Michael Stice on LinkedIn: Chasing the Northern Lights (2024)

On a recent business trip, I made a quick pitstop in the restroom during a layover between flights.Immediately upon entering the men’s room, I encountered a fellow passenger who was on a phone call and though I wasn’t intentionally “listening” in, it was impossible not to overhear the conversation; it was clear the gentleman was on a conference call and he was valiantly pitching the merits of his company, while standing at the urinal.This was hardly the first time I’ve experienced this type of situation…frankly, I see/hear it every time I enter a public restroom, whether it be at an airport, a restaurant or even a church.And every time, it disgusts me.Imagine being on the other side of that conversation, listening as a business leader touts the exceptional customer service his company provides, but all you can focus on is the recurring sound of flushing toilets in the background. Fellow citizens…and business travelers in particular…we need to STOP this practice.Immediately!Technological advancements have made it possible for us to be more connected than ever…which certainly has positively impacted our lives in many ways.But it has also created this insane thought process that because we can be constantly connected, we think we MUST be constantly connected. False! There need to be boundaries to how, when and where we leverage our connectivity – specifically when it comes to a public restroom.In the rare instance that you are on a conference call, and you experience an urgent need to visit the loo, at least have the decency to put your end of the line on mute…no one…not your customer, not your spouse, not your golfing buddy…needs to hear you, and/or the stranger next to you, urinating.We can, and we must, do better.Put down your phones for 30 seconds. Go to the bathroom.Wash your hands.Take a deep breath.I promise, the world will still be spinning (and be no worse for the wear) when you re-emerge 😊

4

Yesterday, I started my day with an early-morning walk in the mountains just outside Bryce Canyon National Park - it was the perfect culmination to a refreshing couple of days my family spent “out in the wilderness”…no cell service, no laptops, no gaming systems, but LOTS of time riding 4-wheelers, pitching horseshoes, sitting in camp chairs listening to the wind rustle through the pines and watching my boys and their cousins splash in the reservoir, build forts, throw pine cones and swing in hammocks.Mother Nature in all her splendor 😊Being able to go “off the grid” for a few days was possible because of my great teammates.Knowing that I would not have any cell service once I got to the mountains, we collaborated on a game plan before I left for buttoning up a few loose ends…and then I walked away fully confident that the team would execute, which they did!The reality is, I, like most of you, spend more time during the week interacting with my “work family” than I do with my “home family”; I’ve known some members of my work team for nearly 15 years (across multiple organizations), while others have just joined the team over the last few months.But regardless of the amount of time we’ve worked together, each member of our team possesses a unique skill set that is critical to the success of our team, and our organization.With that in mind, at the beginning of last week, I gathered all our senior leaders together for our annual strategic planning meeting where we spent the better part of two days discussing our Core Values and the foundational role they play in supporting our pillars of Operational Excellence.We celebrated successes and candidly reviewed opportunities for improvement, and we established goals & objectives for our new fiscal year.But above all, we got to know each other, we learned how to communicate and collaborate, because as the great Steve Jobs once said, “Great things in business are never done by one person.They’re done by a team of people”.And I’m grateful for my team!

29

1 Comment

Check out my article about "Chasing the Northern Lights" and the important life/business lessons learned along the way.https://lnkd.in/g_KBrzCS

3

1 Comment

Despite the fact I haven’t watched a college basketball game in well over a decade, I, like millions and millions of others, completed the time-honored ritual this year of filling out a March Madness bracket and entering one of the Challenges run by the large media companies.Unsurprisingly, I got off to a slow start, losing one of my ill-advised Cinderella picks for the Elite 8 (New Mexico) as well as a Sweet 16 pick (Auburn) in the very first round. I got busy with some things around the house and at work and didn’t give much more thought to my impending dumpster fire of a bracket until I sat down with my boys on that first Saturday night to take stock of our household challenge and was heartened to find that although I ranked somewhere in the multi-millions in the CBS Bracket Challenge, I was in 1st place in our family pool of four 😁Slowly, but surely, some of my harebrained picks actually panned out, and by the time the Sweet 16 round wrapped up, I was stunned to see my bracket in the top 800 of the Bracket Challenge. When NC State and Alabama miraculously joined UCONN and Purdue in the Final Four, I had skyrocketed to #14 and my family and friends started calling and asking my secret (easy answer…not following the sport allows you to have clear conscience and make off-the-wall picks because you aren’t well enough informed to realize how crazy some of your choices are 😜)When UCONN defeated Purdue last night, that moved me up to #3 in the final Bracket Challenge standings…that’s me, Paradise Canyon 1. Out of the millions and millions brackets submitted, I had somehow managed to finish just 2 points out of 1st place. Since LinkedIn is a networking platform for professionals, how do I tie these March Madness picks into the business world? Here we go:1-Sometimes the stars align in our favor…even when they shouldn’t.Shooting from the hip might be a fun approach when filling out a March Madness bracket, but it is not a strategy for long-term success.Stay up-to-date on industry trends. 2-Be patient.Sometimes it might take longer-than-expected to see the fruits of your labors…and even at that, the stars might even unexpectedly align in someone else’s favor first.Stick with it.3-Bullet points 1 & 2 are good, but don’t allow yourself to be fully consumed by your work.Make sure you make time to have fun.Fill out a March Madness bracket and laugh when it gets busted after Round 1.Go for a walk.Put together a puzzle.Read a book.Climb a mountain peak. Smile 😊

18

1 Comment

John Lamb

6

2 Comments

Feel free to contact me to learn more about the suite of supply chain solutions offered by the Brown Family of Companies.

6

Check out this new opportunity in the Long Beach, CA area

3