We have all heard it before. When a relationship fails, it is often stated that money problems caused the failure.
In many cases this is true, one partner loses their job or runs up unknown debts, which leads to relationship disharmony and eventually breakup or divorce. But what if there were a little discussed, often avoided cause that preceded the symptoms and was in fact the “real” culprit?
We all know that if you address symptoms and do not fix the cause — the problem won’t be resolved and it will continue… often from one relationship to another. Kind of like a silent serial killer that lurks in the shadows undetected only to pounce at the most inopportune moment and wreak havoc.
After working one-on-one with thousands of couples from all walks of life, I have come to the conclusion that relationships are one of the most challenging areas of life for most people — and yet they have an enormous impact on ones quality of life. If you sit down with any couple it doesn’t take long to notice patterns of behavior that either add to or take away from the relationship.
Many money problems first manifested themselves in ones relationship dynamic (which includes all relationships — home, work, family etc.) which then shows up tangibly in the money dynamic. So if money problems are often (but not always) the symptoms and relationship disharmony the cause — then no amount of focusing on money and finances will solve the money problems.
You won’t succeed in keeping a leaky boat afloat if all you do is grab a bucket and bail out the incoming water! What is required for sustainable, long-term success is to first bail the water out, then plug the holes in the boat to prevent more water from coming in. Yes, this sounds logical and easy… and yet how often do people do the logical and reasonable thing when it comes to money?
So if your money dynamic isn’t flowing the way you would like, perhaps you could look to your relationship dynamic for some other causes of the problem? And at the end of the day, your relationships all reflect the most important relationship of all… the relationship you have with yourself.
Most people think that there is a lot of competition for leadership roles. Despite the competition, there are more people who are not willing to lead – than there are people willing to step up to the leadership challenge.
Taking the lead means you put your reputation and your ego on the line. You take the risk that things may go wrong and you may end up with a learning experience… a public one!
Avoidance of the risks associated with leadership has a lot of potential leaders taking a back seat and waiting for someone else to step up. The people and companies who succeed and end up dominating businesses and markets – are those who have taken more calculated risks than others.
Is it time for you to step up and take more risks?
According to the Institute for Economics and Peace, the world became LESS peaceful for the second year in a row. It is interesting to note which countries are more peaceful than others… According to the research, violence costs the world economy more than $7 Trillion… surely making the world a safer place would do a lot for the entire world!
How long will it take for the consciousness of peace (you can’t fight violence with violence) to win?
“It is unwise to pay too much, but it is unwise to pay too little. When you pay too much, you loose a little money; that is all.
When you pay too little you sometimes lose everything. Because the thing you bought was incapable of doing the thing you bought it to do.
The common law of business balance prohibits paying a little and getting a lot. It cannot be done.
If you deal with the lowest bidder, it is well to add something for the risk you run and if you do that, you will have enough to pay for something better.”
There is a graduated scale from ultimate truth to ultimate untruth. Most people think that a little untruth is OK and tell little lies to others and to themselves. The worst lies are the ones we tell to ourselves – and believe. Why? Because if you believe your own lies – then your perception becomes inaccurate to the same degree… this is often why many people struggle and work hard only to find that success eludes them…
Think of ultimate truth as being the ultimate accuracy and the ultimate untruth being the ultimate inaccuracy. The more accuracy – the more flow, so if you want more flow in your life, career or business… go for more truth.
Many people don’t understand the difference between taking risks and gambling. Here is the definition of Gambling:
Gambling
v. 1. To take risky action with the hope of a desired result despite very little chance of success. 2. The risking of money or other items of material value on an event, with an uncertain outcome with the primary intent of winning additional money and or goods of material value.
For us, we don’t gamble, however we do take a lot of risks. The difference is that when gambling you have a high chance of losing, whereas with a calculated risk – you have a high chance of winning!
A calculated risk is were you give thoughtful consideration to the risk and for which the potential costs and potential benefits have been weighted and considered.
Add to the mix ones level of trust… we take risks and we trust. Many people gamble and have no trust… go figure!
The first step to improving any area of life, career or business is to first acknowledge that there is something to improve. You cant change what you don’t acknowledge.
People lie for a variety of reasons. According to a study conducted by Dr. Bella DePaulo, the average person lies once or twice a day and over the course of a week deceive about 30 of the people they interact with. This does not include the lies we tell ourselves. Some of the reasons people lie include to:
- gain power
- avoid conflict
- avoid an unpleasant truth about themselves
- avoid admitting mistakes
- diminish or suppress someone else
- avoid hurting someone’s feelings
- avoid anger
- avoid responsibility
- gain respect or admiration
- gain self-worth
- be liked
- maintain the status-quo, hoping everything will pass unnoticed
- gain something of value
Many people focus on lessons, mistakes and what they don’t want… The most empowering point-of-view is to focus on what you want and to ask yourself questions that would lead to bridging the GAP.
We are used to thinking of financial assets and liabilities, and yet there are so many other areas of life that this concept applies to (that add to or take away from). This is especially true of people. The key is to surround yourself with people who are assets – not liabilities. We all know who they are… the people who take all the attention… the people who cost more than they produce… the people who complain about the same things and never do anything about it…
We are not suggesting that you think of all the people in your organization in purely financial terms – that would be cold and possibly callouss… people do have value that is more than money alone. Having said that, an organization exists to add value and people have roles within that organization to add value to the stakeholders. How do you add value if you are a liability?
Adding value is all about being an asset. In every interaction you want to be an asset – not a liability.
Consider the below chart; Seven Types of People. As a general rule most people tend to spend most of their time in one primary zone or level. Yes, from day to day, week to week a person can change and rise up and down this scale. In other words when a person changes for the better they move up. The opposite is also true, when they change for the worse, they move down.
Understanding this chart and the other charts of the Optima Zones allows you to predict the results people will get from life, career, business and relationships. It also allows you to identify where you are at so you can change what you need to change in order to improve your results.
A little known Generalized Principle is “EXPANSION LEADS TO EXPANSION, CONTRACTION LEADS TO CONTRACTION”… this is similar to “WINNING LEADS TO WINNING, LOSING LEADS TO LOSING”.
The more you win, the easier it is to win… Most of us have experienced getting on a winning streak, where one win leads to another a d each successive win became easier and easier.
Think about how you can apply these Generalized Principles to win more often – and to expand the things you want, while contracting the things you do not want…
It is interesting that the world’s largest beverage company is still producing cans with Bisphenol-A. Commonly known as BPA, the chemical is used in many plastics that has been found to leach into the liquid contents. The FDA discovered it could cause many medical problems including cardiovascular disease, liver disease and diabetes.
Many organizations have recalled products using BPA – but not Coca-Cola. Don’t get me wrong – I am not anti-Coke per se.
What interests me is that it’s taking the shareholders pushing a resolution to encourage the company to remove BPA from Coke cans. There can be only one conclusion as to why Coke is lagging the industry with regard to BPA…
If you are interested in this subject, check out this site for a list of 2010 Shareholder Proxy Resolutions, where the shareholders are promoting changes in various companies via resolutions >>> and also a short description of Shareholder Activism >>>
This movie is a few years old now, however it is as awesome as ever!
Based on the true story of Chris Gardener who goes through a series of soul-sickening failures and defeats, missed opportunities and screw ups to not let anything stop him… to not complain and let any considerations get in his way… in the end he succeeds… wow, very inspiring.
This is an awesome movie and an excellent example of the leadership in action. Inspired by true events…
The story starts with John Crowley (Brendan Fraser) who’s two young kids have a deadly disease called Pompa. They are not expected to live longer than a year or two at the most. Heartbreaking… But John decides to do something about it, he goes to see a doctor and scientist Robert Stonehill (Harrison Ford) who’s research about the disease could be helpful.
In the end John helps Stonehill finance his research, in hopes of making a cure…
The question of leadership is that often times it is real life situations that demand that we step up to take the lead on something – rather than wait for someone else to do something about it.
Some people recommend that it is a good idea to “fake it until you make it”. While this sounds like a good sense, the challenge is that some people end up faking all sorts of things and forget that they are faking it in the first place.
Most of us would prefer the “real thing” versus the fake, pretend or inauthentic leader.
This is an exceptional movie with an awesome cast. Flash of Genius tells the story of one man whose fight to receive recognition for his ingenuity would come at a heavy price. Nobody thought he could win. He becomes obsessed with justice and the conviction that his life’s work be acknowledged by those who stood to benefit…
This movie is about standing up for yourself – even though you may be the only one who believes in you and your mission. This movie is also about justice and the price you may have to pay to get it.
This movie is about deception, betrayal and delusion. Superb acting, however if you watch this movie from an educational point-of-view you will learn a lot about how some people can be deluded and the lengths they can go to for their sinister purposes (in this case possession).
The victim in this movie is seduced and manipulated through her weakness and the cost is oh-so-high!
This movie will leave you stunned by the number of lies and cover ups that Stephen Glass engaged in during his career as a reporter. The film is based on real events and also captures the high-pressure world of national political journalism.
Stephen is likable, friendly and very polite. The ultimate co-worker, who remembers everyones birthday, knows how everyone takes their coffee and is so self-deprecatingly sweet that when things start unraveling you feel sorry for him. Despite his audacious lies and deceits, you like him and wonder why everyone is being so mean. Stephen walks the fine line between good and evil so well, you watch in amazement. You feel sorry for him, you’re repulsed by him, you’re embarrassed for him…
However, he fabricated over 20 stories, invented sources, locations, times, dates, and companies. wow!
From an educational-point-of-view this movie may highlight some of the people you know and work with and what can be behind those seemingly innocent smiles…
Based on the Pulitzer Prize Winning Play, this movie is an amazingly well acted movie with quite the twist. Addressing the question of how far you should go to confront villains and perpetrators in order to protect the innocent, this movie is riveting and profoundly disturbing at the same time.
The confrontation between the fierce and feisty head teacher (Meryl Streep) and the feminine and progressive head priest, Father Brendan Flynn (Phillip Seymor Hoffman) who is in fact a child-exploiting pedophile.
Full of hidden messages and dire warnings… worth more than one viewing…
Venice, 1570. This movie is about jealousy, betrayal and the scheming manipulations of Iago… who is supposed to be a close friend and trusted advisor.
An intense adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic tragedy about the Moorish general who “loved not wisely, but too well” – and so is duped by his evil aide into thinking that his wife has been unfaithful. As war between Venetians and the Turks rages, Othello weds the beautiful Desdemona and promotes Cassio over his longtime assistant, Iago. Othello prepares to celebrate his marriage, but Iago – insanely jealous over Othello’s snub – has dastardly plans in store.
Iago begins to poison Othello’s mind against Desdemona, claiming that she’s having an affair with Cassio; he even manages to produce “proof” of the infidelity. It doesn’t take long for the jealous general to start believing Iago’s allegations, and he winds up on the path of destruction and gives in to his “dark side” which is perhaps the most chilling aspect of the movie.
Very educational and will have you thinking twice about some peoples intentions and actions…
Most people can relate to being in the zone, whatever you are doing is flowing, easy and you feel like you are beyond space and time. Pure magic. Then out of nowhere you are jolted out of the zone. The magic is gone. Your feelings shift from focused spontaneity to annoyance, irritation and possibly anger.
How does this happen? How can you go from being in the zone one moment to being angry the next?
This does not happen on its own. Someone did something that caused the magic-zone you were in the disappear. We call these incidents Anti-Magic, or Anti-Magic Moments.
Here is a short definition:
Anti-Magic Moment
Anti-Magic Moments are any incidents, upsets or behaviors that are anti-magic (i.e. create an environment that is not safe, harmonious or happy) or actions that are in violation of the companies stated policies, values and procedures and interfere with productivity, orderliness and the ability to do your job well.
These Anti-Magic incidents cause a lot disharmony in relationships, especially on teams of people working closely together. You could say that Anti-Magic works directly against synergy and is opposing the teams stated purpose and direction.
Research has shown that Anti-Magic incidents are not chance occurrences, they are usually deliberate and sometimes unconscious behaviors of people who are working against you.
Surprised?
These people are more common than you think. Driven by competition, resentment and jealousy, Anti-Magic is used as a weapon to “bring you down to earth”, “put you in your place” or outright dominate you.
People who struggle to get in the zone, can (not always) become jealous and in order to feel better about themselves, sabotage you from your in-the-zone-moment.
Another example is the friendly colleague who is competing with you for a promotion or “top employee” award. If they feel they can’t beat you in an outright competition, sabotage will do. And if you confront them about this, they will say something like “oh, I am sorry, I didn’t mean to do it”.
This is very costly to a businesses bottom line and can explain why some companies and teams only achieve a fraction of their true potential and seem to “snatch defeat from the jaws of victory!”
Now that you are aware of Anti-Magic Moments, and the next time you jolt out of the zone, look for who did what.
What would happen to your overall results if you had a system to identify Anti-Magic and to correct it, thus preventing it from happening repeatedly? More about that in a future article.
I believe the fortunate and well-to-do have an obligation to help people who are less fortunate than themselves. Giving money is one thing, giving time another, giving talent even better, however providing inspiration and education… these last a lifetime and spread from person to person. The effects are magnified over time and are long-lasting.
Since as long as I can remember I have felt inspired to make a difference in other peoples’ lives. Travel around the world and you soon see how great the need is.
For many years I thought the path to giving was through sacrifice and self-denial. I realized over time that there must be a middle way between self-sacrifice and self-interest.
What the world needs most is courageous leaders who lead and inspire others. Leaders who are not seduced by the negative aspects of power, leaders who are congruent, are examples for others to follow, leaders who live in integrity and inspire others to do the same.
In 2003, together with Anjou MacPherson, we established the Goldzone Leadership Center as an educational organization dedicated to educate, support and inspire leaders into a new paradigm of leadership. We deliver consulting, training and coaching services via custom build, full-service leadership centers.
In 2009 we established the Goldzone Foundation as a non-profit organization with the mission of promoting; higher values, responsibility, leadership and to inspire individuals to step up to the leadership challenge.
We established this Website (www.renaissanceforleaders.com) to provide information, education and inspiration on a daily basis.
To date, the Goldzone Foundation has not taken outside donations and is 100% funded by Anjou MacPherson and myself.
If you are interested in joining us in this mission – to change the world – by supporting leaders, contact me here:
Love, anger, hate, fear, these are examples of emotions. Most people spend their time chasing emotions they want, and avoiding emotions they don’t want. The trouble with living this way, is that the emotions you are chasing seem to run away faster than you can catch them – and the emotions you are avoiding (or running from) seem to follow you wherever you go!
Research shows that most people make buying decisions emotionally, followed by rational, logical justifications. This means that in order to lead or influence people – you must move them emotionally. This is impossible to do - authentically - if you are not moved emotionally yourself.
What are emotions anyway?
From mid 16th century French, the word e-mo-tion is derived from the Latin word emovere, which means to to excite, to move. Emotions range from feeling nothing or numb, all the way to feeling fully-alive. Emotion could be described as Energy in Motion or in other words it is the energy that creates our motion. It is the fuel that moves us. Just as there are positive and negative flows of electricity, there are positive and negative flows of emotion. You could say this as moving towards, and moving away from.
When we are attracted to something or are feeling enthusiasm – we move towards it. When we are feeling angry – we attack (which moves the target away.) When we are scared – we move away from the potential threat. When we have given up – we go numb. And when we are numb – we have no idea how we feel about anything!
Most of our actions are driven by these known and unknown emotions. How we feel about people, places and events dictates our actions or how we behave.
All emotions involve both a physical and mental component. We feel them physically in our bodies and along with these feelings are packages of thoughts and beliefs. Some people say that the thought creates the feeling, others say that feeling creates the thought. I don’t think it matters which creates the other – as they clearly go together.
Childhood influence
From the time that we were small children, we where taught by people that we loved and trusted that there are “good” emotions and “bad” emotions. For example, we may have been told that anger was OK and joy is not OK. In other families they were told that joy is not OK and anger was OK.
To fully understand the role of emotions in our lives requires us to consider changing this childhood programming, as to what is an OK feeling and what is a not OK. Our judgments of good and bad have us suppressing what we consider to be bad and over-expressing what we consider to be good. Whenever we are over-expressing we are not being authentic and are acting. Acting takes a lot of energy to maintain and can feel to others like hype.
Why can’t I feel?
Whenever we suppress a feeling, it stays locked within us and denies access to our energy, our vital force. This is because emotions are a integral component of our Lifeforce. Whenever we block an emotion from flowing, or don’t allow ourselves to feel it, we are blocking our Lifeforce. It is common for people to suppress unwanted emotions – not realizing that their ability to experience desirable emotions is limited by this same suppression.
To the degree that you can experience the depths of the unwanted emotions – you can also experience the highs of the desirable emotions. For many of us a lifetime of emotional suppression has caused us to “numb out” to how we feel about many of the people and events in our lives. People who are numbed out can act in a way that is harmful to others – because they are disconnected from their own and other peoples feelings.
“Putting up with” has a hidden cost
An example of this numbing effect is when someone “puts up with” a job they hate over a long period. If they do nothing to change the situation they may become numb in order to cope. This numbness can prevent them from connecting with their real passion and can make it difficult for them to start a business, change jobs, or change careers. In fact if you suggest this person consider a new career, you will run into their resistance and lack of motivation. Asking any numb person to change and you will run into the same phenomena.
This does not mean that we should express all our emotions inappropriately, or in a way that infringes on the rights of others. Allowing ourselves to fully experience the emotion will allow it to flow. When our feelings flow, so does our life. When our feelings are blocked our lives are filled with struggle, drama and problems.
Mis-wired emotions
Some people assert that you can’t feel anything unless you choose to. Next time someone purposely stomps on your foot to enjoy your pain, try and remember that! Chances are no matter how calm you are – you will feel angry. If your response is joy and happiness, then you may be suffering from a common affliction of mis-wired emotions – in other words feeling a different emotion than what most people would consider normal.
To share an example of this, a few years ago I attended a funeral where the widow of the deceased was laughing loudly with other family members right before the coffin was lowered into the grave. Most people would find that unusual or abnormal. An appropriate emotion at a funeral would be grief and sadness along with a cocktail of other emotions as the mourners remember the good, the bad and the “other” from the deceased’s life.
Emotional mastery
The mastery and understanding of our emotions is essential to the understanding and mastery of life. So what would happen if people learned about feelings, and their impact on life? What would happen if people listened to their intuition and their emotional natures more and included this input into their decision-making? What would happen if people learned safe ways to express their feelings – rather than suppress them?
We would have happier, more fulfilled, more balanced, more loving societies.
Many people have issues around commitment. This is probably because of the loss of freedom that goes along with committing to something, or someone.
Think about it. If you commit to something, what happens? Right after you make the commitment, everything that is the opposite comes up to challenge your commitment. If you commit to stop using profanities in public… the next time you are in public something will happen that will seduce you to want to use a profanity.
Then you think, “what does it matter anyway?” I will “just do it this one time”. And then before you know it your commitment is worthless and you find yourself back at square one.
This is why so many people have difficulty following through on their commitments. It is so easy to make the commitment when you are feeling good and are thinking about the theory of it, and another matter altogether to do it. The doing part takes emotional energy that was not needed when you first made the commitment. It is the emotional energy or the emotional aspect of the commitment that carries you through the difficult times as your commitment is challenged.
If you commit to something because you were threatened in the moment, then when you take the threat away – the commitment goes with it. If you get swept up in the emotion of a moment, and make a commitment – then when the momentary emotional drive is gone (for example in a meeting, or a company conference where everyone is excited about making a goal, objective or ideal happen) the commitment goes with it.
Spiritual Commitment
The best type of commitment and the most long-lasting are the ones that move you, so you emotionally commit. Then there is no going back. Your emotional energy in the positive direction of what the essence of the commitment is all about and the spiritual reason behind it – will have you unwavering. Typically a spiritual level commitment involves connecting with the higher purpose of the commitment. This usually involves the “greatest good for the greatest number of people“.
Overcommitment
If you commit to too many things without taking the time to emotionally and spiritually commit to seeing them through, then you will end up overestimating what you can reasonably achieve and will make more commitments than you can keep.
Good As Gold
The key is to “make your word as good as gold” which means that you make small commitments – and keep them – before committing to huge, big and overwhelming commitments. By making and keeping small commitments you build trust with yourself. And others will also trust you more.
And this trust, is the essence of building lasting relationships and is the key to success as a leader.
***
Below is a quote from a book by William H. Murray. Its an old one but relevant to this subject:
Until One Is Committed
William H. Murray (from his book “The Scottish Himalayan Expedition”)
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed would have come his way.
I have learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
“Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it”.
With the world embroiled in a global recession for the first time since the 40’s, a lot of what we had accepted as “the way things are” has been turned upside down. Sure, there have been recessions in most regions, however it has been over 60 years since we had a global recession.
One thing a lot of people had taken for granted was that we could keep on expanding forever. This caused a bubble from over expansion when prices lost touch with fundamentals and in the end turned out to be unsustainable.
Greed drove markets to higher and higher levels, and now that things have crashed back to earth, fear has driven and continues to drive markets lower and lower to such a level that we have, once again lost touch with the fundamentals.
As you can see, we have swung between these two extremes driven by emotions at opposite ends of the spectrum.
Often times it is fear of contraction that holds people back from expanding. This is similar to not wanting to try something in case you fail at it. The thought is that it is better to not try – than it is to fail.
The problem is, if we don’t grow, we don’t expand, we don’t stretch ourselves, we don’t set goals, we don’t visualize brighter futures, we have nothing to look forward to. We are living in our comfort zone.
When in our comfort zone we are NOT running into limiting beliefs, limiting paradigms, or limited ability.
It is only when we expand and grow that we run into our limits. It is only then that we discover what we don’t know, and what we cannot yet do. It is only then that we discover everything that is against our goals, visions and progress.
In a world that exists on the universal law of duality, we are either growing or we are dying. There is no such thing as a holding pattern. This means that the comfort zone is in fact a slow death. If we stand still we do not remain motionless. The world around us continues and we, in fact regress. So doing nothing is like regression and growing is the only way to move forward and claim the prize of a life fully lived.
So what is it that has people not growing, not expanding and not taking risks? FEAR. And the false belief that if they do nothing their situation will improve. If a company is losing money and the management does nothing… Then the company will be in a worse condition in six months time than it is now. Something has got to change in order to turn the financial position around. This is the same with bad careers, relationships, health etc. If you do nothing, you may become numb to the problem, however you will not solve the problem… It will only get worse and will be more difficult to solve later.
Most people only take action when an emergency is upon them and they can delay no longer. The pain of taking action is less than the pain of emergency. This is a very stressful way to live and it is completely unnecessary.
So, why do people stop growing, set no goals, visions and not commit to plans? The answer may surprise you. It is because at some time in the past, the person had a painful experience, made a number of conclusions based on that experience and formed a belief or precept on how they would live in the future so as to avoid the pain.
Whenever a person sets a new goal, plans or envisions a future, they invoke all the unresolved past incidents that are similar to their current goals, plans and visions. This can be very depressing and painful! Usually, the person will not realize that this mechanism has activated and will look for causes within their present time to blame for their condition and their feelings. Usually the blame is put on some person who is perhaps not faultless… But certainly didn’t do it to them. Blaming others or outside events only serve to avoid the real truth of what the cause of the failure is. And, unless the truth is uncovered… It will reoccur again, and again.
If you think that you will arrive at a point in life where you have “arrived” and your learning and growing will stop… Then you don’t understand how life works!
The worst thing you can do is hope that this problem will resolve itself… And therefore do nothing.
How do you end this cycle and accelerate your expansion?
This is perhaps the most difficult thing to do… set new goals, dream new dreams and do the opposite of what everyone else is doing. It is at times like this when the most opportunities exist. Take some risks, venture out and know with confidence that the recession will not last and the market will soon be back into growth.
Now is your opportunity to lead. Go for an extraordinary existence, living an extraordinary life, with extraordinary people and achieve extraordinary results.
One of the key components to getting into “The Zone” and staying there is understanding and mastering Cause & Effect.
There is a lot to this subject and it is a bit technical however, master this and you are sure to experience a transformation in your results!
What is Cause & Effect? Everything that happens is an Effect that was Caused by something. Nothing occurs without something else Causing it to happen. For example, a glass that was sitting on the table, does not fall onto the floor by itself. A person walking by, may bump the table, Causing the glass to fall off the table and onto the floor, breaking into pieces.
In this example, the EFFECT was the broken glass. The CAUSE was the person who placed the glass too close to the edge of the table, which then combined with the person walking by. Often times, we get upset and angry at the EFFECT — and never really identify the CAUSE. Blaming the person who walked by and bumped the glass — doesn’t solve the problem. Yelling at them, punishing them, getting them back later… All achieve nothing as the TRUE CAUSE has not been identified. The CAUSE in this example was the person when they placed the glass on the edge of the table. The person walking by only played into it and is the SECONDARY CAUSE.
Without the true Cause being identified — no lasting change is possible. For most of us, when something happens that we don’t want, don’t like, or detest, we blame the SECONDARY CAUSE rather than the TRUE CAUSE. And we can make all the changes to Secondary Causes we like – only to discover that our results remain unchanged.
If you want lasting change in any area — identify the TRUE CAUSES — and change them. What is the TRUE CAUSE of the financial crisis? If you are experiencing financial difficulties, or investment losses, what is the true Cause? Think about it. Have you identified Primary Causes or are you focusing on Secondary Causes?
The challenge for most people is that they spend a good deal of time being at Effect and not often being at Cause of their life, career, relationships, health etc. Designing and living your ideal life requires you to be at Cause. Being at Cause simply means to make decisions and operate from the perspective of Causing or SOURCING what you want versus accepting the Effects of others.
In order to be at Cause requires you to be able to be at Cause and at Effect. Sounds confusing, but in fact it is quite simple:
When you avoid being CAUSE, you automatically put yourself at EFFECT. If you run away from something, you are at the Effect of the thing you are running away from.
When you are at Effect, it Causes you to be in REACTION to what is happening to you. Reacting to things that happen to you is very different from RESPONDING. Responding has you being at Cause.
If you just want to be Cause and avoid Effect, you automatically put yourself at EFFECT.
As a leader you are at Cause, on the other hand as a follower you are at Effect. This is why a lot of people don’t want to follow others, they don’t want to be at Effect of them. Choosing who you follow puts you at Cause over the Effect of the person you are following! (now that is a dichotomy!)
The bottom line is that in order to be in The Zone, we need to master being CAUSE, and being EFFECT. Being Effect means being able and willing to experience anything. Sounds tough, but that is where true freedom is.
This graph is very interesting (from The New York Times). It shows the price-to-earnings ratio and gives us hope for the future as well as some relief that the bottom is not far away – if not here already. On the other hand, you can see that there is a possibility we will get to the lows of the 20′s, 30′s and 80′s – which means more pain on the way.
What explains the huge run up from the 80′s to the early 2000′s? and why was this period very different from the previous ups and downs? The widespread adoption of new technologies. Some of the gains from applying technology have been overrated, however for the most part these gains have resulted in significant increases in productivity.
Even if you don’t follow the markets, you are impacted by them. When the market moves up (prices rising) it is a lead indicator of what we will see on the street in the not too distant future. What happens to stocks usually preempts what happens in the overall economy. Prices rising indicates optimism, prices falling indicates pessimism. The better the future looks, the higher the ratio of price-to-earnings will go.
You may be thinking, “wow, sounds like the markets are run by emotion”! You are right, with the two primary emotions being fear and greed, with a diverse range in-between.
To be fair, there is more at play in the markets that emotion… there is also the data, the facts, the ratios. Emotion without facts is irrational. Facts without emotion are inaccurate or incomplete. As you can see, it takes both to be successful.
For those of us born in the 70′s and 80′s this is a new experience (in the 2000′s). I was born in the 60′s, so you can see the slide down to the 80′s. The benefit of the graph is that you can look back a hundred years or so and see the repeating pattern. Which brings me to the good news; we will hit bottom and the wild ride up will begin again!
This video is very well done. I.O.U.S.A. boldly examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. The graphics are awesome and the content is very well presented. The full version is available (highly recommended) on DVD from PBS.
Most people know what “The Zone” is and have experienced moments in The Zone in their career, sports, money etc. Typically these moments are infrequent, unpredictable at best and most people have no idea how to get in The Zone whenever and wherever they choose.
The Zone feels like a quiet excitement with intensified focus. You feel a sense of confidence, total concentration and an intense awareness. Your movements are easy, flowing and especially coordinated. You lose all sense of time as if another dimension has been added. You are completely focused on what you are doing and all other thoughts and feelings diminish.
When you “slip’ out of The Zone, it feels like the opposite. Nothing flows. Movements are awkward. It is difficult to concentrate.
Here are some tips for getting and staying in The Zone:
Whenever you engage with people ask yourself if you are in The Zone or not? If you are great! If not, ask yourself what one thing you could do that would move you into The Zone the fastest with the least amount of effort.
You do not need to be in The Zone all the time, just when you are doing the most important things.
Take time at the beginning of each day to postulate your day and at the end of the day to review and contemplate how your day went.
If you focus on what is WRONG and what is not working, you will stay out of The Zone! If you focus on what is RIGHT and what is working – you will get more of it and migrate towards The Zone and stay there more often.
On the other hand if you ONLY focus on WHAT IS WORKING and do not consider WHAT IS NOT WORKING, you will become one of “those people” who only see the positive and not the counter to positive (what is working) which is negative (what is not working).
If you find that you are worried and in a serious mood – this is not in The Zone! Make an effort to shift into a more playful, light and fun mood. Fun and laughter will have you moving up and into The Zone. Worry and seriousness are certain Zone killers.
If your primary relationship is not working, and you have conflict and disagreements on a regular basis, it will be difficult to sustain long periods in The Zone. The maximum flow comes from harmony. Like music, disharmony is painful!
Take time to choose and organize your environment. Chaotic, harsh and dramatic environments are certain Zone killers. Think about it… if you are sitting on an uncomfortable chair, with bright fluorescent lights with lots of loud noise – how difficult is it to get in The Zone?
Whatever you are feeling on the inside can often lag behind your actual reality. So focus on what is working and make the changes necessary to bring your “inside” in alignment with your “outside”.
Focus on your wins and celebrate your success. If you are part of a team, create a culture of acknowledgement and support.
This article describes a phenomena that is behind some of the largest corporate collapse we have seen in history. Corporate collapses, particularly those caused by massive financial losses are not often the result of a single action or cause, but rather a combination of factors. This complexity can often cover up the most significant aspect of what went wrong. A thorough investigation by people who know what to look for can often reveal lapses in standards, honesty and ethics long before the entire collapse of the organization.
These lapses often (but not always) begin at the top – with the leadership and then filter down throughout the organization.
The Lower Truth Phenomena
We are writing here about businesses and organizations, however this same scenario plays out in interpersonal relationships with a similar effect.
Whenever you work for or with a person who operates at a lower level of truth, honesty, values and standards than you do, you will be pulled down to their level of lower truth, honesty, values and standards.
This does not happen overnight, it occurs slowly and insidiously over time.
Here is an example of this mechanism in operation:
Lets say you are a high standard, high truth person who values honesty and you enter into a business partnership with another person. This can also occur when you work as an employee for lower standard management. In the below example, we are using a partnership where each partner has equal say, in situations where management has more say and power over you, this phenomena is greatly exaggerated.
Your partner purports themselves to be the same as you, they say they value honesty, have high standards etc. On the surface this appears to be true and you believe them.
Taking them at face value you proceed to invest a significant amount of money, time and energy in the venture. In the course of doing business, you make a lot of promises and agreements on behalf of the partnership.
When things are going well, everything is flowing and proceeding to your satisfaction. And then one by one, things begin to go wrong. There is no apparent explanation for the small failures so you proceed forward regardless of the “taps on the shoulder”.
As things deteriorate, and more and more stress comes into the project and the partnership, you are unable to keep all your agreements and promises. This does not happen overnight, it occurs one small thing at a time. A supplier doesn’t get paid on or before the date promised. A client doesn’t get the exact order as promised. A team members salary is a few days late with no communication. A deposit is made late. A check bounces etc.
Slowly but surely your high standards and ideals have been compromised and you find yourself out of integrity with yourself. This causes you to feel ashamed and can be very painful.
In order to deal with the pain of violating your high standards and ideals, the first thing you do is lower your standards and justify these lesser ideals. These lowering of standards come through your language as justification statements that sound like this: “oh, you can’t do such and such in this business and be successful anyway” or “everybody has this problem in this business” or “in this country, it is normal to pay a few days late and no body takes any notice of it, so it is no big deal” or “it is my intention that matters, I am not deliberately misleading people” etc.
Eventually a few days late on payments becomes 30, 60, 90 days etc. If the cycle continues unchecked, you will even justify not paying people at all, in order to pay others. This is often called, “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.
The next thing that occurs is that you don’t get paid on or before the date promised. A supplier doesn’t get you the exact order as promised. A payment to you is a few days late with no communication. A deposit is made late. A check bounces on you etc. In other words what you have done to others comes back to be done to you…
For you, as a high standard person, you take all this very personally. Your partner appears upset too, however is more aligned with these lower standards anyway and will lower their standards further in order to “make it work”. This leads to conflict between you and your partner over keeping agreements and maintaining high standards of conduct and honesty.
At first you take full responsibility that it must be your problem and your partner reaffirms this. Your partner somehow convinces you to be the front person as your standard of responsibility is higher than theirs. So they will naturally tend towards blaming you and abdicating responsibility to you.
As your standards continue to decline, it becomes more and more painful.
In order to deal with the pain, you lower your standards more and deny that you had higher standards in the first place. Before you know it, you are operating at a very low level of truth, honesty, standards and much reduced in your power, charisma and confidence to the point of giving up.
It is often at this point that the entire project fails and you experience a paradigm crash. Everything stops working.
To recover from a situation like this takes personal courage to review what actually happened and to reclaim your level of truth, honesty and high standards.
To maintain high standards it is imperative to connect, work and associate with people of similar or higher standards than you.
We are excited to announce that the Goldzone iPhone/iPod Touch application will soon be available for download from the Apple iTunes store for FREE.
The first release will include streaming content as well as some of Goldzone’s best productivity tools; Magic Moments and Action Requests.
First release functions include:
MAGIC MOMENTS allow you to send anyone who does something special for you, or creates a WOW experience a special acknowledgement – right from your iPhone/iPod Touch. It feels great to receive MM’s and it feels even better sending them!
ACTION REQUESTS allow you to send a request to anyone; colleague, supplier, family or friend. Typically we ask people to do things verbally and these requests often get forgotten or done incorrectly. Sending an AR via iPhone/iPod Touch allows you to keep a record of your requests, and for the person receiving your request to know what exactly you want and what the priority is. This makes it easy for you to follow up and follow through to get what you want done, when you want it!
STREAMING CONTENT from www.renaissanceforleaders.com includes anytime access to; articles, tips, ideas and thoughts.
Sometime in 2000 I made a list of values and virtues that were important to me. These represent qualities that I am working on and enhancing within myself. This is part of my quest to be the best person I can be. By the time I had completed making my list, I had two conflicting thoughts; “wow, look at how many of these I have already acquired/developed” and the other thought “wow, this is a long list am I ever going to be able to do it”.
Nearly ten years later, I can say that this list has been an invaluable tool to remind me of who I am and who I want to be. It is amazing how much you can get done over time if you set your mind to it.
Many people consider investing in houses, stocks, bonds etc. however never consider investing in developing their own virtues. After all, what is the ROI (Return On Investment) of a virtue? From my point of view, the ROI from virtues comes back to you for your entire life. There is how you feel about yourself and there is how other people feel about you. If you develop the virtue of trustworthiness, how do you feel about yourself being trustworthy? How do others feel about you, knowing that they can trust you?
To me, add the virtue of trustworthiness to your other investing activities and you will see your results flourish. Think about the lack of trust that the public feels towards Wall Street and Banks at the moment…
Take an hour or so and write your list of values and virtues. Who do you want to be? How do you want to show up in the world? What is important to you?
Identify the top few that you are are committed to work on now.
Please note that this is not a goody-two-shoes list… for each quality there is an opposite negative quality. Often in order to acquire a virtue we “play out” its opposite. In other words we can swing from one virtue to its opposite and back again until we complete the lesson and fully develop the virtue. Once we have acquired one virtue it becomes a part of who we are and we move on to the next virtue. This is consistent with the concept of duality. Consider; up & down, in & out, black & white, male & female, active & passive, motion & stillness, yin & yang. These are all examples of duality.
Many of us would agree that our results in life are created by our actions and our actions are preceded by thoughts and our thoughts are created by our feelings. The challenge is that most of us have thoughts and feelings that are hidden deep in the subconscious mind – out of our conscious awareness. The easiest way to see what is in our subconscious is to look at our results. Our results will reflect the inner workings of our mind.
Over a lifetime we hear thousands of comments about money and observe the money behavior of the people closest to us – our parents, relatives, teachers, friends and colleagues. Many of these comments reinforce patterns of thinking and beliefs that over time become buried in our subconscious. Our day-to-day experiences confirm and validate that these thoughts and beliefs are true and accurate.
In order to change the relationship we have with money requires that we reprogram our subconscious mind – replacing negative thoughts and feelings that are inaccurate with positive thoughts and feelings that give us the results we want.
Most people would like to increase their income, however negative thoughts about what they have to do to make more money often counters their intention. For example, if you have the belief that you have to be dishonest to make money – and you see yourself as an honest person – you will avoid making lots of money so you don’t compromise your status as an honest person. However this belief is not true. You can make as much money as you want through honest means and all the while maintaining the highest levels of honesty and integrity.
Making a list of your most negative thoughts about money will help you to bring these deep-seated thoughts and feelings to the surface so you can view them and choose a replacement thought and feeling.
Many years ago I sat down with a note pad and created two columns. On the left I listed my most negative thoughts about money and then in the right hand column wrote a positive affirmation that would reprogram the negative into the positive.
This process totally transformed my relationship to money. I highly recommend that you make your own list and pay attention to the thoughts that come up as you read the list below. Feel free to use any of these and add them to your list.
Seek, above all, for a game worth playing. Such is the advice of the oracle to modern man. Having found the game, play it with intensity – play as though your life and sanity depended upon it. (They do depend on it.) Follow the example of the French existentialists and flourish a banner bearing the word “engagement.” Though nothing means anything and all roads are marked “no exit”, yet move as if your movements had some purpose. If life does not seem to offer a game worth playing, then invent one. For it must be clear, even to the most clouded intelligence, that any game is better than no game.
But although it is safe to play the Master Game, this has not served to make it popular. It still remains the most demanding and difficult of games, and in our society, there are few who play. Contemporary man, hypnotized by the glitter of its own gadgets, has little contact with his inner world, concerns himself with outer, not inner space. But the Master Game is played entirely in the inner world, a vast and complex territory about which men know very little. The aim of the game is true awakening, full development of the powers latent in man. This game can be played only by people whose observations of themselves and others have lead them to certain conclusions, namely, that man’s ordinary state of consciousness, his so-called waking state, is not the highest level of consciousness of which he is capable. In fact, this state is so far from real awakening that it could appropriately be called a form of somnambulism, a condition of “waking sleep”.
Once a person has reached this conclusion, he is no longer able to sleep comfortably. A new appetite develops within him, the hunger for real awakening, for real consciousness. He realizes that he sees, hears, knows only a tiny fraction of what he could see, hear and know, that he lives in the poorest, shabbiest of the rooms in his inner dwelling, but that he can enter into other rooms, beautiful and filled with treasures, the windows of which look out on eternity and infinity.
Here it is sufficient to say that the Master Game can NEVER be made easy to play. It demands all that a man has, all his feelings, all his thoughts, his entire resources, physical and spiritual. If he tries to play it in a halfhearted way or tries to get results by unlawful means, he runs the risk of destroying his own potential. For this reason it is better not to embark on the game at all than to play it halfheartedly.
The solitary player lives today in a culture that is more or less totally opposed to the aims he has set himself, that does not recognize the existence of the Master Game, and regards players of this game as queer or slightly mad. The player thus confronts great opposition from the culture in which he lives and must strive with forces which tend to bring his game to a halt before it has even started. Only by finding a teacher and becoming part of the group of pupils that that teacher has collected about him can the player find encouragement and support. Otherwise he simply forgets his aim, or wonders off down some side road and looses himself.
I originally wrote this article in 2003 for business owners, founders, CEOs and leaders who are committed to extraordinary results through business. As I reread this in 2009, I feel that it is as applicable today as it was in 2003. If you are not a business owner or executive, please read this with an open mind and ask yourself “how can I apply that?”
This article is perfect for Passionate Revolutionaries who are focused on leading and inspiring others to create innovative products, services and business models that add meaning and purpose to peoples everyday lives.
IT’S ALL ABOUT LEADERSHIP
It may sound strange but if you want a quantum leap in your results — the first place to begin is to take a good look in the mirror. The focus of this article is on YOU and your relationship to your business.
Many people start a business to make money; others want to make a contribution or to express themselves. Whatever your reason is, you will find that the basic, fundamental rules of business have not changed for thousands of years.
The pace of change has increased; new technologies have changed the way we do business, increased our potential markets as well as our competitors. How fast you learn is now a competitive advantage…
Here are some of the most important, immutable rules of business:
YOUR BUSINESS IS A REFLECTION OF YOU
Your thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, values, goals, strengths, weaknesses, management style and philosophy all show up in your business. If you have a belief that you have to work 16-hour days in order to be successful, then you will end up working 16-hour days. And you may or may not be successful.
If your leadership style is disrespectful of team members and customers then the energy of the business will reflect this. Only second-rate team members will be attracted as you will only attract people who are OK being disrespected and not appreciated. Your company will only achieve a fraction of what is possible. The leaders style will set the tone for the entire organization through the multiplier effect. Everything is reflected back to you multiplied, exaggerated and often dramatized.
FOR THINGS TO CHANGE, FIRST YOU MUST CHANGE
That means, if you want the business to change, if you want your team to change, if you want your results to change… It all starts with you and what do you have to change?
Many, many people work on the business, on business development, training their team, building their sales… And leave out the most important factor in the entire equation.
YOU
The leader of the company is the key person whose vision is the vital element, élan vital (French for Lifeforce) the driving force behind the company and everything it does.
ALIGN THE TEAM TO THE VISION
The vision sets the tone and the agenda. The vision provides the team with a focus, a purpose, a guiding star to follow.
The number one function of the leader is to catalyze a clear and shared vision for the company and to secure commitment of the team to the vigorous pursuit of the vision. A clear sense of purpose comes directly from a clear vision of what it is supposed to look like in the end.
When a leader is not clear on the vision, and this vision isn’t clearly communicated to the team members, associates, suppliers and customers then the company languishes and is mediocre. The company struggles and the team works harder and harder.
WORKING HARDER ISN’T THE ANSWER
If you are like most people, you grew up with the work hard ethic. From the time we were young children, we were told by people that we loved, trusted and respected; “If you want to get ahead in life, you have got to work hard.” or “If you want to make lots of money, you have got to work hard.” And this is simply not true.
The gardener works harder than the company executive, he toils all day in the hot sun, he gets his hands dirty… However the executive works no more hours, but makes many, many times more than the gardener.
According to the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Inc. Magazine, Markus Frind, the founder of the website Plenty of Fish, based in Vancouver, Canada works one hour a day and pays himself an annual income of $5 million. Clearly he is not working hard! The question I ask myself is; “if he is working 1 hour a day and making $5 million, how much could he make working 8 hours a day?”
I am sure you will agree that hard work alone is not going to solve anything (although it is a start). The key is to undo the training, programming and conditioning that tells us to work hard, and to replace it with a different philosophy of life and work that takes into account what you work hard at doing.
MY RESULTS ARE MY GURU (Teacher)
This means that we are responsible for our results. No one else is. If the economy is bad and your customers aren’t spending as much as they used to then you have got to do something different. Simply blaming your lower results on the economy wont do anything other than keep you stuck. Forget excuses, justifications or blaming anyone else.
Your results tell you how you are doing.
The key is to get more done in less time. To be ever more efficient and effective. To produce a better quality product for less cost to you, which you then pass on to your customers. What many companies do is lower their cost and instead of passing these savings onto their customers, keep it for themselves. This may work in the short term, however it increases the risk of your competition gaining an edge on you.
INNOVATION & ADDING VALUE
Because its purpose is to acquire and satisfy customers, your business has one and only one function. To add value through innovative products and services. If your product and service is the same as your competitor’s, how are you going to add value in a way that your customers will continue to buy from you?
To innovate, means to make changes, to bring in new methods, ideas and ways of doing things that benefit your customer — saving them time or money. This requires leadership and the constant pursuit of creative and imaginative solutions to both new and old problems.
MARKETING IS THE ENGINE OF EVERY BUSINESS
Marketing is all about attracting people to buy your product or service, getting them to come back again and again, and getting them to purchase more when they do come back.
It includes sales, advertising, product design, public relations, and many other ingredients that are less obvious. Without marketing you lose customers. Marketing can make the difference between the life and death of your business and yet it is one of the least understood and most under-utilized facets of business.
Most businesses have been reduced to a commodity. No one can buy their materials for that much less than anyone else. Advertising costs about the same. Even a second or third shift doesn’t give your business that much advantage.
However, if you make your salespeople out-produce your competitions salespeople by two or three times; if you can make every advertisement you run produce ten times more than your competitors’ do; if you can get a customer to buy 50% to 200% more “on average” from you than they do from your competitors…
…and if you can successfully figure out how to resell each customer numerous “additional” times a year and sell them multiple products or services with higher profit margins each time — your business will grow exponentially — even in a down economy.
YOU ARE NOT THE BUSINESS
A corporation is a legal entity that was incorporated to fulfill a specific purpose. As a legal entity, a corporation has the same rights as any other citizen of the country within which it is incorporated. A corporation can own property, buy and sell, manufacture products, and bring lawsuits as if its members were one person.
Ownership in the corporation is divided into a certain number of shares, and the corporation issues stockholders one or more stock certificates to show how many shares they hold. The stockholders own the company and elect a board of directors to manage it for them.
The board of directors determines basic company policies and appoints the executive officers. These officers include a chairman of the board, chief executive officer, a president, and a number of vice presidents. They are responsible for carrying out the decisions of the board of directors and the stockholders. The executive officers also select the managers of the various departments of the corporation.
Stockholders may sell their stock whenever they want to, unless the corporation has some special rule to prevent it. The price of the companies stock changes according to general business conditions and the earnings and future prospects of the company. If the business is doing well, stockholders may be able to sell their stock for a profit. If it is not, they may have to take a loss in order to exit.
When the corporation has made a profit, the directors may divide the profit among the stockholders as dividends, or they may decide to use it to expand the business. Dividends may be paid only out of the corporation’s profits. When profits are used to expand the business, the directors and stockholders may decide to issue more stock to show that there is more money invested in the business. This new stock will be divided among the stockholders as a stock dividend.
Stockholders in a corporation have limited liability. If the corporation fails, they can lose no more than their investment, because the corporation’s debts are not their debts.
The founder of a corporation may be a stockholder and a director — but this is not necessary. Any corporation may raise funds to establish the company or to increase the available capital for investment, growth or ongoing operations.
Funds may be raised by selling stock (these investors become stockholders,) acquiring debt or through revenue participation etc.
The challenge for most founders who are also stockholders and directors is that they can “over identify” with the corporation. They end up living vicariously through the success and failure of the corporation. In many cases the founder does not pay themselves a salary during the startup phase on the basis that they are the owner and are building an asset. This is a mistake as it undervalues the founder’s contribution and makes it more difficult to replace the founder by hiring an employee.
The key here is to understand that you are not the business and if you have an employee role within the corporation, that you pay yourself a fair market salary. To do this requires that you have enough capital to operate the business, cover all the expenses with some excess for unforeseeable circumstances — especially during start up or high-growth phases.
Nothing is more difficult to do than to grow a company on a limited capital base — using cash flow for a source of funds. And then if your personal success or failure is connected to how the company performs, you may be seduced into making personal guarantees, or to invest more of your personal money to keep the company going than you would like to.
While this may sound admirable, it is a recipe for a downward spiral, reduction in your personal wealth and an emotional roller coaster. You are not the business, so keep your personal finances separate from the business and respect it as an investment that MUST pay for itself.
PAY YOURSELF FIRST
This is a very controversial topic. Most founders operate from the opposite — pay yourself last. And this is exactly what happens, once all the expenses are covered there often isn’t anything left over. So you end up working for free and justifying it by saying that you are building a business.
Pay yourself first means to include yourself along with all the other salaries and to follow the advice of the “Richest Man in Babylon” — a part of all I earn is mine to keep. No matter how much money you are making, it is important to maintain regular investing habits. The amount isn’t important, but the habit is.
And when you make yourself important and commit to paying yourself no matter what, a mysterious thing happens — you end up creating enough cash flow to pay yourself.
If you are willing to work for free — you will end up working for free.
WHO IS ON YOUR TEAM?
The difference between the leader who struggles all the time, has no free time, is surrounded by drama solving crises after crises and the leader who appears to have lots of free time, makes more money each year and seems to have the golden touch… is the team that they are a part of.
You are only as good as your team!
And your team isn’t limited to your employees. Who is on your board of directors? Do you have a formal board of advisors? Do you have a personal mentor or coach? These are people who will tell you what you need to hear versus what you want to hear.
Unless you are willing to be surrounded by people who expect more of you than you do, you will have people telling you what you want to hear and confirming that you are right — when you may be wrong.
Your team can even include your suppliers and customers.
If you aren’t part of a winning team — then you are working too hard.
LABOR IS CAPITAL
Investing in the ongoing development and training of your team is one of the best investments you can make. If someone makes $50,000 a year and can generate $500,000 in value for you, why not take this person and increase their skill, ability, talent, attitude and education, so that they can add a million dollars in value?
A $50,000 investment that brings a $1 million return is a very, very valuable asset.
There is no better investment that companies can make than in the education and development of their own people.
Andrew John Harrison
Anjou MacPherson
Anjou & Harrison
