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Like quite a few of us, in early 2020, my wife’s and my work went from all travel to all Zoom almost overnight. Instead of frantically racing through airports each week, I was having to navigate the new world of virtual meetings. Cameras and microphones, breakout rooms, internet outages, learning to use “Speedtest.net,” – you name it – we dealt with it!

To help combat the hours of leading Zoom meetings each day,

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I recently went to a church service with some friends where the pastor talked through the age-old story of when Jesus walks on the water and calms his disciples during a storm. His point from the message? At times, there may be big storms raging, and big questions unanswered, but you just need to live in “Grace for the Present.”

Over the last two (!) years throughout this pandemic,

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Unlike any year since 1995, in the past nine months I haven’t been on a single airplane. But I have been in our kitchen. In fact, during this time I’ve gone from being our grocery-store errand-runner and prep chopper to full-blown chef (*with a pretty large disclaimer).

Indeed, one night last week I made “Creamy Pasta and Kale.” In addition to the pasta and kale, my recipe included garlic, rosemary, verjus blanc (BTW: if you have no clue what “verjus blanc” is,

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Mickey is better, but not where we wish he was. And he probably never will be.

We rescued Mickey four years ago. He is rescue #9 for us over the last 30+ years. Like many rescued pets, Mickey’s story has some sadness to it. He was not given the vaccinations he needed as a puppy and developed distemper. While he survived, his neurological system didn’t develop correctly.

The vast majority of the time Mickey is just fine.

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It has been more than six months since I got off an airplane. Normally by this time of year I would have well over 100,000 air miles as I criss-cross the US for client engagements.

And now I’m fast approaching a crisis situation: after stockpiling hotel soap for the past 20+ years – and avoiding the grocery store soap aisle since the 1990s – I’m down to just a few,

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Your managers are costing you a lot of money. $360 billion dollars this year alone.

It doesn’t show up directly as a line item on any P&L. But your bad managers are costing you. A lot.

According to several recent studies by Pepperdine University, Inc. Magazine and other organizations, 50% of your people who work under a bad boss plan to look for a new job in the near future.

Three out of four employees say their boss is the worst part of their job.

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Fellow Leader,
We can be right, while still not being right. Particularly during a season where everyone’s fuses may be short, as leaders we can be “right” while still not being right.

This Present Reality
Patience is frayed for all of us. It’s July (in Texas, we say that, “Juu-Liii”) and temperatures are soaring near triple-digits almost daily in the Austin area. Our swim schools have enacted social distancing measures and a rigorous sanitizing process so we can continue to serve those of our families who are venturing out during uncertain times.

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The challenges keep coming. We’ve restarted our businesses in central Texas, but at a much-reduced capacity. And based on the news you and I are reading, many, many businesses and industries continue to operate at run rates far below optimal. Perhaps just as challenging is that none of us know what a “New Normal” may look like and when it will arrive.

How do you and I lead when we are dealing with day-to-day challenges and months of on-going uncertainty in front of us?

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Texas started opening back up last week.
Our business hasn’t – on purpose.
Four “Fast-Follower” Best Practices learned on Lake Austin.
Here in Texas, our Governor started re-opening the state last week. He gave direction to various business enterprises on recommended occupancy rates and social distancing requirements as we emerge into an economy that needs to recover from Covid-19.
I’ve given the managers of our local businesses very clear direction. Don’t be the first businesses to re-open.

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Without noticing it, Redford got old. The handsome “Cover Boy” of my best-selling book, “The Golden Principles” went from cover-boy looks and alpha-male behavior to white-faced and slow. We rescued him when he was just over a year old. We lost him to old age at 14. For a Golden, that’s old. And while he was in good health almost to the end, he moved slowly in his final days. But even in his advancing age,

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