Author: Robin Robins

Last week I posted a mini “rant” on LinkedIn about excellence and doing things right that turned out to be, surprisingly, controversial. Here’s the short of it…

You cannot fix the world with broken hands, so we must stiffen OUR spines and strengthen our “hands” so that we have the ability to help others and have a real, lasting, positive impact.

Like all entrepreneurs, I’m deeply committed to my work and feel a constant sense of urgency, a steady pull on my time and attention – often stressed about all the things I want to get done, often feeling like a revving race car at the start line with anticipation building to “GO and get after” everything I want to accomplish and often unable to take a break. The true entrepreneur is never really “offline.

Many years ago, when my business started growing and I was building my team, I hired 5 horrible employees, all with bad attitudes, poor work ethic and questionable morals. 100% MY fault, of course.

My mentor, Dr. Nido Qubein, often repeats the mantra “We live, they watch, they learn.” It’s a reminder to his leadership team and faculty that they are ALWAYS “onstage” – living, teaching and demonstrating their core values to the students by how they behave, not just by what they say. He understands that the MOST impactful and meaningful way of instructing and inspiring students to embrace their core values takes place outside the four walls of the classroom, not in the books they’re given or the instruction provided.

Last week a news story broke about a landscaper who mowed around a dead body lying in the grass he was cutting, giving the excuse that he had thought it was a Halloween prop. I’ve heard a lot of excuses over the years for people failing to do their job or skipping over important details in their work, but this one takes the cake…

Continuing on the “fear factor” train from last week’s Rant in a nod to Halloween and all things frightening, here are items 4 through 6 of the things you should be very, very afraid of as the owner of an MSP…

With Halloween right around the corner, I thought I’d give you a list of 6 things that should ACTUALLY frighten you as an MSP, not just the normal ghosts, goblins and politicians. This week, I’ll give you 3, saving the final 3 for next week…

Have you ever watched someone do something that should be as familiar and routine to them as brushing their teeth, but they look like they’re doing it for the first time? What should be a routine, ordinary procedure turns into a total cluster f&#@ in figuring things out, a mad scramble and clown show of errors? 

A lesson I have to teach and reteach and remind folks is this: results don’t happen by accident. I wish I could magically change someone’s situation for the better by simply having them attend my event, but I can’t. This is why many stay home.