The fall leaves have mostly tumbled to the ground.  Early mornings are fuzzy with the dark sky and crispy with frost on the grass.  It’s another sign of the season change here in Minnesota.  Mother Nature is telling us to prepare for what’s next (yah! snow is coming!).   

And in the bigger picture, the weather season change signals time to refuel, release, and replenish life.  The transition in considering what Mother Nature needs next to fully show up for the next phase. 

Just like the ...

Yep, you’ve been here before. 

In Food Safety & Quality, this isn't unusual.  In fact, in FSQ, we have an insider joke about Friday afternoon calls. 

Friday afternoon is when you get the call about a less-than-ideal situation that started either early that day, or even earlier in the week.  While this call has your heart pounding and your gut telling you something is a-miss, you have little information to know if this really is BIG or if it’s just an inconvenience.   On top of that, you’re in...

Yep, your values are showing EACH. AND. EVERY. DAY.

Like the other day when you had to let someone know they didn’t fill out the record completely for a temperature check, or when you high-fived someone for catching foreign material.  Your values were showing.  You were telling everyone around you that documenting food safety programs and speaking up are important.  You’re exhibiting the food safety behaviors (culture) you expect to see. 

Your values are also showing when you’re told:

• produ...

‘You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone’ are the sweet lyrics that Brooks & Dunn and Anna Kendrick swoon on different radio stations, playlists, and music apps.  While the two songs have a different feel and come from separate worlds, both spark the same question – do we miss things when they’re gone?

I don’t know about you, but I miss having face to face time with YOU, my fellow FSQ professionals.  I miss the magic that spontaneously comes from meeting new people and hashing over new ideas. Some o...

It’s Thursday mid-morning.  You’re at work busy [insert your favorite FSQ activity] and production seems to be running smoothly.   Your mind keeps drifting to the last few things you need to get ready for this weekend: pack food, put camp chairs in the truck, grab bug spray. 

It’s been months since there’s been a ‘no production’ weekend, and last week the complex manager announced NO PRODUCTION for this weekend.  Last Thursday and Friday, the energy in the plant was like everyone won the lot...

Prepare yourself.  This isn’t your average self-help book.  This book is simply AMAZING as Elle Luna captures the essence of how and why we journey to find our MUST.  

‘Must is who we are, what we believe, and what we are doing when we are alone with our truest, most authentic self.  It’s that which calls to us most deeply.’  

Elle uses a delightful combination of wording, art, and playfulness to help our creative minds engage in thinking about our MUST.    The best part is, she writes it for ...

Congrats to me.  Yep.  To me!

Anyone who knows me personally will understand why I am congratulating myself.  You see, I was that driver who proudly displayed the “0.0” sticker in their back car window, and NOW, I’ve just completed a half marathon.  

Here’s why I’m congratulating myself.  In about 20 years, there’s been only a handful of times I haven’t been to the gym multiple times during the week to do some type of strength and/or conditioning program.  In the past 12 years I’ve almost excl...

Post it.  Note pad.  Legal pad.  Task list.  Mental List.  White Board.   

Which one is your favorite method to track your ever growing To-Do list in Food Safety & Quality (FSQ)?   You know - that To-Do list that's like Rapunzel's hair - except without the magical properties?

 Did I just catch an eye roll?  

The beauty of being in FSQ is you touch every single area of the business.  The beast of being in FSQ is you touch every single area of the business.

Every corner you turn, every email y...