Life Lessons
How My Dad’s Simple Rules Built a Lifetime of Character and Respect
The Character Who Taught Me Character It’s very hard to believe that my dad died twenty-four years ago, or will have on May 12 of this year, anyway. Two dozen years, and yet I still think of him every day. Some instance or situation pops in my head, and there he is, along with it.…
Read MoreWhy Trusting Your Team Is the Best Decision You’ll Ever Make as a Leader
How Trusting Your Team Builds Stronger Teams and Better Leaders While it may seem like a reach to go from never-going-to-class college dropout to founding my own technology company, I certainly wasn’t the first. If anything, the least likely. I was pretty much a fuck-up my whole childhood. Some would say, and fairly, that my…
Read MoreCreating Value: Success Happens When You Build a Team That Loves Their Work
Action breeds inspiration more than inspiration breeds action. ~ Willem Dafoe Why Trust Is the Heart of Team Building Among the joys I had throughout my forty-five years within (and withstanding) the computer industry was team building. As I began to land large accounts, it was instrumental to have a knowledgeable team as the inside…
Read MoreHow Technology Innovation Changed Everything: From Walkmans to AI
Without doubt, technology has really changed the world since the 1980s. I am not so sure whether it has made us lazier or better. Perhaps a little of both. The so-called “hot technology” when I landed feet-first in the computer industry a lifetime ago, in 1979, was the Sony Walkman. Visualize yourself walking down the street…
Read MoreWhy Becoming Grandpa Is Like Getting a Complete Life Reboot
Our family was blessed with our first grandchild just over nine months ago. John Jeffrey – named after both my son-in-law’s late father and me – is his official name. His street name is Johnny. Grandpa Love: Finding Joy in Every New Moment Joanne and I have always had grand dogs throughout our forty-plus years…
Read MoreThe Soundtrack of My Life: How the Band YES Influenced Me
How 1960s Music Shaped my Life and a Generation For as long as I can remember, starting in 1964 as a seven-year-old, music filled the void in my psyche. Of course, that all started with The Beatles for me and millions of others around the world. I started taking guitar lessons two weeks later, and…
Read MoreHow to Turn Painful Childhood Memories into Powerful Life Lessons
Childhood Chaos and Painful Family Dynamics Growing up, I was one of four kids, plus a stepsister twelve years older than me. The stepsister, Judy, never had a chance after her dad married my mother. Especially after my sister was born seven years after my twin brother, Jim, and me. She became my mother’s sole…
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