Family Business

Lee Rubin on stage at NAFDMA with the 5 C's of Building High Performing Teams dropped a quote that stuck with me. It is shocking how little we actually know. It is unbelievable how little it takes for us to believe. As you consider all the uncertainty in the world, you should be suspicious of incredibly certain people. In his keynote speech, Lee Rubin warned us that "Hope is not a strategy." As the tide of information overload rises, there is increasing pressure to relieve the stress of uncertainty in our lives in whatever way we can. Don't like her idea? She's dumb.Don't like his politics? He's a tool for…

Did you get to ride the Mini-SuperMegaSlide in the booth?! Many dared and most survived at the NAFDMA Expo - Biggest ever?! What a convention. NAFDMA in person was a wild ride of a family-reunion-dance-rave-business-masterclass-dinner-party with some of my favorite people in the world. Someone asked, "Why is NAFDMA so different?" My answer was the structure of the convention that has been in place since my first convention waaaaaaaaay back in 2000. Put the Bus Tour first. The Bus Tour allows a huge convention to shrink first from 600 to 55, then to the people next to you. You are immersed with your Bus Group at…

I started running again once my son joined cross-country, but he'll brow-beat me if I run indoors on the treadmill. The run. The night before, the night before. I laid out my Hokas, hat, and gloves by the door; my shorts, compression shirt, reflective shirt, and socks on the floor of my closet. Off to sleep. 5:58 AM. The alarm goes off, stumble to my feet, everything assembled goes on and off to the kitchen. I fumble around making breakfast. Cracking eggs, sizzling breakfast meat, load the plates, then they go in the microwave - safe from the kitties - because you…

Minutes after this picture, the Illinois wind blew my little rental car into the left hand lane, luckily no one else was there! "I have class tomorrow!" It was all planned out. I would take my daughter back to school, out for groceries, unload her into the apartment to which she now refers (marginally hurtfully as it may be) as "home." It was halfway to my speaking gig at the Illinois Specialty Growers conference, so with a few connecting flights - no big deal. ...until Tuesday morning. Thirty-five minutes before we departed for the airport, the first flight cancelation dinged through my phone. Rebooking, canceled, my…

One of the 'intense' and purposeful vistas created at Vala's Pumpkin Patch with trees and landscaping. In Part 1, we covered the incredible timeliness of Pricing Strategy Bootcamp that encouraged many of us to increase prices BEFORE inflation arrived. Price increases allow better profits with fewer guests to manage. In Part 2, we lamented the "Death of Novelty," about the continuous reinvestment and ingenuity required to feed the public's insatiable desire for a new product, food, or experience. In Part 3, we can make a big difference by dialing up the intensity. We're going to look at intensifying the experience. "Intensify the experience."…

As humans, we have always been on an endless quest for novelty.The question is: How do we use that quest in our businesses? Thanks for letting me write this stuff. I I certainly could be wrong, but there seems to be nothing to do. In Ecclesiastes 1:9, King Solomon writes that "There is nothing new under the sun." It is a cry for novelty, and purpose, from a man who, throughout the book, indulged in every excess in his search to quench the unquenchable desire for novelty, meaning, and satisfaction. Is this why it seems like people keep demanding more no matter what we, as…

It's been a few weeks since October, so, hopefully, you've been able to unplug your brain a bit as we start a three-part series reviewing lessons from 2021. Thanks for letting me write this stuff. I think we might agree that there are few things more gratifying than being 'heard,' and this blogging is a great way to share ideas. As a boy, I often ridiculed, then later marveled at, my mother's journaling. It seemed so pointless! Why would you write down what has already happened, when you were there when it happened?! Only much later, actually, in the month after she died…