 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
|
|
July 31, 2008 If you want to be a leader who attracts quality people, the key is to become a person of quality yourself. Leadership is the ability to attract someone to the gifts, skills, and opportunities you offer as an owner, as a manager, as a parent. What's important in leadership is refining your skills. All great leaders keep working on themselves until they become effective. Here are some specifics: Learn to be strong but not impolite. It is an extra step you must take to become a powerful, capable leader with a wide range of reach. Some people mistake rudeness for strength. It's not even a good substitute. Next, learn to be kind but not weak. We must not mistake weakness for kindness. Kindness isn't weak. Kindness is a certain type of strength. We must be kind enough to tell someone the truth. We must be kind enough and considerate enough to lay it on the line. We must be kind enough to tell it like it is and not deal in delusion. Next, learn to be bold but not a bully. It takes boldness to win the day. To build your influence, you've got to walk in front of your group. You've got to be willing to take the first arrow, tackle the first problem, discover the first sign of trouble. Like the farmer, if you want any rewards at harvest time, you have got to be bold and face the weeds and the rain and the bugs straight on. You've got to seize the moment. Here's the next step. You've got to learn to be humble but not timid. You can't get to the high life by being timid. Some people mistake timidity for humility. But humility is a virtue; timidity is a disease. It's an affliction. It can be cured, but it is a problem. Humility is almost a God-like word. A sense of awe. A sense of wonder. An awareness of the human soul and spirit. An understanding that there is something unique about the human drama versus the rest of life. Humility is a grasp of the distance between us and the stars, yet having the feeling that we're part of the stars. Here's a good tip: Learn to be proud but not arrogant. It takes pride to build your ambitions. It takes pride in your community. It takes pride in a cause, in accomplishment. But the key to becoming a good leader is to be proud without being arrogant. Do you know the worst kind of arrogance? Arrogance from ignorance. It's intolerable. If someone is smart and arrogant, we can tolerate that. But if someone is ignorant and arrogant, that's just too much to take. The next step is learning to develop humor without folly. In leadership, we learn that it's okay to be witty but not silly; fun but not foolish. Next, deal in realities. Deal in truth. Save yourself the agony of delusion. Just accept life as it is. Life is unique. The whole drama of life is unique. It's fascinating. Life is unique. Leadership is unique. The skills that work well for one leader may not work at all for another. However, the fundamental skills of leadership can be adopted to work well for just about everyone: at work, in the community, and at home. To Your Success, Reprinted with permission from The Jim Rohn Ezine
July 30, 2008 When your eyes are open, you see the world that lies outside yourself. You see the items of the room you're in, the people, and the view of the landscape through the window. You take for granted that the objects are real and separate from yourself. However, successful individuals see the act of achieving in advance -- vivid, multi-dimensional, clear. Champions know that "What you see, is who you'll be." When you close your eyes, images and thoughts flow through your mind. You may review memories of past events, or preview future possibilities. You can daydream about what may be or what might have been, and your imagination will take you beyond the limits of space and time. Most people attach little importance to these inner visions. They may seem pleasantly irrelevant, or uncomfortably at odds with the accepted external reality. If you're like most people, you grew up with the idea that "Seeing is Believing." In other words, you need to physically see something with your own eyes to believe that it's real. I know many successful individuals who live this way. But there's an attitude that suggests, "Before you can see it, you have to believe it." This premise holds that our belief system is so powerful that thoughts can actually cause things to happen in the physical world. I also know many successful individuals who live according to this notion of reality. So which concept is nearer the truth? Do you have to see it before you believe it, or believe before you can see it? The answer is: both are basically true. If you can see something in your mind's eye, and you imagine it over and over again, you will begin to believe it is really there in substance. As a result, your actions, both physical and mental, will move to bring about in reality the image you are visualizing. During my university years at the U. S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, I underwent training in aircraft recognition. All of us midshipmen sat at one end of a hall while silhouettes of American and foreign military aircraft were flashed on a screen at speeds similar to combat situations. We were supposed to write down the numerical designations and names of the planes, such as A-4, F-ll-F, F-4, MIG-21, and so forth. But the task became more difficult each week, because they kept adding more planes, scrambling the order, and speeding up the projection. Finally, it got ridiculous, because the images were going by faster than an MTV music video so that most of us saw only a blur, and some didn't see anything. I began to see planes that weren't even invented yet. When it came time for the final exam, I didn't know for certain which planes I was seeing. I wrote down hunches, intuitions, and reflex responses. But when the test results were announced, virtually everyone had scored a perfect 100 percent. We had seen the planes, even if we didn't necessarily believe it. For me, that test proved that images can be stored and retained, unconsciously, at incredible speeds. And those stored images, when recalled, can enhance performance. What about the thousands of flickering images we see on a TV, computer or movie screen? What about commercials? Do we have to believe the products really do all those amazing things before we buy them? Do viewers have to think that violent scenes in movies and TV are actually occurring in real life for there to be a negative effect on their behavior? Many people believe that violent fantasy has no impact on their lives whatsoever, because they think they're too intelligent to be swayed by it. Well, I've got news for them. Whatever you see or experience, real or imagined, consciously or subliminally, when repeated vividly over and over, does affect your behavior, and definitely can influence you to buy a product or buy into a lifestyle, good or bad. Your attitude and beliefs are, quite simply, functions of what you see day in and day out. Information can be taken in almost unnoticed. You won't react to it until later, and you still won't be aware of what lies behind your response. In other words, what you see really is what you get, regardless of whether you know it or not. You don't need to be watching slides of airplanes, or TV shows, or music videos, video games, or commercials. You can be just lying down, or commuting to work, or walking through a park, and by seeing from within, in your mind's eye, you can change your life. By rehashing fears and problems, you can make yourself depressed. As a result you can botch a business deal, hurt a relationship, or lower your performance. By forecasting a gloomy outcome in your mind's eye, you can act as your own witch doctor and practice a modern-day kind of voodoo that will fulfill your negative prediction with uncanny accuracy. On the other hand, by replaying in your mind's eye the best game you ever played, you can repeat that best game again, when the stakes are even higher and the pressure is on. And by mentally pre-playing the best game you've ever imagined, you can set the stage for a world-class performance. This "instant replay" and "instant pre-play" applies to anything from a successful sales call or athletic event to the effective motivation of your teammates and children. Choose your role models and inputs carefully. Your attitudes and beliefs are the software programs driving you every day on life's journey. Denis Waitley Reprinted with permission from The Denis Waitley Ezine
July 29, 2008 Abraham Lincoln, truly one of our greatest presidents, had a rather unique approach in trying a case when he was a practicing attorney. He went to great lengths to learn everything he could about what the attorney for the "other side" would say... Then, in his arguments, Lincoln would do a superb job of presenting the case from his opponent's side of the table... On occasion, the attorney for the other side would make the observation that Lincoln had presented the opposition's case better than he could have. Reprinted with permission from Your Achievement Ezine
July 28, 2008 As president of Ford Motor Co., Robert McNamara once briefly pondered a decision made by one of his executives and then asked him, "What did you decide not to do?" It wasn't that McNamara thought the executive had made a poor decision - but how could he know for sure if he didn't know what options had been rejected? McNamara, as a wise and successful leader, wanted to be satisfied that multiple options had been considered. He didn't settle for the obvious decision, even if it looked good on the surface. He wanted the best decision. Why is it important to consider multiple options during the decision making process? Here are three reasons: 1. With options come possibilities. Driving in Atlanta traffic has trained me to become a student of the routes and time because they help define my options. When I arrive somewhere early, sometimes I double back and look for new ways to make the same trip. I want to know my options. That way, when the obvious route slows to a crawl, I know my options and I often come up with a creative solution. If we don't have options or if we don't know our options, we're stuck. We have little choice but to stay in the traffic jam. In decision making, if we do not have options, we only have one decision. And that decision may be the wrong decision, or it may not be the best decision. 2. With options come insights. Successful people engage that creative part of their minds and ask, "Well, I wonder how else I can look at this problem? I wonder how else I could deal with this decision? I wonder what other possibilities I have there?" 3. With options come options. Fred Smith, a businessman in Texas who has been one of my mentors, has a sign on his desk that says, "But on the other hand..." He's an optional thinker, and he's taught me to be an optional thinker, too. So when somebody asks me to make a decision about a situation, I don't offer a solution, I ask a question: What are our options? Give me the good, give me the bad, give me the pretty, give me the ugly, give me the impossible, give me the possible, give me the convenient, give me the inconvenient. Give me the options. All I want are options. And once I have all the options before me, then I comfortably and confidently make my decision. It is by no accident that John Maxwell has come to be known as a leader of leaders and mentor to thousands - his path and his purpose have been a single, straight thread since childhood. From the pulpit to the boardroom, his focus has always been to equip and inspire leaders at all levels. Reprinted with permission from The Jim Rohn Ezine
July 27, 2008 Two true stories from the travels of a weary sales trainer. Several years ago, flew to Hawaii last spring. First time. Seven hours in the plane makes a person a weary traveler. I was met at the airport by my host, and given the traditional lea (necklace of flowers). Fantasy fulfilled. Gritty from the plane ride, I enter the lobby of the Hawaii Prince Hotel -- walk over to the desk -- someone smiles at me -- says "aloha!", and gives me a hot steamed, moist washcloth -- ah! Just the refreshment and revitalization I needed. WOW, what a great way to greet a customer, what a welcome! How do you greet your customer? Other than the price of the room, the lobby, and a few nick-knacks in the room -- very little separates hotel rooms. A hot washcloth stopped me in my tracks. It was a surprise -- an unexpected moment of pleasure -- something small that separated the Hawaii Prince from all other (hundreds of) hotels I stayed in. What separates you from your competition? What made it memorable? It was such a small thing. But every time I check into a hotel I'm looking for the washcloth -- and disappointed when it doesn't show up. Where's the washcloth in your business? What standards are you setting? what makes people talk about you? What makes people look forward to doing business with you? What makes people tell others about your business? -- like I'm telling you about the Hawaii Prince Hotel. ---------------------------------------------------- Again, several years ago, the British Air flight from Budapest was delayed two hours -- fog in London. We're already locked on the plane on the runway. Trapped like rats. Usually I'm so mad I can't see straight. But today was different. The crew was not American -- It was British. The cabin crew supervisor (in Britain the title is "Cabin Service Director") Tony Adams grabbed the microphone and says -- there's nothing we can do about the fog -- but we can eat! The crew was delightful. Serving everyone real food with fresh brewed coffee and tea. Everyone is full and we finally take off. About an hour into the flight, Tony Adams, announces "A bit more bad news, I'm afraid -- It seems the fog has lifted, but the air traffic has backed things up another hour. For those of you making transfers -- don't worry too much -- this plane was supposed to take off for Sweden two minutes ago. The entire cabin laughed. Five minutes later, Adams is on the loud speaker again. "To pass the time, we're going to have a contest. Guess the collective age of the cabin crew -- and win a prize. And there's an additional prize if you guess my age exactly" I was shocked and amused -- so were the rest of the 150+ passengers. Fun on the airlines -- imagine that. Everyone was talking -- having a good time. The crew came through the cabin collecting scraps of paper from the passengers with their calculated guesses. The winner was announced over the loud speaker. WOW -- I was one of three winners who guessed his age "spot on" -- 46. Cool. My prize was nice, but not as nice as the feeling. "Are we strapped in and ready for landing, Sir?" The delightful flight attendant said in a jovial voice with her classic British accent. "It's about that time." She said happily. For the first time in 500 flights I couldn't wait to get my belt on. Tony comes on the microphone as we fly over London and says. "Below us is the House of Parliament where John Major is temporarily in power." The entire plane roared. They took a negative (obstacle) 3-hour delay, and turned it into a positive (opportunity) by making everyone extra happy. The good part when you do something out of the ordinary -- is that it not only creates a memory, it sets a standard. How do you follow it? The better part when you do something out of the ordinary -- is that it keeps you challenged to improve it each day. The best part when you do something out of the ordinary -- is that your competition is woefully lacking by comparison. On another British Air Flight, I'm getting ready to get off the plane -- waiting for the typical insincere, robotic message -- "have a nice day and thanks for flying ________ (plug in the airline's name)." Instead -- the lively first officer grabs the mike and says -- "Welcome to Paris -- If you're here for a business meeting -- I hope it's a successful one. If your here on holiday -- I hope it's a happy one. If you're making a transfer -- I hope its a smooth one. And when you're flying again -- I hope it's a British Air one." The people on the plane started to applaud. An unbelievable moment in customer service -- the customer clapping for the vendor. When's the last time your customer's applauded you? -- Jeffrey Gitomer
July 26, 2008 William Gladstone and Benjamin Disraeli were two of the fiercest political rivals of the 19th century. Their epic battles for control of the British Empire were marked by intense animosity that spilled over from the public arena into their personal lives. Ambitious, powerful, and politically astute, both men were spirited competitors and masterful politicians. Though each man achieved impressive accomplishments for Britain, the quality that separated them as leaders was their approach to people. The difference is best illustrated by the account of a young woman who dined with the men on consecutive nights. When asked about her impression of the rival statesmen, she said, "When I left the dining room after sitting next to Mr. Gladstone, I thought he was the cleverest man in England. But after sitting next to Mr. Disraeli, I thought I was the cleverest woman in England." What distinguished Disraeli from Gladstone was charisma. Disraeli possessed a personal charm sorely lacking in the leadership style of his rival. His personal appeal attracted friends and created favorable impressions among acquaintances. Throughout his career, Disraeli's charisma gave him an edge over Gladstone. UNDERSTANDING CHARISMA I believe charisma is both explainable and learnable. I also believe charisma helps to boost a leader's influence. That's why I included it in my book, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader. In this lesson, I'd like to examine the causes of charisma and teach you how to increase the charisma you display as a leader. THE QUALITIES OF A CHARISMATIC LEADER 1) They Love Life Leaders who attract a following are passionate about life. They are celebrators, not complainers. They're characterized by joy and warmth. Look no further than the smile to illustrate the power of charisma. When people see a smile, they respond with a smile. If you're skeptical, try it. Smile at cashiers, waiters, co-workers, etc. You'll find your smile earns a reciprocate smile almost every time. We are hardwired to take on the energy of those around us. Leaders who love life have charisma because they fill the room with positive energy. 2) They Value the Potential in People To become an attractive leader, expect the best from your people. I describe this behavior as "putting a 10 on everyone's head." Leaders see people, not as they are, but as they could be. From this vantage point, they help others to build a bridge from the present to a preferred future. Benjamin Disraeli understood and practiced this concept, and it was one of the secrets to his charisma. He once said, "The greatest good you can do for another is not to share your riches but to reveal to him his own." When you invest in people and lift them toward their potential, they will love you for it. 3) They Give Hope People have an inner longing to improve their future and their fortunes. Napoleon Bonaparte once said, "Leaders are dealers in hope." They infuse optimism into the culture around them, and they boost morale. While attentive to the current reality, they do not resign themselves to present circumstance. 4) They Share Themselves Leaders with charisma add value to people by sharing wisdom, resources, and even special occasions. They embrace the power of inclusion, inviting others to join them for learning experiences, brainstorming sessions, or simply a cup of coffee. Such leaders embrace team spirit and value togetherness. As a result, charismatic leaders are not lonely at the top. When it comes to charisma, the bottom line is other mindedness. For leaders, the greatest satisfaction is found by serving. They find great pleasure celebrating the successes of those around them, and the victory they enjoy the most is a team triumph. SUMMARY Furthermore, charisma compounds a leader's influence. Without it, leaders have trouble inspiring passion and energizing their teams. With it, leaders draw out the best in their people, give the best of themselves, and find the greatest fulfillment. -- John C. Maxwell Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement Ezine
July 25, 2008 Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a poem on success. One of his measures of success in that poem was to, 'Leave the world a bit better.' That line has always stuck in my head. Emerson said you have succeeded if you leave the world a bit better. I have made that line part of my life philosophy. When the tide goes out there is a watermark where the water was. When the waters of life recede from the shore of my being and my heart pumps for the last time, my desire is that there will be a mark where I stood. My aim is that the mark will say, 'For some decades a man occupied this space who saw others more important than himself and made the effort to leave the world a better place for them and those yet to come.' Our society tells us that success is measured by bank accounts, power, beauty and wealth. These are often the result of hard work, luck or birth. They are not evil and I strive for some of them daily. However, they are not the mark I will measure the success of my life with. So how do you do it? How do you 'leave the world a bit better?': Or you can amass as much wealth as you can, spend it as fast as you can on the fading desires of your heart and seek to please you first. Our culture might tell you that this is success. Emerson tells us that it is not. I encourage you to realize that the waters of your life will eventually withdraw from the shore. When it does, will there be a watermark? Ron White Reproduced with permission from The Ron White Ezine
July 24, 2008 We live in an abundant universe in which there is sufficient money for all who really want it and are willing obey the laws governing its acquisition. There is plenty of money available to you. There is no real shortage. You can have virtually all you really want and need. We live in a generous universe and we are surrounded on all sides by blessings and opportunities to acquire all we truly desire. Your attitude, of either abundance or scarcity toward money, will have a major impact on whether you become rich or not. The first corollary of the Law of Abundance says that, "People become wealthy because they decide to become wealthy." They become wealthy because they believe they have the ability to become wealthy. Because they believe this completely, they act accordingly. They consistently take the necessary actions that turn their beliefs into realities. And you can always tell what your beliefs really are by looking at your actions. There is no other way. This is an important question to ask yourself. However you answer this question will reveal a lot about yourself. Your answers will expose your self-limiting beliefs, your doubts, your fears, your excuses, your rationalizations and your justifications. Why aren't you rich already? Write down all the reasons you can think of. Go over your answers one by one with someone who knows you well and ask them for their opinion. You may be surprised to find that your reasons are mostly excuses that you have fallen in love with. Whatever your reasons or excuses, you can now get rid of them. The world is full of hundreds and thousands of people who have had far more difficulties to overcome than you could ever imagine, and they've gone on to be successful anyway. So can you. Now, here are two things you can do to apply this law immediately: First, imagine that every experience you have ever had with money contained a special lesson that was designed just for you to help you to ultimately become financially independent. What are the most important lessons you have learned so far? Second, analyze yourself honestly and determine your biggest block, your major self-limiting belief that holds you back from becoming more successful financially. Resolve to act from now on as if this block no longer exists. Reproduced with permission from The Jim Rohn Ezine
July 23, 2008 If you ask most people whether they would like to be considered a winner or a loser in life, they would most assuredly reply that they would like to be a winner. But this begs the question, "What does it mean to win at life?" In some things it's easy to define a clear winner. In a basketball game, whoever has the most points at the end of the game is the winner. In a game of hearts, my favorite card game, whoever has the least amount of points when one of the players reaches 100 points is the winner. But it isn't quite as easy to decide what it means to win in the game of life, is it? And that is because people define winning in different ways. For many, winning is through the accumulation of money or material possessions. "He's a success, a real winner," they say. Others think winning means living the longest. Still others say that it is to have their body in tip-top shape. Some say it is to have a happy family. Some say it is to regularly enjoy their hobbies. All of these are fine, in and of themselves. But... I would like to encourage us to think about winning or success in a different way. Generally, people think of winning as the over-achievement in a particular, chosen area. I like to believe, however, that to truly win at life is not to overachieve in one area but to succeed in maintaining balanced achievement in numerous areas. Let me repeat that: To truly win; to be a success, is not to overachieve in one area, but to maintain balanced achievement in all areas of our lives. For instance, is a person of success if they earn millions of dollars but lose their family? Is a person a success if they garner national fame but have no friends? Of course not. In fact, they may live the most pitiful of all lives. First, Define The body is that which has actual connection with the physical world and would encompass physical health, financial health, family, work, and relationships. How is your health? How are your finances? Are your relationships, both with your family and others all that they could be? Is work fulfilling? How would you define winning in these areas? The next area, the soul, is that which deals with the emotions, will, and intellect. It is our thoughts, ideas, and attitudes. How are you emotionally? Are you able to exercise your will? Are you growing intellectually? Have you done an attitude check lately? How would you define winning in these areas? And the spirit is the part of us that transcends this life, the part of us that communes with God. Zig Ziglar said, "Money will buy me a house, but not a home, a bed, but not a good night's sleep." So true. Inner peace comes from something much deeper. Have you thought about going back to your spiritual roots? Are you able to spend time in quiet, solitude, and prayer from time to time? This is an extremely important area and all too often neglected. What would you like to achieve in this area? How would you define winning in these areas? As we experience balance in these areas, we will find ourselves much more at peace with ourselves than if we were to experience tremendous success in one area but loss or failure in the other areas. We were designed to work as congruent, balanced people. This is how we get to the end of our lives and say, "I won." Second, Prioritize When we manage our time and schedule, we are simply making choices in regard to our priorities. For most, their priority is to take action on whatever is screaming the loudest at the moment. For those who become winners, they reflect on what they desire to achieve, make a plan and decide to eliminate the rest. Last, Do it As we do this over time, and balance our lives out, we will begin to finally feel like we are winning at life. That will be exciting, as will the process! Reproduced with permission from The Jim Rohn Ezine
July 22, 2008 While most people spend most of their lives struggling to earn a living, a much smaller number seem to have everything going their way. Instead of just earning a living, the smaller group is busily working at building and enjoying a fortune. Everything just seems to work out for them. And here sits the much larger group, wondering how life can be so unfair, so complicated and unjust. What's the major difference between the little group with so much and the larger group with so little? Despite all of the factors that affect our lives - like the kind of parents we have, the schools we attended, the part of the country we grew up in - none has as much potential power for affecting our futures as our ability to dream. Dreams are a projection of the kind of life you want to lead. Dreams can drive you. Dreams can make you skip over obstacles. When you allow your dreams to pull you, they unleash a creative force that can overpower any obstacle in your path. To unleash this power, though, your dreams must be well defined. A fuzzy future has little pulling power. Well-defined dreams are not fuzzy. Wishes are fuzzy. To really achieve your dreams, to really have your future plans pull you forward, your dreams must be vivid. If you've ever hiked a fourteen thousand-foot peak in the Rocky Mountains, one thought has surely come to mind "How did the settlers of this country do it?" How did they get from the East Coast to the West Coast? Carrying one day's supply of food and water is hard enough. Can you imagine hauling all of your worldly goods with you... mile after mile, day after day, month after month? These people had big dreams. They had ambition. They didn't focus on the hardship of getting up the mountain. In their minds, they were already on the other side their bodies just hadn't gotten them there yet! Despite all of their pains and struggles, all of the births and deaths along the way, those who made it to the other side had a single vision: to reach the land of continuous sunshine and extraordinary wealth. To start over where anything and everything was possible. Their dreams were stronger than the obstacles in their way. You've got to be a dreamer. You've got to envision the future. You've got to see California while you're climbing fourteen thousand-foot peaks. You've got to see the finish line while you're running the race. You've got to hear the cheers when you're in the middle of a monster project. And you've got to be willing to put yourself through the paces of doing the uncomfortable until it becomes comfortable and until you realize your dreams. To Your Success, Reproduced with permission from The Jim Rohn Ezine
July 21, 2008 Do this by benchmarking the world's most admired organizations and people in and out of your industry. Hewlett-Packard sends teams of two to four managers to meet with peers in other companies. After exchanging ideas about leadership and organizational practices, the benchmarking teams exchange comments. If you want to become or stay the best, you must know more than what your competitors are up to. You must know the best business practices, wherever they exist. It's a good idea to read business magazines to keep current on what the real movers and shakers are doing globally. Action Idea: This month, read a biography of someone you admire who has overcome great hurdles to become successful. When you learn what many of them had to endure, you are less overwhelmed by the obstacles you face. Every hardship you face has been endured and conquered by someone before you. Denis Waitley Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement Ezine
July 20, 2008 A good way to think of leadership is the process of freeing your team members to do the best work they possibly can. I have followed NBA basketball coach Phil Jackson's career. Like Phil Jackson who moved from the record setting Chicago Bulls to the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson says his principal task is creating an environment in which his players can flourish. In communicating with his championship teams, Jackson convinced them that they had the talent to win championships, and that the main goal of the coach was going to be freeing them to use that talent. Today's business team members, say they want, more than anything else, the autonomy to do their jobs without the boss's interference. In the new century, it's already clear that the CEOs of our best-run companies believe that the more power leaders have, the less they should use. The job of the team leader is to set a mission, decide upon a strategic direction, achieve the necessary cooperation, delegate authority --- and then let people innovate. To do that we all could take a hint from the late football coach, Paul "Bear" Bryant. Before his retirement as one of the leading coaches in college football history at Alabama, Bryant observed:
The key to authentic leadership is to listen to your followers, and then open the door for them to lead themselves. The secret is empowerment. The main incentive is genuine caring and recognition. The five most important words a leader can speak are: "I am proud of you." -- Denis Waitley Reproduced with permission from The Denis Waitley Ezine
July 19, 2008 Dare to go Forward: Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement Ezine
July 18, 2008 One of the most watched television shows today is Survivor. We admire those who survive! We tune in every week to see who makes it next. But even better than being a survivor is to be one who thrives! What are the differences between someone who survives and someone who thrives? Here are a few: A survivor gets by, a thriver gets ahead. Do you feel like you are just getting by? You don't have to. You can actually get ahead! You can be out front! You can thrive! A survivor is tired at the end, a thriver feels full of energy. When you are finished do you feel tired? You can thrive and be filled with energy! You can thrive! A survivor has barely enough, a thriver has an abundance. Do you have more month left over at the end of your money? You can have more money left over at the end of your month! You can thrive financially! A survivor is always on the edge, a thriver is on firm ground. Do you feel like you could fall over the edge at any time? You can get back on solid footing! You can feel firm about where you are. You can thrive! So how do we shift from being a survivor to becoming a thriver? Here are a few steps to put you on your way! First, start with some good input. Subscribe to as many good magazines and Ezines that will change your outlook and inspire you to thrive! And don't just subscribe to them - read them. Devour them. Get great audios and videos and listen to them and watch them. The principle here is to renew your mind to become a person whose mindset is one of a person who thrives. Second, get around people who are thriving. Join clubs and groups filled with people who are already thrivers. Develop friendships with them; take them to lunch or coffee. Pick their brains and learn from them. Mimic their habits of thriving. As you commit to these first two, you will see the time you spend watching and listening to junk go out the door. You will see that you are spending less and less time with those kinds of people who just want to survive. This will be the launching pad for your success. Third, make a personal evaluation of your skills. What areas do you need to grow in? Now, get to work on those skills. Skills are what take you to the top. An old quote says that the race isn't always won by the fast or the strong, but that's the way to bet! I'll take the person with skills to be the one who thrives every time. It won't work like that every time, but it will most of the time. Fourth, make a commitment to a long-term, tenacious outlook. We have to do this in order to turn the ship around. If you are just a survivor, you can be a thriver, but it may take some time. Remember, this is for the rest of your life. There will be times of weakness. There will be times of hardship. If you are tenacious, you can, and will, thrive! Fifth, understand that thrivers are almost always people of methodical discipline and order. They know that they have to have order in their lives and the order is what produces the ability to thrive. They thrive financially because they discipline themselves to save and invest rather than spend. They thrive physically because they are disciplined in what they eat and in how they exercise. Discipline will make you thrive! Yes, you can THRIVE! Take the above and get to work. Make these principles a part of your life and they will create in you an ability to thrive in everything that you do. You will no longer just survive. Instead, you will thrive! And that is going to feel great! Reproduced with permission from The Chris Widener Ezine
July 17, 2008 "The purpose of man is in action not thought" - Thomas Carlyle Reproduced with permission from Your Achievement Ezine
July 16, 2008 While persistence is the determination to strive to achieve your ultimate goal, there is another virtue of equally great value. Persistence keeps us moving inside ourselves to see the purpose behind the purpose, but patience is the wisdom behind persistence. Patience cautions us to focus our efforts on what we can change while accepting what we cannot. When external circumstance rains on our parade, patience is our umbrella. Rather than blaming what we cannot control, patience is the wisdom behind persistence. It is when a goal is distant and difficult to reach that patience is an ally. Time changes everything, but with patience you can keep your desires relatively constant. If you can just hang on long enough, time will finally create the conditions in which you can succeed. Denis Waitley Reproduced with permission from The Jim Rohn Ezine
July 15, 2008 Is thankfulness a survival skill? Perhaps most of you would respond with, "No, Jim, thankfulness is not key to survival", and I would tend to agree with you. Most of us have probably already solved the necessary problems of survival, gone beyond that and are now working to achieve our desires. But let me give you this key phrase, "Learn to be thankful for what you already have, while you pursue all that you want." I believe one of the greatest and perhaps one of the simplest lessons in life we can learn is to be thankful for what we have already received and accomplished. Both the years and the experiences have brought me here to where I stand today, but it is the thankfulness that opened the windows of opportunities, of blessings, of unique experiences to flow my way. My gratitude starts with my parents who raised me, gave me an incredible foundation that has lasted me all of these years and continues with the mentors that I've met along the way who absolutely changed and revolutionized my life, my income, my bank account, my future. I am also very thankful for the people, the associations, for the ideas, for the chance to work and labor, and to produce results, all of that has brought me to this place, to this weekend. I'm grateful for it all. What a unique opportunity each one of you here has, so many of us; representing different countries, nations and cultures, to appreciate the uniqueness of our own experiences that has brought us all here, together, for these three days to learn new skills and sharpen old ones. For the countries we represent; we have freedom and liberty. These are extraordinary times, about eleven years ago the walls came tumbling down, in Germany, and it started a wave of democracy and freedom like the world has never seen before. We as a country and as a world have so much to be thankful for. Always start with thanksgiving; be thankful for what you already have and see the miracles that come fr |