Senior industry leader adds hands-on management and operational experience to StrategyDriven’s Power & Utilities focused advisory services.
Increasing demand for clean, affordable electricity combined with an aging infrastructure, retiring workers, growing regulations, rising capital costs, and intensifying budget pressures challenge utility executives and managers now more than ever before. To help utility leaders meet these challenges while improving operational safety and reliability, StrategyDriven Enterprises, LLC announces the election of Nathan Ives as the firm’s new Chief Executive Officer.
StrategyDriven advisors work with executives and managers to define their organization’s needs and develop and manage the complex, mission critical projects needed to improve operational effectiveness and lower costs in response to today’s most pressing challenges.
“I’m excited to be joining StrategyDriven during this time of unprecedented change and uncertainty within the energy sector,” says Nathan. “The modernization and expansion of our industry’s infrastructure, induction of a new workforce, and assimilation of an expanding regulatory regime will define how our industry operates for decades to come. At StrategyDriven, we’re proud to be working with industry leaders to address these challenges and adapt their organizations so they continue to operate safely, reliably, and efficiently.”
Prior to joining StrategyDriven, Nathan was a senior manager in Ernst & Young and Deloitte Consulting’s Power & Utility practices; advising industry leaders on the design and implementation of integrated fleet asset management programs.
Before becoming a professional consultant, he held several influential nuclear industry positions at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO); leading teams of operations professionals in the performance evaluation of dozens of domestic and international power plants and guiding the industry’s effort to redefine performance standards in the areas of organizational alignment, managerial decision-making, plant operations, and risk management.
Nathan joined INPO from PSEG’s Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station where he stood watch as a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed Senior Reactor Operator.
In 1992, Nathan graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; earning a bachelor of science degree in physics followed by distinguished service as the Assistant Chief Nuclear Engineer and Quality Assurance Officer onboard USS GROTON SSN 694. He received a Master of Business Administration degree from Kennesaw State University in 2004.
Nathan can be contacted by phone at (678) 313-0150 or email at [email protected]. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
Learn more about how StrategyDriven can help you improve your organization’s operational effectiveness and lower costs.
When someone tells me to “Have a nice day,” I don’t think they mean it. I think they’re just saying it as a kind of mundane, almost impolite, form of politeness. Forced nicety. Said out of habit, not sincerity. To me, it’s not just thoughtless, it’s also meaningless. Heck, half the time people don’t even look at you when they say it.
Oh, they don’t mean it as an insult. People say, “Have a nice day,” because they don’t know what else to say. Or don’t care what they say. Or they are trained to say it.
But think about it. Do they only mean THAT day? Do they want me to have a crappy tomorrow? Or they will go so far as to say, “Have a good rest of the week.” What does that mean, I’m going to have a horrible weekend? Or month? Or year? Or life?
If you are going to say something to me, or your customer, make it sincere, make it meaningful, and make it relevant. Otherwise, I mentally check you off – the same way you check people off. And the question here is, are you being checked off?
Consistency of message and expression is important – but NOT ROBOTIC.
Give people leeway to be human.
Boring and insincere typically has a way of permeating everything else in a company. The color of your logo.
The politically correctness of your slide show.
The stuffiness of your business card.
The boringness of your job title.
Who cares? ONLY YOU! (Your marketing people, your ad agency, yada, yada) Anyone preparing “boring” marketing tools in this day and age should be forced to take that crap out on a sales call and see how CUSTOMERS perceive it or care ten cents about it.
The key word is SINCERITY.
The secondary word is DIFFERENTIATION.
Here are some GOLDEN opportunities to be creatively sincere:
At the fast food window
When customers walk in your store
When customers pay for something
When customers board the plane
When customers are about to order in a restaurant
When customers are sent an invoice
These are all opportunities to prove differentiation, be sincere, and even WOW the customer.
Marketing and HR people: Get off your corporate hobby horse and saddle up your creative brain!
Employees: You’re an individual, not some kind of automated answering device. (Don’t get me started. Reality, if my call is so darn important, DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, don’t tell me about it.) Use your friendliness and creativity to craft a message that the customer perceives as real.
FORCED CORPORATE POLITENESS: I love it when service reps or managers candidly you’re your piece, the other person is clearly wrong, won’t admit it, but are under corporate edict to be polite, but you know they hate you, and their life when they tersely ask, “Will there be anything else?” Makes me smile and feel sad all at once.
Southwest Airlines is anything but politically correct. Their people are happy, their customers are happy, their message is clear, and they make a TON of money. Jeez, I wonder if there’s a correlation!
What about you? How sincere are you?
Here are 4 things you can do tomorrow without anyone’s permission:
Look me in the eye. Make sure there’s a locked-in moment
Say something slightly different. “You’re all set.” vs. “Thanks for your business.”
Shake my hand like you mean it. Firm, with eye contact.
Smile. When you smile, it makes others smile.
IDEA: Make a goal to create 12 smiles a day through your words, actions or deeds. Creativity and sincerity will automatically materialize.
Have a nice day!
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
About the Author
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/JeffreyGitomer.jpg218156StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2013-02-04 06:45:532016-08-07 22:17:13What’s the sincerity level of your message?
It seems so basic and so simple: look at the whole of the organization, then at the parts as components of the whole and back to the bigger picture.
Obsession with certain pieces, comfort levels with other pieces and lack of artistic flair (business savvy) keep the work in progress but not resulting in a finished masterpiece.
Should every business become Big Picture focused? Yes. My job is to widen the frame of reference as much as possible. Alas, the Big Picture of business is a continuing realignment of current conditions, diced with opportunities. The result will be creative new variations. Masterpieces are not stagnant paintings… they can be continually evolving works in progress.
Quotes on Business:
“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” Benjamin Franklin
“Trade is a social act.” John Stuart Mill
“The business of America is business.” President Calvin Coolidge (1925)
“There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Milton Friedman, 20th Century U.S. economist
“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” James Goldsmith, 20th Century British businessman
“The big print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.” Bishop J. Fulton Sheen
“If two men on the same job agree all the time, then one is useless. If they disagree all the time, them both are useless.” Darryl F. Zanuck, film producer (1949)
“Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.” President Woodrow Wilson (1912)
“The first mistake in public business is the going into it.” Benjamin Franklin
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” Thomas Paine
“If you want to succeed, you’d better look as if you mean business.” Jeanne Holm
“No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or ‘get rich’ in business by being a conformist.” J. Paul Getty
“If I had to sum up in one word what makes a good manager, I’d say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.” Robert P. Vanderpoel
“The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better.” Lee Iacocca
“Any business arrangement that is not profitable to the other person will in the end prove unprofitable for you. The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated.” B. C. Forbes
“The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.” Roy L. Smith
“A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.” John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
“The person who knows how will always have a job. The person who knows why will always be his boss.” Diane Ravitch
“Politics is the art of preventing people from sticking their noses in things that are properly their business.” Paul Valéry
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” Alfred D’Souza
“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves – to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today.” Stewart B. Johnson
Business
There is a difference between knowing a product-industry and growing a successful business. It is possible for a company and its managers to know much about certain arts and sciences without having the will to pursue them.
These are major areas where companies fail, per branch on The Business Tree:
The business you’re in. They are not in the right business for well thought out reasons. They don’t have a clearly unique product, but instead rally behind ideas that are not fully developed. There exists either an overdependence upon one product or service line, or the company is diversifying beyond the scope of its core expertise.
Running the business. One observes poor controls, obsolete equipment and under-qualified administrative support. Staff is not properly trained or equipped to handle rapid influxes of business. Production and deliverability are strained already…and it gets worse.
Financial. The company is undercapitalized. It may experience unprofitable pricing, poor payables-receivables policies, lack of accountability and excess overhead. There is too much emphasis upon getting rich, rather than steadily growing and improving. Management relies only upon ‘bean counters’ for company direction.
People. There exists a mis-use of company resources, notably its people. Insufficient investment was made toward human capital on the front end. Employees are not empowered to make decisions or take risks. Management remains isolated or unrealistic, possessing limited leadership development and people skills.
Business Development. There exists an overall naivete about the marketplace, reflected by unrealistic sales policies, quotas and sales management. Customer service is not good, doesn’t improve and never is a major emphasis for the company. Marketing is more for ego reasons, rather than a careful strategy. Sales and marketing are not given enough support… especially management’s personal participation. There is a lack of understanding about protecting existing business, entering new markets, new product development or collaborations.
Body of Knowledge. The organization has fought change. It is unable to read the warning signs or understand external influences. Regulatory red tape proliferates. Management doesn’t take the time to understand how the company has grown or analyze the relationship of each branch to the other. The company has set itself up to avoid change…failing to grow without a crafted or shared Vision.
The Big Picture. The company has failed to understand what business they’re really in. They have not planned strategically. Without an articulated, well-implemented vision, business will not evolve because no Big Picture ever existed.
Much of the wisdom to succeed lies within. People under-perform because they are not given sufficient direction, nurturing, standards of accountability, recognition and encouragement to out-distance themselves. Organizations start to crumble when their people quit on each other.
Unhealthy organizations will always ‘shoot the messenger’ when change and improvements are introduced. Healthy organizations absorb all the knowledge and insight they can… embracing change, continuous quality improvement and planned growth.
The level of achievement by a company is commensurate to the level and quality of its vision, goals and tactics. The higher its integrity and character, the higher its people must aspire.
About the Author
Power Stars to Light the Business Flame, by Hank Moore, encompasses a full-scope business perspective, invaluable for the corporate and small business markets. It is a compendium book, containing quotes and extrapolations into business culture, arranged in 76 business categories.
Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.
Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/HankMoore2.jpg333290StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2013-02-01 06:42:372015-12-19 19:23:53The Big Picture of Business: Business Strategy – Quotes on Business
I am sick of reading claims hyping me to, “have my best year ever.” FYI: The trend of “best year ever” was originated more than a decade ago by the late, great Jim Rohn. His seminars were earth shattering and life changing – and it has inspired many, albeit lesser, duplicators.
Rohn’s seminars should have been titled: “Have your best LIFE ever.”
What about your needs and desires this year?
Let me ask you a few questions about where you’re intending and hoping to do:
How are you expecting this year to be for you?
What are your immediate (within 30 days) goals?
What are your present hopes and dreams? (They have a way of changing over the years. Some dream of marriage – others dream of divorce.)
What are your genuine intentions to make your goals, hopes, and dreams a reality?
What’s your game plan to ensure success?
SUCCESS CONCEPT: What three or four words, and associated actions, could you come up with as a guiding light to help you stay focused and on track to get you there? Not to have “your best year ever,” rather, have a great year. A fulfilling year. A profitable year. A healthy year. A happy year. A year of wander, wonder, and fun.
Many people, like my almost sister-in-law, and blogger extraordinaire, Ali Edwards (www.aliedwards.com), pick one word to focus on for the entire year. Her word this year is “open.” She focuses blog posts and actions around the word. The process works.
I believe that picking a few meaningful words that apply to your vision will help you take DIRECTED actions. Words you can post in plain sight that will keep you in the groove of daily achievement. Key words that you burn into your psyche so that your goals become your driving force. Not just words on a paper, rather beacons of understanding, determination, and intentions. Ever-mindful, laser-focused, bright light.
Here are my 3.5 words for 2013 – I hope they inspire you to think about and select yours:
1. Write
Write every day. Tweet every day. Post every day. I have been writing almost every day for the past 21 years. Why should I let up now? This year I will publish at least two e-books and one major hardbound book (also available on kindle and iBook). I will write 52 new weekly columns, and post a variety of new ideas and thoughts both in text and in video. I selected the word write for 2.5 basic reasons:
1. It has been and continues to be the core of my success. Every penny I have earned since March 23, 1992 (when my first column appeared in print), I can trace back to something I wrote. Writing has provided me with both purpose and process, both discipline and drive, both achievement and attraction, both success and fulfillment, and both lessons and legacy.
2. Writing is the one thing I have encouraged every reader and seminar attendee to do for the past decade. Writing will help establish you both in brand and in reputation.
2.5 One innovation helping me significantly is Dragon Dictate for Mac. I’m using it right now. It’s not just amazing; it’s also a miracle. I’m increasing my speed of writing productivity by more than 50%, while still maintaining perfect thought flow and expression. NOTE: The end of the keyboard is not upon us, but it is clearly within sight.
2. Finish
Finish what I start. I have more projects and opportunities than I can say grace over. I intend to see each one through to fruition (not just completion).
In my experience, there are very few things more frustrating than the mental nag of a project undone. I’m speaking for myself, andchallenging myself, at the same time I’m speaking to you and challenging you.
Finish what you start. It sounds so simple, yet time seems to fly away during the course of a day, a week, a month, or a year.
The process I try to employ is that of “time allocation.” Rather than manage my time (something I have always found both impossible and improbable), I will allocate 30-minute time segments to projects and tasks in order to ensure I have allotted time for completion.
3. Shape
This is by far my most difficult word. It has several connotations.
1. Get in shape: This year for sure (even though I said that least year, and the year before). There’s a fundamental link between physical well being and mental freedom to create. My intention this year is to put them in balance and harmony.
2. Shape up: There are several aspects of business and life that need shaping and re-shaping. They range from organization to money to personal skills to relationships to sales.
3. Shape the future. My age now demands I make plans that include me and exclude me. Succession is not just a word or a plan, it’s also a reality.
These are three huge elements in leadership, life, and quality of living. I’m taking personal responsibility for both actions and outcomes.
3.5 YES!
YES! is the ultimate attitude word, thought, reaction, response, expression of joy, expression of achievement, and recovery. It’s dedication to positive thought, expression, transference of message, and resilience. YES! must envelop all thoughts at all times in order to focus on the positive side of “what if?”
NOTE: I have posted my words for the year on my bathroom mirror. This way I face them twice a day. Post yours.
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
About the Author
Jeffrey Gitomer is the author of The Sales Bible, Customer Satisfaction is Worthless Customer Loyalty is Priceless, The Little Red Book of Selling, The Little Red Book of Sales Answers, The Little Black Book of Connections, The Little Gold Book of YES! Attitude, The Little Green Book of Getting Your Way, The Little Platinum Book of Cha-Ching, The Little Teal Book of Trust, The Little Book of Leadership, and Social BOOM! His website, www.gitomer.com, will lead you to more information about training and seminars, or email him personally at [email protected].
https://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/JeffreyGitomer.jpg218156StrategyDrivenhttps://www.strategydriven.com/wp-content/uploads/SDELogo5-300x70-300x70.pngStrategyDriven2013-01-28 06:18:352016-08-07 20:39:07Words to live by for the next 12 months. What are yours?
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Business Programs
Nathan Ives Named StrategyDriven Enterprises Chief Executive Officer
/in Announcements/by Nathan IvesSenior industry leader adds hands-on management and operational experience to StrategyDriven’s Power & Utilities focused advisory services.
Increasing demand for clean, affordable electricity combined with an aging infrastructure, retiring workers, growing regulations, rising capital costs, and intensifying budget pressures challenge utility executives and managers now more than ever before. To help utility leaders meet these challenges while improving operational safety and reliability, StrategyDriven Enterprises, LLC announces the election of Nathan Ives as the firm’s new Chief Executive Officer.
StrategyDriven advisors work with executives and managers to define their organization’s needs and develop and manage the complex, mission critical projects needed to improve operational effectiveness and lower costs in response to today’s most pressing challenges.
“I’m excited to be joining StrategyDriven during this time of unprecedented change and uncertainty within the energy sector,” says Nathan. “The modernization and expansion of our industry’s infrastructure, induction of a new workforce, and assimilation of an expanding regulatory regime will define how our industry operates for decades to come. At StrategyDriven, we’re proud to be working with industry leaders to address these challenges and adapt their organizations so they continue to operate safely, reliably, and efficiently.”
Prior to joining StrategyDriven, Nathan was a senior manager in Ernst & Young and Deloitte Consulting’s Power & Utility practices; advising industry leaders on the design and implementation of integrated fleet asset management programs.
Before becoming a professional consultant, he held several influential nuclear industry positions at the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO); leading teams of operations professionals in the performance evaluation of dozens of domestic and international power plants and guiding the industry’s effort to redefine performance standards in the areas of organizational alignment, managerial decision-making, plant operations, and risk management.
Nathan joined INPO from PSEG’s Hope Creek Nuclear Generating Station where he stood watch as a U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission licensed Senior Reactor Operator.
In 1992, Nathan graduated from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland; earning a bachelor of science degree in physics followed by distinguished service as the Assistant Chief Nuclear Engineer and Quality Assurance Officer onboard USS GROTON SSN 694. He received a Master of Business Administration degree from Kennesaw State University in 2004.
Nathan can be contacted by phone at (678) 313-0150 or email at [email protected]. To read Nathan’s complete biography, click here.
Learn more about how StrategyDriven can help you improve your organization’s operational effectiveness and lower costs.
What’s the sincerity level of your message?
/in Marketing & Sales/by Jeffrey GitomerWhen someone tells me to “Have a nice day,” I don’t think they mean it. I think they’re just saying it as a kind of mundane, almost impolite, form of politeness. Forced nicety. Said out of habit, not sincerity. To me, it’s not just thoughtless, it’s also meaningless. Heck, half the time people don’t even look at you when they say it.
Oh, they don’t mean it as an insult. People say, “Have a nice day,” because they don’t know what else to say. Or don’t care what they say. Or they are trained to say it.
But think about it. Do they only mean THAT day? Do they want me to have a crappy tomorrow? Or they will go so far as to say, “Have a good rest of the week.” What does that mean, I’m going to have a horrible weekend? Or month? Or year? Or life?
If you are going to say something to me, or your customer, make it sincere, make it meaningful, and make it relevant. Otherwise, I mentally check you off – the same way you check people off. And the question here is, are you being checked off?
Consistency of message and expression is important – but NOT ROBOTIC.
Give people leeway to be human.
Boring and insincere typically has a way of permeating everything else in a company. The color of your logo.
Who cares? ONLY YOU! (Your marketing people, your ad agency, yada, yada) Anyone preparing “boring” marketing tools in this day and age should be forced to take that crap out on a sales call and see how CUSTOMERS perceive it or care ten cents about it.
The key word is SINCERITY.
The secondary word is DIFFERENTIATION.
Here are some GOLDEN opportunities to be creatively sincere:
These are all opportunities to prove differentiation, be sincere, and even WOW the customer.
FORCED CORPORATE POLITENESS: I love it when service reps or managers candidly you’re your piece, the other person is clearly wrong, won’t admit it, but are under corporate edict to be polite, but you know they hate you, and their life when they tersely ask, “Will there be anything else?” Makes me smile and feel sad all at once.
Southwest Airlines is anything but politically correct. Their people are happy, their customers are happy, their message is clear, and they make a TON of money. Jeez, I wonder if there’s a correlation!
What about you? How sincere are you?
Here are 4 things you can do tomorrow without anyone’s permission:
IDEA: Make a goal to create 12 smiles a day through your words, actions or deeds. Creativity and sincerity will automatically materialize.
Have a nice day!
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
About the Author
Leadership Inspirations – Avoiding Envy
/in Leadership Inspirations/by StrategyDrivenAlbert Camus (1913 – 1960)
French Pied-Noir author, journalist, and philosopher
The Big Picture of Business: Business Strategy – Quotes on Business
/in Management & Leadership/by Hank MooreIt seems so basic and so simple: look at the whole of the organization, then at the parts as components of the whole and back to the bigger picture.
Obsession with certain pieces, comfort levels with other pieces and lack of artistic flair (business savvy) keep the work in progress but not resulting in a finished masterpiece.
Should every business become Big Picture focused? Yes. My job is to widen the frame of reference as much as possible. Alas, the Big Picture of business is a continuing realignment of current conditions, diced with opportunities. The result will be creative new variations. Masterpieces are not stagnant paintings… they can be continually evolving works in progress.
Quotes on Business:
“No nation was ever ruined by trade.” Benjamin Franklin
“Trade is a social act.” John Stuart Mill
“The business of America is business.” President Calvin Coolidge (1925)
“There is no such thing as a free lunch.” Milton Friedman, 20th Century U.S. economist
“If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.” James Goldsmith, 20th Century British businessman
“The big print giveth, and the fine print taketh away.” Bishop J. Fulton Sheen
“If two men on the same job agree all the time, then one is useless. If they disagree all the time, them both are useless.” Darryl F. Zanuck, film producer (1949)
“Business underlies everything in our national life, including our spiritual life. Witness the fact that in the Lord’s Prayer, the first petition is for daily bread. No one can worship God or love his neighbor on an empty stomach.” President Woodrow Wilson (1912)
“The first mistake in public business is the going into it.” Benjamin Franklin
“The harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly; it is dearness only that gives everything its value. I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink; but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” Thomas Paine
“If you want to succeed, you’d better look as if you mean business.” Jeanne Holm
“No one can possibly achieve any real and lasting success or ‘get rich’ in business by being a conformist.” J. Paul Getty
“If I had to sum up in one word what makes a good manager, I’d say decisiveness. You can use the fanciest computers to gather the numbers, but in the end you have to set a timetable and act.” Robert P. Vanderpoel
“The most successful businessman is the man who holds onto the old just as long as it is good, and grabs the new just as soon as it is better.” Lee Iacocca
“Any business arrangement that is not profitable to the other person will in the end prove unprofitable for you. The bargain that yields mutual satisfaction is the only one that is apt to be repeated.” B. C. Forbes
“The successful man is the one who finds out what is the matter with his business before his competitors do.” Roy L. Smith
“A friendship founded on business is better than a business founded on friendship.” John D. Rockefeller, Jr.
“The person who knows how will always have a job. The person who knows why will always be his boss.” Diane Ravitch
“Politics is the art of preventing people from sticking their noses in things that are properly their business.” Paul Valéry
“For a long time it had seemed to me that life was about to begin – real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way. Something to be got through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, a debt to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life.” Alfred D’Souza
“Our business in life is not to get ahead of others, but to get ahead of ourselves – to break our own records, to outstrip our yesterday by our today.” Stewart B. Johnson
Business
There is a difference between knowing a product-industry and growing a successful business. It is possible for a company and its managers to know much about certain arts and sciences without having the will to pursue them.
These are major areas where companies fail, per branch on The Business Tree:
Much of the wisdom to succeed lies within. People under-perform because they are not given sufficient direction, nurturing, standards of accountability, recognition and encouragement to out-distance themselves. Organizations start to crumble when their people quit on each other.
Unhealthy organizations will always ‘shoot the messenger’ when change and improvements are introduced. Healthy organizations absorb all the knowledge and insight they can… embracing change, continuous quality improvement and planned growth.
The level of achievement by a company is commensurate to the level and quality of its vision, goals and tactics. The higher its integrity and character, the higher its people must aspire.
About the Author
Hank’s latest book functions as a ‘PDR of business,’ a view of Big Picture strategies, methodologies and recommendations. This is a creative way of re-treading old knowledge to enable executives to master change rather than feel as they’re victims of it.
Power Stars to Light the Business Flameis now out in all three e-book formats: iTunes, Kindle, and Nook.
Words to live by for the next 12 months. What are yours?
/in Practices for Professionals/by Jeffrey GitomerI am sick of reading claims hyping me to, “have my best year ever.” FYI: The trend of “best year ever” was originated more than a decade ago by the late, great Jim Rohn. His seminars were earth shattering and life changing – and it has inspired many, albeit lesser, duplicators.
Rohn’s seminars should have been titled: “Have your best LIFE ever.”
What about your needs and desires this year?
Let me ask you a few questions about where you’re intending and hoping to do:
SUCCESS CONCEPT: What three or four words, and associated actions, could you come up with as a guiding light to help you stay focused and on track to get you there? Not to have “your best year ever,” rather, have a great year. A fulfilling year. A profitable year. A healthy year. A happy year. A year of wander, wonder, and fun.
Many people, like my almost sister-in-law, and blogger extraordinaire, Ali Edwards (www.aliedwards.com), pick one word to focus on for the entire year. Her word this year is “open.” She focuses blog posts and actions around the word. The process works.
I believe that picking a few meaningful words that apply to your vision will help you take DIRECTED actions. Words you can post in plain sight that will keep you in the groove of daily achievement. Key words that you burn into your psyche so that your goals become your driving force. Not just words on a paper, rather beacons of understanding, determination, and intentions. Ever-mindful, laser-focused, bright light.
Here are my 3.5 words for 2013 – I hope they inspire you to think about and select yours:
1. Write
Write every day. Tweet every day. Post every day. I have been writing almost every day for the past 21 years. Why should I let up now? This year I will publish at least two e-books and one major hardbound book (also available on kindle and iBook). I will write 52 new weekly columns, and post a variety of new ideas and thoughts both in text and in video. I selected the word write for 2.5 basic reasons:
1. It has been and continues to be the core of my success. Every penny I have earned since March 23, 1992 (when my first column appeared in print), I can trace back to something I wrote. Writing has provided me with both purpose and process, both discipline and drive, both achievement and attraction, both success and fulfillment, and both lessons and legacy.
2. Writing is the one thing I have encouraged every reader and seminar attendee to do for the past decade. Writing will help establish you both in brand and in reputation.
2.5 One innovation helping me significantly is Dragon Dictate for Mac. I’m using it right now. It’s not just amazing; it’s also a miracle. I’m increasing my speed of writing productivity by more than 50%, while still maintaining perfect thought flow and expression. NOTE: The end of the keyboard is not upon us, but it is clearly within sight.
2. Finish
Finish what I start. I have more projects and opportunities than I can say grace over. I intend to see each one through to fruition (not just completion).
In my experience, there are very few things more frustrating than the mental nag of a project undone. I’m speaking for myself, andchallenging myself, at the same time I’m speaking to you and challenging you.
Finish what you start. It sounds so simple, yet time seems to fly away during the course of a day, a week, a month, or a year.
The process I try to employ is that of “time allocation.” Rather than manage my time (something I have always found both impossible and improbable), I will allocate 30-minute time segments to projects and tasks in order to ensure I have allotted time for completion.
3. Shape
This is by far my most difficult word. It has several connotations.
1. Get in shape: This year for sure (even though I said that least year, and the year before). There’s a fundamental link between physical well being and mental freedom to create. My intention this year is to put them in balance and harmony.
2. Shape up: There are several aspects of business and life that need shaping and re-shaping. They range from organization to money to personal skills to relationships to sales.
3. Shape the future. My age now demands I make plans that include me and exclude me. Succession is not just a word or a plan, it’s also a reality.
These are three huge elements in leadership, life, and quality of living. I’m taking personal responsibility for both actions and outcomes.
3.5 YES!
YES! is the ultimate attitude word, thought, reaction, response, expression of joy, expression of achievement, and recovery. It’s dedication to positive thought, expression, transference of message, and resilience. YES! must envelop all thoughts at all times in order to focus on the positive side of “what if?”
NOTE: I have posted my words for the year on my bathroom mirror. This way I face them twice a day. Post yours.
Reprinted with permission from Jeffrey H. Gitomer and Buy Gitomer.
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