Insights

Personal reflections on business, giving, and life’s big pivot — all from the messy middle of figuring it out.

Below is a collection of 1,134 posts Tim has made including blog posts, books, songs, quotes, and videos. Filter by category, type, or pathway to find what you need.

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PostLeadershipTim's StoryBuilder

Newsletter: Planning for Failure

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Writing good business plans is a key to success, but good plans must accommodate searching and failing over time to be effective.  Said differently, no plan is perfect – nor...
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PostLeadershipTim's StoryBuilder

Newsletter: Success in the Balance

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Successful organizations are more about hard work and effectively deploying people than they are about great ideas.  Great ideas must be balanced by great work ethic, leadership and a balanced...
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PostGivingTim's StoryMentorSeeker

Newsletter: Think

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Great thoughts are the beginning of every great organization and then must be followed by feelings and actions.   [more] For decades, IBM’s theme was one word: Think IBM’s first great...
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Newsletter: God’s Not Done Yet

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Great coaching creates great organizations.  Be careful not to judge your players too soon. [more] I was an aspiring advertising agency exec on a pretty fast track but I’d just...
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Newsletter: The Love We Make

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Among all our weakness and humanity, love is the one thing we can all bring equally to our world. [more] I found a letter my Dad sent me after he...
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Faking It
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Faking It

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

How many times can you remember “faking it”? My list is very long. The first few weeks of high school The first few weeks of college A few months on...
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Funny of the Month  |  What it Means to be in an Irish Family
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Funny of the Month  |  What it Means to be in an Irish Family

By Tim McCarthy

April 1, 2024

Joke of the Month: What it means to be in an Irish Family 1) You have no idea how to make a long story short! 2) You swear very well....
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The Last Ships From Hamburg
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The Last Ships From Hamburg

April 1, 2024

 Favorite Book: The Last Ships from Hamburg - Steven Ujifusa Editor’s note:  I like history in general and particularly about the world war periods.  There is so much to learn...
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A Lot More Free
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A Lot More Free

By Max McNown

April 1, 2024

Song of the Month:  “A Log More Free” by Max McNown Editor’s note:  With the open mind of a man who is not crazy about country music, I listened to...
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AI is as Big a Change as the Internet
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AI is as Big a Change as the Internet

By Seth Godin on AI

April 1, 2024

In 1840, at the dawn of the information age, the king of Sardinia asked Charles Babbage what nearly instant messaging like the telegraph could possibly be good for. Twenty years...
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The Secret to Employee Loyalty
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The Secret to Employee Loyalty

By Tim McCarthy

March 2, 2024

Ah, the golden key to loyalty among the ranks! Here it is: Invite your team to stick around for the long haul, but if they decide to fly the coop,...
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Don’t Aim at Success
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Don’t Aim at Success

By Viktor Frankl

March 2, 2024

  Quote of the Month: Don’t aim at success—the more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like...
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Death at La Fenice
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Death at La Fenice

By Donna Leon Editor

March 2, 2024

Book of the Month: Death at La Fenice -- by Donna Leon Editor’s note:  Editor’s note: If you are a fan of well-written detective mysteries, this one (Leon’s first of...
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Funny of the Month  |  Switching Tapes
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Funny of the Month  |  Switching Tapes

By Tim McCarthy

March 2, 2024

Funny of the Month: Switching I’ve been trying to think lately about true stories that happened that are funny enough for a laugh and this one came to me today:...
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I Am
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I Am

By Kevin McCarthy featuring Ray Flanagan

March 2, 2024

Editor’s Note:  I dedicated this month's Thoughts to my son, Kevin, for the years he served as my partner in marketing.  He has moved on to a broader entrepreneur career...
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Crook Manifesto
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Crook Manifesto

By Colson Whitehead Editor

January 31, 2024

Book of the Month: “ Crook Manifesto ”, by Colson Whitehead Editor’s note:  This is my second Whitehead read and I haven’t even gone back to his Pulitzer Prize winners...
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I'm Just Thinkin' About Love
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I'm Just Thinkin' About Love

By Wild Rivers

January 31, 2024

Song of the Month:  “ I’m Just Thinkin’ About Love ” by Wild Rivers Editor’s Note:  For the first time I can remember, I enjoyed the video of this song...
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Struggle of this Turbulent Existence
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Struggle of this Turbulent Existence

By Robert Burns

January 31, 2024

  Quote of the Month: I pick my favourite quotations and store them in my mind as ready armour, offensive or defensive, amid the struggle of this turbulent existence.  ...
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Questions and Answers
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Questions and Answers

By Tim McCarthy

January 24, 2024

The more questions I ask, the more certain the answers will be.  Questions lead to research; research leads to risk reduction in both business and in my life. My peer...
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In Loving Memory | Tom Smothers | 1937 – 2023 | If I Had A Ship
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In Loving Memory | Tom Smothers | 1937 – 2023 | If I Had A Ship

By Tim McCarthy

December 31, 2023

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This Other Eden
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This Other Eden

By Paul Harding

December 31, 2023

Editor’s note:  The story is as lush as Harding’s writing, which takes some pages to adjust to, at least in my case.  Long, poetic, descriptive sentences that only the greats...
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