Exceptional blog | Exceptional Difference

I’ve Been Asking About This For Three Years!

You could cut the tension in the boardroom with a knife. Everyone knew Frank was irate, but we didn't know why. Then it came, "I've been waiting...

This Project Cannot Slip!

He was angrier than I had ever seen. The competition was gnawing at our heels, and we were in danger of losing our position as market leader. This...

Three Weeks to Build That???

Is Technical Debt Bankrupting Your Team?

Create a Frame for People to be Heroes

“Passion is energy. Feel the power that comes from focusing on what excites you.” – Oprah Winfrey

Base your Body of Work on Making a Positive Difference

“I also believe that it may happen that one succeeds, and one mustn’t begin by despairing; even if one loses here and there, and even if one sometimes feels a sort of decline, the point is nevertheless to revive and have courage, even though things don’t turn out as one first thought.”

From Vincent Van Gogh, to brother Theo, 22 October 1882

Are You Prepared

“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”

Mark Twain

When Sparks Fly, Use The Heat To Forge Stronger Ideas

“When sparks fly, some truly great ideas come to light.” — David Heinemeier Hansson

Start with YES!

I’ve done some really stupid stuff in my lifetime. I’ve also done some really cool and exciting stuff in my lifetime. Both had one thing in common – they started with the word yes.

Please Say No!

You could hear a pin drop as we inched forward in our seats. Our executive was on a panel discussion at an all-employee meeting, and he was being...

Quality Is Critical To Speed to Value

“Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.”
– John ruskin

Spring Clean Your Leadership Tool Kit

“Outer order contributes to inner calm.“ – Gretchen Ruen

Focus on the Big, Scary, Long Term Goals

Despite how much we complain, there is a joy to working on urgent items. They give us a ready excuse for not working on the hard things.

Why Invest $ in Training, Coaching, & Making Leaders Better?

“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” — Henry Ford

The Exception Difference – Theory and Reality

"It’s not enough for engineers and leaders to simply know the right thing to do—they must also have the courage and conviction to do those right...

Value: The North Star

"Success is measured by the value we deliver. When we coach and mentor engineers and leaders to relentlessly focus on value—by knowing more, caring...

Is Technical Debt Strangling Your Department and Your Career?

“It just feels like most of the time, we are trying to crawl up a muddy hill while people push boulders from the top at us.”

A developer speaking about tech debt

Make The Audience Part of a Grand Story

“This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, more alive.” – Alice Waters