Why get better? What are the compelling reasons to improve yourself, your life or your business? In this audio blog, I share my perspective on why we should choose to keep improving.

Radical innovation is hard but continual improvement is relatively easy as demonstrated by this story about an short order chef who knew how to add value to  his work.

Friday afternoon, end of the week: what will you do to “wrap up” successfully? You could squeeze in one more call or meeting, but maybe you’d be better served to reflect on the week. What did you learn? Who did you connect with? What was a waste of time? What returned dividends? If you don’t make time to reflect, you miss out on learning.

Someone once said if you never slow down, nothing good will be able to catch up to you. That is true of insight. For as much value as leaders place on speed, there are times when leaders are better served to slow down.

As  you start into the weekend, do you have clear intentions about how to spend your free time? Will you rest, enjoy liesure and renew on purpose or slog through the weekend only to arrive at Monday unchanged?

Why not use the same skills to get the most out of your workweek to get the most out of your weekend?

Manifesto (def): A public declaration of policy and aims.

What follows are my views about and commitment to work based on 30+ years of being employed and being an employer. These are philosophies I subscribe to and that I desire in those I work with and encounter in the marketplace. MHS

I work because I need to and because I want to. There is satisfaction in work well done. Good work produces value and isn’t just a means to an end but an opportunity to be a productive, contributing member of society. Work helps give life purpose and structure.

I don’t like everything about the work I do but understand that is the nature of work. Work often requires that we do what needs to be done as well as what we like to do. Doing great work is a choice I make; to do less cheats not just my employer and customer but myself.

Impediments to work are temporary. If my place of employment blocks my ability to be productive in an honest and ethical way, I will not sell my soul to continue working there. If my boss doesn’t understand the concept of a healthy work environment I will actively look for a different boss or organization that does. My current situation may not allow me to switch jobs or employers immediately but I refuse to resign myself to a work life of misery. I will endure for the short term with the goal of prospering in the long term.

How I do my work makes life a heaven or hell for others. How I treat colleagues and customers makes their lives better or worse. Neutrality is a myth as any attempt to disengage will appear to others as indifference, and that indifference is an insult to others.

I will not actively or passively inflict pain. While the bad behavior of others might make it tempting to do so, I will choose to play by a higher standard. I will do what I can to make working with me enjoyable.

I do not control how others act, but I completely control how I act. When others act inappropriately to me, I will respond professionally but will not accept and thereby condone the inappropriate behavior. I will politely but directly address the inappropriateness.

I understand that others come to me for solutions to problems and that is what I am paid for. Therefore problems, as difficult as they can be, are not an impediment to my work but often they are my work itself.

I will take responsibility rather than place blame. If I can’t fix it I will either live with it or leave it. There are no other rational options.  I understand there is no perfect workplace, but refuse to make where I work worse by my own apathy or lethargy. I won’t let the poor attitudes and behaviors determine my own choices. I know that I often succeed at work not because of but in spite of undesirable circumstances.

In a time when not all who truly desire work have that opportunity, I am grateful for the work I have.

Note to readers: If you were to summarize your views on work, what would your personal manifesto say? What would you add to what I’ve written? What would you change?

Yesterday I met with my friend Andy who works for the firm that manages our finances. We meet regularly for updates and adjustments to strategy. One of the reason I look forward to these meetings is that Andy always has a very distinctive and interesting point of view. He is well informed but, more importantly, he has thought carefully about the information (which is available to all) to come up with conclusions that are specific to him.

The best leaders in any profession have a distinctive point of view. That doesn’t necessarily mean you agree with them, but it does mean that you know exactly what they think and why.

Not all points of view are created equally. They range from far-fetched and nutty to sound and wise. The best points of view are always based on two things: good information and good analysis.

That means a leader is limited by the information they receive and review and the analysis they apply.

Many simply aren’t willing to do the hard work to seek out the best information and/or make time for a penetrating analysis.

There are always many things on a leader’s “to do” list but his or her strategic necessities agenda should be relatively short, and developing a distinctive point of view should be on it.

What great leaders can you think of that had or have a distinctive point of view? And what did you learn from their perspective?

For more information and resources about developing and improving leadership in your organization, click here.

“Ultimately motivation is an inside job, but there are many things we as leaders can do to help others become motivated.”

That’s Mark Sanborn’s take on motivation. He acknowledges that it is up to the individual to choose to be motivated but unlike some, he doesn’t think managers, leaders, parents and others are without influence when it comes to motivating others.

“In 24 years of professional speaking, I’ve never called myself a motivational speaker,” Sanborn explains. “Often my clients call me a motivational speaker because that is the single most used description of a keynote professional speaker like myself. Speaking 70 times each year to sales meetings, association and corporate events, well–many consider that motivational speaking.”

“My goal is to educate, first and foremost. I give audiences actionable ideas they can use to improve their businesses and lives. But here’s the key to increasing motivation: it isn’t enough for people to know what to to do and how to do it if they don’t have compelling reason why they should do it. The reasons why are the source of motivation.”

“One of the hardest jobs of leadership is getting to know employees and understand what motivates each individual. Generic lists aren’t very helpful when it comes to motivating specific people.”

“In customer service, service reps need to understand as much as they can about the needs and desires–the motivation–of those they’re assisting. Knowing what is important to each customer is key to empathizing with and serving them well.”

“Of course the implications for sales professionals are critically important. You can’t match features and benefits until you’ve uncovered buying motives.”

Sanborn’s work with over 2400 clients has given him a broad and often unorthodox perspective about what it takes to master motivation.

Mark is the president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea lab for leadership development.  Leadershipgurus.net lists Mark as one of the top 30 leadership experts in the world.

In addition to his experience leading at a local and national level, he has written or co-authored 8 books  and is the author of more than two dozen videos and audio training programs on leadership, change, teamwork and customer service. His book, You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader was a Wall Street Journal bestseller. In it, Mark explains how to create an army of lions where every employee knows two things: first, when is it appropriate to lead and second, how to do it.

He is a member of the Speaker Hall of Fame (CPAE). Mark’s YouTube channel features videos recorded both live (in his keynote leadership presentations) and in studio that teach how to lead, or lead better. He also writes a leadership blog.

Mark’s book, The Fred Factor: How Passion in Your Work and Life Can Turn the Ordinary Into the Extraordinary is an international bestseller and was on the New York Times, Business Week and Wall Street Journal bestseller lists. His latest books include You Don’t Need a Title to be a Leader: How Anyone, Anywhere Can Make a Positive Difference and The Encore Effect: How to Achieve Remarkable Performance in Anything You Do. His newest book, Up, Down or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad or In Between was released in October 2011.

Mark is a past president of the National Speakers Association and winner of The Cavett, the highest honor bestowed by that organization. In 2007 Mark was awarded The Ambassador of Free Enterprise Award by Sales & Marketing Executives International. 

If you’re interested in taking your leadership to the next level, click here for a list of free resources.

Find more information about motivation, motivating others, leadership, customer service and remarkable performance at these websites:

www.youdontneedatitle.com

www.theencoreeffect.com

www.marksanborn.com/uds

If you have children over the age of, oh, a few months, you’ve no doubt experienced what it’s like to see good advice go unheeded. This happens particularly often as children grow into that stage when they know far more than their parents, which usually coincides with the teen years.

Unfortunately, this affliction isn’t confined to teenagers. We all experience those times when we fail to take good advice — even at times when we know we should. Welcome to the human species, where pride goes before the fall and stubbornness is the bricks in the road to tribulation.

When I was researching and writing Up, Down, or Sideways, I realized that many of the things we should do regardless of circumstances are pretty basic and rooted in common sense. Yet, we don’t do them consistently.

Why?

The answer lies in understanding the seven basic stages that most of us go through when it comes to wisdom. Most of these stages represent barriers to living out that wisdom. They are …

1. We don’t know (e.g., we’re ignorant).
2. We know but don’t believe (e.g., we don’t think a particular truth applies to us or our situation).
3. We know and believe but still don’t do it (e.g., we lack conviction because it’s difficult, inconvenient, or unnecessary).
4. We know and believe but we can’t do it (e.g., we lack the skills to do it).
5. We know and do inconsistently (e.g., we get lazy or forgetful or distracted).
6. We know and do consistently (e.g., we’ve formed a good habit that we consciously cultivate).
7. We know and make it second nature (e.g., it’s become part of who we are).

What are your barriers to applying good advice? Identify them. Bash them. Then make good habits of wisdom that comes your way.

This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or click here to pre-order it from Amazon.com.

Image via Wikipedia

Communicators are always looking for clever ways to explain things. In the age of hyperbole, straightforward explanations are rarely enough. To get noticed ideas need to be clever and catchy.

I know this because communicating in spoken and written word is what I do for a living.

A friend recently sent me a description of a speech entitled, “The New Normal.” I’d seen that phrase before. Heck, I’ve used the phrase before.

My friend thought this title (and he didn’t know the presenter or content of the presentation) would be of great interest to leaders. I agree: we’d all like someone to explain what normal means these days. We want to believe there actually is an identifiable normal.

The problem is that there is no new normal. Normal means standard, regular, or usual. I believe that business–and culture in general–is changing so quickly that we don’t reach a period of stasis that becomes regular or usual in the typical sense of the words. (And leaders grapple with the fact that their organizations do reach stasis and that prevents them from adapting to change.)

Some years ago David Reynolds wrote a book with a title that has always stuck in my mind. It is catchy, but I believe it more accurately explains business and life than “the new normal.” His book was “Playing Ball on Running Water.” This captures the incessant change we face each day. Of course Heraclitus said something similar much earlier when he told us nobody can step in the same river twice.

If I really wanted to torture words, I’d saw abnormal is the new normal. It is a nonsensical, yet I bet you understand what I mean.

This hope that we can identify normal is a subset of magic bullet thinking, the belief that something (or someone) can provide the ultimate answer, cure or solution. Life is much more complex and, in the end, success requires doing the necessary work. There is no magic bullet nor is there a normal that a leader or anyone else can wrap his or her arms around. And, as I write about in Up, Down or Sideways, there are things that we can and should do that will benefit us regardless of what does happen.

If you’re like me, you don’t really like uncertainty. I’d like to know what is going to happen and what to do about it. I’ve made  peace with the need to experiment, track results and use agility to adjust or abandon my approach as need. Agility and speed, as I’ve written before, are tools for dealing with a lack of normalcy.

“The New Normal” is appealing, but in my experience, it is a myth. On a few rare days there might be a “new temporarily normal,” but on most days I have to accept that I’m playing ball, doing business and living my life on running water.

Can you crush an economic curve ball?

There is global instability in the financial markets, the U.S. faces the threat of another recession, unemployment is high and consumer confidence is low.

How are you doing in your business?

Mark Sanborn has insights that will help you keep hitting it out of the park despite the wicked curves balls you’re being thrown.

In just one year, Mark faced a life-threatening shockwave. Simultaneously, his business and investments took a serious hit.

Yet, Mark remains convinced this perfect storm of setbacks was the flashpoint of a lifetime. After decades of great success, he was acutely staged to deploy his ‘mastery of the unpredictable.’

Maybe life has pushed your face in the mud; while others around you were building monuments. Maybe you’ve said, “I’m doing everything right. I don’t deserve this. Why are they successful…and I’m not?”

The answer is elegant in its simplicity.  Your competitors are leveraging ‘the unpredictable.’

Vigilant managers expect unpredictability to pounce behind ever bend.  So, they vigorously apply what Mark found to be the six (often malnourished) principles that always insure victory.

Mark’s epiphany was, “setbacks can actually fuel your survival and prosperity”…in economic conditions that go Up, Down, and Sideways.

That’s why you need this presentation based on his book Up, Down or Sideways: How to Succeed When Times are Good, Bad or In Between. 

Sanborn shows your team how to prepare for unpredictability. He coaches you on how to inspire sane leadership during insane times.

Despite the cheerful claim that “we choose not to participate in the recession,” the reality is that your business and customers are affected by such an economic downturn. Mark can show you how to succeed in spite of such challenging conditions.

Up, Down, or Sideways is bursting with actionable ideas.

1.  Why “Best Practices” Are a Ticking Time Bomb. Learn how to find better and next practices.

2.  Focusing on the Only Two Ways Any Organization Can Grow. How to determine when you leaders (and their people) have stopped growing. If they aren’t growing, your business has no chance of growing either.

3.  Don’t Overthink “Metrics.” Only two interconnected metrics matter: (A) great people and (B) great results. You’ll learn how to consistently inspire both people and profits.

4.  How Customer/Client Loyalty Tactics Differ Between Vendors and Partners. You’ll learn what is necessary to build relationships that transition you from “vendor” to “partner.”

5.  How To Identify if Your Employees Are Wasting Your Money…and Their Time. You’ll leave this program knowing how to get your people to focus on their MVP (most valuable and profitable) activities.

6.  Learn The Economic Advantages of Practicing Gratitude. It doesn’t do much good be be grateful if you aren’t demonstrating the most crucial behaviors. You’ll learn the precise values great leaders always “model” to their employees, colleagues and customers.

PROGRAM NOTE: Mark can present this program to a mixed audience of managers and employees – or tailor it specifically to managers and top tier leaders.

Mark Sanborn is author of the bestselling books, The Fred Factor, and You Don’t Need a Title To Be a Leader. He is president of Sanborn and Associates, an idea studio dedicated to developing leaders in business and life. He is an in-demand speaker and consultant who has worked with more than 2400 clients, including Harley Davidson, Costco, Enterprise Rent-a-Car, FedEx, Hewlett Packard, KPMG, Morton’s of Chicago, New York Life, RE/MAX, ServiceMaster, Time Warner, Upsher-Smith, and The United States Air Force Academy. His website is www.marksanborn.com.

I have a great appreciation for professional baseball players, especially the ones who perform consistently over time at the highest level of competition.

Albert Pujols, for instance, hit .313 or better in each of his first 10 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals, with at least 32 home runs and nofewer than 103 RBI. And only twice did he play fewer than 154 regular-season games. He might not play for my Rockies, but it’s hard not to admire his consistency and his dedication to excellence.

Like all batters, however, Pujols goes through occasional slumps. In fact, he got off to a horrendous start in 2011. In the 29th game of the season, Pujols went 0-for-5, and his batting average was a very un-Albert-like .252. Do you think Tony La Russa, the Cardinals manager, was concerned?

“He’ll be fine because he’s smart and tough-minded,” La Russa told reporters. “He won’t allow himself to be less than his best.”

La Russa knew Pujols had what it takes to deal with grueling nature of a 162-game season. He can’t avoid slumps, but he knows how to get through them. In other words, there are things Pujols does regardless of whether times are good, bad, or in-between — and those are the things that make him great.

My new book — Up, Down, or Sideways — explores the methods and mindsets that lead to that type of consistent success. Like Pujols, we can’t avoid life’s slumps. But there are things that help us mitigate the downturns, maximize the upturns, and create predictable and persistent success regardless of circumstances.

So much of life is outside our control. Pujols, for instance, can’t control the weather; sometimes he has to play when it’s raining or cold. He can’t control the umpires; sometimes they call a pitch a strike when he thinks it was a ball. And he can’t control whether a pitcher walks him on purpose or throws an inside curveball or a fastball right over the plate.

Likewise, we can’t control things like the economy or the moods swings of our boss or the strategic planning decisions of our customers and clients. But there are methods and mindsets we can embrace regardless of anything the out-of-our-control world throws our way.

I was inspired to tackle this book project during one of the most challenging periods in my life. The economy was in a deep recession, meaning, through no fault of my own, my business and my personal investments were suffering. And that same year, I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Yet I felt incredibly blessed. I knew things could have been worse — much worse. I wondered: What methods and mindsets had I practiced when times were Up or Sideways that were paying dividends now that times were Down? What should I do or keep doing now that times were Down? And what did other successful people do consistently that I could learn from?

Like a professional baseball season, our personal and professional success is measured over the long course of time. There will be slumps. But they don’t have to define us. We’re defined by how we think and act consistently, because those are the things that shape our results. If you read Up, Down, or Sideways, I think you’ll relate to the things I’ve identified. I’m going to blog about some of them over the next few months. And I hope you’ll add to the discussion with your own methods and mindsets that have served you when times were Up, Down, or Sideways.

This blog is based on content in my latest book, Up, Down, Or Sideways. It is available wherever you buy great books. Click here to learn more about the book or click here to order it from Amazon.com.