When was the last time you experienced truly exceptional customer service? I’ve been diving into a great book called The Credit Union Way by my friend Lee Silber as part of my prep for an upcoming keynote to a credit union audience. It’s filled with story after story of relationship-driven service—real examples of credit union employees going above and beyond for their members.

There’s a fine line between speaking up for yourself and speaking over someone else. That line is the difference between being assertive and being aggressive—and knowing the difference can transform your relationships, your leadership, and your impact.

A good friend of mine, Mark LeBlanc, is preparing for his fourth Camino de Santiago—a 500-mile pilgrimage from France to Santiago, Spain. It takes about 31 days of walking, day after day, rain or shine, with only your resolve and your backpack to carry you forward.

I was recently in a group setting where we were all sharing what we were hopeful for. It was warm, reflective, and full of possibility—until one person quietly said, “I don’t think I have any hope.”
That moment broke my heart. Because if there’s one thing I believe you should never run out of—it’s hope.

Spring is finally here—and with it comes a fresh invitation to hit the reset button. You’ve made it through winter (whatever your version of winter looked like), and now it’s time to step into something new.

What do you do when life knocks you down? If you’re Paige Bueckers, you get back up. Again. And again. And then you come back stronger, faster, and more focused than ever before.

We’ve all been there… A friend or colleague needs to vent.

You listen, you empathize, you say things like:
“Wow, that sounds really frustrating.”
“I can see how you’d be upset.”
“If that happened to me, I’d be pretty irritated too.” That’s active listening—and it’s powerful.

This week, I was inspired by a story that’s literally out of this world. Astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to be on the International Space Station for just a week. That was the mission. Launch. Dock. Test the systems. Return home. Simple enough… until it wasn’t.

Let’s be honest—when you sit down at the end of a long day, and let’s say 99 things went right, and one thing went wrong, what do you usually talk about over dinner? If you’re like most people, the conversation centers around the one thing that went wrong.