In 1500 words or less, each post will give you something you can use TODAY to build yourself, your people and your organization whether your organization is a "for-profit" or a "not-for-profit."
You can do everything right in a job search… and still hear, “You were our second choice.”
That’s the part no one talks about.
Chance and luck still play a role … in timing, competition, and opportunity.
But here’s the truth: you can’t control luck… you can only increase how often it finds you.
More effort. More visibility. More conversations.
More chances for the right door to open.
Stay in the game long enough … and eventually, it does.
Most of what we see isn’t designed to inform us, it’s designed to move us.
Not toward truth, but toward reaction.
The real skill isn’t knowing everything, it’s knowing when to pause, question, and look a little closer before deciding what’s real.
Most people don’t lose jobs because they can’t do the work, they lose them because of how they show up, day after day.
Everything you do is a test, and your reputation is built in the small, ordinary moments most people overlook.
Stand out by being reliable, curious, and willing to learn, consistently, not occasionally.
“Look at my feet while I’m talking to you.”
That sounds wrong. Disrespectful, even. It goes against what most of us have been taught about attention, engagement, and respect.
But what if it’s not wrong?
What if it’s not a correction of the person, but of the standard we’re using to judge them?
Most of the conflict we experience with people living with autism isn’t about effort.
It’s about misinterpretation.
We don’t just see behavior, we assign meaning to it.
And too often, we’re wrong.
I learned that being noticed could come at a cost, so I chose invisibility instead.
At the time, it felt like survival, but it slowly became something else.
You don’t just disappear from other people. You start disappearing from yourself.
Children’s and youth sports start and finish all the time, whether at the beginning, middle, or end of a season. What matters is not the scoreboard or the record, but the experiences they carry with them during the season, and especially when it ends.
Coaching minor sports is not about winning games. It’s about building confidence, creating belonging, and giving kids a reason to come back. If they come back, you got it right.
Most people think hiring decisions are about choosing the best candidate.
They’re not.
Hiring is about removing enough doubt to say yes.
And once you understand that interviews start to make a lot more sense.
Most candidates walk into an interview hoping they’ll say the right thing. The best candidates walk in already understanding what matters to the employer.
Preparation is the one part of the job search you fully control, and it’s where most people fall short. When you take the time to understand the organization, align your answers to their needs, and follow through with intention, you’re no longer just another applicant. You’re someone who made it easier to say yes.
Most hiring mistakes happen before the interview begins.
Resumes can be polished, charm can be rehearsed, and yet the person you hire may not be the one your organization truly needs. A simple pre-interview questionnaire reveals how candidates think, respond under pressure, and treat people they believe won’t influence their outcome.
Hiring isn’t about perfection—it’s about understanding real thinking before it costs you.
Most managers hate admitting when a hire isn’t working out.
So they delay the conversation.
They hope the problem fixes itself.
Or they quietly tolerate issues that affect the whole team.
But ignoring a bad fit rarely solves anything. Sooner or later every leader faces the same reality: not every hire works out.
In the latest article in my Inside the Interview series, I talk about what good managers actually do when hiring goes wrong, and how to handle the situation professionally, fairly, and responsibly.