Essays
Mortality, mistakes, and what running companies teaches you about being a person.
The personal writing lives here. The business frameworks live at ProvenChaos.
Start here
I’m Dying (and so are you)
February 2018 · A routine physical at 43, and the arithmetic nobody wants to run.
The Grim Reaper Almost Got Me
March 2018 · Twenty-five years behind a desk, one overgrown tree, and a thirty-four dollar saw that fought back.
You Don’t Get to Choose Your Legacy
February 2019 · Mom called three times in one day. You only get to choose how you live; other people write the rest.
“The Ox” Rests
August 2020 · For Mom, who plowed forward through everything, and the stories I choose to tell.
On leading people
Rules Instead of Relationships
March 2019 · Poor leaders write ironclad rules based on one exception. Everybody else pays for it.
“I Can’t…”
February 2019 · The company that says “I can’t” gets displaced by the upstart that says “I will.”
My Favorite Day of the Week to Lead
October 2019 · It is Thursday. Here is what that buys you by Friday.
Creating Your Board of Directors
June 2018 · Nobody does life alone. Pick the people around you on purpose.
On how you spend the day
“I’m too Busy…”
May 2019 · The saddest phrase I hear from CEOs, and the control it quietly gives up.
My Morning Routine
May 2018 · Daily intentions, and setting the day up to win before it starts.
I Never Lose My Keys
August 2019 · A hook by the door is a system. So is most of what you call discipline.
Stretching with Integrity
August 2019 · A coach’s throwaway line at the end of class. Am I parenting with integrity? Cooking? Writing?
Life Equations
June 2018 · An article found in a high school study hall, and the equations still running decades later.
My Single Biggest Business Mistake…
January 2012 · Getting so busy inside the business that I stopped working at it, and the one hour a week that fixes it.
Where the business writing lives
The frameworks, the operating systems, and the weekly letter are at ProvenChaos. This page stays personal on purpose.