Be All In

December 31, 2014
As you wrap up 2014 and begin 2015, what introspective questions are you asking yourself?

My mentor, John C. Maxwell says, "Experience is NOT the best teacher.... EVALUATED experience is the best teacher."

You've experienced a lot in 2014. So what? What are you going to do with that experience? What did you learn from it? What will you do different in 2015? What do you want to be different in 2015 than 2014? Who did you add the most value to in 2014? What made you feel most alive in 2014?What relationships added the most value to you? Who or what slowed you down or is a source of discouragement? (Time to prune)

Before I began 2014, I decided to make my theme of the year "BE". Everything about the year was from the approach of who do I need to become in order to do and have the things that I want? Am I becoming who I was always meant to be? Which led me to ask God, "Who did you mean for me to be?"

"Becoming" in 2014 has done more for my personal growth and achievement than any year previous.

Becoming requires growth. Growth requires work. Work requires a plan. A plan requires a destination (or at least a rest area). A destination requires a reason.

Why (your reason/desire/ambition) will get you out of bed with excitement.
Working your plan daily will allow you to rest peacefully each evening knowing you gave it your all that day.

For 2015, my theme is something I heard Timothy Novak tell my students this fall, "Be All In." I would encourage YOU to BE ALL IN with whatever you choose to do or become in 2015.

If you have trouble with answering any of the questions in this post and need some help or clarity. Give me a shout - that's what I do.

YOU Matter!!

No Struggles - No Life

Have you ever looked at someone and thought, "They have it so easy!" or "I wish I could live like them."  Or, in my case, I see great authors or great speakers, and think, "Wow, why can't I be that good?"

The reality?  You and I are seeing the fruits of the struggle that these people are likely to have experienced.  Many times my mentor, John C Maxwell, has said that people say they wish they could have his lifestyle or his speaking abilities and he responds, "You can - you just have to pay the same price that I paid.  The work, the preparations..... the struggles."

You may love to watch birds or listen to their songs, but have you thought about their struggle for life?  Birds must struggle to break the egg to enter the world.  If the egg was broken for them and there was no struggle, the bird would die.  It is the struggle that brings the bird (and you and I) to life.  It is the struggle that shows us our limits or unlocks a desire that we never knew we had.

In the midst of your struggles, stay aware and ask yourself these questions:

• Where did this struggle come from?
• What can I learn about this struggle?
• What am I learning about me?
• What responsibilities, actions, or relationships in my life need to change?
• What one or two steps can I take immediately begin to move forward through this struggle?

You don't have to like the struggles.... and if you do, there might be something wrong with you. :-)  But embrace the struggles and know that there is something inside of you seeking to be birthed that needs this current struggle.

YOU Matter!!

Success Ahead

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. ~Henry David Thoreau.

• "If one" = YOU
• "advances confidently" = small steps forward, action breeds confidence and overcomes fear
• "in the direction of his dreams” = what/where/who/when is your dream?
• “and endeavors” = committed.  Are you ALL IN?
• “to live” = life is the journey, not the moment.  Savor it.
• “the life which he(she) has imagined” = Your dream defined in present tense – start living it today
• “he(she) will meet with success” – Earl Nightingale says, Success is the progressive realization of a worthy ideal.
• “unexpected in common hours.” – You may not know the exact time, but when you change your thinking and your habits, the world around you changes to the point that you finally realize you are already living the life you imagined. 

When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. ~Wayne Dyer

YOU Matter!!

Lead by Fear or Love?

As a leader, you can choose to lead others by fear or by love.

Fear will motivate and manipulate for short periods, but it will also plant seeds of cynicism and resentment.

Love will also motivate, but it will perpetuate into lasting change, loyalty, and exceptional results.

You have the ultimate power and that is CHOICE.

Choose Love.

YOU Matter!!

The following post was originally published on July 14, 2014 at www.drivingresultsthroughculture.com.  It was written by my friend Chris Edmonds, whose new book, The Culture Engine, has just been released.  I'm reading it - it is GREAT.  I am sharing his blog post here with his permission, so you can get a glimpse of why I consider Chris one of my long distance mentors.

Demand Nice

A recent news story about a local diner caught my eye. The owners and staff are creating a comfortable customer experience that diners love.

The food is terrific, the staff is modeling great service, and the environment is safe and inspiring. Staff love it and customers love it. Business is booming.

Safe and inspiring work environments – for employees and customers – is unfortunately not normal. It’s all too rare, even if leaders want that kind of environment.

How do you craft a safe and inspiring environment? By demanding that people be nice in every interaction.

The diner owner has a big sign posted near the front door stating, “Be Nice or Leave.” The owner said, “If staff members can’t be nice, they can’t work here. If customers can’t be nice, they can’t eat here. Life is too short to put up with mean people.”

The “Be Nice or Leave” concept has been popularized by the talented Dr. Bob, creator of gorgeous New Orleans folk art.

How nice are leaders and team members in your organization to each other? How nice are leaders and team members to your organization’s internal and external customers?

Setting clear values expectations – with behavioral definitions – is a great start to a nicer, more civil work environment. But setting expectations alone won’t align behavior. Holding people accountable for those behaviors is how one ensures a nicer workplace.

One culture client implemented values and behaviors in their stores. Store leaders received training in the new approach before the valued behaviors were put into place. Store leaders and employees “signed up” – literally, they signed a form – to model the new values and behaviors in every interaction.

These behavioral expectations allowed team leaders and members to raise questions with borderline behaviors, promptly and confidently.

One store employee was known to have a bad temper. She could “fly off the handle” – storming into the stock room, cursing like a longshoreman – at the slightest provocation, by peer or customer.

Soon after the values and behaviors were announced, she popped a cork at work. She barely contained herself in the store’s public areas – but as soon as she got into the stock area, the curse words flew, loud and long.

Her employee peers heard it (they couldn’t miss it). Customers on the floor heard it too (again, it was impossible to miss).

The store manager and her team leader approached her promptly. Behind closed doors, they explained that the employee had broken one of their new team citizenship valued behaviors: “No cursing, no tantrums.” They coached her to ensure she understood that her behavior could not continue if she wanted to remain a company employee. She understood, and calmly went back to her station.

I wish I could say that this conversation stopped her bad behavior forever. It didn’t. She popped her cork later the same week, and was suspended for that infraction. She chose to leave the company rather than return to work.

If your workplace tolerates bad behavior of any kind, refine, refine, refine so it is consistently nice. You’ll enjoy better employee engagement, customer experiences, and performance – and profits.

  

Chris Edmonds is the founder and CEO of the Purposeful Culture Group, which he launched after a 15-year career leading and managing teams. Since 1995, he has also served as a senior consultant with the Ken Blanchard Companies. Chris has delivered over 100 keynote speeches to audiences as large as 5,000, and guided his clients to consistently boost customer satisfaction and employee engagement by 40+% and profits by 30+%. He is the author or co-author of six books, including “Leading At A Higher Level” with Ken Blanchard. His next book, "The Culture Engine: A Framework for Driving Results, Inspiring Your Employees, and Transforming Your Workplace"  will be published by John Wiley & Sons in September 2014.

What Are You Doing to Stay Active?

What do you do to stay active throughout the day?

You have your daily routines, but what are you doing to shake it up a bit.  "Active" isn't just about movement, but rather diversity of movement with your emotions, thoughts, and actions - moving your spirit, your mind, and your body.

• How will you think differently today?  
• How will you think into your results? 
• What will you get excited about or show more empathy?
• Will you take the stairs instead of the elevator or park a little farther away from the building?

Share your ideas on how you could shake it up a bit.

YOU Matter!!

Are You a Critical Thinker or Do You Think Critically?

Are you a critical thinker?

Do you have an insatiable appetite to learn, understand, ponder..... are you curious?  There are many definitions of critical thinking.  I like "thinking about one's thinking in a manner designed to organize and clarify, raise the efficiency of, and recognize errors and biases in one's own thinking."

My feeble attempt to define critical thinking for me is a continuous awareness of one's thinking with the purpose to remain open to unconventional answers in seemingly conventional situations. 

Critical thinkers typically look for why things are the way they are or even look for ways things can be accomplished.  The similarly sounding, but very different thinker is the one who thinks critically.  This is one who looks for why things can not be done or is always looking for what's wrong with individuals and the world.

Be a critical thinker, but don't think critically.

YOU Matter!!

The Bridge From Ordinary to Extraordinary

Journeys of any significant distance will require us to cross at least one bridge along the way.

Bridges help us to navigate tough terrain that would normally be too difficult to cross.  We enjoy the convenience of the bridge, but the bridge itself was not convenient to build.  Many bridges take years to complete, but are worth the effort.

The bridge we must construct to navigate life's tough terrain is made out of GRIT. On October 10, Linda Kaplan Thaler, Chairman of Publicis Kaplan Thaler will be speaking at a live simulcast event called L2: Learn-Lead on the topic of GRIT: Guts, Resilience, Industriousness and Tenacity. How ordinary people become extraordinary.  Linda will share some of her personal experiences, inspiring stories and anecdotes of both well-known and everyday individuals, along with scientific evidence about the power of GRIT. Linda has grown a start-up to a multi-billion dollar public listed company and that took a lot of GRIT!

In this simulcast, Linda will be joined by world-renowned leadership expert, Dr. John C. Maxwell and internet pioneer, Tim Sanders.  If you are in Austin, TX, join us for this powerful simulcast event at the Moviehouse & Eatery, in West Austin on RR620 right across from Concordia University Texas.

For more information and to reserve your seat, visit our site at L2Austin.

The Challenge of Leadership

The challenge of leadership is to 
be strong, but not rude; 
be kind, but not weak; 
be bold, but not bully; 
be thoughtful, but not lazy; 
be humble, but not timid; 
be proud, but not arrogant; 
have humor, but without folly. 
~ Jim Rohn

You've read it, now what will you do with it?

YOU Matter!!

Are You Listening?

In every complaint, there is a request.

You must LISTEN, in order to respond.

Otherwise, you are only reacting, making matters worse.

Today, CHOOSE to listen.

Stay fully present, fully focused on what is being said
rather than trying to figure out what you will say next.

Curiosity Kills Ignorance

How often are you curious?

Curiosity can build connection with others.
When is the last time you asked someone to tell you about themselves?  I'm not talking about, "What do you do?"  When have you taken the time to show real interest in someone by asking them to tell you their story?

Curiosity can spur you personal growth.
When is the last time you asked yourself reflective questions?  One of my mentors, Scott Fay, always asks four reflective questions at the end of each day:

1. What should I start doing?
2. What should I stop doing?
3. What should I do more of in my day?
4. What should I do less of in my day?

Are you curious?
Questions require curiosity.  Curiosity unlocks possibilities where there seemed to be impossibilities. BUT, you must stay in an inquisitive / curious state.  The problem is that many do not stay curious long enough and will just accept the first set of answers that they receive.  Instead you need to stay in a mode of questioning until you have sufficiently fleshed it out.  THEN, end with the question, "What are we missing" or "What am I missing?"

I've heard somewhere that "Curiosity killed the cat, but for humans, curiosity kills ignorance."

Stay curious..... ask questions of others and yourself.

Try it today.

YOU Matter!!

No One Rises to Low Expectations

What are you doing to stretch yourself?

When you stretch yourself, others will be inspired to do the same.

What do you expect of yourself?

What do you expect of others?

No one is perfect, you can always do better....

But, you will never get better until you stretch.

YOU Matter!!

When We Do Nothing, We Become Nothing

In any moment of decision, 

the best thing you can do is the right thing, 

the next best thing is the wrong thing, 

and the worst thing you can do is nothing. 

~Theodore Roosevelt.

"Teddy" Roosevelt was a life-long learner.  He understood that you had to get in the game to learn it.  Too many people sit on the sidelines of life, "play it safe," and do nothing.

When we do nothing, we become nothing.

Get in the game, make a decision, possibly fail....but LEARN and become a better version of you.

What decisions do you need to make?

What is the worst thing that can happen if you make the wrong decision?

How can you mitigate it?

You've heard it said, "Life happens outside your comfort zone."

It's true!!  Step outside....there's room for you here!!

YOU Matter!!

Do You Need A BE-Over?

Just as there's enough mercy for a DO-over, there's also enough grace for a BE-over. 

It is never too late to become the person you were always meant to be. 

What you do is an extension of who you are.

What do you want to do?

Who are you?

Are your actions congruent with who you want to be?

What thoughts, attitudes, and paradigms need to change?

It truly is never too late to become the person you were always meant to be.  Don't give up on YOU!

YOU Matter!!