I was doing some sales coaching with some clients recently and I used the ld acronym ABC..Alway Be Closing..and this group of ‘young bucks’ hadn’t heard it before.
So for all those that haven’t, here it is. Tried, test and true.
Because if your not buying… their not selling!
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www.nextfoundation.org/nfblog
I know, it sounds odd for someone in the “people business” to say this, but it is a reality.
Week after week I have people come to me and say: “Can you help me?” or, “I want to change, please tell me now.”
And you sit with them, give them wisdom and insight, then off they go and it is the same old, same old.
The ones that I personally find disconcerting are those that say they want to be leaders. You invest in them your time and resources, give them opportunity and they say, “thank you,” and then do nothing with it.
People will only change if they want to.
That is why I wait when selecting leaders or promoting people.
That is why I take my time appointing leaders.
That is why I watch and keep my eye out for the silent ones. The ones that don’t say much but week after week turn up and give of themselves in any way that they can.
In life, in leadership, in business, the only thing you can give people is an opportunity.
So, if an opportunity is all you can give, how do you choose whom to give one to?
1) The faithful
In leadership, always reward faithfulness.
Faithfulness is not a one time gig.
Faithfulness is the constant fulfillment of your obligations and commitments over time.
Let me start by saying…I love my job. I didn’t say my job was easy. I didn’t say it was not without cost and conflict…but I love it, because I am passionate about what I do.
Thomas Edison said, “I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun!”
The key to finding your passion is knowing your purpose. You will achieve one without knowing the other.
Passion keeps us going when others quit. Passion is contagious.
It gives us the energy and drive to get through the obstacles, the hurdles, even the accusations.
Passion is the power we did not know we possessed. Passion is a real difference-maker. It is the “extra” in extraordinary.
The word passion is from the Latin passio, which means to suffer, to be acted upon. It is an emotion that is distinct from reason. Passion is an intense, driving, overriding devotion to an object or an activity.
I don’t believe that you can be a truly great leader if you are not passionate about what you do and the importance of the mission.
A truly great leader is consumed with the vision, the calling, the romance, the adventure, the insane possibilities and also the insane risks of everything they do. This doesn’t mean that you are flaky…just consumed, passionate, driven.
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I often find myself talking to people about how to transition key staff members or key leaders within their organization either into new roles or into the next stage of there career…OUTSIDE of the organization.
And will all issues concerning dealing with people, there is a right way and the other way….
A Purpose Statement is a compass that helps keep you on course, it is the gyro that brings you back to center is you get out of kilter.
A Vision statement is a reflection of you calling. It is that vocation that you can give yourself to unreservedly.
It is the occupation that you can give yourself to unreservedly
A Mission statement is a statement that breaks down the particular, of you purpose & Vision statement. It is the fine print to there headline.
Together all 3 of these things will enable you to live from the inside out.
They will help you navigate a course in life of deep meaning purpose and personal satisfaction.
This is a follow up post from last weeks on developing effective brands.
Guy Kawasaki offers readers a unique guide for starting and operating great organizations — ones that stand the test of time and ignore any passing fads in business theory. Reality Check collects, updates and expands the best entries from Kawasaki’s popular blog, and features his inimitable take on everything from the art of branding to how to be a great moderator to how to drive your competition crazy.
In the book The Brand Bubble, Gerzema and Leba talk about a five-stage model that reveals how today’s successful brands–and tomorrow’s–have an insatiable appetite for creativity and change.
I look at the six characteristics of a Brand as outlined in the book.
I have often heard people say:
“I am waiting for MY opportunity,”
“I am looking for an opportunity,”
“Here is an opportunity for ME,”
“You need to TAKE this opportunity.”
I don’t believe that opportunities are things to be taken, but things to be shared.
The idea of taking an opportunity holds with it a sense of somone losing something and someone winning something.
The true nature of a Win-Win situation is the sharing of the oppourtinity.
Both parties come away with a sense of being privileged and honored to work with and for each other.
Listen … everyone wants to make a buck.
Business is about making a buck, but those that live with the mind set that you can only get ahead by taking are a little bit Gordon Gekko for the rest of us.
Opportunities are rivers, not pies. There is enough for everyone, you dont have to fight for a piece of it.
Every significant personal and business relationship I have formed in the last 20 years around the basis of win/win and shared opportunity, I still have today.
Any other relationship I didn’t feel was equitable…I have walked away from.
Life is too short to swim with the sharks.
So, pull up a deck chair, order a drink with a little umbrella, enjoy the sun, and let’s plan on taking over the world….together!!
The reality is that 99 percent of all leadership occurs not from the top but from the middle of any organization. Usually, an organization has only one person who is the number one leader.
So what do you do if you are not that one person?
Regardless of who you are or what you do, most of you will be in a situation where you are on, but not necessarily leading, a team.
No one in our society encourages us to be second.
No one ever talks about the benefits of being the unseen support.
No one talks about the glory and rapture of playing second fiddle.
In an orchestra, composers often assign the melody to the first-chair violinist, while the second-chair violinists play the harmony or accompanying pattern. Although the first violin gets the prominence of the overall melody, second violin, or second fiddle, to use a more colloquial term, often plays the more musically challenging part. Even if the harmony is technically easier, playing the supporting part can actually require more rhythmic skill.
Leadership is best defined as influence.
If you are on a team—if you are committed to a team—you have an opportunity to lead and influence in all directions within that team.
You can influence those that work for you, those that you work with, and those that you work for.
You can influence them for good and for the sake of the vision of your organization, or you can influence them negatively, to the detriment and sometimes even the death of the organizational vision.
In leadership, always reward faithfulness.
Faithfulness is not a one time gig.
Faithfulness is the constant fulfillment of your obligations and commitments over time.