Archive for June, 2005

July 2005 is the start of a new fiscal year for me. I like to set personal and work related goals at this point. For this site I have done some research to see what has been popular in the last few months. Business and personal development topics are at the top of the list. It is very interesting that the best days are a synergy between two or more popular subjects.

Synergy is defined as: The working together of two or more things, people, or organizations, especially when the result is greater than the sum of their individual effects or capabilities

For the upcoming year I would like to continue this idea of Synergy and put together topics that meld two or more popular business tenets together. The main course that I want to follow is the remaining tenets espoused in John Maxwell’s book “Becoming a Person of Influence.”

These include

1. Faith in people
2. Understanding people
3. Enlarging people
4. Navigating for other people
5. Connecting with people
6. Empowering people
7. Reproducing other Influencers

Rather that just restate what is in John’s book, I’d like to take the tenets and explore them in light of other concepts and doctrines. With Synergy I think the outcome will be much more interesting and useful.

In our first synergistic foray we’ll explore the concept of faith tied in with Seth Godin’s concept of a “Purple Cow.”

Faith is described as “belief in, devotion to, or trust in somebody or something, especially without logical proof”

A “Purple Cow” is characterized as “something phenomenal, something counterintuitive and exciting and flat out unbelievable“.

Here is a synopsis of the upcoming theme.

1. Faith in yourself. Do you have the faith to successfully develop a “Purple Cow” and market it? Or will fear and negativity defeat you?

2. Convincing other people to have faith in you. Selling your idea to your spouse, loved ones, business partners and the world.

3. Faith in others. Helping other people with a great “Purple Cow” idea to take it from concept to creation.

4. Team Synergy. Faith in team members. Working with a creative team to create an idea that is greater than the sum of the parts.

Over the following week we’ll look at these ideas and more.

Dwayne Melancon over at Genuine Curiosity has a great post entitled “Tinkering in the Garage of my Mind.” The general idea of the post is to develop conversations with people that you meet on airplanes, Starbucks and generally anyplace in public. His post is further amplified by the positive experience he had when going through Lisa Haneberg’s “2 Weeks 2 A Breakthrough” process in which he was encouraged to talk about his goals with everyone he encountered, and even enlist their help. That was way out of his comfort zone, but yielded powerful results.

I really like this idea but I thought of an interesting twist. How about handing out business cards for your favorite blogs to people that you meet? It would be easy to create cards with either one name on them or a group of names. Can you imagine the look on someones face when you hand them a “Slacker Manager” card? How about an “Open Loops” card with Berts cool logo on it. People would be sure to click on a Ho‘ohana card from Talking Story just to find out what it means.

You could even hold up a few and have someone pick one like a card trick… pick a card… any card..

I have learned so much from blogs and I realize so few people know about them. When I mention that I blog, most people don’t have a clue what I’m talking about. I think this would be a great way to introduce people to the wonderful world of weblogging.

I have some blank business cards sitting on my desk… maybe I’ll fire up publisher and give it a go…

Let me know what you think…

When trouble comes and you need someone to lend an open ear, who better to come to the rescue than your faithful dog. Dogs are definitely the best listeners. They always pay attention, they never judge, and they almost always wag their tails in approval.

My Cocker Spaniel is a great example.

Over the past two weeks listening has been a major topic on this site. In writing on this subject I have learned a lot. I realized quickly that I wasn’t the most effective listener.This post is a list of some of the resources and sites that I have found in my journey to listen to others better.

Management Listening. When it comes to management, Rosa Say is the master. She has a very interactive blog called “Talking Story”. The site’s philosophy is summed up in the term ho’ohana, which means to “work with intent, with purpose”. One of her main tenets in management is what she calls “The Daily 5 minutes.” She describes it as a simple habit: Each day, without fail, managers are to give five minutes of no-agenda time to at least one of their employees. This simple habit of listening to employees can have profound effects. She has written a book entitled “Managing with Aloha” which includes a chapter on the 5 minute plan.

Education Listening. How do you listen to learn? I found a wonderful educational site called “Nine Quick Learning Strategies for Success.” The first strategy is to become a more effective listener. The site lists an acrositic called LISTENS which focuses on key strategies to become a better communicator. This site has some great strategies for your next instructor led class.

Listening for Success. John Maxwell’s book, “Becoming a Person of Influence”, is a great resource for improving your listening skills.

John notes that listening is a valuable skill and provides the following benefits

1. Shows respect

2. Builds relationships

3. Increases knowledge

4. Generates ideas

5. Builds loyalty

These benefits become apparent rather quickly when you make a concerted effort to listen to others.

Listening to God. Sometimes in the day to day battle of life one can really lose perspective. I find that reading the bible and praying are very helpful to refocus my life. But one of the things that is really key is to “Listen” to God. Listen for that quiet voice and direction. Sometimes the world and its distractions are so noisy that it drowns out God’s voice. I’ve found that I need to be quiet and listen.

Real “listening” is a learned skill. Take some time this week to listen to others. You’ll be amazed at what you hear.

Chris Bailey over at Soulful Work is seeking ideas to prepare for the first week on a new job. His new position is “membership director” and he wants some meaningful suggestions to help him reach out to his new co-workers. I did a little blog searching today and came up with some great posts that are just sure to make his first day a special one.

Bert over at Open Loops is running a trifecta of bad ideas to lose friends and alienate people with e-mail. What better way to start a job than a barrage of spam, or possibly a huge 10 meg file attachment to the whole company. I’m sure Chris would be wise to stay clear of these ideas and just send a “Hi, I’m Chris” e-mail instead.

Chris will probably want to get his new crew onboard with a rousing Powerpoint presentation. Fill each screen to the brim with bullet points and lots of text. Use generic fonts and lots of big words. Or he could go over to the “Beyond Bullet Points” blog by Cliff Atkinson and get some real pointers and create a remarkable presentation. For additional help he should visit Jason Womak’s post on “Learning to present” where he will find some great thoughts about this fine art.

After all of this activity, Chris may find that his batteries are running low. He may get a charge out of Lisa Haneburg’s post entitled “How big are your batteries?” With his new found energy he’ll already be thinking about the first 100 days. The Slacker Manager has a whole article on the subject.

I imagine with all of the attention he’ll be getting, he might feel like becoming an introvert and hiding out for a while. Dwayne Melancon has a test on his site to see if this is true.

Hopefully with all of the blogging help his first week will be a rousing success.

Good Luck on your new job Chris!

As I think about Father’s Day, I realize I have been a very lucky person. My dad is a person of influence. He has all 10 tenets as listed in John Maxwell’s book, “Becoming a person of influence”. As I write this, my dad is 93 years old. He is still doing well and he still has a positive outlook on life. I’d like to share with you the story of my dad and how his influence has had a profound impact on my life and the lives of many other people.

If my dad has one trait that stands out, it is a positive attitude. He instilled that in me as a young boy, always encouraging me with positive affirmations and telling me that nothing was impossible. The following is a list of ten influential traits that are the key tenets in Maxwell’s book and how my dad modeled these in his life. This is the story of Bill Richardson

1. Integrity with people: Whatever the situation, my dad always believed in telling the truth. I always knew that I could trust my dad. He never lied to me or led me astray. He faced some tough times in his life that he could have taken the easy way out. He never did. His actions always spoke louder than words. My eyes were always open and he led the way. I have had to learn some hard lessons in life about integrity. I am lucky to have a great mentor.

2. Nurtures other people: My dad’s greatest trait is his unwavering positive attitude. This is so contagious and so uplifting that it has changed the lives of many people who have worked with him. Whenever I would get depressed as a kid, my dad always seemed to find a cloud with a silver lining. One of my dads secrets for staying positive was exercise. He would get up every morning at 4:30 and go for a 10-15 mile bike ride. He would always come home energized and ready to face the day.

3. Faith in people: My dad believes in people. He always has a vision of something better. My dad was an artist and a photographer in his working life. He could somehow always paint a picture of a better place. His favorite person was Ronald Reagan and I think my dad always had a vision, like Reagan, of a shining city on a hill.

4. Listens to people: Sometimes we think of great people as being the loud orators in life, the difference makers with words and speeches. My dad was the opposite. He was always quiet, easy going and had a knack of listening to what you would say. He was genuinely interested in what was going on in your life. The one thing I miss the most now, is the long conversations we used to have. Age has taken some of this away.

5. Understands people: Being the listener that he was, dad would have a way of understanding people. As I grew up, he helped me see through phony facades and schemes. He had an uncanny sense about others. He could tell what was true and what wasn’t. He really modeled Covey’s tenet, “seek first to understand, then be understood.”

6. Enlarges people: Anyone who has worked with my dad, even for a short while, would always comment on how positive and easy going he was. He never took himself too seriously. He always gave me the tools to be successful. Many times this was holding back on my wants and then providing my needs.

7. Navigates for other people: My dad’s attitude has always been a beacon. When I would go off on some wild tangent and get in trouble he was always there with a kind, forgiving word. Instead of telling me how stupid I was he’d change the subject and usually teach me something. I think I only saw him really mad once in his life.

8. Connects with people: With a endearing sense of humor, my dad always won people over with laughter. From unquenchable puns to one liners and funny stories, he never took himself too seriously. This broke down many walls. Even at 93 his sense of humor is still paramount. He is still as quick with a joke as he was when I was a kid.

9. Empowers people: Needs over wants. I’ll never forget Christmas when I was a kid. My dad would wrap all of our presents in brown wrapping paper and draw pictures and colorfully write our names on them. Every package was a personalized piece of artwork. One year I wanted a Mini bike like my friends had. They were awful expensive. Under the tree was a large box with my name on it. I just knew it was a mini bike. It was the last package. When I opened it and found it was a blanket I went ballistic. I threw a huge tantrum and made a rather large fool of myself. I ended up on the floor crying and only when I looked up did I notice a huge package under the couch. I made a rather quick recovery and opened the package. It was a large reflector telescope. One that would lead me to a love of astronomy. Father knew best.

10. Reproduces other Influencers: My dad has influenced many lives. I think he has influenced me the most of all. If I can give back any of the things he taught me, I’d like to share them on this site.

Dad I love you, Happy Fathers Day!