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The Leader’s Hour
Did you set some New Year’s Resolutions? If you’re a leader with any sphere of influence under you, this season has been more than just a season of New Year’s Resolutions. There’s been organizational strategic planning, the setting of financial and mission goals, putting in place the structures and disciplines for success in the coming year, etc.
What type of goals and disciplines have you also put in place for yourself?
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Read MoreLeaders Need Other Leaders
Those of us who are part of the texting group at our CrossFit gym joke about it periodically. And . . . sometimes at some level we may actually be somewhat serious about it.
I think it started after a particularly brutal 6:30 Friday night Workout-of-the-Day (WOD).
I should have known what was coming
My friend Jerry had just completed Friday’s 5:30 WOD.
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Read MoreLeadership Lessons from the end of the Leash: Trust Takes Time
In our family, we love Golden Retrievers. They ride in our car, sleep at the foot of our bed, get “bully sticks” almost daily (much to my wallet’s chagrin!), and have brought endless joy to our lives. My wife and I started rescuing Goldens a few years into our marriage, and as a result, are currently on rescue numbers nine and ten. Each one of our rescued Goldens has taught us something about love, relationships,
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Read MoreHow Are Your Tomatoes Doing?
One of the bright spots for my wife and me in late March occurred when we realized: we could finally try our hands at a raised garden. After flying almost weekly for years, we now stared into months with no travel on the calendar.
A trip to Austin-iconic Shoal Creek Nursery and we were in business: four large-looking plastic raised gardens, instructions included, along with tomato, bell pepper and cucumber seedlings as well as two packages of green bean seeds.
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Read MoreWhy Leaders Should Encourage Thinking Outside The Box
My wife and I own four Aqua-Tots swim schools in central Texas. While I travel every week on behalf of Neillie Leadership Group clients, I have a rock-star team of leaders managing these four schools and the more than 100 aquatic coaches and team members who serve our families. Last year, we did more than 120,000 swim lessons at these four year-round, child-friendly indoor swim centers. I love what our swim center teams do!
Recently,
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Read More3 Keys to Leading in Times of Disruption
My wife and I live urban. Several years ago, we were privileged to downsize and move into one of the oldest close-in neighborhoods in Austin. We live in a tiny stone cottage – one of the few stone houses remaining – three miles directly west of Austin’s downtown. We love how accessible Austin’s downtown has become for us with its restaurants, coffee shops and various goings-ons. Which leads me to this picture of our more-than-80-year-old house with a disruptive technology in front of it.
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Read MoreIt Started Under the Porch
Redford was getting on my nerves. Let me explain.
When we adopted Redford, we lived in a home that had a large porch descending into the backyard. The steps were 12 feet wide and provided not just steps down to the yard, but a place to sit when we had poolside get-togethers in our backyard. My wife and I always liked how wide the steps were – they made a graceful transition from our house to our yard.
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Read More“The Poorer The Soil, The Richer The Wine”
Several years ago my wife and I celebrated a wedding anniversary by taking a 10-day trip to France. We started with three days in Paris, then spent a week on a small cruise ship on the Seine River.
During the river cruise, we spent several days in the area of Provencal, which is the beautiful wine country of southern France. One of the side trips we took on this cruise was to a vineyard and wine cellar or “cave” as they call them in France.
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Read MoreThe Discipline of Market Leaders
Our 2-year-old daughter was one of the original Aqua-Tots when “Mr. Ron” the lifeguard showed up in our backyard to team swim lessons for her and a number of other children from our church and the neighborhood.
Fast forward 26 years later, and:
- Our daughter is grown, married and the Regional Marketing Manager for a national chain of upscale burger restaurants. Her territory includes Texas and several western states.
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Read MoreHow are you at “Interpreting the Blur?”
Dr. Laura Miller owns Northwest Hills Eye Care in Austin, Texas. She’s been practicing for a number of years and has a very impressive resume. She was the recipient of the “Corning Low Vision Award” when she was a student at the University of Houston as well as the “Young Alumni of the Year” from the Texas Optometric Association. She is currently the past president of the Central Texas Optometric Society. It’s no overstatement to say that Dr.
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