Destiny is not a matter of
chance; it is a matter of
choice.

WINSTON CHURCHILL

ARE YOU DRIVEN
TO CONSTANTLY IMPROVE?

You’ve come to the right place.

Here you’ll find models, methods, practices, and processes
to help you develop the right focus, create the right environment,
build the right team, and embody the right commitment.
To get the right results.

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Commitment

Categories Commitment, Focus

The Three Rules for Success!

Business is so complex. If only they could boil it down to a few, simple rules for success.

They can. And they have. The authors of a recent HBR article looked at over 25,000 companies across 44 years and deduced … dadada, daaaaa … the three rules for success! (Caution: You may not want to get too excited yet.)

Rule number one: Better before cheaper. OK, hard to break into or upend a market with a so-so product regardless of the price. Got it.

Rule number two: Revenue before cost. No revelation here. You can’t efficiency your way to success if you don’t have revenue. Get the lifeblood flowing before you obsess over cost.

Rule number three: There are no other rules. Cute. I guess “The Two Rules of Success” seemed a touch light for a title, so they came up with this third rule.

So there you have it. Feel better now? No, me neither.

Think I’ll stick with my three rules for success: Develop and sustain the right focus. Continually create the right environment. And get the right people. Do those three things with ruthless consistency and your people will do what it takes to win.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment, Focus

The Four Levels of Brand Equity

Last week I provided three benchmarks to test the strength of your brand. This week: what is the value, the equity, in a strong brand? Consider the Brand Pyramid TM shown above.

1) Awareness

If the people who you want to know about your brand don’t know about it, even when they see or hear your name, then congratulations, you have zero brand equity. But if they recognize your name or, even better, can recall it, then at least you have some brand equity.

2) Associations

Your brand has more value if people have positive associations with it. Meaning, what they think and feel about your organization and offerings, and more importantly what they think and feel about themselves when they engage you.

3) Attraction

Your brand has even greater equity if it creates attraction during the buying process. Do they merely consider you? Or do they prefer you? Will they explicitly request you? Most powerfully, will they insist on using you?

4) Advocacy

If people are asked, will they recommend you? Even better, will they promote your brand even if they’re not asked? If so, you’ve reached the top of the pyramid.

Today, how much equity is there in your brand? To compete and win, how much equity does there need to be? Build the pyramid.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment, Focus

The Three Attributes of a Strong Brand

How strong is your brand? Here are three benchmarks against which to test it:

1) Focused and Memorable

It‚Äôs often said that you can‚Äôt be all things to all people. You can‚Äôt be both Courvoisier and Coca Cola. Every strong brand is known for something. That something has to be memorable. It can‚Äôt be convoluted and it can‚Äôt be too conceptual. What is BMW known for? Performance. That‚Äôs why their tagline is (can you complete it?) ‚Äúthe Ultimate _______  _______.‚Äù

2) Desirably Different

Everyone talks about differentiation but there are many ways to differentiate yourself that are irrelevant (or even offensive) to the market. You have to be different in a desirable way. Colgate Kitchen Entrees, BIC disposable underwear, and Harley-Davidson perfume were all different. Quick test: desirable or not?

3) Ruthlessly Consistent

If you crave a burger from time to time and you find yourself traveling, you want to know that the Big Mac in Austin will taste like the Big Mac in Boston. Your desire is based on an expectation and if your experience doesn’t match it then you’re disappointed with the brand. With strong brands, your brand experience consistently matches your expectations.

How does your brand measure up against these three attributes? And which attribute should you strengthen to be more competitive?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

The Unintended, Unrecognized and Unforgiveable Consequences of Failure

Most organizational change initiatives fail. Statistics bear this out regardless of the type of initiative.

So is there a hidden cost of failure? Absolutely. When change initiatives fail you create a track record of failure. You build an expectation of failure. You establish an acceptance of failure. And you create a culture of failure. Failure becomes the norm.

Hold on, you think, we don’t exactly fail. And it’s not like we fail all the time. We’ve made progress in a lot of areas. There are things we get done.

That’s it? That’s your defense? And you’re the leader?

The real cost of failure is that people rationalize anything less than success. Starting with you. And when you’ve created a culture of failure how easy is it to inspire your people to execute the next big thing? Good luck. No, great luck, because you’re going to need it.

Look back at your change initiatives over the past couple of years. What kind of culture have you created?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

Believe

The New Year. It brings promise, ambition, energy, resolve. It’s a time for commitment. And to be intensively committed you have to believe.

Not just believe in the result, but believe that you can and will do the things necessary to achieve the result. That you’ll do what you know you should do even when you don’t feel like doing it. That you’ll resist distraction and diversion, and keep focused on the prize. That you’ll make the extra effort after the others have gone home. That you’ll turn it around if things are going poorly. And that you’ll fight complacency if things are going well.

The power of belief isn’t that belief creates reality. It’s that belief creates the confidence that you’ll consistently take action to create the reality you want. It was Muhammad Ali who said that when belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.

How deep is your conviction? Do you believe this is your year to shine?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

The Deceit of Inconsistency

We want to believe. When someone accomplishes the extraordinary, through extreme struggle against crushing odds, we’re deeply moved by their spirit. We feel triumphant for their success.

We want to believe.

Which is why it’s devastating when someone who we have believed in turns out not to be who they seemed.

Like with Lance.

His story of course is tremendously inspiring. His battle with testicular, lung and brain cancer. Facing poor odds of survival. Overcoming his cancer through surgery, chemo and an intense will. His unparalleled, seven consecutive Tour de France triumphs. The half-a-billion dollars raised through his LiveStrong foundation. If ever there were an inspiring story, this was it.

And now we feel deceived. Disheartened. Yes, his foundation still does a tremendous amount of good. And, yes, he is not alone in the cycling world to have been judged guilty of cheating. But we held him to a higher standard. Because he so forcefully claimed to hold himself to a higher standard. Yet his character, it seems, is inconsistent with his claims.

You have been entrusted as a leader. Be very mindful of what you say and what you do. Your credibility, your effectiveness, your legacy is at stake.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

They Hear What You Do

Ever experienced a situation when a leader says one thing but does another? Kills their credibility, doesn’t it? Why? Because their actions are inconsistent with their words. It seems dishonest.

When a person’s words and actions are in conflict, which tell you more about that person? Of course, their actions.

If you want to change behavior, then lead by example – consistently role model the desired behavior. Good teachers know that showing is more powerful than telling. Gandhi said, “Be the change that you wish to see in the world.”

As a leader you are continually being watched and evaluated. In the end, your people may listen to what you say, but they hear what you do.

Your thoughts?

Michael

 

 

Categories Commitment

The High-Performance Leader

High-performance athletes continually push the limits of the possible. What can we learn from them to become high-performance leaders?

1. A Holistic Approach to Success

It takes more than speed to be a great sprinter. It takes more than strength to be a great weightlifter. And it takes more than experience to be a great leader.

Success in any field increasingly requires a range of abilities, traits and skills. In athletics, that might include cardio endurance, muscular power, agility, balance, emotional control, attentional control and tactical thinking. For leaders, it means vision, interpersonal skills, pressure management, drive, time management, the ability to execute … to name just a few.

A commitment to high-performance leadership is a commitment to identifying the factors that drive success, assessing how well you measure up, and then taking action to excel in the areas you need to excel, and become sufficient in the areas you need to become sufficient.

2. It Takes a Team

High-performance athletes have coaches, trainers, nutritionists, massage therapists, sport psychologists and more. Every element of performance requires expertise and for every element there are specialists.

You can’t become a high-performance leader on your own. Recognizing this is strength not a weakness. Do you have top-tier coaches, advisors and consultants on your team?

3. Everything is Positive

Really? Does this mean you paint a happy face on every loss, failure and disaster? No, it means you reorient your mindset. Every result is information. Every experience can be used to drive improvement. Ask: What can I learn from this? How do I use this to become even stronger?

High-performance rarely happens by chance. It almost always happens by design. Are you committed to becoming one of the elite?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

Committed Enough to Do What's Uncomfortable

Most leaders believe they are strongly committed to “winning” however they define it. What about you? Are you committed enough to do what’s uncomfortable?

Here’s a one-question commitment test: Have you more often made the mistake of letting people go too soon or too late?

Guess what almost every leader says? Right. Too late. And almost every leader looking back on their career will say they wish they had acted sooner.

If you’re truly committed to winning then you have to embrace being uncomfortable. Which means not hanging on too long.

Deep down you know what you need to do. Now do it.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

How to Overcome Adversity

Overcoming adversity. Yes, it’s a cliché. But that doesn’t make it any less important for leaders who are committed to succeeding.

Just ask the New York Giants. With a 6-6 record on December 11, and down by 12 points on the road with under six minutes to play, they were on the brink of oblivion. But a stirring comeback win kept their playoff hopes alive.

They needed to win their final two regular season games just to get to 9-7 and hope that they might make the playoffs. A sliver of a hope because in 2010 their 10-6 record wasn’t good enough. The Giants responded and won both games handily.

Then after a playoff victory over Atlanta they faced the task of having to defeat the top two teams in their conference on the road to get to the Super Bowl. And they did. Finally, they faced the most dominant team of the past decade in the big game. They suffered the letdown of squandering an early lead by giving up 17 straight points … but maintained their composure and came back for an inspired win.

When asked how his team could crawl out of the grave so many times, Coach Tom Coughlin said simply, “Anything is possible for those who believe.”

Look in the mirror and ask yourself: How do I respond when the chips are down? How do I want to respond?

To be 100% committed 100% of the time regardless of the circumstance requires complete, total, absolute, unwavering belief that you can achieve your goal.

Do you believe?

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

Ruthless Consistency and Intentional Flexibility

If you’re a regular reader of this blog you know my core philosophy regarding organizational performance, execution and change: ruthless consistency. Organizations that develop the right focus, get the right people and create the right environment are organizations that win.

Now some might think that ruthless consistency means doing the same things the same way all of the time, taking a mindlessly repetitive approach to whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish.

Let me be clear: what ruthless consistency means is that your intentions and actions, however varied they may be, always are consistent with winning.

Different situations call for different approaches. Organizations should be flexible. They need to experiment and innovate. And they should cultivate freethinking. If a reasonable expectation is that a different approach will produce better results, that’s ruthless consistency.

Both ruthless consistency and intentional flexibility are desirable. And consistent.

Your thoughts?

Michael

Categories Commitment

What I Learned from Mr. Olympia

Frank watched closely as I did a set of bench press. I thought my lifting was clean and technically correct. But when I finished he just shook his head in disapproval. When Frank Zane, a three-time Mr. Olympia, shows his disapproval, best to take it seriously.

“What’s wrong?” I asked, puzzled with his reaction.

“You’re quitting when you’re half done. You’re letting the weight down too quickly, there’s no tension as you’re lowering it.” Then the clincher, “If you want to see dramatic results, you have to finish the job and do complete reps.”

Quitting when half done? I thought bench press was all about how much you could lift, not how much you could lower! But Frank was right. If strength gains and muscle development were the goal, then I was throwing away half my workout.

Which got me thinking about how organizations operate. How often do we quit when we’re half done? When we’ve created the plan but haven’t executed it? When we’ve wowed them at the trade show but haven’t followed up? When we’ve made a key decision but haven’t taken action? Does any of this sound familiar?

Don’t quit when you’re half done. Like Mr. Olympia said, if you want to see dramatic results, you have to finish the job.

Your thoughts?

Michael

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