Archive for the ‘Ron Kitchens’ Category

A new book entitled “Community Capitalism” by Ron Kitchens details the effects of community leadership pulling together to ignore the effects of globalization that have plagued many communities.

This book is about my community of Kalamazoo, Michigan. It is about making possibility real. I couldn’t be prouder of the place and the people who have made it such a wonderful place to live.

I’m finding myself surrounded by wonderful leaders who are also great writers. I hope its okay that I take a break from writing and offer yet another from a blog post on West Michigan Business Review from one of my favorite people and a great leader, Ron Kitchens, CEO of Southwest Michigan First. Ron walks the talk.

Be sure to pick up on all of his posts at West Michigan Business Review

View From the Corner Office – Make No Excuses by Ron Kitchens

One of the great privileges of my position is the access you have to work with and observe the behaviors of great leaders in business, faith, government and community.

In this weekly segment, I will point out a different trait of these exceptional leaders.

Make no excuses.

Great leaders make no excuses about failures; instead. they learn, overcome and succeed. Face it, no one cares about your excuses. They only want to know what you have learned from the situation and how the lesson, expansive as it was, is going to show a future return on investment.

One of the hottest Web sites these days is www.alibinetwork.com, which provides its subscribers with the ability, as their Web site states, “To invent, create and provide personalized alibis for people wishing to anticipate and justify absences.”

These people will lie for you when you cannot do it yourself. Don’t do it.

To quote Jack Johnson, “Where have all the good people gone?” Of all of the great leaders I have known, none would have subscribed to the Alibi Network, period.