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You can win by being different. When you can’t win by being better, you can win by being different. Growing up as a “Husky Red head” I had no choice but to figure out what everyone else, who wasn’t a husky red head was doing, and do something different. That paradigm has continued into my adulthood and my career. Being different can benefit you if you don’t have the right genes to be an Olympic…

Jesus Gets Baptized – a Story

It was a hot summer afternoon in the Middle East and John was out on the edge of town, standing in the water of the Jordan River. He was baptizing people with water in the name of God.  Lots of people were there that day because word had gone out that Jesus was coming to be baptized by the crazy dude with the wild hair and clothing from the Stone Age. The grass roots party was there.  They’d…

God Works During My Vacation

My family recently took our annual 10-day trip to Montana to visit family and friends. Before leaving, I sent a $400 check to my church as a tithe, having missed two weeks prior to the trip and knowing that I was about to miss two more services. I tithe 10% of whatever money I make.  I thought nothing more about it, and we enjoyed our trip. On payday, my wife was paying bills and noticed that my…

Isn’t That Against the Law?

For over 40 years, I’ve been a Human Resources Professional. I am now also a Chaplain, College Professor, and Keynote Speaker. I teach and speak on the subject of building faith into a workplace to improve morale, reduce turnover and increase profits. One of the biggest reasons people leave God at home when they go to work is the fear of getting into trouble, offending other people, and losing…

A Critical Thinking Perspective

Thinking critically calls into question the assumptions underlying our customary, habitual ways of thinking and acting…” Stephen Brookfield The need for critical thinking is consistent for all organizations worldwide, in fact one could say this is increasingly true given the complex global environment that surrounds us. In evidence of this, a number of well-known management concepts are formed…

Talking in Tongues and Observing the Prophets who Got it Wrong, Plus proof from the one who got it right!

I was recently studying about speaking in tongues. I’ve been practicing, which I learned was a good thing. Apparently, the more we speak in tongues, the better our spiritual vocabulary becomes. Maybe that’s why so many preachers I’ve seen can praise God with flowery prose. I don’t do that. My vocabulary is usually something like, “Thank you Father” or “Glory to God”.  Pretty plain stuff. In…

An O.G. in an R.V. with GOD! Part 2: Catching the “RV bug”

In my last blog, I told you that I had recently been told that I was an O.G., and Old Guy – so I decided to do what I thought all OG’s are supposed to do – I bought a motorhome. Now don’t get too excited, Gertrude, as my daughter named her was a mess when we got her.  We didn’t go first-class to begin our journey. We bought Gertrude.  Her roof was black. I thought that was normal, until I washed…

A Sin is a Sin is a Sin: God Doesn’t Discriminate

This is a little off my beaten path of offering guidance for businesses who wish to improve their standing by incorporating Kingdom Business Principles. Today I’m writing about the effect a television advertisement had on me, and the reaction to my reaction.  The lesson I’ve learned is about pride. Theft is a sin, so is lying, cheating and stealing. I’m guilty on all counts. Since I began a…

I need a Warehouse Worker. Can I compete with Amazon?

I’m a Seahawks fan, anybody who knows me knows that!  But I also support our other sports teams, the Mariners, Sounders, an unnamed NHL Team and of course, The Sonics! The more revenue we bring into our area the better! I recently saw an advertisement from another Seattle favorite, Amazon, branding its holiday staffing ramp up as “The Surge” or something like that. Earlier today I t posted a job…

14 Strategies for Making Better Decisions

14 Strategies for Making Better Decisions

Head ’em Off at the Pass!

If you’ve ever seen a TV Western, you know that this phrase means to stop progress while there’s still time.  Let’s put this into a working context – the Performance Review. In most companies, you receive a performance review once or twice a year.  That means your supervisor or manager has to think back six months and then subjectively rate you on some scale or another.  I suggest you set your…

Think Your Employees Could Work Harder? – Give them a Reason!

I spent most of my career trying to encourage managers to do performance reviews, always facing resistance.  As an HR Director, I looked forward to PAs, and so did my direct reports, so I could not understand the resistance.  I did understand “Span of control” meaning how many direct reports a manager had would influence the time required to do them, but that wasn’t the only challenge. I wondered…

Share Sales Stories to Inspire Employees

As humans, we enjoy a good story. Guess what? Your employees are humans too. And they do work in your company.  Have your sales people tell stories to your employees and watch the magic happen! Salespeople should be able to tell a great story. They do it for prospects and clients, so they should be able to tell it to your employees, so why would you want to do this? Let me ask two questions; how…

Brainwashing, Affirmations and Thinking Positive is for WIMPS!

“Who cares about all of that foolishness? All of that foo-foo, lovey-dovey stuff originated from the back end of a Black Angus. It’s royal Poo! I’m in business to make a profit, don’t bother me with that crap! That stuff is for wimps!” – These are direct quotes from my very first consulting client. Rather than arguing, I decided to develop a model that would change his mind, and then make him…

Sometimes, a Little Brain Damage is a Good Thing.

In July 2013, I was in a serious automobile accident. Among the many medical procedures that followed was an MRI of my brain. I found out that I had one.  I also found out that it was damaged. It had also been damaged at some time in the past. No doubt from being hit over the head with a rifle. So they said I’d notice some subtle differences in life.  I did. I suddenly realized that I was a pack…

Likeable Failures: Just a Little “off-bubble”

Here’s a scenario from our real life consulting files – the nice guy that just wasn’t cutting it.  You know the one, liked pretty well, polite, cooperative, on time, a hard worker, yet just a little “off bubble” meaning he doesn’t “cut it” with your organization. Firing him might be an option, but you’d feel bad about it.  I call them the Likeable Failures. There is an intervention for this…