Tag Archives: transformation

What do you do if your Leaders are Crooked?

Posted in Contribution, Practicing Self Mastery by

mocha momentsWhen I was in the print industry there were some advertising agencies that I could never get work from. Rumors were that the purchasers were taking bribes and the company I worked for was not prepared to do business that way. I never had any proof of same but occasionally such a person would vacate the position and wonders of all wonders – we’d start to get requests for quotes and work again from their replacement.

That was in the early ’90s. Fast forward to today.

A casual conversation with a colleague at DocuCentre about “how’s business?” revealed that he is no longer getting contracts from Government owned businesses because the people in charge are giving the contracts to their friends.

Then there is my client who supplies the construction and oil and gas industries citing numerous cases of unethical business practices. In one instance the purchasing person would only process a particular supplier’s order only when he provided a “reasonable incentive”.

As David Rudder once said to Ellis Chow Lin On – “You have me by the bullocks” I find bullock-holding quite uncomfortable myself. Thanks to the leadership I’ve had in my life – starting with my parents, eldest brother Derek (who always encouraged me to stand for my rights), my friend Freito who always advised keeping everyone at “F-you distance!” (and who was adamant about never bribing custom’s officers to process goods for his company faster) and subsequent bosses in various jobs I’m happy that I learned the right way to do business: honestly, ethically, completely above board and transparent.

Jim Dornan, the leader of Network 21 says “in any country where the government is crooked and the leaders are crooked and selfish, being able to circumvent authority and working the system are seen as virtues.”

Which brings me to the leadership in my country. Last night, at a small class reunion, my friends of various backgrounds – health, the arts, teaching, banking and geoscience all expressed dissatisfaction with the way we were being led as a nation. The on-going lies we are being fed as adults, the double standards, the hypocrisy, the issues not being addressed, the word games and semantics between the number of homicides versus murders and on and on.

A somber mood took over as each person felt ill-equipped to actually DO anything to change the direction of events. Sure we could vote ‘THEM’ out but what guarantees do we have that those that we “VOTE IN” will be any different?

I volunteered that we first accept where we were – awareness – and then move on from there. The conversation changed gears to the very loud background music but the thought stayed with me – what CAN we do to change the course of events?

I believe it is our responsibility to become better leaders, all of us, regardless of the example shown by our present leaders – whether it’s those leading the country or those leading companies. Let us in turn add value to all those who interact with us, sharing our principles and values and what we know to be right. In this way we will all become change agents in this ever evolving twin island Republic and contribute to the future success of our nation and ourselves.

You can choose to become a better leader right where you are – RIGHT NOW!

share

Can You See the Whole Sky?

Posted in Practicing Self Mastery by

We think too small – like the frog at the bottom of the well. He thinks the sky is only as big as the top of the well. If he surfaced, he would have an entirely different view. – Mao Tse-Tung

Stretch.

Stimulate your mind.

Associate with people who have new ideas – new approaches.

GROW – in your life, in your business and where you work.

Within every client business I find one or a group of resisters, sometimes negative thinkers.

Resisters I welcome because I know that they’re just afraid. Who likes change? We are more comfortable with mediocrity than with making a change that will help us to achieve our God given potential. But over time, their skepticism transforms as they see that what I want for them is to be their best selves. They see the stark difference between living authentically (walking to the beat of their own drum) and living fearfully – engaged in behaviors that ensure that they fit in with every one else and go along with the status quo. They eventually choose authenticity because that’s where they get the most rewards.

Negative thinkers are a different lot. They’ve made a sport out of negative thinking.

Image from members.virtualtourist.com

They rope you into a game where you think you are trying to convince them as to why what you’re sharing is going to help them in the long run. For every possibility you put forward, they counter with some other negative aspect of the situation that you didn’t think about. An exercise in futility.

It makes me sad. But as I learned from Dale Carnegie very early in the game of life “A man convinced again his will is of the same opinion still.” I know that no argument of mine will change their view. It has to come from within. But what a limited view they have of their world. They choose to reside at the bottom of the well and only see a portion of the sky when they can climb out of their pit of negativity and experience a totally different view!

Losses do not make you a loser but how you handle them might…

Posted in Developing the Possibilities Mindset, Practicing Self Mastery by

I was reading a blog post recently by Jennifer Boykin called Broken Open to Greatness: Transforming Tragedy into Triumph, which got me thinking about business loss.

“Last March,” she said, “my daughter Grace should have been twenty. She should have been a sophomore in college. She should have come home for the weekend. There should have been a party and mani-pedis and some lame-ass boy or two hanging around waiting for us to get home so he could drool all over her. But there wasn’t because Grace died shortly after her premature birth. And instead of a lifetime of little girl memories, I had 32 minutes to be her mother.

People say they can’t imagine what it’s like to be the mother of a dead child, but I think they can. They can picture the whole thing. They just don’t want to. But here’s the thing, Sweet Cheeks – sorrow, loss, illness, betrayal, economic hardship, divorce, loss of faith – these circumstances are just part of EVERYONE’S human condition. If you live long enough, you WILL have to face these and other losses.”

In business we love to talk about loss although we may not describe it in those terms. Business is slow. Things aren’t as great as they used to be. Customers aren’t spending nearly as much as they did two years ago. The entire economy is at a standstill. No one is building. No one is investing.

All of these statements have one theme running through them – scarcity – whatever it is – it’s no longer enough to meet our requirements. We are in effect, experiencing loss.

So what has Jenny’s experience of the death of her child, have to do with business? Well like she said we are all going to encounter losses but when you do, here’s the first challenge you are likely to meet – a lack of training and preparation for the loss event.  In our culture, we don’t teach people how to work through loss and suffering. We teach how to acquire things; achieve things, and make things happen. “It’s a woefully poor strategy for living” says Jenny  “because when we come face to face with the shadow side of ALL GAIN – which is LOSS – we are tragically unprepared.”

In a Harvard Business Review Issue on the management of failure, Maurice Ewing was reminded about important business lessons he learned from others losing and failing including his own brother who ran a successful furniture and design store, lost it all to fire and rebuilt an even stronger business. He said “bankruptcy and all the drama that comes with them, is nothing unusual to those of us in business. Indeed, we count the times when our bank accounts dwindled down to a few pennies just as dear as the moments when we experienced some success.”

If you are out there trying to cope with your first major loss or business failure, then here are five ideas to consider, that I took from Mark’s own experience, that I thought would be useful to share with you, so that as Jenny said, you will be more prepared for ANY business loss that is sure to come your way (if it hasn’t done so already!)

  1. Making losses is part of making money. If you are not prepared to lose money, then you should stay out of business. Business is about making a return which means potentially risking a loss on every deal, every transaction and every service you undertake. Just keep in mind that sparring with these risks (and their potential for success) is what makes it all worth doing.
  2. Just lose money — not perspective. Nothing is more sobering than losing all that you have worked hard to obtain. It makes everything clear, lightens the load, highlights your fragility and keeps you real. Take advantage of these moments of sobriety and avoid the tendency to become dormant and depressed. I have never heard of someone dying from losing his or her business — only from losing his or her perspective.
  3. Never love the business — love doing business. If you become attached to the business or to the money it initially brings then you will not be thinking clearly when it comes time to move on. Rather than irrevocably committing yourself to something (or to some lifestyle) that may one day turn sour beyond your control, commit yourself instead to a lifetime of doing business to the highest standard you can muster. That will create a perspective that will often help you see today’s failures as necessary stepping stones to tomorrow’s successes.
  4. Stuff happens. Maybe someone messed up, maybe not. Until further investigation or until evidence of a trend becomes obvious, understand that even when everything is ‘done right’, something could go terribly wrong — often externally. After all, business is always a two-sided affair between you and your customers: today they may love you and tomorrow they may hate you. Just do everything you can to bring back the love.
  5. Loss does bring some advantages. Introspection about losses can lead to greater bonding between you and your team — a distinctly advantageous effect. Losses can also engender you with the ability to cut through all of those unproductive, pet projects and initiatives that do not serve to maintain and improve performance and competitiveness.

To keep things in perspective remember that your loss and loss experience will not last forever. Your business might die but once you take one hundred percent responsibility for dealing with ANY loss, you will survive. I know some of you will want to argue with me on this, but you must.  How you respond to your business’s troubles is what will shape your leadership and give you the energy to do what has to be done to make the necessary changes and grow forward.

Why Do Change Initiatives Flop Far More Often Than They Fly?

Posted in Uncategorized by

Published in the Business Newsday May 24th 2012

As the business owner or leader of your team what is your most important job and focus? I want you to think about this question carefully because in it is the answer as to why the changes you want to see aren’t sticking. Sure any change that is driven by a bull pistle on its behind will happen but it will also have to be a change process that will involve you expending an enormous amount of energy telling, controlling and directing people every day. This is not something that you can sustain over a long period of time. And chances are you’ve resorted to statements such as “I am not here to parent people. Why can’t people do what they’re told? I’ve told them to do this countless times – I’m not telling them about this again!” Yet you do – the very next morning!  Because while you are fed up it’s your ultimate responsibility and you need your people to act in a certain way and your only method so far is to tell them. So have you concluded that your main focus is to just keeping telling and telling your people what to do until that magnificent day when they finally “get it”?

Ask any owner, team leader or entrepreneur what she wants for her business and she’ll talk about financial success, competitive products and services, a fabulous team culture and all that good stuff. Compare that to asking a new parent what she wants for her child and she’ll say “I want him to be healthy.” And I do remember my best friend giving me this exact response when I asked her if she wanted a girl or a boy. She went for healthy baby.

Ok. I’ve kept you in suspense long enough! Your job as the leader of your organization or team is to take 100% responsibility for keeping your company healthy so think back to my example in the first paragraph and ask yourself “is this approach a healthy one?”

Going back to the parent analogy – the real job of parents is to give their children the environment and the tools they need in which to thrive and to prepare them for the world which is full of uncertainty, paved with unrelenting disappointment and untold of joy and everything else in between!

In his new book ‘The Advantage: Why Organizational Health Trumps Everything Else in Business’ author Patrick Lencioni says “Ultimately, parents can neither predict nor control how their kids turn out, but they can give them a life free of unnecessary dysfunction and stress – and clarity about boundaries. Similarly, the head of an organization has to make it healthy. The key is to create an environment where people can thrive, without unnecessary dysfunction, confusion and politics. This requires a cohesive team at the top, clarity, communication, and reinforcement through human systems. By doing this, owners can provide their people with the opportunity to succeed in ways that even they couldn’t have anticipated.”

Change initiatives flop usually because

  1. There is no clarity:
  • What are the challenges that we face?
  • Are these the REAL challenges or are other things contributing that we cannot see or have not addressed?
  • What specifically needs to change?
  • Are we being honest about the changes we say we want or are we saying one thing and acting in ways that are totally contradictory?
  • Can we agree that these are the changes to be made and that this strategy is the best one for us and one we can uphold with integrity?

If you are not clear or your leadership team is not clear how in God’s name do you expect your staff to be clear?

  1. There is no belief

It’s one thing to be clear but do you believe in the change goals that you’ve set for yourself and your team? If you don’t believe then the first person to sell on the change initiative is yourself. Your employees will smell your lack of conviction a mile away and respond to THAT more than anything you TELL them. And even if you believe it can happen, you must believe that it will because your present employees can carry it through. If you don’t believe that your employees are capable then whose fault is that? If you didn’t hire them or spoke up regarding your concern about your company’s hiring policy you might have a different situation on your hands.

If you do not understand your company’s culture any change initiative will false-start.

“Where is the culture of your business? Is it in the building, the equipment, the intellectual property, in your products and services?” Of course not! It’s in your people. But where in the people is the culture? Your answer needs to be “in their hearts and heads.” Culture is the sum total of the emotions, experiences, beliefs and expectations of everyone involved in the organization. This is the collective mind. Until you figure out how to change this – NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.

Of course you can change your culture in a day by firing 100 percent of your people!

  1. There is no consistent and compelling rationale for change

In ‘The Seven Arts of Change’ David Shaner says “The need to change is usually met with resistance. Most people value predictability, even if it’s predictable mediocrity. If the leader of change cannot offer a consistent and compelling rationale for change, he will fail to win the collective mind of the organization and change will not happen.”

This compelling reason to change must not only be due to the urgent business crisis or because you are the boss and you think that it’s best. It must also include a commitment to support and enable each individual to grow and develop personally.

So for all of us who keep thinking that our parenting skills are only for home – think again! If the workplace is not a vehicle for desirable personal growth and development then forget about pursuing any change initiatives.

Only when people can trust you, when they understand their roles and can participate meaningfully in the direction of the business, when they can participate in the rewards that accompany superior achievement – then and only then will you have an organization that will undergo transformation with people who know why they are giving you 120%!

A Change in Business Starts with a Change of Heart – YOURS!

Posted in Practicing Self Mastery by

Published in the Business Newsday Thursday May 17th 2012

“You see what I have to deal with?” one business owner said to me recently, frustrated with an employee who was struggling with what he figured was a simple arithmetic problem. I empathised, shook my head and returned to the crux of our discussion.

Lately I find I am seeing more of what’s wrong than witnessing what’s going good in businesses. I’ve transformed from a “good” finder, that Zig Ziglar asks all of us to be and have become a “problem discoverer” kind of like the dog whisperer but not as sexy or charming!

Of course if I didn’t see challenges faced by businesses I’d be out of work…there’d be no need to consult with or seek my coaching guidance.

What I’m talking about though is not just identifying the need but constantly seeing the flaws and the faults as if playing some kind of game where the person who spots the most deficiencies wins.

Does this kind of approach work though? Just as bestselling author Mike Litman has said many times over in his audio presentation “Greatness Held Hostage” let me end this short paragraph with his phrase “who does it help and who does it serve?”

The answer to both questions is of course “no one.” Now that we’ve accurately identified all that’s wrong: what now – what next? Do we resign and say “you see what I have to put up with?” without figuring out how we can rectify the situation?

A friend of mine called recently to share with me a telephone conversation she had with one of these sky box companies. She was asking the customer service representative if by chance they were going to be opened on the Saturday before Mother’s Day (asking this only because she remembered them doing so in the past.) The customer service representative told her “no” and when she said that she knows for a fact that they had opened before in a similar case on a Saturday, the representative raised her voice and again said only one word “NO!” But this time with the voice of “how dare you question me, I’ve already said no!” My friend was in disbelief and then I asked what she thought was an important question: “how did someone with such a poor attitude get to be answering the phones on behalf of this company in the first place?”

This young lady may have been trained but how long ago? When last was she provided with any feedback on how she was doing on her job? Was she the right hire in the first place or was she just a square peg in a round hole feeling the pain on a daily basis of having to do a job she hates? Did she know what the company’s goals were, or understand the owner’s vision?

In order for any business to make changes you have to be prepared to look at things as they are but not worse than they are.  Quit engaging in constantly over-dramatizing your situation with stories of exasperation and frustration. This route will only ensure that you remain sans solution and doubtful that change is possible.

Check your heart. Not medically (although regular checkups are recommended) but check within to see how you truly feel about your business. Is your heart in it or have you lost all the fire and passion that got you started in the first place? If you find yourself just going through the motions, detached and uninvolved then STOP!

Take a mental health day. Away from the office of course! And nothing is going to happen. If things are already bad, they can get worse and they WILL if you keep doing business the way you are right now, disconnected and robotic. So take the time out for you and for the sake of saving your business.

Get back to basics. Decide what is important to you now. Don’t go down nostalgia lane, reminiscing about how good things were. The times have changed, your customers have changed, their problems have changed and you have changed. All these changes call for a completely different approach.

What does your business need to look and feel like NOW to solve your customer’s present day problems? Be very clear about your intentions. Now ask yourself “Do I truly believe that this is possible? That I am capable of seeing the changes through to the end where I am satisfied and my business is earning a profit again?” If you don’t fully believe it, keep selling yourself on your new ideas. If you are not sold then how are you going to lead the others in your business towards your new vision? They are going to hear your words but more importantly they are going to feel your conviction and if that is lukewarm there’ll be no buy in.

Get clear about you values and write out in long hand your new strategic direction. There’s something about putting pen to paper that makes a connection with your heart. This way not just your head will be involved but your heart will understand what you wish to accomplish as well.

Now you’re ready to get back in the game.

And please remember that if you continue fault and flaw finding, you will continue to make poor choices or worse – no choices and then you will not be the only one suffering. Your brand and your customers will be the victims of your poor choices as well so consider a change of heart. It may be exactly what you need right now to transform your business profitably.

Want change? Get support!

Posted in Developing the Possibilities Mindset, Practicing Self Mastery by


You’ve made the decision that you not only should change – you MUST!

You know it’s in your best interest to make the adjustment or in some cases a complete transformation.

Logically – it all makes sense and so you set out on your change journey only to find yourself back at square one just a couple days into the change process.

What happened?

Most of us rely on will power to effect change. Dr. Robert Anthony says that will power is an illusion. What we call will power is really conscious awareness. What happens when we decide to change is that we are consciously aware and so begin to effect change immediately. After a couple of days we might relax and slip right back into unconscious behavior.

The other thing that happens is that we have a false expectation of how longs it’s going to take to change. We want change to take effect the minute we think it but of course this isn’t so.

And finally there’s so much information about the effects of the change and the benefits but no instruction as to how to change and what to expect.

I met a guy recently on my short flight between Trinidad and Tobago and we got to talking about books and leadership. He told me that one time someone told him that he needed to read more. But the instruction didn’t stop there. This person then suggested that he go to the bookstore and actually buy a book followed by the suggestion that he tear out the first three pages of the book and read those three pages that day. He was to repeat the ‘rip three to read’ process daily until he finished the book.

Now I suspect that the three pages ripped out of the book was a small goal compared to holding the entire 270 odd pages or however many pages his first book contained and feeling overwhelmed by the thought that you had to read the entire thing.

So there was method in what might have first appeared to be a weird suggestion in supporting the change process.

My friend and colleague Dr. Marcia Reynolds says ‘change is a process that needs support.’

Don’t just depend on your will power or what we now know as conscious awareness. You are not made up to be consciously aware 24/7 ; you will relax and when you do your old habitual ways of doing whatever will surface. Talk to persons who’ve done what you want to do and hear about their methods. Test to see if it is a good fit. Also let a friend know that you’re trying to change so that they can encourage you and support you in the process. And finally be patient and loving and KIND! For whatever small changes you do make congratulate yourself and be encouraged. Change may not come overnight but once you persist you will eventually make the necessary changes that you need to in your life.

‘The Road to Change’ image from http://www.ebibleteacher.com

Let’s all Dare to be Awesome!

Posted in Developing the Possibilities Mindset, Practicing Self Mastery by

I came across Niels today because he started to follow me on Twitter and I wanted to see who he was and what he was about. I am so glad I took the time to visit his blog!

Having just delivered a presentation at YWEEP’S Symposium called “Harnessing the Power of Possibility to Transform your Life”, Niels conversation is spot on with regard to what happens when we talk to others about what we’re going to do, and how most folks enjoy being a part of a ‘crowd’ as opposed to trying to be themselves and standing out.

This Dutch man’s style is simple and easy to understand.

I join him in saying – Let’s all dare to be awesome!

Read his entire post here…Who dares to be awesome?.

Make your ‘Mess’ your Marketing Message

Posted in Developing the Possibilities Mindset by

Born in the mid sixties I grew up hearing about soul “The brother’s got soul!” “Be careful not to sell your soul” “Have you saved your soul?” and in the early seventies we welcomed the ‘Soul Train’. When we say people have “soul” I guess we think that somehow their lives have a deeper meaning. They’ve loved and suffered but most of all – they live authentic lives. There are others who seem to have lost their soul altogether. Sure they have material possessions but they seem to go through the motions without meaning. Still many are searching, some never finding, how to be true to their own souls.

In an article titled “Why Your Heart Will Make You a Whole Lot More Money than Your Head” Direct Marketing genius Drayton Bird observes “Many marketers assume that business decisions are made on rational grounds and that emotion doesn’t come into it. This is nonsense. And to prove it, I used to ask marketers at my presentations if they could think of anyone they worked with that they hated. It never failed to raise a laugh of recognition.”

We seem to think that by merely telling our customers that we’re passionate – that passion would be communicated. Drayton cites a couple examples: “Across the road from my offices, a building firm has a slogan that says they’re passionate about building. Pret-a-Manger -a U.K. firm that was launched recently in the U.S. -says they are passionate about food.  A firm called Churchill-in the same business as GEICO – says they are passionate about insurance.  I have lost count of the number of people on Facebook who say they are passionate about whatever it is they do.” However if we’re merely paying lip service to passion then our customers are sure not to “feel” it.

Marketing is really about telling great stories – preferably truthful ones – preferably YOURS. What’s YOUR story? Think about when your world is falling apart – what are your experiences? Think about how you’ve dealt with certain challenges in your own life? How did you solve a particular problem and saved yourself from many sleepless nights? What have you overcome as a (fill in the blank)? What was your defining moment in (fill in the blank)? What did you do wrong and wish you had known better the first time around? These are just a few ways to get to your story. Chances are the very same thing is happening to others? Why not share your story? What if you could show them how you solved the problem? As action expert Suzanne Evans says “What if your ‘Mess’ becomes your message?”

If you can tell a great story, people will read, listen and watch you. When people are moved they will buy your stuff. When people are moved they will return to your place of business over and over again. They will be curious to know what you are up to. They will happily tell their friends about their experience. When you’re living your true passion you NEVER run out of things to talk about and to share. Your business need to be the bridge between pain and possibility.

When your head is full but your heart feels empty you are probably not passionate about what you are doing. If you cannot, regardless of the medium you to choose to communicate through, come up with at least one hundred topics that you could talk about then you’ve failed the passion test.

In order to make any headway you first have to say ‘yes’ to yourself. Who are you stifling and constraining trying to fit into a mould someone else provided for you? When you say yes to yourself you become more fully alive and more effective in the world. Take the journey to discovering the treasure of your true self and then return to the marketplace to transform your kingdom and in the process transform your own life. This quest is not easy but it offers great rewards. It offers you the capacity to be truly successful in the world and provides you with an opportunity to express your unique gifts and to provide guidance to those who use your stories as a light in their own lives.

One of the biggest reasons businesses fail is they don’t have a founding principle that arouses passion and enthusiasm in a large group of potential followers. In a beautiful movie created by Suzanne Evans called the “Movement Marketing Movie”, she asks a couple questions which I want you to take a moment to honestly answer here:

  1. What if you stopped struggling and started serving?
  2. What if you stopped hype-ing and started helping?
  3. What if you stopped marketing and started a movement?

Remember that when you place making a dollar above making a difference – your soul dies! Mr. Bird puts it like this “If you want better results when selling to businesses, search your heart first, and then use your head to explain why the emotional argument makes sense.” A dash of passion does make a difference. A little mess makes a great message!

If you want a copy of the FREE report – “7 Steps to Up your Game and Get Your Phone Ringing” click here…

Head photo from http://www.allsorts.biz
Heart photo from http://www.cardiophile.com

Don’t get in your own way

Posted in Uncategorized by

I am always amazed how things flow when I am not getting in my own way.

Reminds me of God’s response after Job’s rant questioning Job about  his capabilities and who was really behind all creation.

The truth is none of us can create the seasons, snow, thunder, lightning, day, night, light…

What is interesting is God also asked Job at the same time – “Who gave you instinct and intuition?”

This is where we get our creative instructions, the recipe to guide us towards making things better.

I am grateful today because I did not get in my own way, and things flowed perfectly in spite of the my day kick starting with an earthquake, rain and later on lightning and loud clapping thunder. I shared and received, inspired and  left the Board of Habit For Humanity Trinidad and Tobago with a few possibility seeds.

Remember we are NOT in control and if we can just get in the flow (and not use ourselves to block it) we will create a truly wonderful world.