Yesterday I talked about the absolute commitment to the keeping of promises… today we tighten down the hatches!  This is well documented in the terrific book Broken Windows, Broken Business by the way.  Whatever you accept, you get more of.  A little dirt becomes a lot of dirt.  A little allowed tardiness becomes chronic and thoughtless tardiness.  Lazy customer follow-up becomes no customer follow-up.

All this is rampant in many of our businesses, but today’s market demands toughness!  There is less room for error now than in a long, long time.  This is a very hard lesson and no one and no business is ever perfect, but as our world currently drips with excuses and spread blame for nearly every individual short coming, yet there is nearly no leeway for any and every business which is not “too big to fail” and that list likely includes your business!

There is always a good reason for letting little things slide and only you can decide for yourself how much to permit of yourself and those in your command.  But, be honest with yourself and recognize that isolated and incidental things link, breed, accumulate and communicate.  Tolerance becomes permission and permission become encouragement.

I don’t mean to be beating you up today (here comes the “But”), but, I see many closed small businesses in my everyday life and I hear many complaining business leaders who are also closing their eyes and or holding their noses over slow response to customer inquiries, deviation from proven sales scripts, sloppy order fulfillment, and on and on.  And though I know very well the discomfort which comes from dealing with such problems, I also know that the timing for allowing anything less than spectacular performance in very, very poor indeed.

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.” – Vince Lombardi

Be tough today!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

We’ve reached a sad point, at least in America, where as a general population we no longer have great faith in our heroes, we earnestly expect Government officials to be dishonest, Big Business to be unethical and/or glutinous, and Celebrity Athletes to be “on the sauce” or inappropriately “in the sack”.  We’ve been disappointed so much so, that it’s spread like cancer to create a culture of low expectations and distrust.  As is, we reinforce this culture with inaction and resignation for fear of “rocking the boat” any more than it’s already tossing about and falling headlong into some even scarier economic abyss.

And this may well be the greatest opportunity presently available to leaders, professionals, entrepreneurs and business development people right now: the simple act of being trustworthy.  Performing as promised in all things may well be a new currency more valuable than any other!

As is, they don’t trust you!  They, and probably you, have been conditioned to low expectations by lousy service, broken promises, weasel clauses in contracts, and crooks at all levels and this is the reason your sales are disappointing.  They are not doing business with you because you have not secured their trust. Sell on Trust, hard, and price will become a non-issue.  Show courageous leadership in this area and your business will soar, IF, of course, you will honor your every commitment and promise and then some without exception.

“I trust no one, not even myself.” – Joseph Stalin

Have a great day leading you and then your team!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

The greatest opportunities are often where:

• That’s not really the business we’re in.
• It’s too much trouble.
• It’s not how we’ve always done things.
• It will require additional work.
• It will mean doing things differently than we do now.

Making good entrepreneurial decisions about opportunities isn’t easy, or simple, and it shouldn’t be.  But it’s amazing how many organizations are prevented from moving forward because opportunity does not fit nicely in the little box of ‘the way things work around here.’

I understand that it’s generally easier to get into something than it is to get out, see that every day, and I place a great deal of value on knowing when to say “No.”  But the key is to be very clear and ask a lot of good questions about why you are deciding as you are.  Because if it is revealed that you are saying “No” merely because the thing doesn’t fit nicely with the stuff you already have in your space, you’ve got to question yourself, hard!

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

Have a great day!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

I recently attended a presentation by a group of want-to-be entrepreneurs who were seeking significant sums of capital to fund the start-up of business ventures.  I was taken aback by the size of their capital ‘needs’ and their expectations for immediate income to pay themselves for operating theses ventures.  All of this apparently to come from one of these mythical “Angel Investors” I hear about.  I felt comfort in not being the only one walking away from this presentation thinking there was a serious disconnect from reality in the program and the participants given that we really saw nothing that was clearly creating any significant new value for the world.

Today, I’ve seen comments from Dan Kennedy on this exact subject, which helps bring clarity to my thought that your business simply must be bringing significant and distinctive value to the world or your days are numbered at best.

Dan was asked for advisement by a client citing “lack of capital” as the largest obstacle in his business:  Dan replied that “I once thought that was my nemesis too.  It wasn’t, it rarely is, and it probably isn’t yours either.”  He continued to say, “If you can’t make money without money, you won’t with money either.”  “Resourcefulness trumps resources.  If you truly understand and connect yourself to the emotional drivers of your customers and can communicate that and can put a good product and proposition forward, the matter of capital will take care of itself.”  Dan concluded, “Money can, but does not automatically, beget more money.  But absence of money will never stop a good start.”

“He who is of the opinion that money is everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” – Ben Franklin

Have a great day creating value!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

I am one of those people who still carry around a paper “planner” (technically, I use a MyTyme Success Planner from Leadership Management Int’l).  Having paper on hand serves a number of valuable functions which I cannot devise to replace with any other device.  Recently I benefited from a mentoring session of a successful leader who shares some of my “High Achiever” personality traits and this discussion has led me to more actively utilize two parts of my “planner” and I’d like to share with you more about that…

I have a full page available for “Journal – Notes – Conversations – Ideas “ which I had not been using much lately, but have re-engaged as a running Journal, Doodle pad, Mind Map, whatever you wish to call it of my thoughts, ideas, and notes throughout the day.  I have already captured a great headline for an advertisement, several notes from conversations, a critical product measurement, and more.   But, most importantly, I am making note of things that go well throughout the day!  I rarely give myself much if any credit for success and never bask in the glory as I’m always immediately off to conquer some other goal, but if I can force myself to recognize something I do well when I do it and make a note of it, I can review it and celebrate it at the end of the day.

The MyTyme has an “Accomplishments” field, which I was also not using!  But if I jot a few notes down during the day as things go well, big or small, then I can close my day with a review of those successes and a summary note in my “Accomplishments” area.  What a wonderful way to close the day and what a great way to set up my subconscious mind with positive expectancy for tomorrow!  Give it a try!

“The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart – this you will build your life by; this you will become.” – James Allen

Enjoy a great day of accomplishment!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

Sometimes I see or hear something short and to the point, which strikes me between the eyes and sets my feet in motion.  Generally, as is the case today, that message comes from Dan Kennedy (it is my humble opinion that in addition to the ‘Thought of the Day,’ you should read everything you can get your hands on from Dan Kennedy:  www.dankennedy.com):

“What about you; this day and tomorrow, and the day after?  A sign in my office says, ‘Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest lion or it will be killed.  Every morning a lion wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve to death.  It doesn’t matter if you are the lion or the gazelle, when the sun comes up, you’d better be running.’  Unless you’d like to leave the jungle for the zoo, where you are fed the minimum diet required for life and are kept in a cage.  If so, pray daily that the zoo-keeper never runs short of food.  There is no happy, neutral, middle place.  Jungle or zoo.  Zoo or Jungle.”

“The only unpardonable sin against nature is standing still.” – Robert Collier

Have a great day in the Jungle!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

Finishing our ‘Thoughts’ from Les Brown on the Steps to Survive and Keep Your Dream Alive.  Les say’s “Greatness is a choice; it’s not our destiny.”  These are his recommendations to help you reach your potential:

6.  Be Persistent – Stay with it and keep plugging away.  You’ve got to be hungry.  And when you are hungry you’ll be willing to go from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.  Being hungry also means you are willing to keep your commitment.  You are willing to pay attention to the small things.  You are able to create momentum and engage in day-to-day routines and activities that can produce some big moments.

7.  Be Positive – Expect good things to happen in your life and share those expectations. Often, people have the mindset that opportunities are going to knock on their doors, and, because they don’t knock, these people develop a glass-half-empty attitude about life.  My mindset is that opportunities do not knock; they stand by silently and wait for us to recognize them.  When you are operating from a positive mindset, you have less chance of getting locked in on doubt, worry, and regret.  You are looking for and constantly paying attention to other options that can work for you, as opposed to engaging in activities that work against you.

8.  Be Creative – Look for new ways to be effective.  Look for new ways to win.  It’s very important right now to harness your imagination and realize that even if you have been doing the same thing for 30 years, it doesn’t mean that’s all you can do.  “All you can do is all you can do.  And all you can do is enough.  So make sure that you can do all that you can do.”

9.  Be Concerned – Be concerned, but don’t be consumed.  Look for good information, but avoid news and information that doesn’t help you move ahead.  You don’t serve yourself to bury your head in the sand, it’s important to be informed, but you must effectively filter the information to utilize it and not be paralyzed by it.

10.  Be Faithful – You can’t have faith and worry in your life at the same time.  One will dominate and the other will yield.  Connect with your faith so it can keep you grounded and hopeful.  Faith is the oil that takes the friction out of living.  The true test of faith comes when life blindsides you.  That’s when we have to say to ourselves, no matter how bad it is or how bad it gets, we are going to make it.  That’s the time when we must keep our heads up and know that we have it within us to overcome.  We have the capacity and power within us that is greater than our circumstances.  Live from faith not by fear.

“It’s easy to grin when your ship comes in and you’ve got the stock market beat; but the man worthwhile is the man you can smile, when his shorts are too tight in the seat.” – Judge Smails

Make today great!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

Les Brown says, “Most of us spend so much time talking about, grieving about, and being angry about the closed door, that we don’t see the open doors.”  Here are 10 Steps to help you stay optimistic and keep your dreams alive as you strive toward your goals and dreams:

1. Be Thankful – It’s easy to think about what is missing and ignore what you have.  When you develop an attitude of gratitude, you begin to view things from that positive light and start working toward making something happen.  Stopping and throwing up your hands and giving up is not an option you can entertain.
2. Be Thoughtful – When things go wrong, don’t go with them.  As you look at yourself, you have to harness your will, you have to be grounded, you have to pause and go within.  When tragedies occur, naturally there is a tendency to panic.  There is a grieving process after losing a job you love and have identified with, and the people you have worked with.  But then you have to go within and begin to clear your head and give yourself permission to accept the reality that is happening.  And then turn the page and start working toward where you will go from there.
3. Be Active – Matt Jones wrote a book and said if you’re going to go through hell, don’t stop.  Keep moving.  Start with small steps and build from there.  “By the yard is hard, by the inch, is a cinch.”  When you are not active and engaged you have a tendency to worry and regret and to engage destructive emotions.  It’s very important to start moving and doing things that give you headway.  The more active you are, the less you can be immobilized by fear.
4. Be Connected – I encourage people to be connected with other people they trust.  Ask for help not because you are weak, but because you want to remain strong.  Out of pride, many people refuse to talk about their problems and they disconnect from people who could otherwise help them.
5. Be Patient – Don’t expect instant results.  Plug away consistently with the mindset that things are going to get better even if you can’t yet see the light at the end of the tunnel.  We live in a microwave society, we want instant results, but it’s not that kind of party.  Patience and a spirit of expectation and trust will help you work to reach goals and dreams.  Don’t focus on the process, focus on the outcome.  Keep and hold the vision of where you’re going, time will pass faster than you can imagine and you’ll begin to see victories.

More from Les tomorrow…

“Do not despise the bottom rungs in your climb to greatness.” – Publilius Syrus

Have a great day of climbing!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

I’m a big fan of speaker/author Les Brown, he’s a real life rags to riches story and I’m confident ‘Thought of the Day’ readers will enjoy Les’s keys for establishing a success mindset.  I’ll share some of his key concepts for you this week as Les had presented in a recent Success Magazine “Legend Series” program and will encourage you to read his other works and if possible see him live:

Les say’s that success is a habit you must embrace on a daily basis, and the sooner you get into that mindset the sooner you will be able to give birth to possibilities you might not now be able to imagine.  “In order to do something you’ve never done, you’ve got to become someone you’ve never been.  I think that all of us have great potential within us, but greatness is a choice; it’s not our destiny.  And in the pursuit of our dreams we are introduced to trials, failures and disappointments, which take us to the door of destiny and greatness.”  Brown says most people fail in life not because they aim too high and miss.  “Most people fail because they aim too low and hit.  Any many don’t aim at all.”

If there is one theme Les Brown lives by, it’s that anything is possible.  “Most people have a tendency to settle early in life,” he says.  “They stop experimenting, developing, growing, pushing, and challenging themselves.  And in this global economy, that mindset is no longer an option.  We have to begin to understand that we must expand or we are expendable.”

Les’ advice to all is “to shoot for the moon, because even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars!”

“When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at actually begin to change.” – Wayne Dyer

Have a great day!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…

In my opinion, the most powerful “Social Media” tool for business leaders in the on-line networking site LinkedIn.  LinkedIn has engaged more than 75 Million Professionals in more than 200 countries around the world to become the largest service of its type.  The executives of all of the Fortune 500 companies use LinkedIn.

You get started by building your “Profile” as on any other Social Networking site, but on LinkedIn, your Profile is professionally focused and is basically your Resume.  With such a wealth of Resume data on one site and the ability to search and contact anyone listed, it’s no wonder LinkedIn has become the #1 source for employee recruitment.  I’ve used LinkedIn myself for this purpose as I assume the best prospects are not unemployed; they’re probably working for my competition and should be recruited not waited for.  Be sure you upload a professional quality photo as well; this adds greatly to your Profile and helps Contacts to recognize you and Prospects to be more comfortable with you.

The next step is uploading our Contact files from whatever database management tool you use, you’ll quickly be able to see those Contacts you already know who are already on LinkedIn and can request a LinkedIn Connection based on the status of your relationship.  It’s critical that your LinkedIn Connections be people you actually, know, like, and trust and vice versa.  If you cannot with confidence Recommend a Contact to someone else or if your Contact is not willing and able to make a qualified Introduction on your behalf, they are really of no value to you.  So, please don’t build a large list of contacts just to have an impressive number of contacts, this might look impressive, but it will not serve you well.

On the other hand, you will want to build a Network which is a strong and broad as possible, as this is where the power of the Search and Contact functions on LinkedIn really become weapons of mass profit!  You can search the database of your Connections and their Connections with the “Find People” feature.  It’s one thing to know someone; it’s another altogether to be able to purposely search their “Rolodex” for your ideal prospects or a special vendor or whoever you may be looking for and specifically ask for an Introduction to that person you’d like to meet.  Through my LinkedIn Network, I am able to search more than six million professionals for contacts and request an Introduction from someone of mutual respect and trust and make new connections with ease, and quickly.  They know I am someone who can be trusted and can review my entire professional resume before taking my call.

This is why I recommend LinkedIn as the most powerful “Social Media” tool in my business toolbox and I hope to connect with you on LinkedIn as well!

“Networking is an essential part of building wealth.” – Armstrong Williams

Have a great day!

Shawn
Performance Institute – A Global Leader in Human Capital and Business Development

Russ M. Miller, LLIF – Chairman and CEO

Sunny Hong Zhang – Managing Partner – China

Shawn M. Miller – Managing Partner – USA

P.S.  Your thoughts on our Thoughts are valuable to us and other readers; please post your comments in the Reply box…