A couple of days ago I was skiing at Lake Tahoe and I shared the Gondola back down the hill with a couple from California who had gone up the mountain to sight-see. I asked them if they skied and they answered with a categorical “No, we’d like to but we’re too old.” Read more…
Popularity: 40% [?]
John Maxwell in his book Your Road Map For Success, refers to a report published in 1986 about a research experiment in a San Francisco school. The Principal called in 3 teachers and said: “because you three teachers are the finest in the system and you have the greatest expertise, we’re going to give you ninety selected high-IQ students and we’re going to let you move these students through this next year at their pace to see how much they can learn.”
The teachers, the students and their parents understandably thought it was a great idea. By the end of the year the students had achieved from 20 to 30 percent better than the other students in the entire San Francisco Bay area! Everyone was delighted. However, the Principal called in the teachers and said: “I have a confession to make. You did not have ninety of the most intellectually prominent students. They were run-of-the-mill students. We took ninety students at random from the system and gave them to you.”
The teachers concluded that their exceptional teaching skill was therefore responsible for the students’ outstanding progress until the Principal said “I have another confession. You’re not the brightest of the teachers. Your names were drawn out of a hat.”
The researcher concluded that the reason both the students and their teachers performed at an exceptional level is the attitude they each embraced. They had an attitude of positive expectation and confidence in each other. They performed well because they believed they could!
I wonder how much of our own under-performance can be attributed to our failure to believe in ourselves and our colleagues. Henry Ford’s statement: “If you believe you can or you believe you can’t you’re probably right” has become cliche but I think it’s a natural law. I’d be interested in what you think.
Popularity: 27% [?]
Time-based pricing is the most common way professional service firms charge for their services. A case can be made for this method of pricing but that is not my purpose in this post. What I would like to share are my thoughts about are some of the challenges I see with this method of pricing and how it has negatively impacted firms more than their clients. Read more…
Popularity: 80% [?]
For several years I have been expressing the view that outsourcing abroad some of the less valuable aspects of compliance services is (or should be) an inevitability. I still firmly believe that will happen but I can’t help being amazed at the resistance that is being shown to it from (some) professional accounting bodies, governments and most firms. Read more…
Popularity: 75% [?]
In a couple of days I go to Las Vegas to participate in our Members Annual Conference. I’m presenting a session I’ve called “It all starts with a conversation.” The theme of the session is that as advisers our job is to effect change for the good by helping our clients achieve the full potential of their business. A key element of that process is the way we construct and deliver dialog i.e. the conversation. Read more…
Popularity: 61% [?]
Interesting question? I doubt whether too many people would even bother asking it for the simple reason that the answer is self-evident …. as long as it takes! Read more…
Popularity: 51% [?]
I have a house at South Lake Tahoe at the foot of the Heavenly Ski Resort and there is room for just 5 people (bunk style) to join me for a week of work and fun. The work part will be the development of your business plan for 2010. This will be the serious part of the week and we’ll work on that as a group from 2pm to 7pm, Monday through Friday. In the mornings we’ll ski or chill any way you like. Read more…
Popularity: 59% [?]
Selling is simply something we all do to get other people to do what we’d like them to do either for your gratification or theirs. If your primary purpose is “your” gratification you will not achieve much success as a salesperson. On the other hand if you are motivated by a desire to help people you won’t achieve much unless you’re a success as a salesperson. Read more…
Popularity: 53% [?]
I’ve been working on the leadership component of the new Boot Camp program and have given it a major re-work because I believe that leadership is the principal success driver in any organization. Anyway, one of the things I really want to emphasize is the need for people to focus on their strengths rather than their weaknesses. This may seem counter-intuitive but it makes all the sense in the world. Read more…
Popularity: 65% [?]