Last Friday, while walking through the Denver airport to head back home, I noticed a young woman crying. I was walking through the airport with Chuck, my longtime friend and coach, who was on the phone completing a call. As we waited to enter TSA, I noticed a young lady in tears, getting more and more upset while she spoke on her cell phone. We ended up being sent in one direction and her in another at the airport while trying to get to the security line. Finally, we entered an elevator to get to our gate. Just as the […]

I want to share something with you, Nike’s guiding principles: Our business is change. We’re on offense.  All the time. Perfect results count—not a perfect process.  Break the rules: fight the law. This is as much about battle as about business. Assume nothing.  Make sure people keep their promises.  Push yourselves push others.  Stretch the possible. Live off the land. Your job isn’t done until the job is done. Dangers: Bureaucracy Personal ambition Energy takers vs. energy givers Knowing your weaknesses Don’t get too many things on the platter It won’t be pretty. If we do the right things, we’ll make money […]

Ten years ago, Scott fired me. At the time, he wanted to handle his own investments. He thought that he could do it himself and didn’t want to spend the money on an advisor. It stung at the time, like it always does. But I understood his thinking and wished him well. Last year, I was able to reconnect with Scott. I’d just relocated to Arizona with my family. Coincidentally, so had he. He had a new position as the CFO of a company in Phoenix and was doing great. Scott and I met for a drink to catch up. […]

On Wednesday, one headline reads, “…shares sink following weak revenue forecasts due to….” On Thursday, the same news source writes about the same company, saying, “…company shares jump 8% on report of company X collaborating...” The same news source. The same week. A discussion about the same company. But two totally different messages. Narrative. Most people take in their information with layers of interpretation. You can make numbers say just about anything you want, and the markets and our news cycle move so fast, 24 hours with little respite. According to most headlines, we’re either in a new gold rush […]

I never spent a lot of time with my father. He wasn’t around – or particularly interested. When he was nearby, he often closed himself off. Headphones on, he listened to music instead of acknowledging my sister and me. So, with my kids, I try to be there for them. I try my best to be at all of their games and performances. I tour schools with my wife. To be honest with you, it’s not my favorite thing in the world (to put it lightly), but we want to make sure they’re going to the best schools and have the […]

The phone never rings this late. It can’t be good. “Hello?” the father answers. A familiar voice on the other end of the phone: the mom of one of their son’s friends. “There has been an accident,” she says, trying to collect her breath. “Your son was in it. You need to come right away.” Upon hearing the news, the mother screams. They quickly dress and rush downstairs and into the car. Every possible outcome races through their minds. They try to remain positive, but time stands still. Once at the scene, Mom and Dad see their son being attended to by […]

Extreme results. Extreme desire. Extreme decisions. The year is 1999. My Managing Partner (GA) at the time, Bob. Walks into the office one morning and smells smoke. There’s a fire in the office, he thinks. Bob rushes in, past the rows of cubicles on the second floor of our office in downtown LA, tracking the smell – and now, a whisp of smoke in the air. It leads him to my cubicle, where he stops abruptly with a quizzical look. Sitting calmly at my desk, I’ve removed the plastic bag from the inside of my trash can. I’d then taken […]

An advisor I know was recently brought into a situation that I’ve never had any real experience with. Within a family of clients, the daughter, now in her 60’s, is a schoolteacher. She makes about $60k per year. She’s also the sole trustee and beneficiary of a billion-dollar trust that she doesn’t want anything to do with. Her mother passed away recently, leaving this trust and all of its proceeds to her. To make things even more challenging, the daughter’s husband is terminally ill with cancer – so they definitely need the resources. In fact, the entire family has used the […]