What is Mike’s blog about? This blog is about things that interest me and, hopefully, a large group of readers as well. I feel most comfortable writing about business topics like growth, leadership, improvement, and innovation. But I’m also interested in many other topics that I’m sure will find there way in here as well. Things like podcasts that are influencing my life and my thinking, Angel Investing – staying engaged in new ideas, technologies and companies, personal health & fitness, private equity, books & other writing and, who knows what else.
I was in a funk about myself, and my company, when I wrote this letter to myself on a yellow legal pad while sitting in my car during my daughter’s swim meet in Minnesota (please see the typed version of it below – you’re lucky not to have read my handwriting (Read my story about…
“Wanna Drive?” Michael asked. I did. But I said no, because that’s what I should have said, and because I was 18, had been drinking, never drove a tractor-trailer, didn’t have a license, wasn’t an employee . . . the reasons kept coming. “What the f***, kid. You didn’t come to waste your whole day just…
Sometimes my friend Peter can’t sleep and, when that happens, he sometimes turns to YouTube for curiosity, and somnolence. He told me about a video he “found” the other night when he was sleepless. “It was a video with a trucker explaining how to drive an 18-speed transmission as he drove it up the road,…
If you’ve ever crashed a motorcycle, you’re probably familiar with what I felt like when I did. I shouldn’t have been surprised since I have a history of crashes when it comes to trying new things equipped with motors. The first time I took my daughter on a jet ski, I dumped us . .…
Continue reading ➞ Why I Had To Get Back On That Horse (Power)
I get angry, but I hide it well. People tell me that I’m calm and even-tempered. I am, mostly. They admire that about me, they say. I realize that they only see the outside of me, though. Inside is where the anger is……or where it can be. Hidden. I’ve heard it said that people who seem…
Continue reading ➞ Anger Is A Gift – Learning To Like My Grudges
I sold my business a few years ago and, since then, almost everyone I run into, who knows about the sale, asks me how I’m enjoying retirement. I’m gracious and smile, but I’m not enjoying retirement, because I’m not retired, at least not the way they (and all of us) have been trained to think…
Saturday, September 21, 1991, was the scariest day of my life. I was 24. It was the final day of a three-day company management conference. A bunch of trashmen, gathered in a Houston hotel to learn about what’s happening with the company. How it’s performing, what the future looks like. What’s new, or next. A…
Continue reading ➞ An Uncomfortable Lesson I Took Too Long To Learn
All I was interested in was getting some breakfast. I wasn’t pressed for time. I wasn’t looking to judge. I’d taken the hotel shuttle and passed through the TSA screening. The shuttle was filled with flight attendants soon to be on their way to who knows where. Their uniforms were crisp, professional. I glanced at…
No one’s ever asked me why my best friend is my best friend. Maybe you’ve been asked that. I heard someone talking about this (on a podcast – “Cal Fussman, Big Questions” – that I’m test-driving), so I decided to ask myself. Here’s the answer, for what it’s worth, which, I’ll admit, may not be…
I started playing football when I was in the 5th grade, and by the time I was in 8th grade, I felt like I was pretty good. Others took notice as well. Our coach went by the name Bucky. I never knew, or can’t remember, his real name. I thought he knew everything about football, like I…
Continue reading ➞ A Football Play Saved Me From The Cemetery
