by Helena Escalante | Creativity, Growth, Leadership, Marketing, Mindset, Opportunity, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 18 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Emulate chefs
— From REWORK: Change the way you work forever by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson
What do the names Emeril Lagasse, Julia Child, Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Rick Bayless, Giada De Laurentiis, and Ferran Adriá have in common? They are all famous chefs. Yet, with the enormous amount of restaurants that exist today, why do we know these names better than others? What makes these chefs so special?
While they are indeed gifted, that is not the reason why they are famous. They have achieved fame and success “because they share everything they know. They put their recipes on cookbooks and show their techniques on cooking shows.”
Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, authors of Rework, invite us to share everything we know too. “This is anathema to most in the business world. Businesses are usually paranoid and secretive. They think they have proprietary this and competitive advantage that. Maybe a rare few do, but most don’t. And those that don’t should stop acting like those that do. Don’t be afraid of sharing.”
If chefs make a living from their recipes and their cooking, why would any of them create a cookbook with the recipes? Why would they go on TV and show you, step-by-step, how to cook those recipes to perfection? Then anybody could replicate them!
But that’s not how it works, say the authors. The chefs know that the recipes, techniques, and tricks are not enough to beat them at their game. “No one’s going to buy [the] cookbook, open a restaurant next door, and put [the chef] out of business. It just doesn’t work like that. Yet this is what many in the business world think will happen if their competitors learn how they do things.”
Fried and Hanson’s advice? “Get over it.”
And they go on to say, “Emulate famous chefs. They cook, so they write cookbooks. What do you do? What are your “recipes”? What’s your “cookbook”? What can you tell the world about how you operate that is informative, educational and promotional?”
Virtual-knowledge empires are being built online with people and companies sharing what they know. What do you know that you could teach? The world needs you.
ACTION
TODAY: Think about your business. What do you do? You obviously know how to do that very well. How about teaching it to those who are interested? Emulate chefs!
FUTURE: Share your gift of knowledge with those around you. Even if you don’t go outside your company, you can share the know-how with new hires, for example. Or you can set up an internal program for professional growth and development and share your experience and expertise. The more you share, the better you’ll feel and the more of an impact you’ll have on those that surround you.
Know someone who needs to emulate chefs and write a “cookbook”? Please share this post with that person via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Celebration, Collaboration, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Networking, Opportunity, Resources, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes, 21 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: 46 strategies for businesspeople to deal with tough times
— From The Little BIG Things: 163 Ways to Pursue EXCELLENCE by Tom Peters
Excellence guru Tom Peters started his blog in 2004. Shortly thereafter, he started publishing “success tips” and this book, The Little BIG Things, is a compilation of them. It’s an easy read, and it’s full of great advice. (Any advice from Tom Peters is golden!)
Peters is a famous author (In Search of Excellence and many more books) and a sought-after speaker. For a seminar in Finland in 2009, he developed these 46 “Secrets” and “Strategies” for Dealing with the Severe Downturn of 2007. However, after reading through them, I realized that they easily apply to both good and bad times. And as it relates to rough times, they may be of any kind, not just economic. Personally or professionally, whether you find yourself in the midst of real turmoil or just having a bad hair day (see #13), I’m sure you’ll find some words of wisdom and guidance that can help. Here are the 46 secrets and strategies verbatim:
- You come to work earlier.
- You leave work later.
- You work harder.
- You may well work for less; and, if so, you adapt to the untoward circumstances with a smile—even if it kills you inside.
- You volunteer to do more.
- You dig deep, deeper, deepest—and always bring a good attitude to work.
- You fake it if your good attitude flags.
- You literally practice your “stage face” in the mirror each morning, and in the loo mid-morning.
- You give new meaning to the idea and intensive practice of “visible management.”
- You take better than usual care of yourself and encourage others to do the same—physical well-being significantly impacts mental well-being and response to stress.
- You shrug off sh*t that flows downhill in your direction—buy a shovel or a “preworn” raincoat on eBay.
- You try to forget about the “good old days”—nostalgia is self-destructive. (And boring.)
- You buck yourself up with the thought that “this too shall pass,” but then remind yourself that it might not pass anytime soon; and so you rededicate yourself to making the absolute best of what you have now—character is determined, virtually in full, by one’s reaction to adverse circumstances.
- You work the phones and then work the phones some more—and stay in touch with, and on the mind of, positively everyone.
- You frequently invent breaks from routine, including “weird” ones—”change-ups” prevent wallowing in despair and bring a fresh perspective.
- You eschew all forms of personal excess.
- You simplify.
- You sweat the details as never before.
- You sweat the details as never before.
- You sweat the details as never before.
- You raise to the sky and maintain—at all costs—the Standards of Excellence by which you unfailingly and unflinchingly evaluate your own performance.
- You are maniacal when it comes to responding to even the slightest screw-up.
- You find ways to be around young people and to keep young people around—they are less likely to be members of the “sky is falling” school. (Naïveté can be a blessing.)
- You learn new tricks of your trade.
- You pass old tricks of the trade on to others—mentoring matters now more than ever.
- You invest heavily in your Internet-Web2.0-Twitter-Facebook-“cloud”-computing skills.
- You remind yourself, daily, that this is not just something to be “gotten through”—it is the Final Exam of Competence, of Character, and, even if you’re not a boss, of Leadership. (People often make great leaps in a short period during difficult times.)
- You network like a demon.
- You network like a demon inside the company—get to know more of the folks who “do the real work,” and who can be your most dependable allies when it comes to getting things done seamlessly and fast.
- You network like a demon outside the company—get to know more of the folks “down the line,” who “do the real work” in vendor-customer outfits. (They can become, and will become, your most avid allies and champions.)
- You offer thanks to others by the truckload if good things happen—and take the heat if bad things happen.
- You behave kindly, but you don’t sugarcoat or hide the truth—humans are startlingly resilient, and rumors are the real spirit-killers.
- You treat small successes as if they were World Cup victories—and celebrate and commend people accordingly.
- You shrug off the losses (ignoring what’s going on in your tummy), and get back on the horse and immediately try again.
- You avoid negative people to the extent you can—pollution kills.
- You read the riot act to the gloom-sprayers, once avoiding them becomes impossible. (Gloom is the ultimate “weapon of mass destruction” in tough times.)
- You give new meaning to the word thoughtful.
- You don’t put limits on the budget for flowers—”bright and colorful” works marvels.
- You redouble and re-triple your efforts to “walk in your customer’s shoes.” (Especially if the shoes smell.)
- You mind your manners—and accept others’ lack of manners in the face of their strains.
- You are kind to all humankind.
- You keep your shoes shined.
- You leave the blame game at the office door.
- You call out, in no uncertain terms, those who continue to play the “office politics” game.
- You become a paragon of personal accountability.
- And then you pray.
ACTION
TODAY: Keep this list handy: you can print it directly from Tom Peters blog.
FUTURE: Keep coming back to this list whenever you need quick and helpful advice. It works wonders as a pep talk too.
Know someone who is having a bad day? Please share this post via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
by Helena Escalante | Celebration, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Habits, Leadership, Mindset, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 40 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: The Celebration Principle
— From Mentoring 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell
Happy 4th of July! Today we are celebrating Independence Day in the United States. And it’s a great day to talk about celebration.
In his book Mentoring 101, leadership guru John C. Maxwell talks about what he calls The Celebration Principle: “the true test of relationships is not only how loyal we are when friends fail, but how thrilled we are when they succeed.”
Why does this even merit writing about? Shouldn’t this be a given?
Yes and no.
Yes, because we should all celebrate success, whether our own or someone else’s. And, no, because not everybody feels that way. Oscar Wilde said it best: “Anybody can sympathize with the sufferings of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend’s success.”
Maxwell wrote a book called Failing Forward: Turning Mistakes Into Stepping Stones for Success a few years back, and quickly found out that everyone identifies with failure. “Everybody has failed, so [sharing failure is] a great way to connect. The problem is that because people so readily identify with failure, they sometimes have a hard time connecting with success. And if they don’t identify with success, they may resent it.”
Maxwell goes on to say that the same qualities that prevent people from succeeding (insecurity, jealousy, etc.), prevent them from celebrating the success of other people. “They constantly compare themselves to others and find themselves wanting. As a result, they have a hard time getting beyond themselves.”
“Beware of the green-eyed monster,” warns Maxwell. “If most people were honest, they would admit to feelings of jealousy or envy when they witness others’ success—even when the people succeeding are close friends or people they’ve mentored.”
So, how to avoid feeling this way? The author suggests doing the following four things:
1. Realize it’s not a competition. “It’s very difficult to achieve success without help. […] Life is better in a community of people you love and who also love you.” Maxwell offers the following reflections to keep in mind and to “be the rare kind of person who is happy when others succeed.”
My success can be achieved only with others.
My lessons can be learned only from others.
My weaknesses can be strengthened only by others.
My servanthood can be tested only under others’ leadership.
My influence can be compounded only through others.
My leadership can be focused only on others.
My best can be given only to others.
My legacy can be left only for others.
So I should commit myself to and celebrate with others!
2. Celebrate when others see success. “Not everyone views success the way you do… look at things from other people’s point of view. What are their dreams? What goals have they set? What battles are they fighting?” Celebrate with them when they accomplish something that is important to them!
3. Celebrate successes others don’t yet see. “Sometimes people make great strides and aren’t even aware of it. [… Have you ever] worked on a project and felt discouraged by your progress, but had someone else marvel at what you accomplished? It is inspiring and makes you want to work that much harder.” Same goes for you, celebrate the successes of the people that surround you, especially those that they may not see.
4. Celebrate most with those closest to you. “The closer people are to you and the more important the relationship, the more you ought to celebrate. Celebrate early and often with those closest to you—especially with your spouse and children if you have a family. It’s usually easy to celebrate victories on the job or in a hobby or sport. But the greatest victories in life are the ones that occur at home.”
ACTION
TODAY: Look at the people who surround you and look for things to celebrate that they don’t see. It will be a nice surprise when you point those things out! Celebrate with a nice word, an email, a handwritten note, a cupcake, a full party (if you have time to plan it), or however you see fit. The goal is to start celebrating!
FUTURE: Make it a habit to celebrate and share the successes of others. Be genuinely happy for them and your life will be all the better for it. And don’t forget to share your success with others too, so that they can celebrate with you.
Celebrate someone’s success by sharing this post! You can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Resources, Tools
Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 29 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Self-centeredness and empathy
— From Relationships 101: What Every Leader Needs to Know by John C. Maxwell
Have you ever played with a two-year-old child? “He naturally chooses the best toys for himself and insists on his own way,” says leadership guru John C. Maxwell in his book Relationships 101.
Is this self-centered? Yes, but not in a bad way. “People are not self-centered on purpose; it’s just in the nature of humans to think of their own interests first.”
At some point we are all taught to share our toys and food, to be kind and play nice with others, and to be compassionate and empathic. Yet it’s the empathy part that sometimes trips us, because it’s hard to walk a mile in someone else’s shoes.
“One way to overcome our natural self-centeredness is to try and see things from other people’s perspectives,” says Maxwell. He goes on to quote Art Mortell, author of World Class Selling, who shared his experience: “Whenever I’m losing at chess, I consistently get up and stand behind my opponent and see the board from his side. Then I discover the stupid moves I’ve made because I can see it from his viewpoint. [The challenge] is to see the world from the prospect’s viewpoint.”
Maxwell explains that, no matter our profession, the challenge for all of us is to see the world that way. And he shares the following thoughts “to remind us of what our priorities should be when dealing with other people.”
A SHORT COURSE IN HUMAN RELATIONS
The least important word: I.
The most important word: We.
The two most important words: Thank you.
The three most important words: All is forgiven.
The four most important words: What is your opinion?
The five most important words: You did a good job.
The six most important words: I want you to understand you better.
ACTION
TODAY: Watch this video on empathy.
FUTURE: There is a powerful exercise that I did a few years back that opened my eyes, my heart and jumpstarted my empathy. Seth Godin says that “Empathy takes effort.” Thus, the exercise is simple but not easy – yet I hope you do it and find it as valuable as I did! It’s as follows: pick a group of people who believe something you don’t believe. Now write down their narrative from their standpoint. It doesn’t have to be a long essay, say 250-300 words will do. Write it in their words and from their point of view, as if you were part of that group. There is no right or wrong, and nobody will see this exercise but you. When I did this exercise, I chose to see the world through my competitors’ clients. It was after this that I started seeing my competitors as collaborators and colleagues, and I was able to reach out to them and create some powerful alliances. You will learn much from this exercise and truly understand someone else’s point of view.
Know someone who could learn something from this post? Please share via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Creativity, Goals, Leadership, Mindset, Opportunity, Planning, Time, Tools
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 11 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Make time your friend
— From The Art of People: 11 Simple People Skills That Will Get You Everything You Want by Dave Kerpen
“I wish you had more time for me” is what author and social media guru, Dave Kerpen, kept hearing from people important to him, both at work and at home. Kerpen gets requests every week by dozens of people who want his help or to work with him. Since he is so likeable and responsive, he replies to each person who asks for his help. (I know this first hand, because he responded to my request to interview him about his book, The Art of People, when it came out. You can watch the interview here.)
“If you’re at all like me,” Kerpen says, “you try to be nice—or helpful—and take every call, reply to every email, or even agree to every meeting. Yet he had a powerful realization when he attended a conference hosted by Verne Harnish (entrepreneur extraordinaire and author of Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and Scaling Up). Harnish said, “You can understand your professional strategy with one quick look at your weekly calendar.”
Kerpen took a look at his calendar on his phone and realized “it was filled up with meetings and phone calls with people [he] didn’t know who probably would make no difference to [his] business or [his] life.” At that point he had to set his priorities straight: first was his family, and second his employees, investors and customers.
The natural question that ensued for Kerpen was, “Why was [he] sacrificing time with [the people who were his priority] to take all those meetings with strangers?”
So he decided to set aside a two-hour slot every week that he calls office hours. During two hours every Thursday, Kerpen talks with the people who have reached out to him for help, by scheduling 15-minute conversations. Kerpen explains, “I still reply to and try to help each and every person who comes my way. But once the time slots are full, they are full, and people have to sign up for the following week’s office hours, or the next week’s hours, and so on.” This has made it easier on him to say no or to refer the person to the next available slot during his office hours.
In reflecting about his system, Kerpen advises, “You don’t have to create an office hours system and meet with everyone who wants your time, of course. But you do need to figure out a way to prioritize your time, the most precious asset you’ve got, carefully.”
Whether it’s plainly saying no or limiting the time you give others, the reality is that we all need a system that works for us. So take a look at your calendar and determine whether you need to make changes as Kerpen so aptly did.
ACTION
TODAY: Take a look at your calendar over the last month. What do you see? How are you prioritizing your time and with whom? Make a list of all the people with whom you’ve spent time and determine whether they fall into your priorities or not.
FUTURE: Develop a system that works for you, your priorities and your goals. Put it to the test for the next month. Explain to the people in your priorities what you are doing, so that they can give you feedback at the end of that month. After the 30 days are up, check in with yourself and with the people with whom you want to spend more time whether it’s working. Compare your calendar to the past month’s and see the difference. Adjust accordingly and test again, and keep going until you’ve built a system that works well for you.
How about sharing this post with someone in your priority list so that they can make you a priority too? You can share via email, Facebook or Twitter, thanks!
by Helena Escalante | Accountability, Collaboration, Creativity, Goals, Growth, Leadership, Mindset, Miniseries, Planning, Productivity, Time, Tools
Links to other parts of the miniseries:
Duplicate yourself – Part 1
Duplicate yourself – Part 2
Duplicate yourself – Part 3
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes, 27 seconds.
TODAY’S IDEA: Duplicate yourself – Part 4
— From Work Less, Make More: Stop Working So Hard and Create the Life You Really Want! By Jennifer White
Welcome to the 4th and last part of this miniseries. So far we’ve learned how and what to duplicate, and todays’ idea will focus on knowing when duplication works.
This is very important, because part of planning for anything is figuring out what success will look like. To address this specifically, Jennifer White the author, writes:
Take a holiday where you cut yourself from the office. […] It takes courage to trust the folks you put in place. When you get back from your sabbatical, you’ll be able to see what falls apart, what doesn’t get done correctly, and what is substandard work. It’ll give you insights into where your duplication process works and where it doesn’t.
Will you ever be free unless you duplicate who you are? You’ll never know when you are free because you’ve been unwilling to test the system. Knowing that the system works gives you a sense of relief when you’re not working. You’ll certainly make more of your life without carrying all that guilt.
Most people don’t have the courage to test their duplication system. They don’t want to feel superfluous. They want to feel as if the whole world would crash around them if they weren’t there.
[…] Don’t hinder your ability to Work Less, Make More by needing to feel needed. You want to feel superfluous. You want to be taken out of the picture. You want to have such strong people around you that you no longer have to worry that the job’s getting done.
It’s the only way to free yourself up to live the life you want to live. Don’t worry. You’ll find more interesting, exciting things to propel yourself forward, and you have the space to be the creative force behind your future success. Think duplication.”
This reminds me of the process that lifestyle design guru Tim Ferriss created to be able to let his business work without him. He duplicated himself by creating systems, training a team and setting up the technology(ies) needed to make this happen. You can read all about this in his bestselling book The 4-Hour Workweek. (Here’s a post on productivity from that book.) Ferriss says that if your goal is to “free your time to focus on bigger and better things […] it’s not about working smarter. It’s about building a system to replace yourself. […] Preparing someone to replace you (even if it never happens) will produce an ultrarefined set of rules that will cut remaining fat and redundancy from your schedule. Lingering unimportant tasks will disappear as soon as someone else is being paid to do them.”
Another entrepreneur who duplicated and “outsourced” himself was Chris Ducker. He did it in about a year. And he did it with a virtual team and systems. As a result of blogging his journey to fulfill his goal of becoming a virtual CEO, he eventually launched Virtual Staff Finder, a company that helps busy people find virtual assistants. You can read about his journey and how to get help from virtual assistants in his book Virtual Freedom.
ACTION
TODAY: Jennifer White suggests doing this great exercise: “Draw a line down the middle of a blank sheet of paper. Write delegate on the left side of the page. Write duplicate on the right side. Evaluate each task you do. Can you delegate this task or should you train someone to duplicate. Don’t stop until the entire list is done. You’ve just developed a plan—once you have the right technology and people in place—to allow yourself to take three months off without losing money. It’s up to you to put the plan into action.”
FUTURE: If you like this concept of duplicating yourself to work less or simply work on other things that bring you more rewards and satisfaction, give some serious thought to duplicating yourself to free up time and space in your life.
Hope you enjoyed this miniseries! 😀 Please share it with someone who would like the idea of duplication. You can do so via email, Facebook or Twitter, thank you!
