Our tag line reads “Reach Further, Accomplish More, Work Less.” That is, after all, the objective of developing capable people - to expand your influence, get more done, and do less of the grunt work yourself. It would seem to logically follow that the best way to do this would be to raise up a cadre...

On the Velocity Channel I watched a reality show about a classic car restoration shop in Canada. In the episode I saw, the owners of the shop had hired an apprentice mechanic. After a few months on the job they considered him worthy of increased responsibilities, so they gave him a project to manage. As...

A typical home improvement store here in the United States is over one hundred thousand square feet in size, cost almost $20 million to build and $5 million to stock. Other big box stores would be similarly equipped and valued. With shelves fully stocked, all well-managed businesses conduct periodic inventory counts. From the smallest Mom...

You are the owner/manager of a retail department store. Your store is busy so high sales volume also means a lot of returns. One of the new employees is tasked with handling the checkout register and for restocking items as they are returned when checkout traffic permits. The employee has gone through the company’s orientation...

Undaunted Courage is one of the great stories in American history. When Merriweather Lewis and William Clark departed St. Louis in May, 1804 on what was then called the Corps of Discovery Expedition, they actually failed in their stated purpose. Commissioned by President Thomas Jefferson to find “the most direct and practicable water communication across...

The expectation that leadership can be a singular role is unrealistic. We wear a lot of hats. We manage, we motivate, we correct, we monitor, we inspire, we facilitate, we coordinate, we focus, we bark, we growl, we whisper, we articulate, we define, and we execute. A couple of posts ago I wrote about our...