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.

Why The iPad Is Firing You From Your Job.

Eliminate the middleman. If you've ever reviewed a process, one of the first rules of management is to eliminate the superfluous and streamline. I've never seen a successful organization ADD layers of management or processes and succeed. The more people, approvals, and regulations all add time and money to any endeavor.

So the rationale for success in the 21st century is to be more agile, efficient, effective, nimble and inexpensive. Follow this simple progression — Memos to Email to Messaging or Film Camera to Digital Camera to iPhone. Faster, cheaper, more effective.

Take a look around — it's happening all over:

• Best Buy is Amazon's showroom. I can't remember the last time I bought something there.
• Have you walked into a Macy's, JC Penney, or even a Walmart lately? The employees HATE their job and each place is a mess.
• See a cash register at an Apple Store? They check you out with their iPhone. In fact, they have an app for your iPhone to allow you to check yourself out (I tried it this weekend - it works!).
• Bookstores are dying all around us. So are record stores.
• Expensive gyms are being consolidated into inexpensive monthly membership groups.
• Supermarkets have lost their way. There are some stand-outs (Shop-Rite, Whole Foods, Trader Joe's, Aldi), but for the most part, they're getting TOO big.

What's happening? They are eliminating the middleman. Why buy shoes at a shoe store when I can use Zappos? Same price, huge selection, and they have my size. If they don't fit, I can send them back free. Aldi's supermarkets can run with 3-4 employees (I'm not kidding) - super efficient layout and structure.

What would happen if Stephen King decided to leave his publisher? He could write his book, hire his editor to edit the book, and distribute it via Amazon. He could also have it printed via a print-on-demand structure. And he can eliminate the middleman. And keep ALL the profits.

Look at what Radiohead did when they offered their new album digitally and allowed their fans to pay anything they wanted for the music. They averaged about $5 per album download and kept ALL the profits.

What would happen if a famous professor taught a course via webinar and charged $1000 a credit ($4K total) per student? And they offered it to anyone? How much would they make if 500 students attended? That's right . . . $2 million dollars. The logistics are easy - billing, registration and testing online - books can be purchased digitally. The professor can take questions and have a virtual whiteboard. All they have to do is teach ONE CLASS. Eliminate the middleman.

Kickstarter is a game changer. Check out Amanda Palmer. She bypassed the recording industry, requested $100K via Kickstarter and raised $624K to launch her new album (great video).

The iPad is a game changer. It is slowly killing huge areas of business, entertainment, and education. Textbooks, printing, television, DVD's, gaming, etc. Walk into an Apple Store and look around — I only saw 3 computers. The rest of the huge store was littered with iPads, iPhones, and MacBooks. Another one bites the dust.

My charge for you today: Is your position, vocation, or organization being slowly eliminated? Are you the middleman? It might not be happening now — but it might in the future.

You don't want to be the company who made slide rules when calculators were invented.

How LinkedIn And Twitter Changed My Day.

The other day, a close friend and colleague of mine said she attended a killer workshop on social media.

She said the presenter gave her a boatload of new ideas and energy for her to expand her current business campaign using Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. From her energy, I got the feeling the presenter not only hit a home run, but he also brought in the other three players (he really knows his stuff)!

So what did I do after we spoke? I immediately went to LinkedIn and tried to link with the presenter. Guess what happens?

I get this response: "Rich, Great to connect. So you know, based on a session you once did at the local library, you inspired me to start a company, build a website, promote myself on social media which resulted, among new business, in being asked to join an MBA program. I would enjoy the chance to let you know what you did if you would like to know. But thank you very much for all you did."

We then had a roundtable tweet-fest on Twitter to let everyone know what happened!

What did this teach me?

1. You never know who's listening when you present.
2. You never know how your words can impact another person.
3. The world is getting smaller every day.
4. I need to get out even more and present.
5. Always reach out to people whenever you hear their name.

Who will YOU meet this week?

Are You A Habitual Pushover? Guess What -You Probably Are.

Own a business? Do you have money collection issues? Manage a team in corporate? Are you missing deadlines?

You probably are a PUSHOVER. Let me explain.

Our natural instinct is to try to please, to perform or to get along with others. Sometimes, when we encounter someone with a stronger personality, we tend to bend our own rules to accomodate their needs.

I frequently mention with my clients the practice of looking at behaviors on a spectrum. For example, if you have a spouse/partner, one of you is probably a hoarder and one of you is probably a tosser. One throws away everything and the other saves everything. Hopefully, neither of you are at the extreme ends of the spectrum, but you are definitely not at the same point.

It's the same with being a pushover. At one end of the spectrum is a tree that bends with the slightest wind and at the other, a hard-ass SCROOGE who demands the last penny owed to them. Some of you might be at one end (the Scrooge) who demands all payment up front or pushes their team mercilessly to beat every deadline.

And you're probably not at the other end of the spectrum never billing a client or missing all of your deadlines.

But you're somewhere in the middle. And I guess, you're closer to the pushover than the Scrooge. Here's how to think about it.

The middle of the spectrum is THE PROFESSIONAL. That's where you want to be. Someone who moderates their decisions and actions based on the situation. Most of the time, you're the professional, handling projects and billing your clients.

Sometimes though, you will have to move slowly to one end or the other of the spectrum. With certain situations, you might give your team an extra day to complete their project successfully or allow a good client to pay you one week later. Other times, you might have to come down hard on your team to hit that deadline or bill your client in full prior to any more work can be accomplished.

You're not the hard-assed Scrooge or the Pushover — you're just being a Professional.

So next time the situation changes for you or your team, realize you can move up and down the spectrum to get what you really want.

How To Sell Anything.

During my 20 year tenure working in corporate management, many times I found myself as a product manager. As Wikipedia states, a product manager investigates, selects, and develops products for an organization. That's what I did. As a product manager, you have a number of constituencies to sell to — it's not only the end user 0r customer, but also the account executive or salesperson. They add the 'voice' to your product and either make it grow or die.

After many months on the job, I saw a subtle, yet clear reality began to emerge. There were three distinct groups of people who were my 'audience' - people who instantly got it, people who were on their way to getting it, and people who were obstacles. Let me explain:

The 'Get-It' Crowd

These are the 'platinum' members to your club. When you present your product to them, they instantly 'get it' and want to sell it to other people. They see the inherent qualities of your product, they understand how it works, and they quickly incorporate it into their product line.

What to do: Keep these people close, shower them with affection and acknowledgement, and ensure you listen to them. They will give you critical information about the reality of your product. You can then modify it as needed to make it sell even faster.

The 'Almost-On-Board' Crowd

These are the people who are on the fence. Why? Usually because of a few reasons:

• They are always unsure of new products.
• They need to be sold.
• They need more information.
• They are not focused yet - they just need to focus on your product.

What to do: Reach out to them, educate them, answer their questions, go out on sales calls with them. They just need that one time to see one of their current clients embrace the product and then they're sold. Once that happens, they are on-board.

The 'Negative' Crowd

These are the people who will NEVER get it. Either they are obstinate and will never embrace your product or they feel they have the right mix of products for their client base. In either case, you not only have an uphill battle to wage, you're fighting on Mt. Everest.

What to do: Honestly — don't waste your time with these people. You have enough blood, sweat and tears to expend on the other two groups. I know it's harsh and there is the group of salespeople who say "You never know . . . " — but in the end, even if you convert one person from this group, you could've converted 5-10 in the 'Almost-On-Board' crowd. Cut your losses and don't bother.

If you use these three strategies effectively, you'll find it so much easier (and faster) to get your products to market and in front of the people that matter — your customers.

3 Books You Should Be Reading Right NOW.

I'm frequently asked by organizations in my business consulting area what are the best books their employees should read and refer to. Honestly, there are a lot of good books out there. And unfortunately, there are millions of stinkers out there too.

Today, everyone thinks they can write a book. But most of them suck (hey, it's my opinion).

Here are the three which have withstood the test of time and to this day influence millions of executives and employees throughout the world:

How to Win Friends & Influence People

By Dale Carnegie.

This is the bible — buy it and live it. This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated.

The Magic of Thinking Big

By David Schwartz.

Long regarded as one of the foremost experts on motivation, Schwartz will help you manage better, earn more money, and — most important of all — find greater happiness and peace of mind. He proves that you don’t need to have an innate talent to attain great success — but you do need to learn and understand the habit of thinking and behaving in ways that will get you there.

Linchpin — Are You Indispensable?

By Seth Godin

Linchpin is a most unusual, well-organized, concise book about what it takes to become indispensable in the workplace – whether you work for someone else (at any level) or are self-employed. It’s about how business has rapidly changed and how treating employees like factory workers (or doing your job like one) doesn’t work any longer. We must make choices and take action to “chart our own paths” and add value that others do not.

We cannot wait for a boss or a job description to tell us what to do, rather we must just take the initiative ourselves. Only then can we become indispensable “linchpins,” rather than replaceable “cogs.” ”You don’t become indispensable merely because you are different. But the only way to become indispensable is to be different. That’s because if you’re the same, so are plenty of other people.

I recommend these three books DAILY to my clients.

Go out and buy them for your iPad or even better, pick up the audiobook and devour it.

Top Posts for April 2012.

Okay, I posted one day early this month, so sue me. In case you missed them, here are my top ten posts for April 2012:

1. How To Stop Working So Late – Part One. 789 views
2. The Ten Commandments Of Leadership. 549 views
3. Two Questions That Will Change Your Life In A Powerful Way. 478 views
4. How To Stop Working So Late – Part Two. 441 views
5. Three Secrets Presentation Pros Keep To Themselves. 428 views
6. 4 Tips To Say “NO” and Make It Stick. 330 views
7. 3 Simple Rules In Life. 243 views
8. Top Five Regrets of the Dying. 235 views
9. Two People To Keep Your Eye On At Work. 231 views
10. When Your Company Throws You A Left Hook To The Chin. 210 views

I want to thank all of my readers who made April the biggest (most visited) month ever for my site. I really appreciate all of the visits and most of all telling other people about my site. It means a lot to me.

If you get a chance, please forward your favorite to someone else you know. Thank you!

Which post really resonated with you?

Stay in touch — I love your feedback! Keep it coming. Regards - Rich

How To Be Bold In Life.

At the top of my site is a simple phrase — "Be Bold In Life". I've used it to describe my coaching for the past eleven years. It's one thing to understand the term "be bold in life" and another to actually do it.

I found out the secret many years ago when I worked in corporate. It's simple, concise and you've probably heard it before:

"Ask for forgiveness, not permission."

I'm not asking you to be inconsiderate. Or obnoxious. Or uncaring. But if you have a choice to take action or ask someone's opinion on taking action . . . TAKE ACTION. Think it through and then ACT.

In business, people who are asked for their opinion tend to give it. And if you ask them if the sky is blue, they tend to disagree with you and say it's pink with white streaks. It's human nature. And unfortunately, it slows you down.

Too many times, we look to others for their permission — and in so doing, we are relinquishing our power and importance to another person. Keep the power, the idea, and the responsibility with you and ACT.

You might be afraid of making a mistake or causing a huge issue. I'm not going to say it doesn't happen. Most of the time though, people understand if your heart was in the right place and you were doing something good for the company. They get it. You might get a slap on the hand (and I've received many of those).

I've even received reprimands for my actions. But in the end, my boss understood why I took action and ultimately, it helped me move my career forward.

And that's the real reason why we do it. Be Bold In Life. Take Chances. Ask for forgiveness, not permission.

How You Easily Deceive Yourself.

Scenario 1: "Let's meet at 2 PM Friday — I have a lunch meeting at Noon and I can run from there to your office to meet. I know it will be tight, but I will only allow myself one hour to eat." Scenario 2: "My day is full of back to back meetings, in different buildings, but I can make it without being late."

Scenario 3: "We can get your final approval in, print up your order, and have it out by the end of the day."

Which one is your scenario? Okay — let's get serious. We know these scenarios work some of the time, but most of the time, you're either late or you miss your deadline.

With the myriad of things we do in our career, time management, or the appearance of time management is our kryptonite. The more we try to do, the more we juggle, the less time we have for mistakes, traffic, and plain-old scheduling.

When it comes to time, where do you deceive yourself?

• Do you get up late and have to rush around getting dressed and ready for the day?
• Do you leave at the wrong time every day so you hit a higher level of traffic commuting?
• Is daily planning in the morning a chore (so you don't do it)?
• Do you over-promise and under-deliver?

Here are a few great time management posts to help you:

How To Survive In A High Performance Workplace

5 Ways To Kill Email

The Best Time Management Tool I Recommend To My Clients

Time Management Stinks. Here Are 10 Tips That Work for Me.

The Ten Commandments Of Leadership.

Leadership is not easy. It's tough. It's unpredictable. It takes focus, determination, and most of all opportunity. Leadership cannot be planned - it happens in the moment. So I've put together the top ten commandments of leadership to help you anticipate a leadership moment:

1. Think before you speak.

As leaders, we are always trying to help and solve the problem. Or when it's time to take a team member out to the woodshed. We tend to speak and act first, and take prisoners later. Stop for a second and THINK. What's the BEST way to go about this?

Instead of solving the problem, how about letting the person suggest some of their own solutions? Instead of getting angry at a team member, ask them what they think they did wrong. Sometimes people are harder on themselves — and in the end, these actions become learning experiences that stick forever.

2. Push your people. Get them to do scary things.

I've always had my people push themselves — take on at least one scary project which takes them WAYYY out of their comfort zone. This allows them to grow in their position, deliver the best they can do, and most of all NOT GET BORED.

If you keep them performing at an optimal level on one of their projects, these behaviors will spread to the other activities they execute. If they fail or fall short, you're there to catch them and then help them at that point on.

3. What's the right thing to do? Evangelize ethics in everything you do.

People look up to you and see what you do. In everything you do. If you gossip, they will gossip. If you cheat a client, they will too. As a leader, you become the moral mirror image for all of your people.

In addition, try to encourage the right behavior in your people — if they come to a philosophical crossroads, ask them what would be the RIGHT thing to do.

4. Show them the way. Be visionary.

We get too caught up in the politics and tactics of our job. Good leaders consistently keep their eye on the long term benefits and goals. Teach your people to goal-set, plan, monitor, and assess for every project and activity they do.

Give them the long picture — where you want to see the company go, the division, the department and ultimately, them. Give it life, make it visionary, get them involved.

5. Don't take on any monkeys. You will never lead your team.

First, read this great HBR report (it's from 1974 and it's one of their most read reports). It's the standard to help you lead and manage your team — don't let them drop monkeys on your desk — help them solve their own problems.

In fact, this commandment should be emblazoned on the wall behind your desk: "Don't come to me with a problem unless you have one or more solutions.".

6. Fight the good fight. Take a stand.

Never be wishy-washy on anything important. Your people will see that immediately. Analyze the pros and cons, take the end result into account, and make a decision. If you're wrong, admit it immediately and change course. But we get so caught up in the decision process — being afraid of making the wrong decision, we make the situation worse.

If someone or something is going after your department or one of your people and they are clearly wrong, defend them to the death. There might be some people who might say you're committing political suicide, but I feel if you and your team are in the right, it will ultimately surface in your favor.

7. Be strategic, monitor tactical.

Too many leaders try to micromanage. Don't make this mistake. Focus on the big picture and how all of the pieces fit together. Don't worry about the day to day, monitor it with your people's input, but keep them focused on the goalposts.

8. Communicate clearly.

Many leaders mistake intelligence with obfuscation. They use big words, grand designs, and ornate constructs to communicate their goals. BAD IDEA. If your people have to decipher what you are looking for, you exponentially increase the opportunity for them to misunderstand your message and do the wrong thing.

Be clear, concise, and straightforward in ALL of your communications — you'll find things move that much faster and people get your drift immediately.

9. Be confident, not cocky.

The difference between cockiness and confidence:

• Cockiness - "I know that. We've been doing that for years."
• Confidence - "Wow, I didn't know that. Tell me more."

Which person do you like to work with? Most everyone likes to work with a confident person — someone who is comfortable in their own shoes, someone who is not afraid to not know something and is inquisitive to find out more. One of the goals of leadership is to get your people to absorb and display your leadership attributes in their day-to-day work. Who do you want to work with — a confident ally or a cocky jerk?

10. Understand the 'meta' in every conversation.

This is a big one — what's the BIG picture? When you are speaking with someone, giving a presentation, holding a status meeting — give people the 5,000 foot picture and then zoom up to the 50,000 level.

Tell them what really is happening, what is the REAL reason the company is doing something. Most of the time, your people don't have a clue about what is going on and it's your job to give them the big picture.

How I Motivate and De-Motivate Myself.

Our motivation is like a battery. Everyday, your battery is fully (or partially) recharged and ready to go for the new day. During the next 12-24 hours, worries, obstacles, people, and things all slowly deplete your motivational battery. By the end of the day, you probably feel low — maybe frustrated — loss of hope — and you don't know where to turn.

My battery has been feeling kind of low lately and I didn't know why. But then it dawned on me — I've been watching the TV show "Weeds" on Netflix at night to wind down from the day. Have you ever watched it? I'm not going to get into the entire story, but the protagonist is constantly making bad decisions which turn out to be REALLY BAD decisions, endangering her life and family. There is a subtle wrapper of humor inserted throughout, but the overall theme is bad decision—bad things happen—bad decision—bad things happen.

The way I'm wired is directly impacted by the stories I watch. Since I'm a coach, I try to understand the character's motivations and constantly try to solve their problems. It's a vicious circle.

I then realized the same thing happened to me a few months ago while watching 'The Walking Dead' and a few years ago with '24'. All of these shows have protagonists who get into trouble, miraculously get out of trouble, get into trouble, etc. I would have vivid dreams, feel disconcerted during the day, and really never know why.

Until I stopped watching these de-motivating shows. The minute I stopped giving them any priority in my life, my motivational battery stayed charged. I then focused on topping off my battery every chance I could get.

• When in the car, I listened to motivational CD's with Zig Ziglar, Joel Osteen, and Gary Vaynerchuk.
• I read motivational books and stopped most TV in the evening (except for 'Fringe', I love 'Fringe').
• I surfed motivational sites and stayed away from the 24-hour news barrage.
• I've started to workout EVERY DAY. It helps me think clearer and clean out the physical and mental cobwebs.
• I'm only hanging around motivating people. No complainers. No glass-half-empty personalities. No whiners.

Guess what? I have more ideas, more energy, and more motivation. So I have two questions for you:

1. What are you doing right now to de-motivate yourself? What is draining your motivational battery?
2. What can you do to top off your battery everyday? How can you fit it into your daily routine?

I’d love your input, thoughts and reviews of my posts. Feel free to comment below!

When It Comes To Business, You're Unethical.

Or are you? Most people tend to think they are as clean as downy-fresh sheets drying in the summer sunshine. As with many areas in business and our lives, we tend to modulate along a spectrum. We strive and hope to be squeaky-clean, but sometimes we wander to the dark side depending on the situation, circumstance or outside pressure. In addition, being un-focused and lazy also causes one to forget to center themselves when it comes to ethics.

What makes you move? What do you do to center yourself? Where do you go? What do you read? Who do you talk to?

Here are some of the things I do:

1. If I have a tough decision to make, I weigh the pros and cons, but I also ask myself, what is the 'RIGHT' thing to do here. I sometimes get a different answer.
2. I read and frequently consult many authors to help me stay grounded.
3. I attend gatherings of peers to discuss business ethics — one meeting I treasure is The Greenwich Leadership Forum. If you live nearby (I travel an hour to attend), you should check it out. They meet monthly and I find it a powerful experience every time.

Finally, I write about my thoughts on business ethics — it allows me to broadcast my ethical philosophy to the world and get input from my peers.

Here are some of my favorite (and most popular posts):

Ethics – The Only Way To Be A True Leader Can executives still achieve greatness if they do the right thing?

Ethical Leadership – Start With Gut Instinct “I rely far more on gut instinct than researching huge amounts of statistics.” – Richard Branson

Ethical Leadership — You Need A Mentor “Mentor: Someone whose hindsight can become your foresight.”

Ethical Leadership — You Need A Mastermind Group You should regularly assemble a group to help you learn, understand and grow.

Losing Your Compass? Try Simple Philosophy “The higher the buildings, the lower the morals.” – Noel Coward

Lots of Enemies? Make Friends With The Press Hear me out — there is a logic to my madness.

I'd love your input, thoughts and reviews of my posts. Feel free to comment below!

Get Current Clients To GROW Your Business.

Are you frustrated when clients defect? Finding it hard to hit your numbers? Is your client base growing or shrinking?  You need to read this ASAP.

When interacting with each client, your only conversation should take one of three directions:

1. Retention — Keep Them Happy and On-Board.
2. Extension — Sell Them More Stuff.
3. Expansion — Spread The Wealth To Other Like Clients.

Let me go more in-depth on each one:

1. Retention

At the end of every client transaction or communication, you should know where you are with that client. Are you at the start of the relationship and building trust with them? Have you built trust and are now extending your product line deeper into their company (see Extension)? Are they at the 'tipping-point' where they might flee because of apathy, change in relationship, competitor inroads, etc.?

Solution: Every time you communicate or interact with your client, clearly understand where you are and track their responses. Did they lower the quantity in an order? Did they cancel a number of meetings? Did the client sound non-committal on the phone? Many companies will continue on their merry way sending product without stopping, analyzing, and acting on these client cues.

You don't have to do it with everyone — but I at least hope you are monitoring this behavior with your top 10 clients.

2. Extension

When you connect with them — actually, EVERY time you connect with them, you should try to casually or sometimes forcefully, sell them more stuff. Why?

• They've already bought from you, so you have a good track record.
• They trust you.
• It's easier and much cheaper to sell more stuff to existing clients.

Solution: Understand your Tier 2 products — the ones where you can easily pitch them by asking simple questions. If you are a printer and you just sold a major print run of brochures, do you ask for business cards, stationary, giveaways, etc.? If you are a coach, do you pitch strategy sessions, assessments, etc.? If you are an accountant, do you pitch cash-flow analyses, CFO tools, or team discussions with their tax preparer?

3. Expansion

You should always ask for more business or WHO they might know. If they've already bought your product and are using it happily, you need to ask them for referrals — anyone they might know who might have use of your products or services. Whenever I ask, people instantly recommend someone OR they offer to ask around for me. That's the sign of a healthy client/provider relationship.

Solution: Casually ask if there is anyone they might know who might be interested in your product or service. Seed the thought in their mind — I promise it will bear fruit some day. And if a client leaves, I ALWAYS ask for two things: a testimonial and a referral. It's the best time to ask for a favor — they are usually feeling guilty about breaking off the relationship — so use it to your advantage. And guess what? I always get them.

If you take this strategy and use it on all of your existing clients, I promise you will keep them longer, sell them more stuff, and get more clients. It works every time.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. How is your sales team handling your current clients? Not so good?  Let’s talk. I've helped hundreds of companies get their sales teams rocking in no time — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

Two People To Keep Your Eye On At Work.

I've always said, keep your eyes on people who live at the ends of any spectrum.

• In politics, be wary of the extreme conservative or liberal.
• In sports, be wary of the player who swings for the fences or the one who waits to be walked.
• In school, stand back and watch the student who maxes out on their course load and the one who takes the bare minimum.

In business, don't follow people who continuously upset the apple cart or people who never want to change anything.

My advice? Live in the middle of the spectrum and move towards each end based on reasoned and factual thinking. But don't stay in one place. And don't stay at one end. Usually, people who live at the ends of a spectrum tend to be either fanatical or lazy.

Years ago, (okay . . . MANY years ago), I worked on a project to deliver GIS (mapping) technology to our salesforce. We were in the beta test stage and had to work with huge (250mb!) replaceable hard drives. Each salesperson had to swop hard drives, update their data, and replace the hard drive. Each hard drive was then FedEx'ed back to our office to erase. I came up with the idea of burning CD's with the info on them (back then laptops did not have a CD reader). There was a company who developed an external CD reader to connect to the port on the back of the laptop. Problem solved! We would mail the CD's instead.

You wouldn't believe the push-back I received from our IT department:

• You can't do that.
• It will corrupt the drivers on the laptop.
• It will pull too much power and short circuit the battery.

I can go on forever. So I went out with my own credit card, bought the CD drive, hooked it up to my laptop, and transfered the files in 2-3 minutes. Even when I showed them the process and how fast it worked (and so much more economical and easy), they still didn't want to do it.

They were living on one end of the spectrum. I moved to the other to make things easier for my customers (the salespeople) and much cheaper for the company (hard drives were expensive back then).

Do you find yourself at one end of the spectrum in your career or business? Why? What is it costing you?

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Working with someone at one end of the spectrum? Let’s talk. We can devise a strategy to get them to think more holistically — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

Do You Have An Arch-Enemy?

For Batman, it was the Joker. For Superman — Lex Luthor. Spider-Man — The Green Goblin. All were shining examples of light and dark in life — good and evil. Does this happen in real life? Does this happen on the job? Sure.

Do YOU have an arch-enemy? Or someone who exemplifies the term arch-enemy? Someone who:

• Actively thwarts (I love that word) your plans at every turn.
• Throws obstacles in your path.
• Interrupts the smooth flow of your job.
• Tosses a wrench in your presentation or your communication avenues.
• Miscommunicates your intentions to your superiors.
• Causes consternation with your team.
• Forces your peers to take sides against you.
• Is a general pain in the butt?

So what do you do? You have three choices:

1. Confront the person — deal with the issue at hand.
2. Act as if nothing is happening — no hill to die on here.
3. Run away — give in and agree with the person.

Which one do you think I want you to choose? That's right, Number Three.

Bazinga! Sorry, wrong answer. YOU MUST PICK NUMBER ONE.

So, how do you do it?

If you are an executive:

• Start tracking all the things they do to you. A condescending email, a confrontation during a meeting, taking credit for your work. You need to build up EVIDENCE. Just because they hurt your emotions doesn't mean you can do anything about it. You need FACTS.
• Decide when to confront them directly — when are YOU at your best. In the morning, afternoon, or evening. Choose the time.
• Meet with them ALONE and in an area where you can speak freely and frankly. Not a cafeteria — choose a conference room.
• Start out by asking, "Tom, do you regard me as a colleague and friend at this company?" They should say YES.
• Then say, "Then why do you do these things . . ." and begin to bring out each of the things they do to you. Ensure this info comes with people, places, and dates.
• If they deflate and apologize (80-90% of them do), acknowledge their admission, and say you are willing to move on and forget about their past transgressions.
• If they are belligerent and lie, prevaricate, or blame you — clearly state you are here to clear things up and you are onto their game.  If they are unwilling to acknowledge the facts you presented, let them know you will shut them down. This means no communication, no niceties, and if they need ANYTHING, they will get a big FU from you.
• It's your choice at this point to escalate. But beware, most managers hate when their kids don't get along.

If you own a business, it's probably a competitor:

• Again, start tracking all of their transgressions. Do they advertise and put you in a bad light? Do they gossip and lie with your vendors or customers? Do they spread misinformation at industry functions? Track and rate how bad each transgression is.
• Decide if you need to better market your products and services. Maybe they have the upper hand because they are better at marketing. And you might be jealous (this happens all the time).
• If they are blatantly saying bad things about you (like, "The board of health violates them every month."), you need to speak with the owner. It won't be a pretty conversation, but you just can't sit back and have them lie about you.
• If it gets worse, you need to escalate immediately. If they run slanderous ads, talk to the newspaper or magazine. If it's really bad, get an attorney and understand your options.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. If you have an arch-enemy - Let’s talk. I love working with people who want to 'kill' their competition — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

How To Stop Working So Late - Part Two.

Last week, I wrote my first installment on working late and received a powerful uproar from my readers (massive page views and comments on my site, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook!). To finish out my thoughts on this subject, I promised to give tangible tips to help people go home at a reasonable time. So here goes: Work hard when you're at work.

Right off the bat, I've probably insulted you. But to be honest, most people don't work that HARD while they're at work. On the contrary, they fill up time. Be honest, we all do it.

There's a great book by Tim Ferriss called the 4-Hour Workweek, where he targets those behaviors which allow you to elongate your performance to fill up time. He uses the 80/20 rule to uncover what activities really deliver true performance and which ones don't.

What do I mean by work hard?

• When you get to work . . . WORK. Don't schmooze. Don't procrastinate. Don't wander around. Don't daydream.
• Set up a daily to-do sheet (here's a great one I modified from GTD guru, David Allen).
• Stay on top of all your voicemails.
• Don't take frequent breaks (to get coffee, walk around, etc.).
• Don't surf. No personal calls. Don't text. You're at work.

Work smart when you're at work.

I know, you're smart, I'm smart, everyone is smart. Most of the time. But we all do some stupid things. Here are key tips to work more efficiently and effectively:

• Don't go to every meeting you're invited to. Kill (at least) one meeting every week — tell them you either can't make it or you don't really need to be there. Trust me, you don't. (1 hour per week). Kill more as you get good at it.
• Don't read EVERY email you receive. Don't read EVERY email when you get it. Set aside certain times of the day to read your email — read this.
• Set aside a certain part of the day to return phone calls. I use the Nine/Noon/Five technique — three times during the day, I return calls - at 9 AM, Noon, and 5 PM. You're not a heart surgeon — no one is going to die on the operating table if you don't return the phone call within minutes.
• When you answer the phone or return a phone call, give the person on the other line a deadline. Say, "Tom, I only have 4-5 minutes to talk, can we cover this now with a quick decision, or later?" — most calls need a quick decision from you.

Have an open/closed door policy at work.

Most managers live at the fringes of the 'door' spectrum — come on in anytime or don't bother me. Try to gravitate to the center of the spectrum and do both:

• When the door is open — your people should see it as a sign to quickly ask you a question, get your thoughts, or just talk (for a VERY short time). To get your team to leave quickly, ask them about taking on more work — they will scatter.
• When the door is closed — your people should understand not to bother you unless it's an emergency. Most things can wait until the door opens again.

Run VERY short meetings.

Why do meetings have to be one hour? Or 30 minutes? Why can't you have 5 minute meetings? It's because of MS Outlook. It makes it difficult for you to schedule a 5 minute meeting — 30 and 60 minute meetings look nicer and are easier to schedule.

Be honest with yourself — how many meetings have you attended where you walked out thinking, "that could've been handled in five minutes". You currently have to power to schedule 5 minute meetings.

• Ensure everyone arrives on time.
• Start exactly at the top of the hour.
• Get everyone to stand, not sit. This is not a seminar.
• Huddle around a whiteboard and use it to illustrate your points.
• Shut long-talkers down — get to the point.
• If you do go down a rabbit hole, everyone doesn't have to be there. Schedule it for later.
• Close the meeting ASAP and get out of there. Your people will LOVE you.

Develop clear communication policies with everyone.

Colleague or client — set specific boundaries. There are too many people in the workplace who goof off all day and then get serious about work at around 4 PM.

• Don't let people drop in. There must be a purpose for the meeting.
• Let people know you leave at 5 PM — don't let them abuse it.
• If they try to catch you when you're leaving, tell them you'll pick it up when your come back in the morning.
• Promise to return all calls within 24 hours.

The more YOU value your time, the more THEY value your time.

Try just one of these — you will be surprised how much work you accomplish.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. If you liked these two posts, let me know - Let’s talk. I love working with people who want to excel in their career — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

How To Stop Working So Late - Part One.

It's an epidemic. An epidemic SO BIG, the CDC should be called in with their Hazmat suite and an antidote found. What's so hard about closing your laptop and going home at 5 PM? Nothing. But we've all be indoctrinated to stick around, stay late, be visible, show management 'You Care'.

And it's not a 'Top Down' behavior — it infects the entire marketplace. So what do you do? Here are a few tips to help you better understand the aberrant psychology behind this modern phenomena:

It's illogical.

You're hired and paid (by law) to work 40 hours a week. It's your choice to work longer hours. Every hour you add to your work week, subtracts from your salary. Here's the math:

40 hours x 50 weeks = 2000 hours $100,000/2000 = $50/hour

Now if you work through lunch and stay 1-2 hours later each day, that adds 15 hours onto your 40 hours each week.

55 Hours x 50 weeks = 2750 hours $100,000/2750 = $36/hour

$14 or a 28% drop in pay. They don't pay you any more money (unless you get overtime pay). Why would you do that? What happens when you don't take your full vacation, work at home, or on the weekends?

That's right — your hourly wage plummets even more.

It forces you to procrastinate.

Instead of filling up your 40 hours each week with 40 hours of truly dedicated, hard and powerful work, you spread it out during the additional 28% of time during the week. What happens?

You attend more unproductive and boring meetings. You schmooze more with the wrong people. You read TOO much unnecessary email. You surf. You IM. Instead of calling someone, communicating information, and hanging up, you spend precious time blabbing. You push items, calls, and activities out which should be worked on NOW. We all do it.

You become part of 'The Herd'.

You see others stay late, so you do too. It's psychological. You begin to feel a pull to be the same as the rest of your peers. Add in the subtle digs from your 'friends' when you do leave on time: "Hey Susan, are you working banker's hours?"

So we stay later. And later. And later. If Tom, Mary and Steve are working late, I need to work late too. Whoops, my boss is still here, I need to stay late until he leaves. Maybe I should walk around the office with some papers looking frustrated to show them I really care about my job and I'm working hard (this was told to me years ago by a colleague — he used to do this to look busy — I'm not kidding).

So what do you do?

1. Analyze your performance.

Are you getting good reviews? Accolades from your boss, peers, and superiors? Getting work done on time? Then you are a good worker — industrious, deadline-focused, dependable. So why do you stay late and act like you aren't this way?

Because we're nervous to break from the herd. We're afraid of looking different, standing out, being seen as someone who doesn't 'care' about the company. We are indoctrinated over time to give our blood, sweat, tears, and life to the company. Be comfortable in who you are — a valued member of the team.

Doing this will not only set your mind straight about what you deliver, but will give you ammunition for the next step.

2. Prepare for 'The Talk'.

If you start closing your laptop at 5 PM and leave, someone is going to notice. Maybe it's a peer or your boss. Initially, they might not say anything, but soon, they will. If it's a peer, tell them to mind their own business. Or just smile and say 'See you tomorrow!'.

If it's your boss and they call you in to talk about this, do what I did many years ago:

Boss: "Rich, I'm a little concerned about your work habits here at the office." Me: "Wow, Tom, what am I doing?" Boss: "You're booking out on work. Early." Me: "Booking out? When I started here, you said 5 PM was quitting time. So I'm doing what you said." Boss: "I know what I said — but there's work to be done." Me: "Is there anything I'm late on?" Boss: "No." Me: "Do I not stick around if there's an emergency? Don't I ask for more work?" Boss: "You do." Me: "Have I ever missed a deadline? Did I drop the ball on any project?" Boss: "No." Me: "So why is it important I stay hours later every day?" Boss: "I don't know. But we all do it."

So I said: "Tom, let me put it this way — if I am not doing my job, or dropping the ball, or letting the team down, let me know. And I'll immediately ensure that I'm around here after hours to rectify that problem. But if there is no real problem, no issue, no drop in production, I'd like to continue to leave at 5 PM. Is that okay?"

My boss then said (and I quote): "I understand Rich. Can you teach me how you get all of your work done and leave by 5 PM?"

Catch Part Two of this series HERE.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Do you find yourself working later and later and later? Let’s talk. I’ve coached thousands of executives who need to change this dynamic — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

4 Tips To Say "NO" and Make It Stick.

Telling someone 'No' is one of the hardest actions (even for an accomplished leader). Here are some strategies to help you make it easier:

1. Is it right for the company?

This was always my first hurdle with any major (or minor) decision with my colleagues or clients. Many suggestions or requests usually have a focus — do they ultimately benefit your company or just the person requesting the decision?  You'll find if you look through that lens, the balance is skewed more towards personal advancement and less towards the company as a whole. One way to send them away is to have them skew the balance much more in favor to the company.

2. Is it right at this time?

You're not saying 'Never', you're just saying 'Not now'. As a leader, things come at you fast and furious.Many people, many decisions — some requests are good, some are not so good. Your people are energized and built to deliver instantaneous decisions to problems they see in their universe. Their solutions might take on additional cost, resources, and people. Sometimes you just have to say 'Not now'. By putting it off for future consideration, it allows the problem to sometimes fix itself or go away and allows you to teach an important lesson to your colleague — not everything needs fixing immediately.

3. Acknowledge their request.

Sometimes, people just want acknoledgement. They want to feel listened to and special. So give them the stage. You can ask questions and have them walk you through their thinking — understand what is involved, and the who, where, when, and how. As they broaden your understanding of the strategy, it makes it easier for you to either accept it (because it's a good idea) or pick it apart (because it's a bad one).

4. Don't take on too much responsibility.

You do not want another monkey on your back (check out this great HBR article I recommend to all of my clients). Many times, when colleagues are asking you to say 'Yes', it usually entails some added responsibility on your end. Some deliverable, some oversight, some action which adds to your workload. When this happens, try to turn it around and never let the monkey get on your back in the first place. Most of the time, when you don't accept any responsibility for the decision, the idea goes away of it's own accord.

Or sometimes you just have to come out and say NO.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Do you have a hard time saying NO? Let’s talk. I’ve coached thousands of executives who need to change the dynamic — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.

The Power of Connecting With People.

I finally had breakfast with my new and good friend, Eric Rochow. Eric hosts one of the biggest Podcasts on iTunes, call GardenFork. I invited him a number of weeks ago to breakfast. Now the funny thing is, I don't know Eric. And Eric didn't know me.

When I first started to listen to Eric, I found out he lives in Brooklyn, NY during the week and then makes his way to his farmhouse in Colebrook, CT. I could easily identify with him because I have a rural country house in Oxford, CT.

One day, I ran a quick Google Map to find out the best route for Eric to drive from Brooklyn to Colebrook. And guess what? It went right by where I live, on the Connecticut interstate highway named I-84.

So I reached out to Eric by writing him a email, told him how much I appreciate his podcast, and offered to buy him breakfast on one of his sojourns up to his country home. It took a little while, but he responded back via Twitter — he not only accepted my offer, but was impressed with my site and what I do!

In addition, he invited me onto his show to talk about careers, business, time management, gardens, and generators. Click here.

So we finally had breakfast at the incredible Laurel Diner, located in Southbury, CT. We really enjoyed the conversation, the food, and to top it all off . . . Eric interviewed me again! Click here.

So the moral of this story is . . . if you want to meet someone — reach out and make it happen!

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P.S. Having a hard time meeting important people? Let’s talk. I’ve coached thousands to step up their presentation game — call or email me to schedule a free session.

When Your Company Throws You A Left Hook To The Chin.

Yesterday, I heard through the grapevine (and the NY Times) a top-tier insurance company will be jettisoning one of their major divisions. Boy was my phone ringing up a storm yesterday! It's like IBM selling off their laptop division (oh . . . that's right . . . they did that already). Or when a #2 bookseller folds (whoops, that happened too). Whether it's a good decision or bad decision is not relevant — fasten your seat belts — it's happening.

There are a few immutable facts about the marketplace today:

1. Change is constant. Don't ever think you will be safe forever. Just ask all those poor people on the farm in The Walking Dead.
2. Change will usually upset your apple cart. No one is immune - from the CEO to the night cleaning staff, everyone can be affected.
3. Change is accelerating. Years ago, it was rare when companies did this. But with global competition looking over our shoulder, we need to be more flexible, nimble, and agile.

Your first instinct is to get ANGRY: "How could this have happened?" or "What a stupid decision!". Be honest with yourself, most changes can be telegraphed for miles — you probably saw this coming months ago. Unfortunately, you (with thousands of your colleagues) said: "All is well" and stuck your head in the sand.

Your second instinct is to hide in your cubicle: "If I just keep my head down, the storm will pass over." That might work sometimes, but it leaves you in a very vulnerable position. If you keep doing the same old thing while the world changes around you, fate will ultimately stop at your cubicle and tap you on your shoulder.

Your third instinct is to fall into a deep MALAISE: "I hate this place." or "It's not like it used to be." or "They're making all the wrong decisions." I'll ask one question — how will that ever help you and your career? Stop it right now.

You have ONE decision to make — STAY or GO. I've covered the 'GO' to death on my site (just search 'career').

If you STAY, you need to change the dynamic. With any major change at a company, all the balls are thrown into the air and the smart, resourceful, and agile people are watching them intently. When they get close enough to catch, you'll see them sprinting and grabbing their opportunity. So here's your plan of attack:

1. Keep your peripherals open. What areas have been unaffected? What areas are growing? Who's getting the watering, the feeding the TLC?
2. Branch out and talk constructively to people. Learn about what's going on, who are the new movers and shakers, what are the best projects and products?
3. Start brainstorming how you can help change the company. Come up with new ideas, new strategies, new efficiencies to do things. Tell people about them.
4. Stay positive. When everyone else is jumping to a lifeboat, start to figure out how to right the ship and sail off into the sunset.

Remember, today we ALL need to become more agile, nimble and flexible. It's like YOGA for your career.

POST YOUR QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS BELOW

P.S. Has this ever happened to you? Let’s talk. I’ve coached thousands of executives who need to change the dynamic — call or email me to schedule a complimentary session.