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If you want to get somewhere, you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up.
The secret of life isn’t what happens to you, but what you do with what happens to you.
Help other people cope to their problems and your own will be easier to cope with.
Never use the word impossible seriously again. Toss it into the verbal wastebasket.
Self-trust is the first secret of success. So believe in and trust yourself.
Stand up to your obstacles and do something about them. You will find that they haven’t half the strength you think they have.
Joy increases as you give it, and diminishes as you try to keep it for yourself. In giving it, you will accumulate a deposit of joy greater than you ever believed possible.
How you think about a problem is more important than the problem itself - so always think positively.
Go at life with abandon; give it all you’ve got. And life will give all it has to you.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Think About This
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment #3 Learn from the Customer
When an organization doesn't understand its customer, then the team environment becomes wasteful and inefficient. Efforts go into products that sit on shelves. Time and energy are sunk into marketing services nobody wants. Eventually, the team tires of doing unproductive work, and its morale nosedives.
Leaders foster a team environment in which the customer experience is a primary consideration. They refuse to allow their teams to guess at what customers need. Instead, leaders teach teams the discipline of consulting customers regularly. By allowing customers to define success, a team learns where to focus its attention and is able to position itself to excel.
Before I speak at a conference, I call the person who invited me so that I can hear their expectations of me. Starting with a clear view of my customer's needs helps me as I plan for the speaking engagement. I can fine-tune my content and structure my schedule in line with my customer's wishes. By doing so, I am generally able to meet, and hopefully surpass, their expectations of me.
REVIEW Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment 1) Encourage a Spirit of Togetherness 2) Paint the Big Picture 3) Learn from the Customer
Dr. John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold more than 18 million books.
When an organization doesn't understand its customer, then the team environment becomes wasteful and inefficient. Efforts go into products that sit on shelves. Time and energy are sunk into marketing services nobody wants. Eventually, the team tires of doing unproductive work, and its morale nosedives.
Leaders foster a team environment in which the customer experience is a primary consideration. They refuse to allow their teams to guess at what customers need. Instead, leaders teach teams the discipline of consulting customers regularly. By allowing customers to define success, a team learns where to focus its attention and is able to position itself to excel.
Before I speak at a conference, I call the person who invited me so that I can hear their expectations of me. Starting with a clear view of my customer's needs helps me as I plan for the speaking engagement. I can fine-tune my content and structure my schedule in line with my customer's wishes. By doing so, I am generally able to meet, and hopefully surpass, their expectations of me.
REVIEW Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment 1) Encourage a Spirit of Togetherness 2) Paint the Big Picture 3) Learn from the Customer
Dr. John C. Maxwell is an internationally respected leadership expert, speaker, and author who has sold more than 18 million books.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment #2 Paint the Big Picture
James E. Lukaszewski, management and communication consultant, shares the following illustration.
A farmer, while sitting on his porch, noticed a highway department truck pulling over to the shoulder of the road. A man got out, dug a sizeable hole in the ditch, and got back into the vehicle. A few minutes later, the other occupant of the truck got out, filled up the hole, tamped the dirt, and returned to the truck.
Then the men drove forward on the shoulder about 50 yards and repeated the process - digging, waiting, refilling. After a half-dozen repetitions, the farmer sauntered over to them. "What are you doing?" he asked. "We're on a highway beautification project," the driver said. "And the guy who plants the trees is home sick today."
The two guys didn't have a team perspective; they only saw their jobs. Even though their work accomplished nothing in the absence of their teammate, they went on doing it anyway!
When people don't understand how their work matters to the team, they fall into mindless routine, and they deny putting their heart into what they do. Leaders have to guard against a purposeless environment by building bridges between what and why. By helping people see their contributions to the team's goals, leaders ennoble them with a sense of meaning.
Tomorrow: Part FOUR of FOUR: The third of "Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment," plus a review.
James E. Lukaszewski, management and communication consultant, shares the following illustration.
A farmer, while sitting on his porch, noticed a highway department truck pulling over to the shoulder of the road. A man got out, dug a sizeable hole in the ditch, and got back into the vehicle. A few minutes later, the other occupant of the truck got out, filled up the hole, tamped the dirt, and returned to the truck.
Then the men drove forward on the shoulder about 50 yards and repeated the process - digging, waiting, refilling. After a half-dozen repetitions, the farmer sauntered over to them. "What are you doing?" he asked. "We're on a highway beautification project," the driver said. "And the guy who plants the trees is home sick today."
The two guys didn't have a team perspective; they only saw their jobs. Even though their work accomplished nothing in the absence of their teammate, they went on doing it anyway!
When people don't understand how their work matters to the team, they fall into mindless routine, and they deny putting their heart into what they do. Leaders have to guard against a purposeless environment by building bridges between what and why. By helping people see their contributions to the team's goals, leaders ennoble them with a sense of meaning.
Tomorrow: Part FOUR of FOUR: The third of "Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment," plus a review.
Monday, January 3, 2011
A Healthy Team
The readership response was very positive to a six-part series on Dr. Maxwell's "Planning" published back in October. Today begins a FOUR-DAY Series on "Creating a Healthy TEAM Environment," by Dr. John C. Maxwell Today: Part ONE of FOUR
Creating a Healthy TEAM Environment By Dr. John C. Maxwell
At Chernobyl, the massive explosion of a Soviet nuclear reactor released radioactive fallout 400 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. While the suddenness and spectacular nature of the Chernobyl disaster drew the world's attention, another catastrophe in the Soviet Union passed by largely unnoticed. In the 1960s Soviet engineers diverted the two main rivers feeding the Aral Sea so that cotton crops could be cultivated in the surrounding desert. As a result, inflows to the body of water were reduced to a trickle. In time, the Aral Sea began to evaporate. Once the world's 4th largest lake, it shrank to well under 10% of its original size, leaving behind a graveyard of ships to litter the barren earth. Nicknamed "the silent Chernobyl," the destruction of the Aral Sea has had a calamitous impact on the surrounding environment. Dozens of species of birds, animals, and fish have vanished from the area. Salt from the lake, which now covers the dry earth like snow, is blown by the wind and contaminates farmland up to 500 km away. The salt also pollutes the air and groundwater, causing throat cancer, lung disease, and kidney and liver complications among the local population. The simple lesson from the Aral Sea is this: When leaders neglect the environment, the results can be catastrophic. Minding the Environment In the workplace, leaders are environmental caretakers. They preside over the climate of a team, and their positive influence can make the office a healthy and inviting place. On the other hand, if leaders ignore the team environment, then the workplace can become toxic and hazardous to all who inhabit it. In this lesson, I'll share three ways in which leaders can heed their team environment in order to foster a climate of cooperation, engagement, and productivity. Tomorrow: Part TWO of FOUR: The first of "Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment."
Creating a Healthy TEAM Environment By Dr. John C. Maxwell
At Chernobyl, the massive explosion of a Soviet nuclear reactor released radioactive fallout 400 times greater than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. While the suddenness and spectacular nature of the Chernobyl disaster drew the world's attention, another catastrophe in the Soviet Union passed by largely unnoticed. In the 1960s Soviet engineers diverted the two main rivers feeding the Aral Sea so that cotton crops could be cultivated in the surrounding desert. As a result, inflows to the body of water were reduced to a trickle. In time, the Aral Sea began to evaporate. Once the world's 4th largest lake, it shrank to well under 10% of its original size, leaving behind a graveyard of ships to litter the barren earth. Nicknamed "the silent Chernobyl," the destruction of the Aral Sea has had a calamitous impact on the surrounding environment. Dozens of species of birds, animals, and fish have vanished from the area. Salt from the lake, which now covers the dry earth like snow, is blown by the wind and contaminates farmland up to 500 km away. The salt also pollutes the air and groundwater, causing throat cancer, lung disease, and kidney and liver complications among the local population. The simple lesson from the Aral Sea is this: When leaders neglect the environment, the results can be catastrophic. Minding the Environment In the workplace, leaders are environmental caretakers. They preside over the climate of a team, and their positive influence can make the office a healthy and inviting place. On the other hand, if leaders ignore the team environment, then the workplace can become toxic and hazardous to all who inhabit it. In this lesson, I'll share three ways in which leaders can heed their team environment in order to foster a climate of cooperation, engagement, and productivity. Tomorrow: Part TWO of FOUR: The first of "Three Ways to Create a Healthy Team Environment."
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