If you own a business or are on the leadership team of a business, you’re tasked with strategically defining what the future of your business will look like. Who will lead it into the future as you and your leadership team think of future transitions? How will you grow? The answer to these questions begins with developing others and eventually working yourself out of a job.

As a Minnesota resident, I often find myself dreaming of warm climates this time of year. The temperature hovers around freezing and I can picture the arid deserts of Arizona or the lush rainforests of Hawaii. Both climates offer respite from the Minnesota winter, but they are decidedly different from one another in flora and fauna. A cactus can’t survive in the rainforest, and ferns can’t grow in the desert.

You wouldn’t think companies are similar to plants, but like a fern in the desert, not all people will thrive in your culture.

Vision. I went to the eye doctor this past month and it’s the first time I couldn’t read anything below the top line. Really?!! And how many other reminders do I need that I’m aging?