HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM LOUD! CREATIVE
Tags: Branding, Brian Tracy, Business, Dale Carnegie, Harry Beckwith, Jerry Porras, Jim Collins, Keith Ferrazzi, LOUD! Creative, Malcom Gladwell, Marketing, Matthew Kelly, Michael Gerber, Patrick Lencioni, sales, Seth Godin, Zig Ziglar
First, I want to wish each and every client and reader a Happy New Year. I sincerely hope that 2008 proves to be the best and most prosperous year ever for you, your families and your businesses. I am grateful for your friendships.
For me, 2007 has been a journey filled with growing and learning. As you may already know… my intention for this blog is for it to be a
no-cost, value-add resource for you, and your business or organization. It’s here that I share from my experiences, my client’s experiences, and the various resources from which I study and read.
As you endeavor to grow and develop in 2008, I thought it seemed a thoughtful gesture to share with you some of the books I’ve discovered and studied personally… and from which I post to this blog quite frequently. I hope this is helpful. I recommend all of them.
Please feel free to leave your comments. Don’t be inhibited to call me at my office should there be anything I can do for you. Again, Happy New Year !!! Congratulations on all your successes, and may you have so many more.
Brian
BRIAN WEBB’S RECOMMENDED READING LIST
(not necessarily in this order)
ALL MARKETERS ARE LIARS Author: Seth Godin
SELLING THE INVISIBLE – A FIELD GUIDE TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith
THE FOUR OBSESSIONS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY EXECUTIVE
Author: Patrick Lencioni
THE DREAM MANAGER Author: Matthew Kelly
THE DIP Author: Seth Godin
THE TIPPING POINT Author: Malcom Gladwell
E-MYTH REVISITED Author: Michael E. Gerber
E-MYTH MASTERY Author: Michael E. Gerber
DEATH BY MEETING Author: Patrick Lencioni
SECRETS OF CLOSING THE SALE Author: Zig Ziglar
THE INVISIBLE TOUCH, THE FOUR KEYS TO MODERN MARKETING Author: Harry Beckwith
WHAT CLIENTS LOVE, A FIELD GUIDE TO GROWING YOUR BUSINESS Author: Harry Beckwith
GETTING REAL Author: 37 Signals
HOW TO WIN FRIENDS & INFLUENCE PEOPLE Author: Dale Carnegie
ADVANCED SELLING STRATEGIES Author: Brian Tracy
THE FIVE TEMPTATIONS OF A CEO Author: Patrick Lencioni
NEVER EAT ALONE Author: Keith Ferrazzi
GOOD TO GREAT Author: Jim Collins
BUILT TO LAST Author: Jim Collins & Jerry Porras
FOUR OBSESSIONS OF AN EXTRAORDINARY EXECUTIVE
I’ve recently completed the book… The Four Obsessions Of An Extraordinary Executive, by Patrick Lencioni. I’d give this book 3 out of 4 stars, and I recommend it to you. As always, Patrick makes his point in the form of a fable. This time, the fable is about 2 competing consulting firms that headquarter in the same town.
For the sake of brevity, I thought I’d summarize what Lencioni advocates as the 4 obsessions.
OBSESSION #1: BUILD AND MAINTAIN A COHESIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM
It’s always about the team, right? Lencioni points out that without obsession 1, the rest doesn’t really matter. It’s crucial to cultivate an environment of trust throughout your team… real trust. He advocates vulnerability, and a loyalty to the company and each other, no matter what.
OBSESSION #2: CREATE ORGANIZATIONAL CLARITY
Without clarity, confusion and hesitation invade any organization. What are the mission, values and priorities of your organization? Why does the organization exist? What difference does it make in the world? It’s important to avoid the temptation to “market” these items like a slick campaign. It’s a lifestyle from the top… down.
OBSESSION #3: OVER-COMMUNICATE THE IDENTITY AND DIRECTION
You can’t say it enough! Andy Stanley once said that “Vision is like a bucket with holes… they both leak.” It’s imperative to discuss, promote and demonstrate the identity and direction of your organization, in what might seem like excessive doses to your team. Create a strong sense of common purpose and direction that supersedes any departmental or ideological allegiances that your team may have. It’s as simple as 1, 2, 3… 1. Repetition, 2. Simple Messages & 3. Multiple Mediums.
OBSESSION #4: REINFORCE ORGANIZATIONAL CLARITY THROUGH HUMAN SYSTEMS
Communication alone will not reinforce clarity. There are 4 primary human systems that serve to institutionalize an organization’s sense of clarity.
1. HIRING PROFILES: Look for candidates that will fit within the organizational culture. Ask the right questions, and avoid making costly hiring mistakes that sometimes take months and years to correct.
2. PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: Help your employees to identify opportunities for growth and development. This system should be customized to provoke meaningful discussions between managers and employees about relevant issues they’re dealing with on a daily basis.
3. REWARDS & RECOGNITION: Reward and recognize your team as they consistently and successfully exhibit behaviors and actions that support and align with the direction, values and success of the organization. These not only provide incentives for your employees to exhibit the right behaviors, but they also serve as a high-profile means of promoting the values themselves.
4. DISMISSAL: It’s crucial to only have those on the team that are truly on the team. You don’t want the right person on the wrong bus. Don’t allow one apple to spoil the rest. Act fairly, but quickly.
DEATH BY MEETING
Would your staff rather walk through fire than come to your weekly staff meetings? Do your meetings leave everyone feeling dissatisfied or worse… disgruntled? Does your staff talk more “about” your meetings afterwards by whispering in the hallway, than they do “in” the meeting itself?
Meetings are such a critical element of effective organizational communication. I’ve just completed a great book; entitled
Death By Meeting, by Patrick Lencioni.
This book; written in classic Lencioni form, takes you through a fable about a leading video game corporation that aquires its smaller counterpart competitor with a sports-centered niche in the marketplace. This aquisition leaves the CEO from the smaller company desperately reevaluating his approach to staff meetings after coming under heavy scrutiny from his newly found CFO.
Anyway, I’ll let you discover the story for yourself, but I thought I’d leave you with this highly condensed summary that highlights Lencioni’s formula and regiment for healthy, productive, stimulating meetings that actually inspire, rejuvenate and add value to your business or organization. Enjoy.
MEETING #1 – THE DAILY CHECK-IN: The daily check-in requires that team members get together, standing up, for about 5 minutes every morning to report on their activities for that day. It’s a great way to keep everyone in the loop with what’s going on.
MEETING #2 – THE WEEKLY TACTICAL: This tactical meeting should last 45 to 90 minutes. There are two crucial goals: (1.) Resolution of issues, and (2.) Reinforcement of clarity.
MEETING #3 – THE MONTHLY STRATEGIC: The length of a monthly strategic meeting will vary depending on the topic(s). However, it’s advisable to schedule at least two hours per topic. This will give everyone the confidence to table critical issues knowing they will be addressed… and more importantly, that a plan to resolve them will be discussed.
MEETING #4 – THE QUARTERLY OFF-SITE REVIEW: Effective off-sites provide executives an opportunity to regularly step away from the daily, weekly, even monthly issues that occupy their attention so they can review their business in a more holistic, long-term focus and approach.
THE MYTH OF PERFECTION
It’s so easy for your business or organization to end up in a stall because you’re helplessly paralyzed by your desire for perfection. In his national best selling book; “The Five Temptations Of A CEO,” Patrick Lencioni warns about the temptation to always choose certainty over clarity. Many times the best tactical move… is simply to move. Do something. Avoid the detrimental trap of constantly waiting for more and more and more information before making decisions to move forward. I call this trap the “Ready-Aim-Aim Syndrome.”
So where does this temptation come from? Fear. Fear that executing the plan or moving forward, without volumes of documentation guaranteeing imminent success, will somehow show your superiors, colleagues, direct reports and the world that your plan was not perfect. So rather than risk judgment, a bruised ego, or being labeled a fraud… you do nothing. You wait, and your business or organization suffers.
Many outstanding big picture thinkers are always looking for… and burdened by the search for perfection. But too often, the path to perfection leads to procrastination, which leads to stagnancy… and ultimately, failure.
Ask yourself these 5 identifier questions…
1. Do you pride yourself on being intellectually precise?
2. Do you prefer to wait for more information rather than making a decision without all of the facts?
3. Do your direct reports seem chronically irritable because you schedule too many meetings and demand too many case studies?
4. Do you enjoy debating details with your direct reports during staff meetings?
5. Do you find yourself repelling action-oriented people?
Don’t let the perfect ruin the good. Ready, Aim, FIRE!