In August of 2009, I was named President of Gibson. The fourth one in our entire history. Most of you remember what it was like in our country back in 2009-10. "The Great Recession" was crippling our economy. Companies were laying off large chunks of their workforce or closing their doors entirely.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger René  Boer,  a Certified Implementer of EOS. We hope you enjoy René's wisdom and perspective.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Ron Kitchens, Chief Executive Officer at Southwest Michigan First. We hope you enjoy Ron’s wisdom and perspective.

When hiring new team members, typical organizations focus on resumes and references. Great organizations, on the other hand, focus on selecting the best people based on talent, strengths, and fit. It may be faster to scan credentials and hire based on pieces of paper, but I guarantee that a strategic approach will lead to fewer regrets in the future. Simply put, we as leaders need to know what to look for and how to find it.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Scott Downes, founder and principal of Thomas LLC, an independent communications consultant. We hope you enjoy Scott’s wisdom and perspective.

As I was partaking in the annual holiday known as “Shark Week”, I thought a recent re-watching of the original summer blockbuster Jaws might provide a worthy metaphor to explore some leadership lessons. Chief Brody, Hooper, Mayor Vaughn, and that old salty dog Quint provide so many pearls of wisdom throughout the movie that I’m sure we could all learn from.

Our lunch was great. It was like the twenty years had never passed. We talked about our wives (only good things of course), our families, and certainly business. I laughed hard more than once as he shared anecdotal parenting stories from the past two decades. His sons, teenagers when I began working for him right out of college, were now grown men with wives of their own.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Amy Cooper Collier, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Girls on the Run Michiana. We hope you enjoy Amy's wisdom and perspective.

The good news for driven, always-improving, Type A leaders, is that your success may well be rooted in that Type-A soil. You have vision, enthusiasm, and a commitment to ever-higher standards. You work tirelessly to make a difference in your company, your community, and your world. A lot is expected of you: crystal-clear vision, inspirational motivation, extensive knowledge, wise perspective, up-to-date skills, encouraging guidance, authentic affirmation, solid decision-making, and the list goes on and on. Leadership isn’t for the faint of heart. 

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Adam Kronk, Head of School for La Lumiere School in LaPorte, Indiana. We hope you enjoy Adam’s wisdom and perspective.

I’m on the back of a rickety bio diesel truck, barreling down a dirt road outside Siem Reap, Cambodia. The sun has just come up, but it’s over 100 degrees and I’ve already broken out in a sweat. I’ve got a kroma—a thin, all-purpose scarf that seems to be standard issue for every Khmer person on the planet—wrapped around my neck covering my nose and mouth as a makeshift dust mask. There’s a lot of wind because of the speed at which we’re traveling. It’s so hot out that it feels like a hairdryer blowing in my face. I’ve kicked one of my flip flops off into the bed of the truck, itching the bottom of my foot where a mosquito bit it last night.

About a year into my tenure at Gibson, I was named to the Leadership Team and responsible for our revenue and growth in a “Chief Growth Officer” role. Not only was I new to Gibson, I previously had no technical knowledge or career experience in two of our three business units. Before my first major meeting with our group, I was already hearing the whispers about this newly created role and my (lack of) qualifications to be in it.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger Wendy Keneipp, Partner at Q4intelligence. We hope you enjoy Wendy’s wisdom and perspective.

Are you holding back from making a major organizational change you know is best in the long term, but you just don’t know how to get started?

Whether it’s changing your business model, upping your marketing game, or rethinking your customer service practices, some decisions just seem so, well…big. And intimidating. And downright painful. In these situations, we can become paralyzed and unable to take action.

But inaction isn’t the answer. Because the longer you avoid the decision, the scarier that decision becomes. Likewise, the longer you avoid change, the more daunting change becomes.

Don’t get caught in the indecision trap! Take these steps and you’ll soon be on your way to being Captain Decisive! Or at least Corporal Decisive.

Today we’re sharing insight from guest blogger, Jim Canfield, Managing Director at CEO Tools. We hope you enjoy Jim’s wisdom and perspective.

I recently got a new bicycle. It is a city/commuter bike purchased to be an addition to my more specialized road bike and mountain bike. It arrived in a big box ready for me to complete the assembly. Like many projects CEOs and managers run into, it was about 70% complete.