The best “CHANGE” message 

What are you waiting for?

Tapping Feet Tap

Untapped Potential

—–Take Note Owners, Managers, and Sales Professionals—– 

     Any good coach will tell you that nervousness is often a good source of energy that can be productively channeled.

     Stress is not always negative. Positive stress is required to be able to read this right now, to sit in a chair without falling off, to make love and excel in sports (well, okay, maybe not at the same time!), to talk on the phone … even, btw, txt msg!

     When stress, however, becomes negative … when it reaches a point of dis-stress or over-stress, it becomes physically, mentally, and emotionally unhealthy … often taking the high-risk leap from nonproductive to COUNTER-productive. It can quickly suck unsuspecting others into the whirlpool it creates.  

NOTE: Holidays are a primary cause of both negative and positive stress. To be better equipped to manage your holiday stress effectively, and keep it tipping to the “plus” side, go here for a 60-second quick fix:  http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw

     When you observe a customer or employee tapping feet (or other extremities), odds are (almost universally) that the individual does not want to be where she or he is, and is anxious to get out of the room or extract her or himself from the present situation.

     When you observe this, acknowledge the anxieties attached to the circumstances — show some put-yourself-in-their-shoes empathy (unless their shoes are by this time, really clicking away recklessly, in which case you may want to 911 a podiatrist!) —  and suggest an option like:

“Why don’t we take a break here and…”

“Let’s think on that subject for a little bit and talk about this other issue…”

     Like a speaker who’s focused on shifting verbal gears in order to prompt defensive arms-crossed listeners to “unfold” arms and rest their hands more receptively at their sides or on the table, you need to try out different thought directions.

     See if you can get the tappingto subside without calling attention to it. Raising someone’s consciousness about her or his nervousness can make that person even more jittery.

The more the tap subsides, the less you need to dance!

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You’re going to work for a

living SOME where, right?

Recommended: Print & pass to a business hopeful attending or considering college

     So you’ve earned a PhD, an MBA, LLB, MD, MS, MA, and all kinds of bachelor and associate degrees. You are Mr. or Mrs. (maybe “Dr.” ?) Joe (Josephine?) College, in the flesh. And the academic credentials got you a decent job. Now what? Do you seriously believe your 4.0 grade average means you’ve got what it takes to thrive … even survive?

     After your punishing (and expensive!) labs, coursework, exams, thesis papers and consulting with so-called “Academic Advisors,” if you have learned anything less than HOW to put ALL of the following to work, you’re in big-time trouble, and college put you there.

     Can you honestly say you have learned how to practice (and hopefully excel at) ALL of these attributes?:

• Making Decisions
• Managing Stress
• Managing Time
• Managing Customers
• Communicating Clearly
• Being a Leader
• SELLING
• Delegating
• Innovating
• Being a Team Player
• Listening and Giving Feedback
• Organizing
• Empathizing
• Respecting Others
• Being Genuine, Honest and Transparent
• Valuing Experience
• Accepting Criticism
• Setting and Pursuing Goals
• Being Accountable and Cultivating Trust
• Avoiding Political and Psychological “Games”

     Give or take perhaps a couple of the above items, these are the attributes that add up to being effective in business or professional practice (ANY business or professional practice) and without which, your road to success will be a long one indeed, especially if you aspire to a forward-moving or productive management position.

     Good leaders do all of these things well. So do good salespeople. All good leaders are also, not incidentally, good salespeople [SEE TOMORROW’S POST ON THIS SUBJECT!]  

     What’s sad about all this is that institutions of higher learning (other than a very small handful that do in fact address a number of these subjects as part of academic platforms on, for example, nursing and entrepreneurship and some behavioral sciences like human development) not only scoot around these issues; they outright reject them.

     Colleges and universities (again with rare exception) fail to value reality. They are invested in fantasizing on the past which will never come again, or the future which hasn’t yet arrived, and may never. They refuse to acknowledge their hands in front of their faces.

     So YOU end up losing out to an arcane system of learning that fails to deal with preparing students for life in the real world. It’s true.

How do I know? I’ve worked extensively in creative roles with Fortune 500 companies, as a consultant with entrepreneurial businesses and professional practices, as a management trainer for over 20,000 business and healthcare executives, and as “Professor of the Year” at a major university and two colleges. I’ve been in the thick of it.

     You DO have a way out. There IS hope. You need to first accept that you’ve been taught subject matter, not real life applications, not how to succeed. Second, you must commit to yourself to learn as much as you possibly can about yourself as possible.

The more you know about what makes you “tick,”

the more skilled and successful a leader you will be.

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Prepare to get your

socks knocked off!

     Great leadership is not always a product of war, sports, and business. Prepare to get your socks knocked off by taking 3 minutes out of your life to watch this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqbVbPvlDoM

     I guarantee it will make you smile. Many will laugh out loud. Some will cry. Because great leadership does that. And this, my dear entrepreneurial business owner, operator, and manager friends, is a fantastic example of great leadership. [If you’ve seen it before, watch it now from a business perspective!]

     Don’t shrug off this request if you’re serious about wanting to be a more effective leader. This is NOT your typical classroom or textbook approach to the subject. Take a quick visit to the link above, then jump back here for some insight and thought-provokers that you’ll never get from your ex-boss or your corporate gorilla brother-in-law.

     Go. Then come back…  

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     Welcome back! Now, that you’ve seen it [I was right, right?], think about what it is exactly that makes this performance such an outstanding example of perfect leadership. Skip the temptation to 0ffer wisecracks for a minute, and concentrate on what it is that you just saw happen. What connection did you see with the values and concepts that are suggested by the  following words? 

• SHARED MISSION
• CONFIDENCE
• TRUST
• CONCENTRATED ENERGY
• TEAMWORK
• FUN
• MUTUAL RESPECT
• POSITIVE ATTITUDE
• HIGH SPIRITS
• COMMUNICATION AND FEEDBACK
• LOYALTY
• PRACTICE
• “HERE AND NOW” FOCUS

     Have you ever experienced a leader of any kind who hasn’t exemplified a good handful of the attributes listed above? What do YOU need to do to cultivate more of these attributes for your SELF? How can you encourage and stimulate more of these practices in your own organization? 

     And curiously worth noting, no tangible rewards were offered. Did you notice any INtangible rewards? How big a role did nonverbal communication play in achieving success?  Are you sitting there on your hands, laughing smugly to yourself that this analogy is ridiculous because you are dealing with real, live, human beings, not a golden retriever … and you are the boss, not an animal trainer? Are you thinking that? I hope not.

     If you own or run a business or part of one, the reality is — whether you like it or not — that you are seen every day of the week by those who report to you, as a surrogate parent. You are a maternal or paternal figure to your employees. That makes you a trainer.

     They will do as you tell them, to a fault, if they respect you. And you will gain and hold their respect by practicing as many of the above-itemized attributes as possible as often as possible — in person, on the phone, in emails, in meetings.

     Why does it matter? Because the sum total of what you do, or have already been doing, with what’s presented here in this blog post will determine the branding of your organization. Branding is all about conduct, credibility, integrity, trust, and authenticity.

     Is that what YOUR branding is all about? What can you cherry-pick from here (and the video) that will move your branding — through your leadership — closer to where you want it to be?        

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“It’s not MY job!”

     Ever heard this before? Or is it just my imagination? Odds are someone in your business either says something like this, or has the underlying attitude but doesn’t express it openly.

     The person who rejects  awareness, spontaneity and (friendship / partner / spousal) intimacy also rejects the responsibility for shaping her or his own life. She or he is someone who thinks of him or herself as either lucky or unlucky, assuming without question that it’s meant to be and: can’t or shouldn’t be changed, or that only ______ can change it.

 Sound familiar? This is the same individual who

     routinely proclaims (or thinks): “It’s not MY job!”

     By contrast, the autonomous person  is concerned with “being.” He or she allows his/her own capacities to unfold and encourages others to do the same. These are the kinds of individuals who project their own possibilities into the future as realistic goals which give aim and purpose to their lives.

     They sacrifice  only when they are giving up a lesser value for a greater value according to their own personal value systems. They are not concerned with getting more, but with being more. 

My philosophy is that not only are you responsible for your life, but doing the best at this moment puts you in the best place for the next moment.”

— OPRAH WINFREY

     As a business owner or manager, and especially in today’s economy,  you really can’t afford to have people working for you with this attitude. E V E R Y person in your business needs to accept responsibility for doing whatever needs to be done whenever it needs to be done as long as he or she has the ability to do it.

     But this doesn’t mean that you need to be a shrink  with employees who evidence a not-my-job mentality. It DOES suggest that you may want to think hard about keeping this kind of person on payroll.

     If it’s a locked-in situation  and you can’t let go of her or him right now, set a deadline for change, explain it clearly and gently, then teach by example. Do recognize that it takes courage for someone like that to rise to the occasion, and reward any evidence of attempts with “pat-on-the-back” comments and encouragement to keep at it. 

     You’ll always get more of what you genuinely

appreciate, praise and reward.   

With special thanks to human relations/communications consultants Muriel James and Dorothy Jongeward for the inspiration and adaptations from their classic book BORN TO WIN: Transactional Analysis with Gestalt Experiments    

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Listen To Yo Mama!

     Remember those stern warnings  you used to get, but don’t anymore because now you’re a hot-shot business owner or manager and you don’t need anybody telling you what to do anymore?

     Remember being told  to “Listen To Yo Mama!” and you would study your feet and mumble some feeble “Yes’am” or “Yessir” then back out the kitchen door with your tail between your legs because you knew in your heart that Mama was right? Remember?

     And nobody dares tell you that stuff now, now  that you’re the boss? Ah, but bear with me here. Just read a little more. Why? Because you don’t sign my paycheck, so I can tell you what I think straightout! Here it is. Ready?

     If you don’t take care of you,  you can’t be any good to anyone else . . . and you certainly aren’t going to make your business work from a hospital bed! (Sound like Mama?) Well, my dear blog visiting business-minded muckity-muck, just because nobody is on your case about if and when and how you take care of your SELF, doesn’t excuse you from stepping up to the plate!

     Yeah, yeah, yeah,  you say. But you know what? If you don’t eat right, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t sleep right, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t exercise enough, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t quit smoking and drink in moderation, nobody else will do it for you. If you don’t switch from drugs to vitamins, nobody else will do it for you.

     Oh, and of course, if you don’t take enough deep breaths: http://bit.ly/Bb1Tw . . . well, there are machines that can help. The bottom line is that when you are not taking care of you, you are not taking care of your business, and the whole enchilada is YOUR CHOICE!

     We CHOOSE our behavior.  Okay, so why on Earth would you choose to want to continue with self-destruct behaviors that will kill you AND your business (as MY mother used to put it) in two shakes of a lamb’s tail (and THAT’s pretty quick!) when you have SO much opportunity ahead of you?

     Do us a favor, okay?  When you wake up tomorrow morning, clap your hands together twice as Zig Ziglar suggests, and say (with as much enthusiasm as you can):

OH BOY! WHAT A GREAT DAY TO GET UP AND GET TO IT. I BELIEVE SOMETHING WONDERFUL IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME TODAY!”

     Then keep choosing  to take care of your SELF all day because you’ll be choosing to get both your business self and your business together like you’ve never been together before. Go on, do it! Just do it for three days in a row. You might surprise yourself . . . and maybe even jumpstart your sales! (and this advice is not only proven; it’s cheaper than a lottery ticket!)     

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Get Yourself Cranked

In One Minute FREE!

Let me tell you, you haven’t lived until you’ve gotten something this good for free. And it works, and there are no sales gimmicks or strings attached. It simply is good solid proven stuff that I taught for many years in high-priced management training programs. And here it is for my blog visitors just for visiting!

If you own or run or manage or operate a business or part of a business, you are probably already a partial nutcase so I won’t try to make you sane. But I WILL give you a technique you can use every day, over and over, that I guarantee will make a difference for you if you are your usual tenacious self about following through.

Best times for this:

• 1. As soon as you wake up in the morning
• 2. Before you go to bed at night
• 3. While exercising (especially in rhythm to your walking or jogging or lifting or stretching)
• 4. Every time you can possibly think of it during the night or workday, and can sneak in 60 seconds

Take the following as a guide and adapt it to your SELF. Say it convincingly to yourself as much as you possibly can for 21 days.

If you do this with serious concentration and conviction and enthusiasm (even when you don’t feel enthusiastic and even when you are NOT all of the things you are saying to yourself!), you will be truly amazed at the results you produce within a short period of time. 

Ready? Here you go… 132 words… CHANT!

“Healing energy in; healing energy in; healing swirling white light into my body.  

I AM my body: left/right/center. 

I am relaxed, happy, alert, safe and sound, healthy (I’m getting younger every day, stronger every day, more flexible every day, healthier every day), wealthy (all my bills are paid; all my debts are paid; money comes easily and frequently). 

I am painfree day and night; my mind and emotions are clear; I am staying at my ideal weight of xxx pounds and am physically fit. 

I sleep easily and wake up when I need to, feeling rested and alert.  

I treat all people, animals and plants with caring and respect. I recognize that everyone I meet is fighting SOME kind of battle.

Something wonderful is going to happen to me today!”

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“Envy is the religion

of the mediocre.”

–CARLOS RUIZ ZAFON, From his best-selling novel The Angel’s Game

      All of us have envied someone.  We’re human. But let’s hope by now we’ve outgrown those feelings or learned –perhaps the hard way– to put them aside. If you’re still struggling with them, and you also happen to be in the position of running a business, it might be a good idea to give some thought to where envious feelings are leading you.

     When someone else hits a home run  in business (in your industry or marketplace, or inside your own company!) many business owners and managers turn the other way, sometimes with a “shoulda been me” look of scorn on their faces…especially if the success is achieved by a competitor and / or a brother-in-law and / or a former employee…you get the picture. So what else is there to do except feel resentful?

     Well, how about  examine what went right for the other person and decide if there are any ingredients involved that might have application to your circumstances? I’m not suggesting that you have to pile on the other guy’s bandwagon and be an adoring teammate, or president of his or her fan club. I’m saying instead that it pays to be a detective and an explorer.

     When you take the time and trouble  to step back from what’s going on and what has been achieved, and objectively review and evaluate what has taken place that’s produced the end result, you will also be in  a better position to assess the dynamics of what occurred and have a clearer idea of what might possibly apply to your circumstances.

     In other words, take advantage  of what you know and what you can find out, and choose to make the  most of that information (instead of choosing to feel upset or depressed or vindictive or annoyed or ambivalent… or envious!)

     If “the road to hell”  is indeed “paved with good intentions,” envy of other’s accomplishments will most assuredly help to hustle you along the way. Instead make a conscious choice to put away your ego, and see each potentially envious situation as a great learning opportunity that you can absorb from and capitalize on. Take notes. Smile more. Open minds open doors.                          

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Stop with picking your

yellow leaves, already!

     How many times a day, a week,  do you leave your desk to pick yellow leaves from the office plants, abandon your construction site for the nearest donut shop, surf the web while waiting for a conference or call, watch some horrendous network news on a waiting room TV, burst your energy balloon trying to think of who the person across from you reminds you of?

     Have you really nothing better to do?  Of course you do. So HOW do you choose to while away time that you have so much less of than you could possibly imagine, in even your wildest dreams? Notice I’m asking you to deal with PROCESS. What are the steps you go through to arrive at the point of workday lingering, daydreaming, hanging, dawdling, puttering, lazing?

     If you do this a lot, btw,  you are surely a government or corporate employee. [Don’t be offended; mindset-wise, there really is very little difference, you know, except that corporate folks actually have to turn a profit to earn a living.] Hopefully, you simply drift off occasionally and that’s it. If it’s more than once or twice a week, though, you may be part of the problem!

     Here’s a bright spot or two on this subject…

     As motivational guru Earl Nightingale  has often reminded us: YOU BECOME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT! http://halalpiar.com/2009/10/what-are-you-thinking/ and my sign for the wall for you, the boss, to help keep you focused http://halalpiar.com/2009/10/message-for-the-bosss-wall/ These two links will provide all the support you’ll ever need to change your fuzzy ways and be more productive.

     BUT, maybe you care not,  and can’t even concentrate enough to find a towel to throw in. Well, if THAT’s the case, think quick and hard about the last person who surprised you by dying. Is that where your lackadaisical, ambivalent, noncommittal, ass-dragging, not-give-a-damn attitude is taking you? Hmmmm. Getting a little heavy-handed there, huh? Well, no, not really…not if this message arrives in time to be a wake up call.

     The point is  that we need to be –as Henry David Thoreau once urged– forever on the alert! It’s VERY easy to slip into nonproductive, time-wasting tasks of avoidance that become hard to account for when we’re not getting where we want to go.

     I don’t know about getting your nose to the grindstone  (which I would think is a painful maneuver), pulling yourself up by the bootstraps (a difficult task for those wearing sneakers), and putting your head down and charging (which could no doubt be REALLY painful). All at the same time? Sounds messy to me.

     But keeping tuned in to the present moment  each passing moment as much as possible will sure go a long way toward keeping your life and work in a happy balance.

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