The Learning Process

Robert Trent Jones was, without question, one of the greatest players of golf ever to play the game. Robert "Bobby" Jones is the only golfer to win the Grand Slam. The Grand Slam is when a golfer wins all major championships in the same year. Jones accomplished this unmatched feat in 1930.

Jones was quoted as saying; " I never learned anything from winning a golf tournament." How incredible is that. The only person in the history of professional golf to win all major championships in the same year stated that winning taught him nothing!

What he meant of course, is that losing is a teachable and defining moment. The pain of failure is a great motivator, to the right person. Whenever we do not accomplish that which we set out to do, we may consider ourselves to be failures. Instead of taking the position that you have irrevocably failed, consider yourself as the student and that the painful experience has taught you that you will need to do things either, better or differently, or both, in order to achieve your objective. Don't consider it a complete loss, consider it an opportunity to grow in your abilities as you adapt and improve.

Learning is indeed a process and that process is going to be as productive or as unproductive as you make it. Failures are great teachers. 

Get up and Get Going

Many times you have likely found yourself contemplating as to whether or not you can accomplish a certain task or achieve a level of success that has heretofore alluded you. This is a very common reality that occurs when we take too much time contemplating and not enough time doing.

Often all we need to do is get up and get going. The first step is the most important step you will ever take because unless you take the first step, logically, you will never get to the second step. In my endeavors, I have often found myself in the situation of not doing because I am thinking about what I need to do. When what I really need to do is get going, because the more I think about something, the bigger the task becomes and grows, in my mind, into something so big that I begin to wonder if I can or should make the effort. Self doubt enters the process and that can be deadly.

The fact of the matter is, that if we really knew, before we started, the full extent of the considerable effort and time that was ultimately going to be required, we might opt to not engage at all. Some of the greatest accomplishments you will make during your career are going to require you to move in different directions after you get started and be willing to modify what you believe to be successful. You are going to learn what to do and as important, what not to do. But none of this happens unless you get going. You must get moving and once you do, you will be so busy headed in the direction of success that you will not have time to think about whether you can, you will be consumed with, you will! Get up and get going!

Own The Issue

It is your job, your reputation and your personal brand to protect so, "own the issue."

Building relationships is grounded in trust. Trusting you means you are going to look out for your client's best interest. You represent your client. Your clients do and should expect you to address, sooner rather than later, any issues they are facing with your products or services. If there is an issue with quality, delivery, performance, billing, accounts payable or anything that is a part of your product or service, it is not your client's issue it is YOUR ISSUE.

Roger Staubach, the hall of fame quarterback for The Dallas Cowboys, launched a commercial real estate business after his professional football career and turned the industry on its head, when he introduced his business model which was simply; representing the tenant and not the landlord. He and his associates entered every negotiation with the tenant's best interest in mind. They did not represent landlords! The business model was a huge hit because the tenants knew they could trust his company. He owned the issues as far as the tenants were concerned.

You are responsible for taking care of your client. To the client you are. "the business" so don't pass the blame on to the department back at the office that is responsible for the function that is not meeting client expectations. Your client's have enough to deal with without wondering if issues with your company are going to get resolved fairly and quickly. Your clients are doing business with you, not your company and they expect you to take care of them. People do business with people, so make sure that after you gain their trust, you jealously guard that trust by OWNING THE ISSUE.