Simply Driven Blog

Business should move at lightning speed, right?  We have all these tools and technologies at our disposal.  So many things are automated. Nobody uses carbon paper, typewriters or mimeograph machines anymore (those born after 1980, you’ll need to Google those things).  Much of business actually does move at lightning speed. Do you order from Amazon? [...]

  Many people talk about organizational culture.  Far fewer understand it.  Ask a few people to define culture.  You’ll get a different answer from each person.  As a leader, understanding organizational culture is pretty important.  Actually, it’s vitally important. Culture is the “horizontal gravity” that holds an organization together.  It’s why people join and organization.  [...]

We are all busy people.  Often our days are a juggling act of meetings, appointments and trying to get some work done in between.  I’m kind of a punctuality geek.  I pride myself on being early to meetings and when I have a call scheduled, I call on time – to the minute.  I literally [...]

Jeremy Schoettle runs a large finance function in one of the most turbulent and changing industries in America.  There’s never a dull moment in his world. KB: Thanks for meeting. JS: Glad we could make it work. KB: As always, let’s start with the biographical stuff. JS: Sure.  I grew up in a large catholic [...]

I was at a college basketball game recently with some friends.  We arrived early, and as we enjoyed the pre-game warmup, two young boys came up the steps and took their seats right in front of us.  They were probably seven or eight years old.  Both were wearing jerseys of the home team and were [...]

I reach out to people professionally multiple times a day.  Most of us do.  We need the cooperation of others to do our jobs.  In the old days, when you called someone, they answered the phone.  Why?  There was no voicemail and there was no caller ID.  The caller was mysterious.  Who is it?  I [...]

Relationships are hard.  I find this very interesting.  We live in a world where (most of us) are surrounded by people.  We grow up surrounded by family and friends.  We are surrounded by other students for (at least) twelve years of school.  We then enter the workforce, and we are surrounded by people at work.  [...]

I’ve been in the recruiting industry since 1999.  About ten years in, I would occasionally think that I’d seen and heard it all.  For example, I once had a candidate who, feeling ill during an interview, pulled a thermometer from his bag…and took his temperature while answering questions.  I had a candidate show up to [...]

I talk to people for a living.  Although much of my conversation is over the phone, even more is electronic.  And yes, I consider email as conversation.  Texting also.  They are all mediums to conduct dialogue.  In some cases, electronic communication is the only way some people will engage.  People don’t like talking anymore.  But [...]

Dave Ritzler is wise beyond his years and is another great example of how doing “a little more than was expected” can lead to amazing opportunity.  We’re sitting at the Starbucks at 15th and Capitol, and it’s hopping busy. KB:  Dave, thanks for meeting me. DR:  Good to be here. KB: Is Indianapolis home for [...]

There are no tricks involved in breaking a board. Or a brick.  “What you have here is one of the most efficient human movements ever conceived,” say MIT physicist Michael Feld.  The secret lies in the speed and focus of the strike. Feld, fellow student Stephen Wilk and his karate instructor, Ronald McNair, set up [...]

I’ve been a business owner for a long time now.  It’s been the greatest experience of my professional life.  The reason for me is simple.  I love it because my answers are in the mirror.  Every morning when I wake up, I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth.  It’s there that I see [...]

“Genius is the ability to put into action what is on your mind.”  - F. Scott Fitzgerald Most people think that genius is for the few, the gifted, for someone else.  It’s reserved for those who are super-smart.  Who made straight-A’s in school and scored perfect on their SAT and ACT.  They’re Thomas Edison and [...]

This post is part rant and part reality check.  We live in a culture where, more than I can ever remember, excuses are tolerated.  Excuses themselves are not new.  Humans have been rationalizing their behavior and their performance (or lack thereof) with excuses since the beginning of time.  I think it started with Adam: “The [...]

My Team and I did a book study last winter.  The book was Atomic Habits, by James Clear.  James has established himself as an expert and thought leader in the theory and practice of habit formation. One of the interesting concepts in the book is initiating a new habit with ridiculously small steps.  Clear tells [...]

  I have a restaurant I go to at least two times a week...sometimes three.  It’s a local business, owned by a local businessman.  It’s always busy, and frequently there is a line of people waiting for a seat.  I go early to beat the rush, and sometimes that doesn’t even work. There are lots [...]

This is a question that preoccupied one of my old mentors.  Why do some people succeed, and others don’t?  Why are some people able to learn a process, follow it and deliver results when others aren’t?  Over my 20-plus years in the recruiting business, I’ve seen some succeed and many fail.  In analyzing all that [...]

Marcus Aurelius was a Roman Emperor who ruled from 161 – 180AD.  He was the last of what are known as the Five Good Emperors, presided over an age of relative peace and stability for the Roman Empire.  He was also a Stoic philosopher.  Some of his personal writings were later accumulated into a book [...]

John Wright is a Renaissance Man.  In addition to being a CFO, he’s a WWI & II history buff, collects vintage musical instruments, has a recording studio in this home and he restores old Volkswagens. As soon as he sits down with you, you can feel his energy. KB:  John, thanks for meeting me. JW: [...]

My wife and I moved our daughter into college this week.  This is the baby of the family, so it’s going to be a change for all of us this time.  She chose my alma mater, which has been a pretty awesome thing for me.  I haven’t spent a lot of time there since graduation [...]