Newsletter – “My Problem with Solving Problems” by Tim McCarthy
By Tim McCarthy
October 15, 2019
The problem I have with solving problems is I often forget to first ask: Who caused the problem? Who should solve it? Unless I’m working on my own problems, the...
Note: This is an article I was asked to write for Foster Families Today recently. I thought it was applicable and interesting enough to all parents, families and people in...
Newsletter: Lesson 2: Why Build a Traditional Organization to do Non-traditional Work?
By Tim McCarthy
October 15, 2019
Author’s note: This is the second in a series of articles regarding the mistakes I’ve made in developing our foundation over these first 14 years. A friend recently sent me...
Note from Tim: Our Foundation’s Managing Director, Bill Leamon, wrote an update for our board recently about a young man he is mentoring named Chris, and I asked him to...
During an immersion trip to Africa, Joe Cistone of IPM asked me to help him with the business side of the organization, the beginning of a great partnership. [more] My...
Often our intentions in business are quite different than our actions, which causes organizational and communication dissonance. [more] At a team meeting recently, Bill Leamon said something I hope I...
The big idea is elusive, at best, and can take years to develop. So, the best organizations develop a consistent pattern of small gains and progress while they’re looking for...
Great organizations are built on fundamentally solid foundations – otherwise known as “great bones”. [more] As expected, Joe Cistone, CEO of International Partners in Mission, was a smash hit at...
Peace to you this season. [more] It's December 16, 2008, and today is another bad news day for me. The news I'm getting is probably similar to yours. The report...
Growth in organizations requires growth in their leaders. Good leaders learn to make the hard transition from player to coach – doer to teacher of doers. [more] As a big...
Newsletter – “Finding the Good Guys” by Tim McCarthy
By Tim McCarthy
October 15, 2019
My involvement in the foundation’s for-profit businesses is now “from a distance.” And I’m amazed by what that distance lends for perspective I can use to help my partners and...
Newsletter: Find Good People and Give them Respect
By Tim McCarthy
October 15, 2019
Complex problems are best solved by simple, if sometimes difficult approaches. The most important of these is getting good people and respecting their work. [more] This Irish kid from Ashtabula...
Getting started on changing the world can be as simple as joining a group like Social Venture Partners I get a lot of questions from readers whose thoughts seem to...
Businesses can serve (both) a social and a profit mission. Many already are doing this effectively. [more] A couple hundred years ago, our nation's first significant business "professor" Benjamin Franklin,...
Good decision making is the result of good discipline. My sister, Felicia, saw me teach at Lakeland Community College’s Entrepreneurship Academy last week and on the way home she said,...
Newsletter – “Deploying Resources” by Tim McCarthy
By Tim McCarthy
October 15, 2019
The first step to creating a more effective organization is determining how to deploy your resources. There are no exceptions. Consider the following: A restaurant has 50 menu items with...
Planning and implementing are different disciplines; good employers are not good listeners 24/7; a business year consists of three months of strategic planning and nine months of disciplined execution. Decide...
Your responses to my request in last month’s blog for input on my book are astounding. First of all, there were a lot of them, over 100 to be exact....
Nothing good happens in our lives or our business until we see things as they are and decide to change. [more] A few weeks ago, I saw a presentation from...
If you don't stop frequently to check where you've been and where you're going, you won't get to the place you set out for. [more] Over the last month or...