Recently, our family participated in a murder mystery dinner, and it was an unforgettable experience. We haven’t had that much fun in ages.
Each of us had a role in the drama. My husband played a son struggling to get into community college, while the kids and I portrayed the sheriff’s children. We laughed, cried, and even argued…fully immersed in the storyline for the entire two hours. It made me reflect on something important: engagement.
Whether our role was large or small, we each felt needed and critical to the unfolding drama. This got me thinking about our team meetings. Do we ensure everyone feels essential? Do team members understand their purpose and expertise? It’s crucial that everyone knows why they’re there and the value they bring.
So, before your next meeting, let’s prepare the team. Reach out to individuals like “John” for logistics or “Elizabeth” for insights on the millennial generation, even if those aren’t part of their job description. Give them a heads-up on what to consider beforehand. This way, everyone can contribute meaningfully, transforming your meetings from mundane to engaging.
I guarantee that with a little prep, meetings will not only be productive but also enjoyable. Let’s create an environment where everyone is involved and has a voice. There’s no mystery about that kind of success!
Michelangelo was not born a great artist. He developed the skill to paint a masterpiece like the Sistine Chapel ceiling by continually setting out to do something far beyond what he, or any other painter of his time, had done. Every painting was a leap of faith accompanied by the risk of failure. Each one tested not only his creativity and skill, but also his commitment, convictions, and even his identity. He embraced what might be called the 10x mentality.
Most of us reach for just a little more – a promotion, a bit more money, a personal record. That’s incremental progress, and it’s a 2x mindset. You’re just working twice as hard at what you’ve always done. You’re letting the past dictate what you do and how you do it.
But what if you want to create a meaningful, transformational difference in your life and business? What got you here won’t get you there. You need a 10x mindset. This isn’t about more…it’s about less. A 10x mindset is essentially about quality over quantity. Going 10x is about the simplification of your focus down to the core essentials. Then you remove everything else. Your attention is directed on far less, but its impact is far greater because of that focus. Michelangelo painted on a scaffold with his nose just a foot or so from his masterpiece. Although he had a very clear idea of what the entire painting would portray, he focused on the details of one particular figure at a time. And painted it perfectly.
Want to learn more about this concept? Check out “10x Is Easier the 2x: How World-Class Entrepreneurs Achieve More by Doing Less” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy. It’s full of great insights on how to make a 10x mindset work for you.
I have a writer friend who has a dozen or more notebooks filled with random quotes, ideas, interesting facts, and even useless trivia and stick drawings. Why? Because a writing professor once told her “if you don’t write it down NOW, you’ll never get it back later.”
That simple observation is SO true. As we navigate through another busy month, I want to highlight an often-overlooked practice – documentation. It’s the simple process of writing everything down. And doing it NOW, not later.
It’s easy to tell ourselves we’ll get to it “when we have time,” but let’s be honest—time slips away faster than we think. You might believe you’ll remember every detail of that meeting or conversation, yet as the days pass, those small but significant pieces begin to fade from memory. The goal to documenting isn’t perfection; it’s about capturing the essence of what’s happening now. It’s preserving your thoughts and the insights of your team members at this moment. Get them written down and move on. They’ll be there when you need them.
I’ve found the easiest way to document is simply to start an online Word document and just start putting everything down freeform. Bullet points are fine, and so are incomplete sentences. Don’t worry if it’s messy – the goal is to get those thoughts down before they wander off (and they will). Oh, and if you’re willing to embrace some new technology, there are even apps that will take notes at a meeting and transcribe them for you. How handy!
While you’re at it, make documentation a standard practice for your entire team. Their contributions are crucial, and let’s be honest – some of them may be elsewhere by year’s end. Don’t lose that knowledge. While we all have the best intentions, our fast-paced environment often makes it difficult to revisit and record important information later. By prioritizing documentation now, you ensure that valuable knowledge doesn’t slip through the cracks. Making this part of your team culture has an added benefit, as well. It drives home the point that everyone’s insights are crucial, no matter what their role.
Let’s commit to this practice together. Set aside a few minutes each week to document discussions, decisions, and key moments. It will pay off in the long run, creating a valuable resource for everyone involved. Don’t wait for the perfect moment—act now and preserve what matters before it’s gone!
As we approach the end of another year, I find myself drawn to a cherished tradition – putting up ornaments. Each ornament tells a story, capturing moments of joy, growth, and even challenges. These ornaments serve as tangible reminders of my family’s past. Above all, they call me to pause and reflect, if only for a moment.
Interestingly, a number of the ornaments in my collection have direct connections to ISI Consulting, reflecting our journey through the years. Here’s a glimpse into some of them.
2017 – The Coat of Many Colors: This ornament symbolizes the year ISI Consulting was born. Just like Joseph’s coat, it represents our commitment to standing out and being a different kind of consulting firm. It embodies diversity, creativity, and the unique approach we bring to every client engagement.
2019 – The Acorn: This year was tough, much like an acorn representing growth through challenges. It taught us resilience and the importance of adaptation. Each setback became a stepping stone, shaping our organization into what it is today.
2021 – The Light Bulb: We survived COVID and kept the lights on. It symbolizes innovation, and the business reaching more states and regions than ever before.
2023– The Big Broken Bulb: A colleague gave me a large glass ornament that looked as if it had been broken and glued back together in pieces. She shared that it represented the Japanese art of kintsuke, which uses precious metals like gold or silver to repair broken pottery and treats breakage and repair as part of an object’s history. Just like people.
2024 – Two Snowmen Bundled Together: This year’s ornament signifies teamwork and support. We could not do the work we do without key partners and friends. Just like snowmen bundled together, our success relies on collaboration and the relationships we build.
I encourage you to start your own organizational tree of memories. Consider inviting each team member to share an ornament they selected to reflect on a key moment, achievement or lesson learned from the year. What are significant milestones that have shaped your organization? What projects or initiatives have made an impact? What challenges have you overcome together? Then in 2025, you can reflect on those moments as you hang individual ornaments back on the tree. Maybe there will be new team members around the tree, and those shared stories about key moments will prove an excellent way to build team cohesion and collective history. Give this a try, and I’m almost certain you’ll find it becomes a tradition your team embraces each year.
On behalf of ISI Consulting, we wish you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. May we all be reminded of the need for each other and Jesus Christ.
As Thanksgiving approaches, many of us find ourselves overwhelmed by the pressure to create elaborate meals that impress. Especially if we spend any time on social media, where perfection is the order of the day. But sometimes, the simplest dishes can bring the most joy. One of my go-to recipes, which I’m often asked to bring to gatherings, is deviled eggs. This delightful dish requires only four ingredients: eggs, mayo, mustard, and paprika. It’s a crowd-pleaser that reminds us that great flavors don’t have to be complicated.
This Thanksgiving, let’s embrace the beauty of simplicity. Instead of stressing over extravagant recipes, consider focusing on the essence of the holiday: gratitude and connection. Gratitude is simply a sense of thankfulness for what others have done. The trick is it requires us to look outside ourselves. And that brings us to connection. To finding common ground, creating links, and forming relationships with others. Gratitude and connection – two simple ingredients with profound impact.
Think about your own favorite simple recipes. What dish do you love that brings warmth to your table without a long list of ingredients? This year, challenge yourself to create a meal that showcases the flavors of the season without all the fuss. Simplifying our celebrations allows us to spend more time reflecting on what truly matters—sharing moments of thankfulness with family and team members.
In the spirit of gratitude, take a moment to express your appreciation to those around you. More than just family and friends, be sure to include the folks you work with, both in-person and over virtual platforms. It can be a simple text message, a phone call or even a warm hug. Strengthening bonds with one another is so important – remember we are sharper together.
As we prepare for Thanksgiving, let’s make this holiday about savoring time with loved ones, sharing gratitude, and enjoying the deliciousness of simplicity. Happy Thanksgiving!
I have a friend whose car has been sideswiped in parking lots twice in the last three years. Twice! Neither time did the other driver leave their contact or insurance information. But that’s another story. Each time, there was a long, unsightly dent along the entire side of the car. Fortunately, she has auto insurance, so deciding to fix the ugly gash wasn’t a difficult decision. Call the insurance company, get an estimate, schedule the repair, wait around for parts to arrive, pay the deductible, and fix the problem. Fuming fiercely about thoughtless drivers was optional.
But her car drama got me to thinking about the dents we all face. Fixing big dents – problems – in your work is almost always an easy choice. Fix them. They’re unsightly, damage your reputation, and generally make the rest of the project more difficult. If you want to be known for your skill and professionalism, you do what it takes to make things right. Just like fixing that big dent in the car.
But fixing a little dent can be quite another matter. You know, those dings you get when a rock tossed up by a truck tire hits your hood, or when the kids let the grocery cart bump into the tailgate little too hard. You don’t have to fix them. After all, most vehicles have a few little blemishes, and nobody notices. But gather up too many of them, and the car starts to look raggedy. Beat up. Something we’re not too happy to be driving.
Or…maybe we decide that we’re just fine driving a car with a few dents. It’s dependable. There’s no car payment. The kids are still young enough to spill juice boxes and snack crackers on a regular basis, and who wants muddy soccer cleats on pristine upholstery? And by now, we all know you can buy that new car smell in a spray can. Above all, it gets us where we need to go, and we’re not trying to impress the neighbors. We’re happy with some dents and dings.
Fixing those little dents in our work often means we have a deep commitment to quality. We want to consistently deliver our best efforts. I know that taking care of the little things often ensures the big ones take care of themselves. On the other hand, living with dents is a way to focus on what really matters, not just on what can be fixed. Are we willing to live with some imperfections to ensure every voice is heard? Are we working on early stages of a project that is bound to improve over time? Is this something where “good enough is good enough” or are we striving for perfection when it’s not necessary?
It’s the little dents that will make us ponder. But there’s nothing wrong with that.
I’ve always loved swimming. In fact, I was actually part of a synchronized swimming team in college. So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that one swimmer I’m always excited to see is Katie Ledecky. World record holder, winner of nine Olympic medals (including one as the youngest swimmer ever to win Olympic gold), and 21 world championships, she is widely considered to be the finest woman swimmer in the world. So how did she get there?
In her book, “Just Add Water,” Ledecky notes that a strong genetic line of persistence runs through her whole family. Once one of them gets an idea, they execute it. And that, in large part, is what has driven Ledecky since she started swimming at age 6. She hasn’t always had the best technique or the most natural ability. But when her coaches through the years have been asked what has enabled her to swim the way she does, their answer is inevitably the same: hard work. Ledecky has always believed that the effort she puts in today will pay off down the road. She believes in the swimming mantra “no shortcuts”. There are no shortcuts to developing the skill and stamina required to compete at the highest level, just as there are no shortcuts to the end of the pool…you have to swim all the way. Powering to the wall is how she wins races.
Ledecky has taken to heart a key theme I’ve seen in successful leaders in a variety of fields. She thrives not on winning, but on continuous, unrelenting improvement. A knowledge sponge, she takes feedback eagerly and implements change as soon as she can master it. Never one to hit the snooze button, she is willing to set scary goals and take the steps necessary to achieve them. For example, she has long set what she calls “want times”…ambitious swim times that were private, but which became more and more reasonable as her swimming improved. So, let me ask…are you setting stretch goals for yourself? Are you willing to seek out feedback, even if it might be hard to hear? Above all, are you willing to implement change and work diligently at that every single day?
Above all, Ledecky remembers the most important life lesson of all. Doing right takes commitment. And being successful hardly matters if you can’t look in the mirror and be proud of who you see looking back at you. Above all, what everyone else does in the pool isn’t your business. Your business is to do your absolute best with complete integrity. Every single lap.
As former White House press secretary Jen Psaki notes in her book “Say More: Lessons from Work, the White House, and the World” the first step in successfully navigating a difficult conversation is to accept mutual discomfort as inevitable. Someone is going to be uncomfortable saying something, and the other person is going to be uncomfortable hearing it. Whether it’s discussing the realities of racial and economic inequality, dealing with subpar employee performance, or announcing a new direction for your organization, we’re all going to feel that squirm inside.
One way to minimize the squirm is to remember the famous quote attributed to Maya Angelou: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” How we feel is closely tied to a sense of being truly hear. So, if you want to navigate difficult conversations, become a better listener. Learn to let people feel heard.
The best listeners do a lot more than just nod. Paying attention to what someone is saying is all about being present in the moment. Good listeners make the process collaborative and interactive. They lean in. Use what they already know to make a connection. Ask questions. Probe for more information. Repeat back what they think they’ve heard. And they’re willing to be a bit uncomfortable if it lowers the barrier to engagement.
In an environment where it seems everyone is shouting instead of engaging, learn to listen. It’s often the quietest voices in the room that have the most to say. No matter how hard the conversation might be, let them be heard.
I recently read “Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All”, by Tom Kelley and David Kelley. I’ve always known that creativity is a key leadership competency, and it has been an integral part of ISI Consulting because we embrace its power. The authors, though, stress that creative confidence is like a muscle – it can be strengthened and trained through effort and experience, and anyone can build it.
Creativity happens whenever we have the opportunity to generate new ideas, solutions, or approaches. It’s why we recognize that there can be many possible approaches to a problem, although all of them might not be worth implementing. Sometimes we don’t know until we try them out. Failure can be a great teacher. Remember, you didn’t learn to ride a bike by simply hopping on and riding off. You fell – probably more than once or twice – and then figured out how to balance better and pedal harder. Don’t be so afraid of failure that you don’t give something a shot.
Another way to spark creative action is to put a fence around it. I know, that sounds odd, but it’s not. At the end of a brainstorming session, you might have a hundred ideas on Post-It notes. Constrain the excess by focusing on a doable piece of the problem. What ideas could you explore in the next two hours? How can you make progress right now? This will keep you from the “everything, everywhere, all at once” dilemma.
Finally, create milestones. I’ve always found it incredibly helpful to have “mini-deadlines” to keep teams focused and their energy up. Especially during a long project, if you have a small portion due or a dry run scheduled, it’s easier to stay on track. And don’t forget to celebrate when you reach a marker…it will encourage everyone.
No matter what your next project is, I challenge you to unleash your creative confidence to empower your team and practically guarantee success.
My children can be amazed by the simplest of things. The flashing of a firefly in our neighbor’s yard. Watching our dog, Buster Brown, with his ears flapping in the breeze riding on the front of our boat. The excitement of a bouncing hay ride to find the perfect pumpkin at the farm every fall. That sense of wonder children exhibit so freely is the engine that drives curiosity and helps develop a robust intellect. To put it simply, we are prewired to learn and to be interested in everything around us. Wonder fuels learning, no matter how young or old we are.
Sadly, our world today is largely designed to stifle wonder. We all know about the challenges of screens, technology, and mindless activity. That applies to adults as much as to children. To retain a sense of curiosity, we must be intentional. As difficult as it may seem, you and I must find time to read, acquire new knowledge, engage in deep and thoughtful discussion, let our imaginations wander, and finally, create in some way (it doesn’t have to be a masterpiece). That’s how we will generate wonder in our lives. And wonder will help us flourish in all areas of life by giving us a sense of purpose, well-being, centeredness, and faith.
My advice to you? Work on that sense of wonder. It’s not just for children.
