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.