partner talk

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. Years ago, I learned a distinction that has stayed with me: “Reality is what’s so. It’s also, so what?” I’ve probably used it thousands of times since. And lately, I’ve had plenty of opportunities to practice it. Two knee replacements. Rehab. Pain. Setbacks. Getting better. Then another setback. […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. I’ve said this for years: “There are no accidents.” I don’t necessarily mean that everything happens for a reason. I mean that sometimes you look backward and see connections you never could have seen looking forward. I was reminded of that recently when I thought about one of […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. I was playing pickleball recently and caught myself doing something I think we all do. I wasn’t playing the point I was in. I was playing the last one. I’d missed a shot I should have made, and while the next point had already started, part of my […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. The other night I was sitting in the hot tub on my deck. The sun was disappearing behind the lake while, almost at the same time, the full moon quietly climbed into the sky. It’s one of my favorite places in the world. The warm water eases my […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week.a People ask me why I work out so much. They usually assume it’s because I want to stay in shape. Or because I still love playing pickleball. Those are certainly part of it. But they’re not the real reason. The real reason has nothing to do with looking […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. I had a recruiting conversation today. Like I always do, I came prepared. I knew what I wanted to share about Partners Mortgage. I knew the questions he might ask. I thought I’d spend a good part of the conversation explaining why our company is different. It never […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. People often tell me I’ve been lucky. They’re right. Just not in the way they think. When I look back over my life, I don’t see a series of lucky breaks. I see a series of lucky people. Someone who believed in me before I believed in myself. […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. There are a lot of things I hope people remember about me someday. I hope they remember that I cared. That I loved my family. That I tried to leave people a little better than I found them. But if I had to choose one thing, I hope […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. One of the questions people ask me all the time is, “How are you and your son Max so close when he lives hundreds of miles away?” The answer usually surprises them. We only see each other a few times a year. But we talk or text almost […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. When my son Max was little, there was one phrase he probably got tired of hearing. “Let’s kill the monster while it’s small.” Today, he says it back to me. That may be one of the things I’m most proud of. The funny thing is, it wasn’t my […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. My mom had a gift. She could walk into a grocery store to buy a loaf of bread… …and come home with two new friends or enough friends to play a game of Mahjong. When I was younger, I would get embarrassed by this.  As I got older, […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. Have you ever noticed how easy it is to say… “I’ll do it someday.” I’ll call them someday. I’ll write the book someday. I’ll get back into shape someday. I’ll take that trip someday. I’ll tell them how much they mean to me… someday. The funny thing is… […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. Have you ever noticed that the most successful people seem to ask the most questions? That wasn’t always obvious to me. Early in my career, I thought successful people had all the answers. Then I had the opportunity to spend time around people like Tony Robbins, Werner Erhard […]

One Story. One Lesson. One Better Week. When people ask me what’s made the biggest difference in my career, they usually expect me to talk about recruiting. Or sales. Or leadership. The truth is… It’s curiosity. I wasn’t always the smartest person in the room. I still don’t think I am. But I’ve always been […]

A few years ago, I read a book called 4,000 Weeks. The title comes from a simple idea. If we’re lucky enough to live to around 80 years old, we get roughly 4,000 weeks on this planet. When I first heard that, I had the same reaction most people do. That can’t be right. It […]