My challenge for you today, as an individual performer and a leader is to
think about how you think about your Customers - to carefully consider how those thoughts translate into actions - and how successfully you are meeting or
exceeding the needs of those most important people.

Labels: customer mindset, customer relationships, customer service

While different people will have different opinions about "education" and its value, I don't know anyone who wouldn't agree that "learning more" is better than "knowing less".

Education, as I define it for this article, includes school, seminars, workshops and all manner of formal approaches; as well as coaching, mentoring, apprenticeships, focused reading, online learning, planned experiences and more. As you read this article I urge you to think broadly and expansively about your definition of education.

Regardless of how you feel about "formal" education, and regardless of many examples we could cite of people with PhD's who have underachieved or sixth grade dropouts who achieved at the highest levels, it is hard to argue with the premise in the title that education is a wise investment.

So, you could ask, why write this article if I feel like everyone agrees with the basic premise?

Two reasons: I want to expand your thinking about what education and learning means, and I want to convince/remind you that this isn't an argument about "others," the young or out of work for instance, but that it is about every one of us.

So please read the rest of this article, and the questions at the end, with one eye on the words and one eye looking in the mirror.

In other words, I'm writing to you.

As you look at any investment in any situation, you must examine what you will gain compared to what it will cost.

When you compare those things you can determine the return on your investment. Your costs in this calculation are time, energy, focus and, yes, money. Consider those and compare them to the returns described below.

The Seven Reasons

Increase your self confidence. When you are learning new things, new horizons are opening up in your mind. You feel better about yourself and your ability to achieve. After all, if you can learn one thing, you can learn more! True genuine self confidence is something that we all can use more of; investing in your education and learning will add to your storehouse of self confidence.

Reach your goals. There is a learning component within every goal, large or small. As you learn more in the focused areas related to our goals and aspirations, you are able to move towards achieving them more rapidly. Investing in education in support of your goals is one of the best things you can do to increase the likelihood that you will reach - and even exceed - them.

Have more fun. When you are reaching your goals and feeling more confident don't you think you are going to have more fun? You can invest in learning anything! Want to learn how to knit or ballroom dance or judge wines? Whatever your passion, learning opens up new opportunities to enjoy them even more.

Improve your attitude. Human beings are - by design - learning beings. When we are doing the things that make us most human (including learning) we naturally are more upbeat and positive. When you are learning things that help move you towards your goals, will you likely be more positive and optimistic? You bet!

Increase your momentum. Momentum is a powerful thing. As the rock rolls down the hill and picks up speed, it becomes more powerful and able to overcome the obstacles in its way much easier. So it is for people too. Learn something, improve your confidence; learn something more and have a more positive attitude; learn something new and you thirst for more. As you continue to learn your learning momentum grows, as does the momentum of your success. A perfect reason to never stop learning!

Increase your earning power. One of the most reliable related factors to financial success is a person's willingness to learn, and willingness to invest in learning. Notice I didn't say the correlation is to formal education or degrees, but rather the desire, motivation and practice of continual learning. There is a reason the people with bigger net worths have bigger libraries. . .

Reach your potential. Deep inside all of us (especially as our self confidence becomes healthier) is a desire to move closer and closer to our potential - to becoming the person we were meant to be. No other single action will tip the scales towards you reaching your potential more than continuing to invest in yourself as a learner.

To be sure, these seven reasons are inter-related; as you realize one, you are likely recognizing others - maybe all of them - simultaneously.

It's like putting hot fudge on top of homemade ice cream - it's hard to get too much of the good stuff of learning (and life)!

And now, the closing questions I promised.

Ask them carefully and take the appropriate action.

If you believe that learning is a good investment, how much are you investing in yourself?

And . . .

Is it enough?

Potential Pointer: Investments of time, energy and money in your personal learning and growth are among the best possible investments you can make in yourself.

It's simple, Remarkable Leaders are continual learners. One of the best ways for leaders to maintain a consistent learning habit is as a member of The Remarkable Leadership Learning System - a one skill at a time, one month at a time approach to becoming a more confident and successful leader. You can get two months of that unique system for free as part of our Most Remarkable Free Leadership Gift Ever.

If you're a business owner, in sales or are a marketer, this title hopefully draws you in - because hopefully everyone in these roles wants to be more successful in some form of advertising. That is the target market for this book; anyone who wants to be more persuasive and influential in getting more people to use their products and services.

The basic premise of the book is that in order to persuade people you must first get their attention, hence outrageous advertising.

This is a book that delivers on its title.

It's full of examples of outrageous advertising. Not stunts or tricks or theories, but real advertising that has really worked (in some cases many times in many different industries).

Bill Glazer knows what he is talking about, as he created or has subsequently used the examples he shares - whether in his businesses or in his very extensive consulting business. He's a smart guy and he knows his stuff. I know because he is one of my mentors, and we are running fast to learn everything we can from him.

This is more than a book however. Included in the book is an opportunity to get a free CD with full color examples of all of the materials and advertising he dissects in every chapter; an offer which makes the book even valuable and compelling.

If you are in the target market for this book, it's a must own. If you are even casually interested in advertising and marketing, get a copy as well. I guarantee you will get at least one outrageously fun and successful idea that you can apply in your situation.

Purchase at Amazon.

We've all heard the phrase a "flash of inspiration" or a "flash of brilliance". I don't know where those phrases came from exactly, but they create a perfect metaphor.

Think about the flash from a camera (or if you are old enough, from a disposable flashbulb).

Some spark or electrical charge provides the impetus for the flash to go off. At that precise moment the camera takes a picture, capturing the moment more effectively and more vividly because of the flash. Once the camera has created the picture (with the help of the flash) you can look at it and eventually, if it is a good picture, you will share it with others.

I'm suggesting that we think about our ideas - our "flashes of brilliance" - the same way.

The Four Steps to Capturing Your Brilliance

Just like the camera needs its flash, you also need your flashes. And just like the camera, you must use them correctly. Let me get a little clearer and a bit less metaphorical.

Step 1 - Ignite it. To take pictures, the camera sends an impulse to the flash unit to ignite the bulb. Your personal ignition switch is more subtle and not always so immediate. You will ignite more flashes when you have a clear goal. When you know what you want to achieve, and why, you set your subconscious mind searching. With your goals in place, you can use your skills and habits of observation and asking questions to ignite more ideas.

Step 2 - Capture it. The camera captures the image at the same moment the flash goes off. How often have you had an idea - a flash of brilliance - and lost it almost immediately? Your flashes are of no use (and may become a source of frustration) if you don't capture them. You must write down your insights and ideas immediately! Your subconscious mind has found an answer and if you don't get it captured, it could be gone forever. You can use a journal, a post-it, a napkin or whatever. Just get your ideas down - you won't regret it!

Step 3 - Review it. After you've taken a picture you look at it (that's why you took it in the first place, right?) With digital cameras today you can review your pictures immediately. You can do the same for your ideas. Once you have written them down, you can look at them now AND later. I suggest you do both. Looking at your idea, solution or brilliant flash now helps you lock it into your mind, and lets your mind keep working on it. Looking at it later helps you reflect and determine exactly how you will use this idea, if at all.

Step 4 - Use it. If you decide the picture is good enough, meaningful enough, funny enough or important enough, you share it with others. After all a good picture is defined in part by whether you want to share it. The same is true for your ideas. If they are good enough you need to share them, which really means try it or put it to use.

These four steps will help you get more flashes, and take much better advantage of them when they strike. Whether the idea you find makes a new recipe, a new product, a better weekend or a better workplace, none of them will be of any use if you don't put them to use. Using this metaphor and these four steps will make a difference in your results!

Potential Pointer: Much like a treasured memory, you must capture your flashes of brilliance; yet you can't trust them to memory alone. To translate your brilliant ideas into value you must capture them, share them and put them to use.

We want to be who you think of first for any challenge, issue or need related to leadership. When you think of leadership help, we want you to think of us. In fact, we want to be your leadership help button.

We also want you to be the leader you were born to be.

So we carefully and painstakingly put together a package of materials and a process to help you do exactly that.

We call it The Most Remarkable Free Leadership Gift Ever.

And it is filled with tools, resources, ideas, inspiration and application help.

Read, listen or watch to learn all about it.

Check it out for yourself and for all of those you lead.

You are worthy of this gift.

Meetings, in most corners, don't have the best of reputations.

I often hear people say, "I've got to go to a meeting," but I don't think I've ever heard someone say, "I get to go to a meeting."

Why?

Too many meetings with too few results; often rehashing or revisiting issues and actions that haven't been done at previous meetings. And, as people sit there all they can think is that this is a complete waste and/or that they could be doing something else (anything else) with their time.

Meetings are a complex affair, especially as the number of attendees grows. This is one reason why the frustrations are so high, and the results so dismal, for most meetings.

But it doesn't have to be that way.

Here are four tools to improve your meetings. Each can improve your meetings in a variety of ways, but at the core, the real root cause for the improvement is that each of these tools puts more accountability into meetings.

Create Clear Desired Outcomes

Why are you having a meeting?

If you can't clearly describe what the meeting is meant to accomplish, how can you possibly achieve anything? Before checking the calendar to schedule a meeting, make sure you have clearly defined statements of what you want to achieve.

These clearly stated objectives - written so that everyone knows when they have been achieved, without any room for interpretation - form the basis for the meeting. They also give you a fighting chance of creating mutual accountability for achieving these objectives.

Invite the Right People

One reason meetings are ineffective is that often participants don't know why they are even there. It's hard to be accountable for your behaviors or results when you don't know what your role is. Determining the right people to attend your meeting is seemingly obvious, but it's too often an overlooked (or overbooked) task.

Start with your desired outcomes and a blank sheet of paper. Look at the desired outcomes and ask who must participate, who's input or buy-in is required, and plan to invite only those people.

That's the first step, determining the right people. The second, equally important step, is actually inviting them.

In the best case this is more than a group email, but rather a quick comment or conversation with each person as to why he or she is important to the success of the meeting.

Would you be more committed to a meeting that you were invited to with clear reasoning about why you've been asked to participate (as opposed to getting another electronic meeting request)?

My point exactly.

Send An Agenda Ahead of Time

I've taught this idea to thousands of people. Everyone says they know they should have agendas, but generally people say that less than half of the meetings they attend have them. And often less than half of those are agendas sent out beforehand.

If you want people to even have a chance to be prepared for the meeting, they need to know what is going to happen and the expectation of what is to be achieved. An agenda with your desired outcomes listed will achieve both of those goals.

Ever been to a meeting unprepared or attended meetings where others were? While pre-sent agendas won't assure this never happens again, they will change the dynamics of the situation.

Peer pressure and expectations change when people have had every opportunity to be prepared. Agendas, sent before the meeting, give everyone that opportunity.

Use Action Items Correctly

Notice that the first three suggestions all happen before the meeting even begins. So, if you were waiting for an in-meeting tool - here it is - and it's huge.

Have you ever been to a meeting where decisions are made and actions identified, but at the start of the next meeting, and the next (and maybe the next), nothing has actually happened?

Using action items correctly is a huge step to solving this, and getting more done with greater accountability. Here is the best practice in short:

1. Capture every action determined during the meeting.
2. Don't adjourn the meeting until each action has an owner and agreed to date.
3. Start each successive meeting with a brief review of action item status.

When you know you have an action item, and you know it will be highlighted and you will be held accountable for progress/completion at the next meeting, does it improve the likelihood you make progress?

See what I mean?

Of course each of these ideas could be further explained and refined, but this overview gives you four important, easy to apply and extremely powerful ways to build accountability for the success of all your meetings.

When applied within your organization, maybe you won't say, "I get to go to that meeting," but hopefully you will at least know the time will be productively spent.

Potential Pointer: Meetings become more successful when people are accountable for their preparation for, behavior during and actions after the meeting.

Rajesh Setty is a very smart friend of mine. He wrote this ebook recently as a way to help others build plans of action to do more than survive - but to thrive.

It's primarily for people who have been laid off or face a lay off scare. From the readers I have talked to, tweeted with or exchanged emails with, I know this describes some of you. And unfortunately, I'm guessing if it's not you most of you know someone who meets this target audience for the book. But it applies to everyone.

The book starts with a fabulous question:

"How can I become an OPPORTUNITY for someone else?"

Then helps you think about that great idea by taking you through sections on:

The Mindset (with very practical ideas that you can apply NOW)

The Preparation (i.e. finding the "right" help, telling good stories and committing to action)

The Action (ideas, of course, aren't enough)

Each section also includes links to other content and advice from Raj on his Life Beyond Code blog.

This would be enough, but there's more. Three appendices follow, including one with 80 pieces of advice from 51 people. I admit I am one of those people, but I honestly had forgotten I had commented until I saw it on the book!

If you have been laid off and are looking, download defiant! now. If you know someone who's looking or about to be, send the link to them too.

That's the first step towards becoming defiant!

If you grew up in the United States, you know what I'm talking about. Every child learns the Pledge of Allegiance in elementary school . . .

"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."

We recite it, perhaps without giving it too much thought, but if you read it, you can see that we are pledging our allegiance to things that matter to us.

Francis Bellamy wrote the original pledge (it has been altered slightly) in August 1892 for publication in the September 8th issue of The Youth's Companion (compare it to Reader's Digest today). Later he wrote about how he came to create the Pledge, here's a snippet of what he said:

"It began as an intensive communing with salient points of our national history, from the Declaration of Independence onwards; with the makings of the Constitution...with the meaning of the Civil War; with the aspiration of the people..."

How would your life be different if you sat down and had an "intensive communing with the salient points" of your values and what you hold most dear?

Am I suggesting you create a personal pledge of allegiance to the things you hold most dear?

Actually, yes.

Here's why.

When we think deeply and clearly about our values, our whole life comes into clearer focus. We become more intentional, aware and observant about our thoughts and actions. And, when we live in a more connected way to those values we will be happier, more successful, more satisfied and likely healthier.

Aren't these reasons enough?

How to Do It

Perhaps "intensely communing" isn't enough direction for you. (I get that!) Let me give you a couple steps to help you create your personal Pledge of Allegiance.

1. Spend some quiet time with a journal, pad of paper or your laptop (turn off your phone and your internet connections - no distractions).
2. Think about those things, people and values you hold most dear. Start by brainstorming a list - not everything will be in your pledge - just write or type.
3. If you have trouble with the blank sheet of paper you can get a list of values from us to help you with your brainstorming. Go to www.RLBonus.com and download with the keyword: values.


4. Once you have a list, pare it down to the most essential. All on the list are values, but you want to end up with the most precious and closely held. (After all, you don't want a pledge paragraph!)
5. Craft a statement tying those values together - you can start with "I pledge allegiance" or however you'd like, it's your pledge.
6. Realize that this is for you and no one else - don't strive for perfect, but for meaningful and memorable.
7. Write it down in your journal or wherever you can easily access it.
8. Live with it for a few days, being open to edits and adjustments.

How to Use it

So, now that you have written it, now what?

First let me say if you get through step four above, you have achieved much of the value!

Perhaps you don't need an actual pledge; though it will help you further crystallize your thinking and make it more memorable. The point is to keep your values in front of you so you can be more intentional about matching your everyday actions with those values.

In keeping with that goal, whether you have a pledge, oath or a simple short list; find a way to review or read or "pledge" them every day. This conscious act will make your values more real, remembered and relevant in your life.

Taking these steps will absolutely create new results in all parts of your life - as an individual, as a friend, a parent, a sibling, a son or daughter. It will help you at work as well - to be more centered, focused, influential and persuasive.

For any one of these reasons I urge you to take the plunge, and write your personal pledge. Why not start right now?

Potential Pointer: As individuals we are happier and more effective when we are living our values. As leaders we can influence more successfully when acting in accordance with our most closely held values.

I'm a big fan of simple.

The world is complex. And, when you try to match complexity with complexity, you get, well, chaos.

But when you can find advice, ideas, and approaches that are profound, elegant AND simple; you have found something rare and of great value.

With that in mind, it is easy to be a fan of this brand new book by John Spence.

John takes six key ideas and sells the reader on them, illustrates them with stories from his rich consulting and training experience and ends each his six chapters (one per simple principle) with tools to bring that chapter to life in your organization.

His Six Principals of Business Success

1. Vivid vision
2. Best people
3. Robust communication
4. Sense of urgency
5. Disciplined execution
6. Extreme Customer focus

Nothing earth shattering here, right?

Perhaps.

Except in every chapter you will find things you probably "know," but aren't "actually doing" well. This book reminds me of an important point at every turn:

It isn't what you know, it is what you do.

This book arrived in my mail four days ago. I started it yesterday and finished it today. Granted I read quickly, but I know I will return to it soon, yet this week I'm sure.

It arrived because a PR firm hoped I would review it. I do so gladly.

This isn't just a simple book, it is an awesome one.

Learn More and Purchase