My parents’ example was a lifelong lesson in the most fundamental fundamentals of entrepreneurship. Dad pursued his two passions—religion and education—while always finding ways to keep us fed, clothed, and housed. He never put our welfare on the line. He might have been a preacher, but he never preached to us. He walked the walk. […]
Fran Tarkenton
Stay Focused on the Moment
Whenever I stepped onto the football field, I was not consciously thinking beyond the moment. Above all, I was not thinking about winning or losing. In the rest of my football career that followed, in college and in the NFL, I never thought about winning or losing. Not against Texas on September 20, 1958, in […]
Why Entrepreneurs Need to Be Scramblers
The things I did to become a better quarterback in the NFL have also had a major impact on my life in business. The principles from one directly applied to the other–and nowadays, more than ever.As a quarterback, I was known as a scrambler. When a play starts to break down, there’s nobody open and […]
A Lesson About Home Depot, Nails, and Sales from Bernie Marcus
Before you can own your failure, you first have to know what you’re failing at. True knowledge is a start, not an end. It’s a question, not an answer. When Walmart’s Sam Walton or Home Depot’s Bernie Marcus sought meaningful and productive knowledge, they didn’t attend a seminar, assemble a committee, convene a board meeting, […]
What I Learned About Business from the Cofounder of Waffle House
Last month, we lost one of the great entrepreneurs. Joe Rogers Sr. was the cofounder of the Waffle House chain of diners, building the company from the ground up, from the first store in Avondale Estates outside Atlanta in 1955. Today, there are more than 1,900 Waffle House locations, and their yellow signs are iconic […]
Surround Yourself with a Winning Team
Sports gives us such a great window into the rest of our lives. Over four quarters, nine innings, two halves, or whatever frame it uses, a game is a miniature lesson. The coaches and players prepare, come up with a plan. They put it into action. And within a few hours, there’s a winner and […]
Why You Need a Work Ethic Like Belichick and Saban
If you’re a football fan like me, than you’re living in maybe the most remarkable time in our sport’s history. With apologies to icons of past eras like Vince Lombardi, Paul Brown, and Bear Bryant, we are witnessing the greatest football coaches of all time in both the NFL and college football. Bill Belichick and […]
The Limits of Your Knowledge
I don’t know everything. That might sound like an obvious statement, and I would hope that every other person would be willing to admit as much, too. But even after acknowledging the limits of your knowledge, what are you doing about it? Because I don’t know everything, I make it a priority to keep on […]
Know Your Limitations
We are all so scared of being inadequate. At some point in our lives, we look in the mirror and say, “I’m not handsome enough. I’m not pretty enough. I have this little blotch. I’m not tall enough, or I’m too tall. I’m not in good enough shape. I don’t have the right body type. […]
How Asking Questions Leads to Success
I have often said that I have never had an original idea. I can’t speak for anyone else, but in my life everything I’ve learned has come from what I see, what I hear, and what I read. But above all, I like to learn from watching and listening, so I make a point of […]
