The Ultimate Investment

I’m a loan officer.  I work for a major regional bank.  I’ve made over $300 million in loans to small, medium, and large businesses.  I’ve given loans to start ups, emerging and well seasoned businesses.  I’ve lent as little as $1,000 for a credit card to over $50 million to one valued customer.  This article [...]

I’m trying to lose a few pounds.  Well, actually more than a few.  Problem is, with my profession, I tend to eat out a lot.  It’s hard, especially when I like such a variety of foods . . . and chocolate.  It becomes a daily struggle of what, and how much to eat.  If I [...]

There is a certain senior executive at a consulting company.  He is well-regarded for his wisdom and sound counsel.  Many come to him for help evaluating ideas and solving problems. In each case, if he can help, he does.  If he can’t, he tells them quickly so they can seek help elsewhere.  On one particular [...]

We’re all consumers.  What separates a top brand from all the others?  What separates a mega-star from an ordinary actor?  What separates haute cuisine from a plate of spaghetti?  There’s a mysterious gap between the top tier and the next in line. You’ve seen examples of very competent and talented singer / musicians who never [...]

I’ve always heard the saying, “When a student is ready a teacher will come.” This is true. There are teachers all around us. Everything we see, everything we do contains a lesson. The next time you notice something interesting, stop and ponder. Ask yourself what you can learn from what you just noticed. Then sit [...]

When I was young all my friends were fascinated with dirt bikes.  One of our friend’s Dad bought him one.  Boy, were we envious.  We would gather and watch him kick it started, peel out, and race over jumps we had constructed just to watch him fly.  He got really good at it, a real [...]

Lisa thought she would enjoy being in business, so as she attended a university, she declared business as her major.  She graduated with her bachelor’s degree and wasn’t quite settled with what she finally wanted to end up doing, so she started going for a master’s degree in business.  One semester away from graduating she [...]

Walt Disney suffered a near nervous breakdown just as he was reaching a pivotal point in his career.  At that point, on the advice of his doctors, he took time off and got completely away from his work, leaving it in other’s hands (a thing he had struggled doing before).  He had to relinquish a [...]

Sarah was the director of training for a group of over 120 volunteers.  During that time she would routinely work with regional directors to set production goals with each individual volunteer they were responsible for.  She soon saw that about twelve percent of the volunteers really took goal setting seriously.   Those who set realistic goals, [...]

The Old Testament teaches:  “Where there is no vision, the people perish:” (Proverbs 29:18) There are as many ways to realize your dreams as your imagination can create.  Obviously, some routes are better than others.  But like building a house, or taking a long vacation, to get the most out of it, you need a [...]