Jason's Blog

Perhaps the most powerful four words in leadership are "I believe in you." As I reflect on my journey in life, the people who stand out in my mind as those who transformed me weren't necessarily the best teachers or communicators.  Some of them weren't even very...

Last fall, a small group of people who care mightily about human beings and their experiences with work, came together in a cabin in the middle of everywhere to dream, imagine and rethink work.  I write about and think about work most of the time, it's my...

Starting when he was 6 years old, I coached my son's basketball team for the next 5 years until he was old enough to find coaches that really knew what they were doing.  During that time when our relationship extended to coach-player, I didn't treat him the same...

I had the privilege last week to speak to a group of young professionals in my community who volunteer to support the work of Habitat for Humanity.  They had asked that I share about 15 minutes of material that might be useful or motivational to the members of...

We create most of the drama we experience every day in our work lives.  There, I said it.  Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but most of the drama you experience starts with you.  That also means that you have the power to stop it. The single most...

Who would you say are the best rock and roll lead singers of all time?  I'm guessing that a bunch of names come to mind for you.  In fact, we could probably have a spirited debate over who is the best, even if you aren't a big music fan.  Now, name the...

One of the blogs that I follow pretty regularly is written by Tim Ferris, author of The 4-Hour Workweek.  Tim is a wildly interesting guy who has turned be interesting (and interested) into a pretty amazing business.  His blog is thought provoking and...

My two year old son is a curious little dude.  My wife frequently points out that he is always looking things over to see how they work.  Apparently, he's a chip off the old block as the other day, as we watched him trying to figure out how the door on the...

The metaphors we use when we describe things can tell us a lot about what we really think and feel.  I was reflecting on this the other day as I was preparing for a presentation.  Most all of my work centers around the workplace and the humans that interact...

Sometimes, life can feel pretty overwhelming.  We have all been there.  The workload feels impossible to complete.  The task at hand appears to be impossible.  You aren't sure that the people around you are committed.  You are even starting to...

Value is one of those concepts that seems fairly simple on the surface, but is far more difficult in actual practice.  My first brush with the idea of value was during my childhood years.  By nature of having a grandfather who was a postmaster for decades, I...

Today's post is a guest post from my friend and colleague, Carol Ross.  If you like this post, make sure you read all the way to the bottom as Carol is making a very cool offer available to readers of this blog.  Enjoy.  When The Company You Work for No...

I know I already wrote one post about Bubba Watson, this year's winner of the Master's Golf Tournament.  But, there's another piece of this story that I just kept coming back to.  Immediately after Bubba won the tournament a few weeks ago, pictures of him...

For the past week or so, I thought my iPod was broken.  I mainly use it at the gym, so when it wouldn't turn on the other day when I got to the gym, I just assumed the battery needed charging. When I got it home and plugged it into my laptop, the iPod didn't come...

A couple of weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet a team of people who work at a company that many of you have probably heard of or read about at some point: Rackspace.  The particular team I had the chance to meet was the Culture and Communications Support...

The death of loyalty in the employee-employer relationship has taken a toll on us all.  Well, maybe loyalty isn't completely dead, but it's become a rare and precious thing that is pretty hard to come by.  If you've been exposed to any generational diversity...

Get outside of your comfort zone. I don't remember the first time I got this advice.  But, I know that I've heard (and said) it hundreds of times.  Our comfort zone is where dreams fade and potential is lost.  Greatness lives on the other side of the...

This week, as I was facilitating a session for a group of managers, one of them asked me the question, "What does top talent really want in a job?"  On the surface, that seems like a pretty good question to ask.  We all want to hire the best talent and he...

For those who didn't watch the Masters (or a newscast in the past 12 hours), Bubba Watson won the prestigious golf tournament yesterday.  Upon winning, he was overcome by emotion.  His mother came out onto the eighteenth green and they hugged while...

My wife and I have become committed fans of the Syfy network show Merlin that chronicles the early years of King Arthur of Camelot and the great wizard Merlin.  It is a fun and entertaining show and we are addicted to it. The episode this past week was...

You can't control what happens to you.  And, you can't control how other people react to what happens.  The only thing within your control is your reaction to what happens to you.  These words represent one of the most important lessons I've learned in...

Why?If you've ever lived with a three year old, you are familiar with this question.  When you are three, the world is new and everything is a mystery (and nothing is sacred).  So, when you ask a question of a grown up and you get an answer that isn't...

When we consider the influence of others on our learning, there are two kinds of people who are critically important to learn from: role models and teachers.  Role models are those who DO things in a way that we aspire to do them ourselves.  Sometimes we...

When was the last time you were passionate enough about an issue, idea or solution to fight for it?  I'm not talking passive, re-frame your argument and try again fighting but finger-waving, red-faced, raised-voices fighting (you can replace "fighting" with...

I have in the past professed my love of Tim Tebow on this blog.  What I loved about Tebow last year was that he represented a disruption of the status quo and a poke in the eye to "the experts."  Tebow's play illustrated that there might be a way to win...

Recently, the New World of Work blog ran a post about the developing nations of Africa that was really intriguing.  In talking about the physical infastructure of an entire country, the author suggests that "infrastructure can be hacked."  It had my...