Welcome to the Excelleron: Top Achievers' Best Ideas Blog.
We provide a system that goes beyond simple, conventional, executive coaching, regardless of whether you have company in Hamburg New York (or any other part of WNY), Boston Ma, or
Fort Lauderdale FL. Why, because business is business and it's a jungle out there. If you agree, then you may want to add your thoughts, comments and open a dialogue on some of the best ideas you have had or some strategies you have discovered in an effort to improve the kind of business you run (successfully).
You may have asked yourself or others, about some of the toughest decisions on hiring (or firing)? You may have had to weigh options of increasing production and reducing inventory? You might be currently dealing with sales that are falling or with issues where your competition is grabbing your market share. Perhaps, just getting through till the end of the week might even be viewed as an accomplishment?
Or maybe you and your company are on the other side of the scale and you find that you are in a serious growth mode. Now "getting the right people on the bus, getting the wrong people off of the bus, and getting the right people in the right seats" (Good to Great, Tom Collins) is even more crucial than ever before? Or better still, your company is making money but you're just not quite sure where it all went to at the end of the year (month). Somehow your fiscal house is just not in order.
If you would like to add or solicit advice on any of these, then remember the words of Rocky Balboa, "Go for it!"
You Gotta Finish
ReplyDeleteAs a business coach and a sports fan, I often use sports analogies to help my clients understand that their performance is similar to athletes. There is simply no where else in the world that you will need to perform at a high level than at your job or in running your company.
We all watched the Olympics, and witnessed some amazing feats. Michael Phelps touched out Ian Crocker in the 100 butterfly – and never led the race until the end. Paul Hamm fell into the judging area on the vault in an early rotation and finished flawlessly to win the all-around gymnastics gold medal. Jeremy Weriner kept his composure at the end of the 400 to win the gold as his competitors flailed at the end. And these are KIDS, who excelled under tremendous pressure!
Similarly, you have probably set goals, changed policies, made resolutions, and done all of the “things” that everyone else does. And you probably (like most others) haven’t followed through.
Learn to finish hard. It’s a skill that can be learned, and it’s the ONLY way that you will be as successful as you dream to be. The difference between first and second place is most often minimal and will be decided by the stronger finisher. Make sure you come out on top.
Brendan Cunningham
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ReplyDeleteThe Tao of Coaching
ReplyDeleteReally taking care of your business can be a the way you should and so few do can be a great stress reducer and contribute to your overall state of health. One of the things that I and several hundred million Chinese people and countless Americans do each day is an exercise call T’ai Chi. For the uninitiated, it is those slow graceful, ballet-like moves that one usually sees older folks doing in parks and on beaches. This very widely practiced “martial art” which has its roots in Taoist philosophy has another series of exercises, which are for the more advanced student. Here the postures are applied in a two person like dance movement. It is called “sticking hands.”
It’s application uses the foundation of many of the eastern fighting forms; it relies on using the opponents force against them and is based on the four principals of yielding, adhering, redirecting, and neutralizing. Meeting force on force in this exercise is silly and ineffective, just as it is in life and business. Many times we see hard driving business people say “I meet problems head on..” My experience with these types is that they either wind up with a headache or they becomes carriers of headaches to the staff the work with and very little progress is made. Using the principles of T’ai Chi one can redouble their effectiveness by first yielding (or identifying the issue of challenge one wishes to address). Next they can adhere or focus on the problem with all of the whys and wherefores and address the full scope of what is really going on before they rush in “hell bent for leather” and make a mess out of things by proceeding to fix it too soon. This is merely the situation analyses stage. Once this is completed we can than proceed to re-directing our energies to implement the specific tasks necessary to improve the situation. Finally the problem becomes neutralized.
Owners of companies who work closely with their respective business coaches often times find they can get so much more accomplished and reach their meaningful goals in a considerably more timely fashion when they embrace this ancient philosophical practice from the east. They sleep better knowing that their business is moving forward and they are running it rather than it running them. It becomes so much less stressful when it is done this way. Very good, “grasshopper.”
PLEASE NOTE: the entry above got somewhat garbeled and should have looked more like this...so I guess I should say oops.
ReplyDeleteReally taking care of your business can be a great stress reducer and contribute to your overall state of health.
One of the things that I and several hundred million Chinese people and countless Americans do each day is an exercise call T’ai Chi. For the uninitiated, it is those slow graceful, ballet-like moves that one usually sees older folks doing in parks and on beaches. This very widely practiced “martial art” which has its roots in Taoist philosophy has another series of exercises, which are for the more advanced student. Here the postures are applied in a two person like dance movement.
It is called “sticking hands.”
It’s application uses the foundation of many of the eastern fighting forms; it relies on using the opponents force against them and is based on the four principals of yielding, adhering, redirecting, and neutralizing. Meeting force on force in this exercise is silly and ineffective, just as it is in life and business. Many times we see hard driving business people say “I meet problems head on..” My experience with these types is that they either wind up with a headache or they becomes carriers of headaches to the staff the work with and very little progress is made. Using the principles of T’ai Chi one can redouble their effectiveness by first yielding (or identifying the issue of challenge one wishes to address). Next they can adhere or focus on the problem with all of the whys and wherefores and address the full scope of what is really going on before they rush in “hell bent for leather” and make a mess out of things by proceeding to fix it too soon. This is merely the situation analyses stage. Once this is completed we can than proceed to re-directing our energies to implement the specific tasks necessary to improve the situation. Finally the problem becomes neutralized.
Owners of companies who work closely with their respective business coaches often times find they can get so much more accomplished and reach their meaningful goals in a considerably more timely fashion when they embrace this ancient philosophical practice from the east. They sleep better knowing that their business is moving forward and they are running it rather than it running them. It becomes so much less stressful when it is done this way. Very good, “grasshopper.”
Brendan
With respect to reaching for the gold ring, I am so often amused by all the self made millinaires, etc. who unabassadedly proclaim they did it all on their own. Balderdash. No one rises to the top of their game without help. They all have helpers, mentors, directors, gurus, rabbis, and a myriad of people along the way helping them up the ladder. Even the great and not so humble Donald Trump (who I am a fan of, by the way) relies on bankers and investors and is seriously dependent on other people's money to make his projects a success. Using the Donald for just a moment, have you noticed now that he has his children involved in the Celebity Apprentice, each of whom makes a valuable contribution to the show each week. He's no dummy.
ReplyDeleteNo, nobody does it alone. One pundit said it best, "Surround yourself by great people and everthing else falls into place."
The people you work with: your best asset or your worst nightmare, so choose wisely.
Brendan
All great achievements are made up of smaller seemingly insignificant victories in what are little more than day to day tasks. Without these daily wins total excellence and accomplishments are next to impossible.
ReplyDeleteWith respect to the fact that no one ever acheives any thing without help (if they are honest enough to admit it), I feel the need to pay homage to one person who certainly was a great help to me in my career: Brendan Casserly, the President of ERA Franchise Systems. Brenda who just lost her battle with cancer was a lady in every sense of the word and she proved that the glass cieling in business needed shattering. I will miss her and will remember her fondly. She would always tell those who worked with her (in her delightful Tennesee twang) "to go out there and do her proud." Great advice to all us.
ReplyDeleteBrendan
Top achievers seem to have a special sense
ReplyDeleteof themselves and their own concept of personal branding. They have the ability to break free of the crowd so that their product or service is not seen as simply another commodity. They produce a very special and unique experience in fulfilling their customers or clients needs.
Top Achievers probobably already know this...
ReplyDeleteA Message by George Carlin:
If you have not read it take the time to read it now. If you have read it take time to read it again!
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways , but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete...
Remember; spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
AND ALWAYS REMEMBER:
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.
Connecting with other top acheivers in my field on Social Networking groups liked Linkedin is a really effective way of helping me improve my own performance.
ReplyDeleteThings may come to those who wait, but only things left by those who hustle. -Abraham Lincoln
ReplyDeleteThis afternoon I had the wonderful proud moment to attend a convocation for my daughter who was being recognized at her college for scholars who have maintained over a 3.5 average for the first three years of their undergraduate work. Needless to say I was verfy proud. The "provost" who gave one of the key note addresses made a speach which reflected on the "the complexity of honor." It was a bold speech but I was somewhat disturbered to think that the time in which I live no longer called for honor as a norm. Rather, it was a time where all was relative and honor was anything but simple.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts tonight are that when honor is simple and to put it bluntly a black and white matter, society and the world functions so much better. I was glad he made the address and troubled by the content or more specifically the tone it had to take.
When I talk to my clients they are somewhat taken aback because they tell me they want to be the best insurance sales agent, the best securities broker, the best wedding planner and I tell them that it wouldn't be my goal for them. I go on to propose that the best is an illusion just as being the fastest gun in the west was. There will always be someone who is faster and records (the best) are made to be broken. Granted if you are a top achiever you always strive to deliver your personal best. That's a given.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't enough to be the best when you can be great. Who was the best: Pavarotti or Domingo? In golf, should we argue that Nicklous was the best, or maybe it was Palmer. For my money these mathed pairings are both among the greatest and that's a place I will take every time.
When you put yourself out there and attempt to do something different, whether it be in an attempt at innovation, or developing an idea of branding you have to be willing to be the butt end of a lot of ridicule and the subject of too much derision to imagine. That's just the deal. The greatest achievers know that, suffer through it and come out the other side as winners. Like the song said. "They all laughed at Christopher Columbus when he said the world was round, they all laughed when Edison created sound....but ho ho ho, whose got the last laugh now?"
ReplyDeleteEven though it seems like life would be better without competition with the right thought process its competition that can actually make life better. The truth of the matter is that competition forces us to remove ourselves from comfort zones and requires us to become more innovative, creative and/or efficient. Competition is really a calling card for us that it is time to move forward with our life and realize our full potential.
ReplyDeleteIt is during these times that we must embrace our competitive spirit and utilize all of the available resources to ensure we finish the race strong and on top. The competition we face in the business world is really no different than what athletes have been experiencing since the first Olympics in Athens, Greece. In order to defeat your competitors you must be able to distinguish yourself from those of like product. Like an Olympic gold medal winner you will only become the leader in your respective industry if you have better technique, ability and endurance so that you can out perform and out last your competition.
Out performing your competition is one thing but you must realize that any time you take a step towards achieving your objective there will always be competitive opposition and adversity waiting for you to try and hold you back. Keep your heart and mind open for new ideas. Speak positive words of encouragement and success over all situations. Do your best and your success will take care of the rest!
Jeffrey A. Mohr – Founder
Rdestiny, LLC – Business and Travel Consultants
Was there ever a truer statement when it comes to acheivement than "you have to sharpen your saw?"
ReplyDelete