Category: Random Thoughts

Attitude Influences Outcome

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.

Talent is not enough

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. Continue reading “Talent is not enough”

Success, goals and perserverence

There’s a dog race that starts in early March at Anchorage and ends in Nome.  It’s called the Iditarod and is described as the last great race in the world.  Typically 70-90 mushers enter with a team of 14-16 dogs.  The race is run over 1,100 miles (1,830 kms), takes between 9 to 29 days to complete and was first held in 1973 to celebrate the heroic performance of a group of mushers who delivered serum to Nome in 1925 to combat a diphtheria epidemic that was killing kids. Continue reading “Success, goals and perserverence”

An old Cherokee story

The Cherokee Indians, as is the case with all native people, use insightful stories to convey meaning and seek understanding of people and their behavior.  One such story that the elders tell their children is about fighting wolves.  They say that inside every person are two wolves constantly fighting.  One of these wolves is an evil character who is angry, jealous, lazy, impatient, self-centered, egotistical, negative, irresponsible and unforgiving.  The other wolf is loving, kind, generous, humble, caring, enterprising, positive and responsible.   Typically, a child when told about this will ask “which wolf wins?”  To which question the elder will answer “which ever one you feed.” Continue reading “An old Cherokee story”

Remember when you were a kid and anything was possible?

I well remember when I was a kid thinking anything was possible.  Superman was my hero and I was convinced that I could fly like him so with a raincoat attached to my neck, a 15 foot ledge to spring from and a tree branch only 10 feet away I proceeded to test that thought.  Needless to say my broken wrist confirmed that, at that time anyway, I quite obviously still had some flight training to do.  In later years I discovered that airline assisted flight was more comfortable and convenient. Continue reading “Remember when you were a kid and anything was possible?”

Lessons from the Greatful Dead

Several years ago I attended a Grateful Dead concert in San Jose with a bunch of Canadian friends.  We were accompanied by about 20,000 other people most of whom describe themselves as Deadheads—which is another name for extremely loyal (bordering on fanatical!) fan who range in age from teenagers to the oldest baby boomers. The concert was incredible in every respect and it really got me thinking about organizations, leadership, customer loyalty and most importantly synergy. Continue reading “Lessons from the Greatful Dead”

No show appointments: Medicos might have an answer

You know how frustrating it is to have a client call at the last minute and cancel an appointment or worse still, just not show up.  Not only does it negatively impact your productivity it can be soul destroying when you consider what you could have organized to do with that time.  No matter how you look at it, time is our limiting (and non-storeable) resource.

Our friends in the health care industry seem to have got a handle on this issue.  Dentists and doctors now routinely contact you the day before your appointment to confirm that you will be there.  This serves as a reminder to you as well as an opportunity for the service provider to slot another patient in.  Could you do the same thing?  Do you do that?

Recently, I noticed an interesting no-show policy used by the University Health System here where I live in Nevada:

“You are required to call our office to cancel 24 hours prior to your appointment.  This allows other patients who are in need of a doctor’s care an available appointment.  If you fail to cancel 24 hours prior to your appointment you will be assessed a $25 fee which will be added to your account and must be paid in full prior to any follow up visits.  If you fail to show up for a scheduled appointment more than twice during a one year period, you may be asked to seek care from another service provider.”

This is not what you’d call a very customer-friendly policy (not that you’d expect that with most of the US health care facilities) however, it does make some sense.  When clients fail to show up for meetings they are wasting your time.  If they are serial time wasters you should seriously consider telling them “to seek care from another service provider.”  Just a thought.