Simply Driven Blog

It’s a phrase I’ve heard literally a million times.  “I don't like to be micromanaged.”  It’s so overused, it’s become a cliché.  When someone says it to me, I do an internal eye roll. Consider this: “I like to be micromanaged.”  Said no one ever. Here are three thoughts on this topic. First, in my [...]

KB:  Steve, it’s good to see you. SD:  Thanks. KB:  Walk me through your early years. SD:  Good place to start - My parents were really smart: Dad is a PhD chemical engineer, and Mom was a chemical engineering librarian at Procter & Gamble, which is where they met. I was one of five kids, [...]

I recently was having coffee with a CFO and I asked him, “What disappoints you about business today?”  He had no trouble answering.  There were three, specific things.  After hearing them, I was in 100% agreement with him.  Here they are, with some additional commentary from yours truly:   Technology enables inhumaneness. People hide behind [...]

I’ve been a student of human behavior pretty much my whole life.  I’ve always watched people.  But it’s possible to look and not see.  I mean really see.  However, getting into the recruiting business twenty years ago has provided me with a PhD in human behavior.  I now can see things about people that they [...]

I often talk to people who are in the midst of change.  Career change, life change, health change, you name it.  It’s in these times that we tend to become reflective.  We pause and take stock of the world around us.  We take a look back and see what we can glean from the benefits [...]

Doug Mills has had an amazing finance career here in Indianapolis. From his early days at Andersen to life in the private equity world, he’s seen a lot of stuff. Fun fact: Doug and I were neighbors a long time ago and had a years-long friendly competition for whose lawn was the greenest and best [...]

My Grandpa was a wonderful guy.  He passed many years ago.  But, if he were still alive, yesterday would have been his 111th birthday.  A self-made man, I learned many things from him. Something I heard him say many times was, “It’s a long road that doesn’t have a turn in it.” As a little [...]

I’m surprised at people, who...when given an opportunity to ask questions...don’t.  As a student of human behavior, it’s fascinating to me.  Questions are how we learn.  Questions are how we establish rapport.  Questions (or the lack thereof) reveal so much about a person. When I prepare people for interviews, a point that I stress is [...]

I am a creature of habit.  I love my routines.  One thing that my friends and co-workers tease me about is my lunch routine.  I go to the same place.  Every day, M – F, with very few exceptions.  It’s a good place...bar food...about a half mile from my office.  Almost all the employees know [...]

I have a history of back/hip/leg issues.  Been a problem for years.  I lived with it for a long time, until one day in 2014 my wife and I were at a show of some kind...It wasn’t the boat and travel show, but it was something like that.  Big venue, lots of walking.  I was [...]

  We live in a world today where no one wants to make a decision.  Yet, decisions are what make the world go around. What’s up with that? There are a few reasons, but the biggest one (by far) is fear.  Plain and simple.  Fear of making a mistake.  Fear of being wrong.  Fear of [...]

Had an interesting – and increasingly common – thing happen recently.  In conversation with a job candidate, a particular company name surfaced.  The candidate had a swift and immediate reaction: “They just had a major shakeup at the top.  New CEO and CFO.  The stock is down seven dollars.”  I could almost feel this person’s [...]

There is a great article in the current issue of Harvard Business Review about feedback.  For decades now, we’ve been lectured on the value of feedback...how to give it...how to receive it...what to do with it.  Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall have written a great piece here that, not surprisingly, supports Buckingham’s prior work. Feedback [...]

I remember it well...I was sitting in my old mentor’s office.  My mentor – Dave – is the man who taught me the recruiting business.  I was new to his Firm; a CPA and a 15-year accounting/finance guy who was taking a chance on a totally different career.  This was sales.  This was hunting.  This [...]

The blown call in the fourth quarter of the Rams-Saints NFC Championship game a couple of weeks ago was unfortunate.  It was clearly a mistake.  The Head of Officials said so.  The NFL said so.  It stinks.  It’s unfair.  But this is life.  We’ve all heard numerous times, “Life isn’t always fair.”  In the days [...]

  Lots of people tell me they want to be successful.  My guess is that 75% don’t fully understand what they’ve just said.  And realistically, a subset of those 75% have no idea what they’ve just said.   What I’ve learned over time is that there is a big difference between wanting success and becoming [...]

The word “no”.  It’s one of the first words we learn as infants.  First, we hear it; then we learn to say it.  And we soon figure out that it’s one of the most frequently used words in the entire world. No is very interesting.  We often love to say it, but often hate to [...]

Jenny Quinnette is the new CFO of Viral Launch, an early stage SaaS company in Indianapolis. She’s been in the CFO chair there for less than two months and she’s having a blast. KB: Thanks for meeting me. JQ: My pleasure. KB: Tell me a little bit about your history. JQ: I grew up in [...]

We are living in such interesting times.  Times have always been changing, and people have always been changing, but these days I find myself getting surprised more than usual.  Case in point: I was communicating with a potential candidate about their career.  The discussions were early and general in their nature.  As part of that [...]

Four weeks until Christmas.  Are you chasing a goal for 2018?  If you are, where do you stand?  In the event you’ve already achieved it, congratulations!  Was your goal too low?  Or did you just hit it out of the park with time to spare?  Either way, it’s a win and you should celebrate. What [...]