Welcome to 2025. The beginning of the year spurs strategic planning efforts … or the completion of same.

THEN the tough work starts … implementation.

But, even before that, organizations should know how they will follow the plan and measure progress against it.  Employee performance is a critical component of that.  Leaders too … but they usually escape this level of accountability.

There are leaders that believe certain aspects of organizational and employee performance are not measurable.  I disagree … particularly for the intangibles.  Let’s start with:

I have been following Women’s Professional Golf (LPGA) for over 10 years now.   

Lydia Ko has been my favorite for about 9 of those – since she was 18. She just won the Gold Medal in the Paris Olympics. That gave her the “Podium Slam” – a term chosen for her after her Silver in Rio and Bronze in Tokyo. This also qualified her for entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame (the youngest person ever). 

Two weeks later she won her 3^rd Major Championship at St. Andrews in Scotland (called the “Old Course” and considered the premiere golf course in the world). At that event were a number of European players who will be playing in the Solheim Cup. 

“Empowerment” gets thrown around quite frequently. I believe it’s one of those words that can have really different meanings depending on the mindset and intent of the sender and the receiver. I’m not going to get into semantics here –  regarding empowerment vs. delegation.   

Briefly, I believe that delegation is assigning tasks and responsibilities to others. Think “distributing”. 

Empowerment is broader. It’s giving people the authority to make independent decisions and feel they can take action as they see fit.  Think “opposite of micromanagement”. 

NOW … beyond the definitions. 

This month, I … (am not sure what the right verb is … Celebrate?  Acknowledge?  Note?) that I have completed 9 full years with cancer. 

The tumor is wrapped around the Aorta so it can never come out. So after almost two years of wishing and hoping, we had to adjust our mindset to “managing it”. 

It has NOT been easy – on me, my family, my business partners, and even my clients. People have been very understanding and supportive for which I’m very grateful. 

My last posting was about “Who am I inspired to serve?” This article is my personal answer.

I have been a member of the Federal Government workforce (20 year Coast Guard career) and a consultant to them (first-ever Executive Capstone Program for the Department of Homeland Security;  FY 2024-28 Strategic Plan for the US Marshals Service) for many years.

My heart, though, is with local governments. With exceptions, their work is more often the direct delivery of services rather than policy creation and implementation. A City or County Manager is responsible for everything in that jurisdiction (Public Safety; Economic Development; Parks and Recreation; Public Works; Family Services; Courts; Permitting; and more). Interestingly, I feel that they are more easily accountable as you may run into them at the grocery store.

May is the month for flowers. Washington D.C. is particularly beautiful in the late April/May timeframe.

I recently got up super early to go see the cherry blossoms (and get a parking spot) before sunrise. It was cold and windy, but was one of those special events. There’s a whole hillside of the National Arboretum that’s really spectacular during the height of the azaleas. And the area around the U. S. Capitol and Union Station is particularly pretty (both trees and flowers) during this time of year.

The University of Connecticut (UCONN) Women’s Basketball Team has been the definition of Excellence for nearly 40 years. Much of this is due to the leadership and culture built by the Head Coach Geno Auriemma  and Assistant Head Coach Chris Dailey.

EXCELLENCE: In this stretch, the team has had:

• 6 perfect seasons
• 11 National (NCAA) titles
• 34 straight NCAA tournaments (since 1989)
• 22 Final Fours
• 14 straight Final Fours
• 21 Big East Conference championships
• 10 straight Conference Tournament championships
• Separate winning streaks of 111, 90, and 70 in a row

I have Cancer. This month makes 8 years since we found out about it.

I’m not sure how to acknowledge that. Is it an anniversary? Something to celebrate? What emotions am I feeling? Truthfully … I’m not sure.

It’s called a Gastro Intestinal Strombal Tumor (GIST). For awhile I had difficulty remembering that so I did what I usually do and create an association. In this case it was “stromboli”.

The tumor has caused a number of other complications (serious, cosmetic, pride)  – both on its own as well as from the side effects of the medications.

We found it by accident. There were no warning signals. We have not been able to find the cause.

My birthday is coming up. Normally it’s a blah “Woo Hoo”. Like anniversaries, they are a bigger deal when it’s a “0” or a “5”.

This one is neither of those. But, it is another year of successfully dealing with cancer. I’ve had a malignant tumor since early 2015. It’s wrapped around the aorta and therefore can never come out.

So birthdays DO have meaning to me.

What is that meaning? It’s a reminder of my mortality … a nudge to use every day … to live more in the present. .. and to get more life balance. Reminds me that I am (and need to continue to be) a true Saggie.