I’m sure whomever created these church signs had very good intentions. But as you and I know, intentions don’t count. People will always judge you on execution. What’s the most memorable church sign you’ve seen?

When does a luxury stop being something special and become part of the expected? Well, sooner than you think. Only  a few months ago Wi-Fi was not available in airplanes.  It was one of the last places on earth, 30,000 feet above the earth, where one could truly unplug. But then someone figured out how to connect a moving plane to the web and suddenly such luxury became available on selected flights. I just boarded a plane that does not have Wi-Fi. I was disappointed, even a bit upset because I now expect to get my email and text messages wherever I am, and fast. I call this phenomenon the law of expectation. Globalization has accelerated the way new technologies and products reach us. Unwittingly it has accelerated the expectation of consumers as well. That is a tough proposition for those of us in the service industry, including churches and…

In business, as in life, things don’t always go the way we plan. Some days are disappointing: the account you have worked so long and hard to land decides at the last minute to go with your competitor;  the relationship you have worked so diligently to preserve goes south anyway; the promotion you know you deserve falls to someone else; someone you thought was a friend turns out to be a foe. You get the picture. In those moments, it’s easy for us to “lose it,” to fall apart. In these times, more than ever, we need a radical change of perspective or else negative thoughts and disappointment find a way to cloud our thinking and drag us into a dark place. Decades ago IBM sales executives were trained in what the company used to call “gratitude course.” These were the brightest and most tenacious recruits selling multimillion dollar systems…

Often the anticipation of the pain is far greater than going ahead and “pulling” the proverbial band-aid. We all have been there…the sense of dread, the knot in the pit of the stomach, the worry about the fall-out. I have seen organizations and individuals go through a season of angst due to an impending decision that keeps getting postpone time and time again because the decision maker fears the confrontation and whatever consequence that might come from it. Years ago I remember postponing letting a team member go because of the knowledge base that person had on a lot of different projects within our company. The longer I delayed, the inevitable the worst things got with clients and the rest of the team. In the same way, I remember being in angst for weeks over a difficult conversation I knew I had to have with someone close but didn’t want…

I was listening to a discussion today about people’s online identity. Years ago it was taboo, and even considered unsafe to have your own name in forums and chat rooms–the precursors of today’s social media. And a lot of people still create user names that allow them to be anonymous. I’m looking at my Twitter feed right now and see names such as “Shoemoney” and “Angelcollector.” Creating pseudonyms online is web 1.o thinking. Intuitively I have always used my first and often last name in chat rooms, forums, and now Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and whatever comes next. The main reason I use my real name online is because, for me, the web is not a place where I go to hide, but I place where I go to connect,  share my voice, and engage clients and potential clients. It’s a place where what I do and who I am intersect…

“I am waiting for things to get back to normal.” That’s an expression we often use when the unexpected happens…when life throws us a curve ball…when the rules of the game change mid-season and we are forced to adapt. But lately I have come to the realization that very little in life, if anything, ever goes “back to normal.” The problem with the idea of wanting the expected and familiar is that it forces us to look backwards. And by now we all know that life only moves forward. It’s the equivalent of the proverbial “letting the cat out of the bag.” Regardless of our futile attempts of holding on to the past, we are eventually forced to let it go and embrace the new normal. Whether we are dealing with fractured relationships, changing businesses environments, or even aging issues, we have to ultimately come to grips with the new…

His name was Billy, not William. He was a great friend. I had hoped we’d grow old together, but he left earth too soon. These are the words I shared at his memorial service yesterday: I met Billy almost 20 years ago in the early days of Bellevue Community Church, now Hope Park. I came in late to the church’s tiny office where Billy was painting. He heard my accent and thought I was the tile man. That’s before he realized I have absolutely zero handy man skills. We became great and unlikely friends. We travelled together, served together, even owned a business together.  Billy and I were opposites in many ways, but our differences made our friendship more interesting and fun. He could design and build just about anything. I was always amazed by his talent and skill. He loved beauty and both my home and office have Billy’s…

When I first started The A Group, we were mostly a marketing agency focused on design, print, and some web work. Today, we are two strong divisions: a marketing agency and a technology company. Throughout our 10 years in business I got a lot of advice from friends and mentors, but one tip has paid off more than any of the others, and it has helped grow my company even in times where a lot of similar businesses have struggled. I remember telling my friend Mike Miller that I used my organizational and leadership knowledge skills as a valued added for my clients who were buying marketing services from us. His reaction was unexpected: “you’re doing this upside down! The strategy is what matters the most. Anyone can come up with design. Your consulting is what you should be charging for.” He was right. And that day I began to…

As an entrepreneur I had to learn this lesson the hard way. It took me a while, but I finally came to the conclusion that “there are no small customers, only small invoices,” as Shannon Litton, The A Group’s President so eloquently says. As a business owner, the sooner you learn that, the better off your organization will be. Here are a few things I’ve learned about the “small customer”: They can barely afford your services, so it’s a big investment for them and their expectations are extremely high. They are not appreciative of the “extra” effort or discount you might be giving them. They lack growth potential for your business. The time you spend with them could be spent in a much more profitable way, and/or with a growth potential account. What else have you learned about the small customer?

Transition is inevitable. Sometimes we choose to make a move and sometimes we are thrust against our will into a completely new timeline, not of our choosing. But during the times we choose to make a move and to transition, whether it be a job or a relationship, I find that too often we run from something or someone into something or someone else. Too often I find people, myself included, exchange one set of problems for another…one pattern of bad behaviors for another, sometimes with even more dire consequences. Why do we do that? Why do we escape from the fire into the frying pan? I’m not a psychologist, but a bit of introspection lately gave me a hint. If I don’t know what I want, I cannot make a clear choice. I cannot say “no” to a mediocre offer or to another difficult relationship unless I know what…