CEO Blog Archive - Page 84 of 171

Recent Articles

“Be sad. Be mad. Be frustrated. Scream. Cry. Sulk.”

It’s hard to get juiced up about pro basketball in the middle of football season and the baseball playoffs but the season started on Wednesday night. While most of you don’t follow it, I’m sure our Maine colleagues are aware that their new star Gordon Hayward broke his leg in a gruesome manner, faces a long rehabilitation and will be out for the season. Your star going out in the first game of the season

Howe Q. Wallace October 19, 2017

“Happening to the world”

Travis Bradberry of Forbes says there are two kinds of people: those who believe they make things happen and those who believe things happen to them. Sound familiar? He goes on to cite a study conducted by Dr. Tim Judge at the University of Florida which says that those who “happen to the world” sell more, serve customers better, adjust faster to change and get paid more. Particularly distinctive is how “happening to the world”

Howe Q. Wallace October 18, 2017

“Mistakes”

Mistakes. They are a part of life. Hall of Fame basketball coach had this to say about mistakes: What to do with a mistake; Recognize It Admit It Learn From It Forget It Recognition. It takes a certain humility to recognize a mistake. We all know people who are “never wrong.” We also know people who stubbornly repeat mistakes. The wise person knows that if you are trying to “happen” to the world that mistakes

Howe Q. Wallace October 17, 2017

When lumber is more expensive, the cost of waste rises

Our lumber is markedly more expensive than a year ago. In every phase of our business, we are spending more for it than we were a year ago. When lumber is more expensive, the cost of waste rises. It’s the nature of our business that material that goes in the dumpster may be ugly, but we paid the same for the waste as we do for the good pieces. The more expensive our raw material,

Howe Q. Wallace October 16, 2017

Severity of Accidents

The frequency of accidents is a predictor of severity of accidents. Here’s how it works: If you have a bunch of little things occurring, it is an indication we aren’t locking down the fundamentals of safety. When we are lax on personal protective equipment, small things happen. When we are sloppy on housekeeping, there are more trips and falls. When we take shortcuts, small things happen. When we ignore lockout/tagout, we heighten risks. If we

Howe Q. Wallace October 12, 2017

Happy 16th Birthday PalletOne!

PalletOne is 16 years old! When we started, we had 12 pallet manufacturing locations. Since then: We added six pallet locations. We entered the wood treating business and expanded to four locations. We added a trucking operation. We closed one location. We opened then closed another. We grew our team to 1,400 people. We have a stellar reputation with our customers, suppliers and within our industry. We are a valued employer in the communities we

Howe Q. Wallace October 11, 2017

“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard.”

“Not good enough to punch the clock.” Ken Niumatalolo, the Navy football coach. There’s a show that describes the inter workings of Navy football on Showtime. The thing that distinguishes Navy is that they play a major college football without the elite four and five star athletes. And, they enjoy a measure of success. They don’t have elite athletes because they are a military academy first. They are training people to be military leaders not

Howe Q. Wallace October 10, 2017

Unconscious Incompetence #2

Here are a couple of examples of “unconscious incompetence.” A friend of mine attended a driving school. He’s not as old as me, but we learned about driving 40 years ago. We were taught to put our hands at “10 and 2” on the steering wheel. Not sure why just put them there. Turns out that’s not safe anymore. Most of us have airbags in our car now. If you’re holding the wheel at “10

Howe Q. Wallace October 9, 2017

Unconscious Incompetence

I was introduced to the idea of “unconscious incompetence” in a Harvard Business Review article by Ulrik Juul Christensen. Here’s the idea. When tested, most employees don’t know all they could know about their jobs. Pressed further, most employees think they know more than they actually do. As they take on their jobs, they make assumptions about “why” certain things are done, and those assumptions frequently are built on incorrect facts. What makes matters worse

Howe Q. Wallace October 5, 2017

Rest Well Tom Petty

The news of Tom Petty’s death struck a chord with me. He started his career as a teenager in Gainesville, Florida. He played bars and fraternity parties in the early 70’s at the same time I was in school there. Thus, we walked the same streets. I associate him with my more youthful days. Because of his iconic rock star stature, maybe you know his music. But, accounting for the decades he performed, you may

Howe Q. Wallace October 4, 2017

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Articles About Leadership

THE JUICE IS WORTH THE SQUEEZE

“Everything you want is on the other side of ‘hard’.” – CJ McCollum, NBA player McCollum is a story of overachievement. He was undersized. Played college basketball at a non-descript school. Was a long shot to be an NBA player but worked his way to being a first-round draft pick and was a solid star in his 10th year in the league. I heard him describe his approach to the game and his development on a podcast called

Howe Q. Wallace March 25, 2024

HAPPENING TO THE WORLD – A SATISFYING WAY TO LIVE

PalletOne leaders “happen to the world.” What does that mean? A PalletOne leader is confident. Each situation creates an opportunity for service and contribution. We are talented and put those talents to work. We see those around us as having talent. We seek to unlock it. We realize that we can be called upon to take the initiative to improve things at any moment. We act when the situation calls for it. We inspire through

Howe Q. Wallace March 25, 2024

SUFFERING AND CHALLENGES

“Weep, trust, pray, think, shift, hope, grow. Ways to handle suffering.” – Tim Keller Tim Keller was a preacher from New York City. He passed away in 2023. I followed him on Twitter because he tweeted profound thoughts like the one above. You don’t exit life without tough things happening to you. It’s a fact. None of us are exempt. In specific order, Keller gave us seven verbs to consider when challenged: Weep – It’s

Howe Q. Wallace March 22, 2024