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© 2010, © 2011 LARRY BROUGHTON, All rights reserved.
There are plenty of examples of bosses, leaders and organizations who fall short of their potential, and never meet the expectations of those in their charge. Scott Adams has made a living pointing these folks out with his wildly popular Dilbert character. Just as often, however, there are those who get stuck in a loop of inaction, for fear of falling short of perfection. The pursuit of excellence, not perfection, should be the goal of every organization and leader. With that in mind, here are 7 keys that will unlock the potential found in every organization.
1. Capture the hearts and minds of all team members & clients with a unique and compelling vision. “Where there is no vision, the people perish.” Proverbs 29:18
2. Encourage open communication between all levels of the organization.
3. Create partnerships between all team members built upon trust, equality, and sharing.
4. Drive learning into every nook and cranny of the organization.
5. Emancipate & reward the action of every team member to increase service and profits. (Watch Dibert’s experience with rewards and bonuses before going on.)
6. Value an appropriate balance between work and family. The single greatest element of high-energy living is finding and respecting that “balance.”
7. Celebrate & have fun! When you stop laughing, you stop thinking. When you stop thinking, you stop learning.
Let me introduce you to my friend, the real Renaissance Man, Darrell Fusaro. From time to time people come into our lives who offer clarity and inspiration–Darrell is one of those people to me. I’m so happy he has supplied us this guest blog post! Learn more about Darrell at DarrellFusaro.com
Once you uncover your mission it’ll seem like you struck gold because it’ll fit like a glove. From that moment on you will be able ignite enthusiasm for what ever it is you desire to accomplish with a gentle reminder rather than a force of will.
Every Superhero has a mission and so do you. But most of us, like myself, have been unaware of it. For years I have been sailing along on the sea of life, going with the flow and enjoying the ride. The Coast Guard taught me to NEVER swim against the current, no matter how great the temptation. I have found that applying this advice to my day to day affairs tends to not just guarantee survival but happiness and success as well. The ability to let go and trust that there is a benevolent order to the universe isn’t easy. It takes a helluva lot of courage and faith to believe in a universe that is on your side. But I am convinced the exercise in faith is worth it. Going back over my life it is clear now that every great and sustainable experience I have had came to me as a direct result of just going along with the flow. It’s also clear that I would have missed some of my most cherished moments if I had forced my own way at the time. Thank God I swam with the current and not against it.
In spite of all this there has always been one nagging problem; I often lacked the drive to act on many of my creative desires. Why at times did I find it so hard to nudge myself forward in order to follow through on what I felt inspired to do? Like drawing a new cartoon, volunteering to speak for a group, or writing an article? Even with the knowledge that doing so would ultimately bring me great satisfaction, I’d be reluctant to take action. Well, now I know the answer – I’ve been ignorant of my mission. Without being conscious of my mission the motivation to follow through on any creative endeavor took EFFORT, a force of will. The problem is this effort sapped all the enjoyment out of it. What was at first an exciting creative pursuit quickly began to feel like a chore. The good news is; now fully aware of my mission I can take action without the burden of “I should,” “I better,” “I must,” or worse, giving up before starting with, “Why bother, what’s the point?” I do this by simply reminding myself of my (recently uncovered) mission. It gives me the lift I need to move forward with ease. Before I reveal my mission let me quickly share how I discovered it.
Within the last few months two of my friends Sage Michael and Larry Broughton have both authored books that highlight the importance of clearly defining your mission. Sage Michael’s new book is titled, “How to Become a Superhero – The Ultimate Guide to the Ultimate You!” and Larry Broughton’s with co-author Phil Dyer, is titled, “Victory – 7 Entrepreneur Success Strategies for Veterans.” Both point out that being able to clearly define your mission will dramatically affect your life. In Larry Broughton’s and co-author Phil Dyer’s, “Victory” they share that being clear about your mission (what they refer to as “vision”) “…provides you with the fuel you need to move forward.” and “… motivates you to keep going forward.” Sage Michael points out that being unaware of your mission leads to getting off track, or worse, getting tangled up in the details. As Sage puts it, a well defined mission statement “helps you decide how to act, what to do, and even what to say, in any situation. This is pure truth. As a Superhero your main function is to act in pursuit of your ideals.” I give credit to both books for inspiring me to finally put forth the effort to uncover mine. I was able to do so by reviewing all the times I was the happiest throughout my life and asking myself in each situation, “What was I doing and why?” This revealed what really motivated me. The specific driving force that brought me the most happiness and with that, success. This made it clear to me exactly what my mission was. So now when I start to falter and ask myself, “Why bother, what’s the point?” I can answer…
“To use every ounce of my talents; inspiring others to rise.” It’s my mission!
Once you uncover your mission it’ll seem like you struck gold and it’ll fit like a glove. What I am trying to say is, if you retrace your life you will see that you have been living by your mission all along. It is and always has been the guiding force of good that generally directed your actions. The key to harnessing its full potential though is to be able to clearly state it for yourself. When you can do that you will be able ignite your enthusiasm at any time with a gentle reminder rather than a force of will. Both books, “Victory” and “How to Become a Superhero” give excellent examples on how to uncover your mission and clearly define it for yourself.
In addition to mine, here are a few more examples of clearly defined missions.
“To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world.” - Nike founder Phil Knight“To make people happy.” - Walt Disney Company
“To preserve Truth, Justice and the American way.” - Superman
Once you feel you have uncovered your mission try it out by subjecting it to Sage Michael’s mission statement test.
You may have heard by now that I’m holding a very cool event next week (with my partner Phil Dyer) at The Georgian Hotel in Santa Monica, CA called the Vetrepreneur Success Intensive.
One of the sessions that I am really looking forward to will be a special Personal Success Interview that I’ll be doing with tv, movie and military icon Gunny R. Lee Ermey (he’s done over 60 movies, including Full Metal Jacket & Mississippi Burning, and had the hit tv shows Mail Call and Lock ‘N Load). Gunny is getting a boatload of attention again recently as the Drill Sergeant Therapist on the funny Geico Insurance commercial (you can see the commercial by clicking here), as he calls a mamby-pamby patient a “Jackwagon.”
Now, not only has Gunny become a cultural icon, but his phrases are becoming part of our lexicon. Need proof? Here’s a picture I found on my friend Darrell Fusaro’s facebook page that was taken at a deli. Crying out loud, it’s “The Jackwagon” sandwich! I LOVE it…and it sounds delicious.
We’re in the FINAL stages of releasing my new book with one of my business partners and co-author, Phil Dyer. We’ve been working around the clock to get this thing in our hands before our upcoming Vetrepreneur Success Intensive in 10 days. Before it reaches the book stores, I wanted to share an excerpt from the book that might connect with most entrepreneurs, leaders and business owners.
Excerpt From Chapter 2 of VICTORY by Broughton & Dyer
During the first Gulf War, General Norman Schwarzkopf and his staff used the intel at his disposal to develop the “Big Left Hook.” The plan? Flank and bypass the bulk of the entrenched Iraqi forces, roll up their flank, engage and destroy their “elite” Republican Guard divisions and cut their supply lines. The Iraqis were so thoroughly defeated that the war was effectively over in 96 hours. The Allies used their intel and analysis to take massive, decisive action!
Inaction is far worse than failure for an entrepreneur. Once you’ve taken action, you may realize you’ve taken a wrong turn. What should you do? Move on! Take course corrective action along the way. Chances are, you’re now smarter and wiser than before you started, so just endeavor not to make the same mistake twice. Further, don’t beat yourself up over the mistakes you make – and you will make them! Finally, whatever you do, don’t listen to the naysayers who say “Why don’t you just get a real job” or otherwise try to tear you down.
Everyone wants their business to get off the ground smoothly. For some, the first time they hit resistance, or when they realize they are heading down the wrong road, they become paralyzed. Sometimes the paralysis results in the inability to take another decisive action step after making a big mistake. Other times, fear comes as a result of running into some resistance; maybe from friends, family, industry “experts” or even competitors. They recoil from the pushback and sit there with their engine idling, going nowhere. Don’t let this happen to you!
Every entrepreneur will have failures (trust us, we know from intimate, first-hand experience). Ben Franklin put it this way: “Success is moving from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.” It’s crucial you understand this concept.
Soichiro Honda, the Japanese industrialist and founder of Honda Motor said that success is 99 percent failure. The reality is every entrepreneur is going to make mistakes.
However, the way you recover from a mistake or setback often makes all the difference between ultimate failure and success. Our advice? When you realize you’ve made a mistake, re-assess immediately, check your map and get back to the right road. You cannot let fear, embarrassment or anything else keep you from taking immediate course corrective action and forging ahead.
You Can Pre-Order VICTORY: 7 Entrepreneur Success Strategies for Veterans by clicking the button below!
Coming January 2011!
Military veterans possess the perfect combination of drive, determination and dedication to make outstanding entrepreneurs! Vets start businesses at 4 times the rate of the general population; 1 in 7 small businesses operating today are veteran-owned and they enjoy double the success rate of other businesses. Many of today’s most prominent businesses, including Nike, FedEX, and GoDaddy.com were founded by vets.
Sadly, many of the government programs designed to “help and support” veterans start, run and grow a business simply don’t work and are designed, administered and taught by people who have never actually run a successful business. Rote formulas and one-size-fits-all government solutions don’t cut it on the modern, dynamic “business battlefield.” Today’s current and aspiring “Vetrepreneurs” deserve better. They deserve the best…cutting-edge information, tools and support mechanisms to create enduring success!
If You are a Current or Aspiring Vetrepreneur – This Book is for YOU!
If you’re NOT a VET, but posses the can-do spirit and tenacity of a warrior, This Book is for You!
Written by Vetrepreneurs for Vetrepreneurs and those entrepreneurs with a warrior’s heart, VICTORY: 7 Entrepreneur Success Strategies for Veterans will transform your approach to leadership, team building, business planning, and decision-making and propel your organization to new heights of enduring success.
My co-author, Phil Dyer, and I have distilled decades of mission-tested business and military experience into 7 essential strategies you can immediately use to transform your experience, skills and values into an unstoppable force to breakthrough the barriers of business mediocrity and achieve entrepreneurial success. In addition, they have included lessons learned through interviewing, mentoring and masterminding with world-class military veteran entrepreneurs to provide powerful real-life examples you can model to move out with speed, clarity and precision.
This “no fluff” success manual shares direct action steps to:
- Create a powerful vision to sustain you through every business cycle
- Build a winning team and create scalable systems
- Shorten your learning curve and recapture huge amounts of time and money
- Create a step-by-step blueprint for enduring success at every stage of your business
LET ME KNOW IF YOU WANT SIGNED COPIES…STAY TUNED FOR ORDERING INSTRUCTIONS AND LINKS TO AMAZON.COM
Related articles
- Vetrepreneurs: Helping Our Vets Start Their Own Businesses (whitehouse.gov)
I’m really happy to introduce you to friend Phil Dyer. He’s a speaker, writer, financial planner, strategic business coach and recovering workaholic who’s dedicated to helping lifestyle entrepreneurs transform their business to support their ideal life, create conscious wealth and have fun! Phil shared with me his transofrmational “3 Truths” today–I liked them so much I asked him to share them with all of you. Thanks, Phil, for your guest post.
A QUESTION TO ASK YOU ENTREPRENEURS OUT THERE…
Are you ready to create the business that truly supports your ideal life?
If you answered “YES”…like most forward-thinking, conscious-minded entrepreneurs, then I have a follow-up question…
WHY AREN’T YOU DOING IT…RIGHT NOW…TODAY?
For many of the people that I connect with that are trying to build a business that supports their ideal lifestyle, true transformation makes a better hypothetical and theoretical “holy grail” to aspire to than to take positive action to actually achieve. It is often easier for us to buy another product, invest in another hyper-kinetic weekend seminar with hundreds of other seekers or sign-up of another series of “free” tele-classes that promise a magic bullet solution than it is to take concrete steps towards REAL and LASTING transformation.
Now don’t get me wrong…all of the above tools can be very helpful and I routinely use them myself…but I also strongly believe that many entrepreneurs use this constant activity to avoid doing the deep, soulful and very often uncomfortable inner work to effect true change. It’s often easier for us to be doing instead of simply being…to feel good about checking of a series of tasks rather checking in with out inner compass to see if we are truly on the right path…to immerse ourselves the the relatively anonymity of a large group event than risk exposing ourselves and our foibles in a more intimate small group session. We congratulate ourselves on all the “progress” we are making when – in truth – we are simply shrinking from who we are truly called to be and playing it safe.
AM I PUSHING ANY BUTTONS YET? I HOPE SO?
I submit to you that there are “Three Truths” to real and lasting transformation, both personally and for your business:
1. You Must Give Yourself Permission to Unplug: True transformation is – in my opinion – virtually impossible to create when you are running non-stop in the 24/7 world we live in. You need time, space and separation from your day-to-day life and the constant demands of your business to allow the noise level to die down enough to really hear yourself think, to listen from a place that is below the surface and to open your conscious and unconscious mind to your true potential. In my experience, 5-7 days is the minimum time frame to really accomplish this. Shorter retreats are OK, but how much real down time do you get? Take a 3-day retreat…you really need a day on the front end to let yourself slow down and decompress and often our brains are “powering back up” on the last day as we prepare to go back into the world…so we may only get one good day of clear thought!
2. You Can’t Do This on Your Own: I don’t care how conscious you are or how in touch you are with your inner core…you are too close to your own crap to have any real perspective. How many times have you been wracking your brain trying to come up with a solution to some challenge or problem…only to have someone else look at it for 30 seconds and then give you a simple, elegant and straight-forward fix? I have one of those “I could have had a V-8″ moments daily! To empower yourself to achieve true transformation…you must engage a coach, mentor, accountability partner or mastermind buddy. We may be great at crafting solutions for other peoples challenges…but we SUCK at doing it for ourselves.
3. Exponential Transformation is Possible with the Right Group: Napoleon Hill was a pretty smart cookie and his admonition for us to avail ourselves of the power of Mastermind Groups was spot on. Coming together with a small group of like-minded individuals who are serious about transformation their business and their life is the fastest and most powerful way to affect real and lasting change in your own business and life. Quantum leaps become the norm – rather than the exception – as members urge each other to greater accomplishments, hold space for each other, call B/S when needed and bring the amazing power of multiple minds together. I am incredibly honored to be part of several amazing mastermind groups and much of the credit for my business growth over the 5 years can be directly linked to these incredible people. For me, groups of 12-15 are ideal for retreats, while smaller groups of 3-5 are great for Masterminds that meet more frequently.
If you are feeling stuck in your business – and your life — right now and your not making progress towards the lifestyle you truly want to lead, what are you scared of? What are you settling for? What are you not allowing to come to the surface?
Consider connecting with these truths to help jump start your way forward!
Connect with Phil Dyer at TotalBusinessTransformation.com
