Reflections on Leadership

Is it half over or half started? Either way it’s July 1, 2010 and half of this year is in the history books and the next half has yet to be played out. How is your year going? Have you revisited the New Year’s resolutions you wrote with such enthusiasm 181 days ago? Are you halfway to your goals for the year?

This is the time to take stock of your progress and make half time adjustments. If you’re in great shape, this is not the time to get cocky or sloppy. If you’re at your plan or behind, it’s time to step it up. All is not yet lost. Most games are won or lost in the second half of play. It’s that time that most athletes train hardest on. If you’re on track, or behind but determined, you’ll soon bring an intensity of focus. You’ll need that if you plan to achieve all that you wish to achieve.

I’m a firm believer that many things (actually, most things) are possible. Which is why perseverance is an important characteristic to pursue. Half time is a good place to take a timeout, and assess your performance. Take a pragmatic look at your success and decide if you still want the things that you wanted six months ago. It could be that you don’t.  Give yourself permission to make a mid course correction. If what you want has changed, change your goals. It doesn’t make sense to continue pursuing what you don’t want. The calendar doesn’t care. Six months from today, you’ll be celebrating New Year’s.

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We make hundreds of decisions everyday, often based solely on habit or personal preference.  That’s fine for the little things in life, like what soup to have or which dressing to pour over our salad.  When facing complex issues, you need an approach that is worthy of more attention.

When making a decision, it is best to make it fast and change it slowly. Fast decision making does not mean rushing.  It involves thoughtful debate, running through your options and then proceeding with self assuredness.

Decision making is not merely picking yes or no, left or right.  Thoughtful decisions take into account the implications of your actions.  Once you know you’re comfortable with the possible ramifications, you act.

How can you determine all the possible outcomes of your decision?  You can’t, though you can increase your likelihood of being prepared by quickly looking at it from five different perspectives.

1. A Factual Point of View: Spread out all the facts you know before you.  Opinions and beliefs aren’t allowed here.  Be ruthlessly fact based.

2. An Intuitive Point of View: What’s your gut telling you?  What are your feelings?  Being rational does not serve this perspective.

3. A Pessimistic Point of View: Be a Negative Nelly.  What’s the worst thing that could actually happen?

4. An Optimistic Point of View: Okay Pollyanna, your turn.  What’s the best possible result of your decision?

5. A Creative Point of View: Now for something completely different.  What’s an entirely new outcome you could create with a creative perspective?

Actively running possible scenarios through these different points of view gives your mind the opportunity to weigh your options so you can be best prepared for the implications of your decision.  First decide.  Then act.

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I am a rare breed of man who is as comfortable in suits as others are in a well-worn pair of jeans. As a result, I tend to burn through them quicker than most. An unfortunate realization, I generally buy them from stores that have “depot”, “wearhouse”, or “factory” in their names. One day I may evolve to purchasing suits from the array of stores that end in apostrophe “s”, but for now, I’m still a bit of a skinflint.

One time, my wife went to one of our neighborhood haberdashers and had four suits held aside for me to peruse later. That evening, the two of us returned to the store where I was greeted by one of the clerks who asked if I needed any help. Out of habit I immediately dismissed him but my wife thankfully stepped forward to tell him we had several suits on hold. He fetched them and we met near the dressing rooms. I tried on each of the suits, subjecting myself to the three-way mirror while my wife editorialized about cut and color. We whittled the selection down to two. Throughout this, the sales person hung back quietly. I voiced some concern over the particular cut of one of the jackets when he finally chimed in with some nonsense about it being very popular now because all the newscasters are wearing them. The extent of his influence on my buying decision was infinitesimal.

As the cashier rung up the final choices I noticed three of the sales staff coagulating near one of the bargain racks, eerily reminiscent of a used car lot. From across the store another sales associate, probably a supervisor, called out, “No clumping. Remember the meeting. Circulate. Circulate.” They quickly scattered with laughter. The gentleman who had “helped” me earlier walked passed the supervisor with a smile and remarked, “Of all the places I’ve worked over the years, this is the only place I’ve been that the sales people actually work.” Pathetic. What sales “work” actually occurred? It was nothing more than demand fulfillment. Now, I may be guilty of turning suits into a commodity, after all my buying criteria tend to be price and overall look and feel. Still, how successful was the sale? I had four suits in my hand but left with two. How could this have been a more effective experience for the store?

At another establishment, where price is commensurate with value, they also value team. The sales person measures me, asks what I’m looking for, gushes over how wonderful I look and what a smart choice I’ve made. He then introduces me to a charming sales associate who suggests a new shirt that can make the interwoven threads of the suit “pop”. She’s right, of course, and what’s the point of a new shirt without a new tie? She offers two, taking the guesswork out of it. Can’t decide? Buy them both and bring one back later. (Like that would ever happen.) What about cuff links, or brass stays to keep those bothersome collars from winging up? In this establishment I am cared for as an intelligent and powerful man, capable of making scores of decisions which are repeatedly validated through the sale. Do I value that? Yes, who wouldn’t? Yet the money I spend on that value-added white glove treatment never fails to make me feel a little worked. Is it all worth the price of an additional suit? Not to me, right now.  This is still old school, because value-add is generally for the benefit of the seller. There’s not much sales work to be done. It’s like an ineffective real estate agent taking a grown man and woman through a house and proudly beaming, “and this is the kitchen.” No kidding, a five-year-old child could figure that out.

Business development is about demand creation. How could a suit sales person be an effective business developer? They would canvas a particular geography, or demographic. Study what is being worn. Know the industry well enough to accurately tell someone his or her size and complementary color scheme. Know the customer’s preference of form or function. Then address the target market with custom tailoring. Perhaps offering cuffing and minor repairs onsite or within an hour. They would know if prospective customers needed suits or casual sports coats. They would know when their clients needed to look especially sharp and respond accordingly.

The sales profession is often maligned. Unfortunately, as happens with the practice of law, faulty practitioners create the perception. Mediocrity disguised as effort. The professional who makes the time to know their client, to truly care about their well being and success, who feels the compulsion to serve, rather than an attitude that they deserve, will far exceed the results of those who still think shepherding customers to their already researched and decide conclusion is hard work.

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It’s easy to find things that are not going well.  Alarms go off too early, cars don’t start, busses are missed, toast is burned, lines are too long, reports are missed, on and on.

We get what we look for thanks in part to the the brain’s gatekeeper, the Reticular Activating System  (RAS), the part of the brain that filters out noise and stimuli so we can function.  It’s why you notice things in the world that are important to you.  The parent who hears a baby gurgle in the next room, how you hear your name in a crowded room, or see your dream car on the highway.

Why don’t you spend the day testing your RAS and be on the lookout for everything that’s going right in your world.  From green lights, to unexpected checks in the mail, finding a good deal on a new suit, or accepting gracious complements on your hair.  Instead of being convinced you’ll be a victim of Murphy’s Law, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong“, be determined to be a recipient of its opposite, “Anything that can go right will go right.”

Challenge yourself to find everything right in yourself and others.  This may be odd at first, because you may not do it very often.  Tomorrow, do it all day long.  Within a few hours you will notice things you never noticed before and it will lift your spirits and awareness.  Share what happens.

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We all like to tell people how we’ve been wronged.  And if we haven’t been wronged badly enough we like to embellish it a little so everyone will know the pain we are feeling.  It makes us feel like champions or heroes, in our own mind at least.  Think about it.  When you hear other people complain about their situation, don’t you think of all the alternatives that person could have done to avoid their pain?  Don’t you think, even if just briefly, that they sound like a pathetic loser?

What do you regularly complain about?

You may feel like all the smart people have already left the organization.  Maybe some of them have just modified their attitudes to match their new circumstances.  Can you identify them?  Are they in your circle?  They need to be, so you better find them and quick, otherwise you truly are screwed.  They can be the lifeline that stops you from sinking any further.

Who are these people?  Try to identify five.

How are you going to spend more time with each of them?  Make the time now to plan your approach using the log below.

Next up: “Beware the 3 Donkey Day”

Share your comments, progress or tips on the blog, on the Karl Bimshas Consulting page on Facebook or on Twitter using the #whiner21 tag.

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If you’ve given it some thought and paid close attention to your emotions, you’ll eventually find your happy place. This place or thing is going to become a major touchstone for you.  It is going to be able to bring a smile across that sourpuss face of yours.  You’re going to do your daydreaming about this place.  It will spur you into action and ultimately get you through the day.

Your sanctuary may be as large as your home, or perhaps it’s a favorite seat at the local coffee shop.  It might be a stretch of beach or a particular bench in the park. If you haven’t identified it, now is the time to find your happy place, your peaceful spot, somewhere to contemplate life.

Maybe it’s not a concrete place for you.  It might be time.  Time spent with family and friends, or reading a book or painting.  Either way – it’ll fill a spot in your heart and you’ll need to nurture it with strong love, time and appreciation.  Know your happy place, it’s there you’ll find a sense of peace, happiness and excitement.  That’s why you need to nurture it, to make it strong enough to defend itself in your absence.

What or where is your happy place?

Next up: “So, You Wanna Be A Star”

Share your comments, progress or tips on the blog, on the Karl Bimshas Consulting page on Facebook or on Twitter using the #whiner21 tag.

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Look outside your work.  Is there anything making you happy?  The point is to find something that has nothing to do with your present condition.  You’re looking for a diversion, something different that gets you up and going, gets you excited. Wouldn’t it be cool to feel excited or passionate about something?

List three things that currently make you happy.

Some people may have trouble picking three things.  Here’s a tip that may help. Think about what makes you laugh out loud.  Can’t remember the last time you laughed out loud?  Start to pay attention.  Keep a log or jot memories down on sticky notes and refer to them often.  Some other things to try;

1. Listen to upbeat music,
2. Listen to inspirational speeches, sermons or books
3. Hang out with happy people.

Remember, you want to feel better, don’t you?  Then get excited about this.

Write down several things that make you happy.  Spend some time figuring out how to spend more time with the things and people that lift your spirits.

Next up: “Defending Your Happy Place”

Share your comments, progress or tips on the blog, on the Karl Bimshas Consulting page on Facebook or on Twitter using the #whiner21 tag.

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There’s very little more invigorating than pursuing a worthy goal.  We carry out goals all day long, based on the decisions we make.  Think about the last thing you accomplished.  You did it through clear vision, a desire if not a burning passion, and you took some action to complete it.  It could have been as simple as discovering a new place for lunch or finding a perfect gift for a friend.  The good news is the formula works the same for those “great goals” in life that require you to put in some effort, planning and collaboration with others.  Like starting a business, going back to school or learning another language.

These things don’t happen in an instant, but your decision to pursue them does.  It’s that one magical moment when you know for sure that this is what you want to pursue.  I love that moment.  I’m addicted to that moment.  They don’t even have to be my own goals; I get jazzed learning about other people’s goals.

At the risk of being an enabler, I’d like to learn about your goals.  Take my 10 question, 2009 Goal Survey and tell me about your success or failure in finding, setting and getting the goals that are important to you.

Click here to take survey

Remember, if you need help finding, setting or getting your next great goal, give me a shout.  Strengths based Personal Development is what I do.

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I’ve seen many “winners” post war stories from their recent NaNoWriMo experience.  I thought I would let the din of it all settle down a little before sharing my reflection on why it was a good experience for me.

NaNoWriMo.org was explained in an earlier posting.  I participated this year for a few major reasons.

1. I felt the need to expand my creative writing.  I’ve been working in the Non-fiction and business realm for a while and needed a diversion.  I’ve not attempted a piece of fiction other than my screenplays so I wanted to test myself as a writer.
2. With the exception of my poetry experiments, I edit my writing constantly, so the thought of writing 50,000 words before touching any of them was intriguing and would stretch me.
3. Frankly, to accomplish something, that many people talk about, but few do.  Write a novel.
4. Finally, I have built my life around helping others achieve their goals.  If I couldn’t publicly declare a goal of mine and successfully achieve it, what right would I have in helping others?

Writing about one’s writing experience has a megalomaniacal feel to it, so I’ve decided to frame it within an After Action Review.  The format is a good one to follow when it’s time to reflect on your recent projects.

What was the objective?

I’ll explain it by way of a SMART Goal

• Specific.  Write a first draft novel of 50,000 words or better in 30 days or less
• Measurable.  A binary result, are 50, 0000 words written, yes or no?
• Attainable.  According to the projects’ organizers it should be.  I have a comfortable writing pace of essentially 1,000 words per hour.
• Realistic.  By sparing about two hours each night and securing good family support, it appeared realistic.
• Timely.  The timeframe was predetermined; November 1 – November 31.

What happened?  (Facts only)

• I achieved 51,266 words in 25 days.

What do you need to do more of and why?

Making the time to think about and carefully setting SMART goals works.  What I underestimated to begin with was the value in creating and maintaining a support structure.  I had several communities of which to share the experience with.

• The NaNoWriMo.org community provided success measurements and pep talks,
• My family, a supportive group of writers in their own right provided shared excitement and understanding of “sequestered” writing time,
• My offline writer friends, some of who wanted to write but couldn’t,
• My online writing friends, assorted groups of writers I’ve met via social media particularly via Twitter and Facebook.
• Offline friends who didn’t participate but were encouraging.

Each community provided support in their own way and I called on them, as I needed them, for ideas, pep talks, validation or inspiration.

What do you need to change about your approach or goals going forward and why?

Accountability is so often uncomfortable.  It needn’t be.  It’s the thing that keeps us on track.  With all future goals, writing or otherwise, it’s important to have an accountability partner or system that keeps me focused and moving forward.

What worked and why?

Prior to beginning the project, I was open to ideas of what to write about, but I was not in the mindset of having a story that NEEDED to be told.  I was open to whatever came me.  I decided to capture those nuggets on index card throughout the day.  Over a few days, I had a stack of cards.  I reviewed them and organized them into a loosely thread story.  That served as my outline prior to writing.

When I began, I was not looking to achieve the highest word count of my buddies and eventually learned to not be looking for much quality in my first draft.  I also was not looking to be the first in meeting the word count goal.  My two biggest fears were falling too far behind and not finishing.  Not finishing was not an option.  That spurred the desire to not fall behind, which certainly aided the friendly competitive spirit with other writers.

What didn’t work and why?

I had scheduled time to write, but it didn’t always work out.  For some reason the majority of my writing occurred between 10:00pm and midnight.  I would post my word count on the NaNoWriMo website and then, if still in the mood continue writing -on a few occasions until 3:00am.  This was never the plan, but inspiration and desire do not always work to plan.

Whom do you need to recognize?

My family and numerous members of the communities mentioned above provided a lot of support.  At the risk of leaving people out, I will provide an honorable mention to just three in particular.

Bill Siderski, a fellow writer from Emerson College days, kept the competitive spirit fueled.

Unbeknownst to them, twitter’s @bookoven provided just the right random encouragement that kept me going the one time I nearly sabotaged myself.

And a huge shout out to Lia Keyes and all the active writers at her site Scribbleratti, which provided so much humor, encouragement, competition and praise for every writer.

In conclusion, pick your goals wisely and set about accomplishing them.

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As the year begins to wind down Goal Season begins to heat up.  Goal Season is the period between Thanksgiving Day, when people swear that next year they won’t eat so much, and continues through January, when people beat themselves up for not keeping their young resolutions.

Today, you may be feeling business or personal pressures to finish the year strong.  If you already did your planning for 2010 in October, good for you.  For the 97% of the rest of us, this is the time to plan anew.

What are you going to do make sure you achieve your next goal?  First off, you need to want it, badly.  If it’s not motivating to you, just how fun do you think it’s going to be to achieve?  If you’re working on a goal that’s not fun, you should probably stop.  Life is too short.  So, what is it you want to do or have?  Avoid mediocrity by making it a great goal.  You should never be without a great goal.

It’s been said many times and in many ways; be sure your goal is S.M.A.R.T.

S – Make it specific.  Broad goals decay quickly.  Vague goals get vague results.

M – Make it measurable.  You won’t achieve your goal with one grand action.  It will take several little actions.  It’s those little actions that you’ll want to measure.  A little now, leads to a lot over time.

A – Make it attainable.  Americans are an optimistic lot and think that anything they want is attainable.  Because of this mindset, they nearly always get what they want.  Stretch yourself, like a rubber band – but don’t overextend or you’ll snap.

R – Make it realistic.  This has a direct correlation to your motivation.  If you’re not realistic about your current skills, the resources you have, and what additional things you’ll need to reach your goal, you’re destined for some disappointment, and that would break my heart.

T – Make it timely.  Getting squishy with time commitments will serve no one.  Time is the silent accountability partner.  It steadily ticks along, whether you’re ready or not.

Here’s a bonus tip.  Make your goal positive in nature and phrase it in a way that causes the creation of something.  Think about it; a goal to lose ten pounds sounds silly.  Who makes it a goal to lose something?  A goal is about scoring points.  Get enough successful goals and you have a winning streak.  It’d be better to be specific about the realistic and attainable weight you want to be on the date you think you can achieve that weight.  Soon you’ll be creating a brand new you!

Okay, here’s another bonus tip.  You could call it a “Bim-Bonus”:  Having a goal to stop doing something will be less successful than a goal of starting to do something that is more important to you.  Eventually the more important goal will replace the less important one.

If you need help finding, setting or getting your next great goal, give me a shout.  It’s what I do.

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