Time to get a teensy bit philosophical again…here are some thoughts around business and life and how we can grow in both. Blablabla.
Focus
Life doesn’t give you oceans of time. Become something today. It takes one minute to change your mind. One minute. Your new life can start now – all you need is a little spark called determination.
Meetings
Every meeting should have a purpose. Decision/learning. It should be evaluated(!) afterwards. Was it wasting everybody’s time?
Can you be nice and still successful in business/life?
I sure hope so. I’m a nice guy. I still want to think I’m pretty successful and want to be even more so. Bulldozing shouldn’t be a good way to success. It should be punished.
Be a Giraffe
Hold your head high, observe yourself, the competition, the world and sniff out new opportunities. Eat leaves. (That might be a stretch).
Action
Stop being negative, stop talking about what’s bad – DO something about it.
Why I chose the keyword ACTION? It’s because life and business and work is all about doing and reacting, and there’s already too much talking – which means there’s plenty of bullshitting. Especially in sales, business, and meetings.
Honesty
Be honest. Be clear. Both when you communicate to employees, colleagues, customers and partners. Don’t promise something there isn’t. Never disappoint – Impress! Under promise and Over deliver.
You are responsible
You might complain. You might say your boss is an asshole/moron/piece of shit. But in the vast majority of the cases, YOU can change things around. YOU can ask the questions. YOU can drive the change. YOU can take charge. It will likely work and if it doesn’t – at least you tried. If you don’t try – don’t complain. You are in charge of your destiny.
You are the product/brand
You might be employed, but you are employed for YOUR skills. See yourself as a service partner, a consultant selling your skills. Aim to be the best and you’ll always have rewarding work. You are an asset. Talent is everything.
And that’s why HR is working also with asset management.
Interns
Every company wants people to work for free, that’s obvious. But many companies treat their interns like idiots and make them pour the coffee and compile boring and unnecessary reports instead of doing actual work. If you accept interns on the right basis, if you interview them and treat them like employees and actually spend some REAL time on them – they can do a lot more for your business than bring you coffee. They can be the motor of innovation and new thinking. And if you take time to coach them and give them real assignments they can prove to great talent for hiring after the internship or later.
Excellence
Make your customers smile. This is how good your product or idea should be. Smile.
Always improve, always progress. Look at yourself as objectively as possible. Don’t beat yourself down too hard, but don’t be too nice either.
The client always wants more. The competition is growing, the offering gets better and better and the service provider needs to listen to customers and step up.
