When the sun is out, and the rivers are raging, there’s nothing like a white water raft trip on the Yellowstone River in Montana. It’s definitely a faster trip with the volume of water flowing due to spring runoff we are experiencing, and the high-water really adds to the fun. We just did our 2010 PFL raft [...]

I work in a small town in Montana that has struggled for years to solve the problem of “economic development.” It seems like everyone wants to talk about the issue as if it is something you can magically solve with more meetings, focus groups or quasi-governmental agencies. I disagree. It is the jobs, stupid. Create [...]

How many of you fell in love and asked your future spouse to marry you all in the span of 45 minutes? I would venture to guess not many. For those who have, congratulations–you are rare. So my question is why you consider interviewing a prospective employee to be any different? I have spoken to [...]

How many times have you heard someone say “this job would be so easy if it weren’t for the people”?  How many times have you said or thought it yourself?  One thing I’ve found during my career is that if your team isn’t giving you what you want, its probably because you’re not giving them [...]

The Lesson List – What I’ve learned I’ve spent more than 20 years working in rapid growth small businesses and recently had a MBA student ask me one of the most interesting questions I’ve had in some time. What have been the 3 most important lessons I’ve learned? It is a great question and harder [...]

I remember a job from years ago where the training consisted of me filling out some paperwork, skimming a manual, a quick pep-talk from the boss and then getting thrown in, to “learn as I go.” That was not a great experience, and I learned things sporadically, got frustrated, and frustrated my employer. Many of [...]