Personal Leadership: Selling Yourself & Your Ideas
October 30, 2006
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"The mark of a good salesperson is that his customer doesn't regard him as a salesperson at all, but a trusted and indispensable adviser, an auxiliary employee who, fortunately, is on someone else's payroll." - Harvey Mackay, Swim with the Sharks
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Thinking on Your Feet: Part 3 Desire to Learn
October 29, 2006
"We do what we are. We are what we think. What we think is determined by what we learn. What we learn is determined by what we experience and what we experience is determined by what we expose ourselves to and what we do with that experience." - Mike Vance, founder and dean of Walt Disney University
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Thinking On Your Feet: Part 2 - Quality Questions for Customer Service
October 26, 2006
“When questions stimulate a person to think, a deeper level of understanding results.”- Jarolimek & Foster
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Thinking on Your Feet: Part 1 - What do you value?
October 26, 2006
"While "having fun" can have many possible meanings, there is a difference between "happiness" and "contentment." True professionals commit themselves to the pursuit of happiness, and do not allow themselves to lapse into self-satisfied contentment. Professionals and professional firms can restore the fun (and morale and enthusiasm) by committing themselves to a path of true excellence and strict adherence to the highest values. This path will result in greater professional accomplishment, and the (superior) profits and satisfaction that flow from it." - David H. Maister in 'True Professionalism'
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Preparation, Persistence and Performance: Part 3 Performance
October 24, 2006
"By listening to our self-talk, we can discover whether or not our responses, especially to tough, challenging situations, are rational and constructive or irrational and destructive. How you talk to yourself all day long has a major impact on how you feel and perform." - The Power of Positive Thinking in Business, by Scott W. Ventrella
"Are you an Innie or an Outie?" that explains this more and I will include a link in the show
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Use a Hot Pen to Get Started Writing
October 24, 2006
I chuckled at her first tip “Do NOT start at the beginning!”:
Take the first chapter and throw it away. Chances are, chapter 2 is where it just starts to get interesting, so start THERE.”
By way of Phil Gerbyshak is Kathy’s post “Better Beginnings: how to start a presentation, book, article…” that has some great tips on how to get started writing, making a presentation, or article.
Every article, book or blog post I have written is an evolutionary process that gathers steam as I continue to write. Even as I am sitting here I am wondering what else from my experience I can add… then it hits me… the hot pen.
The Hot Pen
Have you ever heard of the ‘hot pen’? Well the idea is that you just start writing even when you are not sure what you are going to write about. The idea is to keep writing not matter what because eventually your ideas will begin to flow from your ‘hot pen’ and you will discover that you have a lot more to say than you realized.
I started writing this post because I wanted to link to Kathy’s excellent article, her points rang true and will save the tenderfoot from making the most common mistakes plus she provides a number of great ideas for beginnings. I gotta remember these tips myself!
Preparation, Persistence and Performance Part 2: Persistence
October 23, 2006
"Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent. The slogan, 'Press on,' has solved and always will solve the problems of the human race." - Calvin Coolidge
"Watch a cat slowly slinking across the yard, creeping towards a bird, inch by painstaking inch. When he gets within a few inches from his prey, the bird takes flight and slips out of his reach.
Yet does the cat stop being a cat? No, he tries again with no less energy, even if he catches the bird only once out of a hundred times. Similarly, if grass is mowed every week, it gets cut off before it reaches its full height. But does the grass stop growing?
Now a cat and a blade of grass are unusual metaphors for an entrepreneur (and not entirely flattering!), but I doubt I'm alone in feeling them hit close to home. Success may seem elusive, dangling tantalizingly, just out of reach. An entrepreneur is someone who can wake up energized each day, knowing that today may be the day when the grass grows tall and the bird is snatched." Via Complexify
Preparation, Persistence and Performance: Part 1 Preparation
October 20, 2006
"Be ready when opportunity comes. Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet." - Roy D. Chapin, Jr. US Chairman of American Motors Corporation
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7 Steps to Achieving the Results You Want
October 20, 2006
1) Getting Clear About Results
The first step to writing a business plan or achieving any significant result is to define what you specifically want.
- If you feel confused coming up with a list of results, answer two questions:
- What do I want more of in my life (or business)?
- What do I want less of in my life?
Then when you feel clearer about the results you want, review them using these questions:
- What do I want? (focus on defining your end results)
- What is the real issue, problem or challenge that is preventing you from moving forward?
- What judgments have you made? (your abilities, opportunity, resources, motivation, capabilities etc.) Are they appropriate?
2) Deal with Unresolved Issues
Approach dealing with the issues or problems you identified from the last question with sense of urgency. When you identify roadblocks, beliefs, and attitudes that have been holding you back, deal with those before you go any further. Whenever, you identify roadblocks deal with them within 72 hours by completing it, planning it, set a date to deal with it, delegate or dump it.
Moving forward before resolving roadblocks and problems is not wise because it will waste precious time, energy, and resources. Wait until you resolve all unresolved issues and potential roadblocks.
3) Assess the Risk
Every major decision has implications and a cost associated with pursuing the goal. To remain congruent make sure you understand the risk and who will be affected by the actions you take. Ask yourself the following questions:
- Why do I want this?
- What will I experience more of in my life as a result of achieving/doing this?
- How is/will this decision/action affect me, my family, company and all those involved? Is this satisfactory?
- Who has successfully done this before that I can learn from?
- Who can I share this with immediately to get positive support, and feedback?
The Performance Bridge Target Most people start with goals and totally miss the other six planning and management strategies. Setting goals is the very last thing you do and only after you have checked your intent, are prepared to pay the cost and have a clear vision of the results you want.
4) Examine Your Intent
Remember, the content of your intent becomes the content of your results. Maintaining a brutally honest perspective by maintaining agreement and harmony with you will create a powerful force, the force is called congruency. You can try and lie to yourself but the results you create do not lie. Answer the following questions:
- What is my intent?
- What is driving me?
- Do I really intend to do this?
- Is this consistent with my values and beliefs?
If you find anything that makes you feel uncomfortable examine what is behind that feeling. If you get stuck, go back up to the previous question and expand on your answers. As you rework your answers look for any conflicts or mismatches to the risk of pursuing the result identified.
5) Cost
It is easy to start a project but it can become very difficult to stay with the project, give 100% and actually finish what you start.
- What is the cost associated with getting the result you want?
- Does this fit into my overall focus or will this simply be a strategy to divert my focus and attention?
- When should I start paying the price?
- Is this something I really want?
- What are my reasons for pursuing this? Am I listening to my own voice or someone else’s? Am I thinking for myself?
- What is my investment in the goal?
- Is my heart, mind and priorities in harmony?
- Am I willing to pay the price?
6) Vision
Take the time to create a picture with words of the end result and how much it will mean to you upon completion. Your vision is how you see the business executing your goals and implementing your ideas.
- Do you have a clear vision of where you want to be?
- What you will create and what you will become?
- Who you or your business can help?
- How you will make a difference?
A business plan is the best tool I know of to create a comprehensive plan that minimizes risk and maximizes your rate of return. A business plan is simply an organized way of setting goals, and making sure that you have the resources to achieve them.
7) Goals
Now is the time to put your plan together. At this point you should be a lot clearer about what it will take to achieve the results you want. You will have dealt with any stinkin’ thinkin’ and are sure this is what you want. All that is left is to define the goals that will need to be achieved to produce the result you want and need.
- What specific steps will have to be achieved to accomplish this?
- Am I applying the most basic concepts that I know work? Am I making this project more complicated than it needs to be?
- Is there something that you will need to change or learn to accomplish your goals?
- What current strengths can you apply that will ensure the successful completion of your goals?
Don’t be fooled, there is still a lot of work ahead to achieve the results you defined in the beginning. What I can tell you is that by spending the time on this process you have increased the odds you will actually achieve those results, but you are congruent, in harmony with your skills, abilities, and opportunities.
Employee Happiness Characteristics and its Link to Customer Service
October 20, 2006
I ran across this question “Does happiness at work matter?” at Customer Service Reader. In two recent podcasts “Using Communication To Lead Employees” and “Encourage and Positively Charge Up Your Employees” I confront some of the issues related to experiencing ‘happiness’ on the job.
These characteristics of ‘happy people’ caught my attention:
Researchers in the field of Subjective Well-being (happiness) have found that there are certain characteristics that happy people have in common. Happy people:
- Have self-control.
- Are grateful.
- Have good social relationships, supportive friends and family.
- Have an adequate income.
- Have respectable jobs.
- Have a philosophy that provides meaning to their lives.
The best way to lead is by example, if you answered these questions how do you rank on these six factors?
How do you think your employees would rank you? Could you be accused of ‘excessive happiness’?
Could one of these six issues be at the root of your customer service challenges?
What is your experience and opinion?
Encourage and Positively Charge Up Your Employees
October 19, 2006
"There are certain emotions that will kill your drive; frustration and confusion. You can change these to a positive force. Frustration means you are on the verge of a breakthrough. Confusion can mean you are about to learn something. Expect the breakthrough and expect to learn." - Kathleen Spike
"Do you leave your employees 'encouraged' and 'positively charged' after meeting with you or are they drained and demotivated as a result of the interaction?" - Greg Balanko-Dickson
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Who is your hero? Do You Have Courage?
October 19, 2006
"I gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which I must stop and look fear in the face…. I say to myself, I've lived through this and can take the next thing that comes along." - Eleanor Roosevelt
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Using Communication To Lead Employees
October 17, 2006
"Management is getting people to do what needs to be done. Leadership is getting people to want to do what needs to be done. Managers push. Leaders pull. Managers command. Leaders communicate." - Warren Bennis, Professor of Business Administration, U. of So. California
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Other Topics in Today's Podcast
- Do you believe in what you do?
- Connect to a Higher Purpose
- Sell Your ‘Idea
- Making an Emotional Connection
- It Starts and Ends With You the Manager or Owner
- Will you Allow Yourself to Win?
- Finding a Idea Worth Pursuing is a Journey
Do Business On Your Own Terms
October 16, 2006
No quotes today, just Greg's thoughts about personal expression and business.
- Either Do Your Own Thing (With Your Business) or Get Out!
- Become Unreasonable, Listen to Your Own Voice
- Screw It! Think Possibilities
- Balance External Influences by Becoming Internally Directed
You can read a great article on customer service.
How To Start Anything
October 13, 2006
"Do not wait; the time will never be ‘just right’. Start where you stand, and work with whatever tools you may have at your command, and better tools will be found as you go along." Napoleon Hill
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Also, check out my Procrastination, Priorities and Stress Podcast
It’s Tough Being a Consumer
October 12, 2006
Today’s I talk about the “Emotional Immaturity” and “Arrogance” in companies and how they do business.
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Procrastination, Priorities & Stress
October 11, 2006
"You can't escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today." - Abraham Lincoln
"Here is how I deal with [procrastination] give yourself a whole lot of really, really constructive things to do as a way to avoid the really, real things you need to be doing. For instance, the prettier my house looks the more you know that there is so really humungous project I am avoiding. As long as you are going to waste time you might as well have a big range of things you can go procrastinate with that are reasonably good things to do." - David Allen author of Getting Things Done
Deciding what your 'Priorities' are is just one of four factors, which include, all told:
1. Context - Where are you? What tools are available? What are the limits and possibilities unique to this moment?
2. Time available - Do you have, for example, 30 seconds, 30 minutes, or 30 hours available to you right now? What tasks could you accomplish given the time you have?
3. Energy available - Are you full of energy, is your ass dragging, or are you somewhere in between? Which of the tasks on your list could you finish, given that energy level?
4. Priority - If you had access to all the tools, opportunities, time, and energy you needed, what’s the most important or time-sensitive thing you could do right now?
Further…
"An obsession with priority alone is pointlessly stress-inducing, unhealthy, and unrealistic. The truth is that sometimes you have crap days, pencils need to be sharpened, or maybe you just don’t have the tools or energy to do what you want the second you want. That’s life, pal. Deal.
So, instead of having an aneurysm about it, just rally, and do what you can with what you’ve got. That’s all any of us can really do, and faking it in order to feel more productive (or more important) gets you no place fast." Via 43 Folders
Stress
Positive Self Talk Increases Business Effectiveness
October 10, 2006
"Simply put, if you want to feel good and be as effective and efficient as possible, talk to yourself in a positive manner. This requires seeing the positive side of situations and people, not just the negative." - The Power of Positive Thinking in Business, by Scott W. Ventrella
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A few great resources:
- Self-Talk and the Little Engine that Could
- Using Self Talk To Improve Performance
- Self Talk and Self Health
We Are Listening
October 9, 2006
An example of poor customer service but the company doesn't get it and actually tried to debate and fight back with their customers on the Internet.
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Boost Your Employees Self-Esteem
October 7, 2006
"Outstanding leaders go out of the way to boost the self-esteem of their personnel. If people believe in themselves, it's amazing what they can accomplish." - Sam Walton
"Courage, then, is the place where change begins." - Lance Secretan http://www.secretan.com
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Getting the Price Right
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