Goodbye, Univera
As many of you now know, yesterday with the internal team and today with the entire external field organization I announced publicly my resignation from Univera as the CEO of International. I’ll be wrapping up my time at Univera through the end of May. I have nothing but the greatest things to say about my [...]
The October Road Tour: LA, PHX, CHI
I had so much fun on the road the last week of October, and even since then so much has happened–including a SOLD OUT EBI in Lacey w/ nearly 300 attending the Corporate Office, along with a road show this week where we’ve been to about 20 cities. I am sitting in the Seattle airport [...]
Make Memories
In the summer of ’86 there was a great Wall Street Journal (hereinafter WSJ) article written about a Frozen Custard Stand in Lafayette, Indiana. I was 13 at the time. What was I doing reading the WSJ? Well, Friday night WSJ review nights, of course. Some of you know that every week we’d have “article [...]
Winning Big in a Down Economy
It’s tough to win big in business even in a good economy. It’s competitive and challenging, but it sure is easier in a boom marketplace than in a down economy. There’s never been a more difficult business environment in most our lifetimes than what we’ve experienced this past year. But what IF, in a down [...]
A Great Fall Weekend at Xpand Your Business
You could not ask for a better place to spend this past October weekend than at the Alderbrook Resort in Union, Wash., reveling in the great achievements of our newest Gold and Platinum Associates this past year. Between enjoying the crisp, cool fall air, the turning colors of the trees, and the magnificent view of [...]
Do what you Love, Love what you Do
I get inspired watching someone who is an expert at whatever they do, doing it and doing it well. And it is simply icing on the cake when it is clear that they also love their jobs. Jack Borden is a 101-year-old attorney. He clearly doesn’t need to continue practicing law at his age, but [...]
Free Hugs
I saw this video about Juan Mann, and his simple desire to change the world in a small way by offering people free hugs, and at first I even scoffed at it. Cute, I thought, but maybe it’s a front. Initially skeptical yet intrigued. But then I did a little bit more reading and research [...]
A Forever Wedding Memory
In College I had a football coach that used to say “you’ll be the same person ten years from now that you are today, except for the people that you meet and the books that you read.” I think there’s a lot of truth to that; from some of the people I’ve met over the [...]
Just Do It…And Do It Again, And Do It…
Art Williams is fairly legendary in the Direct Selling industry; he’s a strong leader, a normal “everyday guy” (who also happens to be #843 on Forbes list of “world’s billionaires”!) and delivered a really strong message twenty years back that still makes its rounds on YouTube. I know not everybody is going to agree with [...]
The Hannah Montana Skateboard
When I was growing up, in middle school, I wanted a skateboard. Not just a kinda-wanna, I mean I REALLY wanted one. Badly. All my buddies had them, the cool kids were always out in sidewalks of Jones Middle School doing tricks, finding a half pipe somewhere to ride on. I remember reading boarding magazine [...]
A Long Story Short
There are many great things that I loved about undergrad and grad school; I loved the education and friendships, the challenges and opportunities, the personal development and the learnings, and particularly graduation with an exciting departure to go to Kolkata for a month followed by a new job at Johnson and Johnson. Yet I also [...]
Authenticity…From a Kid
Thursday night I was at dinner with my family; it was a gorgeous evening crisp and clean air quickly cooling by the nightfall from a warm and sunny day. Just one of those great casual evenings consisting of hangout-with-the-family time. Royce, my seven-year old daughter, was really being quite loving with me. She kept [...]
The Physicist in Sonoma
Recently I took a trip to Sonoma, California, one of my favorite places to visit–and even more so when my wife is with me. So in touring lots of wineries there’s a lot more than “does the wine taste good?” It includes the atmosphere, the staff, the process they use, their focus, and a lot [...]
Another Goodbye (not as in final-final!)
Following is a final Convention highlights and recap “goodbye”, starting with my own message to you and then followed by various clips from the Saturday session. Thanks again to everyone who participated, and also to all of the various (and many) Univera employees that worked so hard on this event.
Univera Convention ’09: The Day Before!
Here we are. Seattle, 2009. Ten Years, One Truth. And it’s all coming together. Today’s my first of what will be a daily blog all around the events of the day and exciting things that are happening. Most of today’s entry is a VLOG, but some of the highlights included countless hours of preparation, store [...]
Happy Father’s Day
Though late in the day, I’m still going to get my Father’s Day post in before “COB”, even beating midnight Eastern time. My Dad is a phenomenal individual and I really appreciate him (as well my Mom, but today is the Dad’s day) more than words can adequately express. Which might be a good thing, [...]
Another Life of a Leader
For whatever reason, I feel like a I read a lot of tributes–perhaps because there are always at least one or two in most issues of Business Week, Newsweek, The Week, and the WSJ. And it’s a different insight to look at the life of a person whose time has past. Reading this short [...]
A Random Update
This has been the longest I’ve gone for quite a while without a blog update. I’ve missed writing, and am also a bit embarrassed for the time that’s passed. So as I was thinking of blogging topics I thought better might be a quick highlights from the past week. So this particular entry isn’t focused [...]
Hard Work at a Cutting Edge
This article really humbled me, for a few simple reasons. I gained a real appreciation for some of the very hard work that people do across the world, in this case in the States, to make a living. At times I think I’ve worked pretty hard in my life. And then I read an article [...]
Goal Accomplishment
Going into the Univera Cruise a few weeks ago I was still working towards my physical goal for the year (and, technically, my target date is still end of June) but I’d moved into the mode of “well, I’ll try my best.” It was accompanied with a bit of a plan, like working out a [...]
R Angel
Today’s a really great day, and not just because of our birth mothers (though I’m particularly appreciative of my mom and my wife) but also because of all the other great literal or metaphorical mothers out across the world–there are some of you who have done as much as any other mother, but for kids [...]
Just In Case…
…you missed it and you’re a Univera associates (or interested in making some extra money), here’s a replay. Normally, I reserve my blog for topics related to leadership, service, and wellness–mixed in with some personal stories. Yet so much of my life is Univera and the related activities spillover continually–and this is one [...]
Rachel, Did You Work Out?
This afternoon I was talking with Rachel Wisby, who heads up our Creative Services team. We were discussing working out, getting in shape, losing weight, all that stuff. And she said to me, “how do you get over ‘Mpmphfhhph’?” “You know”, she continued in her British accent, “Mpmphfhfhph! That thing, it’s like, that moment [...]