I love basketball. I played city league basketball when I was growing up in Birmingham. I also coached over 10 years of basketball. I continue to love to watch the March madness basketball tournament. Now, I have grandkids that play basketball and having coached and played just adds to the enrichment of watching from the sidelines. Caroline, one of my granddaughters, played in a game this weekend that I will never forget for the rest of my life. She is eight years old and plays on her school … [Read more...]
Are Positive People Ever Negative?
Have you wondered if positive people are ever negative? Do they get down or experience disappointment? Do they ever have a bad attitude? The truth is, bad things happen to everyone. All of us have challenges in life. There are disillusionments. We do not get everything we want. Sometimes we lose. We have family, friends and coworkers who suffer. There is sickness and death. What we expect does not always happen. Our deepest desires sometime become our largest disappointments. Life is … [Read more...]
A Worthwhile Purpose
When people first meet me and hear that I own a transportation company, they always ask what we deliver. It is their first question. I use to answer by describing the products we deliver or our geographical locations. My answer today is totally different. I say the following: “We save lives daily. We keep the wheels of commerce moving. We make your life at home comfortable.” That answer usually elicits more questions. They really want to hear about saving lives. They are intrigued by my … [Read more...]
Beginning
“Beginning” is a frightening and powerful word. After delivering a presentation titled, “Beginning Your Speech,” I could not help but think about other beginnings. Like when my wife and I started Hackbarth Delivery Service in 1975. We started with $500 capital borrowed from my sister Janice. The first month’s revenues were only $7.50. It is interesting to me that when we had what was probably the least in life, as measured by assets and financial wealth, was also the time that we had a great … [Read more...]
Seat on the Bus
Jim Collins, in his book, Good to Great , talks about seats on the bus. It is important in your business for people to have the right seat on the bus and to be on the right bus. A company can have the right people but have them in the wrong place. This can lead to many problems and the worst might be losing a valuable person that could succeed in a different job, the right seat. Even more important are people on the bus that do not belong on the bus. Jack Welch, the former CEO of GE, often … [Read more...]
