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Susan Packard Lee IacoccaLaura BushLaura BushMG Wesley CraigBill SolomonJeff Magee Joel Osteen

REINVENTING GREATNESSThe New 80/20 Rule

What’s Old is NEW& What’s New is OLD

25 Power MAPS to GPS ROI

Understanding YourTrajectory CODE

Joan & Melissa Rivers

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4 I ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com

09 The Next Hot Management Tool: The Paper Napkin Bill Bartmann

10 Leadership by ImmersionLesson’s From Mt. EverestWerner J. Berger

11 Life thru the Lens of a First-time FilmmakerCorbin Billings

12 Spoken from the HeartYour Heart will Guide Your Performance in LifeFormer First Lady Laura Bush

13 The Power of Co-Creation to Multiply Your Success!Alex Charfen

15 Creating a Dutiful WorkplaceJeanie Cisco-Meth

16 An Interview with MG Wesley Craig, TAG PA GUARD

18 Cooperation Work Space Cultures Create Accelerated Growth OpportunitiesBerny Dohrmann

19 You Say You Want to be the Best at What You DoThe 11 Components of a Best in Class 360° AssessmentJoseph Folkman

20 Legendary Infl uencers RevealedMike Frank

21 The Test of a LeaderLee Iacocca

22 What Business are You Really InGene N. Landrum


Jeffrey Magee [email protected]@aol.com

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ContentsVol. 21, No. 2$12.95

Professional Performance360 Magazine is a quarterly magazine. It is published as a digital online subscription publication and as a tradi-tional hard copy edition. The views expressed in the articles and advertisements are those of the contributing writers and advertisers, and may not be those of the management and staff of the publication. The magazine assumes no liability for the contributions in this magazine and all content is intended as developmental in nature.

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24 Stop Complaining, Start CelebratingSharon Lechter

25 Truth or Consequences You DecideHarvey Mackay

26 Making & Implementing Decisions for Accelerated Performance Execution with the 4-step STOP ModelJeff Magee

27 Condition Yourself for SuccessCreate a Super IdentityShawn McIntyre

28 Change Your Words, Change Your WorldIt’s Time to Use Our Words to Declare Good ThingsJoel Osteen

29 A Marathon PerformanceBuilding HGTV and Lesson’s You Can UseSusan Packard

30 Innovation at Warp SpeedFew innovations have impacted our lives like the advent of the modern banking systemGreg Reid

32 Reinventing Greatness: The New 80/20 RuleAn Interview with Joan & Melissa Rivers

34 Heritage is a Path to Future SuccessBuford Rolin

35 Leadership Strategy from the Inside OutBill Solomon

37 Education from Elephants Can Teach Us to Move Beyond Learning and to ActionJim Stovall

38 The Truth of Growth Alan Weiss

39 Personal DisciplineIt Makes All the DifferenceZig Ziglar

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per-form-ance (n): 1. Th e act, process, or manner of performing; 2. An accomplishment: deed; 3. To begin, carry out, fulfi ll; 4. To function in a certain way: act.

Performance – Matter – From power personalities to new talent I meet, performance is their common mantra. Understanding the inner DNA to achievement, performance and accelerated greatness, is the secret sauce if you will, that all sustained achievers recognize. Th ose that would prefer to enslave one and make one dependent upon others for their sustenance, wish to divert your attention away from that core secret reality. Performance matters, the more you know, the more you gain independence and can perform as an entrepreneurial capitalist energy force.

Don’t be miss lead by charlatans and emotional rhetoric mongers that prey upon false hope and the gamesmanship of victimization, as their path to their payoff and others dismay!

It’s the performance question of all questions, “Why do some people achieve greatness and others do not?”

Performance – Trajectory – Th e World Economic Forum in its recent Global Risks 2014 report indicated the number one concern, that humans have real infl uence and control over, as structurally high rates of unemployment and underemployment and compounded by Generation X and Y being lost in tomorrow’s economic and employment market place realities. Here in Performance Magazine we have for more than a decade been predicting this impending implosion of lack of viable work skill talent, application experience, and attitudinal desire as a trifecta of crises to come. Today, the Department of Labor statistics indicate upwards of 40-60% of organizational senior management, leadership, and executives are ready to retire leaving an impending mental DNA gap of staggering perspectives to most organizations and industries.

Performance – Talent Hole – Recently speaking before the managing partners (CEO) of the top 100 largest CPA Firms in America about this talent gap and poor succession management and succession planning implementation, one of the top partners indicated their ambivalences to, “we are making so much money and have so many clients while we advocate this and sell this, we really do not care. And most of us will be retired in the next few years so it really is not our concern!”

Performance – Fact vs. Rhetoric – McKinsey & Company recently reported that across America and Europe more than 30% of business leaders have self-acknowledged that the default in personal leadership development and organizational leadership development has not taken place and they are the reason. More impactful is that across the United States today. More than 30% of all leadership personalities are eligible for retirement with no pipeline of suitable replacements.

Performance – AmeriCAN vs AmeriCAN’T – When you live in rhetoric and play in blaming others for your situation in life, you miss the abundance opportunity within you and around you. To accelerate your trajectory successes and attain performance DNA of achievement, it is critical to learn from and share with those that have truly attained greatness within their space and not be miss lead by mere imitators. Performance Magazine, unlike no other publication (digital or print), brings power personalities together to share their performance achievement maps to greater success.

Performance - Performance Magazine Solutions – While many people today espouse and pontifi cate how to achieve and perform, the articles in our editions are from hundreds of the world’s super achiever’s of abundant mentality and who have actually achieved. Go online, www.ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com, and order additional hard copies of this and past editions for your Mental DNA Library, and invest in copies for people around you.

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From the Publisher...


If you can’t fi t it on a napkin, you’re not done yet.

On the one hand, it’s amusing that I am giv-ing you management advice. I lived on the streets at age 14 and was an alcoholic at 17. I decapitated hogs at a slaughterhouse to put myself through college.

On the other hand, I became a self-made billionaire. My methods are used as a case study at the Harvard Business School, and the Smithsonian Institution has a permanent display about a technology we pioneered. You don’t have to go to Harvard to discover some advice I have for you: To get big, think small.

At least three critical elements of your busi-ness should fi t on a napkin:

Critical Element #1: What’s your business?

You have a business plan? Th at’s good. You even have an Executive Summary? Th at’s better, but you’re not there yet. You need a napkin-sized paper that states what your business is really about.

Th is is what I put on mine: “We treat delin-quent borrowers with dignity and respect. As a result, they pay off our debt fi rst.” Th at kind of succinct statement helped us to become the fi rst debt-collection company ever to be rated by Standard & Poors. Even though we did some extremely sophisticated things like the fi rst-ever securitization of credit card debt, “true north” on our corporate compass remained that simple statement.

Burn through a ream of paper if you have to, but keep distilling the essence of your busi-ness until one or two sentences ring true. Do

Bill Bartmannnot be satisfi ed with dull, static labels like “I’m a dentist” or “We’re computer programmers.” If you fi nely hone your message of how you are truly diff erent from your competition, you’ll cut right through those guys.

Critical Element #2: What’s your number?

When I graduated from law school my focus was on income. In 1975 when smart fi rst-year associates could earn perhaps $40,000, I opened my own practice right out of law school. People told me I was crazy not to align myself with a big fi rm. I went my own way and made $100,000 that very fi rst year.

Th e number on that napkin was what I want-ed to earn at the end of my fi rst year. I’m con-vinced that having a crisp idea of my income goal helped me to achieve it. Do you know your number?

Before you answer that, let me give you two other ways of measuring monetary success. After a few years of looking at income as the key measure, I switched to looking at net worth. I had become a multi-millionaire in real estate and my net worth looked great on paper. Pretty soon I discovered that net worth was not a very good measure because I had to convert it to dollars before I could spend it.

After 40 years in business, I’ve arrived at what I think is the best measure—cash fl ow. I have a daily ritual of knowing precisely how much cash I have in the bank, net of near-term ob-ligations. Th ere’s nothing to convert in order to spend it.

Do I look at other fi nancial measures to get the fullest sense of how I’m doing? Of course. But I suggest you focus daily on this critical napkin number.

Critical Element #3: How is your business doing?

Okay, maybe this one will take a piece of paper the size of one of those larger dinner napkins, but no larger.

I ran an organization with 3,900 employees off one piece of paper each morning. On it were about three dozen key metrics for my company. By having one single sheet of paper and looking at it daily, I could quickly spot problems.

If you’re saddled with spreadsheet after spreadsheet, it’s no wonder you’re feeling overwhelmed. Keep working until you distill your business measures down to one page.

In addition, make sure many of those num-bers are “leading indicators” that warn you of trends while you can still do something about them. Looking only at things like revenues and expenses is forever looking in the rear-view mirror. Th at’s no way to run a business.

On one level, your business is unlike any oth-er. But on another level, we’re all the same. Cut through information overload and get down to the true essence of what your busi-ness is about and where it’s heading. You’ll reach your goals faster, not to mention all the headaches and trees you’ll save.

Bill Bartmann is the author of Bailout Riches: How Everyday Investors Can Make a Fortune Buying Bad Loans for Pennies on the Dollar. It recently became an Amazon #1 world-wide best-seller. Bill has been in every major newspaper and is frequently interviewed on television. He is the current CEO of CFSII in Tulsa Oklahoma and has been instrumental a several new Federal legislative activities in the consumer lending world today.


Leadership Training does not work. Lead-ers are developed. As a farm kid, I was shy, without a clue as to who I was, and without any signifi cant leadership models; my father, highly autocratic, and my mother, loving, car-ing and powerless. Even with my university degrees, taking over and running a 16 man company and growing it by 700% in seven years, retiring at age 43, coming out of retire-ment to become a successful corporate con-sultant (specializing in sales and leadership), I fi nally and for the fi rst time, learned the true essence of leadership.

Inconceivable? Imagine placing yourself in an unfamiliar, challenging environment for days on end, amidst a group of strangers, where physical, mental and emotional survival with the right mentor, all engineer a steep, inside-out learning curve. Team climbing at age 57 did this for me! Now I lead climbs of Mount Kilimanjaro and treks to Mount Everest Base Camp which provide opportunities for expe-riential learning at its best. I know because I have experienced it and have seen it happen time and again!

Th e climbs & treks really begin well before you even get to the mountains. Motivation comes from within, and at best, links desire and com-mitment with action. Less than full commit-ment to the challenges results in failure.

When team members lack climbing or trek-king experience, the eff ective climb leader morphs into a coach, rapidly assessing strengths and weaknesses. Success depends on the degree of collaboration existing within the group, especially when the going gets tough due to altitude, terrain variations and unexpected weather changes, just like in an organization.

Werner J. BergerResearch has identifi ed fi ve stages of team development. It is amazing to observe how a disparate group of individuals, with vastly diff erent backgrounds, ages and experience, can gel into a unifi ed force within a few days or weeks. Any serious climb or activity de-mands progression through each phase.

In climbing groups, the outcome is clear, everyone is aligned. And Phase One: Membership requires little attention.

Since climbers tend to be headstrong, Phase Two: Clique Development. “You are my kind of person; you are not. My approach, your approach. I’m right, you’re wrong.” Leaders understand this as part of team for-mation and know when it’s time to ‘draw the antagonists together.’

Phase Th ree: Confronting divisive issues, is an important growth phase in any relationship. Clearly opposition on how something should be done, rules being broken, or concerns triggered by relational diff erences, must be resolved. If not, these divergences generally lead to disruption or to confl ict, escalating to Personal. Courageous leaders do not shirk their responsibility. Th ey maintain alignment and harmony by insisting on open and honest communication, regardless of the issues. On my fi rst climb, the leader encouraged then violated his invitation causing serious disruption.

Once all issues are dealt with, teams ‘breathe collective sighs of relief.’ Now members work eff ectively on their assigned tasks. Th e team has entered Phase Four: Individual Diff erentiation, yet is still not poised to excel. What’s missing? Phase Five: Collaboration! Th e savvy climb or business leader now challenges members to make more and more of the tough decisions, expects them to reach

collective agreements, take on challenging tasks, and accept responsibilities for their actions while he/she provides higher degrees of autonomy.

Th is level of synergistic interdependence el-evates the experience,and the success of any venture. When done right, participants are immersed in a cauldron of challenges and leadership development that leads to rapid transformation and sticks!

I’d love to have experienced the essence of leadership much earlier in life. Once I real-ized the potential of adventures of this na-ture, it completely changed my approach. Leadership really is an inside job and can be nurtured without spending years and major investments while sitting at the foot of some proclaimed guru.

Werner Berger is a corporate consultant with the focus on productivity improvement. He accomplishes this through the co-creation of workplaces that are so productive, challenging and fulfi lling that people look forward to coming to work, almost as much as they look forward to going home at night. In his experience, corporate change and excellence result from creating alignment around outcomes, identifying critical success factors, strategizing implementation and then single mindedly pursuing same. In his lexicon, workplace involvement, synergy, creativity, enjoyment and ultra-high performance are all synonyms. His fi rm is Strategic Results International.


Corbin BillingsAs I was called to accept the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary at the world premiere of my fi rst feature fi lm, Bite Size, I couldn’t help but recall how I felt marching across the stage for my college graduation only three years before.

Clad in my cardinal and gold cap and gown, I felt invincible as I accepted my diploma from USC Film School. Although the commence-ment speaker stressed that the success I was searching for in the fi lm industry would not arrive overnight, I maintained that I was the rare exception. After scrupulous study of the great directors of the past and present I was convinced I had the knowledge to achieve my dream Hollywood ending.

However, knowledge alone is not enough. Life after fi lm school was like being pushed out of a helicopter in the middle of the ocean and told that if I swam hard and long enough, I would eventually fi nd dry land. Simply put, I felt like I was drowning. As I watched the future I had painstakingly planned sink into uncertainty, I let my weight go with it.

Th roughout my childhood, I always struggled with obesity. Every day in the school cafete-ria I was teased for peeling the breading off of my fried chicken. Ironically, the relentless bullying only made me more self-conscious and dependent on food for comfort. Desper-ate to break the cycle, I resorted to weight loss pills and fad diets to help me shed the stigma of being the “fat kid,” but any results I achieved were short lived. After gradua-tion my weight reached an all-time high, and I knew I had to make a change. Perhaps I couldn’t fi nd the dream job I wanted in Hol-lywood, but I knew I could control what I put in my body.

After reading every book on nutrition I could get my hands on, I understood the key to sustainable change was through active living. Considering I grew up a video gamer, I began playing Wii Fit for an hour every day and lost forty pounds over six months. I was amazed by the results. Rather than counting calories and obsessing over weight loss, I focused my energy on fi nding an activity that I was pas-sionate about and made it a part of my daily lifestyle. Wishing I had understood this sim-ple yet profound truth when I was younger, I felt compelled to share the idea with as many children as possible.

Uniting my passions for healthy living and fi lmmaking, I set out to direct Bite Size, a fea-ture documentary that showcases the personal stories of four children threatened by obesity-related diseases. Th e fi lm follows kids of various genders, races, and socio-economic statuses across America, revealing the possibility that we can reverse this nationwide epidemic as soon as we stop focus-ing on what the scale tells us about ourselves and let our passion and perseverance speak for themselves.

Th e award winning documentary, Bite Size, is currently screening at fi lm festivals across the country and will release online in Fall 2014. For more information, visit us at www.bite-sizemovie.com

Corbin Billings is a 25 year-old award-winning fi lmmaker and graduate of USC Film School. He is the published author of four books and currently works in Los Angeles, California as a screenwriter for fi lm and television.


Former First Lady Laura Bush

Success radiates from lessons one has experienced and

learned from

Performace success in your life radiates from the lessons one has experienced and learned from. Many of those lessons you learned in the classroom of life – beginning with “Rhetoric” or “Perspectives” …

As much as any generation of Americans, we are tasked with resolving challenges that lie far beyond your doorstep – even far beyond America’s borders. Between cell phones and the Internet, we have a world of information literally at our fi ngertips.

Today we live in a period of incredible liberty and adventure, a time to fi nd your true performance calling and to demand the most from life before life makes specifi c demands on you. And, as we face this new chapter of life, I can tell you one thing for certain: You won’t waste your talents and education if you use them in service to others.

A very wise man, my father-in-law, President Bush, said, “Any defi nition of a successful life must include service to others.” Performance success leads me to want to talk about several critical factors.

I could talk about my passion, education. At every school we visit, the students are so eager. I remember the President and I walked into an elementary school in Hawaii,

and a little 2nd-grader came out to welcome us and bellowed, “‘George Washington!’ Close, just the wrong George W.” ,

I could talk about the small business owners and entrepreneurs who are now creating most of the new jobs in our country.

I could talk about health care. For years, leaders in both parties said we should provide prescription drug coverage in Medicare. George was able to bring Republicans and Democrats together to get it done.

Th ese are also years of hope for our country and our people. We have great confi dence in our ability to overcome challenges. We have gained a new appreciation for the many blessings of America and are reminded of our responsibilities to the country that we love.

George and I grew up in West Texas, where the sky seems endless and so do the possibilities. Th ese are times that require an especially strong and determined leader within each of us to perform and become present.

Performance is also about learning what one needs to succeed. Having a love of books, of holding a book, turning its pages, looking at its pictures, and living its fascinating stories goes hand-in-hand with a love of learning.

Former First Lady, Laura Bush was born in the boom-and-bust oil town of Midland, Texas, Laura Welch grew up as an only child in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death. She vividly evokes Mid-land’s brash, rugged culture, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that sus-tain her to this day.

When Laura Welch left West Texas in 1964, she never imagined that her journey would lead her to the world stage and the White House. She began as an elemen-tary school teacher, working in inner-city schools, then trained to be a librarian. At age thirty, she met George W. Bush, whom she had last passed in the hallway in seventh grade. Three months later, “the old maid of Mid-land married Midland’s most eligible bachelor.”


You don’t have to drive every success in your business, and the reality is you shouldn’t!

Imagine you’re the author of an online book retailer. Holiday orders are pouring in, and you are responsible for meeting the increased demand.

You burn the midnight oil for several days, analyzing departmental metrics, running projections, and calculating the cost of paying your staff overtime vs. the cost of additional hires.

When you present your plan to your team, all they hear is “overtime” and become resentful. Now imagine you apply the principle of co-creation instead.

First, you explain the opportunity that lies in the holiday rush—not just opportunity for profi t, but the opportunity to earn custom-ers’ trust an loyalty—and then ask your team for their ideas on handling the increased de-mand.

One employee suggests some improvements to the inventory system so books can be lo-cated faster. Another suggests having boxes in several sizes pre-constructed to cut down on assembly time. With a few tweaks to the cur-rent process, you fi nd your fulfi llment team is able to manage the increased workload with-out the need for overtime or new hires.

You may also fi nd some creative suggestions that go beyond the original scope. One team member suggests inserting a coupon in each order to encourage repeat purchases while another recommends a cheaper packing ma-terial that could save the company thousands of dollars each year.

Th e best part? Because your employees have helped to co-create the new fulfi llment pro-cess, they are personally vested in seeing it succeed.

Benefi ts of Co-CreationTh is is a simple example, but it illustrates how co-creation can be one of the most powerful tools available to a manager.

Why? Because good team members will support what you ask them to do, but they will passionately support that which they co-create.

Co-creation can be a great benefi t to you as a manager. For example:

Increased Productivity. No matter how 1. capable or effi cient you are, you can’t, and shouldn’t, do everything yourself. An ef-fi cient manager must be able to leverage their time, creativity and skills of his or her team members. Th ru the co-creation process, you can free up your own time while tapping into the insights and expe-rience of your team. Better Outcome. Wikipedia is a perfect 2. example of the co-creation phenomenon. With over 100,000 regularly active con-tributors, Wikipedia has quickly become the most popular, and one of the most ac-curate, general reference works on the in-ternet. By including multiple and diverse perspectives in your own creation process, you’ll improve end results.

Insecure and inexperienced managers often believe they need to display their superior knowledge or skills to the people who work for them. Alternatively, eff ective managers recognize their own limitations and hire em-ployees who compliment their strengths and help compensate for their weaknesses.

Employees who handle day-to-day opera-tions are often able to off er surprising in-sights about what is and isn’t working. By le-veraging the collective insights of your team, you’ll enhance your results and show your team that you appreciate and respect their contributions.

Retain Talent. Team members involved in 3. co-creation are allowed to tap into an in-nately human resource which makes their role more fulfi lling than simply complet-ing rote tasks; creativity. Studies show that recognition and praise are greater workplace motivators than money.Show the Team Th eir Win. Allowing your 4. team to co-create gives them valuable in-sight into the goals of an initiative. Instead of giving them a list of tasks to complete, you are asking them to help create the list, with the end result in mind.

Co-creation is not limited to manager/em-ployee interactions. In Fact, it’s such a ver-satile tool, it can be used in virtually any type of relationship. Now that you’re familiar with the power of co-creation, start fi nding ways to implement it into your projects.

I think you’ll be surprised by how positively your team members will respond to the op-portunity, and how much their input will help to improve your end results.

Alex Charfen is a speaker, author, CEO, business owner, and entrepreneur. He has advised a broad range of businesses, from startups to Fortune 500 and Global 100s. He has spoken to countless audiences, includ-ing TEDx and regular appearances on FOXNews and CNBC. As CEO, his companies have made the INC. 500/5000 list three years running, including a #21 show-ing in 2011.

Alex Charfen


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All top level supervisors and managers want their people to be productive. Employees that shirk duties are a drain on resources. In Forbes’ personal fi nance article, Th e Causes and Costs of Absenteeism in the Workplace ( July 10, 2013), indicated the top reason listed for not performing as expected was bullying and harassment.

Bullying comes in many forms in the work-place. Th e question is, “How to deal with this problem? How to get back to work, and how to increase productivity to thereby increase profi ts?” If people don’t feel safe or they are distracted, they cannot perform as well as when their needs for safety are being met.

think through emotions, you will have a more dutiful workplace. Th e steps are basically the same.

Jeanie Cisco-Meth

How to deal with workplace bullying?

Once you get to the truth, you can deal with the issue and create a sense of and feeling of being safe again in the environment you work in or participate. Follow-up and reinforce the plan of action and see if you can support oth-ers further.

When emotion is high, intelligence is low. If you can bring down the emotion the situation can be dealt with appropriately. Th e problem occurs when emotions are high and no one is thinking so things are handled inappropri-ately. If you can teach your employees how to

Bullying comes in many

shapes, sizes and forms.

Be glad for a chance to grow and learn 1. about yourself. Th is is a learning opportu-nity that will make you better equipped to handle the future.

Ask, “What is bothering me the most 2. about this problem?” followed by, “Is that all?”

Once you have the core of the problem, your emotions will stabilize, and you can come up with a plan of action.

Carry out your plan and make adjustments as you go along until you get the desired results. (Measure + Monitor + Adjust = Results you want)

You can use these steps to help you with any emotional situation.

Remember, once you identify the emotion, your emotions will drop, and your intelli-gence will return.

Never try to reason with an emotional per-son. Even yourself.

Jeanie Cisco-Meth was raised on a dairy farm in Mor-ton, Washington where she spent her time learning the importance of responsibility and hard work. She loved animals and physical labor. School and academia were not her specialty. She was diagnosed with learning dif-ferences in the fi rst grade and told she would never amount to much. She had different ideas. After graduat-ing from high school, she enlisted in the United States ARMY. After graduating from the University of Utah, Jeanie became an educator and used the skills she had learned to help many troubled teens fi nd success for nearly two decades. Today, Jeanie works with both youth and adult professionals across the nation, to fi nd learning magical empowerment to greater self-worth and excellence. She wrote the book Bully Proofi ng You.


MG Wesley Craig, TAG PA GUARD

An interview with Major General Wesley E. Craig, the 51st Adjutant General of Pennsyl-vania and commander of the Pennsylvania Na-tional Guard is responsible for command, control and supervision of National Guard units–Army and Air–allocated to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, six state-owned veterans’ homes and programs for Pennsylvania’s one million veterans.

What traits have you learned are critical for success for an individual or organization in America to be relevant with the World mar-ketplace today? Answer I’ve learned that it is vital to have both vision and leadership. Vision is the ability to decide where you want the organization to go and why you want it to go there. Leadership is the ability to articulate that vision and get people to willingly follow your directions.

From your unique vantage point, in this age of corporate and governmental scandal, em-ployment uncertainty, and mistrust of lead-ers today, what are the most eff ective ways you have found to create loyalty between you and others, that can be applied in business today?Answer Honesty & transparency: I have found it’s very important to keep subordi-nates informed of the challenges your orga-nization is facing. It is equally important to inform them of all major decision and explain why you are taking that decision.

What qualities do you think make star per-formers really tick today and for tomorrow? And, What qualities detract from the general workforce performance?Answer Th e ability to truly understand what is actually happening, and to come up with the root causes for what is happening. Th e second quality is the ability to analyze the problems and then come up with innovative

solutions. Th e third is leadership in gaining cooperation and resources necessary to ac-complish the mission or task.

Detractions occur when people focus only on themselves.

As a ‘Th ought-Leader’ today, what are some of the top points you would advise a man-ager/leader/entrepreneur/business-owner to know or do, to reap the best performance out of their team?Answer Th e best thing is to know your people; discover their strengths and weaknesses; and then assign them responsibilities and provide resources commensurate with their abilities.

What would be some of the essential strate-gies for developing and retaining top talent in an organization today?Answer One, Professional education; Two, Assign them to a series of diff erent leader-ship assignments that will both challenge and develop them personally and professionally; Th ree, Reward outstanding performance.

What is the single most important mindset that people must posses over the next 3-to-5 years for them to be more competitive?Answer Always seeking to improve; challenge the status quo.

Who is responsible for the competency/knowledge development of an employee/in-dividual? Why?Answer One: It is the individual’s responsibly; they must demonstrate the initiative to gain competency.

Two: Th e organization must always seek to educate and further develop their employees. It leads to better retention and mission ac-complishment.

How important is continued professional and technical skill development for employee competitiveness and relevance in America’s workplace?Answer Professional and technical skill devel-opment is important because it provides the basis for understanding your job; however, the ability to lead is more important as it en-sures the organization will grow and main-tain competitiveness.

What are some of the essential strategies an individual must adopt or adapt to ensure that they maintain their cutting edge abilities and remain top talent pool capable?Answer Seek constant improvement in your-self and your organization. Personally chal-lenge yourself in seeking challenging jobs.

If you had 2-minutes to mentor a high po-tential individual, what would you share with them from your professional vantage point of experience, training and responsibility to be eff ective or successful?Answer First thing I would tell them is to seek challenging assignments; and always be honest with your people.

What makes for an eff ective and lasting Leader?Answer Honesty with subordinates and lead by personal example.

What makes for an eff ective and dependable Follower?Answer Loyalty to the mission, once the deci-sion has been made and the course of action developed even if the employee was not in favor of the course of action that was decided upon.


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Th e data is in folks. Competitive forged on theory around “fear punishment and exploi-tation” (your fi red) had an absolute TQM performance ceiling. Reforming cultures into cooperation system organization theory re-defi nes the work space output. Productivity soars. Key personnel retention soars. Rehired costs plunge. Customer service and good will skyrocket. Th e cool companies are all revolv-ing around cooperative work space cultures. Leaders like Apple, Google, Pintrest, Zappos ( read Tony Shays book ) and Facebook all redefi ne the future. Cooperative employee bases such as 3M corporation, exceed earn-ings predictions even in recession. Why? Th e answer is switched on turned on synergistic work spaces. Teams love cooperation work space and thrive inside them. Under perfor-mance is self-corrected in cooperatively re-formed cultures. Competitive cultures justify and perpetuate under performance.

Competitive cultures extend endless unpro-ductive “meetings” to retool under production into hyper under production. Merger Acqui-sitions without cooperative retooling fail and spiral down in a blood bath of debt. Share-holders loose. Increasing shareholder activists are demanding work space reform into hyper growth cooperative work space cultures. For three decades CEO Space has defi ned the rule book for a Fortune institution, govern-ment, military, or down to a Dentist offi ce, seeking hyper growth re-ignition via coop-erative systemic culture reform. Delay is the one cost too great to pay.

My book complimented by President Obama and leading Republicans, REDEMPTION: Th e Cooperation Revolution, is the standing play book for CEO’s to institute work space culture reform. Th e Chairman of Conoco now a leading buy oil fi rm over Exxon and

Chevron (inspired in part by our CEO Space faculty and longtime Conoco consultant), told hundreds of his engineer silo managers “we think diff erently or we perish.” Th e re-sults have stunned the industry let alone the market place.

10 Steps Successful Entrepreneurs follow:

Do it in the right sequence.1. Elevate coaches to mentors.2. Always improve your plan.3. Always improve your team.4. Always enlarge your trading community.5. Capitalize fully fi rst in any new launch.6. Market diff erently in Super Change 7. markets.Assure your brand “scent” is consistent 8. everywhere.Retain existing clients – Elevate repeat 9. buying – Install Referral marketing.Invest in top leadership remaining Cur-10. rent in Super Change markets.

Jeff Magee attends all fi ve business growth conferences annually to lead the cooperative performance revolution. Jeff and I personally lead vision plan retreats to major fi rms at one million dollars to plan and execute new vi-sion. Today’s super change markets require executive new asset skills. Th e cornerstone required skill in future super change market spaces is currency. Remaining current. Ev-erything is changing at speed no one could predict. Vision Plan Renewal includes the cooperative winners edge. Invest in your own team currently. Invest in cooperative culture reform. Delay is the one price too great to pay. Nothing retools tomorrow’s profi ts when yesterday is already too late for shareholders. As Jeff suggests, our clients never leave once they believe.

We wish you the most profi table quarter, and the most accelerated year. We trust this principles will assist you. Following forty fi ve years of corporate training leaders, genera-tional in my family, we are pleased to report that data is in. Cooperative culture reform is the future and competitive organizational theory is the past. We strongly encourage professionals and university leaders to study Redemption adopting for their future, post graduate programs.

Tomorrow is coming.

Are you ready?

Mr. Dohrmann is Chairman of CEO Space International, the largest support organization for business owners and the inventor of Super Teaching, a title 1 technol-ogy for public schools that greatly accelerates retention. Frequently speaking on stages as the guest of nations, and VIP conferences, Berny is a recognized author presently completing his newest book titled, “Redemp-tion, The Cooperative Revolution.”

Berny Dohrmann


360° assessments are the backbone of most cor-poration’s leadership development programs. More than 85% of Fortune 500 companies use multi-rater feedback as a central part of their overall leadership development processes. Th ey are popular because they provide leaders with empirical data revealing how others perceive their strengths and weaknesses.

With such a wide variety of instruments available, it is important to discern what qualifi es as an eff ective assessment. Th e fol-lowing 11 points are derived from Zenger Folkman’s research on the important compo-nents of a best-in-class 360°. Following are the 11 points I believe to be most important.

Empirically derived competencies & itemsAs 360° assessments began to grow in popu-larity, many organizations became interested in customizing assessments to match their own competency models. Assessment items were based on what people thought were im-portant behaviors, not on data that determined which competencies truly diff erentiated high performers from low performers.

A response scale that avoids false positiveTh is typically occurs when scoring scales are unclear to participants; as a result, they un-intentionally infl ate their rating for other’s average performance.

Compare scores to a high standardComparing participants’ results to the 90th or 75th percentiles gives them a totally diff erent perspective. It helps employees realize that the expectations of the organization are not for them to be average—but to be extraordinary.

Measure the Leader’s current impact on direct reportsBy measuring both skills and employee en-gagement in a 360° assessment Leaders will

Joseph Folkmannot only see how eff ective they are on diff er-ent skills, but also the impact their eff ective-ness has on their direct reports.

Identify the most important competenciesTh e best 360° instruments provide a way of identifying which competencies are of the highest importance. One way to do this is to ask all respondents to identify the 4 compe-tencies they think are most important for the leader to do well in order to be successful in his/her current role.

Emphasize building on strengthsEmphasizing strengths in the feedback pro-cess changes how people feel about receiving feedback. It transforms a potentially negative experience into a positive one of discovery.

Focus written comments on fi xing fatal fl aws, not minor improvementsWhen written comments ask, “Is there anything this person could do to improve?” there is a tendency for respondents to give a long developmental list of suggestions about things that could be improved. However, concentrating written comments on fatal fl aws helps participants focus on the most pressing issues.

Data securityGiven the confi dential nature of 360° feed-back, clients demand assurance that the data is carefully guarded, and has strong encryp-tion and secure fi rewalls.

Make it an effi cient processTh e real cost of a 360° assessment isn’t the price of the assessment; it is the time it takes employees and managers to complete it. When you have a 15-20 minute, educated process, people don’t mind completing it, but assessments that are 30-60 minutes have a much lower completion rate.

Make reports simple and intuitivePeople should not be scratching their heads as they try to decipher what their feedback report is trying to tell them. Make the report easy to understand.

Provide insights on how to build strengthsTh e 360° should not focus simply on identi-fying weaknesses but on how individuals can build upon their strengths.

In summary, there are many instruments available with apparent similarities, but there are some strong and important diff erences. If an assessment process includes the 11 inte-gral elements, the tool is much more likely to be used with positive results—both person-ally and professionally.

Joe Folkman, co-founder of Zenger Folkman, has devel-oped a unique, proven method to improve organizations and develop employees by building on strengths. His specialty lies in behavioral statistics. He has authored and co-authored seven books on leadership develop-ment including the bestseller The Extraordinary Leader: Turning Good Managers into Great Leaders.


Having been in the world of public seminars and professional speaking since 1967 and owning one of the nation’s oldest speakers bureaus, I have had the opportunity of get-ting to know, booking, introducing, or speak-ing on programs with over 600 diff erent pro-fessional speakers, including: Napoleon, Hill, W. Clement Stone, Zig Ziglar, Art Linkletter, Paul Harvey, Jack Kemp, Woody Hayes, Earl Nightingale, Jesse Owens, Jack LaLanne, Dale Evans, Jim Rohn, Elmer Wheeler, and Dr. Norman Vincent Peale. Th ey all possess two similarities. Th ey were all great speakers, and have all passed. Following are a few sto-ries I will never forget.

I had the opportunity of interviewing Art Linkletter in front of 1500 other speakers. One of the questions I asked was, “What is the most memorable speech you ever gave?” His answer was a classic. He said, “It would have been the one I got paid the least and the most for. I was a close friend of Walt Disney. When he was ready to open Disneyland, he asked me if I would do a short grand opening speech, but he said he couldn’t pay me but would do anything else he could. I asked if they were going to sell cameras and fi lm at his new place. He answered positively. I asked if his payment could come in giving me the rights to camera and fi lm sales for ten years. He said, ‘Yes.’….be assured, I made more off that deal than any speech fee I ever re-ceived.”

While I have numerous wonderful stories about Zig Ziglar, one of my most promi-nent memories was when I booked him for a group of about 50 property salesmen. It was a rough bunch. He did an all-day sales seminar. Th e key contact came up to me af-terwards and said he could not believe that Zig spoke for six hours to his tough group,

Mike Frank

and there was never so much as a “damn” or a “hell.” Zig was the speaker who ultimately walked his talk to the fullest extent. He never cussed or used any words that could be con-sidered questionable or off -color. He rarely ever spoke on a Sunday, as his Sunday school class took precedence over speaking engage-ments. At speeches, he wanted to accom-modate everyone who wanted an autograph, shake his hand, or have a photo taken with him. He would not speak to any group that had anything to do with alcohol, tobacco, or pornography.

I was fortunate to have many great memories about Dr. Norman Vincent Peale….another of the great infl uencers and speakers “who absolutely walked his talk.” Many years ago, we had booked him for a public seminar pro-ducer. Our agreement called for half of the fee to be paid at the time of the booking and half, plus airfare, to be paid 30 days before the event. (We only have that requirement for public seminar producers, network mar-keting companies, and out of the country engagements.) Th e client understands that the deposit is not refundable if they cancel. Th e seminar producer called me 30 days be-fore the event, in tears, letting me know they hadn’t sold enough tickets and would Dr. Peale agree to rescheduling the date with no penalty. Dr. Peale agreed. Th e client then called again, 30 days before the resched-uled date with the same plea and asked for another rescheduled date. Dr. Peale agreed again. Th irty days before the third date, the client called to say they aren’t going to make it happen and understand the deposit is not refundable. I sent Dr. Peale his percentage of the deposit (75%) and he sent it back saying, “I can’t take this money, as I didn’t make the speech. I assured him that the client knew the deposit was not refundable and that he had held three diff erent dates for the client, very

possibly having turned down other opportu-nities for those dates. He eventually accepted the payment, yet I had to “sell” him on why he should.

Dr. Peale was so accommodating after speeches, that if his wife didn’t accompany him at all of his speeches, he would miss planes going home.

Many years ago, I had gotten to know Joe Gi-rard (the world’s greatest automobile sales-man) and he asked me to accompany him at a meeting with W. Clement Stone. When I got there, I realized that all he really wanted was for me to take a photo with him and Mr. Stone. Ironically, Mr. Stone had a photog-rapher there himself, as he wanted a photo with Joe. I was fortunate to have also gotten a photo with both of them. No “selfi e” in those days…it was taken by Mr. Stone’s photogra-pher and I didn’t have to be an amateur pho-tographer.

Mike is the only speaker in the world who is a former President of the National Speakers Association, a CSP (Certifi ed Speaking Professional), in the CPAE Speaker Hall of Fame, a Cavett Award recipient, owner of one of America’s oldest speakers bureaus, Speakers Unlimited (www.speakersunlimited.com), and a former chairman of the Speakers Bureau Owners sub-group. As a speaker, he speaks about sales, leadership, customer service, sales management, creativity, teamwork, managing changing, and time management.


“I have never been Commanderin Chief, but I’ve been a CEO! I understand a few things about leadership at the top. I’ve fi gured out nine points – not ten (I don’t want people ac-cusing me of thinking I’m Moses). I call them the “Nine Cs of Leadership.”

Th ey’re not fancy or complicated. Just clear, obvious qualities that every true leader should have.”

So as you assess your leadership ability or those around you consider how you stack up against these “Nine Cs of Leadership” in what you do?

So, here’s my C list.

CURIOSITYA leader has to show curiosity. He has to listen to people outside the Yes Sir crowd in his inner circle... Th omas Jeff erson once said were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspa-pers, or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate for a moment to prefer the latter.

CREATIVEA leader has to be creative, go out on a limb, be willing to try something diff erent. You know, think outside the box.

COMMUNICATEA leader has to communicate. I’m not talking about running off at the mouth or spouting sound bites. I’m talking about facing reality and telling the truth.

CHARACTER A leader has to be a person of character. Th at means knowing the diff erence between right and wrong and having the guts to do the

Lee Iacocca

right thing, Abraham Lincoln once said if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.

COURAGE A leader must have courage. I’m talking about balls... Courage in the twenty-fi rst century does not mean posturing and bravado. Cour-age is a commitment to sit down at the nego-tiating table and talk.

CONVICTION To be a leader you’ve got to have conviction – a fi re in your belly. You’ve got to have passion. You’ve got to really want to get something done.

CHARISMA A leader must have charisma. I’m not talk-ing about being fl ashy. Charisma is the qual-ity that makes people want to follow you. It’s the ability to inspire. People follow a leader because they trust you.

COMPETENT A leader has to be competent. Th at seems obvious, doesn’t it? You have to know what you’re doing. More importantly, you have to surround yourself with people who know what they are doing.

COMMON SENSE You can’t be a leader if you don’t have com-mon sense!

Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crises. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on a desk and talk theory.

I get asked all the time, if I were running a car company today, what would I do? So I’ll take a stab at it... Here are the things you must do: Create a sense of urgency; Assemble a

top; Share the sacrifi ce; Simplify!; Shuck the losers; Follow the market; Lighten up; Lock the Big Tree (Companies, Government, and Union) in a room.”

Lee Iacocca, the automotive icon, single handly taking on powerful Labor Unions and the U.S. Congress saved Chrysler from ruin, and at the same time, ushered in the birth of the minivan concept and re-introduced the convertible to the American roadways. Today, the octo-genarian has penned another powerful book because as he says, “he has fl unked retirement and there is too much to be done to sit on the sidelines.” Since leaving Chrysler in 1992, having attempted a $20B buyout of the automaker in 1995 (with Kirk Kerkorian and then GM board member Jerry York), along with campaigning for George W. Bush in 2000 and John Kerry in 2004, he has held his passion back for as long as he can, and now he shares several business performance success models for your mental consumption and action.


Business people often have no idea what business they are really in – they think they do, but they don’t!

Be Careful to not get Lost in the Vagaries of Your Mindset!

McDonald’s guru, Ray Kroc, knew his busi-ness better than Wall Street. Th ey insisted that he was in the burger business and he retorted, “No! I’m in the real estate busi-ness.” Just as savvy are the owners of a gym that know customers are there not just to get in better shape but equally due to the po-tential for social interaction with others of a like mind. Watching others moan and groan keeps one up to speed that if it doesn’t hurt it doesn’t help! Home exercise equipment has been available for many years making it un-necessary to pay exorbitant fees or to drive to a distant location making the trek more of a socialization exercise than a bodily one.

In the early years of Chuck E. Cheese as a family-entertainment forum, I had highly educated and very sophisticated, well-read people such as Wall Street analysts insist-ing that I was in the pizza business. I kept telling them, “No, we are in the family enter-tainment business, a place where mom and dad, the kids and grandparents can go to eat and play together on a Friday night.” Most analysts get lost in a numbers-crunching game. Fine chefs believe customers are there for their ability to cook unique meals. A few are but most go to restaurants for the ambi-ance and the chance to meet and greet or be entertained. Th is is why the turnover rate in restaurants is often as high as three times an-nually in most markets.

Are You Creatively Pitching Your Wares?Most people are lost in the old-time religion of being too correct in lieu of being more

creative. One Harvard study found that their most creative students were 7X less inhibited than the norm. What? Yes, they discovered that creativity was a function of being able to push the limits to new environs in order to be more creative and correctness was more the enemy than a friend. Studies have since shown that to be creatively productive in the business world it is imperative to not become mired in tradition. British author George Bernard Shaw had expertise in this arena saying:

“Some men see things the way they are and ask Why? I see them as they are not and ask, Why not?”

It is a sad that most people are intolerent. Th ey fear anything new and refuse to chase new opportunities that could enhance their lifestyle. Fear is the enemy. Psychologists have found that 70% of those 86,400 mental concepts fl owing through the brain daily are negative due to fear imprints. Th is leads most people to avoid the novel for fear it will not be safe or sure. Th e fear of screwing up trumps the daring to be eccentric. Philosopher John Stuart Mill once wrote, “Th at so few dare to be eccentric marks the chief danger of our time.” It is imperative to take a diff erent path and dare to be diff erent. Most people feel ill at ease when pushing the limits or walking on the wild side. Th ose that listen to their heart and not their head often become the world’s iconic billionaires.

What is the Nature of being a Intolerant?Dr. Seuss (Ted Geisel) was a man who refused to follow conventional wisdom in his life or his work. Ted was reared in Frost country and was not a doctor as he made up the title to give him power when writing his stories. Psy-chologists label a xenophobe an ‘idiosyncratic fi t’ – the unconscious mind messing with ac-

ceptance of new ideas or concepts that are not always as we envision them. “An idea that is not dangerous,” playwright Oscar Wilde wrote so profoundly, “is unworthy of being called an idea.” It validates Frost’s words on taking those roads less traveled by in order to make a diff erence. Th ose who take strange roads are often called stupid by friends and family but those that dare go down those paths fi nd the gold.

Savvy Entrepreneurs Adopt a Diff erentiation StrategyWant to be a powerful entrepreneur? Th en be willing to be diff erent. Most people are inca-pable of doing this for fear of being ostracized by personnel, family or the media. Th ere is a fi ne line between being daring and being a renegade. But when you are launching new products or services you must be both in order to beat those not so willing to play in those arenas. If not diff erent then price becomes the only variable and you become commodity driven with cost becoming far more impor-tant than features or benefi ts. Th is is precisely what happened to the American consumer electronics products like TV, stereo systems and Wi-Fi. When America was blazing new innovative trails they prevailed and dominat-ed market share. Th e minute they were not the only game in town they were soon gone. In the commodity world cost is king and if you are not able to be the lowest price you will soon be gone.

Gene N. Landrum


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Being a woman in business for nearly 40 years, I have seen it all… and experienced most of it!

I started my career when business was a man’s world. Being one of the fi rst women in what was then a “big eight” accounting fi rm, I ac-cepted the challenge to succeed in spite of be-ing a woman, and frankly, being a woman has never deterred me from seeking and reaching success. My fellow women and I recognized that we had to work harder to overcome ob-stacles placed in our path because of our gen-der. We accepted the challenge and pushed through it paving the way for other women behind us. Th at, however, did not change the fact that I believed then, as I still believe today, that the principles of success are the same for men and women.

However, the last few years have shown volatile changes in the economy as well as dramatic in-creases in the number of women achieving suc-cess in both their education and professions.

It is when women learn to use their natural strengths and power and have the ability to choose their own pathway to success, that they will fi nd their true success and lead lives of signifi cance. I have observed the following diff erences in how men and women approach leadership and success:

Women are naturally better collaborators 1. than men, better team players. Men tend to be more decisive than wom-2. en, while women want to carefully delib-erate issues before making decisions.Men tend to be strategic thinkers, while 3. women are big picture, long-term thinkers. Women have more empathy for others.4. Women tend to be better champions for 5. others than for themselves, while men are more comfortable selling themselves.

Sharon Lechter

Why write about this topic now? Because I believe women are at a tipping point in the world of business and leadership. Th ey play a key role in the economic future; globally. And globally, women stand to inherit 70% of the $41 trillion in intergenerational wealth trans-fer expected over the next 40 years.

But what fi nally triggered me to take action and write Th ink and Grow Rich for Women is the constant media on the lack of opportunity for and inequality of women in the workplace. I am also very tired of women criticizing and complaining about each other.

I want to change the dialogue from women complaining about how few women are at the top of Fortune 500 companies, how corporate boards need more women directors, and how pay needs to be more equal between women and men. Aren’t these things important? Of course they are, but to achieve more positive results let’s start celebrating the progress that has already been made.

We have all heard of the Law of Attraction. Th ink positively and you will attract positive results, and conversely think negatively and you will attract negative results. In essence, what you focus on, you manifest in your life.

It is easier to get the results you want by ac-knowledging and fl attering people and being polite to them through civil discourse than by complaining or mak-ing demands. Con-sider how much more responsive someone is when a directive to them is couched as a polite logical request rather than a barked command. When you combine this with

creating incredible networks and taking ac-tions for what you desire, your momentum toward success will be unstoppable!

Instead of complaining that there are only 24 women CEOs in Fortune 500 companies…let’s celebrate that there are 24 today because in the year 2000 there were only 2!

Instead of complaining about the gender wage gap, let’s celebrate that for younger women ages 25-34 it is up to 92 cents for ev-ery dollar according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics instead of the average 77 cents.

Instead of criticizing the number of women leaving corporate positions as “giving in” to the glass ceiling, let’s celebrate that, according to a study titled “State of Women Owned Busi-nesses Report” commissioned by American Express OPEN, the number of women-owned businesses has grown by one and a half times the national average over the last 15 years.

Instead of male bashing and blaming all men for holding us back, let’s celebrate and put the spotlight on the men who are champions for women.

It is really that simple by just stopping the complaining and starting to celebrate we will not only become happier, we will also ener-gize and accelerate that progress.

When women and men are using their own unique talents and strengths, and working together to build the future, economic growth will be ensured. Th e more we can accomplish this through the spirit of harmony and collaboration, the faster we will see the economic rewards.

Sharon Lechter, CPA CGMA.Author of Think and Grow Rich for Women, co-author of Outwitting the Devil, Three Feet from Gold and Rich Dad Poor Dad

Wutowthcoec

SRT


Harvey Mackay

About a year ago I wrote a column on the ABCs of selling. When I came to the letter T, there was no doubt what that word would be: Trust. It’s the most important word in business. Trust is central to doing business with anyone. Without it, you have another word that begins with T: Trouble.

Unfortunately, trust in business plummeted worldwide in recent years, according to an Edelman survey. Th e public relations fi rm discovered that just 38 percent of respon-dents aged 35 to 64 said they trusted busi-ness, down from 58 percent a year earlier – the lowest rating in the survey’s 10-year history. It’s interesting that U.S. respondents ranked third. People in Ireland and Japan were even more suspicious.

As a life-long businessman I fi nd this es-pecially troubling. In my business, there is nothing more important than trust, although I would list likeability, people skills and chemistry close behind.

I’ve always believed that telling the truth is the best policy. In business, especially today, it’s a must. A few years back, the Forum Corporation of Boston, Mass., studied 341 salespeople from 11 diff erent companies in fi ve diff erent industries. Th eir purpose was to determine what separated top producers from average producers. When the study was fi nished, the results were startling. It was not skill, knowledge or charisma that divided the pack. Th e diff erence came down to one trait: honesty. When customers trust salespeople, they buy from them!

At MackayMitchell Envelope Company, we don’t tolerate anything less than honest ne-gotiations and delivery guarantees. An en-velope is a very standard commodity. Sure, the paper, the glue, and the size can vary. Th e

end product can probably be duplicated by a hundred companies. But nobody can match us day in day out, job after job, envelope after envelope, smile after smile. Our customers know we’ll do what we promise and try to deliver even more. Th ey’ve even occasionally forgiven us for an honest mistake because they know we’ll make good on our word.

When bailouts, bankruptcies, corporate scan-dals, and political deception erupt and occupy the front pages for months on end, people tend to mistrust all of corporate America and Politicians. Th at’s not fair, but something of a natural reaction.

Is this a recent development? Not exactly. Nearly one hundred years ago, President Th eodore Roosevelt addressed the issue: “We demand that big business give people a square deal. In return, we must insist that when anyone engaged in big business hon-estly endeavors to do right, he shall himself be given a square deal.”

When people get in trouble, what do they typically do? Th ey consult someone they al-ready know and trust. When a problem hits, it’s a poor time to look for help. How can you depend on someone you have known for half an hour? I would rather rely on some-one I know I can count on, even if his or her experience is limited, than start from scratch. Th at person can usually lead you to someone who can help you if diff erent skills are neces-sary.

Trust is KeyWayne Huizenga, the only person in history to have founded three Fortune 500 compa-nies (Blockbuster, Waste Management and AutoNation), knows plenty about building trust. He says: “I don’t want to be just a voice on the phone. I have to get to know these

guys face-to-face and develop a sincere rela-tionship. Th at way, if we run into problems in a deal, it doesn’t get adversarial. We trust each other and have the confi dence we can work things out.”

When trust exists in an organization or in a relationship, almost everything else is easier and more comfortable to achieve. Trust is built and maintained by many small actions over time.

Author Marsha Sinetar said: “Trust is not a matter of technique, but of character. We are trusted because of our way of being, not be-cause of our polished exteriors or our expertly crafted communications.”

Trust is telling the truth, even when it is dif-fi cult, and being truthful and trustworthy in your dealings with customers and staff . Peo-ple do not or cannot trust each other if they are easily suspicious of one another. Trust in-volves being optimistic, rather than pessimis-tic. When we trust people, we are optimistic not only that they are competent to do what we trust them to do, but also that they are committed to doing it.

Mackay’s Moral: It takes years to build up trust, but only seconds to destroy it.

Harvey Mackay has written seven New York Times best-selling books, two of which were named among the top 15 inspirational business books of all time – Swim With The Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware The Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. His latest book, The Mackay MBA of Selling in the Real World (Novem-ber 2011) is his seventh New York Times bestseller. Harvey is a nationally syndicated columnist and has been named one of the top fi ve speakers in the world by Toastmasters International. He is chairman of the $100 million MackayMitchell Envelope Company, a company he started in 1960.


Joan Rivers, Bill Gates, Scott Zuckerberg, Oprah and now You. For most of us, the lack of meaningful accomplishment is predicated upon the lack of understanding of how to facilitate educated decisions and the trap of falling into “Paralysis-of-Analysis”, which is considered by most business schools to be the greatest detriment to entrepreneurial and business success, and eff ectiveness today.

Although we live in a vibrant evolving world, the dynamics of understanding and taking control of the decision making process as a 360 life cycle that never ends, only re-loops endlessly, is an eff ective way to ensure sound decision making while maintaining the speed necessary in today’s business.

Th e answer lies within a powerful four letter formula.

Since this formula was designed, it has been embraced and used by IBM to signifi cantly increase the eff ectiveness of their planning, analysis, and implementation processes. Pfi zer Pharmaceuticals adopted the formula to increase teaming and sales eff ectiveness, and to resolve selling oriented confl icts. And industry leader CareerTrack Seminars, for more than a decade, used this formula as the foundation of their bestselling day long business professional skills training seminar.

What is that four-letter formula? S.T.O.P.

Th e S.T.O.P. Model allows you to facilitate a controlled and non-combative conversation through the four psychological steps of the decision making process.

With this model, you can attack procrastina-tion, paralysis-of-analysis, fear from impeding the decision process, and more importantly,

impeding the execution or implementation actions of productivity today.

Th e four steps to the model and decision process are:

S - Stop and See what the Stimulant is to be addressed, what is the Situation or challenge to be addressed. Identify the WHAT factors to the conversation and decision issues. If ev-eryone knows what we are here to talk about, then proceed with it.

T - Target and Th ink through the reasons why the “S” is worthy of conversation and ex-plore the reasons behind the it, making sure you and everyone else understands the rea-sons for the topic, need, issue, challenge. Th is is where the case for the “S” must be made and is where you gain the buy-in of others or not. While ample analysis and investigation is critical, you can logically move forward to the third step.

O - Organize Options around how to ad-dress the “S”. Once an idea for addressing the “S” is developed, there is no assurance that it is the most viable if there are not other options to weigh against it. Use this step to generate multiple action plans. Spend the majority of time of the four letters in this stage, ensures greater fi nal output, and provides for needed backup plans should your initial implemen-tation plan implode. With this step accom-plished, you will always have a backup plan. And great synergy may take place from the push forward to not just come up with one solution and proceed to the fi nal step.

P - Pick the most viable Option and Proceed. If there are implementation problems, the beauty of having completed all four steps is that you will always have a backup plan (step three).

With implementation implemented with all appropriate personalities involved in all steps, now reapply the S.T.O.P. Model to ensure continued success. And always make the de-cision process a learning process for all subse-quent decision making and implementation needs.

Th e S.T.O.P. Model is a simple yet explosive way to facilitate decision making and to build a re-evaluation loop into the four step model to verify the implementation proces to ensure your “P” is always real-time relevant.

Jeff Magee (Ph.D., PDM, CSP, CMC) is the “Thought Leader’s Leader,” the publisher of PERFORMANCE360 Magazine: www.ProfessionalPerformanceMagazine.com,Editor of Performance Execution and Performance Driven Selling Blogs, a former nationally syndicated Radio Talk Show Host. He is a published author of many books including Performance Execution, The Managerial-Leadership Bible, and THE LINE: Your Trajectory Code. Jeff is also a columnist and motivational-leadership speaker. Jeff is the recipient of the USJC TOYA Award and is one of the most impactful, sought after Keynote Speakers in the World today!

Jeff Magee


We all know the Superman story: A mild-mannered newspaperman named Clark Kent secretly transforms into Superman, a caped superhero who can fl y.

Separating Kent from Superman was much more than a change of clothes and superpow-ers; it was a conscious decision to assume dif-ferent personalities in diff erent contexts.

Our lives require us to hold several diff erent roles, and many people try to achieve balance by separating their professional duties from their family aff airs. But separating these roles isn’t the most eff ective way to manage your obligations. Here’s why:

Clark Kent can’t do everything.Most people aren’t prepared to be Superman. Instead of assuming the superhero persona, they become Clark Kent trying to be Super-man.

Th e problem is that Clark Kent can’t handle the burnout, stress, and frustration that most of us face, and we can’t bring our “Superman” self home.

Normal people don’t keep running in and out of phone booths.If you act one way at work and another way at your child’s soccer games, no one will trust you, and you’ll feel isolated by only showing one side of yourself to the people in your life.

Th e most successful people are disciplined, committed, and consistent — qualities you can’t develop if you’re constantly running into a phone booth to change.

Multiple personalities make us less productive.Juggling several identities leads to exhaustion and decreased productivity. When we’re not

achieving enough during the day, we end up bringing work home, which isn’t healthy.

Most people try to separate their work and personal lives while maintaining the Clark Kent persona, but you need to combine Clark Kent and Superman to create a balanced per-sonal identity.

Segmenting your life hurts your relationships.At one point, I had four personas.

I had a job, but I wanted out. I started my own business, but my wife wanted me to keep my job, so I acted diff erently at home to ap-pease her. Th e gym was my place to de-stress, so I snuck that into my day and hid it from others.

Splitting my life into segments caused stress and anxiety. I lost my job, my marriage started falling apart, and my investments crumbled. I felt lost because I’d divided myself on the outside so many times that the guy inside collapsed.

Maintaining separate identities leads to burnout and, ultimately, failure. Here’s how you can reconcile your life to avoid splinter-ing your personality:

Create a super identity. If you have a so-so • identity, your life will be so-so. When you

create a super identity, you create power in your mind. Develop intensity. Intensity is the body • raising the bar to use energy that the mind and super identity are generating, con-necting the body with your high-powered mind.Foster an entrepreneurial mindset. Th is • mindset is the willingness to do more — to put yourself on the right track to suc-cessfully handle life’s responsibilities. Have faith. Have faith in your super iden-• tity. Th is is the ultimate steel-studded tire. No matter the terrain, you have the right grip to keep going.

Becoming superhuman was a challenge for me. We use valuable time and energy trying to be all things to all people when we could just be ourselves. Stop separating your work persona from the rest of your life. Creating a unifi ed super self will give you greater bal-ance and help you achieve more. You’ll never know what you’re capable of until you make the change.

Shawn McIntyre

Shawn T. McIntyre is the founder and CEO of Shawn T. McIntyre Fitness. Shawn is a professional fi tness model and trainer who offers online training as well. Shawn is dedicated to helping and inspiring people to take action with clarity and power — not fear. He coaches clients to help them achieve success in fi tness and life.


I once read an article about doctors who in-corporated “talk therapy” to treat patients suff ering with depression. Instead of medi-cating the problem, the doctors instructed the patients to start making positive declara-tions over their lives, saying such things as: “I have a bright future. People like to be around me. Good things are in store.”

Some of the patients were depressed be-cause they were facing life-threatening dis-eases and felt there was no hope. Th e doctor asked them, “Has anyone ever survived this disease?” Th e answers were always yes. So he told them, “Th en I want you to start saying, ‘I will make it. I will be one of the people who beats the odds.’ ”

Th ose patients obeyed the doctor’s orders, and amazingly, many of them not only came out of their depression, but they also made full recoveries!

It’s time to use our words to declare good things! Speak blessings over your life and your family. Th roughout the day, say things such as, “I have the favor of God. I am strong and healthy. I’m well able to do what I need to do.”

Did you know that what you say about your-self has greater impact on you than anything

Joel Osteen

anybody else says about you? Many people are overly critical of themselves, saying, “I’m so clumsy. I can’t do anything right.” “I’m so overweight. I’ll never get back into shape.” “I never get any good breaks.”

Th ey may not realize it, but they are curs-ing their future. Th ose words sink into their minds. Before long, they develop a defeated mentality, low self-esteem and diminished confi dence. Worse yet, those negative mind-sets can interfere with God’s plan for their lives.

One of the best ways to break free from such strongholds is simply by speaking words of victory. Every day, look in the mirror and de-clare, “God’s Word says I am strong. God is fi ghting my battles for me. I’m excited about

my future.”

Th at is what faith is all about. Th e world says you need to see it to believe it, but God says you must believe and then you’ll see it. You must speak it by faith.

Make a list of your goals, your dreams, the areas where you want to see change. Confi rm your desires by Scripture, and then every day before you leave the house, speak those bless-ings aloud. Something supernatural happens when you speak those words aloud.

Find the Scriptures that apply to your situa-tion and then declare them. Th is is especially important in areas in which you continually struggle. Do not let another critical word come out of your mouth about yourself. In-stead, take a few minutes every day to bless your life, to declare the victory.

Understand, it’s not enough to avoid say-ing anything negative; you must go on the off ensive and start making positive declara-tions over your life. Surround yourself with performance achievers, and set goals daily to be achieved. Remember, your own words will have more impact on your future than any-thing anybody else says about you.

I have the favor of God, I am strong and healthy.I’m well able to do what

I need to do.

I am the head & not the tail.

I will lend & not borrow.Everything I touch

will prosper...

Joel Osteen is pastor of Lakewood Church in Hous-ton, Texas — a vibrant and diverse church that Forbes calls the largest and fastest-growing congregation in America. Joel shares a positive message of hope and encouragement that extends all around the world. This message reaches all across America and 100 nations of the world. Joel’s books, Your Best Life Now and Be-come a Better You, quickly became #1 New York Times Bestsellers and are distributed worldwide in several languages.


Publishers Note: A great archived article from a previous edition of Performance Magazine.

When we began Home and Garden Tele-vision in 1994, the key founder, Ken Lowe, told his small group of lieutenants that this would be a marathon, not a sprint. Ken was my boss and I respected him greatly. I re-fl ected on those words. It had not been my experience to take the long view. My work at HBO and CNBC, before HGTV, had been about crushing competitors through quickly overpowering them.

Th e wisdom of Ken’s words hit me. My for-mer companies were enormously rich in re-sources. E. W. Scripps, our owner, was com-paratively small. And we had never done a cable network.

What Ken was saying was not that we should move in a slow, plodding way. We needed to move stealth-like, to stay under the radar screen of the big media companies. Push to-ward success with long term thinking that would make us so strong, we’d be hard to beat. Have a fl anker strategy to grow other cable brands around HGTV. Build business-es such as on line web companions to these cable networks, and make them profi table in their own right.

In short, have a long term vision.

During this time, I had the opportunity to run a real marathon in New York City. I trained with a book that said to never run over 15 miles. After all, if you run the whole marathon in training why bother showing up for the race? Just give yourself a medal and be done with it.

Susan Packard

My husband Bill and I traveled to New York. I was nervous. Had I practiced enough? And I was so very slow. Bill and I had planned that he would meet me at Mile 19, to cheer me on. Th ere was Bill at Mile 19, and there I was, running with the physically challenged runners. Th at’s how slow I was, and that’s how poorly I had trained. When I saw him I stopped.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m done,” I said. “I’ve run further than I ever have in my life, it’s an accomplishment, and I want to go back to the hotel.”

“Sue, I know you. If you quit now, you’ll hate yourself tomorrow. Come on, I’ll jog with you to the fi nish line.”

I fi nished the race. And it taught me about work and life. We can be excellent perform-ers, but we need help to run the marathon. Back at HGTV, the core team of founders ran beautifully together to build the busi-ness. We were media professionals each with unique skill sets. We shared great drive and passion.

On December 30, 2006, HGTV turned 12 years old. It’s now valued at over $3 billion. It’s fl anked by other powerhouse cable brands such as Food Network. Our on line businesses are handsomely profi table and generate over 15 million unique visitors every month. Th is division of EW Scripps, called Scripps Net-works, now generates over half the operating profi t of the corporation.

Th at’s a lot of running in 12 short years.

How to build a great (senior) team?

Bring together those with complemen-1. tary, not overlapping, skill sets.

Don’t hire look-alikes. Diverse back-2. grounds and points of view round out strategic thinking.

Don’t skimp on the interviewing process. 3. When moving quickly to build a business, this can happen. Be thorough. Chemis-try is important.

At the beginning have the team create a 4. set of core values that they all buy into. Th ese provide a quick roadmap to spread the culture as your workforce grows.

Get some people who have had a few 5. birthdays. Th ere’s a lot to be said for ma-turity and wisdom, especially in start-up businesses.

Look for a sense of humor in your team. 6. Laughter is great therapy when under stress.

As a co-founder of Home & Garden Television in 1994, Susan Packard is recognized as a media pioneer, in-novator and mentor.

Under Susan’s leadership as chief operating offi cer, HGTV became one of the fastest-growing cable net-works ever and is now available in more than 91 mil-lion U.S. homes and distributed in 170 countries and nations. Susan has been instrumental in the develop-ment of four additional, powerhouse brands – Food Net-work, DIY Network, Fine Living TV Network and Great American Country (GAC) – that join HGTV to comprise Scripps Networks, the leader in lifestyle media.


Th ink about it. Where would life be without automated tellers and credit cards? Enter Ron Klein, the grandfather of possibilities, inven-tor of the magnetic strip on your hotel key and credit cards, the MLS real estate database, and other great inventions that have positively im-pacted our lives.

While interviewing Ron for my bestselling book, Stickability, Ron said, “How you look at problems will make a big diff erence.” He shared, “It begins with the words we choose. Anything that people classify as a problem. I choose to refer to as a challenge. A problem is an unbearable blockade; whereas, a challenge is an opportunity to fi nd a solution. Complexity is not about the size of the issue, it’s about the amount of weight you give it. I fi nd solutions by oversimplifying what the challenge is. Th is is done by asking yourself, what is the given (starting point) and what is the solution (end-ing) we are looking for? Look at the confl ict and focus on the solution. Yet don’t get caught in the inbetween grey area because every situ-ation can be solved by reducing it to a simple, logical form that is understandable.”

By following this easy to follow blueprint, this modern day thought leader came up with in-ventions that have shaped the way many us op-erate on a daily basis.

When asked how he came up with the idea of the magnetic strip on the back of credit cards, he explained that back in the day every month, the credit card companies gave retailers a list of poor credit risks which was comprised of thou-sands of credit card account numbers. Origi-nally, people were given a hard plastic card with raised numbers on it, yet had no smarts to it. When a customer attempted to purchase their items, the salesperson literally had to manu-ally go through the list to see if the customer’s number appeared on the risk alert. Th e process was time consuming.

Greg Reid

Ron felt that the problem could be solved by following his simple process. Th e given was that there were challenged accounts, and the goal was to mitigate the time needed to check each one.

Ron recognized that if all risk account num-bers could be placed in a memory device, then the salesperson could simply key in the ac-count number through the use of a keypad. If the memory device did not fl ag the customer’s account number, the account was good. Th is would greatly speed up the process.

But Ron wasn’t satisfi ed. To speed up the pro-cess even more, he felt that “smarts” could be placed into the plastic credit card. He fi rst tried by placing coded holes in the card which repre-sented the account number. Th en, he thought of a better idea.

Reel to reel tape recorders were relatively new at that time. He theorized that if he could paste a piece of magnetic tape on the back of the card and record the account number onto the tape, the card could be placed into a small tape reader, the information sent to a memory device, and read. It worked fi ne, so he went to a company that manufactured plastic credit cards and asked if they could impregnate a magnetic material on the back of the credit card. Th ey said it was possible. Th us, the validity checking system, used for checking the credit status of cardholders was born.

During the interview, Ron leaned out from his chair and boomed, “You know what the secret is to fi nding solutions? Look for them.”

Ron, holding up a dictionary from his brief-case, exclaimed, “See this? What I did was tear out the page that had problem and earmarked the page that said challenge. Remember, where there is a challenge there is also a solution. Th e key is to not look over your shoulder; constant-ly look forward because you never know how close you could be to a breakthrough–you could be just three feet from gold.”

Th e real achievement comes from moving for-ward toward one’s dreams. Th at is why it is criti-cal to have the mindset that you are working toward progress and not perfection. As long as you are moving toward success, you are there-fore deemed successful. Again, it is progress, not perfection. Just don’t get trapped in the middle.

Ron said in a calm and easy tone, “Also, enlist others into your dream. Don’t be afraid to share your ideas, questions, or fears with others. Th e same way you would ask for directions when you are lost, or call a mechanic when you have a problem with your car, there are people waiting to assist you along life’s journey. All successful people know that they can’t succeed by them-selves and they need a team. You need to be the leader of your team.”

In life and in business, true leaders have one thing in common, they stay cool under fi re. It’s the job of the leader to stand strong when others crumble. Th eir actions are watched so closely that there is little room to fl inch when faced with challenges where most would panic. We look to our leaders to guide and direct us. As a leader, you have to stand your ground and stay consistent because others need to know they can trust and depend on you. Relaxed in-tensity is probably one of the most important attributes when facing a huge obstacle.

Greg Reid, bestselling author, entrepreneur, and CEO of several cor-porations, was selected by The Napoleon Hill Foundation to expand on the principles found in the 20th bestselling book of all time, Think and Grow Rich. His lat-est book, Stickability, delves into the minds of today’s top thought leaders to discover how they har-nessed the power of perseverance.

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Publishers Note: Experiencing patterns and behaviors to success within any industry, can in many circumstances provide insights that can be applied across all industries. Th e iconic Joan Rivers has found herself at an industry crossroads every decade for the past fi fty years. She came through each intersection having built upon her previous brand and making herself even more relevant than the past. Here are some insights Joan and Melissa, her daughter and Executive Producer, shared with me during a recent interview on Performance Eff ectiveness: how being 80 can make for a great connection with 20 somethings today.

Q Melissa and Joan, regarding your continued success with Joan and Melissa:

Joan Knows Best? show, how did this show fi rst come about? What is it like working together as a mother-daughter team on national television and living together in Melissa’s home in L.A.? It has to be intrusive?

Answer Melissa: Joan Knows Best started from our E! program, Fashion Police (FP). Mom was coming every week to Los Angeles for FP and staying at my home in a guest room. We found ourselves living together and real-ized here is a show itself. From there, Mom moved in with us. Four years into it, the 4th Season has launched, and it is going great. As one would expect, there are challenges of two strong women in one house. And sometimes it is diffi cult.

Joan: I do acknowledge, it’s Melissa’s house. But in working together, it makes it compli-cated sometimes. We have learned how to separate the two–home and work. You can-not ever really get away from one another so you have to work through things just as you would do in any situation and especially in business. Th e boundaries sometimes are chal-

lenging because we work together. We always have something to talk about. You’ll never see us in a restaurant staring in silence. Th at is the chemistry that works for us. Learn your chemistry with others, and you can achieve more.

We really do have a shorthand approach with one another, and that allows us to accomplish a lot very quickly. We are in tune with one another. We know where each other is going before the other even says or does!

Q Melissa, as an Executive Producer for Fashion Police, what have been some

of the biggest aha moments? What lessons’ have you learned in managing the diff ering power personalities you have to deal with to produce the fi nal product which is also such a huge success on E!?

Answer An immediate aha moment was when we became #1 (except for the Kardashians special) for the network. We realized we had something. We realized what the business formula was and we stay focused on that.

Another aha — when we have a major guest that gets us and their followers get us, we all gain. We love them. So when my mother says she is going to “plus” me or a guest’s comment then stand back and watch the master as I get pulled out of being the daughter, and I get to see my mom’s professionalism explode!

Q Mr. Trump has written for Performance Magazine many times. What a great

experience it must have been working as a team on Celebrity Apprentice? Do you both feel it was a rewarding experience?

Answer Joan: Being on the Celebrity Appren-tice as a participant and winning that season,

it was very interesting. Melissa and I were not always on the same side. When we were on opposing teams, we could read each other. I knew what she was thinking and what she would do. And even when she was in trouble, I wanted to help Melissa but could not. But when we had the chance to be on the same team, it was great. Trust was there totally and that allowed for us to accelerate what we were doing.

Trust is essential to life and business success. In business and working with people in gen-eral, we may not like them all of the time or at all, but business means you do it – but with a lot of verifi cation clues. Remember, who you see socially and who you work with is diff er-ent. But when you can do both, then like and trust is even better.

Q Joan, as entertainers, businesswomen, and both of you parents, how does one

balance professional and personal life, needs, goals, and expectations?

Answer You just keep a book, a schedule to keep yourself focused. Use your systems and books to remain very organized and disci-plined. Know your priorities. For us, it is fam-ily, business, social, etc., and to know which one is happening and when. Th at is how we do it. Sometimes when you feel torn, you stay focused with the priority that makes the oth-ers possible–that allows you to keep an emo-tional check in place.

Q You both have many aspects to your business deliverables. Tell us about

the synergy among them all?

Answer Joan: In Bed with Joan came about me being mad at Melissa, and I did a show from home. It worked and another came about.

An Interview with Joan & Melissa Rivers


Working with Melissa on FP blends with Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows Best? and In Bed With Joan. We do what we like, and we, as often as possible, travel together. It makes everything fun.

Q Melissa, you are Executive Producer of your mother’s web series In Bed

With Joan. Is the internet audience very diff erent in their expectations than television audiences because it’s a web series? What are the challenges in producing a talk show versus a reality show?

Answer Th e audience has been similar actually. So all of what we do blends together nicely. We also know our demographics and focus on them. And one common denominator, they enjoy humor and like my Mom’s humor.

Q Joan, you have had such staying pow-er. What still drives you? It seems,

like every decade, you reinvent yourself to be more relevant in business and entertainment than the year before. What do you attribute to your drive and ambition? Seems like your daughter has the same drive as well.

Answer I never think of reinvention. I live in the now! And now is very interesting. I do what the market is doing. I am most comfortable where people are. I don’t get up and do market research to determine who I am going to be on any given day. So when someone says, “Do you remember the good old days?” I say, “YES, they are now.” We are successful because we live our lives in the present. Observational humor comes from now, so be in the now. You live in it—don’t

think hard. So like technology, whatever is new you use it and enjoy it. Th at is what you do to be relevant.

Q You two work together on three shows; Joan and Melissa: Joan Knows

Best?, Fashion Police, and In Bed With Joan. What advice would you share as your inside lessons learned for achievement and success as you work in tandem on all of these high profi le projects?

Answer Joan: People need to remember, the person who signs your check is the boss. Even if you sign 50/50. Remember who is the boss. If someone else signs your check, they have control. Stop worrying about others. Go run your own race, wear blinders, and do not worry about others!

Q Joan, you are what people call a “Serial Entrepreneur” in innovating

your business persona and pushing forward. What advice can you share with our readers for achievement and success?

Answer QVC as an example—I have been in business for 21 years as a designer. You are always current or you die. We really don’t think and plan ahead. We just immerse ourselves in the current and deliver for that audience and market. We are not consciously inventing ourselves. We just do it from where we live knowing that there is now a market and they want to be served. How hard is that!

Q We have read in the media that Season 4 of Joan and Melissa: Joan

Knows Best? is kind of “no holds barred.” Can you share with us one or two stories about the new season?

Answer Melissa: We just decided we did not want to do a scripted reality show like everyone else is really doing. We just said, “follow our lives; busy and active. Let it be what it is, and we will go where it goes.” We didn’t decide to pull a table cloth in a restaurant. Everything you see is real. Th e cameras don’t get turned off .

Q Joan and Melissa, with your many brands (TV,

internet, comedy shows/tours and QVC), you have the abil-ity to reach across a diverse

generational segmentation from Centurions to Millennials. What do you attribute to this attraction and appeal?

Answer Joan: Th e consumers following us consume digitally. Most of my audience is 21.8 years of age so it is simple to create what they consume, the way they want to consume it, and the direction becomes very clear. Twitter is our audience and older people watch Donny & Marie. Th ey don’t know hashtag and where I am going on many topics typically!

If I have to explain it to you, you are not my market.

Q Wisdom. It’s not given, it is earned. Anything else you two would like

to share with our readers and your Joan Rangers?

Answer Joan: Yes, this one is easy. First: Give power of attorney to no one! Second: Watch everyone. Even if they’re a relative, it does not mean they won’t cheat! Th ird: Be careful. Whatever is too good to be true, typically is! Fourth: Don’t watch the clock. You are not capable of being a boss if watching the clock is your priority!


Maintaining Community. When we re-ally started to grow, a Tribal Member came up to me one day and said, “Buford, we have to be careful that we don’t grow too big for our pants.” He was so right. One of the big-gest and most important jobs a leader has is to manage individual expectations within a community that is expanding and growing like ours.

Th e strength of our community has always been sharing the good and the bad. As a child, when someone was seriously ill, I re-member everybody would pitch in to help... whether it was sitting by a bedside, watching the children, bringing food, or tending to the fi elds. We still do that here. We have faith in God and each other.

I have always said that we should never get to the point that we see the success of the Tribe and think the Tribe should take care of us. We need to continue to pass on our values and our work ethic and make sure our young people understand who this Tribe is and why we are here. Th ey must realize that for this Tribe to be successful, they have to be part of it.

Th e Next Chapter. When I look around the table during our Tribal Council meetings, I see a young generation ready to take on the responsibility of leadership. Th ey are educat-ed and committed to our community’s future. And like our generation, they know the work will be diffi cult, as it has been historically for us, but it will be rewarding.

In the last few weeks, I have woken up in the middle of the night thinking about the fu-ture. But I am not worried, I am excited about what is ahead. Our community now extends over six counties in two states. We are a major economic engine in a part of the country that really needs the jobs.

More than 40 years ago, I began a career in public service to my Tribe. My journey started with our great leader, Chief Calvin McGhee, asking me for some assistance. Over four decades, my work for our Tribe has been, at turns, powerfully exciting, grueling, heartbreaking, and fi lled with happiness. It has always been rewarding.

I believe that one of the most important questions that a leader can ask is, “when is the right time for the next generation take the reins?” I have asked myself this question and the answer is, “now is the time.”

Indian Country is blessed with great lead-ers who work tirelessly to make our world a better place and take care of people. But, I think that developing future leaders is also an important component of our jobs. It is heartening to me to see that the next genera-tion of our Tribal leaders are not only highly competent, but they are also committed and courageous.

I think most leaders, as they leave their posi-tions, hope that they have made a diff erence, and they hope that the future will continue to be bright and full of promise. As I leave my position, my hopes rest in the next gen-eration, and I am certain the Poarch Band of Creek Indians is in very good hands.

A Call to Service. For as far back as I can remember, Calvin McGhee, our fi rst offi cial Chief, had always called me “son”. It always felt natural because his son and I were about the same age. But one day, just after I had gotten out of the (military) service, my par-ents called me and said, “Calvin wants to see you.” Of course I went, and the fi rst thing he said was, “Son, I need your help.” And that was the beginning of my life working for our Tribe.

Buford RolinChairman/Chief Poarch Band of Creek Indians

Fighting for Recognition. We always identi-fi ed ourselves as Indians. But I don’t think any of us knew how much it would take for us to get federal recognition. No one worked harder or sacrifi ced more than Calvin McGhee. He led by example. Although, other people were also very important to the process. It was a privilege for me to have been part of that col-lective eff ort, and I deeply love the people I worked with to make it possible. I regret that Calvin did not live to see us win that battle, but I know he would be so proud of what we have been able to achieve in the years since.

Keeping the Faith. Winning federal rec-ognition in 1984 gave us the opportunity to grow and improve the lives of our Tribal Members. But I am always mindful that as much as change can be good, it is important to remember what really matters and hold on to our values as a community.

Th e Episcopal Church has been a constant source of strength for us and a real resource when we needed it most. Dr. and Mrs. Macy, Episcopal missionaries who came to our com-munity in the 30’s, gave us medical care and a chance to have a school right here at home. I remember Chief McGhee saying that we have to educate our people and make sure there is opportunity for our young students to go to college.

Today, I still see how the Macy’s work con-tributed to our community’s values. As a Tribe, we support education throughout the State and provide scholarships to our Tribal Members. I have spent a lot of my career working on Indian healthcare both at home and nationally and was thrilled to dedicate a new Tribal health center earlier this year. And, I still go to the little Episcopal church that the Macy’s helped start.


Bill Solomon

Th ere are lots of good ideas, people with lots of money, plenty of smart people and com-panies with a whole lot more resources ready to tackle the markets. Th e diff erence is it only takes one idea, putting your money in the right place, with a ‘can do’ attitude and keeping committed to the plan. Th is is my strength: To stay committed to my deci-sions but stay fl exible to my approach. You see, sometimes we get so fi xed on certain outcomes we fail to notice a better way. It’s important to be committed and loyal to your goals but realize adjustments along the way are a necessary and healthy part of change and progress.

A remarkable transformation has taken place from a creative idea to an industry leading product, from a solo practitioner to more than 50-employees/team members, all in the short space of 15 years.

From serving as an executive within a For-tune 100 Firm to a start-up entrepreneur-ial business, I may have a chance to explain more of this exciting journey should we meet in person, I have paused to share some in-sights into the Vacuworx Advantage. Th e belief that each of us has a sense of some-thing possible beyond the ordinary. Each of us have moments when something about our world is presented to us and we just know it’s a good idea. Vacuworx has taken a good idea and made it extraordinary. Each employee is asked to take their job from ordinary to ex-traordinary. Th is is what makes the Vacuworx Advantage.

I set out by determining how to develop worth; a value proposition to fi gure out how to guide my business each day. Th ings like in-tegrity, pride, coaching/mentoring, strategic planning and effi ciency. Important to know

where these values fi t in my list of priori-ties. Th en I had to ask, “what was my vision, my mission, my plans, my order of priority, whether I had the right people, what would give me a sustainable advantage and was there commitment.”

Th e early days were consumed with doing whatever was needed. I often share with the company during our monthly briefi ng how important each job is and the attention to de-tail and quality is vital regardless of whether they were pushing a broom, sorting parts or part of the production team. Th ere is nothing they are being asked to do which I have not done myself. Going forward I fully expect them to take each position of responsibility far beyond anything I did because this is a positive picture of what progress looks like. Growth is purposed to happen and change is being done responsibly. I look them in the eye and tell them they determine whether they stay at the company and help us con-tinue with our leadership position. Always learning and always striving to be better.

Change is not the problem for most people. It is usually the uncomfortable surprises.

We are in a phase of Growing Up. I have been right up front and continue to communicate we are about change and it is time for all of us to Grow Up and be the responsible leader of this industry we are building. Communica-tion is key. No surprises means when some-thing happens, good or bad, let your manager

know up front right away. Confrontation is a good thing when you deal with issues quickly, professionally and respectfully. Th is only gets worse when the muttering starts because an issue has been allowed to ooze across the shop fl oor. I’m looking for people who volunteer for tough assignments. It tends to show me a ‘can do’ persona and with the right coaching, could be my next leader.

I love to delegate. I’m not threatened by good accomplishments around me or by others who have strengths I lack. Th is allows me to move into my strengths. I see success before it arrives and make a plan to get there. I look for ideas that will be contagious, constantly trying to make things better. I encourage others to do their best every day because I value people. I set and maintain high expecta-tions for all who work with me because I ex-pect growth. I overuse polite phrases- saying thank you because no one does this alone.

I am the Leader in my space but by no means have I arrived. Th is is a passion that is still in progress.

Bill Solomon is President and CEO of Vacuworx, LLC, the world leader in manufacturing self-contained vac-uum lifting equipment for fi eld handling of pipe, plate, concrete, and steel objects a few tons in weight to over 40 metric tons. He is the Founder and Chairman of The Pipeline and Energy Expo showcasing Oklahoma com-panies and Founder of The Eagle Gift Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profi t organization dedicated to supporting Oklahoma community needs.


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We humans have a tendency to assume we are at the top of the food chain and the center of the universe. Several hundred years ago, the prevailing wisdom assured us that the sun ac-tually revolved around us, and forward think-ing individuals who challenged this were ac-tually persecuted and put to death. Today, we know that our earth is but one of many plan-ets that revolve around our sun which is only one among countless stars in the universe.

Th e more we learn about the other creatures that inhabit our planet, the more we can come to understand that we can learn a lot from them.

Recently, a colleague and friend in our na-tion’s capital made me aware of current re-search that has revealed that elephants in the wild can actually distinguish among and between human voices. Scientists playing recorded human voices for elephants dis-covered that elephants can discern children from adults, and women from men. Further research revealed that elephants can actually distinguish diff erent languages and can dif-ferentiate members of the Maasai tribe as op-posed to the Kamba tribe.

Jim Stovall

Th is is not merely a circus trick but true sur-vival for elephants as the Maasai tribe will hunt and kill elephants while the Kamba tribe does not. Once elephants learn this im-portant information, they remember it and act upon it.

Th is is where we humans can take a lesson from our elephant friends. Every human be-ing that has smoked a cigarette in the last half century has been aware of the clear warning on every package stating that cigarette smok-ing is dangerous and deadly. Humans are aware of this but continue to smoke. Recent fi nancial research has shown that people fi l-ing for bankruptcy due to credit card debt are three times more likely to get back into credit card debt within a few years of the bankruptcy.

We don’t fail because we don’t know what to do. We fail because we don’t do what we know. Human beings can be aware of valu-able information, learn from others, or even from their own experience but somehow ei-ther forget or overlook this knowledge in the decision-making process.

Knowledgeable people learn facts. Wise people remember facts and act accordingly. It would do an elephant no good to be able to discern a dangerous human from a harmless human if the elephant didn’t both remem-ber it and act upon it. If we are honest with ourselves, the majority of the time when we get into trouble we either say to ourselves or speak out loud, “I knew better than that.”

As you go through your day today, remember that successful humans learn, remember, and act like elephants.

Today is’s the day!Education is a lifelong journey whose

destination expands as you travel.

Education is a lifelong journey whose

destination expands as you travel. Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Net-

work, as well as a published author of many books in-cluding The Ultimate Gift. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker.


I encounter people frequently who are en-gaged in what I call “drive-by learning.” ‘Th ey pop into a program, visit a group, make a phone call, but it’s all uncoordinated and scattered. Th e behavior reminds me of people who spend an hour someplace just to be able to say they’ve been there, even though they don’t understand a thing about the back-ground, history, environment, or importance of the place. Learning isn’t an event. It’s a process.

I’ve found that the greatest growth, person-ally and professionally, derives from self in-vestment. Th ere are no greater dividends or interest payments than those you gain from investing in your continued learning and growth. Th at can’t be done on the drive-by, toe-in-the-water basis. And it can’t be done with a cookie cutter program. It should be personalized to you.

We create our own truths. Th at is, powerful people make comments such as, “Th e food is overrated, and they have a better public relations person than a chef.” Th ey don’t say, “Gee, I thought the food was pretty good but not great. Maybe I didn’t order correctly, or they had an off night. What do you think?” Similarly, with a client, they say, “Your issue here isn’t too much attrition but too little. You need more fresh air and new ideas otherwise you’re breathing your own exhaust.” Th ey don’t say, “How would you like me to help you with reducing your attrition?”

Creating your own truth means that you set the stage and the pace. You are creating the environment for which you wish. You’re not subject to the one others may be concocting.

You can do this best when you are constantly developing your talents and abilities, and in-vesting in your own growth so that you are always comfortable and prepared. But you must manage this yourself; do not look to others to provide it.

Th e myth of nervous speakers

I’ve spoken professionally for over 25 years globally. It’s a myth that all speakers get the jitters and need constant practice despite be-ing familiar with their material. Th e truth is the top echelon can speak extemporaneously on almost any topic related to our expertise, not because we have the background, but be-cause we have the confi dence. We create our own truths, and the audience expects that from experts. Speakers with a ton of notes and a hundred slides aren’t experts but merely information transfer people.

Th e same phenomenon applies to our meet-ings, interactions, and relationships. If we’re confi dent, we can create our own truths. We don’t deny reality but rather defi ne our place within it. We are not victims of circumstance, not defi ned by others (as too many people are who seek constant validation), and not con-cerned about being liked because it’s more important in business to be respected.

What we all need is continual immersion in out own growth, and the volition to invest in it more faithfully than any bank account or mutual fund. We need to interact with people who challenge us, not those whom we im-press. We need to acquire new skills, not be-come more adept at what we’re already quite good at.

Th e dividends we receive in terms of confi -dence, growth, and the ability to create our own truths are enormous and enable us to help others. It’s silly, these days, to hide your money under the mattress or to keep it in a zero interest bank account. Th e same applies to your talent.

Invest in solid growth potential and long-term stability.

In other words, invest in yourself.

Alan Weiss, Ph.D.

A guided journey with “the rock star of consulting.”

Alan Weiss, PhD, is the author of 55 books appearing in 12 languages. The “rock star of consulting,” he is the sole non-journalist in the 80-year history of the Ameri-can Press Institute to receive its Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a member of the National Speakers Hall of Fame® and has been named a Fellow of the Institute of Management Consultants, one of only two people in history honored with both designations. He can be reached at [email protected] and www.con-trarianconsulting.com. His newest book is Million Dollar Launch from McGraw-Hill (2014).


Personal discipline, when it becomes a way of life in our personal, family, and career lives, will enable us to do some incredible things. One of my favorite sayings is “When you dis-cipline yourself to do the things you need to do when you need to do them, the day will come when you can do the things you want to do when you want to do them.”

We need to understand the diff erence be-tween discipline and punishment. Punish-ment is what you do to someone; discipline is what you do for someone. My friend and mentor Fred Smith points out that some people are very disciplined in one phase of their life and not in another. Pavarotti, for ex-ample, was a perfectionist in his music and yet totally unregulated in his eating habits. Elvis Presley’s life points out the discrepancy between his discipline in his personal life and his creative life. Many noticed that he would sit at the piano, working for hours on his phrasing, going over and over it until it was exactly right. He was totally disciplined about his singing. Even some geniuses such as Er-nest Hemingway, who lived a very dissolute and destructive life said, “Every morning at eight o’clock I bite the nail.”

Zig Ziglar

Fred Smith goes on to say there are people with superior talent who will not submit to discipline and so are not known or recog-nized for their abilities. He met a young man who in high school could run so fast that he would run through the curves on the track. Coaches saw that he had world class speed and expected him to be an Olympian. He re-fused discipline, wanting to take the easy way of simply using his natural speed. He even lost his college scholarship. Laziness was his enemy.

Discipline is building good habits into re-fl exes which become part of our life. It’s ab-solutely true that unless you can instill disci-pline upon yourself, you will never be able to lead others. Example is still the best teacher. As Fred says, “Discipline is building good habits into refl exes which become part of our life,” and to this I would add that when it be-comes a habit you will be able to control your impulses in each area of life and succeed in a balanced way.

If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.

Zig Ziglar was known as America’s Motivator. He au-thored 32 books and produced numerous training pro-grams. He will be remembered as a man who lived out his faith daily.

If you learn from defeat, you haven’t really lost.

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