Category Archives: Business

Nov 16 2018
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Awareness, Business, Creativity, Discipline, Imagination, Leadership

Golf and Gossip (and anything else for that matter)

You are not good at golf the first time you ever take a swing.

The more you play, the better you get.

Sure, some have a natural swing, but for most, the more they tee it up, the better they get.

And this goes for everything.

The more we tee up a critique, the better we become at critiquing. The more we tee up empathy and compassion the more comfortable we become at leaving our shoes and entering another’s.

So here’s the work…

Can you be aware enough today (and tomorrow) to realize that your practices and disciplines may have you on a trajectory that is nowhere close to your true goals and desires?

Practice doesn’t make perfect.

It creates purpose.

 

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Jun 28 2018
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Awareness, Books, Business, Creativity, Discipline, Focus, Imagination, Leadership, success

Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less

The Way of the Essentialist involves doing less, but better, so you can make the highest possible contribution.

The Way of the Essentialist isn’t about getting more done in less time. It’s not about getting less done. It’s about getting only the right things done. It’s about challenging the core assumption of ‘we can have it all’ and ‘I have to do everything’ and replacing it with
the pursuit of ‘the right thing, in the right way, at the right time’. It’s about regaining control of our own choices about where to spend our time and energies instead of giving others implicit permission to choose for us.

In Essentialism, Greg McKeown draws on experience and insight from working with the leaders of the most innovative companies in the world to show how to achieve the disciplined pursuit of less.

By applying a more selective criteria for what is essential, the pursuit of less allows us to regain control of our own choices so we can channel our time, energy and effort into making the highest possible contribution toward the goals and activities that matter.

This week at Good / True / & Beautiful Podcast Greg McKeown joins us as we talk about Essentialism and the numerous key takeaways this work offers.

You can stream or download this episode in iTunes, Stitcher, and at AshtonGustafson.com

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Jun 21 2018
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Awareness, Books, Business, Creativity, Discipline, Focus, Imagination, Leadership, Real Estate, success

Leadership, Vision, & Purpose with Chris Powers // CEO of Fort Capital

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Chris Powers is a serial entrepreneur with more than 13 years of real estate development and investment experience and has developed over $200M in multi-family, student housing, commercial/industrial, and residential & land development projects throughout Fort Worth and the greater DFW Metroplex. Chris is a visionary with a demonstrated talent in looking ahead at what could be and understanding what must be done today to get there. His ability to conceptualize, raise capital, and execute are only a small part of what Chris brings to the table.

Chris oversees the vision for Fort Capital, Fort’s largest deals, capital relationships, executive level recruiting, strategic partnerships, and chairs the investment committee. Creating meaningful relationships and building a team around a vision and Fort’s goals are the most important qualities that make Chris ready for the job. With a belief that investing time in people is the best investment that can be made, Chris has built a strong network throughout Texas that has helped catapult Fort to where it is today.  “I want to build a culture that fosters creativity and creates leaders – our goal is to be the absolute best place to work in Fort Worth, because when we have the best people who are encouraged to give their best – we are unstoppable.”

Powers graduated with a BBA in Finance & Marketing from Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, TX. Innovative, ethics-driven, people-focused, community-minded and passionate about ideas that matter, Powers’ professional philosophy remains the same as his personal one: “Tell the truth and be nice to people.” As a champion of young entrepreneurship and causes that give our youth better resources, Chris is passionate about serving Rivertree Academy in Fort Worth, the TCU Chancellor’s Advisory Council, and the Ben Hogan Strategic Advisory Board. He is also a member of the Forbes Real Estate Council and Fort Worth YPO Chapter. He lives in Fort Worth, TX with his wife Mikal, his daughter Palmer.

You can stream or download this episode in iTunes, Stitcher, and at AshtonGustafson.com.

Final GTB

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Jun 06 2018
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art, Awareness, Business, Change The World, Creativity, Discipline, Focus, Imagination, Leadership

Generous hands

A few blocks from where I live there’s a refrigerator in one’s driveway.

Snaking out of the garage is an extension cord so the refrigerator has power.

Every morning one to three fresh flower arrangements from the yard of this property are placed in this refrigerator and an adjacent handwritten sign reads ‘Flowers $3.00 – Please return vases’.

I have never met the one who does this.

I’ve never seen them either.

But they have made it very clear who they are and what they’re about through their generous hands.

What will they say about us?

All of our lives are like refrigerators in driveways.

Hopefully, you’re picking flowers, arranging them in your unique flair and voice, and placing them in your front yard refrigerator for the world to enjoy.

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May 14 2018
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Awareness, Books, Business, Change The World, Creativity, Discipline, Focus, Imagination, Leadership, Marketing, success

Podcast 99: The Meaning Revolution with Fred Kofman

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Since 1990, Fred Kofman has designed and facilitated programs on leadership, personal mastery, team learning, organizational effectiveness and coaching for thousands of executives, and consultants worldwide.

His book, Conscious Business, has been translated to more than ten languages and received numerous awards. Conscious Business was recently named by Sheryl Sandberg in her New York Times interview as “the business book every executive should read” http://nyti.ms/Z1Kory (page 2).

After completing a Ph.D. in economics from Berkeley, California, Fred taught Management Accounting and Control Systems at the Sloan School of Management where in 1992 was named “Professor of the Year”. During his time at MIT, Fred worked alongside Peter Senge as a senior researcher at the Center for Organizational Learning.

His approach to leadership has little to do with the standard practices taught in business school and traditional books. Bringing together economics and business theory, communications and conflict resolution, family counseling and mindfulness meditation, Kofman argues in The Meaning Revolution that our most deep-seated, unspoken, and universal anxiety stems from our fear that our life is being wasted–that the end of life will overtake us when our song is still unsung.

After serving as VP of Executive Development for LinkedIn from 2013-2018, Fred has recently taken his work to Google where he is now an advisor for Leadership Development.

You can stream this episode and all other episodes of Good / True / & Beautiful in iTunes or at AshtonGustafson.com.

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