KFC

In the very interesting audio program, How to Connect in Business in 90 Seconds or Less, author Nicholas Boothman refers to the KFC method of effective communication and connection. K = know what you want, F = find out what you are getting, and C = change what you do until you until you get what you want.

This is all meant in a very positive way of course. It is about knowing what you want in your job, social life, or just life in general. Know what you want so that you can plan on how to get there. First though, find out what you are headed for on your present course and decide if this is what you desire.

In this audio presentation, Boothman is referring to how you interact with other people in order to get the desired results. It is a fascinating work and I highly recommend it for your listening or reading. It is full of great advice on how to position yourself through your actions, words, and attitudes.

I gather that, like many other self-help authors, Boothman believes that you are the most important person in determining your own success. Do not take simple things for granted and this includes communication and appearance. They are both vital to your success. Know what you want, find out what you are getting, and change what you do until you get what you want.

Friendships

These are some of the most important things in life. Often, we don't realize how much a frienship means until it is lost.

Of course, friendship takes an effort by both friends and it is not always easy. People will have disagreements and struggles. Strong friendships withstand and overcome difficulties, weak ones may not.

Having friends can be one of the most rewarding aspects of all things. Work at it, cherish them.

Missed Opportunities

One of my favorite audio books is "How to Connect in Business in 90 Seconds" by Nicholas Boothman. I have listened to it again and again.

Boothman speaks of missing opportunities by simply not acknowledging other people. We come in contact with friends, aquanitenances, co-workers, and strangers regularly. If we choose to keep our heads down and not make eye contact, we are missing opportunities.

My simply making some effort to connect, you may just be missing that special opportunity to make things happen. Perhaps in a casual conversation struck in in place of the otherwise silent encounter, you may discover that you have a solution to one of their problems. Likewise, they may say one simple thing that unlocks a key idea for you socially, business-wise, or otherwise. Everyone who you encounter has the potential to make a contribution to you or receive one from you.

I can't really understand why a clerk in a store, waitress, or co-worker would choose to look away and not make any attempt to connect when the opportunity exists. Is it shyness, lack of confidence, disinterest, anger? Any and all of these block us from making that connection.

Everyone make an effort. The results will be favorable.

Have Some Fun

I think that having fun is a very important part of being a well-balanced person. One big factor is knowing how to have fun in a safe and digified way.

Just letting loose is never the answer to having fun because any time that you over indulge, you pay for it later. Either having a hangover, being embarassed, being broke, or all of the above together are the results of overdoing it.

Enjoy the simple pleasures of life and look forward to them. This is an essential part of relaxation and critical to overall success.

Relax and have some fun.

Work Against Gossip

Gossip can be dangerous. It creates a bad environment. Resist the temptation to gossip whenever possible because it can become a bad habit.

If you can turn the mood around by resisting gossip, you will be doing yourself and your friends and associates a big favor. Don't add to it, turn it around.

Sales can be a great profession

Have you ever heard of Tom Hopkins? He has several sales training audio programs available and if you get the chance, I suggest checking it out. Selling can be both fun and lucrative.

There are many negatives associated with selling because of the nature of some sales people. However, a true sales professional will gain just as much respect as any other business professional.

If you are considering sales as a career, pick up an audio program by Tom Hopkins and listen throught it a few times, then decide.

Give Thanks

This truly is a blessed season. Even though Thanksgiving Day is past, this is a great season to give thanks for all of the blessings that we do have.

These are difficult times, our world is troubled. Our world has been troubled for centuries. We alone cannot solve our problems. Our governments can try, our school systems can try, we can try.

In this season especially, we need to understand that only God can provide our answers. Only He is the Light of the World. This is the reason that Our Savior was born.

Ming Lo Moves a Mountain

Sometimes the best advice is found in childrens' books. In this classic, Ming Lo is troubled by a mountain that is messing up his comfort zone. He seeks the advice of a wise man. Good thinking.

The first couple of attempts to "get along" with his situation with the mountain do not work. Ming Lo is not satisfied by his efforts.

Finally, the wise man tells Ming Lo to do the dance of the moving mountain. Check it out if you have not read it or heard it. Great story.

Nature vs. Nurture

This is an ongoing discussion that involves achievement, behavior, and much more. If you have read or heard the Scorpion and the Frog story, you are aware of the concept of nature being hard to change.

It is rather obvious that people generally do not change very much. Even when people do commit to changing for the better, they often have a difficult time of it after the original committment. If you have not read The Magic Story, I strongly recommend it.

This story is one answer to the question of changing nature. It is a story of becoming and remaining your best self.

Turning to the question of nurture, I have observed that nature is actually a stronger influence than nurture. Even with a poor upbringing, individuals will succeed if it is in their nature to succeed. On the other hand, if it is in an individual's nature not to succeed, even nurturing might not overcome this lack of desire.

The Magic Story gives advice that will help a person overcome either lack of strong positive nature or strong nurturing. That is why I recommend it.

Being Prepared

One of the key lessons that I have learned involves preparation. Opportunities will come your way. Challenges will too. Preparing for either is not easy because it involves timing.

The best advice that I have heard on this matter tells one to prepare at all times. If you are working on yourself on a regular ongoing basis, you will be prepared. This means reading, paying attention to your appearance, language, and overall professionalism.

You don't really know when an opportunity or challenge will arise. You do know that the way that you conduct yourself everyday prepares you.

The Tipping Point

I have learned many interesting things from the book The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell. One consistent theme is that things aren't always what they seem on the surface.

Sometimes we seek solutions to problems that only make the problem worse. If we study and dig deeper, we find that changing something only related to the problem may cure it faster than attacking the problem head on.

I recommend this book.

Reading is Essential

Reading is one of the greatest gifts that we are given. I believe that reading is essential to growing in knowledge.

If you think about some of your more advanced educational experiences, reading was probably a big part of them. In high school and in college, as courses increase in difficulty, reading also increases.

Unfortunately, for many of us reading declines or ends with the end of our formal education and that is sad. Education is a stimulus for lifelong learing and reading is a key component to learning.

Read for learning, read for fun, but just read!

Turn the Arrow Around

Which way is your arrow pointing most of the time? Toward you or toward others? Who are you most interested in serving, yourself first, or others.

By serving others, you are actually serving yourself, because the return that you don't even expect will be greater than the return that you do expect when the arrow is pointing inward. Service provides some of the greatest gratification. Helping others is like no other.

I am not saying that I do it, I am saying that it works.

Keep your eye on the arrow!

The Magic Story

There is an answer to the Scorpion and the Frog story. There is a way to success and excellence despite a nature that might be difficult to overcome. If you have the time, read The Magic Story by Frederic Van Rensselaer Dey. Even though it was written in 1900, it offers some great advice.

http://books.google.com/books?id=tdU0AAAAMAAJ&dq=the+magic+story&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=en&ei=F9voSovFFsGOtgeWw833Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false

Check it out.

The Richest Man in Babylon

I have been blogging for quite a while and have forgotten to remind readers of this story. I learned of the story, The Richest Man in Babylon, about 26 years ago and have been telling people about it since.

It is a common sense story about how you can gain financial independence no matter how much you earn. If you have not read the story, I strongly advise that you seek out a copy of the printed story or the audio version and read and re-read it.

If you follow the simple, common-sense advice of the author George S. Clason, you might just be amazed with yourself. It is not easy advice to follow but it is a very sound and proven technique to achieving financial stability.

Check it out.

Get Comfortable With Yourself

In order to be the person who you want to be, you need to be comfortable with who that person is.

What on earth does that mean?

It means that so many people are unhappy with who they are that they are angry or unhappy a lot of the time. I have mentioned before that we need to peel back the anger.

Get to the bottom of what makes you unhappy and discover if that is part or your nature. If it is and you want to change it, you can.

Conversion and Commitment

So, if there are aspects of your "nature" that are blocking you from the kind of success that you want, how can you change? How can you convert? What do you need to change about yourself fundamentally in order to enable the kind of success that you want?

These are great things to think about but difficult to carry out.

The Scorpion and the Frog

If you have not ever heard this story, check it out. Google it.

I contend that people can change their nature but it takes a conversion and a commitment.

Everyone is Gifted

I just finished a book titled Home by Marilynne Robinson. In this book, she depicts an individual who has lead a very troubled life. It seems to me that his troubles stem from the fact that he does not understand his gifts.

To make matters worse, his father is pretty inflexible about understanding the gifts of the main character, his son. Everyone is gifted in some way. Finding out what those gifts are and how to use them can only lead to success.

Paint vs. Aluminum Siding II

After further consideration, I believe that aluminum siding is certainly progress. It is more protective, probably less hazardous, and easily as appealing.

We still need to look for was, though, to be more connected with our surroundings.

Teamwork

Ordinary people working together will accomplish extraordinary things. There is no substitute for a spirited team. That does not mean that an individual cannot excel.

You may have heard the saying that there is no I in team. I don't like that saying. A real team will encourage the best "I" in everyone.

Purpose

I have an audio CD from Ron Willingham titled The Inside Game of Selling. Having listened to it several times, I get something new from it each time.

Here is an interesting statement by Willingham. People with a strong sense of purpose tend to view obstacles as temporary. That is really something to consider because it is a game changer.

Read, Study, and Learn

There is so much to be learned. Every day is an opportunity to know more. Every day presents a chance to grow in knowledge and understanding.

We have so many influences on what we actually do learn every day. If we are not selective and proactive in choosing what we learn, our ideas, impressions, and understanding will be formed by influences that come at us from many directions.

The only way to counter all of those influences is to read, study, and learn. You will love it.

Working Hard and Working Smart

Hard work is a key to success. But hard work alone is not the answer. We need to work smart.

Time is a precious commodity for any workter. How we spend our time at work is critical to success. As we move through this era of continuous and rapid change, we are presented with many ways to be more efficient. Instant communication, teleconferencing, handheld devices, and other electronic innovations are all designed to make us more efficient.

We can only make ourselves more efficient by constantly looking for ways to work smartly. By focusing on our work processes we can always find efficiencies and that is how we work smart.

Writer's Block

Either I have run short on ideas, had a lapse in enthusiasm, or just a case of writers block. I really do have ideas. I hope to share them soon.

Staying focused on that one main thing

This is often the best way to excel at one thing, focus. If you need to pass a course, make a sale, help a friend, by staying focused, you have the best chance of getting it done.

Sometimes, a temporary focus on one task is the best way to succeed. At work, of course, by staying focused on your main task, you give yourself the best chance of getting ahead.

Stay focused, be successful.

Innovation

No matter what product, service, or process that you work with, plan to make it the very best. Constantly look for the best product or the best way to provide products and services.

It starts with listening to your customer and striving to constantly providing excellent products and service. Look how far mankind has come though innovation and invention. We still have a lot of work to do. We still need to find better ways to do things and provide better service to our customers.

According to the book, Game Changer, innovation is a complicated and carefully managed process. Make sure that your company is including innovation in what you have to offer to your customers. That is true even if your company is just you.

According to Brian Tracy, we really should consider ourselves as a company of one. Our employer just happens to be our biggest, most important client. Look for ways to make your company better and first.

Look for innovation.

Imagine

Imagine if you carried on every day as if everyone was your customer...

What would it be like if you approached every person you encountered during your day as if your income depended on how your treated each and every person. Well, a lot more than your income does depend on it. Your reputation, likability, and perhaps your very happiness depend on it.

Consider and reconsider how your interact with every single person you see and talk with today and every day. If you treated everyone like a customer, you will get great results.

Imagine, deriving happiness from service.

Paint vs. Aluminum Siding

I recently drove by a man painting his house. I mean that he was painting the exterior.

Do you remember when most people painted the exterior of their house?

This got me to thinking. Has aluminum siding contributed to a fundamental change in our culture? Because of the fact that we put this stuff that is supposed to look like wood on the exterior walls of our houses, we may have become less connected with our homes and our environment.

Furthermore, by putting this false wood on our houses, we have created more descretionary time. Just what we needed.

I am not saying that I want to go back to painting the house. I am just asking if the conversion of over the past thirty years has made a fundamental difference in our culture.

It sure seems like it.

Flexibility

In order to provide great customer service you need to be flexible. The same service does not apply to everyone, the same follow-up is not going to work with every customer.

The same greeting at the counter will not work with every customer. You need to be flexible. You need to read your customer and react accordingly. How ofen are you annoyed by a clerk or counter worker who replies with the very standard and required greeting, thank you for calling _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. Thank you for shopping at _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _. While these are intended to be nice, they are not customized.

Instead, try, "It appears that you like our _ _ _ _ _ _, have you considered our _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ .

You fill in the blanks. It simply means that you should be aware and tuned into your customer so that you can react in a customized way.

Be flexible when it comes to customer service.

Service

We often hear in business about providing great service or serving the customer. To be successful in any business, serving the customer is critical.

I just started listening to an audio program titled "Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service." Based on what I have heard so far, I like it. There is a lot of practical common sense advice given on the first of five CDs.

Furthermore, I have heard many stories about customer service that should be shared. One that comes to mind frequently is the Wal-Mart cheer. According to the author of "Built to Last," it goes like this. Sam Walton gathered his employees for a storewide meeting and it begins with this cheer.

Give me a W --- W
Give me an A --- A
Give me an L --- L
Give me a sguiggly --- and the people all sqiggle and twist indicating a squiggle
Give me an M --- M
Give me an A --- A
Give me an R --- R
Give me a T --- T

What does it spell, WAL-MART

Who's number one?

(and now here is the key part and my main point for telling you this)

Who's number one?

THE CUSTOMER!!!

In a culture where the customer is truly first, a formula for success is established. No matter what profession you have, there are customers. If you put them first in your planning, first in your attention, and (most importantly) first in service, your company will succeed.

It is OK to Borrow

You get some good ideas from almost everyone whom you meet. Then why not borrow some of those good ideas?

It is ok to replicate something that works for others. It is ok to borrow good ideas. In fact most of ideas are probably a compliation or hybrid of ideas we have witnesed. Therefore, look for the good ideas of your co-workers, friends, customers, and even strangers and borrow the ones that will work for you. I don't mean copying, but rather carefully selecting those ideas that will work for your own good.

Usually, people will be flattered by knowing that you have borrowed their ideas. For example, if a co-worker of competitor sales person brings bagels to customers in the morning and gets good results, consider doing it. If you witness someone rotating lunch dates with valued employees as a way of saying thanks for the effort, consider doing the same.

Even in formal business, if a competitor does something that really makes sense for your business, there is a way to tactfully borrow the good idea. Perhaps working out on lunch hour or going for a walk in the morning seems like it will benefit you, go ahead and do it. Many good ideas are borrowed.

You can go deeper by sharing philosophies on business with others and consider and reconsider your own philosophy based on your discussion. It is ok to borrow.

Staying Focused is Difficult

There are many distractions and temptations in life. However, in order to be successful. you must stay focused on what is important. If success in your career is important, you will always need to do the things that help your career and do them over and over again.

There will always be temptations to do less, to slack off from the job, to coast. This is not for you. Repeating over and over what works and looking for ways to grow will lead to success.

In your personal life, the same is true. There are always distractions and temptations that can keep you from being your best self. That is where discipline is required to stay focused. Stay on the right path.

Stay focused for success.

Peeling Back the Anger

It seems that many people walk around angry. For a variety of reasons, many people are burdened with some kind of anger. This can only hurt your career and hurt all of your relationships.

Take a look at why you have anger. What is it that makes you stay mad. Wouldn't it be so much better to go through life with a minimum of anger. I think that this might be just a part of our lifestyle. We want things to go a certain way and we want it to happen now.

Work at examining when and why you feel angry and work at correcting this for youself. Really work at not letting the little things bother you. I have learned that many of the things that bother me actually either go away or become less of a concern with time.

We all, including myself, need to peel back the anger when we can and take a more introspective approach to things and not let anger dictate our actions. I will be working on it.

Perspective Means a Lot

In business and in your personal life, many decisions are dependent on your perspective. And you know, that perspective changes so be careful when making decisions. For very important decisions, allow yourself to go through at least one change in perspective cycle.

In other words, allow yourself to be up and down, busy and relaxed, excited and disinterested before you make a final decision. Equally important, when you are contemplating a decision and going through your perspeective cycles, be careful not to relay a to others that you have arrived at a final decision. Otherwise, you will appear indecisive.

Allow yourself time to consider various perspectives before making an important decision. I have changed my mind many times because of perspective. You will too.

Relationships

Relationships are critical to success. Relationships are not only necessary to your business success but to your presonal success as well.

Many books have been written on the subject but a lot of it is common sense. If you approach every relationship with an intention of mutual benefit and mutual enjoyment, each one should be just fine.

In sales, if you approach your customer as someone with needs and interests just like yourself, you will naturally attempt to serve that customer. If you approach your friends as someone both capable and in need of giving and taking, it will work out.

When a relationship gets out of balance, you can either work to correct it or seek help from a third party. Sometimes abandonment is necessary.

Relationships will lead to success but don't take them lightly.

Use Many Sources

In addition to reading every day for at least 30 minutes, I would advise you to get your news and information from a variety of sources. I think that the Wall Street Journal continues to be an excellent source for business information. Your local newspaper is certainly something that has useful informaton for you.

Mix up your TV news sources. Don't allow yourself to only watch what you agree with. Again for business news, CNBC has very useful programming.

The main point is that we cannot allow ourself to have a narrow prospective. When gathering information, consider the big picture implications. Think long term.

I also advise you to have trusted discussion partners. You should have several people in your life with whom you can exchange ideas. Sometimes, hearing yourself express your opinion helps you to understand your own perspective and the reasons behind it.

Use many sources for your continuous education. You will be wiser for it.

Read to Advance

My audio coach, Brian Tracy, advises us to read in our field for 30 minutes per day. Imagine the information that you will be exposed to by that amount of reading.

I believe that Brian is right. If you can find books and magazines in your field of expertise, try reading every day for at least a half hour. You will be amazed at how much more that you know after a month or so.

Vary your reading selections but try to stick to text that will help you to be a better manager, worker, salesperson, accountant, or whatever you do. It works.

Sometimes books seem a little removed from your interest or specialty but they all help. The public library is certainly loaded with good materials. Make time every day to advance your career through reading.

Preparing for the New Economy

This is something that we will be doing on a regular basis. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the rate of change is accelerating.

Who would have thought that GM was going Chapter 11 and being taken off the Dow 30? By the way, Lee Iacocca's Chrysler is also Chapter 11 and rebounding. Who predicted the collapse of so many banks and other financial institutions?

However, on the day that GM announces it's bankruptcy filing. the Dow is up? This is even more unpredictable.

All of this means that things are changing on a rapid basis and we need to be aware of how things are changing so that we can be prepared to direct our career paths for success. We need to direct our study, training, and even our reading to take advantage of the new economy.

It is here.

Expanding Your Perspective

One of the problems with paying close attention to TV news is that it tends to narrow your perspective of almost everything. Usually with news reports, we only hear one side of the story. It is almost impossible to report news stories with enough details for us to understand completely what is going on.

Now turn to TV talk shows. They are narrowly presented by choice. Depending on which side you prefer, you can watch all slanted programming.

In order to understand your world, you need to expand your perspective. For one thing, try to think in terms of long-term effects rather than short-term fixes. For example, I know that this recession has a very negative effect on most of us. But, can we think beyond the recovery and learn how to cope with a recovery? Can we look back into history and learn from how previous downturns have affected individuals?

Another example is thinking outside of your own culture. Of course, foriegn cultures have much different perspectives on matters than we do. They look at work differently, they may look at famiily differently. We even have cultural differences within our own country, our own state, our own neighborhood. Can we empathize with others in order to expand our own perspective.

Think of money. How much income makes you rich? Does it matter more how much that you earn or how much of it that you can keep?

Expand your perspective.

Reality

Don't let the media be your only perception of reality. Getting news, information, and entertainment from the media are all fine. However, you must be careful not to let what you see on TV or read in your newspaper be your only window to what this world is really like.

There are many ways to form your perception of reality and media should only play a part of that. You should experience things for yourself, discuss ideas with others, and just think about and rationalize what the reality is in every important matter.

Don't let TV do your thinking for you. Don't let media set your every agenda. Take charge of what you want to think about and experience. Reading is an excellent form of getting information and developing perceptions of reality. I recommend a mixture of fiction and non-fiction.

Take an active role in understanding your world. You might just enjoy it more.

Factors That Favor and Factors That Overcome

In his book Outliers, author Malcolm Gladwell carefully discusses many factors that lead to success and some that lead to failure. I suggest that you read the book to get more insight.

However, while I agree with Gladwell that some factors in individuals lives often work as advantages that favor those individuals, persistence, desire, and confidence are factors that can overcome those disadvantages for those people who are unfortunate not to have been born at the right time or may not have had the right breaks or best leadership.

On the other hand, even with the advantages that Gladwell describes, true success is usually only possible when ushered in by persistence, desire, confidence, and hard work. Just having the best timing or being in the right place at the right time is not enough for sustained success. Having those hard work factors in your favor will insure you some kind of success.

Often, success can be measured by balance in your life. You really don't need a lot of advantages to work toward balance. You need persistence, desire, hard work, confidence and other attributes usually associated with success.

Keys to Unlocking Success for You

There are many keys to success. One of them is knowing what your skills are and developing them. Another is having the discipline to stay with it and keep on developing those skills.

It is not enough just to be intelligent or very talented at any one thing. In fact, everyone is talented at something. If you don't agree with that, I suggest that you listen to or read "Now Discover Your Strengths" buy Marcus Buckingham. Everyone is born with talents but they need to be developed and put to use.

I have also discussed the virtues of mentoring. Having a mentor is another key that works directly with having discipline. In addition to having the drive to succeed, you need input from another person or people you can trust. They look at your progress and career from a different perspective.

All of this adds up to staying on track with your goals, dreams, desires, and your career. Take the talent that you have, continue to develop it, and have someone to keep an eye on your progress.

These are just some of the keys to success.

Success

Success does go to those who work hard, play fair, and persist. There is no counter formula to hard work.

If you give your best effort at what you do every day, you will succeed. You will not be stopped by the economy, your competitors, the lack of effort by any other employees of your team or company, or any other source.

All you can affect is your own work. If you give your best effort daily, if you strive to do what you intuitively know to be the right things, you will win.

Let's define for ourself what winning should look like. It is not being the richest, it is not being the most powerful, it is not even always being in first place. It is accomplishing what you set out to do. It is establishing and maintaining stability and peace in your life.

You can do it and it is a daily commitment. Keep in mind to that balance and stability includes recreation and relaxation. Remember to include the right amount of both in your game plan for success.

Let's keep going.

What Can I Do?

We all know that the economy is struggling. That is true and it will probably remain that way for a while. We all have competition and it will probably only get tougher. They are calling on our customers and trying to get our business.

There are expectations on us all the time and we work hard to live up to them. Sometimes we struggle to meet them and take our eye off the ball.

The message is this. Don't take your eye off the ball. All you can really do is to work hard and do your job every day. If you are a sales rep, make your sales calls and provide the best service possible to your customers.

If your job involves processing work of any kind, process the amount that you are supposed to and get the job done. Do more if you can.

At the end of the day, you can only affect your own work. You can't fix the econonmy, you can't stop your competition, so why focus on them. Just do what you do and if you continue to work hard and repeat it every day, you will succeed. If every member of your team concentrates on their own job and produces the very best that they can, your team will realize success.

Keep at it,

The Aging Process

Keeping in line with the theme of continuous self improvement, I have made some observations on aging. I am learning that people of all ages actually age at different rates.

This is true physically but I am only speaking of the mental/psychological part here. It almost seems that as we age, we face curves of our wisdom and our ability to understand things at an almost inverse rate.

As we gain more wisdom, we also have to work harder to put that wisdom to use because part of aging is some loss of awareness. To illustrate this, consider how much easier it is for a kid, grade school to high school, to learn more quicklly how to use electronic products.

How do we overcome this? We work harder at it. We limit our TV time, we increase our reading time, we try harder.

If you are over 50, take heart, you still have a great capacity to learn. If you are just aware that you need to be more aware that is half the battle. If you know that you need to pay attention, then just do so and you will be fine. Just remember, that older alone does not always mean smarter.

Selling Power

If you are involved in sales in any capacity, pick up a copy of the magazine, Selling Power. I have read serveral issues of this magazine and I am currently working on their April issue.

It is full of good information for sales people. Every issue that I have read, has both common sense good ideas and motivational presentation of those ideas. Keep in mind that selling is a profession that requires constant work and continuous improvement. Brian Tracy reminds us in most of his books and audio programs that we need to continuously improve our skills.

Give it a try, you will like it.

Green Shoots

From what I am hearing, there are some green shoots that just might be the Springtime of a recovery. If that is the case, now is the time to distinguish yourself from the competition.

Now is the time to move forward and be in position to take advantage of any recovery. Keep on improving yourself and your profession. Work at it daily and you will reap the most benefits.

There are green shoots. Nurture your own personal green shoots.

Does Hard Work Always Pay Off?

I think that it does.

You may not realize it every moment of the day, but hard work and strong efforts toward success do lead to rewards and benefits. During this difficult economic time, hard work is as important as ever.

Even if your hard work does not immediately reap rewards, all honest hard work does lead to such rewards. If you keep on keeping on even when it gets really tough, you will be ahead of your peers and your competitors.

It is easy to push back because of the times, but don't. It is easy to feel that you should not give the same 100% effort because you may be let go any way. But don't. Many great motivators have given you this advice. Never, never, never give up.

It is also always important to work smart. At any given time during your work day, always strive to do the highest value task possible. Always use your work time as if it is precious because it is. Time at work is one of your greatest resources available for you to make a living and to be successful. Use it very wisely.

Keep on going, things will improve. When they do, you will have an advantage.

When Will a Recovery Start and What Do We Do in the Meantime?

I have had the opportunity to discuss the current state of the economy with marketing and management people at many industrial companies this year. At the NAHAD Annual Meeting, I particularly had a chance to discuss business first hand with dozens of such experts.

I also had the opportunity to attend an hour-long presentation by Jim Meil, Director of Research at Eaton Corporation on the state of the economy and the forecast for the near future. His presentation certainly gave room for optimism. As I heard it, there are several green shoots that may indicate the Springtime of a recovery. Let's hope so.

Anyway, what do we do in the meantime? What most industry marketers are telling me is that we need to focus on what we do best, making and selling products. We must listen to our customers and provided what they need. We need to examine where we can provide better products and services that our competitors do and thus gain new customers. Continued hard work and attending to customers needs are critical now and always.

With this approach, when a recovery really happens, our companies will not only be poised for growth and gain, we will be positioned for increased sales and market share because of the new-found customers. One individual pointed out to me that our recovery will not only be based on what we do during the downturn but what we did leading into it.

This is a time for opportunity because if we are at the bottom of a cycle and soon to be turning upward, this is a time to position for growth. Yes it may be the worst of times in decades, but business must take a hard look at what they do best, keep doing it, and listen to what their customers want.

Let's get going.

Innovation and Change

Smart leadership and smart management both include a keen awareness of innovation and change. Things change and business changes, both for the manufacturer/service provider and for the customer/consumer. The smart part of this equation is the very careful examination and evaluation of what change is needed and how much.

Research plays a major role in this evaluation. A company needs to know when its customers are needing and demanding new and better products or new and more efficient processes. Smart companies get ahead of that need and demand through careful and thorough customer research to know what modifications and innovations are needed to provide solutions to their customers. We can never assume that it will always be business as usual and that we just need to be concerned about selling more of what we offer.

Great companies constantly search for new solutions in the form of better products. Those great companies also search for business partners who can provide the cooperation needed to get better products and services to market faster, more efficiently, and in the best possible service to their customers.

Change is inevitable. Smart change is the formula for great success!

Core Competencies

Both individuals and organizations have core competencies that lead to competitive advantages. It is often tempting to venture beyond those qualities when we have not built upon and strengthen the core.

In the book The Game Changer, author A.G. Lafley states that it is not sufficient to just identify a business's core strengths but rather they must be worked at and enhanced constantly. With this practice, those strengths become competitive advantages.

In his excellent book, Good to Great, author Jim Collins tells us that in building a business we must protect our core and stimulate progress. Growth is great but we must be very careful not to abandon our core strength and our core competency.

The same rule applies to individuals. Once we understand our own personal strength, we need to constantly nurture and work on it so that we have our own personal competitive strategy. For some that strength might be intellect, for others it might be the willingness to work hard. Still for others, it might be compassion and understanding.

In both cases, companies and individuals, it is critical to understand and constantly work at our core competency and then look for and stimulate progress. If you are seeking to understand your own strengths, I recommend the series of works by Marcus Buckingham titled "First Break All the Rules" and "Now Discover Your Strengths." In this series, the authors help the readers to get a grasp on their own strengths so that they can take advantave of them and use them for progress.

Core competencies exist for everyone. The challenge is to work on them.

Leaders must lead innovation

No matter what business you are in, if you are a leader, you must be open to and a leader of innovation. That does not mean that leaders must be always seeking to change things for change sake.

What it does mean is that leaders of any enterprise or organization can become too comfortable with the status quo and not be open to change for the better. Any process, any product, or any business should always be asking themself, are we serving the customer to the best of our ability? Is there more that we can do?

It is critical to any business to give the customer what they need and want, not just what is easiest to provide or produce just because we are good at it. Through steady and regular customer evaluation, leaders can stay in touch with the need of their customers and actually initiate and lead the innovations that will make their enterprise or organization better.

As is presented in The Game Changer, innovation is a process that involves many levels of the company. Key individuals are always on the lookout for innovation. Teams need to be in place to process and evaluate innovation so that the right changes can be made and the right products can be launched.

Leaders must lead innovation, it is in their job description.

Protecting the Truth

I was listening to an interesting audio program today and the author made a challenging point about telling the truth, both in business and in your personal life. He claimed that the truth is always better than lies.

Now most people are faced with situations in life where telling a falsehood might protect someone they care about. We rationalize the abandonment of the truth by protecting someone or something. The author makes that case that this is not acceptable. Great point, what do you think?

I think that we need to protect the truth of course. However, it is awefully tempting to lie when it is convenient to us. Now lets take this to the corporate level. Is this what the executives are doing at the companies whose scandals we have heard and read about?

One of the problems with most lies is that they need to be covered up by continued lies. In this case, it is clear, the truth needs to be protected in business in order to protect the integrity of the companies involved.

In your business life, protect the truth, even when it is the difficult road to take, it is the right road. Admit your mistakes, make your reports honest, and take responsibility. That is a much better road to progress in your career than any type of non-truth.

The author also discusses how non-truths and other wrong deeds lead to other events that result from such decisions. Often, the short-term gain coming from a wrong doing are outweighed in the end by the consequences. This is further reason for protecting the truth.

Mentoring

Everyone needs a mentor. Everyone needs to be a mentor. As we gain experience from our career assignments and exposure to all different circumstances, we need to record what works and what does not. And, then share it.

That is mentoring and we all need to be involved. Every good leader needs to encourage mentoring within their ranks. All workers need a go-to coworker who would be considered a mentor.

We all make mistakes in our work lives, we all can learn from our mistakes. We can also share our discoveries with others as we coach others to success. This too, is all part of mentoring.

No matter how good you are or how experienced you may be, you need a trusted confidant who understands you and your ideas. This is priceless. On the contrary, no matter how little experience you may have, you can still be of help to others. You might be able to do it alone, but you can do it better with the help of a mentor.

Endurance, strength, and growth

Napoleon Hill has a long list of legendary quotes. They apply to many aspects of life and many different circumstances. In this difficult economic environment, we can turn to some of them for inspiration.

One in particular that would have application now is "Strength and growth come only through continuous effort and struggle." We need to continue our effort through the recession and we will benefit from our struggle. By enduring though this difficult time, we will gain strength.

Those companies and individuals who continue to give 100% effort to not only endure but to improve and grow during these times will greatly benefit and be very fit to grow during an upturn. I have witnessed first hand the efforts and struggles of my customer companies who are diligently working every day to deal with the downturn. I am so impressed with their work.

We need to keep on moving forward, keep on struggling, and keep on succeeding.

Who is really your boss?

In business, the customer is your boss. In fact, the customer is your boss's boss and the person above that person's boss.

In the book The Game Changer, co-author A.G. Lafley of Proctor & Gamble makes this point very clear as it relates to their many consumer products. Much of their success has been based on listening to their boss.

This is critically important in this economy. As we struggle to hold the line on revenues and profits, as we fight against the recession, we can't lose sight of the fact that our products and services are only as important as our customer tells us that they are.

In fact, our part of this downturn might just be accelerated by the changing needs of our customer. Now it is particularly important to understand the customer's changing needs and adjust our product or service to best serve the customer's needs.

We will recover from this recession. But how our business looks on the other side might be quite different from how it looked in 2006, 2007, or even 2008. The recession will be a game changer for many businesses and if our enterprise is to survive and thrive during and after the recession we must listen to our boss.

Back to Entrepreneurs

I have continued listening to E-Myth Mastery by Michael Gerber and during the second time through, I have learned a lot more.

We can make mistakes in managing a business but we can bounce back with the proper approach. In this book/CD, Michael talks about some mistakes that he made and survived in his business. They he goes on to describe the 7 diciplines of running a world class business.

Whether you own your own small business or manage a segment of a large business, his advice is great and it falls in line with that of many other experts. He talks about leadership, management, marketing, finances and more. He actually has a series of E-Myth books and his company is called E-Myth Worldwide.

It is recommended reading or listening for all business people.

Volunteering ... Who Benefits?

I just participated in a four-hour volunteering session at the Cleveland Foodbank. What is it? Taken from their own website, in a nutshell, the Cleveland Foodbank was founded in 1979 by a group of civic-minded individuals who recognized the urgent need for food for the needy and the large amount of nutricious food going to waste every day.

These individuals from the food industry and from charitable organizations got together and resolved that a single clearinghouse could solicit, collect, sort, and distribute this food in an efficient manner. This has ensured improved operations for local charities in the Cleveland area. They bring in food from donors both private and corporate and redistribute it to centers that feed the hungry.

So what did I do at the Foodbank. Well, today I participated in a process that prepared food in packages for needy families. My work was as simple as this. A group of about 15 of us worked on an assembly line to prepare these packages which consisted of six items, cereal, peanut butter, macaroni, canned fruit, beans, and crackers.

My job was to place a single can of Tio Franco Black Beans into a plastic bag and pass it down the line. It was fun! But, it was work. And, I enjoyed it.

I always meet nice people when I volunteer at the Foodbank and I always feel a sense of accomplishment. The needy individuals who are on the receiving end of the food benefit from the relief that the food brings to them in the form of nutrition. The Foodbank benefits from my help because, no matter how menial my task might be, it is a necessary task that is well planned and well though out. My contribution does matter.

So, I also benefit from the Cleveland Foodbank because they provide me with the opportunity to volunteer. They give me the chance to help others. They allow me to feel important. Thank you Cleveland Foodbank!

The Entrepreneur In You

One of the foremost experts in small business is the well-known author and speaker, Michael Gerber. I have had the opportunity of attending one of Michael's presentations and he is a very impressive speaker. I have also purchased and listened to the audio version of E-Myth Mastery by Mr. Gerber. His work should be must reading or listening to all aspiring entrepreneurs.

The Webster definition of entrepreneur is "one who organizes and assumes the risk of a business or enterprise." I want to extend that definition by adding what it means to me.

Being an entrepreneur means taking responsibility. If you own your business, you will work with a passion in order to survive. Why not approach every aspect of your life as an entrepreneur?

For starters, how about thinking of yourself as the "organizer and risk assumer" of all that you do? Having a balanced life by having the right emphasis and effort given to your family life, work, faith life, recreational life, and all aspects of your life requires the entrepreneurial spririt.

If you approach your job and your career as an entrepreneur, even though you work for someone else, you will be successful. If you take an entrepreneurial approach to your private life, you will find some peace and comfort in all that you do.

Being passionate is not limited to business and money. It applies to all of your responsibilities. Go for it!

Change is Inevitable, Be Prepared

In his excellent book, Game Changer, author, Ram Charan states that "When innovation is at the center of a company's way of doing things, it finds ways to innovate not just products, but also functions, logistics, business models, and processes. This point is well taken given today's economic environment.

While an innovative company will probably continue to research and develop new products even in a downturn, those same companies need to look at all of their processes in order to stay competitive or even just to stay in the game. There is little doubt that times like these, and they may actually be quite unique, demand creativity and innovation by great companies.

Even though the normal business cycles as we have known them lead to downturns as well as booms, this recession really is unique. It is unique for many reasons that have to do with banks and mortgages. This current situation is also a result of the rate of change in business and in our society.

Many years ago, a very popular book titled Future Shock by Alvin Toffler was recommended reading for all people interested in the future. In the book, Toffler speaks of accelerating rates of change that will leave people disconnected and suffering from shattering stress and disorientation.

In my observation, the rate of change has been event greater than that. Our extraordinary means of communication that exist in this decade, have accelerated change beyond that of our imagination from the 1970's. I believe that this change level has directly contributed to our current slump.

Many companies will emerge from this slump in an even better position than prior to it but in order to accomplish this amazing run, they will need to innovate. They need to apply innovation to all aspects of their business. Companies need to take a macro and micro look at their operations now and figure out how they plan to emerge.

It is not business as usual in 2009 but these are times for careful analysis and very strategic planning. Keeping innovation at the forefront of that planning is the key to surviving this recession and emerging as a leader.

The Game Changer

I recently had the privilege and pleasure of listening to a great presentation by renowned businss advisor, leadership expert, and best-selling author, Ram Charan. His message revealed the importanct of innovation in the success of a company or organization.

Innovation, however, is not a simple process and it must involve company leadership as well as drivers of products and sales. Ram went to great lengths to illustrate a complex grid of how ideas flow through to launches with numerous steps and influences in the process.

One of the key take aways from the presentation is that innovation must deliver, revenue, margin, and differentiation. Revenue and margin are rather self explanatory. Differentiation on the other had is key to why innovations are successful. We don't necessarily need more commodity items but new products that are answers to the market's needs.

I suggest that you pick up a copy of Ram's recent book, The Game Changer. Now is a great time to take a close look at his recommended process.

Laughing in the Face of Stress

I had the privilege of attending a presentation by speaker Karyn Ruth White on how to use humor effectively. While her talk was indeed funny, I did learn that we need to use humor to make life a little easier.

Karyn's talk focused on how we actually help to reduce our stress and even interact more effectively with others when we incorporate the right humor at the right time. One real important bit of advice offered by Karyn was this, "Don't let circumstances define you." In other words, don't let certain frustrating situations and your reactions to them become how people know and perceive you.

Instead, take a deep breath, slow down, and approach the situation with a bit of a sense of humor. Instead of directly confronting all of your difficult situations, consider using a humorous approach to the controversy and then take it from there.

Thanks for the great advice Karyn!

The Culture of "I Can"

One of the main points of this blog is to convey to you the reader that “you can.” Hopefully, you have grown up in an environment that encourages you to be the best that you can, but also to do whatever you want.

How do you get there? Well, a lot of preparation is needed to get you to your goals but one ingredient that is absolutely necessary for success is to believe you can. Believe that you can accomplish whatever it is that you desire to accomplish in life. Believe that you have what it takes to be however successful that you want to be.

One of the big mistakes that we can make in life is to not attempt to accomplish a goal or a desired achievement because we believe that we can’t. I call that the culture of “I can’t.” Avoid that.

Building Success Through Relationships

Author Mark Sanborn makes a great point about relationships. He claims that you can build success one relationship at a time. Every day brings opportunities to network, both in your professional life and personal life. We can either choose to ingore these opportunities our use them to build a foundation for success.

Building a network does take an effort and we are not always prepared to make that effort. But, sometimes, all that is required is a smile and a few kind words. I believe that most people would prefer a friendy encounter with others than an indifferent avoidance.

Those chance meetings with dozens of individuals every day all present some opportunity for your own personal success. I have met people who serve others all the time and how impressive! Taking that extra effort to provide a helping hand is an investment in yourself. That is building a foundation. On the other hand, we can choose to ignore people, look down all the time, and miss opportunities.

I am also so very impressed with counter workers, clerks, and servers who obviously go the extra mile to be friendly to their customers. When I receive that kind of service, I am empowered to go out and do the same.

If we use every opportunity to build relationships, we will be building success. Start now and make the effort. It is truly a win, win endeavor.

Creating Value for Others

Getting back to Fred, "You must continually create value for others, and it doesn't have to cost you a penny." According to author, Mark Sanborn, you need to have the ability to create value for customers without spending more money to do it.

No matter what field you work in, you have customers. Whether you have one customer or one thousand, you must find ways to creat that value. You can replace money with imagination says Sanborn. The object is to outthink your competition, you don't need to outspend them.

Think of your current job, your current position. What can you do for your customers, your employer, or your co-workers to create value for them without having it cost more money? How can you make yourself more employable and at the same time boost your company?

It all starts with being the best you that you can be. It continues with maintaining and growing a winning attitude that treats everyone as important. It continues also with giving your best effort on the job and your best effort every moment of the day to connect with and have a positive impact on others.

When you work hard and smart on yourself and at your job, you are creating value without costing money. The dividends will be paid directly to you, by the way, through your own increased level of employability. Get going and keep going!

The Other Side of the Recession

A key question that I ask myself is "Where do I hope to be when the recovery starts?" The only logical answer is "Better off because of my actions during the downturn."

Even though many people are fearful for their jobs, even though our jobs may be in jeopardy, we still need to keep improving ourself. We still need to work on our career and work on ourself. It is just as important as ever to improve. Keep reading, keep inquiring, and keep getting better.

I believe that we should be devoting the same amount of effort to self improvement as in good and prosperous times of great opportunity. Every day is linked to the future and all efforts put into self improvement will affect your future, tomorrow, next month, and next year.

While this recession may be a game changer for the structure of the business world, the same attributes that have always lead to success will still be important in the future. Hard and smart work, devotion to improvement, and committment to life-long learning will always be critical to success.

Use this time to improve. Use this time to postion yourself for advancement. Don't wait. Get busy.

Smile ... We need it

How do you feel when you encounter a person in any setting when the individual does not even acknowledge your presence?

Why does this happen?

Can't we connect even at some surficial level just to make each others' day more pleasant? Is this how you encounter others, with your face without expression, looking forward or looking down? When someone says hello or smiles at you, do you recipricate?

Life would be so much more enjoyable if we could all just connect better. It starts with a smile and maybe a "hello." I know that we need to be careful not to let our guard down in case someone we encounter is likely to take advantage of us. But aren't we smarter than that? Do we need to treat every individual that we encounter as a potential threat?

I would love to know what you think.

Competitive Advantage

If you have not had the time or opportunity to read Creating Competitive Advantage by Jaynie L. Smith, I strongly recommend it to all business, sales, and marketing people. Understanding your company's or your personal competive advantages at all times is essential to compete in our modern business world.

In the current economic situation facing our country and world, competitive advantage is as important as ever. In fact, now is the time to use your advantages to position your business or yourself to fully take advantage of the recovery when it occurs.

Now is the time to explore and understand what natural advantages you have over your competitors and develope and utilize those advantages. If you can outsmart your competitors, this costs nothing but will pay dividends. If your tenure in your marketplace is your strength, now is the time to play that hand to the fullest.

Every business and every person has some advantages over their competition. Figure out what they are. Write them down and put them to work for you. When you are asked in so many words, Why should I do business with you, or Why should I promote you, or Why should I hire you, be prepared. Be prepared by fully understanding what your competitive advantages are so that you can use them.

What About Relationships in Business

In The Fred Factor, Sanborn states "Indifferent people deliver impersonal service." I am not suggesting that you need to be best friends with your customers, co-workers, and bosses. I am suggesting that you get to know them on a professional level so that your interactions with them will have some foundation.

How do you feel when you are treated with indifference? No matter how good of a product or service that a company or organization provides, isn't it disappointing when the person who is your contact interacts with you with indifference? We all want to validated as people of significance.

In dealing with your customers, collegues, supervisors, look them in the eyes, get to know where they are coming from, and deal with them according to the feedback you are receiving. You can be firm but polite if you have a difference of opinion. You can respond with dignity if you feel dissed.

On the other hand, when you go the extra distance to understand these individuals, you will be able to deliver the service that they both want and need. When they know you have done so, they will appreciate you and the relationship grows. I believe that Sanborn was making exactly this point with that comment.

Set Your Standards Higher

In his inspiring book The Fred Factor, author Mark Sanborn claims, "Setting a higher standard is more challenging than simply achieving the status quo ... the more value you create in your work or your interaction with others, and more value will eventually flow toward you.

How high can you set your personal standards?

Are you happy just to have a place to call your job?

That doesn't cut it anymore because in the competitive environment of today, you MUST set your standards high. You must keep learning, growing, and stiving for excellence. If you do that, you really won't have to worry about your job because you will be a person who adds value to your company and you will be a highly desirable employee to your current company.

If for any reason your current job ends and you have continued to strive for higher standards, you will be very employable to other companies and have an advantage over other candidates.

Work on yourself every day and you will add value to your company and to yourself.

What a Great Day for America

Pausing from my normal course of posts, I say that President Barack Obama will do great things for America. Yes we have many challenges. I can't think of anyone who is better qualified to take the reins of this great country than President Obama.

Congratulations America!

Make Your Difference Positive

Dr. Marting Luther King, Jr. once said, "If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, 'Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.'"

All too many people are satisfied with medocrity. If that is the case, their difference is negative. Not only do the acheivers make a difference, the mediocre do too. Everyone makes a difference and if you are on a team where everyone is striving to make a positive difference, you are on a winning team.

As Dr. King implied, it doesn't really matter what it is that you do, but it greatly matters how you do it. If you spend every day trying to make a positive difference, you will. If you approach both your work life and personal life with that same zeal for a positive impact, you will achieve great things.

Everyone Makes a Difference

Here are some more insights from the excellent book The Fred Factor. A quote from Abraham Lincoln asks you "Whatever you are, be a good one." Fred claims, "Quality and excellence should be the goals of every person in every business or profession. I agree whole heartedly with both statements.

If you view your job as just a job, it would be almost impossible to follow either of the above two phrases of wisdom. Your job is actually your career, and your career is part of your identity. Both are to be taken very seriously. Actually, you are self employed. Your employer is your biggest client and they deserve your very best work.

We can't say enough about self improvement as it relates to both your career and your personal life. Every day should be another step toward excellence in all that you do. Never settle for mediocrity.

If every person in your company was committed to excellence and quality, your company would be guaranteed success and every employee would enjoy a fruitful career. If every employee chooses to be excellent, then the outcome of overall success is very predictable.

No matter what you do in life, there are choices that you can make to bring success to you and your company. Every day presents new choices and if you choose excellence, great results will follow.

The Fred Factor

If you have not had a chanced to read the book "Fred Factor" by Mark Sanborn, I highly recommend it. I know that these are difficult economic times. But, you don't have to wait until the recovery to work on self-improvement.

First of all, start reading every day in your area of specialty. One book that I have found to be most helpful is "Fred Factor. Here is a sample quote. "You Must Continually Create Value For Others, And I Doesn't Have to Cost a Penny."

Interesting, read more.