Character is a Marathon April 13, 2007
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Not a sprint.
In the words of Phillip Brooks:
“Some day, in the years to come, you will be wrestling with the great temptation, or trembling under the great sorrow of your life. But the real struggle is here, now…Now it is being decided whether, in the day of your supreme sorrow or temptation, you shall miserably fail or gloriously conquer. Character cannot be made except by a steady, long continued process. “
On Building Not Just a Good Company, But a GREAT Company… April 3, 2007
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- First WHO…Then WHAT: Great leaders will first get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats — and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage “People are your most important asset” turns out the be wrong. People are not your most important asset — the right people are.
- Confront the Brutal Facts, Yet Never Lose Faith: Learn to embrace the Stockdale Paradox — maintain unwavering faith that you can and will prevail in the end, regardless of the difficulties, AND at the same time have the discipline to confront the most brutal facts of your current reality, whatever they might be.
- The Hedgehog Concept: You must transcend the Curse of Competence. Just because something is your core business — just because you’ve been doing it for years or perhaps even decades — does not necessarily mean you can be the best in the world at it. And if you cannot be the best in the world at your core business, then your core business absolutely cannot form the basis of a great company. It must be replaced with a simple concept that reflect deep understanding of three intersecting circles:
- what are you deeply passionate about?
- what can you be the best in the world at?
- what drives your economic engine?
- Foster a Culture of Discipline – When you have disciplined people, you don’t need hierarchy, bureaucracy, or excessive controls. When you combine a culture of discipline with an ethic of entrepreneurship, you get the magical alchemy of great performance.
- Technology is an Accelerator, not the Primary Igniter– You need to think differently about technology. Do not use it as the primary means of igniting a transformation, but be willing to pioneer ways of applying carefully selected technologies.
– thanks to Jim Collins
Time: to measure the value of… April 2, 2007
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…a year, ask the woman just diagnosed with breast cancer.
…a month, ask the parents of a newborn premature baby.
…a week, ask the editor of a newspaper.
…a day, ask a wage worker with a family to feed.
…an hour, ask 2 lovers waiting to meet.
… a minute, ask the man who just missed the last train home.
…a second, ask the survivor of a car accident.
…a millisecond, ask the athlete who just came in 2nd place…or the one who took home the Gold.
You only have so much time left — make the most of it!
Nuggets from the FranklinCovey FOCUS! class April 2, 2007
Posted by HappyDad in Covey, business, dogs, leadership, productivity, success, teamwork.1 comment so far
- Breakdowns enable breakthroughs!
- The challenge in the workplace today is not knowledge — it is insight. You must bring your heart and your head to work.
- Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your picture with excellence!
- Time is not about the clock – it’s about the choices you make.
- All of this is common sense — but it’s not common practice.
- You need to LIVE – rather than BEING LIVED.
- If you consciously brought your values, talents, and passions to work every day, what amazing breakthroughs could happen!
- “So what if not everyone buys into it?” Well, 2 simple options: 1) Leave, 2) Stay and be the catalyst for change. Start with your smallest circle of influence, and gradually build outward. Every avalanche started with only a single snowflake.
- Choosing between “right” and “wrong” is easy — it’s choosing between “good” and “better” that’s hard.
- A goal is a planned-for event — a dream with a deadline. And there will be a cost involved…time or money or both. And if it is truly important enough to you, then you’ll pay it. Who or what are you already paying your time or money too? Is that what is truly important to you?
- 10 years from now, you’ll be 10 years older anyway, so why not live your dreams?
- Goals have to be S.M.A.R.T = Sustainable, Measurable, Attainable, Reachable, Timely
- Take time to sharpen the saw. Have you ever been so busy driving that you didn’t have time to stop for gas? When the saw is sharp, you’ll get more results, better results, easier results, and less waste. You can’t sharpen just one tooth — it has to be the whole thing, and it has to be even and consistent.
- You will feel endorphines rush when you act in accordance with your values — that’s what happiness is.
- A recent Gallup poll found that 70% of employees reported that they were not actively engaged in their work.
- Which would you prefer: an employee that was naturally talented, or hard working?
- You have to be in a position for luck to happen – luck doesn’t wander around looking for a stumblebum.
- The single most important investment we can make is in ourselves – that is the only thing over which we have complete control.
- 65% of people spend their leisure time doing things they’d rather not be doing.
- “Know yourself – don’t accept your dog’s admiration as evidence that you are wonderful.” — Ann Landers
- Good enough never is.
- Efficiency is doing things right, whereas Effectiveness is doing the right things.
- It’s not the interruptions that waste our time, but the lag time afterwards when we try to get back on track.
- It’s a silly time to learn to swim when you’re already starting to drown.
- Organized people write things down; dangerously organized people can find them again.
- Be willing to hire and work with dissenting points of view; “I never learned anything from anyone who agreed with me.”
- Time is not an obstacle — it is an opportunity.
The Best Dunce Cap You Can Wear April 2, 2007
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“You have to hire people with a certain kind of stupidity, who reject or ignore ‘the way things are supposed to be done around here.’ “
– Robert Sutton
Do you talk with them? April 2, 2007
Posted by HappyDad in love, parenting.add a comment
A recent survey measured the amount of conversational time a parent had that was 1) meaningful, 2) one-on-one, and 3) in normal tones.
Time spent thus with their child – 11 minutes a day
Time spent thus with their spouse – 7 minutes a day
…but we still have time to play that next game or see who’s been voted off “Idol”…
From a philosophical mathemetician… April 2, 2007
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Design, don’t engineer.
Discover, don’t dictate.
Decipher, don’t presuppose.
– Pascale
Plan your work, then work your plan April 2, 2007
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“A plan is not worth anything unless it <u>immediately</u> degenerates into hard work.”
– Peter Drucker
After 20/20 Vision, getting the Team to play “Follow the Leader” February 5, 2007
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Thoughts on getting your team to follow the Leader…
- People follow leaders they know
- Second-mile leaders produce second-mile followers
- People follow leaders they trust.
- “I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but he whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves his conduct, will pursue his principles unto death.” — Thomas Paine
- Too many people think that they’ll change their behavior once their leadership role demands it. On the contrary, true leaders will act today the way they would tomorrow, regardless of their role or position.
Getting the Team to 20/20 Vision February 5, 2007
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Thoughts on helping a group rally behind a vision…
Reasons why people fail to adopt a worthy vision:
- They didn’t help create it. Participation increases ownership. When you’re an owner, you see things differently. (How many people have ever waxed a rental car?)
- They don’t understand it. When asked what he thought the leader’s role was in an organization, one man said “You have to act like a 3rd-grade teacher. You have to repeat the vision over and over again until the people get it. And if the leader is really wise, they will communicate it in many ways, in many settings, using many methods.”
- They don’t agree with it.
- They don’t know the vision. Growing businesses often hire new employees but have nothing in place to make sure that they know and ebmrace the vision. Every organization needs a built-in process for passing on the vision.
- They feel unneeded to achieve it. 3 kinds of leaders…1) “We’re going to do this with or without you”, 2) “We sure would like you to help us do this”, 3) “We can’t do this without you”. Guess which one is most successful…
- They aren’t ready for it.
If you can help them overcome each of these challenges, they’ll get behind the vision and start pushing right along.
