I am just back from Barcelona after a week in Portugal and Spain. Portugal is the 53rd country I've been fortunate to visit. There are 54 cards in a deck...if you count the jokers. To round out the deck, I took a one day trip to tiny Andorra. Andorra, however, was no joke. In fact, here are 10 reasons to love this country (one that you may not remember from 8th grade geography) high in the Pyrenees Mountains. Read the rest of this article »

I am writing this post on my way to Amsterdam. In the middle of the night on what had been an uneventful flight to that point, I was returning from the bathroom to my seat. A man who was walking toward me in the aisle stumbled, fell against an open seat, and collapsed in a heap in the aisle face down just 20 feet in front of me. I rushed to help him.

What happened next was incredible. Read the rest of this article »

I wrote a blog post a few weeks ago that irritated some of my colleagues at other organizations. I stated that the organization (and not an employee’s manager) is the most important element in retaining and motivating employees. That post was hotly debated and many people in the human resources community vehemently disagreed with my position. They had conventional wisdom backing them. I have data backing me. Read the rest of this article »

If you follow sports even at a passive level, by now you have heard about Jeremy Lin. He is the point guard for the New York Knicks who has emerged from nowhere to captivate the NBA, its followers, and many other people around the world. The Harvard graduate of Taiwanese decent has been lauded by just about every news station, magazine, and newspaper over the last two weeks. Read the rest of this article »

Modern Survey has an exceptionally industrious employee named Ben Harkins. In addition to being a model employee and curator of problem solving, Ben is also an entrepreneur at heart. Right now that entrepreneurial spirit has him building a real estate portfolio.

Young and capable, Ben does a lot of work on his own home and his rental properties by himself. On a recent Saturday this fall, he was doing a woodworking project using a table saw. One split second and one small mistake severed one of Ben's index fingers completely off and marred two other fingers. His life changed in a heartbeat. Read the rest of this article »

One of my favorite pastimes is looking through a well-stocked bookstore. The routine is always the same -- first look through the business books, then travel, next history, and finally fiction. It was during a recent trip through the business books when I realized how much professional progress I have made in the last couple years. Read the rest of this article »

You’ve heard it before, "People leave managers not their companies.” It’s a simple adage that consultants love to use. It is also a load of bull. It may have been true at one point, it may be true at some point in the future, but it doesn't ring true now. Read the rest of this article »

This week I am in Miami for business. It’s lovely to leave the cold and snow of Minnesota behind for a few days. This morning I took advantage of the early sunshine and walked to pick up a few things. I decided to go to a well known retailer…we’ll call this retailer Walgreen’s. It was my second trip there this week. Just like my first trip, I was greeted by an annoying little toy choo-choo train rolling around a plastic track making the most ridiculous racket imaginable. It could be heard in most parts of the store. Read the rest of this article »

Everyone gets lost from time to time. A wrong turn is taken. You think you know where you are going and suddenly the houses and roads become strange. The natural reaction is to feel annoyed or uncomfortable. Maybe you’ll be late for an appointment. Perhaps you will have to stop for directions. Not knowing where you are isn’t the end of the world. It’s happened before and you’ve always found your way again. Read the rest of this article »

It’s difficult to imagine the sacrifice a person makes when they leave their job, family and home to go serve their country. This past Veteran’s Day, I got a much better idea of what that is like. I flew to Utah next to a soldier. What did I say to a man who has done far more for me than I will ever do for him? Read the rest of this article »