Xtra Mile Resources

Taking Care of You: Take it Seriously (Check out the Golden Eggs Video) Did you know that May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Bike Month? A coincidence? I think not. Check out this quote from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He was a Scottish physician, surgeon, and later in life, the creator of Sherlock Holmes. “When the […]

Empower Your Force Multiplier(Check out The Admin Professionals Day Video) Leaders, please share with your administrative rockstars. A Handshake Wealth Transfer by guest blogger, SBX, and storyteller, Krystal Mechling I attended my first Admins Run the World tour event a few weeks ago, hosted by Sunny Nunan and the Admin Awards. She opened the ceremony by introducing her […]

New Toolbox Series: Episode #4 (Check out the Conductor Video) In my final assignment as an employee, I ran a $20MM-a-year sports lighting joint venture for General Electric. On my team were structural engineers, a master electrician, lighting designers, a CFO, and manufacturing and quality managers. Most of these leaders had a decade or two […]

New Toolbox Series: Episode 3 (Check out The Whistle Video) XM Truth: Leadership becomes 10 times more complicated when we move from leading people / teams / process to leading through other organizational leaders. One of my favorite leaders is Henry Drummond, a Scottish pastor/biologist/writer and lecturer from the 1800’s. He said, “As we try […]

Did you know that, depending on where you are standing in the United States, the difference between true north and magnetic north can be up to 20 degrees apart? If you walk 10 miles without programming that difference (angle of declination) into your route, you will miss your target by almost 4 miles. Like the telescope for […]

New Toolbox Series: Episode 2(Check out The Telescope Video) The tactical side of planning is easy for most leaders: Goals Plans Actions Delegation Communication Meeting routines We already know how to focus ourselves and our teammates on the work. This is the Old Toolbox. VISION is a leadership tool/skill that is more strategic. It is […]

New Toolbox Series: Episode 1(Check out Ditch the Old Toolbox Video) We were working with a General Contractor in Arizona. One of the young superstars on their team was being prepared for a director-level position and was struggling to understand the complexities of his new role. As we were wrestling with his evolution, we discovered […]

Hidden Treasures Series: Episode 4(Check out The Tandem Bike Video) It may come as no surprise that I love a good bike analogy. Did you know the front rider on the tandem bicycle team is called the Captain? This rider’s role is to be heads-up, looking forward, deciding strategy, direction, and speed. Much like the role of […]

Hidden Treasures Series: Episode 3(Check out The Time Audit) In our video this week I shared the story of one of our favorite clients – Jessica Riggs from Angels of Care. When we first started working with her team, she was a 29-year-old second-generation president running a $40 million-a-year home health business. I asked her, “Jessica, […]

Hidden Treasures Series: Episode 2(Check out Undiscovered Leaders) There is a famous scene in The Notebook – an exasperated poor boy Noah (Ryan Gosling) asks the love of his life: “What do you want? What do you want?! What! Do! You! Want!” Business owners and leaders should be asking their teams the same question. Instead […]

Hidden Treasures Series: Episode 1(Check out the 1-min intro video) XM Truth: There are no unicorns; perfect employees are even more rare. Very few people wake up every morning, stretch out their arms, and say, “Today…I am going to suck at work.” The reality is we get a lot of value, meaning, and fulfillment from our vocational ventures. Leaders and […]

So, I had a dream (for clarity, we are talking about a dream that I experienced while I was sleeping, not a life vision). What do you think about dreams? I have friends on the other side of the world who believe that God speaks to us through our dreams. In this crazy dream, I […]

We’ve had a crazy ride into the finish line of 2023. As the world prepares to celebrate Christmas, I have been thinking about the leadership of Jesus. He SURRENDERED his high position. He SUBMITTED to a higher calling, his Father’s will. He SERVED and gave his life as a ransom for many. He LOVED, even the hard people, even the outcasts, and even the religious leaders […]

E2X = Elevation * Evolution * Xceleration We have worked with hundreds of business owners and executive leaders in the SMB space this year. Their next breakthrough (and your next breakthrough) is waiting for the next E2X (Elevation * Evolution * Xceleration) in performance from leaders. This transformation requires mastering a new set of skills (New Toolbox) […]

We have been working with several fast-growing companies this year. Their business development is working, their reputations in their markets are dialed in. The pain for these teams are overworked and overwhelmed teammates. XM Truth: You can’t microwave leadership capacity. When an organization outgrows its humans, we get caught in the ultimate SMB dilemma. Should we take our […]

Grateful Few people have jobs they love, laboring shoulder-to-shoulder with great friends, doing work that matters. That is every day for our boutique firm of employees and contractors whose labor of love is to make small/medium businesses the best places to work in America. I am blessed beyond measure, humbled, grateful. As we start off […]

Know/Like/Trust When we hear this phrase in the business world, it is usually associated with sales. We all prefer to do business with people we Know/Like/Trust. XM Truth: We also do our best work for leaders we Know/Like/Trust. Through November to January, we are frequently engaged in the Strategic Planning process with our clients. We begin each session […]

The Texas Rangers won the World Series for the first time in franchise history last night. Their superstars, a homerun hitter and a pitching sage, were out with injuries for the last two games. The team leveraged a theme they have been working on all year: be ready when we call the ‘Next Man Up.’ […]

We were working with a 2nd Generation owner and the CFO of a Texas-based construction company this week. Commenting on our weekly business owner content/blog they said, ‘It’s like you have a hidden microphone in our office.’ Before the internet took over the world we might have said, ‘You’ve been reading my mail.’ XM Truth: […]

Three calls last week with large, multi-state clients; they all have the same challenge for 2024: Growth Acceleration! One said, ‘We have a real problem with communication among leaders.’ Another, ‘Our leaders are technical. They lack the soft skills our people need.’ The third is struggling with role/responsibility clarity of their growing executive team. To […]