The Good Men Project

17 Mar 2016

Win-Win Always Trumps Creating Losers

By |2017-04-12T11:44:54-06:00March 17th, 2016|Categories: Business Strategy, Current Events, Manifast, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|

Win Win Business Team Running

You don’t have to make people lose to win. In fact, it is usually a bad long-term strategy.

“You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help enough other people get what they want.“ ~ Zig Ziglar

If you have been watching Donald Trump in the news lately, you are probably quite aware that he embraces an overt and aggressive bullying technique when dealing with any opposition.

Most recently, this included attacking the credibility of a disabled New York Times reporter […]

14 Mar 2016

Why Having an Opinion Isn’t the Same as Thinking

By |2017-04-03T11:12:09-06:00March 14th, 2016|Categories: Books and Courses, Doug's Blog, Leadership, The Good Men Project|

Lion Listening in Africa

Does the sheep really care that the lion doesn’t care about his opinion, and other challenges you’ve probably never considered.

I’ve been challenging some commonly held beliefs (or memes) for a while. Often this conversation is in my head. Sometimes it is with clients and their beliefs about how their industry works. (I may even talk to myself when no one is around, but I am not aware of any proof.)

I was recently reading […]

1 Mar 2016

Stop Hoping For a Hero to Save You

By |2020-08-11T13:07:29-06:00March 1st, 2016|Categories: Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Leadership, The Good Men Project|

Hero Firefighters

As an entrepreneur, you have more problems than time. So you try to hand your biggest problems to someone else to make them disappear.

We love our heroes.

In the movies, sometimes they start out as hero material, and sometimes they are reluctant heroes; forced into the role.

In sports, our heroes range from the all-star lineup of the favored team to the quarterback on the opposing side who leads the underdog team in a playoff run.

We want […]

23 Feb 2016

Starting a Business: Assume You Know Nothing

By |2017-04-12T12:04:50-06:00February 23rd, 2016|Categories: Business Strategy, Leadership, Manifast, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|

Starting a Business - Assume You Know Nothing - Puzzle

When you start to think you know it all, something will happen to make you believe you don’t know anything at all.

“You know nothing, Jon Snow.” ~ Ygritte – The Game of Thrones

It is tempting to give people advice on starting a business. Do this and not that. As if everything is black and white, yes or no answers. If we had followed all of that advice 15 years ago, we would not have started our business […]

28 Jan 2016

The Real Person Behind the Facades of Success

By |2017-04-03T11:13:30-06:00January 28th, 2016|Categories: Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|

Masks - Facades of Success

How our layers of roles and personas create a wall between us, happiness, and success.

“I’ve always wanted to be a brooding, deep, dark artist, but I can never keep that facade going for more than 15 minutes.” ~ Bryan Callen

When I first started in business, we would meet other entrepreneurs all the time. The ones with some experience appeared to be highly confident and flawless. They talked about how […]

18 Jan 2016

Don’t Annoy The Bull And Other Lessons From The Field

By |2017-04-12T12:05:43-06:00January 18th, 2016|Categories: Leadership, Manifast, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|

Dog Annoying the Bull

Before you can avoid the bulls, you need to learn to spot them. With people that can be a challenge.

“I never rode a bull – I’m not that stupid.” ~ James Caan

Some years ago we were visiting Dorothy and her spouse, friends who lived in the country near the Alberta foothills. We were city dwellers, so we enjoyed getting out of town for a little adventure.

After sitting around chatting for an hour or so, we all decided to go for a walk before […]

7 Jan 2016

3 Ways To Be Happier Than A Fly In Your Soup

By |2017-04-03T11:13:43-06:00January 7th, 2016|Categories: Doug's Blog, Dream Teams, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|

Fly on Soup - Business Lessons

The illusion of success can trap you in a business that keeps you buzzing but doesn’t fuel your passion.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” ~ Howard Thurman

Sunday evening I was sitting at the kitchen table, reading a good book on my Kindle, and eating my […]

21 Dec 2015

3 Things You Can Do To Jump-Start 2016 Right Now

By |2017-04-12T12:07:05-06:00December 21st, 2015|Categories: Manifast, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|

Person Jumping Into New Year

How to hit the ground running in 2016. (If you are already in holiday mode, you may want to reconsider.)

Once December hits, a lot of us are conditioned to coast through December and then hit the ground running in January.

I worked with Jeff, a government client, who actually refused to meet us in December because “no one works here until January”.  So the project got parked for eight weeks.

But December is only a little more than four weeks long so how does […]

14 Dec 2015

Trying to Avoid Failure By Never Starting is a Dead-end Road

By |2017-04-17T13:11:27-06:00December 14th, 2015|Categories: Business Strategy, Doug's Blog, Leadership, Mindset and Motivation, The Good Men Project|

Man Stuck Deciding and Not Moving Forward

Many times we get ourselves into a mental trap where not moving forward seems safe. It isn’t.

“There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth: not going all the way, and not starting.” ~ Buddha

We often get in our own way when pursuing success.

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of people starting businesses because they have lost their job or fear they will lose it in the future. Some people […]

11 Dec 2015

5 Marketing Blunders Almost Everyone Makes

By |2017-06-02T15:44:13-06:00December 11th, 2015|Categories: Manifast, Marketing, Sales, The Good Men Project|

Marketing Blunder Extra Hands on Hands

Chances are you are making one or more of these mistakes in your marketing. Knowing what they are can make all the difference.

Over the last few 15 years in business, I’ve seen a lot of good and bad. I’ve attended a lot of learning events, lead workshops, consulted and spoken at numerous events. I’ve had the opportunity to observe what others say and do.

Maybe you’ve got it together all of the time, but from my view, pretty much everyone blunders at […]