The Cost of Complication in Leadership

According to MIT professor Pierre Azoulay, who analyzed 2.7 million people who founded companies between 2007 and 2014, a person who starts a company at age 50 is TWICE as likely to get acquired or go public than a founder at 30. Here are some specific examples: ~ Vera Wang didn’t design a dress until she was 40. ~ Mary Kay Ash started Mary Kay Cosmetics at 45—the same age Henry Ford was when he created the world-changing Model T car in 1908. ~ Arianna Huffington started The Huffington Post when she was 55, and Louise Hay launched Hay House at 58. ~ Writer Harry Bernstein published his first book at 96—then went on to write three more before he died at 101, commenting that his 90s were the “most productive years” of his life. You have opportunities all around you. There will always be people who will tell you you're ~ Too old, ~ Too young, ~ Too inexperienced, ~ Too experienced, … …and the list goes on and on. Life happens in the here and now, moment by moment. Don’t subscribe to someone’s timeline for your life. Don’t let a fear-based approach put an expiration date on you or your dreams. You only get one life. I’ve had people tell me I should slow down, that at my age I should be content with what I’ve built. And I know in my soul—I’m just getting started. If you feel the same pull, a Private, Leadership Retreat might be the place to step away, challenge what’s holding you back, and step fully into what’s next. Be clear about Who You Are, What You Want, and Why it Matters, so you can do what you love—and keep doing it—from a place of choice. ... Because that’s how you get to the health, happiness, success, and meaning that will give you an inner peace that few folks ever get to experience in this lifetime.  ACTION: The Upside Challenge for the week is to examine where you might have bought into a commonly held belief about who you are that gets in the way and limits what you want. Challenge it. Then, defy it. Choose an action step in direct opposition to that false belief. Because the world needs you and your brilliance. Now more than ever. Go shine your light. And at 55, I am clear I'm just getting started...

Hope isn't a strategy. You can’t hope your way into a better job, career, or business. You can’t hope your way into a better relationship. And you can’t hope your way into a better life. I've watched people who "hope" others will trust them enough to do business with them. Or hire them for their dream job. Or "hope" that the most talented people out there will want to work with them in their company. Or "hope" that the man or woman of their dreams will show up on their doorstep and ask them out. Hope is defined as a "feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen." When invest time to get clear about who you are, what you want, and why it matters, it's more than just feeling your desire for something. You spent time, energy, and money creating clarity for your soul. This Upside leadership principle ensures you're not strong in only one area of your life - while being completely out of balance everywhere else. It keeps you from burning out after a year, or even a few. Because operating with clarity, confidence, and strategy ensures you get results that last. And that requires more than just hope. What kind of difference could that type of clarity make for you? If you want to be successful and profitable all areas of your life, this is the work I do so perhaps you're being called to dive in deeper to this community. Because the world needs you at your best. And hope isn’t the way to get there. ACTION: The Upside Challenge for the week is to identify one area where you’ve been hoping instead of leading. Where have you been waiting for a breakthrough instead of creating one? Take one decisive action today to move forward. Make the call. Send the email. Have the conversation. Do the work. Because God moves with you when you do.

A few years ago, I felt as if I was on a hamster wheel in my business. It seemed as if I was in the same place every morning - and running fast. Maybe you can relate. I knew I needed someone else to take a look and see what I couldn't because I was too close to it. I sought out someone who would let me learn from their mistakes and not have to make them all on my own. That’s one of the greatest benefits of leadership coaching. Can you be a leader without it? Sure. Yet, the odds of you wildly succeeding are stacked against you for so many reasons. And the biggest one is, you will be light-years behind your competitors if you have to make all of the mistakes on your own. You can always benefit from wisdom gained through others' direct experience, thereby saving yourself a great deal of time and energy. And, you never outgrow the need for coaching. For example, although my leadership coaching and consulting give my clients insights into other industries and companies and have them consider questions they may never have thought about, I, too, have undergone gap analyses in my own business. With the help of others, over 15 months, I examined every single activity that every team member did as well as scrutinizing where my time gets INVESTED. I brought in someone to look at processes for operations, and had a firm conduct a financial audit. We re-wrote SOP's (standard operating procedures), streamlined systems, and eliminated duplication. Some of the questions that I asked were: ~ Is this the simplest way to do this? ~ Is this (action, system, app, etc.) truly needed to run the business? ~ Is everyone on the team committed to the mission, values, and vision of Upside Thinking? ~ What can be automated or done differently? ~ What am I missing? While I talk to business owners almost every day with these questions in mind, it was an interesting journey to do this for me and my business and understand how important it is to ensure the people around me are involved in the process despite this being my area of expertise. Sometimes you can’t see what’s in front of you on your own. You have to be willing to see a new perspective. And then you have to be willing to do something about it. Sometimes, you need to step out of your current environment completely to gain the perspective you’re missing. That’s why I create spaces where leaders can reflect, and recalibrate. If this resonates with you, consider signing up for a Private, Leadership Retreat Day at Summit Hills Farm in Richmond, Kentucky. Our Spring and Fall Upside Retreats are already sold out. And I have a limited number of private retreat days available for 2025. Make a plan to reset, gain clarity, and step fully into what’s next for you. ACTION: The Upside Challenge for the week is to be committed to personal development, understanding you can't see what's getting in the way on your own. So, where in your business or life do you need outside perspective? Be open to taking action to get the answers needed to move forward with greater ease. Remember, you’re here for a reason… …and the world needs you and your brilliance.