I ran into a younger version of myself today. He was 31 years old. He had a wife at home. A one-year-old daughter. A handful of employees depending on him. And a brand-new business called Atlas Outdoor that he was absolutely convinced it was going to become something special. Well, convinced might be a strong … Read more
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill There’s a reason you rarely picture a shark sitting still. For many species of sharks, movement is directly connected to survival. They use something called ram ventilation. As the shark swims forward, water passes over its gills, allowing it to pull oxygen from the water. … Read more
Stay humble. Stay hungry. Stay teachable. Keep learning. Keep getting smarter. But for goodness’ sake… MOVE! “I’d rather have ignorance on fire than knowledge on ice.” I look back at the first eight or nine years of building Atlas, and if I had to describe a lot of what we were doing, it would probably … Read more
Jesus said it this way: “For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.” (Luke 6:45) I’ve been thinking about something lately. A lot. One of the biggest lies we were ever taught as kids may have sounded harmless, but I think it’s done more damage than we realize. “Sticks and stones may break … Read more
“Focus on the things that move the needle.” – Kevin O’Leary I had never heard the phrase “signal to noise ratio” until I watched an interview with Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank. O’Leary often talks about the importance of focusing on what actually matters and tuning out the distractions that consume so much of our … Read more
Another truth that separates people more than anything else is this: start before you’re ready. There’s this lie that creeps into leadership, business, and life that sounds really logical on the surface… “I’ll do it when I feel ready.” “I just need a little more time.” “Let me think through this one more time.” And … Read more
“Most leaders try to predict people. Great leaders build people.“ You can learn a lot from history. But you can also get yourself in trouble when you start treating history like prophecy. In the financial world, people stare at charts, trends, and past cycles and assume the next season will behave like the last one did. “This … Read more
Leadership is strange – you can be winning on paper and still feel like you’re behind in your soul. As leaders, we tend to live in the grey. We stay away from the red… but we rarely get to feel black-and-white “done.” We’re not usually failing. We’re just constantly carrying the next thing. The next … Read more
Last week, we talked about the question that quietly sabotages more leaders than almost anything else – “What could go wrong?” That question feels responsible. It feels wise. It feels safe. But in reality, it often becomes the very thing that cripples growth. Because when leaders fixate on what could go wrong, they stop taking … Read more
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.” – Psalm 107:1 (NLT) Thanksgiving week always hits me a little differently. It almost forces you to slow down just enough to hear your own thoughts again. And if you really listen, you’ll notice something powerful: most of the tension we … Read more