Want & Need

We were fortunate as children to have two sets of Grandparents. Each set of Grandparents were noticeably different although as children we hardly noticed the stark-worldly-differences that would, later in life, be readily apparent. One set of Grandparents were poor and the other set were well-off. The material value of each set was, in the eyes of us children, never more apparent than at Christmas. The less fortunate set of Grandparents would always give us what we wanted, toys. These toys were never expensive but we didn't care, because as children what the toy represented was all that mattered. The well-off set of Grandparents would ALWAYS give us clothes. Not the trendy clothes we might have tempered the insensitive gift with, but we got basic stuff like underwear, socks, shirts and pants. These gifts were not what we wanted, they were the gifts that we absolutely needed. I can't prove this, but I'll bet that my well-off set of Grandparents spent time with my parents asking what we needed and very little time discussing what we wanted. Because what we wanted was not likely to make a lasting impact on our daily lives whereas what we needed had the potential to make a difference!

When you are dealing with people in business and in life regarding their wants and needs, you must always provide recommendations based on the level of need and not the shiny-new-toy they think they want. While this is almost always the path that will be the toughest to take, it will surely prove to be the wisest choice. You must first start with discovering the difference between the want and the need and that discovery more often that not comes through close observation and asking the right questions. Someone may want you to prepare a presentation for them when what they really need is for you to show them how. You may want someone to do something for you when what you really you need is help learning how to do it for yourself. Socrates said; "What we need to learn to do we learn by doing."  You must be willing to give the instructions and help based on needs and you must be willing to accept the help based on needs and not give or get that which is wanted.

Late

This is a picture of vultures hanging out in a graveyard. Now we all know how vultures feed themselves, so they are wasting their time here because they are, of course, late. These guys represent: opportunity lost, simply because of missing a manageable timing issue.

Once while listening to a national TV talk show host, I caught the tail-end of a discussion about someone trying to determine why they were always late. No mater how hard they tried, seems that they were rarely, if ever,  on time to anything. The importance of the meeting did not seem to matter either. They were just as late to high value meetings as they were to low value meetings. The host listened for several minutes as this individual shared the many justifiable reasons they were late to everything! After a few seconds the host asked: "Why do you think your time is so much more valuable that anyone else's?" The individual was highly offended and proclaimed that they did not feel, at all, that their time was more valuable, they simply had so much to deal with that they found it almost impossible to be on time. The host countered and said: "Of course you think that your time is more valuable that anyone else's, otherwise you would not waste the other persons time by being constantly late."

When you are on time, you demonstrate your commitment to the value of the opportunity. Being on time is almost always a matter of proper preparation. Whatever the planned opportunity, make certain that you have factored in enough time to get ready with everything you need to make the most of the meeting, but that you also factor in enough travel time (walking down the office or driving across town) to arrive early. Get to the meeting, ready and early, it matters!

Have & Get

If you HAVE it use it, if you don't HAVE it, GET it!

HAVE:

One day a man was driving his new pickup truck down a rather busy city street when he realized that the front right tire was going flat. Much to his disappointment he pulled the truck over to the side of the road and began the process of taking the flat tire off and replacing it with the spare tire. After jacking the truck up he removed the lug nuts and carefully placed them in the small decorative tire cover he had to remove to get to the lug nuts. He then placed the tire cover that was holding the lug nuts on the curb. As he was taking the tire off he accidentally hit the lug nuts and watched helplessly as they all fell into the storm drain! A passer by saw the predicament the owner of the truck was in and after a few minutes suggested that the truck owner remove one lug nut from each of the three tires still on the truck and use those to hold the spare tire on until he could get to a place where he could replace the lost lug nuts. He could use the the resources that he had and get the job done without HAVING to get other resources.

GET:
The West Texas country is beautiful. The land is filled with low profile, hardy trees that can withstand the winds that whip across the landscape, cactus and a very rocky soil. There are thousands of rocks, large and small. The ranches are huge and the Texans are "Can-Do" Texans. One of my Texas rancher friends was inspired to smooth out a section of a very rocky road on his ranch. He spent a month working the section of this road with a tractor and whatever other equipment he had at his disposal. After about a month he told his ranch foreman that the road was even rockier than when he started and was more difficult to drive on. His ranch foreman agreed and said: "If you keep fixing it with what you have, pretty soon you will not be able to drive down it at all." The foreman knew that in order to get the road smooth the rancher would need to GET soil and fill in between the rocks. It mattered not, how much he worked the rocky terrain, unless he GOT additional soil, he was not going to have a smooth road.

When you have to get something done, evaluate your situation and determine if you HAVE what you need or do you need to GET something to ensure that the outcome will meet expectations. There will be instances when you get involved and do not realize, until well underway, that you either do or do not have what is required. If you HAVE what you need, keep the fires burning. If you do not have what you need GET it.

Start by Stopping

There should always be two list. One is the list of things you are going to start or continue doing. The other list is the number of things that you are going to stop doing.

In our business and professional life we can easily become so enthralled with our inherited or created duties that we fail to consider if the time committed to performing those duties well, is really getting us anywhere. Going through the routine is just that, routine and routine does not help anyone distinguish their performance from others. Making constant evaluations of the things that you commit valuable time to is not only a good idea it is critical to your success.

The reality is that many people and companies repeatedly do things because they always have and because they can and not because they should. When we start placing a greater value on doing or continuing to do the things that we know contribute to our progress, we are making decisions that we know are going to pay-off. When we stop doing those things that amount to not much more than distractions, we free-up valuable time that we should now devote to those things that are on the "keep or start doing list".

The trap of filling your time with activities of very little value is an easy one to get caught in. Since we seem to be busy we feel we are doing our job and while we are doing a job as we currently value it, it is not our job. Any job has the potential of filling the time allowed and if we are at work at least eight hours a day and we justify our existence by doing things that are of little value, then sooner or later someone is going to notice. Then what? Our job is a job that contributes to the success of the team by engaging in those activities that we know are going to make a positive contribution because we know they are on the "doing list."

NOTE:


The facts support that one of the healthiest things a person can do is to stop smoking. (Additionally if you stop you are going to save a considerable amount of money. The guy in front of me in line the other day at the convenience store bought a package of cigarettes and he paid $6.50 for one pack!!!) When you stop smoking your body immediately will start getting better. 

Leverage

My Dad was a full-time pipe fitter and part-time everything else. He taught me many things about how to build and repair things. One of the things that my Father was particularly good at was carpentry. He could build almost anything with wood and I always loved to watch him use the circular saw because he was precise with it and even though it was violently loud, the smell of the fresh cut wood was wonderful. One of his favorite stories he used to tell me, ad nauseam, was about one of his fellow carpentry workers who while using a hammer would grasp the hammer in the middle of the handle. The foreman would constantly correct him by explaining that the best use of the tool was to grasp it at the bottom of the handle, thereby utilizing the leverage created and making the hammer much more effective. By using the hammer in this correct manner it would require far less effort to drive a nail into the wood and that would result in a more productive worker. The worker did not heed the advice so the foreman arrived early one day and cut the handle of the hammer in half, then handed it to the worker to use without the benefit of the leverage he should have taken advantage of.

Leverage can come in many forms: professional relationships, experience, knowledge, support, inquisitiveness, friends, research, failures and success to name a few. This valuable resource of leverage is readily available and yet we often do not take time to consider the numerous leverages that will help to serve our current and future needs.

Here are two examples of what using our leverage might look like:

One of the first leveraging questions we should ask when considering pursuing a new path is; "Who else is or has done this thing we are considering and what were the outcomes?" By simply leveraging our inquisitiveness and asking theses types of questions, we can better equip ourselves to make a calculated decision. When we do ask these leverage questions we may conclude from the answers, that this is the best course of action or it is not. We may come to the conclusion that the person we are asking did not do what was required, based on our current level of knowledge, in order to achieve the outcome we desire. Either way we have used our leverage to help us make a decision that we have a foundation to support.

We all have professional relationships that constitute a vast amount of collective knowledge. People really do what to help and the most effective method to engage others in your evaluation process is to simply ask. The leveraged conversation might start like this; "I have a great deal of respect for you and what you have accomplished and I need your help. May I ask your opinion of something that I am considering?"

Before you take the next step, consider leveraging your resources. Never take advantage but always leverage.

To Be or Not To Be

"To be or not to be, that is the question." William Shakespeare wrote this very famous line in his well known play, Hamlet. Hamlet was questioning whether to live or to die. In this soliloquy he is wondering if it is nobler to bear his grief or to take action.

We are faced with questions, big and small,  daily regarding our chosen path. Our current professional station in life is more often than not the sum of our decisions. Our decisions lead to actions or inaction and those choices lead to a result that we either initiated or accepted. We are successful because we decided to be successful or by default, we are not successful because we decided not to be. We either did something at sufficient levels when given the opportunity or we simply did not. To be really good at anything requires a commitment to stay the course that has been strategically set and continue making incremental progress.

Many times we hear of circumstances, beyond control that caused a less than desirable outcome and thus the people involved could not have succeeded no matter which course they chose to take.  These circumstances often take the form of excuses rather than actual circumstances beyond control. Lt. Colonel Harold Moore, the famed character in the movie: We Were Soldiers and US Army officer in command during the first big battle of the Vietnam War was quoted as saying; "Three strikes and you are not out. There is always something else you can do." His decisions lead to putting soldiers in harms-way and he was simply not willing to give up no matter how overwhelming the odds.

If we are going to be great and separate ourselves from the competition, we must decide; To Be! Otherwise the result is: Not to be!

What or Who

People get confused.

People that work hard, accomplish objectives, contribute to the team's growth and make considerable professional growth regarding individual performance, should be considered for positions of greater responsibility. The problem is, that sometimes they are considered and then selected to move up the organizational ladder only to experience a metamorphosis almost overnight. Dr Jekyll meet Mr. Hyde.

One day they are great team-players and exceptional producers, the next day they are unreasonable, harsh, abrasive, rude and offensive monsters now in a position of greater authority. They become reckless and tyrannical. They turn into a "hammer" and in this new existence everything looks like a nail! Once the promotion sets-in, they begin to believe they are now defined by WHAT they are and totally forgot WHO they are. Their character suddenly took a nose dive into the abyss of; "I'm in over my head and I fully plan to blame everyone but me if things don't go well; I am no longer Mr. Nice Guy."

Instead of relying on their successes that put them in the spotlight of consideration for greater things, they begin to think they have reached a position that somehow separates them from the very people that helped to make them successful in the first place. They get so enamored with a new title on the door of their new office (literal or figurative office) that they forget that it was outside that new office where they fought the battles and won. They were not fighting alone but now that they have the title, they rush to separate themselves by modifying their demeanor and behavior for the worse. Relationships that were recently highly valued are now compromised to justify the "new-authority" and make their mark. They are surely enough making a mark, but it is often the kind that leaves permanent scars.

This is so very wrong. People that become dazed by the bright lights of assigned greater authority are living a lie.  Confusion sets in and the outcomes of their actions become tragically uncertain.

The transformation from one level of authority to a higher level should be rather uneventful and should absolutely not change anyone from WHO they are into WHAT they are. People that are promoted are not suddenly more important than everyone else, they simply have a different assignment. Leadership is a privilege and should be treasured as such. All leaders are only only as good as the people they surround themselves with. Treat your employees right and they will treat your customers right and you win along with everyone else. If you are fortunate enough to be promoted, don't forget how you got there and the many people that helped to make it possible. After all it is WHO you are that they treasure most, not WHAT you are.

The Next Tree

One of my friends is a a graduate of West Point and a Captain in the US Army. He had a desire to attend Army Ranger School and was accepted. The course is sixty one days (make that sixty one of the toughest days of your life).  On the first day of Ranger School there were over three hundred fellow class members. On the last day there were just over seventy. The Ranger school is said to be the most physically and mentally demanding leadership schools anywhere. The graduates of this school are some of the most determined, tough and dedicated members in the armed services.

While talking about his Ranger school experience my friend was sharing the extremely challenging feats they were faced with on a constant basis. The pressure of surviving and moving ahead never let up. The trial was so difficult that his progressive thinking slowly went from getting through the course, to making it another week, to making it another hour, to making it another few minutes to just making it to the next tree which was only fifty yards away. He graduated with the seventy or so others and said he was much better for the experience. Because of this accomplishment he felt he was better prepared to lead. Because of the victory he experienced by reaching the next tree, he is now one of the select few Army Rangers!

In business we often think in terms of years or months down the road and while future thinking is indeed critical it can cause us to miss the next tree.  The challenges we face are simply not great enough to make us think with a greater sense of urgency, so we miss the small accomplishments that serve as a vital piece of the big stuff. While operating with this visionary focus is important it is not what is going to get us to the next tree. To get to the next tree we must do something every day and appreciate that those small victories will all add up to the larger gain. Taking one calculated step at a time, especially when it benefits the team, is not only critical to the mission, it is something we can look back on at the end of the day and know we got something worthwhile done. The future can be so far in front that it is not clear where we should head, but the next tree is more often than not, clearly within our field of vision. Move to the next tree, take a breath and move to the next tree...

The Sky Is Not Falling

Today is October 31, 2012: I am in the newspaper business. I love the newspaper business and have every intention of staying in the very financially-healthy newspaper business. 

One fine day at Rotary, I was explaining to one of my fellow Rotarians what, exactly, I do for a living.  He is in banking and I found it interesting that he responded to me; “Boy that must be a tough business these days.” (As if the banking business has not had its share of self-inflicted wounds) My response was to aggressively and factually defend our business model. I told him that the sky was not falling and that we, as an industry, have a very bright outlook for the immediate and distant future.

We as an industry are embracing change and adopting new and glitzier ways of delivering relevant information, but we are not in panic mode.  What I find, especially at papers with the same model as ours, is that we still provide considerable value to the local reader and advertiser. Our pages are filled with information that is highly sought after and our Circulation Verification Council  audits factually support that position.  We have aggressively loyal readers and that bodes well for the advertisers that utilize our print and electronic products. Consumers, especially they with money, read, with interest and commitment, our products.

Yes we are in the change mode (as is every business) and, if we continue to operate wisely, we will continue to change positively, incorporate and adopt new and better/faster ways of getting the relevant information to the highly desirable consumers. But we must not forget how we got where we are. Print works and our sky is not falling.

Essential Employees

For a while in my career, I lived in Falls Church, Virginia. During my stay in that beautiful and historic part of the country, I was literally surrounded by people that worked for the US government. Many were neighbors, and most were really fine people.

Early one morning, during a really hard snowfall, while I was driving to the office, and while listening to the radio, I heard an announcement that all Non-Essential government personnel, need not report to work today due to the challenging and hazardous driving conditions. My astonishment was astonishing. Never before had I been privy to an openly broadcasted normal operating procedure of a "business" that simply told people, that by their own admission, they didn't need them on a good weather day, not to report in on a bad weather day. Until that day, non essential to me meant that your position was not needed. To these government folks it was optional.

In business the only way to remain valuable, is to remain relevantly valuable. Of course there are times when big businesses make decisions that negatively impact both good and bad employees. However, you must focus on what it is you control. What is completely within your control is if you are progressing at getting better every day. You cannot expect to dramatically change your skill-set or knowledge base in one or two days. But you can, and you should, expect to gain more relevant information and improve your skill-set on an incremental basis. Learn a little more and get a little better every day.

You must reach a status as that of "one of the essential team members" because no business can, for any length of time, carry non-essential people on the payroll. Essential means that you are a very valuable part of the team and that you preform your duties at an every increasing level of quality that ensures that the entire organization moves forward. Non essential means, in the private sector, that you cannot stay and it is just a matter of time.

Insure or Ensure

Insure: To arrange for compensation in case of loss. 
Ensure: To make certain that something shall occur. 

They are only words, right? The misuse of insure for ensure is a very common mistake. On the surface they seem to mean practically the same thing, but they are not and there is a very specific reason for that. Words mean something and in this case, they mean something very specific. Far too often we will say things that may make sense to us but to the people we are talking to they may not make any sense at all. They are only words, right? Communicating clearly and concisely takes a calculated effort. The calculation behind the effort may come in the form of years of experience or by delving into the subject so we can employ the right words to clearly deliver our message. You either know what you are taking about because you have have been there or because you have looked into it. 

A great vocabulary is very effective in helping craft your message so that it is clearly received. I remember what my director at San Jacinto College in Pasadena, Texas said one day during reversals for Edward Albee's; Everything in the Garden, when I asked the meaning of cognizant, he said; "Look it up." That direction had a profound and lasting impact on me. Not only did I need to take the initiative to find out what the meaning of a word is, I had to take the initiative and own it. From that moment on when I did not know the meaning (and the occurrences were many) of a word, I would "look it up!" When reading, I kept a dictionary close. Word and their specific use to deliver a clear and concise message took on a new level of importance. What I said began to matter to me more because the words used did make a difference in the quality of the message.

There are some that take this to extremes and talk at such a high level that no one, including themselves really get the message. It is not that impressive if no one understands what you are saying, no matter how many BIG words you use.

Endeavor to expand your vocabulary so words and their specific meanings will help to ensure that you are being clearly understood.

Cognizant: Having knowledge or being aware of.

Alarms

One of the more interesting medical events I have experienced was related to a heart issue. An abnormal EKG lead to a CAT scan (with nuclear contrast)  which lead to an Angioplasty and that lead to stents to repair blockage. All is well. The process was amazing and quick.

After this procedure, while traveling from south Texas to north Texas on Highway 281 in Falfurrias, I passed through the Border Patrol Station where the agents screen occupants and content of every vehicle. The non-commercial vehicles stop at a designated area where the agents look in and outside the vehicle while dogs do their sniffing job. I had rolled my window down so I could look the agent in the eyes to make sure he knew that I was not showing signs of stress or nervousness, and assure him that I, my vehicle and contents were perfectly legal. They normally ask your citizenship status, and when you confirm that you are a US citizen, they bid you a good day as they await the next vehicle. Although I had been through this check-point many times, this time was different. The agent had a small device attached to his belt that set off an alarm signaling the presence of radiation coming from MY vehicle! That alarm launched a deeper search, which was satisfied after I shared my recent medical experience. The alarm worked and the agent addressed the concern to make sure that nothing more sinister was in play.

How many times in business do we hear the silent alarms going off and ignore them the way we all ignore car alarms. The alarms may indicate a small matter that we simply work around and adjust our behavior to develop a way of doing business, without addressing the cause of the alarm. The alarm may be as as simple as someone who is chronically late for regularly scheduled meetings. They alarm-triggering people stroll into the meeting late, as they always do and the silent alarms sounds deep inside and yet it is ignored by they in charge. Likely the others, who are always on time, do not ignore their internal alarms and a quiet rage or lack of trust grows that causes a damaging level of disenchantment. They ask: "Why are the alarms ignored"?

When we fail to address the cause of the small silent alarms we desensitize ourselves and soon enough we are spending all of our time avoiding the causes, inevitiablly resulting in a colossal and very expensive waste of valuable time. Don't ignore the alarms. Take action, quickly to address and remedy the cause because they just might turn into a "nuclear-like-event" and cause massive damage to the business and the cause, that could have been prevented with quick and decisive action.

Another Definition of Insanity

The definition of insanity is: To do the same thing over and over again and expect different results.

Another way to look at insanity is to define it as: To do a bunch of brand new things, that someone else controls, over and over again and expect different and dynamic results.

Randomly throwing new, untested and quite often expensive resources at a problem is not in the best interest of any business. This behavior suggests that the leadership is operating from a position of panic rather that reasoned and logical, tried and true processes. "New and shiny toys" ( which is the way many infantile digital products are often labeled) do not have enough traction to warrant unbridled pursuit and still we find companies going all-in to make them fix a problem that may not have been clearly identified. Fact is, the problem they are trying to solve may not be a problem at all, rather a course change in perceptions. Additionally these same companies will bring several players to the table that heretofore did not even know that each other existed. These so called solution provides can spend other people's money at breathtaking speeds, they don't play well together and they all want to be in charge, even if they never overtly state their dominating desire. What you end up with is a lot of people going in several different directions, at the same time  and sooner or later, when progress does not occur, they start placing blame by pointing fingers at everyone else, especially the people that hired them. That is when things really start to heat up. People in the primary business that hired these companies, begin to question not just the new stuff but everything else, that they believed were mission critical, and rightly so. They begin to wonder who, if anyone is really on top of things.

The pain of change is the price of progress. However the pain of reckless change, for the sake of appearing to be leading edge, can not only be extremely painful it can be deadly. It is insane to do the same things and expect different results but it is downright dumb to do a bunch of new untested things and expect better different and dynamic results.

Some Will, Some Will Not, So What

Get the most out of your focused efforts by concentrating energies on those things that are within your control. You must be as prepared as you can be by learning and justifying and thereby influencing. All you can do, is all you can do.

Some Will:
There are those people that will allow you to learn more about their business and their needs so that you can make informed recommendations. They will make the time to work with you so you can deliver customized solutions. These are the clients that appreciate that you are working with their interest first and that you will never put your interest before theirs'. This group understands that the relationship is built upon trust and they value what you have to offer because you have identified that they have a problem and they need you to solve it. They view you as a problem solver and you must deliver. They are willing to make and keep a commitment and they expect the same from you.

Some Will Not:
These are those people that will not allow you the time to learn what you need to know because they are too busy, or afraid of facing the realities you are going to uncover or may just be insecure, or they might be lazy! Some of these people are successful in-spite of their actions. They are too distracted to have a meaningful discussion about your products or services. Most of these distractions are self-imposed and are simply a mechanism they employ to send you and other problem-solvers on their way. They have convinced themselves, even before you walked in the door, that they don't need or want you involved in helping their business. They can be a colossal waste of valuable time because they do not reveal their true feelings until after you have invested a lot of your efforts on getting to a place when you finally realize, you have been taken for a ride. That is the worthwhile risk you take and speaks volumes to pre-qualifying, to the extent that it is possible. A word of caution: "do not assume anything."

So What:
You do not control the actions of others. Your success is largely dependent upon your levels of the right behavior. The more you do the better you will get at determining who is and who is not really interested. You need to build relationships with the people that are going to work with you and not against you. Don't let the outcome, either positive or negative take you too high or too low. Stay the course and get better and better at helping those that want to be helped and better and better at weeding out they that do not. You never quit, but you do, at times, need to cut your losses and move on. Some will, some will not, so what!

Service

There are GREAT REASONS you must deliver GREAT SERVICE. Great service helps to produce great employees and great employees produce great clients. 

Ultimately, all sustainable business is built upon relationships. Trust is the foundation for all relationships and high quality service is the ultimate competitive advantage to enhancing and securing the relationships you need to maintain and grow your business. Once you have established that you are trustworthy and get the commitment from the customer, you can then go to work providing exceptional and continually improving service.

Today anyone can do business with anyone, anywhere with the stroke of a keyboard or on a telephone. When doing business this way,  the impersonal compromise of the human element is a result.  When we are not "pressing the flesh" we really don't get to know people. To really know someone you must get in front of them and invest time learning from them, and generally, stuff about them.

People are still people and they deserve to be treated like the very people who are paying your bills because they are. Passionate, sincere and high-quality service is the most effective method to build lasting relationships and it is often the easiest and least costly commitment you can make.

Bad service can cut so deeply that the victim will go to great lengths to share the unpleasant experience with others and the feeling last a long, long time. The damage can be permanent because the cut of bad service is so deep, that the customer is not interested in taking another chance. They simply take their business and their money to your competition. 

Great service means that once a problem is identified, you will move quickly to acknowledge, take ownership and resolve! Great service is the BEST COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE and it is completely within your control. Look at it this way: If you don't provide the service your customer deserves, your competition can.

The Rock In Your Shoe

We have all experienced the rock in our shoe.

While walking along a small rock somehow makes its way into our shoe and works its way down to the sole of our foot under the sock. The discomfort is so small that we will often not give it enough consideration to stop what we are doing and remove the rock. Instead, we change our behavior and walk a little differently or slow down somewhat to adjust for the irritation.

Another example of this controllable event is when we are driving for a while and the farther we drive the more agitated and upset we get. We know something is really bothering us but we can't explain what, because we are not paying attention to the details. Then we realize that over thirty minutes ago we drove through a rain storm and now that we are driving in the sun, we snap that our windshield wipers are still on high!

Far too often we accept things the way they are, because we just don't want to make the changes necessary to make things better. Instead we adjust our behavior or our standards or our expectations and accept less than we should. Many times the things that need to be changed are minor and will require little effort to adjust and become more street savvy. Many times people are the source of the irritation that we accept and often they are not aware because no one cared enough, to point out the bad behavior before it became a major issue. People deserve to know and if they don't want to change, perhaps they deserve the opportunity to go and do something else, somewhere else.

Don't accept the rock in your shoe as something that just has to be. Make the decisions to make the changes and stop accepting that things cannot be different. Because, when you modify your behavior or your urgency or your direction because of the small thing that just isn't right, you started the compromise-slide and soon enough you will discover that you are compromising on boulders in your shoe all because you didn't take the time to remove the pebble.

Something Sleeps

There is something inside you that sleeps if you never move.

That has been my experience over the years as my profession has provided me opportunities to move from one location to another, at times many hundred miles. While a geographical move is easier to identify with and creates more issues (professional and personal) , the move need not be from one city to another in order for that special motivation inside you to wake-up. Moving to a greater level of responsibility or increased expectations due to changing circumstances will be enough to wake-up that special motivation.

When you don't move, literally or figuratively,  is when things go to sleep and then you become more and more compromised. This is when there is not enough happening, either by omission or commission,  professionally that will disturb your sense of well being sufficiently enough, to wake up a level of commitment, that otherwise you may never know you have. There is a reason some people are called:"Movers & Shakers." These people are the ones that are willing to move and take risks and take action because something new and exciting has awakened a level of commitment that serves to take them to higher levels of accomplishment. So when you are given the opportunity, move and wake up!

It Takes Discipline to Develop Discipline

There is simply no getting around it. If you are going to be really good at what you do you are going to have to do, whatever it is, repeatedly and improve every time you do it. Additionally if you are going to endeavor to learn something new that will add to your skill-set, you are going to have devote time on a regular basis that is focused on that effort. Both of these objectives: getting better at what you do and learning something new, are going to demand discipline.

Discipline means that you are focused and dedicated and that you are going to accomplish your task without allowing anything to get in your way. One step at a time, always moving in the direction of your goals, will demand-discipline. When you have made the mental and emotional connection to the value of discipline you have made a giant step in accomplishing your goals and becoming more successful. In order to get something you are going to have to give something. When you are disciplined you are committing to a greater level of achievement because you are willing to focus and make the time to make thing happen. Giving up a few things that are less important and filling that space with new things that are more important is disciplined approach to improvement and that takes discpline.

Mason & Dixon

Like Mason said to Dixon; "You have to draw the line somewhere."

There is always a time to draw a line and declare that this is a direction we are headed in. The time may not always be perfect to make a decision and draw a line representing a defining moment, but what is perfect ? We all need to know our clear expectations, that are either self-imposed or given by our leaders. When we know we can act accordingly and engage in the actions that will help meet the expectations. We will then have a direction and know approximately how much effort we need to exert in order to move the needle and effect positive change. Far too often people get so wrapped up in the circumstances that they fail to make a decision and draw the line. Making a decision, gives liberty and affords opportunity.

Some of the biggest problems in life and business often are a result of not making a decision. When decisions are not made the matter becomes one of omission and not commission. Things are not happening because there is no definitive direction and people wonder why, when the answer is obvious. The best thing to do is to zoom-out from the circumstance and take a look from 30,000 feet to get a better fix on what is really happening. Once you have zoomed out and removed yourself from the emotional impact and confusion that resides when you are too close to the situation, you will have a better view on the reality. Then you can draw a line and move back in and start moving in the right direction.

Embrace Don't Chase

Back in the Internet boom days companies were attracting billions of investment dollars even though many of the companies had never turned a profit. The fervor over what might be, based on the irrational and unrealistic quest for easy and sky-high returns on investment lead many investors off the cliff. The commotion that the disruptive "Internet-introduction-change" caused, had a profound effect on the logic that had previously served so many so well. People began to chase and not embrace. They followed, very quickly, in the reckless direction that the masses were going and failed to recognize the Pied Piper in the front. So, off the cliff they went. Thousands lost everything and yet the Internet thrives.

Whenever you are faced with dynamic and light-speed change you should stop and look before you cross the quantum-leap street, lest you be run over by a fast moving change that does not have much substance. Following for the sake of following, because you are afraid that everyone else will beat you to the punch, places you in the reactive position and then you are no longer in control. Others are making the decisions for you, without your best interest as a consideration.

Allow pragmatism and logic to help you make decisions. When things appear too good to be true, guess what?

Change is going to come and you MUST embrace it. However allowing change to disrupt your common-sense train of thought can be reckless. Embrace change, don't chase change.

Take a Step

The system has never failed me.

Whenever I am faced with a project that keeps getting bigger the more I think about it, the less inclined I am do to anything about it, because I have made a mental mountain out of a literal mole-hill. When I employ the failsafe system of simply Taking a Step in the direction of the project, everything changes. No longer am I facing a huge matter that keeps getting bigger, now I am facing a manageable portion of the project, and I find that if I keep moving, things get done. Once a piece of the project is complete, I move on to the next square and make additional progress. Even when mistakes are made, they are made and overcome while I am moving in the direction of a satisfactory conclusion.

It is in the "doing" where discoveries are made and those discoveries will likely cause modifications to the steps we are taking, because the piece we are working on proved more or perhaps less challenging and time consuming that previously thought. The good news is that we now know more than we did before we got started and we got started by Taking a Step.

The possibility of not "doing" always exists, especially when we are venturing into territory that we have never been before. While we are fretting over the job that must be done, we build up our justifications for not "doing" even though we are perfectly capable. You will never know what you are capable of accomplishing if you allow the fear of the unknown to stopping you from "Taking a Step".

There Are Only Two Ways

No matter the business or organization, they all have this in common when it comes to employees and the value they represent. Employees either save the entity money or they make the entity money. These are the only Two Ways to justify your existence.

If you are in a revenue generating function the evaluation is pretty straight forward. Your worth to the organization is equal to the revenue you generate. For every dollar they pay you, you must generate between ten and twenty dollars in sales at a minimum. This is called the; "cost-or-sale" and will have dynamic range based on the industry, company's development status, competition and other factors. That is why; if you can't sell, you can't stay.

If you are in a position that does not directly generate revenue you must be so productive and flexible and adaptive that the company does not need to hire someone else to help you get your job done well and on time. Demands on companies change all of the time and these changes will absolutely result in your function changing. To the extent that you are willing and capable of adapting, your worth will be measured and improved.

Companies and organizations are only as good as the people they employ and the people they do business with. The difference is where the control lies. Companies control the people in the building (employees) and have no control of the people outside the building (customers) and that is why they can only have two types of people in the building; they that make the company money and they that save the company money. Which are you?

Mother

My Mother was, without question, the most influential person during my formative years. She reared six children without much help from my Father. She worked, at times, three jobs to make ends meet. She always looked professional and was always on time to her job. She rode the city bus and took her meager lunch in a brown paper bag. Every day she would get up and prepare breakfast for her six children. We ate a loaf of bread and consumed a gallon of milk every day for breakfast. Often the milk was the powdered kind because it was cheaper. Mom either made us lunch to take to school or would give us enough change to buy lunch or she would buy a book of lunch-tickets. Mostly in the early years of school, we took our lunch because it was cheaper. Mom cooked dinner.

My Mother always had too much to do but she never missed a Little League game, or school play or open house or teacher conference (although I wished she would have taken a pass on the stressful teacher conference events) or a Boy Scout important event or a speech tournament or a choir performance or anything that was important to me and I was one of six. Mom never missed signing my report card or responding to the teachers when I behaved badly, which was far too often. She never missed a chance to discipline me when I deserved it. I was probably the most challenging child she had, but she never let me know it. She was the ultimate multi-task driven person. We never missed a meal and we never wore dirty clothes. She had a washing machine and a dryer but she often hung the clothes on the clothes-line to save money. We had one phone and one bathroom and she regulated and directed traffic for the use of both of these critical areas of our lives. She took me to work and picked me up.

Mother always expected more out of me than I gave because she saw more in me that I did. Now many years after she is gone, I am writing to tell you and remind me what a remarkable person she was. She taught me to get up every day, put your left foot in front of your right foot and start walking.

Mother prayed continually for me and her prayers were answered. The answer has a name: Norma. She taught me to dress and act like I owned the place and always behave like God was watching, which of course He is.

Discipline

There is simply no getting around it. If you are going to be really good at what you do you are going to have to do, whatever it is, repeatedly and improve every time you do it. Additionally if you are going to endeavor to learn something new that will add to your skill-set, you are going to have devote time on a regular basis that is focused on that effort. Both of these objectives: getting better at what you do and learning something new, are going to demand discipline.

Discipline means that you are focused and dedicated and that you are going to accomplish your task without allowing anything to get in your way. One step at a time, always moving in the direction of your goals, will demand-discipline. When you have made the connection to the value of discipline you have made a giant step in accomplishing your goals and becoming more successful. In order to get something you are going to have to give something. When you are disciplined you are committing to a greater level of achievement because you are willing to focus and make the time to make thing happen. Giving up a few things that are less important and devoting the time to new and more important efforts, is a great trade, one that will require tour discipline, focus and commitment. Discipline of the right kind, creates good habits that will serve you well in life and in business.

WAIT is a Four Letter Word

I read a thought provoking print ad the other day with the headline: WAIT is a Four Letter Word.

Businesses and business people can deal with, Yes or No. What is extremely challenging for anyone to have to deal with is when the answer is, "I don't know-Not now-or We are going to WAIT. "

Giving careful consideration to any decision makes good sense. Once the facts are presented, the decision becomes much easier and making sure you have all the information you need is vital. However don't get so involved in the analysis that you are driven to paralysis. The opportunity may not be as potent if you WAIT too long to decide, especially if the decision is YES.

The emotional piece of any decision is often deepest in the beginning. It is then that everyone is excited about the possibilities that are manifest when the choice is made to move forward with something different. Every decision should be tempered with facts and emotion. When the facts are compelling enough to do something different don't WAIT so long to decide that you kill the powerful emotional commitment that is resident in the affirmative response. One of the biggest challenges we face is when we decide to say yes, which results in us having to make something different work to our collective advantage. The positive response must be accompanied with a commitment to do what is necessary to make it work!

Very few plans follow the path that is initially laid out. Situations, people and circumstances change and these changes will often require a strategic modification to every plan. Be prepared to make the modifications that you feel are best based on where you are in the process, but don't WAIT. Make changes quickly because the situation calls for changes and then continue moving. There will be times when you may move laterally or even back-up a bit. Don't get discouraged, keep moving and don't WAIT.

Well I Think...

Think about how frequently you tell clients and prospects what you think, and in response, they tell you what they think.

How different would your conversations be, and how much more productive would you become, if you kept your opinions to yourself and dealt with only the facts. Everyone you know is busy, at least they appear to be so, therefore if you can make your point without wasting their time, you can put yourself in a better position to achieve a desired result.

Business conversations should be a productive and progressive dialogue between people with common interest and goals. If you accept this as the objective of each business conversation you must endeavor to stay on track with your progress and not allow the discussion to move too far off the path. Of course you need to spice discussions up with the occasional personal experiences, etc. but you cannot allow valuable time to be consumed by what you think. Clients and prospects do not really care much about what you think, at least not until they are convinced that you really know what you are talking about. Conversations are indeed two-way, but the client should be doing most of the talking and you should be doing most of the listening. When your time to talk is afforded, speak to the facts and leave the opinions out.

Even though you may have been working with a particular business for a long time, the time you are spending with that client is still very valuable so don't take it for granted. You may be so familiar with them that you lose your edge and become complacent. The competition is not complacent and they are after your client by presenting factual reasons, not opinions, on why your client should become their client and do more business with them and less with you. The competition is not wasting valuable time by giving your clients their opinion. They know that sharing what they think is not a productive use of their time and certainly not in the best interest of the client.

Taking your opinions out of your pre-call preparation and business discussions will help to ensure that you remain focused on the reasons clients should use you and not your competition. Don't spend valuable time telling people what you think, tell them what you know because the harsh reality is that people don't care what you think.

Comfort or Confidence

Over the course of your career, you will hear people say; "As soon as I am comfortable with this or that I will can accomplish more and more..." This statement implies that comfort is the goal regarding a specific level of performance capabilities. Therefore as you grow more capable, you should enjoy increased levels of comfort. Nothing could be farther from the reality and do not fall for that misconception. Comfort is not the objective, confidence is. The more confidence you exhibit the more confident clients will be with you and then they will enjoy a greater level of trust.

A comfortable state of mind suggests that you are not in tune with the dynamic events occurring all around you. When you are comfortable you lose a degree of street-savy and that puts you in a compromising position. When you are confident you are fully aware of what is happening and what needs to be accomplished to move to the next level. Comfort will never get you to where you want to be, confidence will help to get you to the top of your game and keep you in a competitive and aggressive posture. You simply cannot afford the luxury of becoming comfortable. You are vulnerable and not growing when you are comfortable. Comfort takes the edge off and you need the edge to win. So don't spend any time looking for greater levels of comfort. Spend your time gaining a higher and higher level of confidence. Because confidence wins every time. People are drawn to confident people.

Resolve

Recently I was had the honor and privilege of serving on a panel of judges, to select the recipient of The Youth of The Year Award given by The Boys & Girls Club. In order to be considered and nominated for the award, each candidate needed to consistently demonstrate to the staff at the clubs, commendable behavior and qualities regarding; home & family, moral character, community involvement, school and service to club. Additionally they must detail obstacles they overcame or are in the process of overcoming, write two essays; one explaining what the club means to them and the other regarding why they feel post high school education is important. The final phase of the judging required the candidates to write and deliver a two-minute speech to the panel of judges.

What I found remarkable from every one of these teen age candidates was, even though they were dealing with extremely difficult circumstances including poverty and abuse, they all had infectious resolve to change their situation for the better by doing the things necessary to make a difference in their lives. They determined that the challenges they faced, were not going to stop them from achieving a better life.

Incredibly, they were also resolved to help others. I found it deeply moving to listen to these remarkable individuals talk of how they intended to help others. "They who needed help the most, were dedicated to helping others! "

They were resolute in their resolve...are you.