Late last year, I had the honor and privilege of spending three weeks with my then 90-year-old father. My wife and I purchased a house and some acreage in East Tennessee, and I wanted to show Dad the property. He lives in north Texas, so I flew to meet him and then drove him the […]
The past few years, there’s been a lot of talk and writing (books, articles, blogs) about the topic of balancing work and life. What exactly is “work/life balance” and can you actually balance competing demands of a career with your personal life? I’d like to add my opinion to the mix, starting with a story. […]
According to dictionary.com, the definition of indispensable is: Adjective Absolutely necessary, essential, or requisite Incapable of being disregarded or neglected Noun A person or thing that is indispensable. I have heard it said that the secret to success is to make yourself indispensable at your job, career, or vocation. As a teenager, I accepted that. […]
I am a big World War II history buff. One of my favorite books, “Band of Brothers” by Stephen Ambrose was made into a wonderful HBO series. If you’ve seen this series, or have read the book, you know who Dick Winters is. If not, Dick Winters was one of the first officers of Easy […]
“When something bad happens to you, you have a choice to be bitter or better. There’s only one letter difference between those two words, but a world of difference between the response.” I don’t remember where I heard this, but was profoundly changed by this approach to dealing with bad outcomes. I’ve used this concept […]
As a leader, who is a Christian, I strongly believe in divine intervention and divine appointments. On Monday, May 21, 2018, I was on the receiving end of a divine appointment. I had just enjoyed a wonderful weekend with my family. My girls (wife, two daughters, and granddaughter) spent over three days of […]
What legacy are you leaving as a leader? Recently, I’ve been thinking a lot about the legacy I left as a leader. In April of 2019, I completed 40 years of service at Chevron. At the end of August, 2019, I retired from Chevron. Over the past year or so, I’ve reflected on my legacy. […]
(Originally written June 13, 2018 – please read all the way for an update from 2021) I just recently celebrated my 39-year service anniversary at Chevron. I’ve attended retirement celebrations for many friends lately. I’m asked frequently by coworkers when I’m retiring. At this date, I still haven’t decided when I’ll retire. I have spent […]
My Personal Leadership Model A requirement in one of my MBA classes was to develop a personal leadership model. This model had to be represented by a graphic, and supported with a research paper that explained the model. I found this exercise to be quite enlightening and introspective. I originally developed my leadership model in […]
This is my first attempt at writing a blog post. When I’ve mentioned starting a blog to folks, their initial reaction is usually – why? I hope to answer that question with this post. I was prompted to do this by my mentor, Eric Walden. You may ask why a 62-year-old person would have a […]