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“Do, or do not. There is no ‘try’.” -Yoda

In the world of performance, the world of action, the world of results, something either gets done or it doesn’t. When it all boils down, whether you “did your best” or not, no matter how hard you “tried”, even if you did everything you knew to do, you either did it or not.

The key here is the mindset- the approach you take in the first place, and the way you relate to your end results.

Read More »Busting a Performance-Killing Myth: “I’ll Do My Best”

“I’ll do that later.” No, you won’t. Really. After all, how many times have you said “I’ll do ___ later”, only to not do it at all? Whether you kept putting it off, forgot or otherwise- what matters is that… Read More »Busting a Performance-Killing Myth: “I’ll Do It Later”

In previous articles, I’ve mentioned the importance of helping others as a significant part of your networking efforts.  Many people have trouble with this and feel that the only way to help somebody is to provide them with a new client or prospect.  And, they are uncomfortable providing a referral to people they may not know that well.  

Here are some ideas to keep in mind for helping people you meet when you want to begin a new collaborative relationship.

Read More »Helping Others

I recently returned from a business trip to India and I am deeply moved by what I have seen of the people and what I see as the future of that nation.  I am also inspired to look at the America I know, and to offer my thoughts about what it is we have to learn from what is happening over there.  I am clear that at least once in American history, we were a nation much like they are now: proud to be who we are, anxious for the opportunity to learn more and to work harder and willing to do what it takes.  We were a nation where innovation was the rule and created new opportunities constantly.  

From the people I met in India I regained a connection to what it takes to become a great nation, a global leader. None of this is intended to exalt India or its people as if they have no problems, nor is it intended to put down the US, but to offer a critical look at the patterns of thought and behavior that have move people, organizations, nations forward and some that don’t.

Read More »ALS On The Road: The People of India

In previous articles, I’ve discussed the steps required to cultivate a good relationship with a center of influence (COI).  Probably one of hardest aspects of this relationship building is keeping in touch and staying on the forefront of your colleagues’ minds. It can be a daunting task to keep in touch with many centers of influence.

The key to accomplishing this is being very organized and finding opportunities for many “little touches” throughout the month that benefit your COI’s.  

Read More »Don’t You Forget About Me

For this month, I am simply going to start a thread.  I am currently in India working with an amazing company called Seed Infotech.  I have only been here about 24 hours but would like to share some of what I have noticed, and invite you to take a look at something for yourself.

Read More »ALS On The Road: India

One of the biggest challenges people face in “networking” is finding the right people to network with on a long term basis.   You have to figure out if the people you are meeting are going to be good networking connections or bad ones.  This is the Filtering process.  It should be embraced, rather than feared and avoided.  The following are two very typical  problems people have, and the solutions to avoiding and navigating them.

Read More »Networking 201: Filtering

The process of we offer our clients is always full of insights and surprises; each situation is different. There may be rules which apply; still, people are unique, just as teams are unique. Therefore, we invite you to interact, to tell us about your experience and insights.  Consider doing this work along with us.  We will be more than happy to provide support.

This first article in the series is about knowing the team we have, knowing what that team brings to the project at hand and identifying what may be missing.  The next will be about team performance, where the source of the current level of performance is, and how it can be altered.  We will also address how to make a team scalable and flexible to deal with changing requirements.

Read More »Leadership As A Team Sport, Part 1

Everybody wants introductions to clients. Everybody wants introductions to good centers of influence that will help them meet new clients. The key to making both of these points work is to make it easy for others to help you.

Read More »Make It Easy For Others To Help You

I do a lot of talking about “going for it”, about taking risks, doing new things, about letting go of the familiar and mediocre to create something new that you actually love to be engaged in. As you can imagine, this idea engenders a lot of resistance. We are attached to the familiar, to comfort and (a false sense of) certainty.

We say we want magic in life and in business, that we want an extraordinary experience and exceptional results- and at the same time, we spend our time and effort trying to be more comfortable, more certain. I say these things are directly at odds. Perhaps a little exercise will help loosen you up, help you take a leap and spend your time creating what you say you really want. Let’s just see what happens.

Read More »Magic, Comfort and The Worst-Case Scenario