May 4, 2010
Issue 155
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In This Issue...
- This Week's Jump-Start
- The Champion Within Article
- Seeds of Greatness
- The Winner's Edge Coaching Tips
- SAVE on Safari to the Soul 6-CD Audio Set with Bonus Book!
- More Information
1. This Week's Jump-Start
Every decision forfeits all other opportunities we had before we made it. We can’t be two places at the same time. In their excellent management book Tradeoffs, Drs. Greiff and Munter discuss the difficult options that face us in all areas of our lives. One case in point illustrates a common opportunity cost. It’s a true anecdote they call, “Bicycle vs. Mother”:
John is a precocious eight-year-old boy. Both his parents work. His mother is a management consultant and travels frequently. After being away for several days, she arrived home late one night and hugged her son.
He said, “Mom, I missed you. Why were you away so long?”
She smiled and replied, “One of the reasons I was away was to make enough money to buy you the bicycle you wanted.”
Young John looked at her reflectively and stated, “Mom, I really did want the bicycle. But mothers are more important than bicycles. So please stay home more.”
Even though we all are aware of the tradeoffs of “quality time vs. quantity time” in our relationships, we are not used to thinking specifically about how our decisions cost us other opportunities. Without this understanding, our decisions will often be unfocused and unrelated to helping us achieve our most important goals.
This week be more aware of the “opportunity cost” and use this to help you make great decisions!
—Denis Waitley
2. The Champion Within Article
Look Up to Those Beneath You by Denis Waitley
The most successful business leaders today are like great coaches who manage by inspiration, instead of intimidation. The command-and-control management style is obsolete. In this fast-forward global marketplace, there is no such distinction as superior and subordinate. The key to getting and staying on top is to provide a resilient, positive working environment. This requires that you “check your ego at the door” and that you seek alliances with others who may have different talents or strengths than you do. This is what synergy is all about.
David Ogilvy, founder of giant advertising agency Ogilvy and Mather, used to give each new manager a Russian doll, which contained five progressively smaller dolls inside. A message inside the smallest one read: “If each of us hires people we consider smaller than ourselves, we shall become a company of dwarves. But if each of us hires people who are bigger than we are, we will become a company of giants.”
To become a giant in the eyes of others, and to succeed in the 21st century, look up to those beneath you! Consider these action ideas as you lead your team:
• Listen often and openly to what others say, and try to do so without prejudgment.
• Don’t put anyone off or be too busy to listen to and answer questions.
• Use praise frequently and sincerely.
• If you feel that criticism is warranted, do it in private, and make sure you say something encouraging after the reprimand.
• Be firm and be fair. Don’t meet with people in person or on the phone when you are angry. Exercise or take a walk first, then communicate when you are relaxed.
• Don’t be afraid or hesitant to share your concerns with others. Far better to discuss a molehill than to wait until it festers into Mount Everest.
• Don’t make rash promises, and be consistent.
• Whenever you are in a leadership role, focus your supervision on teaching effective habits and skills, not in pointing out mistakes.
Encourage everyone in both your personal and professional life to speak up and express their own ideas, even if you disagree with them.
3. Seeds of Greatness
You can change your life by changing your habits. Here are some guidepost rules regarding change:
Rule 1: No one can change you and you can’t really change anyone else. You must admit your need, stop denying your problem, and accept responsibility for changing yourself.
Rule 2: Habits aren’t broken, but replaced—by layering new behavior patterns on top of the old ones. This usually takes a least a year or two. Forget the 30-day wonder ones. I don’t know where motivational speakers got the idea that it takes 21 days to gain a new habit. It may take that long to remember the motions of a new skill, but after many years of being you, it takes far longer to settle into a new habit pattern and stay there. Habits are like submarines. They run silent and deep. They also are like comfortable beds, in that they’re easy to get into, but difficult to get out of. So don’t expect immediate, amazing results. Give your skills training a year and stick with it, knowing that your new ways can last a lifetime.
Rule 3: A daily routine adhered to over time will become second nature, like riding a bicycle. Negative behavior leads to a losing lifestyle, positive behavior to a wining lifestyle. Practice makes permanent in both cases.
—DW
4. The Winner's Edge Coaching Tips
Become enthusiastic about your family members’ interests. Young children need their parents’ involvement and approval—but remember that involvement shouldn’t mean taking over or becoming their agent and manager.
Schedule mandatory family time together, even at the expense of seemingly pressing obligations. Family members often meet coming and going, making the home like a pit stop at the Indianapolis 500. One meal a day together with the television off is a bare minimum.
So to recap, take an interest and schedule family time—both important in raising healthy, well-adjusted children and developing strong relationships!
5. SAVE on Safari to the Soul 6-CD Audio Set with Bonus Book!
Makes a Great Graduation Gift!
Take a fascinating safari into the depths of Africa—and the essence of life—with one of America’s best-loved philosophers, speakers and success mentors, Denis Waitley.
Safari to the Soul is Denis’s own intimate journey into self-discovery. It has been heralded as his most penetrating, profound and important message, which he delivers with his inimitable style, making us laugh, cry and pause to reflect on our own beliefs.
Take this set with you to listen to in your car or while you work on your home or office computer. Or pick it up as the perfect gift for that new graduate who is embarking on his or her own journey!
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