News coverage the past few days has caused an overflow of emotions for me and family members of those who died at the Sago Mine. I am one of those family members. The events of January 2006 seem like yesterday to many of us. Those were two days of my life when I was lifted up by the compassion of people I'd never met before, experienced utter joy and then numbing sadness. I lost my uncle, Junior Hamner, at Sago.  Prior to the accident, Junior was looking forward to doing more of the things he

Over the past five years, I have learned a lot about social media marketing -- and I am still learning. It amazes me, though, how many believe that social media marketing is more like "magic" than true marketing, thinking that social media will create instant, abracadabra-like results.  Social media marketing can be extremely effective, especially for small businesses, but it certainly isn't magic. It requires consistent effort over a period of time.    What are a few of the biggest mistakes I

Winning. Our President has brought the term, "winning," back into the national spotlight. Without turning this into a political debate, I would like to take a few minutes to examine what is "winning" and what is the difference between winning teams and those that struggle.   What Is Winning? To me, winning is the ability to create a positive change in the direction of an organization or team.  During my 36-year career,  I have worked with numerous winning teams and I have also led a large

With the passage of the tax bill lowering rates for individuals and businesses, I have seen a large number of posts on social media.  Many of these posts make it clear that a large percentage of Americans have no clue whatsoever how capitalism works or what drives our economy. If only we could educate Americans how the economy actually works!  If there were two facts I wish the vast majority of Americans could understand it would be these: 1) The private sector is what drives our economy.