It's all in the attitude!

I had an interesting Saturday.  Derinda and I spent the weekend with my in-laws.  I found myself at a flea market of all places going booth to booth seeking treasure.

Most of the booth owners were sitting in a chair a good distance from their customers, speaking only when asked a question.  Then I approached a different kind of booth.  The worker approached me, thanked me for being there, and explained to me his pricing system.  As soon as I looked at his merchandise, he gave me the price.  I left his booth, without buying anything and he thanked me for shopping with him.

The attitude was much better than 98% of the other booth owners. He really stuck out in a positive way.  It reminded me of a story that I heard about a cab driver in New York City.  When he picked up his customers, he went through his routine, which included:

1.  Getting out of his cab and opening the door.
2.  Offering them a complimentary drink, bottled water or various soda.
3.  Asking them what type of music they preferred on the radio.
4.  Presenting them with the current edition of the major papers or the current business magazines.
5.  He would then present his customers with his business card, including his cell number, so they could call him when they needed a cab.
6.  He always kept his cab immaculately clean.

When asked why he was so different, he explained that there was a time that he hated driving a taxi.  Then, he decided to make the most of his job and look at it as a way to serve.  Once he started this routine, he never had to wait in line for a fare.  His clients would call him and make appointments.

What is the common thread?  Attitude.

 So what about your attitude?  As you get ready to start this week, think about your attitude.  Are you like my two examples here?  Are you thankful for your blessings and go about your day looking for ways to serve more?  Are you focused on the things in your control?  You can control your attitude, your action, your focus.

 My dad used to tell me that you will never earn the money, unless you do more than what you are getting paid to do.

Think about your attitude this week and go make yourself more valuable.  Have a great week, have fun, I will see you later.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Click here to see my speaking demo then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Colby

I had a really cool experience this past week.  I was able to meet Colby.  Colby was born last Monday, his mom and dad are like my kids and his paternal grandparents are some of our closest friends.  On Wednesday, I got to meet Colby.

So what can we learn from Colby?

1.  Attitude:  I can't wait until Colby goes through the "I can do anything stage."  I have always thought it interesting that God gives us the mind-set that we can do anything we want to do.  Kids are very open about what they want to be when they grow up.  It is not until we allow others tell us that we can't do something, that we start doubting ourselves.

 2. Willingness to allow others to help.  Obviously at a week old, Colby has to rely on his parents.  Many years from now, he will be the dad taking care of his child. We can learn from Colby by allowing others to help us.  There are people who can help us achieve what we want to achieve.  Then, we can help others achieve their goals.

3.  Don't worry.  Colby is not worrying about things, that is not his job.  Obviously it is a lot easier for Colby not to worry than it is for you.  At the same time, how much of what you worry about is totally out of your control.  Focus on what you can handle and forget the other stuff.

I understand that this is a different type of entry.  It is a way to salute Colby and welcome him to the world.  At the same time, there is something special about the attitude of a baby.  Jesus talked about the spirit and faith of the little ones.

Have a great week, look for ways that you could have child like faith and improve your week.  Have fun, see you later.
The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Check out my speaking demo at www.bransonbusiness.blogspot.com then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

Managing a Killer Whale

We have spent some time this weekend visiting our son in San Diego.  Of course, we wanted to do some tourist things, so we went to Sea World.  If you go to Sea World, you have to see Shamu and it got me thinking about management challenges.

During the show, there is a time for questions and answers.  One of the questions was very obvious, "how do you train a killer whale."  The answer was very insightful, here are the main points of the answer.

1.  The trainers earn the whale's trust.
2.  The trainers always show respect.
3.  The trainers never make them do anything, they ask them very nicely.

Let's talk about these answers.

Trust:  Like anything else in life, if you want to earn trust - you have to trust others.  People will never trust you as a person just because you are the manager or the boss or the parent.  Those amazing killer whales couldn't care less that "the trainers" are the trainers.  But once they learned that the trainers would feed them,  care for them, and actually wanted what was best for them, they built trust.

What about you?  Are you a leader or just a manager?  If you were paid by the number of people who would really follow you, would you like your paycheck?  If trust is a the first part of training a killer whale, it seems like a good place to start in managing people.

Respect:  The trainers always show respect.  Now, it is not hard to understand why you would show respect to a killer whale, but what about the  people you lead?  Respect is a key part of getting the most out of their ability.  Here is the best way to show respect.

1.  Explain to them why they need to do something. Give them why it is in their best interests to do what you are asking them to do.  One hint,  if you are saying to do it just because you are the manager, there is not a lot of respect or trust being built with your team.


2.  The trainers take care of the whales by feeding them.  Take care of your team.  (Chances are you won't need to feed them - but you do need to keep them motivated)

3.  Listen.  You can learn a lot about your team by listening to their questioning and point of view.  Additionally, always remember, you are the leader.  It is up to you to adjust to your team, not for them to adjust to you.  Your team will always be made up a number of different personalities.  Work with those personalities.

4.  Always have their best in mind.  At the same time, explain how their best benefits the company.

Ask nicely:  This one is tricky.  There are times to be direct.  At the same time you can be direct and nice.  Nice is a good thing and always remember you can destroy a lot of trust very quickly by not being nice.

Training, leadership, and being "the boss" can be very tricky.  It takes a lot more than just having your title printed on a business card.  However, if you want your company to grow and build a foundation, it is up to you build trust, show respect and be nice.  After all, if it works on killer whales - it should do great with your team.

Think about the team that you are trying to lead....your family, your division, your team....and learn from the people who train killer whales.  Have a great week -- I will see you later.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Check out my speaking demo.   Then call me at (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

He never gave up.

Sometimes we concentrate on the negative sports stories.  Let's start our week focusing on the one of the good ones.

Ten years ago, Rick Ankiel was going to be a star pitcher.  His body of work during his rookie year earned his manager's confidence and Ankiel found himself starting a playoff game.  It was during that game, that he lost it.  He could not throw a strike.  I mean he was so wild the catcher could not catch the ball.  All of a sudden, Rick Ankiel's career was in jeopardy.

He kept working.  He went back to the minors, he had surgery, he made it back to the majors.  But, he never became the pitcher that he was, so he decided to become an outfielder.  He worked some more.  In 2007, Ankiel was promoted back to the big league club.

Rick Ankiel started the 2010 season as a Kansas City Royal.  He was traded to Atlanta.  Then Friday night in the top of the 11th inning in a tie game, Rick Ankiel hit a game winning home run.  As he ran around those bases, you have to wonder what he was thinking.  All the work, all the doubters, all the setbacks, but it was all worth it.

So what can we learn from Rick Ankiel?

1.  It takes work.  Whatever you want to do in life takes work.  I have told you before, we sometimes rob the successful people by not giving them credit for their hard work.

What about you?  Are you working as hard as you need to be working?  Are you investing the time on your dreams?

 2.  It takes perseverance.  We can only imagine how many times Ankiel thought about quitting.  You have to be able to work through the tough times and you have to have faith in yourself.

 3.  You have to be able to change.  Ankiel wanted to be a pitcher.  When he saw that dream go away, he changed his goal to become a major league baseball player.  He changed his goal and he worked hard.

 As we start another week, spend some time thinking about your career, your goal, your dreams. What can you learn from Rick Ankiel?  Who knows, you might be hitting your home run soon.  Have a great week - have fun - see you later.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group. Click here for my speaking demo then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.

It is here!

Welcome to October.  The 10th month.  The start of the fourth and final quarter.  How did this year fly by so fast? It went by just like how you are going to achieve your goal, minute by minute, day by day, week by week, month by month, quarter by quarter, etc.

Sometimes we make a mistake by measuring the year by big events.  For example,  Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.  If we set our goals based on holidays, we can become too relaxed. In January, Memorial Day seems like a long way away.  So all of a sudden it is June, but we think, "well I have a long time till Christmas."  Then all of a sudden the year is gone.

On the reverse, if we broke our goals down to what we need to do everyday, a couple of things happen.

1.  We see progress and become more excited about our goal.
2.  We develop a discipline.

 So the next time you talk about how fast time flies by, think about how your are measuring time.  Then focus on what you can do today and go make that happen.

I am not suggesting that we should not plan for the future or have a vision of what we want to achieve.  However, we sometimes focus so much in the future, we forget to make the most out of today.  Today is a gift, go live it and have fun.  See you later.

The next time you need a speaker, make it easy on yourself and call me. I will inspire, motivate, and entertain your group.
Click here to check out my video demo. then call (417) 339-6568 for availability. The only way I look good is making you look good for booking me.