Posted on Friday, June 9, 2017

Overcome Regret, Discover True Living

Regret is a disappointment that stifles my progress. It is that I-should-have feeling that makes me feel like a caged animal. I can see the freedom I should be enjoying.

But all I have is my wish gone up in smoke. As I write this article, I am working hard to get out of a crazy cycle. The first regret is compromising my focus on of consistent content development for my readers. Then, there is a regret of thinking I can do everything by myself while dropping the ball in some critical areas. My third regret is not seeking help earlier than I thought I needed it.

Then I remembered of an event that won over regret. I had always wished to have birds visit our backyard. Their beautiful chirping is soothing and the rhythm of their wings energizing. It gives me a sense of peace and connection with nature. But for about five years, that was all it was. A wish.

Posted on Tuesday, June 6, 2017

Providing Hope For Everyday Living

One strong motivator for any human being is the desire to win. To seek a positive outcome at every opportunity. And hope is the optimistic attitude that drives this expectation.

I walked by a boy who was munching away at a delicious doughnut topped with glossy chocolate goodness. I’d skipped breakfast that morning, and his doughnut only amplified my hunger. My next thought was to head back to the doughnut stand and get-me-a-doughnut. But then I spotted him throw his paper napkin into an adjacent flowerbed.

Immediately, I saw an opportunity to invest in the boy’s character. It was an opening to help this youngster and guide him towards taking more responsibility in life. My hope that he would turn out a responsible person was greater than my hunger.

Posted on Sunday, May 14, 2017

What Unique Value Can You Offer?

Drilling down to your unique value offering can be daunting. It may feel like we may close the door to other opportunities. Why? Delivering that unique offering requires a high level of dedication.

I was struggling with getting business leads for my coaching and consulting business. In frustration, I watched as my peers continued to grow their businesses day after day. It wasn’t that they had a head start or unfair advantage. We had more or less similar training and work experience. Yet I was struggling.

Posted on Thursday, May 4, 2017

Customer Service Defines Brands

Abhorring! This is the one word that describes United Airlines’ treatment of a paying customer. Shocking is the only way to describe video of a traveler being dragged off a flight. His crime? He has refused to give up his seat on an overbooked flight.

As horrid as this was, it brought back a pleasant memory from a podcast on Creating World Class Service. Horst Schulze, Chairman & CEO of Capella Hotel Group, talks of what it takes to empower teams. In his previous stint as CEO of the Ritz-Carlton, Mr. Schulze notes that every employee could spend up to $2,000 to fix anything in the hotel that would jeopardize customer experience and loyalty.

Customers want people to be nice to them and provide caring service. This is the strongest, most important expectation driving customer satisfaction,” says Horst Schulze.

In essence, keeping a valuable customer is more important than making profit in the short-term. This is a business that not only embraces customer service.

Back to United Airlines.

Posted on Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Building A Team That Matters – Part 2

Imagine a restaurant in crisis. Team members are on each others’ nerves. The customers can see the cracks and as a result, revenue has tanked!

This was the scene a new restaurant manager in his 20’s found himself in. Just two years after joining a restaurant chain as a management trainee, Michael found himself in the eye of a storm.

And a what a storm it was! Despite being in a prime location, this particular restaurant was notorious for the lowest revenue across the whole chain. The previous management had created a rift within the team. All departments were operating in separate silos stoked by a spirit of revenge.

Posted on Friday, March 31, 2017

How Neuroscience Improves Team Engagement

As we tap into our twenty-first century laptops, one click on Google Earth and you can visit any country you want. A few intrepid people have even visited all countries. But there are still new frontiers of knowledge to be explored, and one of the most exciting is neuroscience, the study of the brain.

Using creative experiments and sophisticated technology… we are starting to see that the art of leadership has its basis in science. We can now begin to see what really works and what doesn’t work in our attempts to engage with those we manage and influence.

This brings an important to make a connection between your coaching habit and your head by looking at the neuroscience of engagement.

Posted on Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Want To Be Heard? Listening Is A Must!

The pigs are running the farm. So begins the story of Farmer Able. Everyone on his farm – people and animals alike – are downright downtrodden by him.

He’s overbearing and compulsively obsessed with profits and productivity. He’s a typical top-down, power-based manager, forever tallying production numbers in his well-worn ledgers. But the more he pushes the hoofs and horns and humans, the more they dig in their heels.

That is until one day when he hears a mysterious wind that whispers: “It’s not all about me.” Can he turn things around and begin attending to the needs of those on his farm, thus improving their attitudes and productivity?

The following is an excerpt from chapter 23 of Farmer Able…

Posted on Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Building A Team That Matters – Part 1

Team-building is a disruptive process for everyone involved. However, this does not mean that it should be a painful experience.

Over the last few months, I have agonized over why I can’t seem to get up to speed with growing my business. Despite some good business prospects, growth feels stifled. The more I think about it, I realize that it is time to build a team. To grow, something has to shift.

I read this from a friend’s story: “Two guys were walking from the farm and one of them fell into a deep pit. His friend tried to help him to come out but he failed. ‘Let me quickly go and look for a rope,’ the friend said. As he was coming back, he saw his friend already out of the pit and staring into the pit. He asked him how he managed to come out. ‘A snake fell into the pit!’ he replied.”

Posted on Tuesday, March 7, 2017

Living Your Life Alive

How to start living with focus

Life is precious. You want to make a mad grasp of every whiff of it that passes by you. But the hustle of everyday busyness gets in your way. Up and down you run, only to drop dead tired on your bed at the end of the day. And the cycle repeats itself the following day, and the next one, and another one.

In public, you are morbidly ashamed that you have failed to pursue your life. For you know all too well that your discovery of that calling is explosive. However, your struggle is to kick off or to take that critical first step. Fear grips at you like a freezing icicle in the dead of winter. Your focus is how to handle that explosion.

Your life is as valuable as the depth of the knowledge of your calling. What is it? Where can it be found? Where do I start? These are the fundamental questions that freeze you in space. For the challenge lies in a precise exploration of your heart.

Posted on Friday, May 27, 2016

The Pursuit of Purpose

Here are your first 3 key components

There they were… 220 expectant eyes. Like laser beams, they locked on us. “Who I’m I?” This was the topic my wife and I were to speak on. And we had less than two hours.

It was a meeting with young adults. Their anticipation was palpable. They all seemed keen to unveil their identity. After the talk, some held us back for one-on-one conversation with us. Yet, others sent us detailed email messages about their struggle with identity. All this transported me back to a treasured memory…