In business, you need to learn when and what you need to control. Figuring out this formula can be the difference between growth and stagnation. One day I came to the realization I was stifling the growth of my business because the very skill set that allowed me to get to a certain success level could not fuel the growth beyond that point. Even worse, I was having a difficult time attracting and keeping gifted and skilled professionals on my team. The wake up call came several years ago as I found myself in the ER with chest pains. I like control. My family refers to me as “Captain Schedule” when we go on vacation. However, being a control freak has its advantages. After all, if you control everything, you can never blame others for a failed project, a bad hire, or even a flat soufflé. As an entrepreneur, I…

Easter is often a wasted opportunity for churches. “Easter attendance looks good in the reports, but the extra people show up for that Sunday but they don’t come back until the next holiday” said the disappointed pastor on the other side of the table from me. Unfortunately, he was right. A lot of people come through the doors of churches during Easter who never return until next year, if they come back at all. But that doesn’t have to be the case. Over the years, I have seen churches of all sizes compel the “Easter Crowd” to return the following weekend and eventually become part of the congregation. With some pre-planning and strategic intent, you can improve your odds at getting back the people who, otherwise, you might not see again for another year. Most of the churches I work with will start a new teaching series the weekend after…

In our pursuit of improvement, of becoming our very best, we can find ourselves always looking for the negative in every situation.  As a consultant, I’m paid to figure out how to improve communication, technology, and create new and better systems. Being critical is part of the skill set that forces me to see what could be and not just what it is. But recently I ran into a statement from Shawn Achor in his book “The Happiness Advantage” that has forced me to think deeper about my consulting skills. He writes, “Constantly scanning the world for the negative comes with a great cost. It undercuts our creativity, raises our stress levels, and lowers our motivation and ability to accomplish goals.” Achor goes on to support this statement with case studies and illustrations. Even if he didn’t, the truth in it resonates with me. How can I be an effective…

The difference between success and failure in any venture often cannot be attributed to a single incident or cause. It’s usually a culmination of factors including timing, execution, assumptions, economic factors, and more. While much has been written on the success of start ups, one factor usually sticks out in my mind. Recently a friend who is in the process of starting a business told me he was “overwhelmed and not sure of what he was doing.” I can relate to that feeling well. But my advice to him still rings true from the early days of my company, The A Group. My words of encouragement were simple: “Don’t quit. Success is 90% perseverance.” I can’t quantify the percentage. But I know that the great majority of the successes I have seen in my professional career both in business as well as in ministry have been directly tied to my…

Last week I attended the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. It’s the industry’s biggest event, drawing over 72,000 attendees from over 200 different countries. The event was massive in both size and scope: booths, the size of city blocks, from the likes of Samsung and Sony to small software developers for mobile devices. Everything mobile was covered. After learning my way around Barcelona’s metro system and fighting through the crowded train stations, I got several days of exposure to what’s happening, and what’s about to happen in the mobile world. Here are some overarching observations: The world is now mobile. While desktops might still have a place in business, the new day belongs to the untethered, highly portable world of mobile devices: phones, tablets, and phones the size of small tablets or small tablets with a phone built in. Payment through mobile devices has become streamlined. There are several…