Know your Why

in Motivation and Encouragement 0

My six year old son Trey is a world class question asker.  He does not settle for surface level answers.  He presses in and wants to know, “But why Daddy?”  Trey is certainly not alone in this regard.  Many young children have a natural curiosity. Their young minds are trying to figure things out and make sense of this world.  I have observed how little we adults really ask these same type questions, particularly about the most important questions of life.  If I called up some friends and asked them to meet on the steps of City Hall, they would certainly ask, “Why?”  They would not want to waste an hour of their time unless they understood why.  Read the rest of this entry…

Growing Your Personal Capital

in Attitude, Culture and Worldview, Entrepreneurship, Motivation and Encouragement, Personal Performance 0

Here’s the dilemma.  We have historically been trained to grow up, enter careers and stay the course.  Even if you wanted to, it’s very hard to find companies and jobs to spend 20-30 years of your career.  My wife Nicki recently retired from the pharmaceutical giant Merck after spending thirteen years enduring constant reorganization, restructuring and realignment.  Thousands of her co-workers were laid off over the last several years. In our most recent economic downturn, unemployment skyrocketed as employers tightened their belts by reducing their headcount.  Our national unemployment rate topped out at over 10% in October of 2009.  During the slow recovery the unemployment rate has hovered in the 9% range, and this June it was still 9.2%.  As New York Times columnist and author of The World is Flat Thomas Friedman noted in a recent column, “I think something else, something new – something that will require our kids not so much to find their next job as to invent their next job – is also influencing today’s job market more than people realize.” Read the rest of this entry…

Chic-fil-A

in Family Business, Motivation and Encouragement 0

By the time this article is out, the furor over Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s statement to the Baptist Press will likely have died down and the media frenzy will have returned to the presidential election.  I candidly did not pay much attention to the hoopla as I had previously studied Chick-fil-A as a great example of how to operate an effective organization, and I was well aware of the founder’s beliefs.  As a business consultant, I have always been impressed by the talent and friendliness of Chic-fil-A’s employees and the precision which the company operates. I have interviewed operators of Chick-fil-A franchises and sought the “secret to their success.”  Interestingly, the fundamental reason they shared with me for the company’s success was a philosophy of caring for their employees who in turn care for their customers.   Read the rest of this entry…

Lessons From My Mom

in Parenting, Wisdom 0

My six year old son Trey is full of random questions.  He asked me one day recently, “Who works harder, you or Mom?” I was curious so I asked him his opinion, and he unequivocally said, “I think Mom because being a momma is a harder job.”  Well, I could not dispute his conclusion.   Being a great mom is about the toughest job I can think of.   I know how blessed I have been to have a great mom who has taught me so much about life.   Read the rest of this entry…

ANYWAY

in Attitude, Motivation and Encouragement 0

 

ANYWAY

In 1968, Kent M. Keith was a 19 year old sophomore at Harvard. That year he wrote the Paradoxical Commandments as a part of a booklet that he created for high school student leaders titled The Silent Revolution: Dynamic Leadership in the Student Council.  Keith went on with his life, and little did he know that the Paradoxical Commandments had “gone viral.”  In 1997, Keith learned that Mother Theresa had them on the wall of a children’s home in Calcutta where she served.  Mother Theresa, like millions of others, had the Paradoxical Commandments displayed as a poem under the title Anyway.  After realizing what a widespread impact his writing had, Keith began speaking and writing on the Paradoxical Commandments.  These commandments point us toward living a life of meaning and purpose.  The Paradoxical Commandments which have blessed so many are worth repeating, so I have summarized them below with my thoughts on their application. Read the rest of this entry…

How to Benchmark Your Practice For Success

in Healthcare, Managing Your Business 0

In this column, I am addressing how to make sure your practice is on track for success.

I’m doing alright, but I’m not sure how my practice compares to others.  Do you have any suggestions? 

I grew up playing and teaching people how to play tennis.  Some players would practice and practice, but it was not until they actually played in a tournament that they got real feedback on how they were progressing. Similarly, as you work day to day in your medical practice, it is easy to operate in a vacuum.  However, you can solve this problem by benchmarking your practice against others locally and around the country.

Practicing medicine is data driven.  You spend years learning to quickly review and interpret data to improve patients’ lives.  This data driven mindset can help you optimize your practice as well.  There are four keys to successful benchmarking: (i) The ability to produce accurate data in your own practice, (ii) Access to quality data on key metrics for comparable practices, (iii) Proper analysis and interpretation of the data, and (iv) The will to execute on your findings. Read the rest of this entry…

Lessons from the Super Rich

in Family Business, Healthcare, Managing Your Business, Time Management 0

A couple of years ago it was reported that Oprah Winfrey hired Peter Adamson to manage her fortune (estimated at $2 billion) to run a family office for her.  She joined successful entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg who utilize family offices to manage their fortunes.  A family office is a private entity meant to serve all the personal and financial needs of one wealthy person.  This concept dates back to 1882 when John D. Rockefeller established one to manage his family’s wealth but also to maintain a sense of family cohesion. There are approximately 3,000 of these type family offices in the United States.  Family offices typically strive to preserve the family’s wealth, foster stewardship of the wealth for the next generation, and help expand the family’s philanthropic legacy.  Read the rest of this entry…

Hiring for Success

in Attitude, Decision Making, Healthcare, Leadership, Managing Your Business 0

In this column, I am addressing ways to hire for success.

I am looking for a new manager for my practice. Do you have any suggestions on how to hire the right person?

For a physician, a critical hire is the administrator or manager of the practice. I have seen great managers help grow the revenues and prestige of a practice, and I have unfortunately seen mediocre leaders create a toxic culture that negatively impacted profitability.  Companies that attract and retain great talent know that hiring is important and that it should be done with great care.  I subscribe to the theory “hire slow, and fire fast.”  Great hiring is a process, not a one-time event.  I will summarize below some of the best practices in creating a first class hiring program.  Read the rest of this entry…

Negotiation for Life

in Dealmaking, Decision Making, Speaking 0

I am starting to think that my six year old has some precocious negotiating skills – either that or I am getting old and soft in my parenting! He always has some clever reasoning about why he should not have to do whatever it is I am asking him to do.  He is a constant reminder to me that negotiation skills don’t just come in handy for me at work but also in other walks of life. Whether negotiating with a new employer, your insurance payers, or just where to go on vacation with your family, it pays to be savvy in your negotiating skills.  The art of negotiating is not one of those things that you just learn how to do once then you are a master.  Instead, it takes intentional practice and development to stay sharp.  Most professional schools don’t teach courses in this important life skill, but there are some great books in the marketplace like the classic Getting to Yes which provide important lessons.  Since I spend a lot of my work life negotiating, I am often asked to share some “secrets” of the negotiating process.  I have summarized a few of these below: Read the rest of this entry…

Terry Powell, CEO of Powell Place Landscape Services, Inc.

in Creativity at Work, Entrepreneurship 0

If you have never been on www.TED.com to watch a TED talk then you are missing out.  This site contains hundreds of videos by the world’s leading thinkers.  Two of the most watched videos in the history of the organization are by Sir Ken Robinson, PhD.  Dr. Robinson’s 2006 and 2010 TED talks have been seen by an estimated 200 million people in 150 countries. He is an internationally recognized leader in the fields of education, creativity, and innovation, and his wit and sharp insights capture your attention.  In his best-selling book, The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, Dr. Robinson makes a compelling argument that we should seek to find that unique place where our passion and skills meet which he calls the “Element.”  He shares numerous stories of people who found their “Element” and went on to great success.  He teaches and encourages people to re-think what it means to be creative, and to purposely and intentionally find their “Element.” Read the rest of this entry…

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