The “Situation” Every Leader Should Avoid " 🕒 3 min read  By Desiree Grace Your body’s hotter than a brothel in Guam." Singer‑songwriter Johnny Blue Skies drops this line in his song Situation , where he describes becoming infatuated with a woman, losing all good sense, and landing himself squarely in a “situation.” It’s a great song with an even better lesson. Give it a listen ,  though I cannot recommend the video . Johnny Blue Skies’ lyric captures the exact tension leaders face today: the pull of short‑term gratification versus the discipline required to make decisions that support long‑term organizational health. Some sales leaders and salespeople find themselves in a similar predicament when they become overly fixated on an attractive bonus. They forget that certain decisions require consideration of company goals, organizational alignment, and overall brand reputation. These situations are the professional equivalent of the aforementioned object of Johnny’s infatuat...

Advice for New Grads By Desiree Grace, River Heights Consulting Picture this: your friend and mine, Frank Hurtte, is invited to give a commencement speech. Before stepping up to the podium, he’d get a trim to sharpen that Colonel Sanders meets Midwest straight talk look. Then he’d sit down to prepare his remarks. As you might imagine, this discussion took place over a diet soda (generic, of course) for him and a black coffee for me. In my mind, new graduates need to understand a few fundamentals. To start, they must learn the strategy, goals, and culture of their new organization. Their actions and priorities should align with those elements. Even the language matters. For example, some companies use “sales” to mean top‑line revenue. Others use “turnover.” Learning the vocabulary is part of learning the job. Beyond that, new grads need to show up on time, follow directions, and be prepared. The homework doesn’t stop when you walk past the podium. In today’s world, no organization hire...

Taking the Pain Out of Annual Planning By Frank Hurtte It’s November. Out here in the Midwest, Iowa’s trees are showing off, fiery reds, deep oranges, and every gold shade ever invented. A little warmth still hangs on, but Thanksgiving, December, and the holidays will sprint by before we know it. And with them come two unavoidable realities: yard cleanup and annual planning. As I write this, I can practically feel the blister forming from the rake I’ll be wrestling with on some future Sunday. You can recruit the neighbor kid for yard duty. Unfortunately, you won’t find an $8-an-hour stand-in for your End-of-Year Planning. But good news: planning doesn’t have to be the monster lurking behind the garage. Let’s break it down and remove the dread. Start Early Many leaders wait until the last moment to tackle planning. Some procrastinate so masterfully, they’ll reorganize their desk drawer before facing it. But starting early prevents last-minute panic and gives you space to think, really ...

From Hothead to Harvard Business Review: An EQ Journey By Desiree Grace Ever screw up in a tense situation with a colleague and kick yourself afterward? I just did that. I was irked that something got missed and was harsher with my colleague than I should have been. (J, you know who you are.) That got me thinking, it's time for a refresh on EQ, emotional intelligence, as much for my benefit as for yours. Like a lot of skills, it's use it or lose it. So, without further ado... 1. Great Leaders Have It By "great," I mean dynamic, charismatic, popular, people who build businesses and get things done. Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Richard Branson (Virgin), Indra Nooyi (Pepsi) all have it. The ability to read a room, connect with people, and adapt to the audience— that's EQ . It's not the same as IQ, which we're all familiar with. Researchers have found that exceptional leaders have high EQ compared to average leaders and get better results. For exampl...

Sink, Swim… or Go for the Onboarding Gold By Desiree Grace Onboarding is often treated like an afterthought. It should be an event, a meaningful, well-planned one. But too often, organizations fail to invest the time, thought, or discipline into welcoming new employees effectively. Worse yet, a sloppy onboarding experience can give your new hire a bad case of buyer’s remorse.   Want your onboarding to feel more Olympic podium than office hazing ritual? Want positive morale, enthusiastic employees, and maybe even a glowing Glassdoor review? Let’s dive into best practices for turning your onboarding into a gold-medal performance.   1. Culture: Show, Don’t Just Tell What do you really want your new hire to understand? Beyond the slick video about corporate values, how do you actually live your culture? If your meetings start and end on time, model that. If your team genuinely cares about one another, show it. Introduce the new hire to colleagues, ask your CSR about...