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Success always starts with building relationships

Do not assume. This thought hit me as I read feedback from attendees of a sales conference. The most often mentioned takeaway is to focus on building relationships. Reading them, I wondered how many of us make assumptions in this area. Do the people we lead know a positive outcome begins by building a relationship? It is not unusual for salespeople to be told to make so many contacts a day. Research likely says a certain percentage of these contacts will be converted to a sale.  In hospitals, managers are told to engage with (round on) every patient in their area. In most ...

Leadership in a time of change

This week I found a book on our bookshelf titled “Leadership in a Culture of Change” by Michael Fullan. Although I had forgotten that I had read it some twenty years ago, the truth of the words in my old notes jump off the yellowed paper. The ideas in this book are more pertinent now than ever before. What will happen if we close remote schools and have no bus drivers? In 2025, we are living in a time of cascading changes hitting us every day with something new. The concept that “change stirs emotion” is profoundly true, but our problem is that we have been so beset by ...

Go with the money

When considering who would assist the Saudi Arabian oil industry, King Ibn Saud stated in 1933 that he preferred Americans. When asked why, he said, “They work hard! They get the oil, and they don’t get into politics.” This would surprise most U.S. citizens in 2025. It seems that all the United States does is meddle in politics, particularly in the Middle East. Of course, this was before the establishment of the State of Israel. From 1948 onward, the U.S. has had to balance its oil interests in Arabia with its commitment to the Jewish state. This juxtaposition of their ...

Donald and the Kingfish

Donald Trump and Louisiana’s “Kingfish” Huey Long have often appeared to have much in common. Both were impeached only to be acquitted, and they share a talent for showmanship and commanding a loyal following. Populist was also a term applied to Trump‘s MAGA movement and Long’s Share Our Wealth Clubs. Lately, they share another distinction. They both destroyed parts of the mansions they resided in. Trump destroyed the East Wing of the White House; Long went one better, completely destroying the Louisiana Executive Mansion in Baton Rouge. And they did it without legislative ...

Placing a very bad bet

In 2018, the Supreme Court voted 6-3 to strike down a federal law banning sports gambling, thus allowing individual states to decide whether to allow it, or not. It didn’t take a genius to predict what might happen, especially when politicians can find new sources of revenue beyond income, property and sales taxes. Last week, more than 30 people were indicted as part of a national sports betting scandal involving high-profile figures, including Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups and Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier. Billups was charged in a scheme involving rigged poker ...

Folklore is more than just scary stories

DONEGAL, Pennsylvania — It is 6:14 p.m. on a Thursday. You’re hiking along the Forbes Trail, nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains somewhere along the Westmoreland-Somerset County lines. It is 19 minutes until sunset, and you have just over a mile to go, mostly uphill, before you are out of the deep forest and in the clearing. The mountain range, which stretches from Maine to Georgia and is documented to be one of the oldest in the country, shares characteristics across the approximately 420 counties. It is rugged, often mist-covered with deep hollers and rugged peaks that ...