Ohhhh those pesky Millennials. Sales down? Blame the Millennials. Can’t find someone to work late? Millennials. Increased wait time for your drink at Starbucks? Millennials again. (Well, this one is probably true and is my main gripe…)
Every generation likes to blame the other for their woes. And it seems that you can’t blink without coming across another article blaming Millennials for something. Most of the gripes are nonsense, however...
Early in my sales career, I landed a huge deal and hit 230% of quota. And got a nice 5-figure commission to go with it. And then something interesting happened: My sales manager raised my quota. Now I was expected to hit 230% of quota EVERY month. Uh oh….
Has this ever happened to you where you achieve a goal then become “successfully miserable” because you’re caught in your own “success trap”? As a type-A high-achiever, I’ve fought to get out of my own success trap many times. Now as a business transformation keynote speaker and leadership coach, I often speak to audiences and coach high-performing executives on how to make better decisions to ensure they do not become successfully miserable.
Decisions. Decisions. Decisions. We all have important decisions to make in business and life. And we all put off making important decisions for one reason or another. (I once put off making a decision to move for FIVE years because I really did not like the beautiful home I had just purchased.)
So there I was holding a live hand grenade. And I could NOT remember if it was “thumb clip, pull pin” or “pull pin, thumb clip”. I was 18-years old going through Marine Corps bootcamp and was frozen with fear. Somehow I managed to rip the safety pin out, and the only thing preventing the grenade from exploding and killing me and my fellow Marines was my clammy grip on it.
As a business transformation keynote speaker, I often share this story with audiences to illustrate the point that decisions in business and life are like that hand grenade: You’re either going to hold it, drop it, or throw it. In other words, you’re either going to make a good decision, bad decision, or no decision.
A recent NYT article on Los Angeles Ram’s punter, Johnny Hekker, explains how he embraces the Zen concept of mushin to achieve a level of precision and performance previously unheard of in the N.F.L.
Mushin is a Japanese word that means “no mind”. I like to define it as “no distractions” or “clarity”. Clarity that leads to better leadership decisions — especially when the pace is fast, the stakes are high, and the outcome unclear. Just like on any given Sunday when 350 pound men are trying to crush and dominate other 350 pound men in a mere seconds. Or when your boss is breathing down your neck to hit 150% of quota, or to ensure you don’t go over budget, or to have that super important memo done by tomorrow morning.
I just spent the last 30 minutes on the phone with my cable-telecom provider’s customer (dis) service center. The experience was awful. I had a simple question about my bill that went unanswered, unresolved and left me unsettled.
As a communication expert and business transformation keynote speaker, I pride myself on the ability to hold a polite, patient, and productive conversation. And as it turns out, this “soft skill” — the ability to communicate clearly in a productive way — can make the difference between your company succeeding or failing: A recent LinkedIn survey of 291 hiring managers found the lack of soft skills is limiting their company’s productivity.
Well Thanksgiving is over. How’d it go — pants fitting a little tighter and wallet a little lighter? What about all that time eating and talking with family, friends, and strangers? Did you “tune out” everyone so you could dive into the turkey, or, find yourself constantly trying to get the attention of your favorite cousin because she was too busy doing the same to you?
I’ve seen this happen time and time again over the holiday season when family and friends get together. And as a business transformation keynote speaker and executive coach, I’ve seen it happen repetitively in businesses across all industries and sizes — customers, clients, and colleagues don’t feel “heard” by their leadership. And leadership can’t understand why their customers, clients, and colleagues are unhappy and unproductive.
During Marine Corps basic training, every recruit has to go through gas chamber training. When I went through bootcamp, this is how it happened: 40 recruits lined up wearing gas masks and shuffled into a big bland building filled with thick yellow CS gas. Once inside, we did a series of calisthenics to show that, thank goodness, the gas mask worked! Then the Drill Instructors commanded us to remove our gas masks. While still inside the gas chamber. What happened next, is seared in my mind forever….
I once put off making a very important decision about selling my house and moving for five years. I bought a beautiful row house in a very trendy part of Washington, DC, moved in, and immediately hated the place. The house was fine. However, I didn’t have anything in common with my neighbors, I didn’t really care much for the nice yet boring neighborhood, and to be honest the house was just too big.
Have you ever put off making a decision for a couple days, couple weeks, or like me, a couple years even? We all do it. As a matter of fact, think right now, what is one business or life decision you are putting off making? What is keeping you up at night? What tough conversation with a business associate or loved one are you avoiding?
As a keynote speaker, I teach successful professionals how to make better decisions to leap their career, company, and community forward with balance — not burnout. I often share the results of a fascinating experiment called “The Pike Syndrome”, to my audiences as an analogy for a fatal decision-making trap business leaders fall into: one of historical bias and/or assumptions.
Have you ever been at work uninspired, disengaged, and bored? Time creeps by one agonizing second at a time. Many years ago before I was a keynote speaker, I was in my cubicle at work and started to yawn. Thinking it was almost lunch and lacking any motivation, I glanced at my watch. 9:17 AM. What?! It felt like I had been sitting in my little felt box for at least five hours. Ugh.
I recently delivered a keynote speech to a very successful high-tech company. Their senior leadership was meeting for a two-day planning session which allowed them to also spend time together bonding and building deeper team relationships.
One reoccurring challenge I often hear from elite organizations is their never-ending struggle to make the right decision to help them attract and retain top talent. And this business was no different.
In 1999, the number two search engine behind Yahoo! was a company called Excite. (Other throwback search engines at the time were Lycos, Web Crawler, and Alta Vista.) Excite had the opportunity to purchase a little start up called “Google” in 1999 for $750,000 and about 1% of Excite. Turns out the founder of Google, Larry Paige, wanted to sell it so he could go back to Stanford and finish his PhD.
I had never been sick a day in my life until at age 34 I found “the lump”. I had testicular cancer. Less than 24 hours after my initial diagnosis, I had emergency surgery to remove my right testicle.
Following three months of brutally aggressive chemotherapy, I needed one more procedure to be cancer-free: Surgery to remove half of my left lung. The surgery was successful. However, I was left confined to a wheelchair unable to do ANYTHING, including going to the bathroom by myself.
As a keynote speaker, I often share the classic children’s fairytale, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”, as an analogy for a fatal decision-making trap business leaders fall into — one of extremes. This porridge is too hot, this one is too cold, this one is just right. Goldilocks then struggles deciding between three chairs, three beds, and who knows what else.
In other words, Goldilocks suffered from the decision making trap of extremes: Having too many options to choose from, or not enough. Taking too long to make a decision (analysis paralysis), or not taking enough time (extinct by instinct). Having too many chefs in the kitchen or not enough.
In the business world, if you and your leadership team suffer from “The Goldilocks Trap”, it can be absolutely fatal.
