Progress is good. Innovation and reinvention are key tenets of business. We know that if we stand still, the competition will pass us by. We know that if we are not attuned to our customer’s requirements, then our product will fade to irrelevance. Walking down the Fort Lauderdale beachfront, you will pass The Westin Hotel
Sometimes I ask the question. Other times, I don’t ask it outright. But one thing is for sure, everytime I am with a customer, I am listening for the answer to this question: What is keeping you up at night? Your customer asked for a meeting and wants to learn about your products and services.
On November 6, 2004, my first ski day of the season, I broke my neck cliff- jumping in Tahoe. I was extremely lucky – I walked out of the hospital! December 2010, after a diving trip in Australia, a scratch on my leg got infected by MRSA and I spent a week in the hospital.
I could run a marathon if I set my mind to it. How do I know this? After all, when I run regularly, I never run more than 4 miles and that has me exhausted. I am not a naturally gifted runner. I have several friends who were not runners by nature but set their mind
Stop pursuing the Meaning of Life. Find your Meaning in Life. I recently re-read Viktor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. Frankl, a psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, explains not so much the graphic horrors of his time in concentration camps, but moreso the psychological dimensions of survival, hopelessness, why people acted the way they did, gradations
Ask anyone and they will likely tell you they are running at 120%, that there aren’t enough hours in the day. I was that way for the longest time and set my sights on making space in my life to tackle opportunities that have always been elusive for me. My response to that sounds counter-intuitive:
Setting a meeting without a clear agenda or objective Coming to appointments late. Making no room for daily downtime and reflection Not exercising Letting your day get hijacked by impromptu priorities Saying yes to all (good) opportunities Cramming your calendar with back to back appointments Time spent on discussing the problem exceeds time spent on
Thomas Jefferson wrote this recommendation of Meriwether Lewis on his qualifications for what was to become the Lewis & Clark expedition: “Of courage undaunted, possessing a firmness and perseverance of purpose which nothing but impossibilities could divert from it’s direction, careful as a father of those committed to his charge, yet steady in the maintenance
Courage has many faces. I’m speaking about personal courage, staring honesty in the face and the boldness to stand up for what we believe. We have numerous opportunities each day to act on those moments; to step up and really be honest and affirmative for what we believe. Often we stay silent, leave it for
“He complains a lot.” “He needs so much of my attention.” “She creates more problems/frustrations than she solves.” Sound familiar? We hire our team members as resources to help us achieve our objectives. When a team member tips that scale to where they create more work and frustration than they solve, then we have to