you about the power of the checklist. But, I don’t have them incorporated in my life. I read a book that reminded me of their power and it has me reconsidering how I approach it. The book is called Golf’s Sacred Journey: Seven Days at the Links of Utopia. Sounds sort of exotic but it isn’t really. A friend gave me […]

Nathan Whitaker is an author. Most recently he helped Tim Tebow write his bestselling autobiography. Recently Whitaker wrote a guest column in The Orlando Sentinel about the Tebow phenomena. This note isn’t about Tebow but it’s about an assertion Whitaker made in the column. He said this: “The question isn’t whether we will have a legacy – we all will. Rather, the open question is whether that legacy will be positive or negative. Are we […]

I have a confession to make. A couple of years ago, I wrote in one of these notes that I was going to make my effort towards safety be slowing down on my driving. So far, so good. No tickets. But, after a good, long road without attracting “blue lights,” I have been pulled over twice since Thanksgiving. Gratefully, neither stop resulted in a ticket.  In the safety world, those are called “near misses.” A […]