Fortune Favors The Bold.

"Audentes Fortuna Juvat" (in Latin). There are many articles dissecting this simple phrase - some good and some way off base.

Here’s my take — to get where you want to go in life, you have to take chances, step out of your comfort zone, and sometimes do things that scare you. When you do these things, you create opportunities and options that were previously unattainable or unknown to you.

That’s my definition of bold — taking calculated and decisive action when most people do the same old thing and wonder why their circumstances stay the same…

• It’s asking for that promotion and raise after you show your boss clear evidence of your outstanding performance.

• It’s raising your fees in your business when you know you’re delivering top-tier service to your clients.

• It’s interviewing at another company because you want a change and/or increase your salary/benefits.

When you are bold, fortune (opportunity and options) reveal themselves.

It’s Monday - I want you to do one bold action today — even if it’s small — let’s bring Fortune into your life.

Do The Impossible — The Country Club Technique.

Successful businesses and careers are a lot about making tough things happen.

We get caught up in the inertia of our fears and are afraid of making a mistake. One exercise we use with our clients centers around a 'country club event'. Here's the scenario . . . you are in front of a country club and we've charged you with the task of getting into their 'event' with no invitation, no money, nothing.

Now you may ask, like all of our clients do, how can I do this? And we say - "I don't care. Just figure it out and MAKE IT HAPPEN." We then let the client come up with a number of scenarios how they could talk their way into that event successfully.

• "Maybe I sneak in the side door and go through the kitchen."

• "I can make friends with people in the parking lot and go into the party with them."

• "I can inquire at the lobby about membership in the club and get in that way."

• "I can paraglide from a remote mountain and land on the golf course and sneak in wearing a tux."

You get the idea. This technique primes your brain to think of alternatives without your fears canceling them out. It gives you a platform to then substitute your situation and make assertive decisions and subsequent actions.

Career and business changes produce a similar situation — "I don't know where to begin." or "I don't know who to talk to." or "What happens if it goes wrong?" are frequent responses.

What we then say is: "I don't care. Just figure it out and MAKE IT HAPPEN." We then brainstorm scenarios on how to meet that CEO or this important person and then MAKE IT HAPPEN. Action sometimes trumps deep thought (and worry).

The next time you run into an obstacle, step back and say "Figure this out and MAKE IT HAPPEN." You'll find yourself taking action before the fear and complacency begin to move in and you get that much closer to changing your career.

Nike was right with "Just Do It".

The Importance Of Playing Tennis With Better Tennis Players.

"It's better to hang out with people better than you. Pick out associates whose behavior is better than yours and you'll drift in that direction." - Warren Buffett

Have you ever played tennis?

• Play with someone worse than you, you won’t push yourself at all and play at a much lower level than you usually do. You’ll coast.

• Play with an equal player, I promise your game will be boring as hell. Back and forth, you get one point, they get one point. BORING.

• Play with a better player and you'll be forced to play a better game. You’ll have to move faster, anticipate their moves, and push yourself harder than you ever have before.

Think of all the highly successful business people you know, whom do they hang around with? Who do they have lunch with? Why do you think they do that?

Because they play a better game. The easiest way for an adult to learn is to mimic other adults actions and behaviors. It could be a very apparent behavior or a very subtle action. But these cues are picked up (just like in tennis) and are absorbed.

So today, you need to play a better game. Hang with the big boys and girls. Watch what they do, how they react, how they take action. Set up that lunch, make that appointment, hire that new rising star — it’s time you play your ‘A’ game.

You might surprise yourself and serve that ace.

The 3 Pillars Of Success.

Just got back from a workshop in NYC for a large group of executives (145+ attendees). They enjoyed my talk (rating me 4.83 out of a possible 5.0 on my evaluation form), but they REALLY enjoyed the Q&A portion at the end. I thought I'd share the best question and my answer:

"How do we keep moving forward and not get caught up in the day-to-day malaise of emails and meetings?"

I said, "This might sound super-simple and you might know it, but there's a great way to look at each day and measure how you moved the big ball forward. I call it the three business 'pillars of success'."

ACTION

First, you have to take action — any action, to move FORWARD. Most people are scared to make a decision, pick a direction, or commit to a plan. They get caught in analysis-paralysis and get stuck over analyzing the problem/challenge and not moving forward. Sometimes they are afraid of making the wrong decision or fearful of commitment to a strategy that rubs against the corporate grain.

Solution: Just do it. Pull the trigger. Any action (even the wrong one) is better than no action. Especially if you are ready to go but are ambivalent that you might have forgotten something. Pick up the saw and start sawing.

If you're afraid of screwing up - don't worry. Making a decision and taking action usually isn't a death sentence. You can always stop, correct, and re-engage. Remember — this is the hardest part — pull the trigger and start the process.

PERFORMANCE

Once you take action, you need to push forward and see it through. Don't take a half-step and put your toe in the water — dive in. Push yourself to keep the momentum going. One single action just won't do it — you need to follow it up with consistent and powerful performance to ensure success.

Solution: Make a plan. Segment out all of your activities, tasks, and steps ahead of time. Once you see the big picture and all the discrete elements, it will make whatever you do that much easier and less stressful (and scary).

There will be a bump somewhere in the middle (usually a person) — something or someone to set you off your game. If it happens, expect it, and move around it ASAP to ensure that it doesn't disrupt all of your momentum.

RESULTS

Most people forget about this one. You have to deliver results to produce a successful project, product, or initiative. These are tangible deliverables that not only encourage you to move forward, but allay the fears of management that you're doing the right thing.

Solution: Don't go for the big bang at the end. Plan for and deliver small incremental results that will not only motivate you and your team, but also get the attention of management. Show them that slow and steady positive results win the day — this stops you from over-promising and under-delivering.

That's it. If you consistently look at everything you do with an Action/Performance/Results lens, you'll find you get a lot more important stuff done faster. Leave the emails and meetings to some other poor performer.

The 5 Behaviors Of Successful People.

When I start with clients who are in-transition, we meet at my office in Stamford and I cover the Five Behaviors Of Successful People. I do this to help them focus, get out of a mental 'rut', and move forward with enthusiasm, passion, and determination.

In retrospect, I actually cover these five areas with all of my clients, but I do it differently — I'm a bit more subtle:

TRACK & PLAN You need to know where you've been, where you are, and where you're going at ALL TIMES. This means tracking your time (schedule) minute by minute and accounting for all of your time and energy. You should be sticking to a plan, taking discrete steps each day, and taking it to its natural conclusion.

FAIL: If you're just winging your calendar or making large swaths of time blocks, you're not tracking effectively. If you don't have a plan (try setting up 90-day plans — they're manageable), you will fail.

BE BOLD One of the original taglines for my coaching practice was "Be Bold In Life". I still love it because it embodies the swashbuckler spirit that we all need to be successful in business. You need to take chances, uncover opportunities, and most of all, you need to be BOLD in your thinking.

FAIL: Just keep saying "I can't do that!". Or constantly ask for permission to do things instead of just doing them. Or not doing them because you know they're going to fail.

THINK & ACT This is the cornerstone of my coaching philosophy — figure out what needs to be done and DO IT. Don't second guess yourself and get caught up in analysis-paralysis. Look at your options, make a decision, and take action. Worst case, if your wrong, step back, reassess, and take action.

FAIL: Procrastinate, contemplate forever and try to come up with every permutation. Push for perfection.

CHALLENGE Life is a series of challenges you must overcome to keep moving and stay happy. Work, relationships, kids, etc. are all made up of small and large challenges that we must deal with. Here's the secret — embrace each challenge with enthusiasm and vigor or you will go through life with a glass half-empty existence.

FAIL: Moan, complain, and run away from your problems. The faster you come up with a plan and deal with your challenge, the faster you will get on with your life.

OPEN UP You can spend your life closed down and not interacting with anyone or you can open your heart to the world and make a lot of new friends. Try to make a new friend every day — an acquaintance, a connection — take an avid interest in your fellow man. Most of all — SMILE!!!

FAIL: Stay home, watch TV, cocoon, close your office door, keep your head down and let your voicemail/email take over all of your connections. Oh yes — forget to smile.

How to Live Your Dream When You're Scared to Death.

Did something scare you today? This week? This year? What really scares you? An angry boss? A lost client? A problem without a solution? Zombies?

And more importantly, what does your fear make you do? Do you shut down? Make quick decisions without thinking?

When you're scared, you make emotional decisions. Sometimes they are rational and sometimes they are irrational. Sometimes these decisions turn into irrational actions.

For example, did you ever blow up over something that turned out to be quite inconsequential? I tend to 'lose it' on myself when I accidentally drop something when cooking in the kitchen. In retrospect, it was an accident, I didn't plan for it, and I mistakenly dropped a dish of food. But I still 'lost it' on myself. I wasn't scared, but I still acted irrationally.

It happens to the best of us. I help my clients look at their lives as a huge long line or spectrum with being 'totally in-control' at one end and 'totally out-of-control' at the other end. Most of the time, when we're scared, we tend to feel that we have moved from the safe, in-control extreme to the perilous out-of-control extreme.

But that's not true. We've just moved a little bit on our control line. Here's a little secret: We're never really totally in-control either. Someone or some thing, somewhere has a bit of control over us or has the ability to careen us out-of-control.  For example, our health, our kids, our spouse/partner, work, finances, etc. all can quickly have an immediate impact on our control system.

The faster you realize you are never in complete control AND that you are never in complete chaos, the faster you will move from being scared to a more meditative sense of reality. Realize that we spend our lives moving along this 'control' line without fear — we're just trying to get things done, we hit a road-block, and we solve that problem and move on.

Here are some rules I adhere to:

1. You are not at the far (deep) end of the out-of-control line. You've moved a bit out of control, don't be scared, and realize a small action can bring you back in control quickly. Don't stay in one place and begin to emotionalize your reaction. Worrying about what might happen will never really help you — you need to think rationally about your options and take action.

2. Take one small step. One micro-task which will allow you to start moving in the right direction and begin to feel better about your situation. Again, if you do nothing, you'll go nowhere. Even if you move backwards, at least you're moving — you can always course correct.

3. "Action expresses priorities." - Gandhi. Once you take action — any action — you will begin to stop worrying/being scared and start to make further decisions to help you get back into a control situation. Movement or action begins to eliminate most worry and fear. Get out of that haunted house ASAP!

Let me know how this works — the last thing I want you doing is spending a beautiful spring, scared, full of fear and stranded in worry. Life is SO much better than that.

Without A Doubt, The Money Is Still Out There.

"Business is never so healthy as when, like a chicken, it must do a certain amount of scratching around for what it gets." - Henry Ford I still get people today moaning about how it's bad 'out there'.

For many years, money fell from the sky. Executives and entrepreneurs walked around with their laundry baskets and caught the falling bills. Not singles . . . we're talking 50 and 100 dollar bills. Life was good. We bought big cars, homes, boats, and took 2-4 week vacations.

But it also was a little bit unreal. Now they're saying it will never be the same. They moan how hard it is out there to find work or new clients.

The money is still out there. You just have to now bend over and pick it up. You have to WORK HARDER.

I received an eblast from a colleague the other day who's deeply 'clicked' into the economy — here's what he said: "According to Richard Nelson Bolles in the 2011 edition of What Color is Your Parachute, over 2,500,000 jobs have been filled each month in both 2009 and 2010.  Not only that, over 2,000,000 went unfilled every month over the past two years."

Work harder. Move faster. Develop strategy. Meet more people. Develop deeper relationships. Read. Understand. And take Action. I start working at 4:30/5:00 AM every morning and stop work at 6:00/7:00 PM. I also work on the weekends (a lot).

What's dying? It's not hard to see that many industries, businesses, and clients are going away. Did you catch The Daily launch yesterday? Nail in the heart of every newspaper in the country. But, come on, you had to see it coming years ago. It's going to affect printers, ink distributors, transportation, and counter sales. Open up your eyes.

Most of all, look around. Take a 360 degree panoramic view of your situation, your marketplace, your company. Figure out how to grow and make more money.

Bend over and start picking up the bills.

Are You Crushing It Every Day?

“Love your family, work super hard, live your passion.” - Gary Vaynerchuk, from Crush It! Great words from Gary in one of my favorite books (I require all of my clients to read). He is spot on with this one.

See how he constructs the quote — Family — Work — Passion. Not the other way around.

Unfortunately, many of the C-Level clients I coach work it the other way and find they're not happy, they have a shitty marriage, they never see their kids or their kids hate them, and their only passion in life is putting in mucho hours on the job. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Yes — you've got the three M's — Money, Mansion, Mercedes (or Maserati) — but deep down, you're not happy. Something is missing and time is running out.

So here goes — you can have all three — it's just how you look at them AND how you prioritize them. I am currently working with the CEO/Owner of a top engineering firm and we're currently spinning the sequence around to help him enjoy the benefits of his labor. He's built the organization from the ground up and now it's time to enjoy life!

NUMBER ONE RULE — Family Comes First. No exceptions.

I'm not saying to fill up your calendar with family-oriented activities and let work suffer. Within reason, try to start your workweek by making time for your wife/partner, kids, friends, etc. If there is a baseball game, a romantic dinner, a morning run, hiking at the park — make sure it is recorded and blocked off on your calendar FIRST.

Again, within reason — I understand you work for a living. But taking a vacation day once in awhile is fine, even encouraged. Leave work early to catch your son's or daughter's soccer game. Come in late because you took your family to an early breakfast at your favorite diner. You know, the one where you all sit together with no TV, no smartphones and just eat and talk.

ACTION: Get your assistant in your office right now and start blocking off your calendar. TODAY.

NUMBER TWO RULE — Work Super Hard. But work smart.

I know you work hard. That's how you got to your position in the first place. But what got you to the captain's chair probably won't help you stay happy there. You worked hard, put in the thousands of hours of blood, sweat and tears. You made all the right decisions (and a few stinkers). You made the right connections with the right people. YOU HUSTLED.

Now it's time to sit in the captain's chair and start delegating even more. Don't act like Captain Kirk and accompany the away team on every mission, stay on-board the Enterprise and direct your resources in strategic ways. What got you here isn't going to keep you here for very long without compromising your home life, your happiness, and your health. You're not getting any younger either.

ACTION: Look at all your meetings and start culling them down by 10%. Stop reading every email/text that comes in. Have your assistant monitor your information flow and decide what get priority. They're the gatekeeper — ensure they guard the gate.

Cut down on one-on-ones with everyone — start to develop a sharper pyramid reporting structure with very few people touching you (no more than 5-7) Remember the Godfather? He had three direct reports — his Consigliere (who died - morte), and two Capos — Clemenza and Tessio. That's it.

NUMBER THREE RULE — Live Your Passion. But find what your REAL passion is.

Too many C-Level executives hit the big show and start to abuse the passion that got them there. They forget the fun, innovation, excitement and give in to boredom, politics, and hitting the targets for their buddies on the board. The world becomes pedantic and the passion flows out of them.

They try to make safe decisions and safe moves, and impact their business, their organization, and their customers. They prioritize their bonus, their safety, and their reputation over what's really important. I know it's hard, but sometimes you have to sacrifice the temporary pleasures to fully engage with what really matters. It's not all money (and if you believe it is - READ THIS - another mandatory book I recommend to C-Level clients).

ACTION: Sit down and assess what your real passions are right at this moment. What gets your motor running? What gets you excited about life? What motivates you to do GREAT work? You need to re-establish a connection with your passion and make sure you fill up your enthusiasm gas tank every day.

Are you crushing it every day?

"No excuses. Make it happen." - Rich Gee

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

Don't Think Too Much. Just Act.

"If you wait to do everything until you're sure it's right, you'll probably never do much of anything." - Win Borden "A ship is safe in a harbor, but that's not what ships are for." - William Shedd

I wanted to hit you early this morning with a few of my favorite and powerful quotes. 

I've been doing a LOT of public speaking lately. Conferences, keynotes, expos, organizations, and corporate gigs have been littering my calendar lately. It's been a BLAST. And I've learned a lot about the people I present to.

They're scared. Not the monster in the closet with the knife scared, but a slow, rhythmic, fear that invades their life. Their thinking.

And their actions.

The markets are unsure right now. Business is unsure right now. People are unsure right now.

But this is one of the best times to strike out and do something DIFFERENT. Take a chance. Try something new. BE BOLD IN LIFE.

I promise you — there are a LOT of people out there right now making a lot of money based on their ideas, their connections, and their HUSTLE.

You can be one of them too.

So today's charge for you is to look at what you do everyday and do it differently. Make a change. Reach out to someone who you thought was untouchable. Start something new. Improve and expand what you do.

It will not only motivate and inspire you — it will energize and get everyone around you to notice your tsunami.

Make it happen.

The Secret To Getting Things Done.

Candidly, it hard to get things done. Of course, some things are easy, but many of them are quite difficult. We are always looking for ways to do things better, faster, and with less worry and work. Years ago, I came upon one of the most simple and powerful quotes I've ever read. It's from Mohandas Gandhi, who in his 78 years of life, gave us so many great quotes (and his actions too!).

"Action Expresses Priorities."

That's it. That's MY secret to getting things done.

Think about it — All of your actions, all the things you do, all the things you deliver — set your priorities. Once you take action, you instantly decide what you want to do first. Why? People tend to act upon those things that have meaning to them.

But I think it's deeper than that. I think when you don't know what to do, you need to just take action anywhere and suddenly certain things will start to fall into place.

But that's the problem today — we don't take action. We're afraid to — we procrastinate, over-analyze, and postpone because we are sometimes afraid of action.

Because action will ensure we have to make a decision — we have to do something that is sometimes hard, or we will have to deal with the results of that action.

But what we don't realize is that action moves us forward. It propels us . . . it forces us to rocket faster and faster. And sometimes we are afraid of that.

So ask yourself:

• How can I take action today?
• What should I do first? Second? Third?
• What should I stop doing?

So the next time you are putting off something — a decision, a task, a phone-call — just think "Action Expresses Priorities".

Who Else Wants To Add Power & Purpose To Their Life?

Ever see the last scene from The Bourne Supremacy? Here it is (start the clip at 1:25 in). In addition to the great soundtrack cut from Moby, you see Bourne walking off into the crowds of Manhattan.

Do you notice HOW he walks? With PURPOSE.

He has a fast stride, is focused, and is determined to move forward, quickly.

I want you to do the same thing. I want you to walk 20% faster than you do now. Why?

1. You get where you're going faster.
2. You use different muscles when you walk faster.
3. You catch people's attention when you move faster.
4. You breathe differently and your heart pumps a bit faster.
5. It adds focus, energy, and action to every step you take.

Let me say that again — IT ADDS FOCUS, ENERGY, AND ACTION TO EVERY STEP YOU TAKE.

Focus - Since you're moving faster, you have to anticipate and react faster. So you have to hone in on what you're doing and focus.

Energy - Since you are moving your body differently and with purpose, you get the lungs, blood, and muscles all flowing.

Action - Combine both of these together and you are adding activity to a mundane process.

How many times do you catch yourself strolling or walking slowly? Ever think about how that makes you feel? That's right — it relaxes you, it slows down the energy, and allows you to focus (i.e., worry) about a lot of things.

Walking 20% faster will get you out of the doldrums, get your juices flowing, and honestly . . . ideas will pop out of your head. You WILL add power and purpose with every step.

Try it.

Stop Being Scared On The Job.

I coached the head of sales of a Fortune 500 company yesterday and we had an interesting conversation. 

She had a recurring issue with some of the executive board members she reports to — they are frequently challenging her management of the sales force because sales have dipped slightly over the past six months.

Sales performance is a highly subjective area in business because if it is dropping off, many factors can come into play such as pricing, marketing, product management, distribution, the marketplace . . . I can go on forever. During these meetings though, it all seemed to fall right on her shoulders. Why?

Initially, she was a bit complacent. She saw the numbers falling slightly, but didn't really see any reason to change strategy. Then when they really started to turn downward, she became gun-shy. And then right before the next board meeting, she was scared.

I call it falling down the rabbit hole. Complacent to gun-shy to scared — it's a disturbing vortex many managers go through (especially in today's marketplace). We feel the market will have it's ups and downs and then something bad happens — and we are afraid to do anything because we are gun-shy — we don't want to make things worse.

Ultimately, we move to being scared because we don't know where to turn. Here's how we solved her problem:

1. THINK - Develop a series of strategies to solve the issue. Predict outcomes and impacts for each of the strategies.
2. TAKE ACTION - Choose the best one.
3. COMMUNICATE - Massively communicate your decision to your peers and superiors with your logic before they begin to complain.

The board wasn't concerned about her strategy or performance — they were concerned about her lack of communication, perceived interest, and action. Once you show people you are ON IT, they usually back off. In addition, if you show them your thinking around the problem, they see you've taken the time to work the issue. Only certain 'evil' people will take this as a chance to sabotage you. In addition, she also engaged all the other areas impacted for their input — which pretty well ameliorated any sabotage from the 'evil' people.

So don't fall down the rabbit hole — Think, Take Action, and Communicate.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Are you getting complacent at work? Let’s talk. I’ve worked with thousands of executives and have helped them manage difficult situations — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

Are You Prepared?

Right now, the east coast is bracing for Hurricane Irene to hit. It might be bad. It might be nothing. But it's smart to prepare.

Get everything outside, inside. Batten down the hatches. Extend the leaders from your gutters. Get your generator in order. Fill your bathtub. Radios? Batteries? Prepare a 'big-out-bag' with your important information and necessities — (Go to this site to learn more).

Take the media with a grain of salt — their job is to inform — but sometimes they do their job a little bit too well. It might turn into hype and provide undue stress to you and your family. Pick a trusted information source and stick with it.

Now I'm not the National Weather Service. I'm a coach. So how does this information track to your career or business?

1. Mentally Prepare. This is not the time to lose your mind. If the economy is tough and people are losing their jobs/clients all around you — start to develop contingency plans. The better prepared you are mentally, the better you will react if something bad does happen.
2. Don't Worry — Think — Take Action. Don't get stuck in analysis/paralysis. Once you have a clear direction or strategy in case something does happen, take the appropriate action(s) to ensure you are ready.
3. Don't Get Stressed — Listen to trusted sources of information. Don't play into the myriad of cable channels pushing out the pablum of fear. Click into those outlets who deliver NEWS — and then you develop your OWN opinion.
4. Prepare Your Bug-Out-Bag. Is your resume in order? When was the last time you updated your contact list of colleagues and friends? When did you last connect with your customers? Who are your favorite companies to work for? Who would be a perfect client for you? Start taking action now.
5. Weather The Storm. Keep your cool while things are spinning all around you. Stay flexible and nimble and most of all — keep performing. Don't freeze and hunker down — it's critical you maintain and elevate your performance.

What else can you do to prepare for career/business bad times?

Why Your Meetings Suck.

We all have meetings.

• Client meetings.
• Status meetings.
• Project meetings.
• Brainstorming meetings.
• Get-to-know-you meetings.

Let's face it — many of the meetings we attend — well — suck. Why does this happen?

We have an agenda. Everyone is present. No one is distracted. Why is it when we're surveyed, meetings rank at the bottom of any business experience?

Because most people don't know how to run them. So here are 5 simple tips to make your meetings run efficiently:

1. Most meetings have this structure: Empathy & Action.

Empathy - It's the first section of the meeting where one develops an understanding of the topic at hand or one gets to know the person they're speaking with. Building trust or a bond with two or more people to help one another get the job done.

How: Make sure you allot time to clearly present why you're meeting, what's going to happen and what you expect the next steps will be. With one-on-one meetings, you don't need to be so formal, but empathy and trust are paramount — make sure they happen during the first part of the meeting.

Action - Most meetings forget this one. They tend to blather on and never come to what the meeting is really about — taking action in one form or another. Many meetings are sometimes 99% talk and then at the last minute when everyone is getting up, an action step is mentioned — and it turns into a successive meeting to be scheduled in a few days. Oh joy.

How: Ensure you schedule enough time at the end to focus on who is doing what and delivering when. I know it's hard to do it (asking people to do things) — but it's really the hidden reason why you're having the meeting in the first place — to explain what you are doing and getting their mental (and physical) buy-in.

2. Show up early. Stay late. Be early and welcome all the attendees, get them excited about the topic and ally all their fears about another boring meeting. Stay late to answer any follow-up questions and deepen your relationships with any new attendees. Thank everyone profusely for their attendance.

3. Keep it SHORT. Move it along. I've held five minute status meetings with my team where we all stand around a whiteboard. Get them in, says what needs to be said, and get them out. Your meeting does not need to conform to Outlook — it doesn't need to be a full hour — end early.

4. Stick to an AGENDA. Don't let the meeting get off course. It's okay if you meander a little bit to take care of a simple issue, but get back on course and keep the group focused. If you're meeting one-on-one, have a simple mental agenda and let the person you're meeting with know what you'd like to get out of the meeting: "Before we start, I'd like us to leave here with a clear understanding of how we can help one another build our respective businesses."

5. Sometimes you don't need to meet. Don't meet because you 'have' to or 'that's the way it's always been done'. A simple conversation, phone call or email might suffice. The fewer meetings you host or attend not only open up your schedule, but also when you do host one, it's an event. Don't over-use meetings — they're not that great to begin with.

What else do you do to make your meetings bearable?

Milton Levine Died Last Month.

Flash of inspiration . . .

Milton Levine’s eureka moment came in 1956, when he spotted a mound of ants during a Fourth of July picnic at his sister’s poolside in Southern California.

Coalescence into an idea . . .

Recalling how as a boy he had collected ants in jars at his uncle’s farm, thought “We should make an antarium.”

Milton takes action . . .

The resulting product —  Uncle Milton’s Ant Farm — selling for $1.98, the original 6-by-9-inch ant farm was an immediate hit, soon selling thousands a week by mail order to children persuaded by commercials on after-school television shows.

The result . . .

It has been a staple in children’s bedrooms ever since. More than 20 million have been sold. Mr. Levine once said of his company’s success: “Most novelties, if they last one season, it’s a lot. If they last two seasons, it’s a phenomenon. To last 35 years is unheard of.” That was in 1991.

From a dream into a reality . . .

Last year, Uncle Milton Industries, based in Westlake Village, Calif., was sold to the Transom Capital Group for more than $20 million. Mr. Levine died Jan. 16 in Thousand Oaks, CA. He was 97.

Do you have a flash of inspiration? Do you have an idea or dream? Do you take action? Do you follow through?

Take a moment today to assess where you accelerate, where you sputter, and where you eventually stop.

Milton took a simple idea, made it into a novelty, and grossed $20M.

You can too.

Quotes taken and modified from the New York Times.

Extreme Mojo (or Driving On The Corporate Autobahn).

The other night, I played Call of Duty—Black Ops with my son on his new Xbox 360 (with Kinect!). It's an amazing system — and it's quite entertaining. Unfortunately, I played it all wrong — or at least that's what my son told me (vociferously). I either camped out in one spot and picked everyone off like a sniper, or I ran blindly into the fray as fast as I could shooting everyone in sight. As I was reprimanded by my son, the 'right' way to play is to move slowly and shoot strategically at your enemies. I disagree ;)

What if we migrate this idea into business? There is a theory of moving slowly and acting strategically to hit your deadlines and vanquish your obstacles.

Have you ever started to pick up significant momentum during a project, moving faster and faster, leaving everyone behind? Where your team all aligned behind you like a Lionel train set all chugging faster and faster, and no one dared to get in your way? It's call MOJO.

I see this happen often with executives and businesspeople who have a clear vision of purpose. No one, and I mean no one, will get in their way. They drive forward and make things happen when they want them to happen. Even if the 'human obstacles' complain to upper management, no one wants to get in the way of this speeding train.

You need a few things for Mojo to occur:

• A crystal-clear vision - all mapped out with alternate directions.
• Quick thinking - you must think 3-4 steps ahead of everyone else.
• A good lay of the land - anticipate all the obstacles that might come from other departments or people.
• Firm foundation of support - a few superiors, peers, and subordinates who believe you can do it.
• Energy - the ability to quickly pick oneself off the ground, dust yourself off, and start running.
• Enthusiasm - it's infectious - you need to convert lots of friends, admirers, and help from high places along the way.

I've seen (and had) this Mojo many times in my career. It's beautiful to watch everyone scurry out of the way (but take notice) of a fellow colleague driving on the corporate Autobahn at 180 mph.

Have you ever accelerated past the speed of light at work? What happened? What surprised you?

Are You On Track For 2011?

Today is January 20th. You’ve had 20 days to kick off 2011 the right way. You know, MAKE A DIFFERENCE. How’s it working for you? I usually get one of three answers:

• Unbelievable! (face it, they’re lying.)
• Still In The Planning Stage (and when ARE you going to launch?)
• No, Life Still Sucks (buy them a BIG drink.)

The good news is: We’re only 20 days into the new year. You still have time.

There's one caveat, your time is running out. If you want to make a dramatic difference in your life, career, or business, you need to start taking action immediately.

Why? This is how I see a typical year (again, this is how I see it):

JAN - FEB - MAR Critical time to launch and catch your management’s or the marketplace’s attention.

APR - MAY - JUN Moving into the passing lane, accelerating forward, making significant wins. Remember, there are some school vacations and holidays mixed in here.

JUL - AUG Dead time. Everyone focused on having fun with the fam or on the farm.

SEP-OCT Another critical time to impact your management or marketplace, everyone ramping up for the fourth quarter.

NOV-DEC Almost everyone is distracted by the holidays, the weather, etc. Begin planning NOW for 2012.

When are you going to get off your butt and make things happen?

Be Bold In Life.

You know when you get so caught up in your career and life you forget things? Well I did. I was going through some papers that take me back to 2001-2002 and I saw this phrase, "Be Bold In Life". That was my original coaching 'theme' that I communicated on my business card, website, and throughout my coaching.

It's time to bring it back. What do I mean by "Be Bold In Life"? If you have to choose between:

• Playing it safe or taking a risk — Take the risk.
• Taking action or waiting for the right opportunity — Take action.
• Staying in your safe, boring job or taking a new, challenging position — Jump ship.
• Sticking with your current low-paying client or going for a higher-paying client that takes you out of your comfort zone — Go with Daddy Warbucks.
• Thinking outside of the box or staying with what you know — Leave the box behind.
• Doing things the 'right' way or trying something new and scary — Go for new.
• Asking for permission or asking for forgiveness — Never ask for permission.
• Being Ordinary or Extraordinary - Get where I'm going?

Now you might say, "Rich, there are times when I can't do this.". That's fine. I'm not saying do it ALL the time.

What I am saying is that you should incrementally introduce boldness in everything you do.

You will be surprised what happens. Be BOLD in Life.

What's Missing From Your Thanksgiving Table This Year?

Sweet Potatoes? Peas? Squash? Corn? No. Is it a loved one who passed away this year? Is it a family member who is serving our country overseas?

Let's all take a moment and express our love and gratitude for all the people in our lives.

But today, I would like to go a little deeper — what's missing from your INNER Thanksgiving table this year?

Have you lost your job? Have you lost confidence in yourself? Have you lost your clients? Have you lost your focus?

2010 has been both problematic and revelatory for many of my clients, colleagues, and friends. Some are up, some are down.

But the one thing we all need to remember, is that we have the ability to change. To take action. To slowly (or quickly) start turning our fortunes around to where we want them to go.

Only YOU have the ability to change where you are.

Only YOU can make the decision to begin charting a new course.

Everyone else can only be a tool to help YOU accomplish your goals. We can show you how to swing the club, YOU are the only person who must swing and hit the ball.

So at this time of the year, let's all be thankful that we have the ability to take action. The ability to change course.

And the gratitude to realize that Friday is also a holiday — spend some time that day to start taking action.

P.S. Here's a Thanksgiving gift for you to download and enjoy.

Ethical Leadership - Start With Gut Instinct.

This is Part One of a multi-part series on Ethical Leadership. "I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics." - Richard Branson

I thought I would start with the most apparent way to lead ethically - by your gut. Why? Because I feel that most people are good and try to live their lives from a position of doing good for others. I know — there are some horrible people out there — but overall, I believe that the majority of executives are guided by good rather than evil. Unfortunately, some are pulled to the dark side by a number of different reasons (found in my last post).

Leading with Gut Instinct means that you listen to an inner voice — what scientists call 'your intuition'. Intuition is a feeling within your body that something is right or just not right. Did you catch that I said "within your body" and not just "within your mind"? We've all had moments of intuition - a certain colleague or a business deal. Sometimes we listen and sometimes we don't —intuition is the signpost pointing us to the right way — unfortunately, we sometimes take the wrong way.

"Trust your hunches. They're usually based on facts filed away just below the conscious level." – Dr. Joyce Brothers This is why I believe my gut. Our brain is made up of billions of neurons firing many times during the day. Thoughts, emotions, facts, knowledge, etc. all are accessible at one time or another. If you have a highly structured and organized mind, you probably don't use your intuition as much as the next person. You just go to the library, choose your book from the shelves, and access the info that you need.

Everyone else's brain uses a more complex system — intuition — to unconsciously make their way through that ball of wire we call the brain and access that one (or more) tidbit of information needed to make the right decision.

The creative is the place where no one else has ever been. You have to leave the city of your comfort and go into the wilderness of your intuition. What you'll discover will be wonderful. What you'll discover will be yourself. – Alan Alda "Be yourself" — (how I love that term) — intuition allows you to make decisions from where you stand, not from anyone else's perspective. This is a sign of a true leader - one that makes the hard decisions, efficiently and effectively.

So next time you need to make the right decision — use your gut. It will keep you on the right track.