Not getting quality

from consultants?

  This may be why…

     Right off the top, if it’s not a life-or-death surgical, ocean oil leak, or rocket science need to fill, stop with the panic attacks about finding a consultant with industry-specific experience.

     What you need is to find a consultant who can get the job done. Period.

• Give me a guy, for example, who sells railroad cars full of French fries and I’ll teach him what I need him to know about representing my fine linens products (or my precision computer parts, or my insurance policies). And he’ll do better at it than a fine linens (or microchip) manufacturing (or insurance) expert.
• As another example, show me someone who maintains an efficient warehouse operation, and I’ll show her how to manage a shipping schedule better than the head of any trucking company.

     Why? Because sales and organizational skills are lot harder, more time-consuming, and more expensive to teach than the ins and outs of your business.

     Learning how you manufacture and package and sell your products and services is easy. Learning how to think and act like a sales or traffic management pro is not easy because it’s often an issue of attitude.

When you’re outsourcing projects and looking for consultants who can get the job done, don’t be making yourself crazy trying to find someone who has extensive experience in your industry or profession.

     Look instead for someone who has extensive experience in her or his consulting specialty. A good solid marketing person or writer or web designer or trainer or coach, for instance, doesn’t need to have ANY expertise in your specific business or professional practice in order to help you produce a significant difference in sales, sales leads, CRM, or staff development.

The same principles and dynamics that work for selling hot dogs also work for selling precision parts, accounting and legal services, heart transplant specialists, or (aaah, entrepreneurship!) “Silly Bands.”

     The art and insight of writing an effective news release, advertising campaign, or website, doesn’t change in the slightest.

     The target markets change; the media selections change; the technical details change. But benefits are still what need to be emphasized.

     All products and services are purchased because an emotional buying motive is triggered — not because a laundry list of rational features has been presented. Skilled marketing consultants know how to plan and create and activate emotional buying motive triggers that get results.

     Your job is to teach them your business, be a sounding board for their recommendations, and help bring about action.

     You can follow the advice of headhunters and placement services and counselors and job trainers all you want, and puppy-dog behind every leader in your industry or profession, but I’ll put my money on you finding the best outsource consulting service teams and individuals based on your own instincts and your own judge of character and chemistry. It got you here. It works.

Trust yourself.

     The minute you’re able to find people who can fill the role(s) you have in mind, who have a track-record of success in many diverse fields, don’t hesitate to engage her/him/them simply because you think your candy company is so unique that only someone who is a candy business expert can appreciate you and your business enough to do justice to it. A sweet idea, but unrealistic. 

Informed fresh perspectives don’t

    come from clones or ostriches.    

 www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and America’s Troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

The face of your business

is second only to the guts!

The first person(s) to encounter your business visitors, customers, clients, patients, prospects, sales reps, suppliers and vendors, delivery people, and solicitors in person and on the phone is(are) “the face of your business.”

Exercise caution in not underestimating the value of this position. It comes second only to your own and the operational guts of your business. However genuine each individual projects him or herself in that role directly equates with what outsiders will think of you and your business. Gum-chewing, short-skirted bimbettes may not always be in your best-image interests. ;<)

You get only one chance at a first impression and one chance with each encounter after that to maintain it, so why nickle and dime your selection, placement, and nurturing process for anyone who will serve as your business face?

If yours is a start-up or home-based business, that individual could be you, or your spouse or other relative.

Most of what follows still applies.

Many business owners and managers find it hard to avoid the temptation to tangle up business face job responsibilities with cost-cutting leftovers from someone else’s task pile. Multi-tasking is useful, but be careful about keeping the workload balanced. Being the face of the business is a primary responsibility that requires an authentic and engaging personality as criteria one.

For some of the same kinds of match-up reasons that –for example– MacDonald’s prefers farmers for franchisees (because of their regimented approach to seasonality and discipline in maintaining consistency) — or that many popular restaurants prefer actors and actors for food-service people because they have a stage presence which typically renders them less inhibited, more outgoing and more entertaining (which can make the difference in upgrade meal and beverage orders, and customer add-ons as well).

Recruiting  process questions to keep

on your front burner and to be able to

answer affirmatively and assertively:

• Does this person have an inherent interest in other people?
• Does this person appear to withhold judgment of others?
• Is this person engaging without being overbearing?
• Is his or her tone of voice consistently calm, pleasant, and respectful?
• Any evidence of this person being patronizing or condescending?
• Has this person a natural instinct to be helpful? (Subtly dropping something near him or her gives you a scenario to assess)
• Does this person’s host or hostess skills transcend turmoil situations? (Creating one during an interview will provide some clue)
• Can this person stay on track with time schedules? (Ask candidates to sort out some typical priorities)
• Does the person you’re considering evidence a good memory for names, faces, and voices? (Are visit #1 intros remembered on visit #2?)
• Does he/she offer to find help that can’t be immediately provided?
• Is the candidate gracious and polite under fire? (This may be hard to determine without considerable contrivance)
• Do you think the person you’re considering will readily acknowledge those waiting in line or on the phone and report delays?

Selecting candidates who excel at these personal skills is almost always a “best bet” situation because business-related skills can be taught, and human interaction skills usually cannot. In other words, changing some one’s knowledge base is easier than changing some one’s personality. For the face of your business, be less caught up in the resume and more focused on the person. Others will be.

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

God Bless America and America’s Troops.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

A job half done

is half UN-done

     Like the proverbial half-full or half-empty glass debate, businesses and business projects are often left UN-done. When this happens, the entities can usually be expected to unravel completely or take a giant step toward miserable failure.

     Seldom do we see an enterprise or project be abandoned before maturity (except for examples in, for instance, the new home construction market and associated trades, where government incompetencies ushered in a full housing market collapse), and still make a difference at any personal, industry, or market level.

Q.

     What can you do to instill a stronger sense of stick-to-it-iveness in yourself and in your people, or your outsourced project managers?

A.

     Start with yourself! What you do others will follow. The best way to ensure that you finish what you start is to plan your approach and monitor your progress. Something as simple as keeping a nightly, just-before-you-leave-work Attack List (Hint: chunks of tasks work light years better than itemizing full-scale tasks) of things you need to do the next morning.

     When the list is done (and whatever doesn’t make it to the paper or task program screen before 3 minutes is up, isn’t generally worth remembering!), prioritize items with number rankings or multiple asterisks, and proceed in that order, making notations of other unexpected items that surface and perhaps even renumbering everything.

     Take that task list to task with a see-through marker every time a listed item gets done; that allows you to review what’s been accomplished, what’s been interrupted, and what needs more attention. 

     This is not as trying experience as you might imagine if you accept the likelihood that you will be interrupted and disrupted, and account for that inevitability by keeping your mind flexible enough to accept alternative routes and options on the fly.

     Yes, this is an entrepreneurial instinct, but anyone can make it work. It requires only that you keep open-minded. Easy? Yes, but for that to happen, you need to agree with yourself to suspend all judgments.

     Suspending judgments, prejudices, biases, is essential because these will otherwise get in the way of your progress. And of course if you don’t finish projects and communications and tasks, how can you expect those who report to you to do that?

     LBE (Leadership By Example) counts even more than transparency if there must be a choice for where to apply your energy. Transparency keeps your team bolstered, motivated, and challenged under all circumstances, but without you setting daily examples, it will be difficult at best to even approach the point of operating your business with complete openness.

     So, it’s . . . 

1. Open your mind
2. Set examples for others to follow
3. As more work gets done, completed and on schedule, begin moving your business to be more transparent. Note the implication of the words, “begin moving” which means taking it step at a time (instead of all at once), which is usually the best way to approach any business situation.

 www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and our troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

What I am learning about

me right this minute is…?

     A scene from my new novel manuscript traces its roots to my professor years when I would challenge students 5-10 times per class to complete the blank ending to the statement: “What I am learning about myself right now is . . . ?”

     The repeated question and the answers, no matter what they are, or who offers them, achieve two primary objectives for human growth and development:

1) The question itself literally forces increased awareness of the present (here and now) moment, which is of course the only true reality, and

2) The answers force increased awareness of the self.

     “Why would I want to know more about me?” is a question often offered in response to the question. And the answer to that one is that the more each of us knows about ourselves and what it is that makes each of us “tick,” so to speak, the better equipped we are to more easily relate to and communicate with and understand others.

     In business, increased self-awareness translates to exceptional sales and exceptional customer service. In management, it is the cornerstone of true leadership. In life, it is the key to human authenticity.

     So, let’s backtrack here a minute . . . increased awareness of the present moment. Is there any other? Are not the past and future moments we tend to dwell on and worry about simply reservoirs of fantasy? They’re not here now.

If the moments are past, nothing can be done to change them.

Though memories can be educational and also soothing, when we reach the point of dwelling on them, we are pushing the emotionally unhealthy envelope of make-believe, and losing sight of what’s right in front of us.

If the moments haven’t come yet, they may never.

Expectations can be fun, but they also breed disappointment.

Planning is an important function for all humans, yet when we reach the point of worrying about what hasn’t yet come. we are pushing that emotionally unhealthy envelope of make-believe — also losing sight of what’s right in front of us.

     So there you have a gourmet serving of reasons to want to be learning as much about your self as you possibly can. When? As many waking moments of your day-to-day existence as you can muster. The financial, emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual ROI (Return On Investment, for our non-business-minded visitors) can be astronomical.

     You needn’t look far for great achievers in every walk of life who have strongly endorsed or who presently do underscore this thinking. Will you? What does it take for you to make the choice to open this focus? What are you learning about yourself right this minute?     

302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You.

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT Day for someone!

You’re the boss, but 

are you a happy camper?

     If you’re not a professional athlete and you need energy drinks to keep afloat, or nine or ten cups of coffee every day just to stay alert, on track, and in control, you are definitely not a happy camper.

     You are fighting with yourself and not sleeping much.

     But you’re not alone. You definitely don’t want to hear the latest findings about unhappy work situations, depression, anxiety, stress, illnesses, accident-proneness, and insomnia.

     Just know that the numbers are staggering enough to underscore that you’re in good company, or perhaps bad company as it may be (?).

     Just an awareness of how common these issues are should prompt you to pursue your options.

     But odds are —like a student I remember telling me didn’t think he had enough time to take my time management course — that you continue to manage to sidestep alternative ways of thinking. What’s that “Got Milk?” thing? Uh, got excuses? 

     Sidestepping is an art form all by itself. Sometimes it’s in your own or others’ best interests. Sometimes it’s not.

     Sidestepping is not in your own and others’ best interests when it puts your life or the lives of others on the edge . . . hanging precipitously on the cusp of the kinds of physical, emotional and psychological ailments itemized in the third paragraph above.

Suffice it to say that being overworked, unhappy in relationships, constantly worried about money, jacked up on caffeine, and never sleeping enough is a description that probably fits — at least in part — the majority of Americans in today’s workforce.” 

     Sidestepping is not in your own or others’ best interests when you foster or nurture worklife environments that breed these kinds of symptoms.   Are you breathing?     

     Does this mean you need to be the Sheriff of Civility, and fire offenders, or put them behind bars? Silly, huh? Well how silly is it that you consistently choose to set yourself up to get whacked out by stress, and become the poster-boy or poster-girl for serving up on-the-job heart attack appetizers by setting a lousy example?

     What if you came in to work tomorrow morning and drank juice or water instead of Red Bull or whatever it is that presently floats your boat? (Careful to wean off the caffeine unless you enjoy headaches.) Would people notice? Of course. Would they tease and whisper? Of course. Would it prompt them to think twice about their own caffeine-loading habits?  Of course.

     And would choosing to change that simple behavior be a good thing overall for productivity, customer service, sales,  operations, and your own well-being? Of course. Will it happen overnight? Now, come on, how long did it take to work up to nine or ten daily cups of coffee, or get everybody hooked on energy drinks? 

     This isn’t about three or four cups of coffee a day, or getting into occasional bad moods, or interfering in people’s personal lives. It’s about closing the floodgates.

     This is about recognizing you have a chance to help others to live more enjoyable and rewarding lives by making the conscious choice to help yourself to do that, and setting an example . . . it’s about making that choice over and over every day.

    www.TheWriterWorks.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and our troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

“As the crow flies” not

  always the best route.

     Regardless of whether you own and/or operate your own business (or department, or classroom, or nonprofit, or military unit) you no doubt share one common key ingredient with other leaders: You schmooze!

     How much you schmooze is a function of:

1) the character of your organization and industry or profession

2) the nature of the people involved 

3) the nature of the tasks to be done 

     But the bottom line is that you must do whatever it takes every day to motivate others to get the job done that you need done.

     Schmoozing methods vary widely.

     In some cases (more so, for example, in military, quasi-military, medical/first-aid treatment, factory floor and fishing boat management, heavy equipment or high-risk construction and farming supervision roles), being direct and issuing direct orders is the accepted norm.

     Schmoozing, in these cases, usually only occurs once leaders and followers are “off the firing line,” so to speak (e.g., lunch, coffee breaks).

     Leaders need to be constantly on the alert for changing business, political, and economic climates that influence and dictate changing work habits and situations.

     Bringing a task team of creative professionals or consulting scientists onto a factory floor, for instance, may call for considerably more diplomacy and sensitivity than would typically be needed to accomplish the tasks at hand. Leading a SWAT Team, on the other hand . . .

     Giving outsource experts direct orders is not likely to foster a spirit of cooperation or generate meaningful results. On the other hand, the follow-orders discipline that keeps the plant safe and productive cannot be abandoned.

It takes skill to walk thin lines.

     Walking thin lines is where real leaders excel . . . 5-star generals, top transplant surgeons, fishing boat captains, counter-terrorism team supervisors . . . they schmooze. They know the who, what, when, where, why, and how of holding hands and nurturing, while simultaneously keeping one hand firmly on the controls. 

     It may take a little longer, and it may involve more mental (possibly even more physical) work to gracefully detour around a highly-charged situation than to directly engage it. So, what is all this speculation and pussy-footing have to do with leadership?

     It is simply a reminder that strong leadership is the product of good judgment, and that every set of circumstances every day calls for exercising fresh perspectives in judgment. But, hey, that’s why you get the big bucks, right? 

     Anyway, before you fly with the crow, ask yourself if what you are doing right this very minute is leading you to where you want to go. Maybe the order you’re about to issue will produce better results packaged as a schmoozy request? Hmmm, something there remind you of the way to catch more flies? 

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. God Bless America and our troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

Tweet it or beat it.

     I write. Among many other things (mostly marketing, advertising, PR, sales, blogs, and websites), I write books.

     So the other day, when I received notice that some Southwestern-based “writing” business was a new Twitter “follower” of mine, I proceeded to do a quick check to validate their legitimacy and see if there might be some compatible interests.

     Unlike the quest to win popularity by amassing huge numbers of any “followers,” I have instead always pursued a course of selectivity. I choose only those followers who share interest in entrepreneurial leadership, writing, personal and professional growth and development and/or small business ownership and management ideas and issues.

     By sacrificing quantity for quality, I have of course -in the process- learned to accept the humility of trading off my options to compete in the who’s-got-the-most-followers type of confrontation with Ellen and Lady Gaga. But, hey, I cut my own mustard. Besides, some say I have better legs than both of them!

     Okay, back to business— so my little Googlization due diligence effort produces a website for these “book writers,” which I scan quickly and then decide to click back that I’ll follow them too. After all, their business, I discovered, like part of mine, writes and ghostwrites books for other people too. Hmmm, maybe I’ll learn a thing or two by watching their “Tweets.”  

     Now let’s sidetrack here a minute to explain for the benefit of all non-Twitterers (there are maybe 27 or 28 of you on the planet?) that some people who get new followers think they need to respond to each new follower with a direct message (DM) “thank you” note.

     Some think that because you have clicked on them to follow their little posts, that the flood gates are now open for them to to rush into your Inbox with some bombardment of sales spiels, like “Thanks for following. Now that we’re friends, here’s how to get 283,000 new followers by a month from Tuesday for three easy payments of just $29.95 plus tax and handling charges of $117 per order.”

     Still others respond to your (no doubt brainless) decision to follow them by replying with a (shudder) robot message that thanks you profusely and may offer a “gift” at a website that usually sounds something like http://UBmybestnewtwitterfolloweronearthoranyplaceelseintheuniverse.com

     Then there’re the hard-sell follower guys: Hi. Thx for follow. When U need to clean your pipes or fix your drip, call Flushoff Plumbing at 800-Brown-Down. Starting to get the picture? Twitter kinda has it all.

     So what to my wondering eyes do appear within minutes of my click to be a follower of this book writer business but one of those DM thank you notes that says:

“Who do you than needs to write a book?”

     Huh? I’m not thinking you guys are going to be on my shortlist of likely collaborators or some shing star stable of literary talent I might refer others to. What’s it add up to? An unforgivable screw-up with no second chance at a miserable first impression.

     How careful are you and your people with the wording in your messages? If even a self-proclaimed book-writing business doesn’t use Spellcheck. chances are that many companies which have nothing to do with writing or publishing, don’t use it either.

     A word to the wise is that using Spellcheck makes you look good –especially to prospects and customers. Not using it makes you look unprofessional and dumb. Sloppy messages communicate to the recipient that the sender doesn’t care enough about her or him to bother with ensuring clear communications. 

     Sloppy messages may work for friends, but not for business. 

Happy Twittering!

 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US 

Thanks for visiting. God bless you and God bless America.        

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance”– Thomas Jefferson.        

Go for your goals and make today a great day for someone!

Your business may

be your life, but your

life is not a business!

     Entrepreneur, right? So what does it take to jolt your brain out of that innovative thinking tunnel long enough to appreciate and enjoy some of the real-life reasons you exist on this planet to begin with? (Clue: This is not a Red Bull chug-a-lug contest idea!)

     Will a family birth deliver enough power surge to give you a wake-up call? Not enough? How about a couple of funerals? Maybe a fender bender or stepping in your neighbor’s Saint Bernard’s leavings when you’re running late and rushing to an important meeting? A nasty bill collector pounding on your door?

     Stop for a minute. You’ve read this far looking for some kind of answer or provocation or support or or assessment tool, but maybe you need to consider asking yourself more questions before you start looking for answers?

     When, for example, did you last stop to smell the roses? Literally. Be honest here; no one else is looking. When did you last interrupt your compulsive workday habits to sniff?

     When did you last push the paperwork aside to give your complete attention to a troubled associate, employee, supplier, or customer? Did it make you crazy to have to shift gears out of your head space and into someone else’s?

     After all, life is just a bowl of worries, you might think, so why get caught up in other people’s bowls? 

     When you make yourself too busy to socialize or too busy to deal with priorities, inventory your actions to make sure you’re not just doing tasks of avoidance. Do you find the expression, “Yes, but . . .” (or the sentiments it represents) creeping into more and more of your answers. Are your responses to questions starting to sound more like reactions, or excuses?

     If you can respond instead of react, you can never over-react!

     Are you breathing? Click here for the free 60-second exercise

     Your business may occupy most of your waking hours (and probably some dream time too!), but neglecting your health — eating, drinking, sleeping, and exercise habits — and neglecting your family and friends and neighbors and community, is not a good trade-off (unless of course you’re bucking to be the object of one of those funerals mentioned earlier)!

     The better you are at business, the more focused you are on your business, the more rewarding your business efforts, the greater the odds that you are setting a trap for yourself to start to think your life is also a business, or is part of your business pursuits. You will start making excuses to yourself about why you need to stay on the job, to the point of being a crispy, well-done burn-out.

     You may start to look on life, and manage and operate it as if it were a business. This is clearly not a healthy place for anyone to be. Breaks are more than pulling yourself away from the desk or workspace. Breaks are rests for your brain that are like investments, and that will pay back with ever increased energy, productivity, and innovativeness when you return to your career pursuits.

     You need ’em. Take ’em! If you can’t do it, get some professional help . . . no excuses.

# # #

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Once you’ve gathered it,

what do you do with it?

     We’ve all experienced it, some more than others. Leaders, campaigns, competitors, gamblers, teams, and combatants “get on a roll.” 

     Webster’s defines it as “strength or force gained by motion or through the development of events.” The Flip Dictionary says it’s “drive, energy, force, impetus, motion, thrust, tide, velocity.” Roget’s Thesaurus adds “push, drive, impulse, go, and speed” to the list.

     As a human attribute, it can be here one minute, and gone the next . . . it’s all about MOMENTUM.

     One baseball team gets two runs and goes ahead, gaining momentum in the game, but the next two batters strike out and the third out is made by an amazing outfield catch. BOING! Momentum shifts.

     Momentum untangles a sales pro from an ordinary day and throws her into the control seat of a speeding locomotive.

     Like a giant hand gently pressing your spine forward, momentum is a psychological phenomenon that produces surges of self-confidence-boosting thoughts and behaviors.

     No one goes home at 10am after making a big sale at 9am. That’s when he trots off instead to see all the non-committal hanger-on prospects, that’s when the sales lead generation task becomes challenging and inviting.

     Those are the moments of “Well, let’s not stop here; now I’m on a role; lemme into that pipeline! Now’s the time to go get those other sales that I’ve been dragging my feet on.”

     Business leaders of every description thrive on momentum. When everyone in a department “clicks” and the workload is happily and productively dispensed with, leaving time for a celebratory water cooler or snack room gathering, that’s momentum in action.

     The funny part is that the same thoughts and actions that serve to gather momentum also work to sustain it.

     Making conscious choices to do whatever it takes to make things work to your favor, and then making those choices again and again and again and again throughout the hour, and the day, and the week, and the month…is all the magic you need. Even in sales.

     I know, I know, sales –that is, selling– is a multi-faceted, job function that demands more than attitude. Or does it?

     Sure, your appearance and product/service know-ledge, promptness, a genuine smile and handshake, a couple of attractive “deals” up your sleeve, and a strong listening skill-set are all critical ingredients, but the attitude you choose to practice dictates how well those multi-facets perform!

     And what’s this to do with leadership? Sales and selling are just part of the business. Perhaps, but every business needs every person in the business to be selling all the time, every day.

     Selling needs to be as much the responsibility of the owner and the operations head and the financial head and the IT head as all the other functions they perform. Even in big business.

     Talk to yourself. Tell yourself you won’t settle for sedentary status quo hours and days and weeks. Remind yourself that you’ve got what it takes and that it’s all inside your head.

     No one else and no event can control what you think. What you think and how you act are 100% your choice. Choose success and productivity and keep choosing it.   

www.TWWsells.com or 302.933.0116 or Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless:  You, America, and Our Troops. “The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson]  Make today a GREAT Day!

Two Simple Examples:

“Do!” vs. “Say!” and

“How?” vs. “Why?”

     I’ll never forget the lesson I learned many years ago as a young college professor when I tried using a Gestalt Therapy “Empty Chair Role-Playing” technique with a disgruntled student in a business career development classroom.

     I used the wrong word. The angry student nearly injured at least two or three other students because I said “do” instead of “say.” 

     Facing an empty wooden chair I placed in front of him, I draped my jacket over the back and asked Tony, who was extremely annoyed with his boss, what he would do if his boss was in that jacket sitting in that chair facing him right now.

     Tony strode defiantly toward the empty chair, picked it up and flung it full force over the six rows of floor-divers and ducking heads, smashing it to smithereens against the back wall. Lucky for him (and for me) that no one was hurt.

     You’re the boss, right? Ask any employee WHY she or he was late to work or an appointment or meeting. What’s the response? Ask WHY some operational function broke down or WHY your best customer account had been gradually cutting back their orders while increasing competitive purchases. What are the responses you get?

     The word, “Why?” is a request for reasons. It is a set up for anyone to respond with excuses. Asking “Why?” will never solve a problem.

     The most current example of how this word mix-up fails, comes from a befuddled White House asking why the catastrophic Philadelphia train derailment happened, instead of taking a genuine leadership position and asking “HOW?” . . . “HOW can we fix it?” would certainly have been a better approach and accomplished more. Corrective actions speak louder than analytical investigations. 

     Yes, of course there’s a bit more to this last example. It would seem to most businesspeople rather inconceivable that anything as potentially disastrous as a derailment by a government-run railroad that resulted in at least 7 deaths and hundreds of injuries could be ignored for half a day, and even then, still be preoccupied with where to place blame instead of how to solve the problem.

     So, yes, timing is a critical ingredient in word choice, but difficulties often start and end with the exact words selected and used. Before you might jump to conclusions about some issue in your workspace, you may want to respond prudently instead of react in ways that simply make the situation worse.

     Pause long enough before speaking to consider how the recipient(s) might perceive the words you choose, as well as the integrity of your timing.

     These examples and this discussion are not far-fetched by any means. Imagine such vast differences (as between “do” and “say” or “how?” and “why?”) in word choices you use — or overlook or let slide —  in your advertising, marketing, promotion, public relations, customer service, sales presentation.

     Was it your grandfather who said “think first and speak second”?

   # # #

931,854,0474       Hal@BusinessWorks.US  

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals! God Bless You. 

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Make today a GREAT day for someone!