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The Future of Hospitality With McKibbon Hospitality CEO Randy Hassen

“The most important guest is the one right in front of you. Take care of that one and the rest will take care of itself.”...
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The Power of Celebration

January 11 is one of my favorite holidays. You may have never heard of it, but it’s one I look forward to celebrating at the...
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The Mind of a Leader With Mike Lee

The mind of a leader today requires the self-awareness to understand your behaviors and the emotional intelligence to foster trust and safety with the people...
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Lessons from Hell on the Hill

“Tomorrow, an hour into the race, the hill is going silent. We will continue to run, but observe a 20-minute silence. During that period, I...
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Why I Wrote a Book with My Brother

“You should have written the book.” We were three margaritas in, and my brother Chad was giving me a hard time for not leveraging my...
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U2: A Science Project in Service of Art

It was a chilly night in Norman, Oklahoma, when the sky opened up and it started to rain. Running for cover wasn’t a consideration since...
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Make Better Decisions Faster: A Conversation With Paul Epstein

“I can’t decide.” So I didn’t. The truth is, avoiding that hard decision and others like it cost me time, opportunity and cycles of unnecessary...
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I Will Be Happy When …

“Are you enjoying your summer?” I stared at that text message from my coach. I thought about it deeply and eventually responded: “Regarding summer, I...
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Why We Need to Enable — Not Manage — Performance: A Conversation With John Schneider and Michelle Gouldsberry

Few organizations are better authorities on the evolution of performance management than Betterworks, whose annual State of Performance Enablement report dissects what employers are doing...
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Stacking Value to Drive Growth

Did you know 87% of sales opportunities have medium to high amounts of customer indecision? And when you add in economic uncertainty, inflation, supply chain...
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The Magic of Creation

concept—> review —> create —> TEST —> iterate A few weekends ago, I hit the pause button to take in the John Mayer solo tour...
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4 Questions to Build Trust in a Team

“How can I support you in the work you are doing?” On the surface, it seems like a simple question. But when sales leaders pose it...
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Creating Something New

In my business, a break in the action means it’s time to create something new. Every entrepreneur, executive, leader, manager and individual contributor needs to...
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The Art and Science of Storytelling in Sales

“I understand….let me tell you a story.” They are some of the most powerful words we can convey. The invitation to listen is also my...
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How to Conduct Effective Pre-Call Planning

Sales calls are the beginning of a journey, and like any adventure, you need to be prepared. Remote selling has risen 89% since 2013, and...
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3 Most Important Elements of Sales Preparation

Most sales are closed before the meeting even starts. Today, on average, when B2B buyers are considering a purchase, they only spend 17% of their...
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How to Improve Psychological Safety at Work

How important is psychological safety at work? Google’s Project Aristotle launched with a singular goal — to discover the elements that make a perfect team. The...
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Make Baseball Fun and Put Fans First

Why are people already in line? The game doesn’t start for a few hours. I didn’t understand. I was in Savannah for a minor league...
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Best Practices of World-Class Sales Organizations

According to Gartner’s Future of Sales 2025 report, 80% of B2B sales interactions will occur in digital channels by 2025. Organizations that can adapt, and...
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How to Become a Successful Sales Person: A Conversation with Philip Kennedy

Few people know more about what it takes to become a successful sales person than Philip Kennedy, vice president of sales at CADY, the senior...
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Servant Leadership in Healthcare: A Conversation with AccentCare CEO Stephan Rodgers

Beginning as a personal care attendant in college and progressing to leadership roles within the UnitedHealth Group network, Stephan Rodgers has spent 25 years profoundly...
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10 Traits of a Great Teammate

When I decided to start my business more than 10 years ago, I wasn’t entirely sure where it would take me. But I knew who...
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Visioning the Future

Visioning the future and mental rehearsal are battle-tested, time-honored traditions of peak performers such as Lebron James and Michael Phelps. However, you don’t have to...
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How to Overcome Loneliness

Chronic loneliness harms us. It’s characterized by feelings of worthlessness, emptiness, and a lack of control, and it literally makes us susceptible to illness. A...
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How to Become More Creative: A Conversation With Josh Linkner

“I am not an entrepreneur.” I carried around this limiting belief way too long. It kept me stuck, playing small and only developing a small...
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Persuasive Communication: 5 Ways to Improve Your Skills

How much time do you spend every week presenting new ideas? Working on getting buy-in from your boss for a special project? Competing for new...
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Adversity Is a Gift: A Conversation with Joseph Michelli

When the pandemic hit, Joseph Michelli was working on a book about the Godiva chocolate brand. Then the company’s stores shut down. He could no...
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Who Are You Becoming?

I have accepted and surrendered to the understanding that the world isn’t going back to the way it was before. Neither am I. Instead, I...
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The Virtual Selling Skills You Need To Grow

The most effective sellers have mastered the art of creating a dynamic, high-impact sales presentation. They know how to present value, offer compelling insight, and...
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How One Family-Owned Business Keeps Its Heroes Healthy

“After the last exhalation, inhale one final time, as deeply as you can. Then let the air out and stop breathing. Hold until you feel...
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You Can’t Improve What You Don’t Measure

“When you were presenting at the Summit in January, I was concerned. I thought I detected the early onset of Parkinson’s in your right hand....
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What Is Your Personal Leadership Vision?

The most effective business leaders, the real Futuremakers, recognize the visioning process begins within. Successful leaders seeking to inspire and galvanize their teams should start...
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Lead from a Position of Influence

Leadership isn’t about tenure or title. It’s about helping people achieve their full potential. It’s about putting people and the organization in a position to...
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How to Conquer Burnout at Work

If you’ve been having trouble concentrating recently, you’re not alone. A recent survey conducted by FlexJobs and Mental Health America found that 75% of people...
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Leader and Author Ronda Conger on How You Can Be a Better Human

I arrived for my first visit to Sun Valley to deliver a workshop for the sales organization of CBH Homes. The setting was so beautiful,...
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5 Journaling Prompts to Build Emotional Resilience

My Rustico leather journal has been a trusty guide through all the uncertainty in 2020 and 2021. Looking back through my journal, I am reminded...
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Resilient Leadership: Embrace Continuous Reinvention

The discipline of change is changing. The modern marketplace is as dynamic as it is ruthless, and business leaders are increasingly defined by their ability...
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My Focus on Mental Health During the Pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought many changes to daily life — and with it has come uncertainty, altered routines, stress and social isolation. As our...
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Thank You, Tom Richey

“To say new business is important really does not give the process its proper value. It is our livelihood and our very existence. I do...
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How to Build Trust With Prospective Clients

Welcome the resistance. In a selling situation, it’s often a sign of engagement and potential interest. If a prospective buyer has taken the time to...
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The Pivot Back to Playing Offense

Around the country, including my home state of Minnesota, we are transitioning out of isolation at home. And as the country opens up, so is...
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Show Up and Serve

Being a great sales leader has never been about driving quotas. It’s about leveraging valued guidance and insight to become a trusted adviser for both...
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A Conversation with Rocket Software CMO Jeff Winter

Living your values when times are difficult is crucial not just to organizational success, but also to creating a sustainable culture that can weather the...
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4 Keys to Capture the Window of Opportunity in Business

More than 33.5 million (1 in 5 American workers) have filed for unemployment over the past seven weeks as states move to reopen, a number...
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Meeting Customers Where They Are

“Why did you reach out?” It was an important question to ask a CEO. I had a sense, of course. I hadn’t planned to ask...
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Lessons From Pura Vida

My brother Chad, my friend Scot and I had just touched down in Liberia, Costa Rica, after a long plane ride. But we still had...
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How to Turn Your Conference Into a Virtual Event

The Coronavirus will change the way we work forever. The pandemic pushed millions of people to work from home. Many will go back to a...
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Who Do You Want to Be?

Who do you want to be June 1? It was early April, and my own journal entry was staring back at me. I was contemplating...
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Understanding the Future with 12 Geniuses

The call usually comes in the morning. Occasionally, not until the evening. But I know it’s coming. It’s come every day since this global health...
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Coronavirus Cancellations

I am supposed to be in Atlanta today delivering two keynote speeches for a Fortune 500 client. Instead, I am deeply entrenched in a morning...
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