I have made a lot of mistakes in my business career. Thankfully, I have made some good choices that have paid big dividends. Recently I was talking with a friend who is assessing the possibility of buying an existing business. I asked him to answer these 3 questions:

We fear that Wall Street is still spiraling out of control, our economic system might in total chaos and the sky  might be falling as well. While I find myself very concerned about our financial future, there’s something about a shake down in the way we do business that excites me. In my experience, difficult times for the business-as-usual approach always opens up new opportunities for creative, nimble and entrepreneurial organizations or individuals to find a break that fat, entrenched and risk-averse big business cannot or will not pursue. I started The A Group in November of 2001, a few weeks after 9/11. Most people thought I was crazy because of the overall fear and paralysis in the marketplace. “Boy, I hope you’ll be ok; these are difficult times,” I heard over and over during the early days. And they did represented the reality of the day. People were looking…

There’s a big difference between being easy going and being passive. The first allows you enjoy life more than someone who’s always worked up about the little things or the stuff he cannot control. Being passive is a problem. It assumes that the old saying “que sera, sera” or “whatever will be, will be” is true. While being easy going might be a virtue, being passive is a liability. I have enough self awareness to know that I’m not easy going by any means. My natural tendency is to micromanage just about everything. I’d like to think I have become better with age at letting things go and trusting capable people to do their jobs. But It’s not an easy thing for me. Just ask my wife. As I think about my propensity to be more passive than I’d like, I try to find out what motivates me not to…

Today is a special day for me:It’s the Summer solstice. I’m not a sun or nature worshiper, but  I love summer because I love daylight. I’m energized by getting a lot done in a day,  and there’s nothing that says carpe diem more than the longest day of the year. In the northern hemisphere it happens to be today. We’ll have 14h 37m 25s worth of light in beautiful Brentwood, TN. And I’m going to celebrate it by squeezing everything I can out of this long day. But as I try to curb my enthusiasm, I understand that not everyone feels the same about it. While I’ll be up at 4:30 so that by 5:00 I can be running the neighborhood before hitting the gym at 6 and getting to work by 8 a.m., some are dreading the long day. I don’t know where you are on this one, but…

Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. William Shakespeare, Twelfth Night I understand where Shakespeare is coming from even though I’m not sure anyone is truly born great. But the last part of that sentence has always caught my attention: some have greatness thrust upon them. Sometimes a strong leader guides us into new opportunities. Other times a wise leader guides us through difficult situations. But in each of those cases, the quality and heart of true leadership is forged out of either the crucibles of opportunity or crisis. As I look back in my own life and weigh in my own leadership style, I am coming to the realization that I am probably a better leader during crisis than I am during the season of opportunity. I’m not sure it’s complacency or content, but I find myself staying too long in the…

The question was part rhetorical and part inquisitive: “Why are you here?” I was in my second year of college and the exchanged happened because of my asking for an extension on a paper, due to a volleyball tournament on my schedule. I was a bit shocked by the bold retort of my English teacher. I expected her to understand that there was more to life than her class, be gracious and let me off the hook. She didn’t. She jolted me with an existential question that haunts so many of us on a daily basis. The simple answer was “I’m here to go to college, learn and graduate.” But the bigger life answer is much more elusive. And while I still wrestle with God’s will for my life on a daily basis, I learned something that day that has served me well over the years. Even when I cannot…