Mike Taylor

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Category: Work

  • Keeping talent

    “Young people don’t stay at jobs like they used to.”

    Did you know that statement is actually not backed by data?

    According to Pew Research, “Today’s young adults have been on the job with their current employer about as long as young adults over the past four decades.”

    The idea that younger generations are flaky simply isn’t true.

    But they are hungry. And they have more opportunities than any generation before. 

    Just look at the number of job openings in the US – which has increased something like 150% in the last 20 years.

    There’s more opportunity now, sure, but good companies are still retaining their people.

    Take Summit 7 for example. The turnover rate at Summit 7 last year beat the industry average by 60%.

    That’s because company culture is a priority at Summit 7.

    Gone are the days of being able to tolerate a poor company culture and still keep talent because they don’t have anywhere else to go.

    Culture isn’t complicated – take care of your people.

    Make sure they’re paid well. Make sure they have opportunities to win at things they enjoy. Make sure they know that their leader cares about them as a human.

    And they’ll stick around.

    Young people aren’t flaky – they’re just surrounded by opportunity. 

    Which means we have to step up as leaders to make sure we’re doing our part to keep them.

  • You’re not stuck (read this before you quit your job)

    “I hate my job.”

    Okay. Fair. We’ve all been there.

    But let’s clear something up:

    You’re not stuck. You’re building.

    Every meeting, every task, every moment you grit your teeth—you’re laying the foundation for the house you’ll live in tomorrow.

    The question is: will you be proud of it?

    There’s an old story about a carpenter who wanted to retire.

    His boss asked him to build one last house.

    He was ready to leave, so he rushed it. He cut corners. He stopped caring.

    When he finished, the boss handed him the keys:

    “This is your house – a final gift from me to you.”

    He was crushed.

    If he had known he was building for himself, he would’ve done it differently. Now he was stuck with a shoddy house he built for himself.

    Spoiler: The carpenter is you.

    You’re building your future habits, reputation, relationships, and mindset.

    Not someday. Now.

    Hating your job doesn’t make you stuck. Checking out does.

    So show up. Listen, learn, grow, build well. Even here – especially here.

    Because one day, the keys are handed back.

    And you’ll have to live in what you built.

  • The badge of burnout

    Somewhere along the way, we started wearing burnout like it’s a badge of honor.

    Letting someone know that we’re busy somehow feels validating.

    A survey found that 60% of parents feel overwhelmed by the mental load of parenting.

    Busy has become our baseline. And without it, we feel unproductive, maybe even unimportant.

    (Just imagine saying yes to something that doesn’t have a goal and see how the thought makes you feel.)

    Overwhelm isn’t a sign that you’re important. It’s a sign that something needs to change.

    A burned-out person is an ineffective person.

    You can’t pour out if you’re empty. And you can’t fake being present for long.

    Rest isn’t indulgent. Rest is essential.

    One study found that regular leisure activities—quiet time, time in nature, hobbies, even just unwinding—are linked to lower stress, lower blood pressure, better health, and better mood.

    It’s not about having a hobby or taking a vacation. It’s about fostering a lifestyle that includes rhythms of rest.

    But most of us ignore the invitation. We call it lazy or selfish or just plain impossible.

    But what if your health and peace was part of the job?

    What if letting go is what helps you show up better?

  • The (new) American dream

    The American Dream as we know it is going away.

    It’s making way for new opportunity.

    For generations, the formula was simple: work hard, follow the rules, climb the ladder. Show up, do your job, and you’ll be fine.

    But now the ladder is gone.

    The jobs are being outsourced, automated, or eliminated altogether.

    And the dream we were promised is slipping through our fingers.

    Not because people stopped working hard, but because the reward for average is dwindling.

    And it’s not a glitch in capitalism. Capitalism is working exactly how it should.

    It rewards efficiency. It rewards speed. It rewards cheap.

    And robots are really good at all three.

    You can’t praise capitalism when it lifts someone up, then curse it when it replaces you. It’s just doing what it’s designed to do – to optimize.

    Which means you have to change what you bring to the table.

    Seth Godin calls this the end of the industrial economy. The death of “just showing up.”

    In his book Linchpin, he says the future belongs to people who bring something human – creativity, generosity, insight, care.

    Cogs, button-pushers, and box-checkers won’t excel in this model.

    Linchpins are not the cheapest or the fastest. They’re the ones you’d miss if they disappeared.

    • They’re the barista who remembers your name and your story.
    • The employee who solves problems before they escalate.
    • The designer who hears what you meant, not just what you said.
    • The teacher who turns information into transformation.

    Being a Linchpin means showing up with intention, solving real problems, and offering something no one else can replicate.

    We’re not being replaced because we’re lazy. We’re being replaced because we became predictable.

    And predictable is easy to automate.

    So now we face a choice:

    Mourn the loss of stability, or step into the risk of becoming irreplaceable.

    The American Dream isn’t dead. It’s just evolving.

    It’s no longer about climbing the ladder.

    It’s more about becoming a ladder that people would miss if it were gone.

    That, I believe, is an evolution that we desperately need.

  • The false path to fulfilled dreams

    College used to be marketed as being “for everyone”.

    It still is today to some degree (see what I did there 😉).

    That “mistruth” is more false now than it’s ever been.

    College can be one of the best experiences a young person has, especially if they go in with a plan.

    I’m very glad that doctors, engineers, lawyers, and scientists go to college.

    But having a plan and using college as a springboard to a successful career is not the norm.

    One survey found that a third of American adults had no plan after graduation.

    Another study found that about half of all bachelor’s degree graduates end up in a job that doesn’t require a college degree.

    Meanwhile, college graduates, on average, leave school with $38,000 in student loan debt.

    Most kids sign up for college, agree to pay the massive bill, then try to figure it out while they’re there. And sadly, almost half of them don’t (40% don’t graduate).

    College has become this place to extend high school and delay adulthood. And it’s not hard to understand why.

    We ask 18-year-olds to pick a major, choose a career path, and invest thousands upon thousands of dollars in a decision they don’t fully understand yet.

    And even if they do it right, there’s still one major skillset they probably won’t learn in college:

    How to solve real-world problems without a rulebook or a manual to follow.

    College teaches you how to research, write, show up on time, and follow instructions. 

    All of that has value, of course. 

    But real success – especially today – demands more. You have to know how to step into unclear situations and figure out what to do next.

    That’s rare today, and it’s because of how we teach our kids.

    It’s almost impossible to teach that in a classroom.

    Most college programs don’t regularly ask students to solve problems without a clear process. Students are taught to give the right answer, not find one on their own.

    But the people who build careers and lead teams and make things better are the ones who create solutions when there wasn’t a roadmap, not the ones who follow all the steps correctly.

    That doesn’t mean college is a waste. It has immense value for certain career paths. It just means there are huge gaps between what’s efficient for grading and what’s effective in the real world.

    And the truth is, we desperately need more problem solvers than we need rule followers.

  • Boats and docks

    Growth is good, but order is everything.

    You probably have more ideas than time. More ambition than capacity. And that’s not a bad thing.

    You should be striving for better in all areas of your life. Absolutely.

    But without order, everything all falls apart.

    Try this:

    Focus only on two priorities. That’s right, only two.

    Priority one is what we’ll call the dock.

    It’s the thing that keeps you steady—your job, your responsibilities, the work that pays the bills.

    It might feel boring or frustrating, but it’s what holds your life up right now.

    Priority two is the boat.

    It’s what you’re building for the future. Maybe it’s a side project, a new career path, a book, or a dream that won’t leave you alone.

    It matters, but it’s not time to sail yet.

    If I know you like I think I do, you chase three, four, or even five things at once until you spread themself too thin, get overwhelmed, and quit.

    Trust me. Just try two.

    Even two priorities can get tangled if they’re not in the right order.

    When the boat gets more attention than the dock, you start risking your foundation.

    And if you only spend time on the dock, you get stagnant.

    The dock supports the boat. The boat provides advancement and adventure.

    Here’s the thing you’ll learn:

    Most of your life should be spent on docks, building boats. And that’s okay. That’s part of the fun. After all, what’s a dock without a boat?

    So be faithful to the dock, but don’t give up on the boat.

    Know which one you’re standing on. Then get excited about building both.