Blog
Thoughts on Talent, Tech, & Leadership
Why CEOs With Personal Brands Get Ahead of the Competition
In 2020, you’d be hard-pressed to find a business that doesn’t know that company branding is crucial to the health of the company. But not every CEO may realize the role a personal brand plays [...]
The Importance of Self-Care for CEOs
CEOs work long hours. That’s no secret. According to one survey, they work or at least are connected to their jobs 72 hours per week. While those numbers are impressive, working like this comes with [...]
Women Who Forged a Steel Pathway
It takes a strong woman to take on the world of steel, yet take it on they do. Never was this more apparent than during WWII when “Rosie the Riveter” was born. “Rosie” was not [...]
Every Great Leader Must Learn How to Follow First
We need to stop thinking about leaders and followers as two separate entities. What comes to mind when you think of influential leaders? Success, groundbreaking innovation, an enormous following on social media—this is what sets [...]
The Only Constant in Business is Change
Uncertainty begets possibility. Are you open to your next opportunity? The one true constant in life is change, but you already know this. You’ve experienced change first-hand more times than you can count. Yet, if [...]
Why Personal and Professional Resolutions Are One and the Same
For so many people, myself included, it’s important to seek and find fulfillment both at work and at home. That’s why so many people emphasize the importance of work/life balance — the idea that if [...]
CEOs: Are You Part of Your Team?
One trait won’t define you as a leader, it’s about how you lead your team. Individuals are always trying to crystallize the most important leadership trait. Are great leaders more empathetic than others, or is [...]
Why Execution Is More Important Than Strategy
Pick one: sound business strategy or perfect execution? For some leaders, this may be an easy choice, but for others, it’s not so black-and-white. It's a difficult debate to resolve because, like most choices, a final decision [...]
Bridge the Gap With Multigenerational Networking
There's an exciting transition happening in the workplace. It isn’t the availability of more resources breeding an increased number of successful startups, nor is it technology’s all-encompassing influence ushering businesses into the 21st century. While [...]
Making the Workplace Like a Family Place
At Pacesetter, we say that our associates are family, and we mean it. By we, I don’t mean just me, although I do have an advantage in that the company was founded by my parents, [...]
What Starbucks Gets Right About Paid Volunteering
Every CEO wants to see their company grow—otherwise, what’s the point? Without a steady revenue, however, there would be no company to grow. Yet, companies make a grave mistake when they believe that the fast-track [...]
Is Your Business Ready for the Internet of Things?
Ten years ago, it would have been strange to stand alone in a room and tell that someone named "Alexa" to order pizza -- but today, most of us take in stride the virtual assistance that AI [...]
The Value of Vision in Leadership and Life
A vision is more than a set of goals, an end point, or an idealistic dream. It is stronger than any of those things because it makes the future so real that you can’t help [...]
Balancing Your Associates’ Expectations With Your Company’s Needs
If you’ve ever been promoted from a lower-level position to a leadership position, there’s a chance you’ve experienced a dramatic shift in perspective. In the former role, you probably advocated for your own needs and [...]
Look Beyond Your Industry When Benchmarking for Success
Building, supporting and scaling a sustainable business with sound policies is no easy feat, regardless of industry. Some fields may be more competitive than others, and businesses that break the mold have something in common -- they [...]
Successful Leaders Know They Can Learn From Everyone at Their Company
There are plenty of people who believe Kodak, that most iconic of photography companies, failed because it was disrupted by digital technologies. Yet Kodak’s downfall truly had nothing to do with technological capability. In fact, Steve [...]
View from the Corner Office: When All Else Fails, Have Vision
What does it mean, in the steel industry, to have vision? Helen Keller may have lacked eyesight, but even she knew that sight and vision weren’t one and the same. “The most pathetic person in [...]
5 Things About Your Brand Your Sales Team Must Sell If You Expect Anybody to Buy Your Product
Whether you’re in the steel industry, fashion or IT, selling is integral to your company's success. A good sales team, though, does more than just sell product. Sales roles are customer-facing and interact with prospective customers, [...]
Giving Just Lip Service to Your Values and Vision Is a Lot Like Not Having Values or Vision
Whether you work for a spunky startup or a century-old corporation, a little digging is likely to unearth a list of core values, a vision or both. These materials are intended to guide a company’s leadership [...]
Confronting the Harsh Reality of Uncertainty
“In this world, nothing can be certain but death and taxes,” a quote attributed to a letter written by Benjamin Franklin in 1789, certainly applies to the steel business. Except, of course, for the taxes [...]
6 Communication Tips to Strengthen Your Company’s Culture
Humans are great but imperfect creatures. To convey meaning, we must talk. While ants work consistently as part of their queen’s hivemind, we get tripped up by semantics as we deliver and receive messages. In the workplace, [...]
The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Working Mom When You’re a Manager
You’ve got a lot on your plate. Here’s how to make your transition seamless for you and your team. Making it to the corner office is an achievement for any man or woman. Adding a baby to [...]
Automation in Manufacturing is Here to Stay, But that Doesn’t Mean Jobs Must Go Away
If you have a job in the manufacturing industry, the headlines about job loss due to technical advancements—the automation of processes that used to be people driven—can be alarming. In fact, according to one study [...]
Co-Opting Startup Culture: It’s More Than Just Bells and Whistles
Companies of all sizes and in all industries, including manufacturing, are taking cues from startups when developing their corporate culture. Some think it's all about the bells and whistles: Ping-Pong tables in break rooms, lounge-wear [...]
I Walk So That Others Can Live
Every year in seven cities, thousands of men and women gather to walk 60 miles over the course of three days. Since 2003, the Susan G. Komen 3-Day has seen over 500,000 people walking over 32 billion [...]
5 Reasons to Invest in Associate Education and Development
Imagine this: Your team is performing well, your projections are on track, and everyone seems happy. Is this when you would invest in staff development? Many people would keep everything just as it is. I [...]
Gaining Customer Insight: A View From the Top
Face-to-face interactions are mandatory if you really want to know your customers. Top executives know that customers are more than an ID number, or a line item on a sales report. Customers are the very [...]
The Importance of Setting Clear Expectations
Let’s Debunk the Myth that “Accountable” is a Bad Word Three years as a CEO has taught me many things, but one lesson-learned springs up over and over: It’s absolutely mandatory to set clear expectations [...]
The Traveling CEO: How I Manage in Multiple Locations
Pacesetter has three locations: Atlanta, Chicago and Houston, customers throughout North America and suppliers all over the world. As CEO of Pacesetter, it’s important to me to have relationships with all of our associates and [...]
4 Ways to Drive Appreciation and Gratitude at Work
This article was first published on The Huffington Post. As a leader, I always feel gracious for the opportunities I’ve had and appreciative of the people I consider myself indebted to—my family, friends, and most [...]
5 Ways to Transform Work Gossip Into Positive Communication
Work gossip: We’ve all heard it, and some of us have spread it -- whether that action took place around the water cooler, via text or through email. There are mixed views about gossip: Some say that gossip [...]
It’s Time to Let Go of Work-Life Balance
Work-life balance is a slippery goal workers have been striving to reach for decades by name, and eons in practice. First coined as a term in 1970s England, then the 80s in America, work-life balance [...]
3 Pitfalls Recruiters Must Avoid in Job Interviews
Your company is only as good as the company it keeps: The associates that comprise your stellar team. The best way to ensure your associates are up to snuff is at the interview stage, and chances [...]
How Structure and Persistence Can Change Your Life in a Year
There are a lot of self-help book, products, and services out there that promise to “change your life” forever. The truth is, any number of these things can end up transforming your everyday life. Whether [...]
7 Ways to Overcome Your Public Speaking Nerves
It’s a familiar feeling: butterflies in your stomach, sweaty palms, an accelerated heart rate. No, I’m not talking about love. I’m talking about nerves. Public speaking is the top phobia in America — an estimated [...]
Why Your Associates Need Personal Brands
Source Companies often feel threatened by their Associates having a professional presence in social media. Unlike many who worry that having a team member with strong brand will lead to them being recruited [...]
What Studying Juvenile Criminal Defense Taught Me About Life, Business and Philanthropy
You probably wouldn’t guess it if you met me now, but before joining the Pacesetter team I went to law school for juvenile criminal defense. Though in the end I did not pursue a long-term [...]
CEO Connection’s Mid-Market Rising Star Award
At CEO Connection’s Mid-Market Convention this year, I was honored to be given the Rising Star award for my work as CEO of Pacesetter. Getting here has taken a lot of hard work, some luck, [...]
How to Prepare Your Business For External Forces
It’s a universal truth, and a frightening one, that your business does not exist in a vacuum. Whatever industry you work in, there’s a constellation of forces that can impact your company in small and [...]
What ‘Love it or List it’ Teaches Us About Business
One of my favorite shows right now is Love It or List It, an addictive reality show about real estate in Canada and North Carolina on HGTV. Before you rule it out based on the [...]
What the SeaWheeze Half Marathon Taught Me About Persistence
There’s a lot of people that dislike running, and for a while, I was one of them. So when my sister approached me to ask if I wanted to participate in the SeaWheeze, a half [...]
Why We Need Women in the Manufacturing Industry
As a female CEO in the steel industry, it can certainly be challenging to break new ground: after all, this is a traditionally male-dominated industry, and an old-school one at that. Most industries in the [...]
My New Podcast for Georgia Business Radio
Last week, I embarked on a new adventure: I was a guest on Georgia Business Radio’s podcast. I’m no stranger to public speaking, but I must admit I was a bit anxious about this — [...]
How Being A Dog Owner Taught Me To Be a Great CEO
Owning a dog is a huge responsibility. The dogless population among us may think it’s all cuddles and bone-throwing, but there’s much more to it than that: dog owners must be disciplined, caring, and open [...]