Achieving EXtraordinary Together: 38 Insights to Excellence — Mar 2025
March 22, 2025
There’s a lot going on these days. A lot. Businesses and organizations are facing increasing uncertainty and a growing number of complex challenges: the federal budget freeze, federal agencies closing or shrinking, the new (and potentially escalating tariffs), as well as shifting national policy (in areas such as immigration and DEI) are resulting in uncertain organizational budgets, pressure on revenues and funding, strain on staffing levels, and increasingly anxious employees.
But while navigating today’s complex challenges may be the most difficult ever, leaders still have businesses and organizations to run, customers to serve, teams to manage, and goals to achieve. The igniteEX 2025 conference — coming up in only two weeks! — provides a safe place for leaders and professionals to exchange ideas, explore proven practices, and share solutions that address today’s unique challenges.
igniteEX 2025, hosted in partnership with the Wisconsin Center for Performance Excellence and the Iowa Quality Center, is April 10-11 in the Twin Cities (and also available on demand). Learn from over 30 local, regional, and national speakers, each sharing insights, tips, tools, and best practices on resilience (personal and organizational), managing stress & burnout, keeping your team engaged, delivering more effective communication, building & sustaining a strong culture, using artificial intelligence, and many more. You’ll learn tools you can use now; you’ll network and learn with other leaders who are navigating similar challenges; you’ll get that proverbial “shot-in-the-arm” we all need to keep moving forward. The conference will draw hundreds of leaders and professionals from a five-state region & beyond. igniteEX is about igniting excellence throughout the region!
If you’ve read this far, thank you — the advertisement is over! Well, kinda. To get you revved up for the upcoming conference (and to give you some ideas on which to ponder — maybe even act upon), here are some quotes from keynotes the last six years of the conference. Obviously, they are completely out of context. But even as individual statements, they are thoughtful, valuable insights that could inspire change in your organization or on your team (or within yourself). Take one a day for the next couple of months: read it in the morning and reflect on it all day. Did it stimulate change?
“Change is inevitable — whether that change is planned or thrusted upon us. But progress is optional. The choice is ours.”
— Phyllis Braxton, 2024
“The American Bison turns and walks into the storm, because they know they can get through the storm quicker. Face change head on.”
— Anne Bonney, 2024
“Navigating through change requires dance partners – it’s easier than going it alone.”
— Anne Bonney, 2024
“Success is always about four things: people, plan, results, and process. It’s also about purpose and passion and about pursuing improvement with intentionality and focus.”
— JoAnn Sternke, 2023
“One of the most powerful ways to create a culture of belonging is to share your purpose, mission, and values, talk about them regularly, and tie everything to them.”
— Bryan Williams, 2023
“If creativity drives innovation, curiosity drives creativity.”
— Genein Letford, 2023
“It is in low moments that I am convinced that true and gritty and resilient leadership emerges.”
— Mauri Friestleben, 2022
“Successful people build bridges – they are connectors.”
— Genein Letford, 2023
“Excellence starts with leadership.”
— Andy Strebe, Chalmers Ford, 2023
Leaders: “train others to replace you.”
— Bryan Williams, 2023
“To achieve excellence, focus on your priorities, keep things simple, and streamline and improve your processes.”
— Daria Willis, Howard Community College, 2022
“Leaders sometimes need to slow down and see people – understand what is going on with them and who they really are. Good leaders are servant leaders.”
— Mauri Friestleben, 2022
“By giving and receiving respect, you build true collaborative relationships.”
— Deena Ebbert, 2022
“To solve a problem, first study the problem.”
— John Sackett, Adventist Health Care, 2022
“Everything is important, but not everything can be the MOST important. Prioritize.”
— Stacey Crockett, City of German Town, 2022
“Leaders give hope.”
— Mauri Friestleben, 2022
“Organizations cannot improve outcomes without improving processes.
— John Sackett, Adventist Health Care, 2022
“Today is a gift and tomorrow is never promised. It’s up to us to make today great.”
— John Kriesel, 2022
“The role of leaders is to make it easy for other people to succeed.”
— John Sackett, Adventist Health Care, 2022
“Individuals win games, but it takes a team to win a championship – in sports and in business.”
— Ross Bernstein, 2021
“Constantly monitor risks so that you spend more time preparing rather than reacting.”
– Scott Frisch, AARP, 2021
“Change is accelerating. And crazy as it is right now, it’ll never be slower than it is today.”
— Deb Rueben, 2021
“Most organizations aren’t as good as they think they are. Benchmarking is critical.”
— Gerry Agnes, Elevations Credit Union, 2021
“To succeed, try and try again. Don’t be afraid to fail – fail fast and fail forward. Try new things, experiment.”
— Joe Nayquonabe, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, 2021
The things that make you successful in the past are not necessarily the things that will make you successful in the future.”
– Scott Frisch, AARP, 2021
“To innovate, hire weird people. Anyone can be normal. The only way to create abnormal results is through abnormal talent. Great teams are filled with weird people.”
— Joe Nayquonabe, Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe, 2021
“To succeed, you need the right people and the right vision.”
— PJ Fleck, Minnesota Gophers Football, 2020
“Your mindset is your engine – it powers every single thing that you do: your decisions, your actions as a leader. Your mindset helps you thrive, not just survive.”
— Cindra Kampoff, 2020
“To innovate, you need to create an environment where failure is ok.”
— Mara Bryant, Adventist White Memorial, 2020
“Success requires energy – passion, purpose, commitment.”
— PJ Fleck, Minnesota Gophers Football, 2020
“Systems should not be constraining, but actually enabling: they should facilitate innovation, agility, and resilience.”
— Brian Collins, IMRF 2020
“The better organizations define failing as growth. Failure is quit. You get to decide.”
— PJ Fleck, Minnesota Gophers Football, 2020
“Every employee in every organization should have two roles: do the work, and improve the work.”
— Brian Collins, IMRF 2020
“Core values are more than words — they must drive decisions and behavior.”
— Jenn Lim, Zappos, 2019
“The path to excellence requires commitment, persistence, patience.”
— Kathy Raethel, Adventist Health Castle, 2019
“Happy employees lead to happy customers, which leads to sustainable businesses and improved lives.”
— Jenn Lim, Zappos, 2019
“Our brains are most comfortable when we recognize patterns. The implication: leaders need to be consistent, and organizations need to be aligned.”
— Stevie Ray, 2019
“It’s not success that leads to more happiness, but happiness that leads to more success.”
— Jenn Lim, Zappos, 2019
There you have it: 38 pearls of wisdom from the last five years’ igniteEX (née PENworks) conferences. Take one a day for the next nearly two month and reflect on it (maybe even take one action step toward making positive change!). These insights are guaranteed to improve yourself, your team, and your organization — which is the whole goal of igniteEX! After all, “it only takes one match to ignite a haystack, or one remark to fire up a mind.”
For more information on the conference, visit here. We hope to see you in a couple of weeks!
What other insights/tips do you have for improving leadership, organizational or community performance? Participate in a discussion on this topic: visit our LinkedIn group to post a comment (and follow me on Twitter @LassiterBrian)!
Never stop improving!
Brian S. Lassiter
President, Performance Excellence Network
www.performanceexcellencenetwork.org
http://twitter.com/LassiterBrian
A Catalyst for Success Since 1987!
Photo credit pexels.com, quotefancy.com
