A great reading today at our Los Angeles company lunch by Growthinker Ishan Jetley of the Gettysburg Address --- all have a great and safe holiday weekend and let us honor and remember those who fought and died for our freedoms...
Growthinker Director of Engagement Management Brittany Lawson was nominated in the "Rising Star" category of the Los Angeles Business Journal Awards that honors "L.A.’s most successful and remarkable women business leaders who lead by example, successfully blending effective business vision with passionate commitment to positively ‘make a difference’, both in the world of business and the communities they serve.”
Great job, Brittany!
In recent blogs I’ve talked about the numerous salespeople who have sought my help. A few months ago I spent an hour-and-a-half with a 53-year-old businessman/salesperson from New Jersey. A decent man, who right off told me he was prepared to give it another six months, but that was about it. If things didn’t turn around, get better, he was throwing in the towel (my expression). We’ll call him Tony.
After asking a ton of questions, it was obvious to me that Tony was in total delusion. He saw himself as mentally strong (after all, this is a man who once attended an Anthony Robbins seminar), hard working, and knowledgeable. Truth be told, he was mentally shaky, only giving two to three presentations a week, and terrified of making cold contact with prospective customers. His knowledge of salesmanship was so limited I knew he needed a good business-to-business sales book, so I recommended Jill Konrath’s SNAP Selling. I also recommended Napoleon Hill’s Think and Grow Rich, so he could get a handle on being truly mentally strong and hard working.
Success is a decision, my friends. Giving it six months is not a commitment. Telling yourself you’re mentally strong because you’ve attended a few seminars and listen to tapes until the words are coming out of your ears is a lot of nonsense. If you’re living in fear, you’re living in fear; all the proclamations to the contrary are not going to change that. What I’m suggesting is WAKE UP AND FACE REALITY! Stop kidding yourself! Things are not going to get better unless you take full responsibility of all three sides of your Sales Triangle and make it happen. If you’re mentally shaky, you must become mentally strong; if you’re only giving two to three presentations a week, you must find a way to get in at least ten—I don’t care if you have to get up at 5:00 A.M. or go to sleep at 2:00 A.M. to do it; if you don’t know salesmanship from knitting, it’s time to pay the price to learn and apply every aspect of it.
It’s time to make a commitment to your success and stop living in delusion. You’re searching high and low for answers, but the answers are right in front of you: go back to the basics! Become mentally strong, work hard, know your stuff, and apply those three principles every working day of your life. I promise you, if you’ll do that, miracles will occur; you’re entire professional life will turn on a dime.
If I sound frustrated, well, yeah, I am! I want to help you; the Powers That Be want to help you; but as my late mother used to say, “God helps those who help themselves.” Or as Yoda said, “There is no try; there is only do!”
http://www.sellingfearlessly.com/2012/05/25/how-committed-are-you/
Even small businesses can create powerful, meaningful, sincere branding messages. Four ways.
flickr/sarah_browning
Companies are always trying to create the perfect marketing tools--tools that will make brand history, generate buzz for products, and earn those products an unshakeable spot in customer's lives. Large companies have the luxury of throwing thousands of advertising dollars into marketing budgets, but small companies rarely can. I have found that the most powerful marketing device a small company can develop is its story.
Here's what I mean:
Tell your company's story.
Everyone likes to know the story behind the story, especially when there is an underdog or a hero involved. I was recently talking to the owner of a collections agency who told me he started his business because another company bought the one he was working for, and asked him to let go of most of the team. Rather than doing that, he himself quit and started his own company, brought the entire team over to his new venture, and successfully avoided firing many people. Learning his story helped me see the kinder side of a business that otherwise seemed heartless, and I immediately felt myself rooting for the owner.
Tell your product's story.
At a trade show this weekend, I stopped by the booth of a Japanese company that makes very traditional Japanese-style screens to decorate and divide rooms. As someone who loves clean modern lines, this type of product is not something I would usually look at closely. So what made me stop? The company had recreated its workshop space at the trade show, and brought in a traditional Japanese artisan to the booth, to demonstrate how it constructed its product. The intricacy of the piece was astounding and the craftsmanship was fascinating. It made the product beautiful in a way I never would have noticed had the owners not told me the story of how it was made.
Tell your personal story.
If you have a service-based business, your personal story and why you do what you do are not only great attention grabbers, but can also be striking testimony about your expertise. The real estate agent who helped my husband and I find our apartment was a successful psychologist before becoming a real estate agent--and she points that out in the literature she provides to prospective clients, because she knows that buying or selling a home can be a difficult and emotional experience. She sells herself as a consummate negotiator and an understanding counselor to illustrate how she will get her client through the sale in good financial--and mental--condition. Out of hundreds of agents we could have chosen, she got our business.
Tell your customer how to get involved in your story.
Engaging your customers in your story can be just as valuable as engaging them with your product. There is an independent bookstore around the corner from my house with shelves I have often browsed. I had rarely bought a book there, until the shop posted a sign on the door that implored customers--who enjoy being able to shop locally and want the bookstore to be able to keep its doors open--to support independent bookstores by purchasing from them. Now I make myself buy something every time I go to the shop--even if I don't really need it.
The next time you set out to win over customers, think beyond the bullet points of your product. As Lewis Schiff of the Inc. Business Owner's Council once told me: "Facts get recorded; stories get remembered."
Ralph, thank you kindly for the time extended to me earlier on. It is very much appreciated.Your input was enlightning. When you have time please remember to send me the Crowd Sourcing Strategy + the NDI agreement. Have a nice evening Best Regards Anastasio
(PT 2 http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/customers_arent_as_savvy_as_yo.html)
(PT 1 http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/05/what_do_consumer_really_want_s.html)
Most marketers think that the best way to hold onto customers is through "engagement" — interacting as much as possible with them and building relationships. It turns out that that's rarely true. In a study involving more than 7000 consumers, we found that companies often have dangerously wrong ideas about how best to engage with customers. Consider these three myths.
Myth #1: Most consumers want to have relationships with your brand.
Actually, they don't. Only 23% of the consumers in our study said they have a relationship with a brand. In the typical consumer's view of the world, relationships are reserved for friends, family and colleagues. That's why, when you ask the 77% of consumers who don't have relationships with brands to explain why, you get comments like "It's just a brand, not a member of my family." (What consumers really want when they interact with brands online is to get discounts).
How should you market differently?
First, understand which of your consumers are in the 23% and which are in the 77%. Who wants a relationship and who doesn't? Then, apply different expectations to those two groups and market differently to them. Stop bombarding consumers who don't want a relationship with your attempts to build one through endless emails or complex loyalty programs. Those efforts will be low ROI. Chances are there are higher returns to be had elsewhere in your marketing mix.
Myth #2: Interactions build relationships.
No, they don't. Shared values build relationships. A shared value is a belief that both the brand and consumer have about a brand's higher purpose or broad philosophy. For example, Pedigree Dog Food's shared value is a belief that every dog deserves a loving home. Southwest Airlines' shared value revolves around the democratization of air travel.
Of the consumers in our study who said they have a brand relationship, 64% cited shared values as the primary reason. That's far and away the largest driver. Meanwhile, only 13% cited frequent interactions with the brand as a reason for having a relationship.
How should you market differently?
Many brands have a demonstrable higher purpose baked into their missions, whether it's Patagonia's commitment to the environment or Harley Davidson's goal "to fulfill dreams through the experience of motorcycling." These feel authentic to consumers, and so provide a credible basis for shared values and relationship-building. To build relationships, start by clearly communicating your brand's philosophy or higher purpose.
CEB has done extensive work on shared values, showcasing how brands like Mini, Pedigree and Southwest use them to engage with customers. You might also check into Jim Stengel's examination of growth ideals and David Aaker's latest work on brand relevance.
Myth #3: The more interaction the better.
Wrong. There's no correlation between interactions with a customer and the likelihood that he or she will be "sticky" (go through with an intended purchase, purchase again, and recommend). Yet, most marketers behave as if there is a continuous linear relationship between the number of interactions and share of wallet. That's why, as the Wall Street Journal recently reported, you see well-established retailers like Neiman-Marcus, Land's End and Toys R Us sending customers over 300 emails annually.
In reality, that linear relationship flattens much more quickly than most marketers think; soon, helpful interactions become an overwhelming torrent. Without realizing it, many marketers are only adding to the information bombardment consumers feel as they shop a category, reducing stickiness rather than enhancing it. (For more on consumers' cognitive overload, see the sidebar "Too Much Information" in our recent HBR article.
How should you market differently?
Instead of relentlessly demanding more consumer attention, treat the attention you do win as precious. Then ask yourself a simple question of any new marketing efforts: is this campaign/email/microsite/print ad/etc. going to reduce the cognitive overload consumers feel as they shop my category? If the answer is "no" or "not sure," go back to the drawing board. When it comes to interacting with your customers, more isn't better.
It’s been found that full-time employees spend 33 percent of their waking hours at their workplace – that a third of your life spent at the office! It’s no wonder, then, that your working environment can have such a big impact on your happiness and productivity.
Many startups have realized this and created gorgeous, open offices for their employees. However, some companies are still stuck in the bland “cubicleville” mentality. If you are working in one of these productivity-sucking environment, we have some suggestions to help you turn it around.
Thanks to Growthinker Megan Grass for finding this great article! She'll be streaming on her own very soon.
Managing social media for your business can be a tricky endeavor. Which pictures should you share on Facebook? What industry news should you tweet about on Twitter? What topic should you blog about on Tumblr?
And on top of knowing what to publish on which social network, another big question business owners struggle with is the best time to post. Publishing your content at peak times can help you reach the most people on those networks.
Turns out the best time depends which social network you're posting to, according to popular URL shortening service bitly. It tracks metrics on bitly links that are shared across networks. In particular, bitly has examined how the day and time something is posted affects how "viral" it might eventually become.
But each social network has its own "culture," bitly says, and users exhibit distinct behavior patterns. Here's a rundown of bitly's findings on the best times to post to Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr:
Related: How to Create a Social Media Content Strategy (Video)
Facebook: For the best click-through rate, bitly suggests posting to Facebook between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. EST. Wednesday at 3 p.m. EST is the peak time of the week to post. Traffic from Facebook fades after 4 p.m. Weekend posts often get less attention than weekdays.
Twitter: Your best chance of getting high click counts on Twitter is with tweets sent in the afternoon earlier in the week -- namely 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. EST, Monday through Thursday. Bitly suggests users avoid posting after 8 p.m. or after 3 p.m. on Fridays. As with Facebook, weekend tweets are less effective than those sent during the week.
Related: Want Better Twitter Results? Try These Effective Types of Tweets
Tumblr: This social network has a "drastically different pattern of usage" than Facebook or Twitter, bitly says. Tumblr traffic from bitly links peaks between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m. EST on Monday and Tuesday, with similar traffic on Sunday. Friday evening -- a time that's generally ineffective for other networks -- can be an optimal time to post on Tumblr. On average, content posted after 7 p.m. receives more clicks over 24 hours than mid-day posts during the week.
What tips do you have for posting content on social media sites? Let us know in the comments section below.
Summer is the most difficult time to prospect and land deals. Get ahead of the game now to max out your sales productivity.
When you are selling, getting connected to buyers is critical. Whether you are talking about current customers, referrals or cold prospects: You can't sell to people you can't reach. They, meanwhile, can't get approval from people not there to sign–and no one can get buy-in for you when the halls are empty.
Welcome to the black hole for decisions–also known as summer.
To get the most out of this particular selling season, you need to do a few things differently. Try putting some of these recommendations into practice.
1. Build your calendar now for the entire summer.
Start by blocking out the "low productivity periods." These are the times during which making new connections or getting current deals to close are going to be the most difficult. They should include holiday weeks (Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day) as well as the weeks that school lets out and the week the kids go back–as well as your own vacation weeks.
You'll need to use those weeks for something other than the final stages of closing or the initial stages of opening new relationships.
2. Talk to key clients now.
Summer vacations are already on many of your client's personal calendars. Get them on your calendar, too. It's easy to ask: "Where you going this summer? When?"
The best sales people know when their customers are traveling so that orders don't get missed or delayed. Less successful sales people get surprised because their clients are out of town.
3. Think past your buyer to the decision-making network.
Often several people have to sign off on on purchases or proposal approvals. If you don't know when the key players in your deals will be gone, then your contract can get delayed.
4. Use the summer to set up for the fall.
Once the kids go back to school, it's going to be game on–and in a hurry. You'll have to make your numbers by the year's end, get your budgets together for next year and complete your strategic initiatives.
Depending on your industry, it may also be trade show season.
As a result, the transition from summer to fall is like shifting from first gear to fifth in about a two-week period. Use the summer for planning so you can set yourself up for this burst of activity between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
5. Consider syncing your vacation plans.
How flexible are your summer holiday plans? If you can identify a period during the summer that will be the least productive for you, that may be a good time to take your own vacation. Take that time to recharge so you can be ready during the more high productivity periods.
The highest-level performers always try to get the most for any investment of time. Looking more strategically at your summer can help you make the best use of your own time.
http://www.inc.com/tom-searcy/how-to-sell-in-the-summer.html
Before, when your shift was done, you were finished. When the inbox was empty, when the forms were processed, you could stop.
Now, of course, there's always one more tweet to make, post to write, words with friends move to complete. There's one more bit of email, one more lens you can construct, one more comment you can respond to. If you want to, you can be never finished.
And that's the dance. Facing a sea of infinity, it's easy to despair, sure that you will never reach dry land, never have the sense of accomplishment of saying, "I'm done." At the same time, to be finished, done, complete--this is a bit like being dead. The silence and the feeling that maybe that's all.
For the marketer, the freelancer and the entrepreneur, the challenge is to level set, to be comfortable with the undone, with the cycle of never-ending. We were trained to finish our homework, our peas and our chores. Today, we're never finished, and that's okay.
It's a dance, not an endless grind.
Small businesses are about to get a powerful new tool for raising capital—crowd funding.
Under the recently passed Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, small firms will be allowed to sell equity stakes online to large numbers of investors, just as some companies now solicit funds on platforms like Kickstarter.com. And businesses won't face the usual rules and red tape that come with larger equity offerings. (Read the text of the act at http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-112hr3606enr/pdf/BILLS-112hr3606enr.pdf.)
Even though the process will be simpler, there are a lot of nuances and potential pitfalls companies will need to keep in mind. We asked experts for their best advice and biggest caveats.
The easiest way to offer stock online will be to use an existing platform like Kickstarter, experts say. A few sites have even handled crowd-based equity sales using different methods, such as permitting only sophisticated investors to buy shares.
But after the JOBS Act takes effect later this year or in 2013, many new sites will likely enter the market. How can you tell what's the best choice?
![[CROWDonline]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/SM-AA676_CROWDo_D_20120516120833.jpg)
Getty Images
The JOBS Act, signed by President Barack Obama last month, opens up new possibilities for small-business financing
David Millard of law firm Barnes & Thornburg LLP in Indianapolis recommends carrying out extreme diligence on any site you might use. "You want to make sure that the platforms are not fly by night, they satisfy the legal obligations" imposed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, he explains.
Of course, he says, just because a site has a good pedigree doesn't mean it will take hold as the industry standard: "In the tech world, the tried, true and established can become irrelevant and passé overnight."
Under the new rules, businesses will be able raise up to $1 million annually, and most small investors can give up to $2,000 total. But how do you decide what your company is worth? And how big of a stake should you sell?
A common mistake that small-business owners make, experts say, is to give away too much of their equity when they are at their initial stages of raising capital.
"You started your business to keep as much equity as you could, so you should work hard to do that," says Dave Lavinsky, president of Growthink Inc, a business-planning firm and investment bank.
Michael Bush, a small-business adviser in San Francisco, recommends offering less than 10% of equity. As for valuation, he offers a rule of thumb: Figure out how much annual revenue you expect your company to bring in two years after raising the capital. Then value the business at one to two times that number.
One of the biggest changes in the new rules is removing limits on who can invest. Unlike regular stock offerings, crowd offerings are open to people of any wealth level, and companies can reach out to them directly through social networks and other venues. But that doesn't remove a very basic hurdle: Lots of people won't want to be the first on board.
"Anyone who considers funding you knows exactly how much you raised already," says Mr. Lavinsky. If investors "go to the site, and you have zero dollars raised, [they] are going to be skeptical."
One solution is to tap your existing customer base. "Nurture your customer base and have loyal customers," Mr. Lavinsky says. "When it comes to crowd funding, you will already have an existing relationship with those people."
Companies might also consider turning to suppliers as potential stockholders. Still, some experts recommend caution, since investors will have access to the financial statement a company files with the SEC.
"Business owners should think about whether or not they want their suppliers and vendors to have access to sensitive information like margins and earnings," says John M. Torrens, a professor of entrepreneurial practice at Syracuse University's Martin J. Whitman School of Management.
Under the new rules, small businesses don't have many reporting obligations.
Before they sell stock, they must file financial statements with the SEC and disclose any risks related to the offering, says Mr. Lavinsky. They also need to make available to potential investors their income-tax returns for the most recent year, as well as certified financial statements. Aside from some other rules aimed at very large investors, that's essentially it.
Still, experts advise that it's a good idea to go beyond those basics. For one thing, says Mr. Bush, small companies should be specific about how they plan to use the funds that they raise from investors.
"If someone asks you how you're going to use the money, you should be able to be very specific and provide a lot of details," Mr. Bush says. "You don't want to say general things like, 'to buy new equipment.' "
Experts also think that it's a good idea to give investors regular updates every three months or so, perhaps in the form of a webcast or an email newsletter.
"Let them know how the business is doing, where you've been having some trouble, what you're going to do to mitigate that trouble" and other important points, says Mr. Bush.
It's also important to spell out those ground rules early on. "Let them know that you will be providing updates this way prior to getting the money," Mr. Bush says. "You will not be returning phone calls because you need to focus on your business."
Mr. Espinoza is a London-based staff reporter for The Wall Street Journal Europe. He can be reached at javier.espinoza@wsj.com.
Upcoming Events
May 22nd (Tues)
Crowdfunder Beta Launch - Crowdfunder is an LA startup for crowdfinancing your business, made possible due to the new JOBS act coming into effect soon.
May 23rd (Wed)
Digital LA - Games Marketing, PR, News & Reviews
May 24th (Thurs)
"Meet the Angels" Rooftop Mixer w/ Tech Coast Angels - Tech Coast Angels is the largest angel group in SoCal. We hear the rooftop of 1010 Wilshire in Downtown LA is gorgeous.
The Lean Entrepreneur Presentation - The Lean Startup Circle has been putting together awesome meetups for some time now.
Tech and Entertainment: Disruption vs Destruction - Brought to you by Techzulu, our favorite local startup news source.
May 31st (Thurs)
The Insider's Guide: How to Raise Capital for your Startup - Brought to you by Jon Funk of Ocean Road Partners.
Jun 7th (Thurs)
Music Startup Academy - Know anybody who is running a music startup?
Jun 13th (Wed)
Small Business Awards - We love that the government supports Small Businesses.
June 14th (Thurs)
Venice Tech Entrepreneur Meet Up - Relatively new meetup group.
June 21-23 (Thurs thru Sat)
Silicon Beach Fest - First Silicon Beach Fest, brought to you by Digital LA.
August 2nd (Monday)
TEDx Santa Monica Salon Event
Startup Venture Summit
Go small business! I just helped a local business get closer to a $250,000 Grant.
Chase and LivingSocial are awarding $250,000 Grants
Vote for your favorite small business at www.missionsmallbusiness.com.
The SBA loaned small businesses more this year than ever before. But behind the scenes at Small Business Week 2012, entrepreneurs are still fretting over credit access and financing health care.
Inc.
A town-hall meeting kicking off National Small Business Week 2012 in Washington, D.C., and Small Business Administration administrator Karen Mills opened the meeting with a discussion about how small businesses help create a healthy economy—both in the short term, by hiring and enlivening local economies, and the long term, by growing into sustainable companies.
"Last year was a record year for SBA," she said, adding that the agency guaranteed $30 billion [in loans] to small business in 2011: "That is more money into the hands of small business for SBA loan guarantees than ever before in the history of this agency."
And it's a big improvement from two years ago, when small business lending suffered a hard blow from the housing market crash and the recession, said Dr. Corey Brimacombe, the co-owner of First Impressions, a pediatric dentistry and orthodontics practice based in Wisconsin.
"It was difficult to go to the bank, unless you had basically impeccable credit, just to get them to talk to you." But now small business owners say things are looking up, although improvements still need to be made, he said. "It's starting to get better—but it's still fairly difficult."
Most business owners, who had traveled from across the United States, seemed optimistic—but cautiously so. That was readily apparent when entrepreneurs took to the open microphone, following the speech by Karen Mills. Their sustaining economic worries flowed forth.
And in dozens of subsequent interviews with entrepreneurs at Small Business Week, the sentiment that small businesses are still suffering from the sunken economy, and want the government to do more to help, became crystal clear.
Biggest Concern: Access to Capital
Despite it being a record year for the SBA, and despite the additional capital the administration has made available, entrepreneurs say tight lending conditions still put strain on their business.
Upon being asked if entrepreneurs had enough access to capital, Holly Bohn, founder of See Jane Work, a style and organization retailer, gave a blunt—but far from rare—response: "Absolutely not. And i think they don't have enough access to information."
Certainly, SBA loans have helped a lot of the businesses honored at Small Business Week get their jump-starts in the past.
"I couldn't have gotten my business off the ground without an SBA guaranteed loan," said Al Youngwerth, founder and of Rekluse Motor Sports. "I needed money to buy equipment and to expand, and I was not going to get financing without an SBA guarantee, even though I'd had several other successful businesses."
Although aid from the SBA is quite welcome, it also costs small business owners. "SBA is more expensive," Youngwerth says. "It prices its loans a couple of points higher to take in account for the risk."
Fortunately for Rekluse, which was named the National Small Business Exporter of the Year, Youngwerth says his SBA loan was "worth every penny."
Regardless of the increased amount and number of loans the SBA made this year, small business owners say a priority needs to be placed on education surrounding access to capital—ensuring entrepreneurs understand the large responsibility of loans and know reliable places to find additional funding.
"I think with loans comes a lot of responsibilities that a lot of small businesses really don't know about," Bohn, of See Jane Work, says. Bohn proposed different ideas for beefing up education for entrepreneurs looking for funding, such as thorough three-day workshops or requirements to meet with a SCORE mentor. Part of the education would also address the best places to access capital. "I still think entrepreneurs are taken advantage of by the capital market," Bohn says.
She stresses that entrepreneurs should be cautious about where they put their money, time, and faith. She warned against workshops that charge people money to pitch angel investors, stressing the need to research such resources. "It was a business where they were charging people money to present," Bohn says, "and you find out later that very few businesses were ever funded, or they might be funded very minimally."
Other entrepreneurs said they wanted to know what the SBA would do to keep the ball moving forward after the recent increase in loan availability. Concern was also voiced for the gender divide in funding.
"Access to capital is a tremendous issue to women entrepreneurs," says Jacqueline Baptist, president of The Baptist Group. "Three percent of VC money goes to women—out of 100%, and 15% of angel dollars goes to women—that's really small."
Another Substantial Worry: Financing Employee Health Care
Throughout Small Business Week, several entrepreneurs separately voiced their concerns about health care—and the woes seemed to extend from the smallest start-ups to established companies.
"I don’t care if you have five employees to 215 employees, you're nervous about what the health care bill is going to bring for small business," Brimacombe, the co-owner of First Impressions, says.
Health care isn't only a financial stress for business owners, but it can be a source of tension that disrupts employee confidence—which can harm a company from the inside. "We're going into 2013 and 2014 uncertain about what's going to happen—which brings down confidence and makes us nervous," Brimacombe says.
With small business owners being concerned about keeping the business afloat and saving for their families and retirement, and employees worrying about having the health care they need, the large impact of the health care issues are apparent. “When we’re nervous our employees are nervous because it affects us all,” Turner says.
Though health care is an issue on entrepreneur's minds at National Small Business Week, Youngwerth, of Rekluse Motor Sports, says he believes things are getting better, at least for his company.
"I don't know how much it has to do with the overall healthcare system, our size and our growing group size, or the pieces of the health care bill that have already implemented," he says. "But I would say it’s much better than it was several years ago."
Despite these worry lines, small business owners are optimistic about the economic future and are keeping things in perspective. "One of the jokes that was made in the back area amongst a lot of the winners wasn't so much congratulations on the award, but congratulations on surviving the last three years," Turner says. "And that says a lot, because we're starting to see a turn around for a lot of small businesses. We're starting to see banks loan more money out and looking for it but it's still the angst of moving forward a little bit."
ESSAY - "I" "I" "I" "I" "I" "I" VERSUS "WE" I know some of the most skilled hiring managers in the world. At times, we are brought into organizations to conduct final interviews for leadership positions. Many of us will hear an executive candidate discuss his or her background by saying, "I did this," "I changed this" and "I succeeded here." After a while we know this (no longer the) candidate will most likely lead from the ego rather than the truth. We wait for the interview where someone tells us, "We accomplished this together," "We became a very successful team" and "We improved together." This topic has nothing to do with self-promotion. When any of us hear a leader come from "I" "I" "I" "I" we realize the team comes second, the efforts of others will be masked, selfishness is OK and morale will be diminished. "A guy is a lump like a doughnut. So, first you gotta get rid of all the stuff his mom did to him. And then you gotta get rid of all that macho crap that they pick up from beer commercials. And then there's my personal favorite, the male ego." - Roseanne Barr The ego isn't much fun for the rest of us! After many years, I am falling in love and was telling a friend about this yesterday. She responded, "This is a result of your learning to love yourself." A few months ago, when I was working on loving myself, I would have agreed. But, at least for me, that is a bunch of (expletive)! When I'm focusing all of this energy in learning to love myself, I am not spending much time on loving others, caring for others and being of service to others. In the end, I am a rather boring topic. I know all of my shortcomings and strengths. How many times do I need to repeat them? "People who are into themselves make a very small package indeed." - Michael Beckwith Many years ago, I became a recovering co-dependent and in that thankfully brief era, was a self-serving (expletive again). The empress of co-dependent recovery, Oprah Winfrey has often presented a parable of being in a plane when the oxygen masks fall down. Do we take care of ourselves? Or, do we run around putting masks on our children and fellow passengers? The answer is obvious. Healthy living and leadership requires that we take care of everybody including ourselves. Of course we need to be nourished but if we don't put that to good use we end up with a national obesity problem. Both of our presidential candidates could develop an added edge by moving from an almost parody like extreme of "I." It seems that our focus groups want one person to come in and save the day. All of us have great impact moments when we were children. One of mine was when John F. Kennedy stated those immortal words, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." It was an absolutely humble statement. There was no promise of rescuing all of us from an alternative. This was all about "we." By ourselves we are not great we are alone. We achieve greatness together. We build remarkable lives together. We find happiness together. We discover our place in this world together. We create engagement together. All the best, David Harder President & Founder Inspired Work, Inc. P: (310) 277-4850 _____________________________ THE INSPIRED WORK PROGRAM IS SATURDAY & SUNDAY - JUNE 2 & 3 The Inspired Work Program is the advanced course for work. Use it to establish greater success, joy and meaning with your work. The results are immediate. The results last a lifetime. The results can be spectacular. Please feel free to have a discussion with us about your own needs and expectations. Website: http://www.inspiredworkservices.com |
Growthink's Business Development Intern, Melissa Sweet, researched and created a pop-up art store as part of her senior graduate thesis at Loyola Marymount University. Located on Main Street in downtown Los Angeles, the shop hosted works of art from students of various local art schools. Great work Melissa for hosting such an exciting entrepreneurial endeavor!
Watching the NBA playoffs this weekend, I was touched by how many lessons from the triumphs and the trials of the various teams can be applied to Growthink and the challenges and opportunities of our clients. Here are three:
1. Great team performances always trump great individual performances. Even the greatest players in the game - Lebron, Kobe, and the like - struggle mightily when they try to do it alone. These superstars are truly at their best when their great talents and ambition INSPIRE their teammates to peak performance. This is the highest form of leadership - and when you listen to the coaches talk about their superstars games at their best - this quality is the one they talk about more than anything else.
2. Effort Trumps All. For me, the most inspirational part of watching the games is how much MORE effort the players give as the playoff series go deeper - game 2 is 20% more intense than game 1 and game 3 is 20% more intense than game 2. So by the 6th and 7th games, you can literally feel the intensity and the WANT of the coaches and players steaming out of them. And this effort is VERY inspirational and its opposite - that sense that players are not giving their best / trying their hardest - is what fans find so maddening.
3. Adversity Creates Opportunity. There is nothing like watching how teams and players respond when they fall behind, when the chips are down. Championship-tested teams, and even as a lifelong Boston Celtics fan I will put the Lakers in this category, reach down for another level of effort and want as the adversity ratchets up. Adversity, in a way, is a BLESSING as it gives us opportunity to build our resiliency and allows us to realize that we are all FAR stronger than we give ourselves credit for.
4. And of course, the most important lesson of the NBA playoffs - Go Celtics!!!!
Jim Frazier 
