Thoughtful Kick Start Podcast

At the Cornell Entrepreneurship Summit on October 11th, some inspiring leaders unveiled some of their success secrets.

Brian Distelburger - President of Yext, create his whole presentation around the concept of a maze.

Nirah Shah and Steve Conine – the Wayfair guys, showed videos of them spoofing Batman and Breaking Bad to create a fun culture. Something’s working as the home-goods retailer has grown to $600 MM in sales in only 10 years since their founding.

Josh Wolfe of Lux Capital showed slides of how tech entrepreneurship follows science fiction, with pictures including Jean Luc Picard, captain of the Starship Enterprise, using a “tablet” in the mid 90’s, 20 years before the advent of the ipad.

But the most fun of all was Randy Garutti, who I called the “Bruce Springsteen” of the day. The CEO of Shake Shake started his presentation with a “lead singer” style call out “Who wants to have fun?”… and unsatisfied with the loudness of the answer, he asked again “WHO’S READY FOR SOME FUN!!!” Shake Shack is

Shack is thriving.

Transformational leadership is an exciting angle from which to view business – and it can’t be done without knowing that people would just rather have fun at work than not.

Fun at Work may be considered by some to be very frivolous, however studies have shown that happy employees are productive employees. Studies have also shown that when employees are given support to deal with personal concerns, they are more productive, creative, and innovative. Today we are taking happiness at work to the next level and applying the concepts of fun, sport, games, puzzles, and the fun of all that, and applying it to the work itself. Even the most serious matters can be energized by some of the concepts of playing a game.

You can do that by: 1) Creating a Frame 2) Establishing Rules 3) Having a Skill 4) Having a “Let’s play to win” spirit. 5) Win or Lose – Kick off your shoes, learn and grown, and review the plays!

Successful transformational leadership, interpersonal communication and business development are all highly grounded in a solid understanding of reality – of what’s really happening in the world.

The balance between statistics and stories is important to strike when making a point or making a case.

Some folks are more comfortable with analytics, facts and figures. They could benefit from drawing out the story that the numbers tell.

Other folks are better at weaving tales and telling stories that can evoke emotion, but lack the analytical substantiation that is necessary to sway the “prove it to me” crowd.

How might you strike the balance to further your pursuits. Listen here for more insights on the matter.

We all make mistakes. We’ve all heard that it’s good to learn from your mistakes.

Dale Carnegie has suggested: “Your response to mistakes speaks more than the actual mistake. When truly engaged, you will be present after the mistake, take ownership, and learn from the situation.”

Making mistakes breeds innovation, and learning from mistakes locks in experience and confidence.

Listen here for my confession of two mistakes I made and how I turned them around to being opportunities!

I won’t make the mistake of forgetting to ask you about your thoughts or stories on this subject!

“… nearly 100% of CEOs in the survey responded that they actually enjoy the process of receiving coaching and leadership advice,” says David F. Larcker, who led the research team of a new study conducted by the Center for Leadership Development and Research at Stanford Graduate School of Business, Stanford University’s Rock Center for Corporate Governance, and The Miles Group. Nearly two-thirds of CEOs do not receive coaching or leadership advice from outside consultants or coaches, and almost half of senior executives are not receiving any either, the survey reveals.

When asked which is the biggest area for their own personal development, nearly 43% of CEOs rated “conflict management skills” the highest. CEOs seek coaching to learn how to manage conflicting agendas and how to negotiate with the numerous stakeholders.

They also said they want to improve team building, “mentoring skills for developing internal talent” and “sharing leadership/delegation skills.”

The perception is becoming more and more of a reality that everyone's performance can be improved - an athlete's, a senior executive's, a CEO's... etc…

According to Inc. magazine, if you keep your clients for an average of one more month each, your business development activities will yield growth 3% annually! If you keep customers or clients for four more months - that growth reaches double digits,

What's the best way to keep clients and customers satisfied and engaged for longer periods of time in a way that provides added value?

It may seem obvious, but the answer is - provide added value!

And how, you may ask, does one do that in the midst of a busy schedule?

When you remember that it’s more time consuming and costly to get new clients than it is to sustain existing relationships, you’ll find the time.

Remember to GIVE focus to your existing clients, hard-working employees, resourceful team members, well-behaved children, generous sources of referrals, etc... you get the picture? It's that old 80/20 rule

-the best clients often take the least amount of your time,

-the most understanding and flexible family member demands the least attention,

-the most generous sources of referrals ask for the least in return.

Take time to reflect on the stakeholders in your business world and in your life that give the most.

Those are your sources of renewal! Revisit the list of those givers, and schedule time to reach out to them. Give to those givers!

-Write a note, or

-take them out to lunch

- Send an interesting article with YOUR short summary.

-Invite them to a show, a game or a networking event

-Ask them “what’s happening… how’s life treating you – and REALLY listen to the answer.

Giving energy to these sources and focusing on giving to them is fantastically rewarding - gratitude opens doors, more giving begets more giving. More referrals, more sales, more more more! You will start your Fall season from a great place. What are some other ways you can give back to those who are so giving to you?

I LOVE summer. I do a lot of sailing, swimming, biking, hiking and hanging out with good friends. I LOVE the warm weather, the sun, the breezes. I LOVE the time off of work, as much as I love my work. And I love slowing down a whole lot.

Today I’m a little sad that the end of summer is upon us. But TODAY is also a day for getting back in the game. In fact, in the realm of transformational leadership and personal performance, EVERY DAY is a day to get back in the game.

So if you have had a slow season, vacation, or even if you have had a setback and need to return to your mission, here’s how: Make sure you’re crystal clear about what your mission is. What’s your “purpose”? If you‘re not clear, get clear! - (my CD – Who Are You, Inc. is a good resource to help you clarify your mission).

Make sure you know what daily routine will give you your best performance – particularly regarding mental, spiritual and physical wellness practices.

It’s not a new concept. You’ve probably heard the saying “What you don’t measure, you can’t manage.”

Today about 70% of the Fortune 1000 companies use the balanced scorecard to help manage performance.

However, some businesses in the small to mid-market sectors either don’t manage enough – preferring erroneously to support a “family oriented atmosphere” that lacks team management accountability and leads to sub-par interpersonal relationships (family-like bickering) and lack of trust.

At the other extreme of leadership styles, some businesses foster an overwhelming lexicon of three-letter acronyms and reporting structures that become a burden for individuals and groups - a detractor from the focus on performance and service. Too much measuring can make work feel like prison.

Instead, smart, successful businesses use a more balanced approach and some even make it a game. The key is to develop a balanced, limited and meaningful set of a vital few measures – linking ONE for each important internal processes or strategic outcomes. And they should be specific. For example, if you wanted to use a measure to increases in deal flow prospecting, you could apply a specific “rating system” to identify “qualified” prospects and measure the number of 1st and 2nd meetings with qualified deal prospects.

A great example of a firm making this process engaging and effective as a “game” comes from one of the winners “The Best Places to Work in NYC (Crain’s New York). Teams get “points” based on properly entering billable hours into the time-tracking system. Then each “game-winning ” team is treated to a surprise reward. There is no directly “extra pay” for doing this – Dan Pink’s book “Drive” teaches us that after basic needs are met, additional pay is not always a motivator… instead the friendly competition and unknown reward keeps the productivity on this matter high, and the team aspect empowers people to manage themselves and each other, rather than needing extra management attention from above.

In other words - whatever results you want to achieve, make a game of it and make sure to have a reasonable easy to use scorecard and a willingness to treat the matter as a “playing a game to win” rather than a rigid, serious problem to solve.

Napoleon Hill says, "Action is the real measure of intelligence." What about you – what are you trying to accomplish and what means of measurement and tracking can you “right size” to make a difference in your productivity, profitability and engagement. To hear some ideas, listen here:

I know what you’re going to say.

That’s a familiar phrase around some teams, family businesses and other professional and personal relationships.

And sometimes we’re right in knowing how a person would react to a question, request or information.

… however, we could also be wrong.

The time has come for a change. No longer are we going to limit what we have to say or ask… No longer are we only going to communicate what is appropriate or what we think we can handle or what the other person can handle.

The time has come to find an appropriate way to communicate, and to find the courage to handle whatever question, request, or information we have to convey.

And if you begin to believe that all human beings have access to the creativity and courage it takes to communicate in this way, then you’ll soon experience breakthroughs in trust, productivity and eventually a return of fun at work (which works!) Listen here more for examples.

The difference between the word “hard” (when talking about something that’s difficult) and “challenging” is the difference between disempowering and empowering. Take a listen to some thoughts on what happens when we say something’s “hard” and what you can do instead. Prepare to be enlightened.