We purposely don’t have many sacred cows in the businesses that I run. We adapt and change fast and have become “platform agnostics” so we can server our clients better in a fast-changing business environment. Sacred cows only slow things down and are always self serving. There are three things, however, that we fight hard never to compromise. And if we ever do, we are quickly reminded of their importance and why after all these years, they are still relevant. We call it our 3 C’s. These core values are more than just posters on a wall or words on a website. These helped form the DNA of  these businesses and have everything to do with the environment we create internally. We take our time to hire someone at The A Group, so managing them is an easier process. C is for Character Character is a foundation of any success…

I enjoy people. I’m the guy who looks forward to a party to meet someone new as oppose to dreading have to walk in a room full of strangers. Most of the time that I find myself in a new situation, I look forward to making new friends. As gregarious as I am, I have learned that not everyone communicates the same way I do–as a matter of fact there are several different “communication languages” my clients and friends use for their primary mode of communication. Much like the popular “love language” concept where some prefer words of affirmation and others touch or some gifts, these communication styles or languages are key to unlocking the potential in a sales and management relationship. If you’re in sales (I believe we are all in sales of one form or another), consulting or ministry , the sooner you figure out the best way…

The way you leave a job says more about you than the way you started it. Recently Tiger Woods fired his caddy of 13 years, Steve Williams. Unfortunately for Mr. Williams, his public reaction to the event is a classic case of how not to walk away from a job. Whether or not Tiger was justified in firing Williams, the time and manner of it is truly irrelevant. The only thing Williams can control is his reaction. In Steve’s own words: “Following the completion of the AT&T National I am no longer caddying for Tiger after he informed me that he needed to make a change. After 13 years of loyal service needless to say this came as a shock. Given the circumstances of the past 18 months working through Tiger’s scandal, a new coach and with it a major swing change and Tiger battling through injuries I am very…

I’m convinced you cannot use focus groups to describe a ground breaking idea. I’m usually a fan of research, but not when it comes to introducing a cutting-edge idea or new product into the market. Focus groups might be a valid way to improve on an idea, or a help on choosing new features or services but they fail when they’re are asked to envision something completely new. This morning I read a comment on a blog that drove the point home: “I remember reading an article about the first-generation iPod and thinking: I can’t imagine ever needing one of these. Within months I had purchased one and I never went anywhere without it.” Innovators don’t ask permission. They bet on their instincts and create the experience we cannot live without. Can you imagine if Steve Jobs had decided to get validation from a focus group before building the first…

The best projects are the ones that have a big vision, great impact, tough challenges and stretches everything you have learned to date. The A Group has recently launched a website that meets all of that criteria and then some: MinistryMatters.com . Ministry Matters started as a vision of Audrey Kidd, COO of The United Methodist Publishing House. Audrey wanted to bring UMPH’s vast collection of reference, scholarly, practical and inspirational content along with blogs, articles, video and audio together in a true community-focused destination. The vision was clear and so were the challenges: how to integrate UMPH’s multiple legacy databases and systems with a dynamic, user-friendly and social media-rich interface. That’s where The A Group comes in. From the site’s name selection, branding, user interface development, back end content management system and finally database integration, our design and programming teams work side-by-side UMPH’s content and IT departments in creating…

The wrong person in your staff can cause you not only headaches, but a bad hire can be the difference between amazing growth and a church split or even an early retirement from the ministry. Not long ago I went to dinner with a friend who shared with me what could’ve been a staffing nightmare. A charismatic personality and a winning smile, had my friend convinced that this man was the right person for a key position in his church. There were red flags, however. First, our candidate seemed very eager to leave his job. He put his house on the market before he even got an official offer from my friend’s church. He began looking for a house in the new city right away. Things were moving fast–too fast indeed. But thanks to a new HR policy my friend’s church had put in place a few months prior, he…

There a a lot of books and blogs on good parenting. Focus on the Family has been helping Christian parents for decades. A lot of family experts talk about “teachable moments.” My contribution to parenting comes from a different angle altogether: what not to do. From time to time, I’ll share with you some of my “unteachable parenting moments.” Hopefully they’ll prevent you from making the same mistake with your offspring. Here’s a Bad Parenting Moment you should not repeat. Tricking your children into going on a scary ride will not get them passed their fear of rides, but it will ruin the rest of your Disney vacation. That was my brilliant idea several years ago when we took the boys, age 5 and 9 to their first trip to Disney. My rational was simple: ride the scariest ride on all  of Disney World early on the first day. Once…

I thought I was getting out on an early flight home. Time was tight but this was a small airport and my gate was literally less than 10 feet from security. I heard my name called over the intercom as I was collecting my bags. The TSA agent wanted to do extra screening of one of my bags, of course, so I stepped aside, made eye contact with the gate agent and yelled out “I’m here. I’ll be there as soon as they let me go.” Within a couple of minutes I was ready to board. I didn’t expect what I heard, “Sorry, the flight is closed. You’re going to have to take the next one.”  “You have got to be kidding me!” I was just incredulous.  “Didn’t you see and hear me?” I asked the agent who didn’t bother looking up from the computer. “I waited over 4 minutes.”…

I attended a church production featuring great acting and singing talent supported by a strong team. It always make me happy when churches find, cultivate and deploy talented people for artistic productions. Where else would art and creativity come from but from the heart and mind of God? What troubled me about my experience wasn’t the quality of the experience, but the lack of strategic intent. At the end of the thing, I was left not knowing how to respond. Besides showing my appreciation for the talent and hard work through my applause, I walked away not being able to answer the “why” question. That was a miss opportunity of a weekend service to create impact. Next time your creative team decides on a video, play, reading or any artistic element within your service, you should ask these questions. What do we want to accomplish? What’s our ultimate goal? How…

This is not an educational, inspirational, or leadership post. This is a confessional note, and I’m not proud it. Sometimes you have days where there’s not much left of your brains, patience or both at the end of a long haul. Yesterday was that day for me. I got home and by the time I took the boys out for a “guys dinner out,” I had nothing left for them. Our dinner was, for all practical reasons, a non event. I was tired of thinking and talking so I just sat there like a lump on a log and watched the boys eat their dinner. There was no teaching moment, no funny stories, not even an argument from me. I was barely there; as a matter of fact, I was not there at all. I’d rather write about all the life lessons I get right and the good things that…