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The Hidden Power of Glue Players: Why Teams Can’t Win Without Them
Read more: The Hidden Power of Glue Players: Why Teams Can’t Win Without ThemAll of the success I’ve achieved professionally can be traced back to the hard work I’ve put into each situation and the people I’ve chosen to surround myself with. Was I lucky? Sure—but luck is often proportional to the effort invested. It’s amazing how the harder I work, the luckier I get. But even hard…
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Five questions for Pete Van Baalen
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Read more: Five questions for Pete Van BaalenFirst published on the opinion page of the Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Indiana on December 1, 2025 Mike Clem is the current CEO at Sweetwater, and he frequently talks about being an organization with heart. That extends internally with our employees, obviously with our customers as well as with our vendors. Being a company…
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Peacock’s The Paper Hits Too Close to Home for Former Newspaper Veteran
Read more: Peacock’s The Paper Hits Too Close to Home for Former Newspaper VeteranThe Office is one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. So when they announced last year that a reboot was in the works, I was excited. But when I learned it would be a parody of a newspaper instead of a paper company, that excitement quickly faded. I’d love to tell you I’m binging…
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How the Fort Wayne Woodchucks Are Redefining Baseball for Adults with Special Needs
Read more: How the Fort Wayne Woodchucks Are Redefining Baseball for Adults with Special NeedsHaving seen countless baseball games, as a player, a broadcaster, and a fan, I can honestly say that the most joy I’ve ever witnessed on a baseball field was from a team in Fort Wayne. With all due respect to the Fort Wayne Tincaps, it wasn’t them. It was from a baseball team you’ve probably…
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Leadership Lessons from WD-40: What Mike Rowe and Garry Ridge Taught Me About Culture
Read more: Leadership Lessons from WD-40: What Mike Rowe and Garry Ridge Taught Me About CultureBack in 2009 when the inventor of this miracle product died, the New York Times reported that 80% of American homes have a can of this lubricant on their shelf. I have no reason to doubt that number has gone down in the past 16 years. And after listening to Garry Ridge, I have no…
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Aaron Leanhardt’s Problem-Solving Approach: Revolutionizing Baseball with the Torpedo Bat
Read more: Aaron Leanhardt’s Problem-Solving Approach: Revolutionizing Baseball with the Torpedo BatI have every reason to dislike this guy, but I don’t. Name a sports team I am passionate about, and he has connections to the biggest rivals. I’m an Ohio State fan; he taught at the University of Michigan for seven years. I’m a fan of the Boston Red Sox; he worked for the New…
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The investment to local journalism and the impact on your community
Read more: The investment to local journalism and the impact on your communityMy wife and I recently had a conversation about our monthly bills. Like everyone, we’ve been paying close attention to our expenses, looking for opportunities to cut expenses in the face of the inflation we’re all experiencing.
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“Happy to be here” – Adopting an attitude of gratitude like the Blue Angels
Read more: “Happy to be here” – Adopting an attitude of gratitude like the Blue AngelsMy wife and I recently had a conversation about our monthly bills. Like everyone, we’ve been paying close attention to our expenses, looking for opportunities to cut expenses in the face of the inflation we’re all experiencing.
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A bag of candy, a simple necklace and the impact of exceptional customer experiences
Read more: A bag of candy, a simple necklace and the impact of exceptional customer experiencesMy family will be taking off in a few days for a long weekend, hitting a few favorite spots around Sarasota, Florida. Our list of must-do places for lunch and dinner is long, as we make up for the lack of fresh seafood in landlocked Indiana. But there is this one place that we’ll be…
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Looking backwards and forward on the health of the newspaper industry
Read more: Looking backwards and forward on the health of the newspaper industryToday marks a milestone in my own career. As of today, I’ve been out of the media world for five years after 30+ years of working in a variety of roles in traditional media organizations. While my professional career still has some dealings with marketing and media from time to time, most of my professional…
