We are faced with multiple decisions every day. Some big, others small and routine. What I know to be true is that our lives are shaped by the decisions we make.

“You don't get harmony when everybody sings the same note.” | Doug Floyd

Do you want to build strong relationships? Invest the next 3 minutes to discover some tips to become a more effective listener. It's easier than you think and the outcome is trust and healthy relationships.

I have always had an almost insatiable fear of speaking in front of people. Fear of embarrasing myself, or saying something foolish. I was so concerned about what other people thought about me that the anxiety was almost more than I could handle. It wasn't until learning some of these keys to communicating in front of an audience that I gained confidence to speak in front of large groups. I want to share a few of them with you today...

How do you increase your effectiveness in connecting with others in a group? This blog unpacks each of these questions and gives some practical tips and tools to become a more effective communicator. I’ll also give you a framework for living out Simmons Values as you are connecting with a group of people during the next meeting or presentation that you give.

Do you want to have healthier relationships? What if you were able to connect better with your spouse, significant other, co-workers and friends? I want to give you some tools that will transform your relationships and help you to have healthier and more fulfilling relationships with others.

Have you ever worked for someone you believed in so much that you would walk through walls for? Maybe you’ve had a teacher, pastor, maybe its your spouse or a parent - someone who influenced your by the way they lived and the way they led others. The greatest leaders find a way to balance relationships and results. In every leadership role, there is a tension when it comes to how we get things done. If you want some practical tips to becoming a more effective leader, teacher, parent or spouse - keep reading...

The last few weeks we have discussed the continual challenge we all face of balancing our relationships, work, and finding time to recharge the batteries and rest. We've been building up to this week. I want to look at our work and how we can become more effective in the time that we invest in our work.

The last few weeks, we have discussed The Secret (Ken Blanchard) to effective leadership. This is the final week of this blog series, and it is one that I am most passionate about - living our Values. Our Values should drive every decision, attitude and action we make. We are going to take a journey to discover what it looks like to live out our values (or not), and what our responsibilities as leaders to embody those values every day.

Success. We strive after it. We devote an enormous amount of our energy pursuing it. But can you define it? Most often, managers will define success as a healthy bottom-line. And they are not wrong, but there is a tension here, isn’t there. The tension is that you work for a company that has a value of Put People First. Many managers feel the tension to choose either results or relationships. I want to challenge you today that it is not an either/or, but rather effective leaders realize that success is predicated on my ability and willingness to value both results and relationships. So what does that look like and how does a manager make that shift in thinking?

Imagine that you have a bow and arrow in your hands right now. You pull back and take aim at a white wall and release. Then you walk up, pull out your red marker, and draw a bullseye around it. Imagine the joy you feel knowing that you hit your target! OK. Time for a reality check. Everything about this is backwards. But let’s set the bow down and pick up a few others things...

I was sitting at a table at ONYX Coffee Lab in Springdale with my mentor early one morning in April last year. The focus of our conversation was how to better invest in our family. We had been meeting once a month for the last four months. I had his trust and he had mine. There was a moment where the conversation paused and he asked a question that I will never forget, “Nick, where is your finish line?”

What makes a shepherd a shepherd isn’t the staff or the rod; it’s the heart. What distinguishes a great leader from a mediocre one is that a great leader has a heart for his people...

You can’t be a shepherd who engenders the loyalty and trust of his people if you don’t get this right...

Ted arrives early and is waiting for his mentor to join him. He can’t help but notice the incredible photos and knickknacks from all over the world. As Dr. Neumann enters, he points out two of his most valued treasures, two sticks. One of which was longer than the other (around 5 ft.) and it had a large curve, like a question mark – the shepherd’s staff...

Dr. Neumann picks up Ted during a busy week of classes and projects that are due. They hop into Doc’s car and drive out to a farm where the sheep have obviously not be cared for, a pasture that was bare, and fence that had received little to no attention. Every aspect of the role of the shepherd had been neglected...

This chapter of The Way of the Shepherd brings Ted and his mentor looking over his flock and Dr. Neumann shows Ted the process of ear-tagging his sheep. Ted is confused of the importance of this and, as he is now used to, there is a greater purpose for being able to identify these sheep as coming from the Neumann ranch...

Dr. Neumann asks Ted which sheep he would have selected if he was building his own herd, and as he looks around, he shrugs his shoulders and suggests that it really doesn’t matter as long as they produce enough to make a profit. Wrong answer... 

Having been offered to be mentored by his professor, Dr. Neumann, Ted expects to learn the business secrets and tricks of the trade to being a successful businessman. Imagine the shock when the first encounter he has involves jumping into Dr. Neumann’s old farm truck on a Saturday morning and heading out to check on his flock of sheep...

If you are a leader of people, you have more than likely dealt with persons who are stubborn, distracted, paranoid, or, in some other way, not working to their full potential. As an employee, you may have felt your boss has left you to "sink or swim," without any direction, or even caring if you succeed...