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Bill Bartmann, CEO of debt collection company CFS2, does things a little differently. Instead of just calling, hounding, and suing debtors to pay what they owe, he calls them "customers" and provides them with free job-search services, such as resume help and interview prep. Perhaps the reason Bartmann runs his company differently is because he himself has never shied away from living life differently . A high school dropout who later put himself through college working at a hog slaughterhouse, he found himself $1 million in debt himself after his first business collapsed. He clawed his way back up by building CFS, the subject of this HBS case study — but then, that too, imploded . Now he's back (again), and doing things differently (again). What follows are edited excerpts of our conversation. What's it like running a debt collection company that's so different from the rest of the industry? It's a little bit like telling everyone that the world...

Did you have a bad day? We do understand that going through a bad day is a really normal thing, but we still need a bit of encouragement from day to day to keep us moving. These famous quotes can light up your day, and hopefully your life because they remind you that the best is just yet to come and the worst things you have come across make you a better man. 1. If you want to change, you have to be willing to be uncomfortable. 2. Enjoy life now. This is not a rehearsal. 3. You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have. 4. Happiness is not the absence of problems, it’s the ability to deal with them.  5. Life is never easy for those who dream. 6. If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one. 7. Failure is simply an opportunity to begin again. 8. Happiness is like a butterfly. The more you chase it, the more it eludes you. But if you turn your attention to other things 9. The only person you should try to ...

Much of what comes out of people's mouths in business these days is sugar-coated, couched, and polished. The messages are manufactured, trying to strike just the right tone. Genuine emotion stands in stark contrast. It's a real person sharing a real feeling. When we hear it, we're riveted — for one because it's rare, but also because it's real. Sometimes it's uncomfortable and a little messy. But that's what makes it powerful. No one is trying to hide anything. We hide emotions in an attempt to stay in control, look strong, and keep things at arm's length. But in reality, doing so diminishes our control and weakens our capacity to lead — because it hamstrings us. We end up not saying what we mean or meaning what we say. We beat around the bush. And that never connects, compels, or communicates powerfully. Yes, being too emotional in business can create problems. It clouds objective analysis, screws up negotiations, and leads to rash decisions...

You've been told that getting the most from your team depends on rewarding and recognizing them collectively. But it's tough to do that, especially when most management systems are so focused on individual performance, undermining the very teamwork you're hoping to encourage. Luckily, you don't have to overhaul your company's evaluation process or pay structure. As a team manager, you can support the right behaviors with things that are in your control. What Experts Say A few decades ago, companies were struggling with how to measure and reward individual performance . But in their quest do so, many overreached, says Michael Mankins, a partner at Bain & Company and coauthor of Decide and Deliver: Five Steps to Breakthrough Performance in Your Organization . "The pendulum has swung too far, and now those measures are getting in the way of forming good teams," he explains. At the same time, compensating people for collaboration can be tricky, s...

Throughout our careers and lives, the big decisions we have to make usually lead back to a single, overriding concern: What really makes me happy? Too often we try to answer these questions without knowing or understanding the real data from our lives. Our self-analysis devolves into speculation or wishful thinking. Over the past month or so, I've been collaborating with Harvard Business Review to develop a quick self-test to determine individual readiness for understanding your own data through the world of auto-analytics . Auto-analytics is a method of using new self-tracking tools to help answer key professional (and personal) questions: How do I boost my productivity? Am I in the right career? How can I improve my work routines by altering my health habits, like sleep and exercise? To get a sense of how auto-analytics can be used enrich our decision making, I recommend three distinct approaches: 1. Quantifying reflection is the practice of spending a few mome...

Are you paying your bills as they come in, and not charging more than you can afford? Excellent. Are you socking away money regularly for retirement, perhaps via a 401(k) plan at work? Good. Have you put a hefty sum of money away as an emergency fund? No? Well, that is a problem -- but it's not an insurmountable one. Take a deep breath and keep reading. Here are a three steps you can take right away to turn that situation around. 1. Understand the concept. First off, let's define our terms. Unless you're independently wealthy, it's smart to have a dedicated emergency fund ready in case disaster strikes. You might lose your job, for example, or experience a costly health crisis. It's easy not to think about these kinds of events, assuming they won't happen to you, but they do happen to some people, and they can wreak financial havoc. (Even a big car repair can throw your finances out of whack if you're not prepared.) How much money are we ta...