When I talk to executives and business owners as part of my work with family offices, private equity firms, and boards, I often hear comments like this: “I want to grow my business, but I do not have the time to address [you name the issue].”

The REAL issue is often that they are so busy working IN their business that they do not take the time to work ON their business. There is a tremendous difference.

How many times have you stopped and considered the real meaning of words used every day? More importantly, how often do you challenge your own notion of that meaning by looking it up?

Recently I heard a friend and father I respect tell his son that discipline is more important than motivation. He said, “Motivation can come and go, but discipline will take you where you must go, even when you are not feeling very motivated.” It was compelling enough to me that I jotted his words down and started thinking about the meaning of those words – and also their implications.

Recently I was skimming through minutes from a weekly Blueprint Leadership Team meeting and something made me stop and chuckle. Each person had shared some good news from their week, and one had offered that she and her husband managed to shop for AND assemble several pieces of IKEA furniture without any squabbling.

It made me smile because I can relate (furniture assembly is now something I refuse to do, since it has been the biggest source of a fight I have ever seen). But it also made me realize how much I appreciate Blueprint’s tradition of sharing things for which we are grateful at the start of team meetings. It’s an opportunity to learn more about each team member, what they value, and what brings them joy.

Gratitude has a huge impact on business culture, and I thought the topic was spot on for a blog.

A colleague recently shared a blog that in essence questioned why quantitative investment strategies, and specifically trend following, was not more widely embraced by the investment management industry. It was a compelling question that prompted me to consider a larger one: Is it human nature to distrust simplicity?

Approximate reading time: less than 3 minutes

When something happens that has never happened before, do we assert it was unpredictable? On Monday the front month contract for WTI crude oil went negative in price and traded there, as holders were attempting to get rid of the obligation to take delivery. How much can I pay you to take my oil? Amazing. Times like this challenge everything we think we know about the financial world and beg the question, ‘can anyone really predict the future value of any asset?’  What is the truth? I think the answer is up to the reader, but we believe that no one really can.