Inspiration CEO Archives - Page 7 of 36

Recent Articles

Are You A Teammate That Creates A Connection?

David Neeleman founded the airline Jet Blue. It’s known as an innovative, low cost, customer service-based airline. When he started the company, Neeleman felt like they would need “nice” people to develop the culture he sought. A “go to” question that was used in interviews was: “At work or in life, can you describe a time when you left your area to help someone else?” He said that they were surprised at how often that

Howe Q. Wallace February 7, 2019

TO BE TRUSTED IS ONE OF THE BEST VIRTUES…

“Trust is built in drops and lost in buckets.” Kevin Plank, founder of Under Armor sportswear company. To be trusted is one of the best virtues. Trust opens communications. When you can say the important thing or difficult thing and trust it will be received in the best possible spirit, more gets said and learned. Trust allows teams to play faster. When you know your teammate will be where he or she is supposed to

Howe Q. Wallace February 1, 2019

What’s An Environment Where You ‘Earn” Respect?

If we are wise, we give people opportunities to “earn” respect as well as extend the courtesy of “owed” respect. What’s an environment where you “earn” respect? What does it look like? Our annual survey gives us a bunch of clues: We make expectations clear. When people know what is expected, they have targets for which to aim. Giving a person a target and letting them play is an invitation for respect. Hitting expectations is

Howe Q. Wallace January 28, 2019

RESPECT YOUR TEAMMATES…

We want to be known for the “respect” we give. This year in our leadership training, we talked about respect. We posed the question: when someone meets our company, what will be our standard for showing respect? Several themes arose: We don’t ignore strangers, we engage them. We acknowledge their presence. We learn their mission. We do it all with courtesy. We learn names. When it comes to meeting new colleagues, we aren’t quick to

Howe Q. Wallace January 25, 2019

NO MATTER THE ELEMENT OUR TEAMS PERSEVERE…

I’m in Maine today. A rare January visit for me. Last week was a blizzard with zero temperatures. This week a driving rain with warmer temperatures which causes sludge and icing. Reading and hearing reports, wet weather is everywhere and where it’s cold, it’s been very cold. One of the many things I admire about our teams is your resilience against the elements. Whatever the circumstances, you rally to meet the demands of the customer.

Howe Q. Wallace January 24, 2019

PERSISTENCE…

Our colleague sent me a quote this weekend: “With enough persistence, luck always shows up.” I’ve heard quotes like that often. Former film maker Samuel Goldwyn said it this way: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” These quotes remind us that “hard work and persistence” are two things we can and should rely on when things aren’t happening well for us. I’ve been through assorted business cycles in my life. When things aren’t

Howe Q. Wallace January 16, 2019

When was hope introduced into your vocabulary?

When was Hope introduced into your vocabulary? If you’re like me, it was when you were a young kid. I think my Mom taught it to me. When I wanted something, but she knew it wasn’t going to happen, she might say “we can hope” We could “hope” someone could get well. We could “hope” someone would win. We could hope someone might come for a visit or go out for dinner. There was always

Howe Q. Wallace December 11, 2018

THERE IS NO GREATER EQUALIZER THAN PASSION…

I watched a good bit of football this weekend. As always, on rivalry weekend, there were surprises. Teams you didn’t expect to win, turned the tables and upset higher rates foes. Teams played better than expected. Other teams who should have won the game turned in lackluster efforts and lost. These games remind me of some organizational truths… You may have more skills and talent but failure to execute will cause you to fail. Execution

Howe Q. Wallace November 26, 2018

Teams Working Together Fuel Continuous Improvement

Elite teams work on getting better. The teams do it on their own accord. They find the motivation from within to stretch their ability and results. In our operations, we have hundreds of small teams. We believe our company works better when each small team creates an agenda for improvement. There are five areas that can be the fuel for improvement. Safety. It’s job one. To consider how, where and when accidents occur in your area and

Howe Q. Wallace November 20, 2018

ARE YOU A GOOD LEADER?

A popular point at our leadership training is – People don’t quit companies, they quit bosses. For each of us, our perception of the company where we are employed is influenced heavily by the leadership we encounter. Our enterprise isn’t a name or a product as much as it is the people we encounter. When I saw the following on LinkedIn, it caused me to reflect on our training to leaders. Here’s the

Howe Q. Wallace November 1, 2018

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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