What respect as a manager? Don't do this

HARVEY SCHACHTER (Globe and Mail Update )

Aretha Franklin’s signature song calls for respect, and that applies in the workplace as well. Consultant Rhonda Savage notes that while you, as a manager, may have some pet peeves about your employees, they will also have complaints about you.

If you want a little more R-E-S-P-E-C-T, she urges you on contactprofessional.com, to be alert to these eight common complaints about supervisors:

You come to work grumpy

Research shows that moods can be contagious, and your staff is alert to your every move as a manager. So walk in grumpy, and watch that spread into a poor mood among staff. and bad customer service. “Make a mental choice the moment you wake up in the morning to be a positive influence on your staff members,” Ms. Savage advises.

You micromanage

Nobody likes to be micromanaged. It just leads your staff members to feel frustrated, lose confidence, and become timid and discouraged. Yes, attention to detail is a positive trait, but if you correct every detail or do everything yourself, you’ll wind up hurting your performance and that of your team. Create a system in which your employees can keep you updated on the projects they have been assigned, so that they are accountable without being micromanaged.

You are too ‘hands off’

While you don’t want to micromanage, you can also go too far in the opposite direction and be too hands off, and not hold your employees accountable for their responsibilities. “Most employees today thrive on independence, growth and involvement. And yet they also thrive on feedback, accountability and firm, fair leadership. Finding a balance is crucial for the success of your business,” she stresses.

You complain about financial woes

Your staff care about you and the company, but if you burden them with your woes about the economy or the lack of cash flow, their morale will sink. Don’t share everything: They don’t need to know it all. Focus on being positive, cheerful and supportive, encouraging them to do more and more.

You bring your personal life to work

Stay away from talking to your employees about personal problems. And don’t allow family and friends to stop by the office excessively. Focus on work in the workplace.

You don’t deal with problem staff

If you don’t deal with problem employees, you can expect other workers to begin acting like them, and you will likely lose the respect of your staff. If you ignore a problems with a particular employee, it will only build. You must take steps to resolve it early.

You’re always out of the office

It’s important that employees can count on you for assistance, guidance and support when they need it. If you’re not available much and are constantly rescheduling appointments, you’ll frustrate and alienate your staff.

You overreact

If your employees are worried about bringing concerns and problems to you, you’re in trouble. You can be a good leader 90 per cent of the time, but if you’re losing it 10 per cent of the time, that’s what they’ll remember.


Special to The Globe and Mail

How To Make Yourself Invaluable at Work

I came across an article on5 ways to make yourself invaluable at work. You can access the article by clicking on the link below:

http://www.kcra.com/new-years-resolutions/26712294/detail.html

One of the ways mentioned in the article is "Having a Good Attitude". I think this is top of the cream when it comes to adding value to your company.

Skills can be taught, experiences are gained over time, but attitude is a choice. We can choose to complain or to learn. We can choose to smile or to frown. We can choose to be friendly or not to be. We might not have a choice over how other people respond to us or how our environment pans out, but, we have a choice on how to respond to people or our environment.

I once had an opportunity to hire a highly skilled and talented individual for a position in a company. One of the things that discouraged me from hiring this individual was the attitude I saw. Bad attitude is like cancer, it starts small but can spread to the rest of the organization if not nipped in the bud.

How has your attitude been lately? Never forget that it is a choice. No matter how skilled or intelligent one is, a wrong attitude will get them no-where...

You Are Truly Unique...

Patrick

Five Ways to Find Value

By HARVEY SCHACHTER
Special to Globe and Mail Update

Improve the target company's performance

You buy the company, and then radically reduce costs to improve margins and cash flows, or perhaps initiate changes to stimulate revenue growth. This is the most common value-creating strategy, a staple of private-equity firms.

"Among successful private-equity acquisitions in which a target company was bought, improved, and sold, with no additional acquisitions along the way, operating-profit margins increased by an average of about 2.5 percentage points more than those at peer companies during the same period. This means that many of the transactions increased operating-profit margins even more," the authors write.

They advise you to keep in mind that it is easier to improve the performance of a company with low margins and low returns on invested capital than ones with high margins and a high return on invested capital.

Consolidate to remove excess capacity

As industries mature, they typically develop excess capacity, as the higher production of the original firms and new capacity from recent entrants generates more supply than demand. After an acquisition, companies are more willing to close plants across the larger combined entity than they were previously when that would have meant ending up a smaller firm.

The consultants note that consolidation in the pharmaceutical industry has significantly reduced the sales force and research and development expenditures. However, they warn: "While there is substantial value to be created from removing excess capacity, as in most M&A activity, the bulk of the value often accrues to the seller's shareholders, not the buyer's."

This is different from roll-up strategies, which are far riskier, as a company consolidates a highly fragmented industry where current competitors are too small to achieve scale economics. Often it proves impossible to realize the substantial cost savings expected, and copycats move in, bidding up acquisition prices.

Accelerate market access for products

An acquisition can help a relatively small company with innovative products reach the entire potential market for their products. This often happens with small pharmaceutical firms; they are purchased by the giants, which have the large sales forces to take new products to physicians. It also happened with many of the 70 tech companies IBM purchased between 2002 and 2007; IBM estimates it increased those companies' revenues by almost 50 per cent in the first two years after each acquisition, thanks to its global sales force.

Get skills or technologies faster or at a lower cost than they can be built

In the 1990s, Cisco Systems used acquisitions to close gaps in its technologies, allowing it to assemble a broad line of networking products, moving a company with a single product line into the key player in Internet equipment.

Pick winners early and help them develop their businesses

A company can acquire other firms early in the life cycle of a new industry or product line, long before competitors sense the possibilities. Johnson & Johnson managed this with early acquisitions of medical-device businesses Cordis in 1996 and DePuy in 1998, both of which grew at 20 per cent annually afterward.

But the consultants advise the strategy requires a disciplined approach. You must be willing to make investments early, long before others see the company's potential. You need to make multiple bets, since some will fail, and you also need the skills and patience to nurture the acquired businesses.

source: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/managing/morning-manager/five-ways-to-find-value/article1896835/

Value to The Customer

I had an interesting experience with my son yesterday. My son is 33 months old and loves cereal. As I brought out his breakfast, I mistakenly put a big spoon in his bowl of cereal and handed it over to him. Immediately he started eating, I realized my mistake, went back to the kitchen, got a small spoon, and replaced the big spoon with the small spoon. On realizing the switch, my son refused to eat and started crying. After trying all my parenting skills to get him to use the small spoon, I had to succumb to his request and returned the big spoon to him. From his perspective the bigger spoon represented more value than the smaller spoon did.

Quality in a product or service is not what the supplier puts in. It is what the customer gets out and is willing to pay for. A product is not quality because it is hard to make and costs a lot of money, as manufacturers typically believe. This is incompetence. Customers pay only for what is of use to them and gives them value. Nothing else constitutes quality. Peter F. Drucker,

In the market place, the customer's perception of a product's value determines how much they are willing to pay for the product or service. The value of a product or service is directly correlated with the type of problem the product or service solves for the customer - the benefits to the customer. This is why good sales personnel emphasize the benefits of a product or service more than the features. A business willing to remain relevant in the market would have answers to the questions: what value are we adding to our customer; how are the benefits of our products and/or services different from that of our competitors?

No matter how valuable an organization thinks a product or service is, if the customer does not perceive the advertised value at the same level as the seller, they will be reluctant to pay the asking price for the product or service. Value is determined by the market place, by the customer. The benefits - to the customer - of an organization's products or services must be understood, appreciated, realized and felt by the customer.

You Can Only Get What You Want, If You Help Enough Other People Get What They Want...Zig Ziglar

Value Added

I've had the opportunity to work for several organizations and interact with a lot of employees. One of the phrases I kept hearing is "I am not paid enough". It is true that some companies don't pay their employees well, but in several occasions, I've had to sit back and almost ask the individual a single question: "what value are you adding to the organization"?

To increase your pay-check, increase your value-check

Everyday I keep asking myself - what value are my adding to the organizations I work for? Some things I do to increase my value-check includes:

1. Looking for opportunities to solve difficult problems
2. Continuous learning - seeking for opportunities to learn more about the businesses I work for
3. Anticipating organizational change, doing a skills and/or knowledge inventory, and looking for ways to acquire the necessary skills or knowledge I need to play in the new world
4. Doing more than what I am paid to do
5. Over-delivering on assignments
6. Learning from my mistakes on the job
7. Praying about challenges I encounter on the job
8. Looking for opportunities to get involved in corporate initiatives, committees, and campaigns
9. Looking for opportunities to help others become the best in what they do (and learning from them)
10. Actively contributing in discussions at work
11. Walking in integrity - what I do when my manager is not looking or checking on me

Now these might not be the same for you as work environments differ in so many ways. I sometimes falter in doing one or more of the aforementioned, but, have learnt to use my failures as manures for more growth.

Have you seen a man who is expert in his business? he will take his place before kings; his place will not be among low persons. ...Prov 22:9 (BBE)

You Are Unique

Patrick

It Takes Clear Vision to Create a Masterpiece

By John Maxwell

In 1882, construction began on Barcelona's Sagrada Familia. 129 years later, the cathedral remains unfinished! The church has already been named a UNESCO World Heritage site and attracts more than 2 million visitors each year. Yet, officials estimate another 15 years will be needed to complete it. That the project has attracted the interest of donors, architects, and builders for more than a century testifies to the powerful vision of its designer, Antoni Gaudí.

Gaudí's passion for the Sagrada Familia is legendary. He spent the last 12 years of his life working exclusively on the church. He even lived on its premises during his final months. Although obsessed with the project, Gaudí had no illusions that the cathedral would be completed in his lifetime.

"There is no reason to regret that I cannot finish the church. I will grow old but others will come after me. What must always be conserved is the spirit of the work, but its life has to depend on the generations it is handed down to and with whom it lives and is incarnated."

As the man responsible for erecting the Sagrada Familia, Gaudí paid surprisingly little heed to its "life" or actual construction. Instead, he painstakingly sketched drawings and crafted models to clarify the vision behind the cathedral, or its "spirit." In the 85 years that have elapsed since his death, the 3D renderings Gaudí left behind have guided work on the Sagrada Familia. "They contain the entire building's structural DNA," explains Mark Burry, an architect with 30+ years of experience on the project. "You can extract the architectural whole even from fragments. The models are how Gaudí met the architect's challenge: taking a complex, holistic idea and explicating it so others can understand and continue it after your death."

CLARIFYING YOUR VISION

Gaudí spent over a decade fine-tuning his vision, and its clarity has been the driving force behind a project that has spanned three centuries. The renowned Spanish architect understood a fundamental principle of leadership: what must precede how. Leaders have to define where they're going before they begin to move.

Seeing the Vision Clearly Requires Your Effort

Clear visions only come into focus through sustained effort. For me, the whole process begins with questions I must ask myself. What are my deeply felt concerns? What are my values? What strengths do I have? How have my experiences shaped me? These questions uncover how I am wired and what I hold dear in life.

Once the vision starts to come together in my mind, I share it with the key people in my life. These relationships refine my vision. As the vision crystallizes, I also surround myself with inspirational resources (books, movies, paintings). In the early stages visions must be stoked, and resources stir up the passion behind them.

Seeing the Vision Clearly Specifies Your Direction

Why should we make the effort to see the vision clearly? Because vague visions cannot serve as compelling guides. Followers do not rally behind a leader's fuzzy picture of the future. Rather, they are attracted and motivated by leaders who can paint an instantly recognizable portrait of tomorrow.

A leader's vision acts like a transmitted satellite image; the signal strength of the vision diminishes the further away it gets from the source. As your vision spreads throughout the organization, it will fade. Thus, the more people you rely on to support your vision, the clearer it must be. A powerful vision must have sharp enough resolution that even when weakened it remains easily identifiable.

Seeing the Vision Clearly Determines Your Priorities

Every leader has limitations. Limited time, limited resources, and limited energy. As such, nobody can have it all in life. In light of our limitations, we each have to make sacrifices and scale back the scope of our ambitions. Seeing the vision clearly helps us to prioritize which opportunities to bypass and which activities deserve our dedication.

The choices we make either draw us closer to our vision or push us farther away from it. If we're unsure of the vision, then we won't know how to make decisions that carry us in the right direction. Clear vision illuminates the path in front of us as we select which roads to travel down in life.

How to Pass the Leadership Baton

By Dan McCarthy (http://www.greatleadershipbydan.com)

There’s no shortage of advice, research, processes, and programs that deal with developing and onboarding leaders for new roles. That’s a good thing – getting new leaders ready is critical to the success of any business. That’s one of the primary purposes of this blog.

It seems that very little has been written about how leaders should handle exiting their leadership position. Sure, you’ll find plenty lot’s of advice on resigning from a job, i.e., how to give notice, how to write a resignation letter, how to resign gracefully, etc… but I couldn’t find anything written specifically for leaders on this topic.

I believe that there are probably some unique considerations for leaders when it comes to “passing the baton”. The following list of do’s and don’ts is based on my own personal experience, and certainly isn’t exhaustive, so please contribute to the discussion with your own comments.

These guidelines are also written with the assumption that the leader is leaving on their own terms, i.e., they found a new opportunity, vs. being let go.


Do’s and Don’ts for Leaders for Passing the Baton

1. Do have at least one internal successor prepared to take over. Unfortunately, way too many leaders neglect this part of their job. It could be an ego thing, or perhaps insecurity. To me, not having prepared at least one successor is a leadership failure. Handing over the reins to someone you trust and believe in should inspire pride and a sense of accomplishment. It’s a way to ensure a continuation of whatever you’ve worked so hard to build. When your employer has to go outside to replace you, chances are, it’s not just because no one on your team is qualified – it’s probably because a change in direction is needed.

2. Do notify your manager first, and provide a formal letter. Then, work with your manager to develop an agreed upon communication plan. For leadership roles, there are organizational considerations, and the higher the role, the more important they become (i.e., investor confidence, customer relationships, etc…). Even for front-line leadership roles, there’s usually a cultural sequence and process for notifications (i.e., direct reports individually notified first, then peer managers, etc..). Once your personal notifications are given, it’s usually up to your manager to take care of the formal organizational announcement. You may want to provide your manager with details (new company, name of position, location, reason for leaving, etc…) to ensure it’s accurate. Not all companies will announce these kinds of details, but it’s better when they do, so it doesn’t sound like one of those “leaving to pursue other opportunities” notifications.

3. Don’t send out mass, impersonal notifications. Think about it…how does it feel when you get an email that’s not addressed to you? It feels like spam. Go through your contact list, and take the time to send a personal note or call those individuals you’ve developed relationships with.

4. Don’t badmouth your current company, job, manager, or co-workers. While this may seem a bit basic, I see it happen all the time at all levels. It’s just not always blatant, but the message is the same – “see ya, losers”. On the other hand, no matter how excited you are about your new role, resist the temptation to gush about it. It comes across as bragging, and again, can cause resentment amongst your co-workers. Save your enthusiasm for your family, friends, and new co-workers. Talk about the good things that you will miss and your confidence in the company’s success. Let people feel good about themselves, while at the same time be happy for you.

5. Do prepare a comprehensive transition list for your manager.

6. Don’t leave your manager a pile of problems that you’ve swept under the rug. It’s about your reputation and legacy after you leave, as well as showing respect for your manager, team, and company that’s been so good to you over the years. Tie up as many loose ends as you can. If there’s a nagging problem you’ve been avoiding, then have the courage and conviction to deal with it before you leave.

7. On the other hand, don’t use your last few weeks to get overly involved in every single thing your team is working on. I’ve seen this happen a lot – maybe it’s some kind of “nesting” urge – exiting leaders all of a sudden micromanaging every aspect of their team’s work. It's about gradually letting go, not pulling in the reins.

8. Do give “sufficient” notice. The common rule of thumb for giving notice is two weeks. However, for leadership roles, there are a lot of “it depends”. Try to negotiate a start and end date that meets the needs of your new and current employer. It’s been my experience three weeks is about right for most leadership roles. Two weeks may put your current employer in a bind. However, if you’ve prepared a successor, a smooth transition plan, and tidied up those loose ends, it may be enough. When it’s anything more than three, you’ll begin to feel like a lame duck. For as much as you’d like to think you’re indispensable, you’ll be surprised how quickly people will begin to move on. Soon, people are going to stop coming to you for decisions, meetings will start dropping off your calendar, and then it’s time to start packing.

9. Do anticipate and respond to people’s individual concerns. Your manager, team, and co-workers will probably have the following reaction: “OMG, really?! Wow, congratulations!” Then, their next thought is usually “OK, so how’s this going to impact ME?” If they don’t come right out and say it, then make it OK to have this conversation.

10. Do take the time to “be in the moment”. Transition can be a special time to reflect on your accomplishments and say goodbye to colleagues, while at the same time feeling the excitement of a new opportunity. When you leave a job, it often causes co-workers to reflect on their own careers and lives. So when someone stops by to say congratulations and/or goodbye, drop what you’re doing and take the time to connect.

11. Do offer to maintain mentoring relationships. I have a network of former managers and employees I still stay in touch with. They are a valuable source of advice, inspiration, and references. While your employees and mentees may not be interested, at least make the offer, and then be there if they do reach out to you. Leadership is about making a difference in people’s lives, and it doesn’t stop when you change jobs.

12. Don’t use this opportunity as “truth serum”. This is not the time to tell people what you really think of them, what they’ve done that’s always bugged you, or leave them with a list of flaws they really need to work on. Sure, it’s OK to keep doing your job as a leader- giving feedback, coaching, addressing performance issues – just don’t do it any differently than you normally would.

13. Don’t work on your new job on your current employer’s dime.

14. Do everything you can do to set your team members up for success. Ask them “what can I do for you before, and even after I leave?” (see #7) Then, follow-up if you can.

15. Don’t give too much advice to your successor. If there is crossover from when you leave and your successor starts, sure, it’s nice to want to set them up for success while you are handing over the torch. Just remember, there’s a time to let go of the torch, and recognize that you’re successor will have their own ideas on how to do the job.

The Future Belongs to the Risk Takers

By Brian Tracy (www.briantracy.com)

The future belongs to the risk takers, not the security seekers. Life is perverse in the sense that the more you seek security, the less of it you have. But the more you seek opportunity, the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you desire.

Action is Everything

If learning about success was all that it took to do great things with your life, then your success would be guaranteed. The bookstores are full of self-help books, each one of them loaded with ideas that you can use to be more successful. The fact is, however, that all the best advice in the world will only help you if you can motivate yourself to take persistent, continuous action in the direction of your goals until you succeed.

Self-Discipline is the Core Quality

The single most important quality of success is self-discipline. Self-discipline means that you have the ability, within yourself, based on your strength of character and willpower, to do what you should do, when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. Character is the ability to follow through on a resolution after the enthusiasm with which the resolution was made has passed. It is not what you learn that is decisive for your future. It is whether or not you can discipline yourself to pay the price, over and over, until you finally obtain your objective.

Persistence is Self-Discipline in Action

Perhaps the most important demonstration of self-discipline is your level of persistence when the going gets tough. Persistence is self-discipline in action. Persistence is the true measure of individual human character. Your persistence is, in fact, the real measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to succeed.

The Common Quality of Success in History

The history of the human race is the story of the triumph of persistence. Every great man or women has had to endure tremendous trials and tribulations before reaching the heights of success and achievement. The endurance and perseverance is what made them great.

Your Guarantee of Eventual Success

Calvin Coolidge, a president who was so reluctant to speak in public that he was given the nickname of “Silent Cal,” will go down in history for his simple but memorable words on success. He wrote, “Press on. 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 alone will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”

Action Exercise

Identify the biggest challenge or problem facing you today on the way to achieving your biggest goal. Imagine that it has been sent to test your resolve and desire. Decide that you will never give up.

Equal To or Greater Than = Influence

By Mary Jo Asmus (http://www.aspire-cs.com/)

My favorite leaders are genuinely humble. They know they don’t know it all, and they know they have much to learn. They dive into learning with gusto. They make mistakes and try again. If they are in one of those boxes on the organization chart that gives them authority over others, they don’t take it too seriously. They know that they can stumble and fall at any moment. They are – in a word – very human.

I’ve said it before. They put their pants on one leg at a time – and they know that those they influence do too. It might seem contradictory to what it means to lead, but they know that others – at their core – are equal to or greater than they are.

People don’t want to feel “less than” anyone – it doesn’t feel good. Without trying, these humble leaders have a way of making people feel like they are important, and by doing so, are able to open up greatness for others that can transform. It isn’t easy, but you, too, can take a stance of “equal to or greater than” when you put your attention to it, and it will influence others.

Understand that you start from the same place: Your role, as an organizational leader, isn’t who you are. Likewise, their role as a follower isn’t who they are either. What you both are is human. With all of the good and bad that goes with that. You both struggle to do your best, you both have your strengths and weaknesses. Ask: where is the common ground between myself and this person?

Recognize when you take a stance of superiority: Since you are only human, you will have times when you think that your ideas are the only ones worth considering. You may push your agenda without taking the effort to understand theirs. There may be value in what others put forth, so don’t allow yourself to shut out new ideas. Catch yourself in the act of this kind of thinking. Ask: what do I hear from them? What is new and fresh?

Notice and admire other’s strengths: Learning to find the good in others is like a muscle that needs to be continually exercised in all of us. We tend to judge based on our (often false) assumptions and experiences. If you think about it, you can always find something good about someone else – even those you’ve judged harshly. Listen hard. Ask: what is good in this person? How might I enjoy or nurture it?

Learn to forgive: Every one of the people around you will be human and less than perfect. When you don’t forgive others for their faults, you’ve put yourself in a position of superiority. Learning to forgive opens up the possibility for them that they can learn and do better next time. Ask: what will it take for me to see possibility in the midst of others’ shortcomings?

Understand when you need to serve: Your job is to make your follower’s job easy. Many leaders get great satisfaction from asking, “How can I help?” and using their position to remove the barriers that get in the way of others’ greatness. Ask: what is keeping my followers stuck? What barriers can I remove to help them?

Believing that others are equal to or greater than you can make a difference in their performance. That’s influence at it’s finest.

Integrity – Then Ethical Behavior

By Zig Ziglar

There is much talk today in America about how to reinstall ethical behavior in the home, school and business environments. While I applaud the conversations, I believe it’s putting the cart before the horse. The horse, in my opinion, is integrity. Integrity is who you are, a measurement of your character and, consequently, the determining factor in your behavior. Ethics are the result of our integrity. It’s true that people of integrity will occasionally do unethical things. However, it will be a rare occasion because, according to Dr. Joyce Brothers, you cannot consistently perform in a manner which is inconsistent with the way you see yourself.

Question: Do integrity and ethics work in our society of today? Well, according to an article in Forbes Magazine, it worked for CEO John Teets, retired CEO of the Dial Corporation. I know Mr. Teets personally and I believe he epitomizes what we’re talking about. According to Forbes, he is the opposite of the cold-hearted CEO, ensconced in an isolated executive suite. Personal tragedies and early obstacles have made him deeply spiritual. His Horatio Alger-like rise from mean circumstances has deepened his humanity rather than snuffed it out. He is generous; he took a keen personal interest in the people who work for him. He demonstrates that commerce and religion are not incompatible and, in fact, that religion can help an executive be more sensitive to the needs of others, which is the essence of business – fulfilling the needs and desires of customers in an ethical manner.

Message: The good guys and the good gals really do win. They not only live well, they finish well. They have more of the things money will buy and all of the things that money won’t buy. So wake up, America! Let’s take one step back and build some integrity in our young people. The ethics will naturally follow. Think about it. Live with integrity and I’ll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

It is Up to You

By Jim Rohn (www.JimRohn.com)

One of the first things successful people realize is the old adage, “If it is to be, it is up to me.” That is, for you, the fact that your success and your course is up to you. This doesn’t mean that you do it all alone. It simply means that you take responsibility for your life and your career.

Too many people today look at opportunity and figure it is up to someone else to make sure they get it. They look at financial security and hope that the government will make sure they live safely in retirement or in case of disability. They wait and wait, figuring that it is up to someone else. And then the wait is over, and it is too late to do anything. Their life is over and they are filled with regret.

This isn’t true for you however. You know that you must take responsibility for your life. It is up to you.

The fact is that nobody else is going to do it for you—you must do it yourself.

Now, some people may say, “Jim, that’s a lot of responsibility.” Friends, that is the best news you can ever hear. You get to choose your life. Hundreds of millions of people all around this world would give anything to live in the situation you do—just for the chance to have the opportunity to take control of their destiny. “It is up to you” is a great blessing!

Here’s why:

1. You get to chart your own destiny. Maybe you want to start a small business and stay there. That’s great because you can choose that. Maybe you want to create a small chain of stores. Maybe you want to have a net worth of $100 million. That’s okay too. The idea is that you get to choose. You can do whatever you like. Different people have different dreams and they should live them accordingly.

2. You can reap what you sow. Sleep in and go to work late and reap the return. Or get up early and outwork the others and earn a greater return. Place your capital at risk and earn a return—or place it at greater risk and perhaps reap a greater return. You decide what you will sow and thus what you will reap.

3. No one else can stop you from getting your dream. Yes, there will always be things that come up and people who may not like what you are doing, but you can just move on and chart your own course. There is great freedom in that.

4. You experience the joy of self-determination. There is no greater pride than knowing you set your mind on something and accomplished it. Those who live with a victim mentality never get to experience the joy of accomplishment because they are always waiting for someone else to come to the rescue. Those who take responsibility get to live the joy of seeing a job well done.

Let me ask you a question: Where will you be in five years? Ten years? Or 25 years? Do you know? Do you have an idea? Have you ever dreamed about it or set a goal for it? Are you willing to take responsibility and recognize that, “It is up to you?”

You will be wherever you decide to be in those time frames. You decide. It is up to you.

And that is very exciting!

The Foundation of Leadership

Brian Tracy

The most important quality of leadership, the one quality for which you want to be known, is extraordinary performance, with the goal of achieving extraordinary results. These results then serve as an inspiration to others to perform at equally exceptional levels. People ascribe leadership to those men and women who they feel can most enable them to achieve important goals or objectives.

Why People Respect You
We develop great perceptions of those men and women we can count on to help us achieve what is important to us. Men and women who make great sales, or who establish admirable sales records, develop influence in the minds and hearts of their coworkers and superiors. They are spoken about in the most positive way.

The Halo Effect
Men and women who are responsible for companies or departments that achieve high levels of profitability also develop charisma. They develop what is called the "halo effect." They are perceived by others to be extraordinary men and women who are capable of great things. Their shortcomings are often overlooked, while their strong points are overemphasized. They become charismatic.

The Source of Charisma
Charisma actually comes from working on yourself. It comes from liking and accepting yourself unconditionally as you do and say the specific things that develop within you a powerful, charismatic personality.

Be Determined and Purposeful
When you set clear goals and become determined and purposeful, backing those goals with unshakable self-confidence, you develop charisma. When you are enthusiastic and excited about what you are doing, when you are totally committed to achieving something worthwhile, you radiate charisma. When you take the time to study and become an expert at what you do, and then prepare thoroughly for any opportunity to use your knowledge, skill or experience, the perception that others have of you goes straight up.

Accept Complete Responsibility
When you take complete responsibility and accept ownership, without making excuses or blaming others, you experience a sense of control that leads to the personal power that is the foundation of charisma. When you look like a winner in every respect, when you have the kind of external image that others admire, you build your charisma. When you develop your character by setting high standards and then disciplining yourself to live consistent with the highest principles you know, you become the kind of person who is admired and respected everywhere. You become the kind of person who radiates charisma to others.

Focus on Results
Finally, when you concentrate your energies on achieving the results that you have been hired to accomplish, the results that others expect of you, you develop the reputation for performance and achievement that inevitably leads to the perception of charisma.

You can develop the kind of charisma that opens doors for you by going to work on yourself, consistently and persistently, and becoming the kind of person everyone can admire and look up to. That's what charisma is all about.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, ask yourself every day, "What is the one thing that I and only I can do, that if done well, will make a real difference to my company?" Whatever your answer, go to work on that.

Second, decide upon the most important results you can get for your company and make sure that you and everyone else is working on those results every hour of every day.

Strategic Leaders Guide and Direct Movement to Get Results

By John C. Maxwell

When driving, have you ever approached a busy intersection with a non-working traffic signal? The scene is generally one of chaos and confusion. Hesitant drivers gingerly inch their vehicles forward until they're certain it's their turn to cross the intersection. Other, more daring drivers speed through the intersection, presuming that less aggressive drivers will yield them the right-of-way. Lacking authoritative guidance on how to proceed, people do whatever they think is best. The result is disorder and inefficiency.

As illustrated by the nightmarish intersection, movement without strategy gets nowhere. For movement to make a difference it must be guided and directed by a unifying plan. "Leader" is the name history gives to the person who steps forward to channel the energies of people into productive outcomes by providing clear strategy.

The Strategic Leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

In the 1950s and 1960s, black Americans stepped up their resistance to the system of racial oppression that relegated them to second-class status in society. For example, in 1955 Rosa Parks defied orders to move from her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama. In 1960 four college freshmen in Greensboro, NC refused to leave when denied service at a lunch counter. While such valiant acts played a vital role in emboldening the black community to challenge racism in society, they were not part of a coordinated strategy to combat institutional racism.

The genius of Martin Luther King, Jr. lay in his ability to unite the many voices speaking out against racism into an orchestrated chorus of non-compliance. Under his leadership, impromptu protests were replaced by premeditated mass demonstrations, and spontaneous sit-ins gave way to organized boycotts and marches. His strategic guidance pooled the influence of like-minded individuals and groups, and gave the civil rights movement the force it needed to prevail.

Strategy of Confrontation

"What is needed is a strategy for change, a tactical program that will bring the Negro into the mainstream of American life as quickly as possible." ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

King knew hope wasn't a strategy. Having been denied their rights for the entirety of United States' history, African-Americans could not expect change by politely working through the usual political channels. The quest for racial equality would require radical activism. As King noted, "Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed."

Inspired by the Montgomery bus boycott, King conceived of a national strategy of widespread non-cooperation to challenge racist institutions. He worked with fellow civil rights leaders to engineer public displays of mass resistance: marches, sit-ins, and protests. The scale of the demonstrations attracted media attention. They also forced racist authorities into a lose-lose situation. When the local police allowed the marches and sit-ins, the civil rights movement appeared strong. Yet, when choosing to harass and imprison peaceful protestors, the police looked cruel and hateful. Regardless of how local law enforcement responded to the demonstrations, the civil rights movement picked up steam, eroding the power bases of racial prejudice.

King saw the need for radical activism, but he also understood the importance of restraint. By resorting to violence, the civil rights movement would sacrifice the moral high ground. By responding to hatred with hatred, they would be seen as no better than their bigoted oppressors. On the other hand, if the civil rights protestors could remain peaceful, even when the victims of violence, they would expose the ugliness and malice of racism. Thanks to the strategy of composure and self-control preached by King, demonstrators remained non-violent, even when brutalized by nightclubs and showered with tear gas. Their poise and courage pricked the conscience of the nation, and furthered the cause of justice.

Dad, You Do Choose Your Daughter’s Husband

by Zig Ziglar

Don’t misunderstand. I’m not suggesting that you go through the newspaper or the neighborhood, selecting the husband you believe would be appropriate for your daughter. But I would like to point out that you DO help your daughter select her future husband. The process starts when your little girl is happily sitting on your knee or riding your back. The truth is, the first knowledge our daughters acquire about relationships with the opposite sex comes from their fathers. What you teach your daughter about how men treat women becomes the cornerstone of her expectations. If you treat your wife with courtesy and respect, your daughter will file that in her memory bank as the way she should be treated by her future husband.

When your daughter sees you loving her mother and treating her with respect, she comes to know that men should treat their wives that way. However, if your daughter sees you abuse her mother, she learns that’s the way men treat women and so she’s not surprised – though she obviously doesn’t like it – if her husband abuses her. This is especially true if it happens in small steps during the courtship process and gradually gets worse once she is married.

When we got married, one of the things my wife’s mother told her was, “You’ve made a lifetime deal, but if he ever abuses you, you’ve got a home you can come to.” By the strangest of coincidences, that’s what we told our children. This communication to one of our daughters possibly helped her – and us – avoid a tragic mistake.

So, Dad, all this really says is that if you love your little girl, you will treat her and her mother with respect and dignity. If you do, chances are excellent your daughter will choose her husband wisely. In fact, he will probably be just like the guy old Dad would have chosen. Think about it, Dad, and I’ll see you – and your daughters – AT THE TOP!

Keeping a Journal: One of the Three Treasures to Leave Behind

By Jim Rohn

If you’re serious about becoming a wealthy, powerful, sophisticated, healthy, influential, cultured and unique individual, keep a journal. Don’t trust your memory. When you listen to something valuable, write it down. When you come across something important, write it down.

I used to take notes on pieces of paper and torn-off corners and backs of old envelopes. I wrote ideas on restaurant placemats. On long sheets, narrow sheets and little sheets and pieces of paper thrown in a drawer. Then I found out that the best way to organize those ideas is to keep a journal. I’ve been keeping these journals since the age of 25. The discipline makes up a valuable part of my learning, and the journals are a valuable part of my library.

I am a buyer of blank books. Kids find it interesting that I would buy a blank book. They say, “Twenty-six dollars for a blank book! Why would you pay that?” The reason I pay 26 dollars is to challenge myself to find something worth 26 dollars to put in there. All my journals are private, but if you ever got a hold of one of them, you wouldn’t have to look very far to discover it is worth more than 26 dollars.

I must admit, if you got a glimpse of my journals, you’d have to say that I am a serious student. I’m not just committed to my craft; I’m committed to life, committed to learning new concepts and skills. I want to see what I can do with seed, soil, sunshine and rain to turn them into the building blocks of a productive life.

Keeping a journal is so important. I call it one of the three treasures to leave behind for the next generation. In fact, future generations will find these three treasures far more valuable than your furniture.

The first treasure is your pictures. Take a lot of pictures. Don’t be lazy in capturing the event. How long does it take to capture the event? A fraction of a second. How long does it take to miss the event? A fraction of a second. So don’t miss the pictures. When you’re gone, they’ll keep the memories alive.

The second treasure is your library. This is the library that taught you, that instructed you, that helped you defend your ideals. It helped you develop a philosophy. It helped you become wealthy, powerful, healthy, sophisticated, and unique. It may have helped you conquer some disease. It may have helped you conquer poverty. It may have caused you to walk away from the ghetto. Your library—the books that instructed you, fed your mind and fed your soul—is one of the greatest gifts you can leave behind.

The third treasure is your journals: the ideas that you picked up, the information that you meticulously gathered. But of the three, journal writing is one of the greatest indications that you’re a serious student. Taking pictures, that is pretty easy. Buying a book at a book store, that’s pretty easy. It is a little more challenging to be a student of your own life, your own future, your own destiny. Take the time to keep notes and to keep a journal. You’ll be so glad you did. What a treasure to leave behind when you go. What a treasure to enjoy today!

Remain Flexible at All Times

By Brian Tracy

The Menninger Institute of Kansas City conducted a study not long ago to determine what qualities would be most important for success and happiness in the twenty-first century. They concluded after extensive research, that the most important single quality that you can develop, in a time of rapid change, is flexibility.

The Speed of Change

Today, perhaps the most important factor affecting your life is the speed of change. We are living in an age where change is taking place at a faster rate than ever before in human history. And if anything, the rate is increasing, year by year. Change today is not only faster, but it is also discontinuous, not following a straight line but starting, stopping, and moving in unpredictable directions. Change is coming at us from all sides and in so many different ways that it is often impossible to anticipate what might happen next.

A Major Cause of Stress

Change causes enormous stress for people who are fixed or rigid in their beliefs about how things “should be.” They fall in love with what they are doing, with their current methods and processes, and are unwilling to change, even in the face of overwhelming evidence. Don't let this happen to you.

Be Open to New Information

To remain flexible, you must constantly be open, alert to new ideas, information, and knowledge that can help you or hurt you in your business or in the achievement of your goals. One new idea can be enough to make or lose you a fortune. One idea can start you on the road to riches or knock you off of it.

The Tide of New Technology

The second factor driving change is the rapid growth and development of new technology. Every new piece of scientific or technical knowledge leads to an advance in technology aimed at helping people and companies get things done faster, better, cheaper, or easier. And the speed of technological change is increasing every day.

Playing Leapfrog

Being in business is like playing an endless game of leapfrog. You look for a way to leapfrog over your competitor and serve your customers, better, faster, and cheaper. Your competitor then leapfrogs over you with a new or better product or service. You quickly regroup and leap over your competitor with a new innovation or improvement. Your competitor then leaps over you, and the game goes on without end.

Action Exercise

Be willing to admit, in each area of your life where you experience stress or resistance, that you could be wrong or that you have made a mistake. Resolve today to cut your losses wherever possible.

How to Get Your Idea Approved

By Amy Gallo (HBR Blog)

When you have an idea, proposal, or recommendation that you believe in, it's easy to presume that getting it approved will be a breeze. If you see how great the idea is, won't everyone else? However, whether an audience accepts an idea is often less about the idea itself than about how you present it. When you need approval, don't assume that just because it's brilliant, others will see it that way — convince them.

When you have an idea, proposal, or recommendation that you believe in, it's easy to presume that getting it approved will be a breeze. If you see how great the idea is, won't everyone else? However, whether an audience accepts an idea is often less about the idea itself than about how you present it. When you need approval, don't assume that just because it's brilliant, others will see it that way — convince them.

What the Experts Say
When it comes to getting approval, style can be as important as substance. "Words matter," says John P. Kotter, Chief Innovation Officer at Kotter International, and a professor emeritus at Harvard Business School, whose latest book is Buy-in: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down. And many times, all you get is one chance in front of your boss, the Executive Committee, or whatever group will decide your idea's fate. "Initial impressions are very strong and they can be hard to counteract," says Michael I. Norton, an Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. It's not about shoving the idea and its numerous merits down your audience's throat. Think about how you can carefully usher your idea through the approval process. "The bigger the stakes, the more it's worth taking the time to get it right," says Kotter. Here are five ways you can give your proposal a fighting chance.

Form alliances early
Before you present an idea or request resources or approval, it's a good idea to test it with those responsible for giving the green light. "Sometimes it doesn't hurt to talk around a little and see what lights people's eyes up and what makes them cloud over," says Kotter. This can also surface questions or comments early in the process. Once you've tested the waters, you can set up more formal meetings with key stakeholders to ask for their support. These meetings serve three purposes:

* They build the necessary buy-in for your idea.
* They demonstrate to your stakeholders that you're interested in their opinions.
* They help you improve and expand on your idea — it's possible that these stakeholders will see something in your idea that you didn't.

The more you understand your audience's feelings about your proposal, the better you can prepare to get it approved.


Prepare, prepare, prepare
How you respond to questions and concerns will play a large role in your success or failure. "Primarily, when you watch someone stumble through an answer, you make an inference that they don't know what they're talking about," says Norton. Display confidence so people trust that your recommendation is a good one. Before you go into your presentation, think through what possible concerns your audience may have. In Buy-In, Kotter and co-author Lorne Whitehead lay out the four basic strategies people most often use to shoot down an idea:

* Putting off the decision so it's essentially delayed to death
* Creating confusion by barraging you with questions or unnecessary detail
* Stirring up irrational anxieties or fears
* Attacking you personally

Rather than avoiding these attacks, Kotter and Whitehead suggest "letting the lions in" to critique your idea. Don't marginalize the people who will pull apart your idea. Instead, develop concise, honest responses to each of the tactics they may use. By doing this in advance, you build your self-confidence and can avoid getting anxious or mad when people challenge your idea.

Position it for your audience
"You absolutely want to tailor the specifics of your presentation to your audience," says Norton. How does your idea benefit them? They may stand to gain prestige, cost savings, or an opportunity to build their legacy around your idea. Shape your presentation so that it speaks directly to those benefits and the ways that your audience will reap them. By doing this, Kotter says, you create a positive mindset around accepting your idea or proposal.

Keep it simple
"The curse of a presentation is that you know much more than your audience about the topic," says Norton. Focus on one or two main points and avoid getting hung up on trying to prove how much you know. Be judicious in how much data and analysis you present. Overly detailed presentations can distract your audience, making them feel stupid for not following along. Also, they can cause you to simply run out of time. Even if your audience asks for more detail, be sparing. Here, Kotter points out that one of the tactics that people use to kill an idea is to present distracting information or request so many specifics that others get confused.


Answer questions with confidence
When you present a new idea, "People will have all sorts of reactions and will want to discuss those reactions," says Norton. Many presenters get distracted by trying to discern the intention behind questions or comments. Is he trying to throw me off? Does he hate the idea? Does she not trust my judgment? Don't bother with trying to uncover motivations. Focus on answering the question as simply and straightforwardly as possible. No matter how aggressive, demeaning, or seemingly silly the question may seem, "You want to come off as a statesman," says Kotter. "Treat him like a reasonable person with a reasonable question."

If you get a question that is off-topic or potentially derailing, you can answer the question you wished the person asked instead. In a recent whitepaper "The Artful Dodger: Answering the Wrong Question the Right Way," Norton and his co-author Todd Rogers found that people who "artfully dodge" questions are trusted more than those who respond directly to questions in a less elegant way. "If we know someone is dodging the question, we don't like it. But we very, very often don't notice it," says Norton. You can give an answer that is vaguely related to the question but that confidently returns your audience back to your main point.

Principles to Remember

Do:

* Meet with important stakeholders in advance of needing their formal approval
* Position your idea in terms of the benefits your audience stands to gain
* Answer questions concisely and confidently


Don't:

* Assume that your audience will believe it's a good idea just because you do
* Overwhelm your audience with detailed analysis or specifics
* Get defensive or angry when people challenge your idea


Case Study #1: Build and leverage alliances
Amy Vezzetti was working for a global pharmaceutical company when she took on the role of senior manager of HR for the Asia Region. Each of the countries in the region had their own HR team, but before she and her boss re-located to Hong Kong, there had been little coordination between them. In the first few months of her new role, Amy saw an opportunity to implement a regional approach to 360-degree reviews based on a homegrown solution from Australia. It was affordable, especially in comparison with the off-the-shelf products that some countries were using, and using one system would give global HR access to regional data about performance and evaluation. Amy quickly convinced her boss that it was worth pursuing.

Her next step was to get approval from the individual countries. "We needed to know that all the HR teams were on board," she said. She met with them individually to present the case. Before the meetings, "we thought through: what is the likely resistance and how can we show them the benefits to their organization, their employees and to the company," said Amy. They then held a region-wide meeting where they presented the formal business case to the country HR managers. "We got sign off because we had already done the alliance building," she said. But getting their buy-in was only half the battle. They still needed the go-ahead from leadership to fund the project, which required approval from the regional president and all of the individual country managers. She started by casually bringing it up with the regional president. "He wasn't against it but I didn't think 'Great, this is going to be easy,'" said Amy.

Amy and her team enlisted the help of the HR directors in each country and asked them to meet with their country managers to review the business case. These meetings helped to get the country managers on board, but also generated useful feedback that they used to adjust the product. They then took the proposal to the regional president and positioned it as a cost-efficient opportunity to support his goals. For example, one of his strategies was to develop the capacity to move talent across the region, and Amy and her team explained how having consistent data would enable that. After hearing the case, he was very supportive and agreed to fund it. The new system was rolled out region wide the following year.


Case Study #2: "Consistent persistence"
In 2007, Matt Rady, the Head of Banking and Financial Service in North America for Macquarie, a global provider of banking, financial, advisory, investment, and funds management services, had a breakthrough idea. At the time he was the head of Macquarie Global Investments and responsible for sourcing and developing new products. He and his team had come up with the idea of expanding their footprint into agriculture. They knew there was strong global demand for food, and a growing rate of protein consumption in Asia. But Macquarie had played in relatively traditional markets and he knew he would have a tough time convincing leadership there was money to be made from buying farms and fattening cattle. Still, he felt the proposition had promise and set about proving its worth.

Matt started off by presenting the proposition to his boss. "He was highly skeptical but we didn't get a blatant 'no'," Matt said. Without his boss's wholehearted approval, Matt knew he would need a champion within the organization to help them push the idea through. They decided to go to his boss's boss because they believed their proposition was in line with the culture he was trying to build. He had recently told his organization that they should be pursuing BHAGs (big, hairy, audacious goals) and Matt felt the proposition qualified. "We didn't want to circumvent line management or go behind my boss's back, so we said, 'Give us an opportunity to pitch the idea to both of you," said Matt. This pitch was not to get full approval; rather they needed resources to prove out the concept. They got them.

"We knew there would be other skeptics," Matt said, so they began to gather allies trusted in the organization. In particular, they brought in two retired executives who believed in their idea and who could lend credibility to the proposition. Prior to going to the bank's executive committee to ask for final approval, they thought through the concerns the committee might have: Would they question whether there would be enough investor demand? Or would they doubt that the company had the right internal capacity? They tailored the pitch based on the issues they thought the committee would find most worrisome. "It's about being prepared for the unexpected questions," said Matt.

Matt and his team succeeded: the executive committee approved the proposition and the product was launched in 2008. The whole process took 18 months. Matt says that they never got to the point that they thought they should throw in the towel but "we did see that it would be a long road to glory." He described their approach as "consistent persistence." The fund is the second largest producer of cattle in Australia, has raised over $750 million globally, and has subsequently spawned other initiatives at Macquarie.

Leaders Cannot Afford to Neglect Planning

By John C. Maxwell

"Good planning always costs less than good reacting."
~ Wayne Schmidt

In October 2010 the most expensive public works project in America, ARC, officially met its demise. The project would have constructed two tunnels beneath the Hudson River to add much-needed railways between New Jersey and Manhattan. However, poor planning led to wasteful spending and put the project on pace to exceed its budget by at least $1 billion.

A federal audit of the project brought to light an embarrassing lack of planning. The audit charged NJ Transit with failing to draw up plans to combat fraud and waste in its financial practices. The same audit chastised the FTA for authorizing NJ Transit to spend $1.35 billion without having seen a project management plan, master schedule, or financial plan from the agency. On account of ARC's runaway costs and inadequate strategic plans, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie decided to cancel the project.

The Appeal of Planning Ahead

As a leader, you may be tempted to initiate action without taking the time to map out plans. After all, it feels unproductive to think about how to do something when you could simply roll up your sleeves and start making things happen. However, it's far less of an investment to prepare for a project in advance than to repair a project after it has gone awry.

In leadership, all is well that begins well. Leaders who carefully craft strategies enjoy success, while those who haphazardly race forward experience heartache.
Strategy functions as a leader's blueprint, playbook, or script. It aligns action and focuses energy toward a goal, preventing costly delays and wasted resources. By following a coherent strategy, leaders arrive at a predetermined destination instead of wandering in an uncertain direction.

These nine simple steps outline the leadership planning process. I trust they will be beneficial to you as you make plans for a successful 2011.

Predetermine Your Course of Action
Lay Out Your Goals
Adjust Your Priorities
Notify Key Personnel

Allow Time for Acceptance
Head into Action
Expect Problems
Always Point to Your Successes
Daily Review Your Progress

Change Begins with Choice

By Jim Rohn

Any day we wish, we can discipline ourselves to change it all. Any day we wish, we can open the book that will open our mind to new knowledge. Any day we wish, we can start a new activity. Any day we wish, we can start the process of life change. We can do it immediately, or next week, or next month, or next year.

We can also do nothing. We can pretend rather than perform. And if the idea of having to change ourselves makes us uncomfortable, we can remain as we are. We can choose rest over labor, entertainment over education, delusion over truth, and doubt over confidence. The choices are ours to make. But while we curse the effect, we continue to nourish the cause. As Shakespeare uniquely observed, “The fault is not in the stars, but in ourselves.” We created our circumstances by our past choices. We have both the ability and the responsibility to make better choices beginning today. Those who are in search of the good life do not need more answers or more time to think things over to reach better conclusions. They need the truth. They need the whole truth. And they need nothing but the truth.

We cannot allow our errors in judgment, repeated every day, to lead us down the wrong path. We must keep coming back to those basics that make the biggest difference in how our life works out. And then we must make the very choices that will bring life, happiness and joy into our daily lives.

And if I may be so bold to offer my last piece of advice for someone seeking and needing to make changes in their life: If you don’t like how things are, change it! You’re not a tree. You have the ability to totally transform every area in your life. And it all begins with your very own power of choice.

Persist Until You Succeed

By Brian Tracy

The most important single quality of success is self-discipline. Self-discipline is having the ability within yourself, based on your strength of character and willpower, to do what you should do when you should do it, whether you feel like it or not. Character is the ability to follow through on a resolution after the enthusiasm with which the resolution was made has passed.

Persistence is Self-Discipline in Action

Perhaps the greatest display of self-discipline is persisting when the going gets tough. Persistence is self-discipline in action. Persistence is the great measure of individual human character. Your persistence is, in fact, the true measure of your belief in yourself and your ability to succeed. Each time that you persist in the face of adversity and disappointment, you build the habit of persistence. You build pride, power, and self-esteem in your character and your personality. You become stronger and more resolute. By persisting, you become more self-disciplined. You develop within yourself the iron quality of success, the one quality that will carry you forward and over any obstacle that life can throw in your path.

Get Going and Keep Going

Orison Swett Marden wrote in his book, “There are two essential requirements for success. The first is 'go-at-it-iveness' and the second is 'stick-to-it-iveness'” Referring to the quality of persistence he wrote, “There is no failure for the man who realizes his power, who never knows when he is beaten; there is no failure for the determined endeavor, the conquerable will. There is no failure for the man who gets up every time he falls, who rebounds like a rubber ball, who persists when everyone else gives up, who pushes on when everyone else turns back.”

Persistence is Your Greatest Asset

Perhaps your greatest asset is simply your ability to stay at a task longer than anyone else. B.C. Forbes, who founded Forbes magazine and built it into a major publication during the darkest days of the Depression, wrote, “History has demonstrated that the most notable winners usually encountered heartbreaking obstacles before they triumphed. They won because they refused to become discouraged by their defeat.”

Adversity is What Tests Us

Throughout history, great thinkers have reflected on this paradox and have concluded that adversity is the test that you must pass on the path to accomplishing anything worthwhile. Herodotus, the Greek philosopher, said, “Adversity has the effect of drawing out strength and qualities of a man that would have lain dormant in its absence.” The very best qualities of strength, courage, character, and persistence are brought out in you when you face your greatest challenges and when you respond to them positively and constructively.


Action Exercise

Your greatest successes almost invariably come one step beyond your greatest failures, when everything inside you says quit. Think of failures in terms of how you can make them successes.

Overcoming the Fear of Rejection

by Denis Waitley

To conquer your fear of rejection, you need to handle the word "no" in a constructive way. When people turn you down after a presentation, you have to interpret the "no" as "no this is not right for me now." We also can interpret "no" as meaning, "I need to know more about this opportunity or the products before I can say yes."

I look at the service I offer to others as a gift that almost everyone desires. It's like a nutritious dessert. What if waiters or waitresses in a restaurant said to customers at their tables: "Would you like our special strawberry parfait for dessert? It's the best in the world!" And they were told "no" by their patrons, three out of five times.

Would they go to their manager, throw up their hands and quit, lamenting, "They don't like me or my strawberry parfait"? Of course they wouldn't. They'd go on about their business, thinking the patrons had missed out on something delicious.

That's why I treat products as a gift, much more nutritious and beneficial than a fruit dessert. But what is being rejected is the presentation, not the presenter. When I can separate my self-esteem from offering the products or business opportunity, I can live with rejection and look for ways to get a positive response more often.

When you are experiencing rejection, that's the time to network with mentors and role models. It's also the time to listen to upbeat music and read articles like this, to attend meetings and conference calls, and to hang around with optimists and winners.

There are basically four things we do in selling our products and services, and only four. We use the products and services ourselves, we talk to people about the products and services, we talk to people about the financial benefits we offer, and we coach them to refer us to others who do the same thing. First, we are coachable and willing to learn something new every day. Then, we become coaches. All you really need to move up to the next level is have faith in yourself.

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool. To weep is to risk appearing sentimental. To reach out for another is to risk involvement. To expose your feelings is to risk revealing your true self. To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk rejection. To love is to risk not being loved in return. To live is to risk dying. To hope is to risk despair. To try is to risk failure. But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing at all. People who will risk nothing do nothing, have nothing, and become nothing. They may avoid suffering and sorrow, but they cannot learn, feel, change, grow, love or live. Chained by their certitudes, they are slaves.

They have forfeited their freedom. Only a person who risks is truly free. And one last idea you can live and believe, is the more that you give, the more you'll receive.

Three Sides To The Story

By Zig Ziglar

My mother often said, “There are three sides to every story – your side, their side, and the right side.” Over the years, I have come to the conclusion that in most cases she was right. How often, when we hear the first accounts of a story, does it appear that someone is guilty without doubt? Later we get the “other side of the story,” and completely change our minds. “Don’t rush to judgment” is good advice.

A typical example is something that took place at our own company recently. An employee reported an incident to me in which he was not directly involved but had heard about “through the grapevine.” The evidence seemed compelling that a serious error in judgment by a key staff member had occurred. However, after talking with those directly involved, those who had all the relevant information, the picture changed dramatically.

As it developed, there were three sides. Each was right, but critical information was incomplete. This led to the erroneous original conclusion that a serious error had been made. What was needed was that old Paul Harvey stand-by, “the rest of the story,” which validated the fact that there were three sides.

I encourage you, particularly if you’re in a management or decision-making position regarding other people, to carefully hear what the messenger is saying. Make no decisions, promises or judgments until you have heard the other side of the story. Take that approach and you’ll win more friends and influence more people, which means that I’ll have a better chance to SEE YOU AT THE TOP!

The Law of Time Perspective

By Brian Tracy

The most successful people in any society are those who take the longest time period into consideration when making their day-to-day decisions. This insight comes from the pioneering work on upward financial mobility in America conducted by Dr. Edward Banfield of Harvard University in the late 1950's and early 1960's. After studying many of the factors that were thought to contribute to individual financial success over the course of a person's lifetime, he concluded that there was one primary factor that took precedence over all the others. He called it “time perspective.”

Plant Trees

What Banfield found was that the higher a person rises in any society, the longer the time perspective or time horizon of that person. People at the highest social and economic levels make decisions and sacrifices that may not pay off for many years, sometimes not even in their own lifetimes. They “plant trees under which they will never sit.”

Doctors

An obvious example of someone with a long time perspective is the man or women who spends ten or twelve years studying and interning to become a doctor. This person takes extraordinarily long time to lay down the foundation for a lifetime career. And partially because we know how long it takes to become a doctor, we hold doctors in the highest esteem of any professional group. We appreciate and admire the sacrifices that they have made in order to be able to practice a profession that is so important to so many of us. We recognize their long time perspectives.

Long Time Perspectives

People with long term perspectives are willing to pay the price of success for a long, long time before they achieve it. They think about the consequences of their choices and decisions in terms of what they might mean in five, ten, fifteen, and even twenty years from now.

Short Time Perspectives

People at the lowest levels of society have the shortest time perspectives. They focus primarily on immediate gratification and often engage in behaviors that are virtually guaranteed to lead to negative consequences in the long term. At the very bottom of the social ladder, you find hopeless alcoholics and drug addicts. These people think in terms of the next drink or the next fix. Their time perspective is often less than one hour.

Delayed Gratification is the Key to Financial Success

Your ability to practice self-mastery, self-control, and self-denial, to sacrifice in the short term so you can enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the starting point of developing a long time perspective. This attitude is essential to financial achievement of any kind.

Action Exercise

Practice a long term perspective in every area of your life, especially in your financial life but also with your family and your health. Think of where you would ideally like to be in five years and begin today to take steps in that direction.

Set Your Goals, Change Your Life & Celebrate!

By Zig Ziglar

Studies tell us that only 3% of people in the USA set goals, and they are among the wealthiest people in the nation! Worldwide the percentage is probably lower. Why so low? There are several reasons, but the one that concerns me the most is lack of know-how. When we ask people why they don’t set goals they often say, “I don’t know how.”

Isn’t that remarkable? We send children to school for 12 years in America before they graduate from high school. Many of them go on to trade schools, colleges and universities. We teach them many important disciplines including history, economics, literature, science, and so forth, but we miss one critically important skill: goal setting. We award them their degrees, pat them on their backs, and send them into the world full of wisdom, but ill-prepared, almost always, to design and pursue the lives they really want.

And all that’s required to change this deficiency is a single semester, even half a semester, devoted to teaching goal setting. It doesn’t seem likely that we’re going to change the American educational system any time soon, or the world’s educational system, but that’s not going to stop me from teaching you how to set goals.

The letters and phone calls that I receive are social proof that our goal setting programs work. I know that goal setting will help you change your life for the better, it will help you get what you really want from life. And when you do, that’s reason for all of us to celebrate! Whether you’re already a goal setter, you used to set goals and quit, or you’ve never set goals, this lesson will help you build a better life.

Step 1. Dream! Let your imagination run wild while you fill up a blank sheet of paper with everything you want to be, do or have. Many adults have lost their ability to dream and that’s unfortunate. By dreaming you instill hope for your future, and with hope there’s possibility. So your assignment this week is to dream. During this next week devote at least two private sessions to dreaming. I want you to create a Dream List filled with ideas. Your list should include at least 25 dreams about what you want to be, do or have.

Step 2. After you complete your list, wait 24 to 48 hours and read each item on your list and answer the question: Why? If you can’t verbalize in one sentence why you want to be, do or have this dream, then it’s not a dream and it won’ become a goal. Cross it off your list.

Step 3: Ask the following five questions of every dream on the Dream List you created last week.

1. Is it really MY goal?
2. Is it morally right and fair to everyone concerned?
3. Is it consistent with my other goals?
4. Can I emotionally commit myself to finish this goal?
5. Can I “see” myself reaching this goal?

You must answer “yes” to all five questions for each goal, or cross that goal off your list.

Here are some points to ponder: Is it really MY goal or is it a goal someone else wants me to pursue? Is it the right thing to do? Will achieving this goal distract from achieving other goals? Goals are often difficult to achieve. Are you sure you can make the commitment to pursue this goal and see it through? If you can’t “see” yourself reaching this goal, you probably won’t.

Take time during this week to think about the questions above and answer them. Once you’re finished, your Dream List will probably be a bit shorter than when you started out. That’s okay because you’re now closer to identifying the goals that you really will pursue and can achieve.

Step 4: Ask the following seven questions of every dream that remains on your Dream List (or goals list).

Will reaching this goal . . .
1. make me happier?
2. make me healthier?
3. make me more prosperous?
4. win me more friends?
5. give me peace of mind?
6. make me more secure?
7. improve my relationships with others?

If you can’t answer “Yes” to at least one of these questions for each goal, eliminate that goal from your list. Be sure to consider your family when you answer these questions. And do not confuse pleasure with happiness!

Here we go with Step 5: After asking the questions posted in Step 4 you will have eliminated some of your goals. Actually, they were not goals, just thoughts or desires at this point, so you’re better off without them.

Separate your remaining list of goals into one of three categories: Short-range (one month or less to achieve this goal), Intermediate (one month to one year to achieve this goal), or Long-range (one year or more to achieve this goal).

This step will help you quickly determine whether or not you have a balanced perspective between what needs to be done now, versus your dreams for the future.

Remember: Some goals must be BIG to make you stretch and grow to your full potential. Some goals must be long-range to keep you on track and greatly reduce the possibility of short-range frustrations. Some goals must be small and daily to keep you disciplined. Some goals must be ongoing. Some goals (i.e., weight loss, sales success, education, etc.) may require analysis and consultation to determine where you are before you can set the goals. Most goals should be specific. A “nice home” is not as good as a “3,000 square-foot, Tudor- style home with four bedrooms, three full baths, and two living spaces.”

Here we go with the final step: After specifically identifying your goals, write them down! It is important that you have a written list of your specific goals. Then you will begin to do the daily, weekly action steps that will take you closer to achieving that goal. Be selective. You may not be able to work on all of your goals at one time! Don,t over do it. If you only have time to complete one or two goals for the remainder of this year, don’t apologize. Do a little bit more than you think you can, but do not overextend your time to the point that you don’t complete any of your goals. Do not get frustrated by the process! Work the system and it will work for you. I can fill a book with the number of letters that I receive about the effectiveness of this simple goal-setting program. Trust the system.

Once you have identified your goals and plotted the activities that you intend to do to fulfil your goals, pat yourself on the back! You have just spent more time planning your future than most of your friends, relatives or associates will ever invest! Good for you.