Monday, March 17, 2014
Right Sizing The Mortgage Industry
Here is the latest article co-authored by me and Becky Walzak: http://progressinlending.com/blog/2014/03/14/right-sizing-the-industry/
Monday, March 10, 2014
Sunday, February 9, 2014
Friday, February 7, 2014
Words of Wisdom From a Successful CEO
Had the privilege of sitting in on a lecture facilitated by Keith Koenig, President of City Furniture. FAU Business School offers a series of monthly lectures by prominent and successful local business leaders. The audience is comprised of MBA students, some faculty and local business people. By coincidence (and I don't believe in coincidences) he parked right in front of me and we both had to get our parking tickets. We chatted briefly, me sharing I had come to listen to him and complimenting him on all the great things people had to say of him as a leader. He was very humble. We introduced ourselves to each other, shook hands and met again on our way to the room where the event was being held. Nice man with great words of wisdom he shared with the students.
After going through the history of how he got started after finishing a masters degree at Flordia, his brother opening a water bed store, Keith joining his brother and the store evolving into City Furniture. Key words he shared in his success over the good and bad years of the economy, conservative business decisions, being reserved when it comes to money - accumulating money; testing the market, hiring good people and staying private. He also talked about how furniture stores are impacted by the housing market and he predicted that Florida is going to be a place to buy real estate now, encouraging the folks in the audience to buy soon if they can. He was also a proponent of our federal government as there are many things we are doing well and we will always be a world leader.
He was smart in the sense of asking the audience to share their perspectives on buying furniture on-line vs. going to a showroom and when do they go to a showroom. He is very aware of the Millennial generation being the largest generation now and in the future and how imporatnt is was for him as a leader to recognize their buying power and habits. City Furniture makes it a practice to hire college grads and grad school grads and is one of the largest companies, probably in Florida to do so.
I really like his style of speaking because he engaged the audience throughout his lecture, very interactive.
After going through the history of how he got started after finishing a masters degree at Flordia, his brother opening a water bed store, Keith joining his brother and the store evolving into City Furniture. Key words he shared in his success over the good and bad years of the economy, conservative business decisions, being reserved when it comes to money - accumulating money; testing the market, hiring good people and staying private. He also talked about how furniture stores are impacted by the housing market and he predicted that Florida is going to be a place to buy real estate now, encouraging the folks in the audience to buy soon if they can. He was also a proponent of our federal government as there are many things we are doing well and we will always be a world leader.
He was smart in the sense of asking the audience to share their perspectives on buying furniture on-line vs. going to a showroom and when do they go to a showroom. He is very aware of the Millennial generation being the largest generation now and in the future and how imporatnt is was for him as a leader to recognize their buying power and habits. City Furniture makes it a practice to hire college grads and grad school grads and is one of the largest companies, probably in Florida to do so.
I really like his style of speaking because he engaged the audience throughout his lecture, very interactive.
Thursday, February 6, 2014
Thursday, January 30, 2014
The Importance of Play in the Work Environment
We humans take ourselves too seriously at times. While walking around, be aware of how many people are smiling and laughing in a normal business day. Are you one of them? I believe the Millennial generation does this more than the other generations and I say good for them. Do you notice when you get in an elevator that everyone is really quiet - you can hear a pin drop at times. People are deep in thought or just being quiet to get where they are going. And, they typically are not smiling.
It's really important to goof off once in awhile and laugh at ourselves. The definition of "play" is time spent without purpose. Far too often in our American culture we feel that we have to have our nose to the grindstone, be productive, having our day planned out, working, cleaning, taking kids to practice, having a structured day, every day. It's really important that we make time to just have fun without achieving a goal. This is vital to our health and our human development. Creativity and innovation stem from play. Check out the environments of Google and Zappos. People have freedom to be creative and enjoy their working environment. More and more companies are creating these type of work environments especially in the technology fields.
Please don't save play just for a scheduled vacation. Incorporate fun into your life regularly through taking time to develop a hobby, being outdoors enjoying nature, being with your family and loved ones - maybe grabbing a cupcake after lunch or a yogurt or going to a great movie, having people over for dinner, etc. There are so many ideas you can explore.
Some suggestions around integrating play into your life are: 1. Create a list or a couple of activities you could do for hours on end and forget about time - reading, playing a game, running, etc. that you really enjoy and maybe have forgotten about. 2. Schedule some unstructured time on your calendar and commit to play without feeling guilty. 3. Include others - family, friends, kids, a coworker.
Your mind and body will thank you for this believe me.
It's really important to goof off once in awhile and laugh at ourselves. The definition of "play" is time spent without purpose. Far too often in our American culture we feel that we have to have our nose to the grindstone, be productive, having our day planned out, working, cleaning, taking kids to practice, having a structured day, every day. It's really important that we make time to just have fun without achieving a goal. This is vital to our health and our human development. Creativity and innovation stem from play. Check out the environments of Google and Zappos. People have freedom to be creative and enjoy their working environment. More and more companies are creating these type of work environments especially in the technology fields.
Please don't save play just for a scheduled vacation. Incorporate fun into your life regularly through taking time to develop a hobby, being outdoors enjoying nature, being with your family and loved ones - maybe grabbing a cupcake after lunch or a yogurt or going to a great movie, having people over for dinner, etc. There are so many ideas you can explore.
Some suggestions around integrating play into your life are: 1. Create a list or a couple of activities you could do for hours on end and forget about time - reading, playing a game, running, etc. that you really enjoy and maybe have forgotten about. 2. Schedule some unstructured time on your calendar and commit to play without feeling guilty. 3. Include others - family, friends, kids, a coworker.
Your mind and body will thank you for this believe me.
Monday, January 13, 2014
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