First Principles for Great Relationships

The quality of your life comes down to the quality of your relationships. With your customers, with your suppliers, with your loved ones, with yourself (big idea there). Commit to insanely great relationships and you’ll have an insanely great life. And being a great human connector is pretty easy stuff. Remember, success is all about masterful consistency around fundamentals.

The following seven First Principles are profoundly simple and yet simply profound – and isn’t that the case for all great truths?

• Be the first one to say hello (or Namaste/Shalom/Hola/Salam Malekam, or whatever may be appropriate) when you encounter another person. In other words, be kind first (which takes courage, because we’re all scared of rejection)
• Smile a lot. It’s one of the best ways to have someone open up to you. Remember, we make lasting impressions on people within the first few minutes of meeting them.
• Use people’s names. This is really important. It shows that you care, and is a mark of respect.
• Look people in the eye when you speak to them.
• Become a world- class listener. Get this one right and you’ll own the title of “Relationship Superstar”. Most people don’t listen. Most people are so self-focused that they fail to ask good questions when they meet another person. Listening and asking questions shows humility. It shows you are interested. It demonstrates that you are engaged – and not in love with yourself. Most people’s idea of listening is waiting until the other person has finished speaking so that they can interject.
• Offer sincere compliments. Praise is free. Never miss an opportunity to celebrate and elevate another person, whether at work or at home. You’ll connect with the best within them. And then they’ll give you their best. Leave people feeling better than you fond them.
• Treat everyone like royalty ( and I do mean everyone; it scares me when someone’s really nice to me but rude to a waiter – no consistency there). Behave as if you’ll never see them again. When I get home from work each day, my kids come flying around the corner and hug me. Every day. Makes me feel like a king.

Sure the above seven ideas are simple. Master these principles and you’ll get to your mountaintop more quickly than you can imagine. Greatness comes from mastery around the fundamentals.

“Never miss an opportunity to celebrate and elevate another person”

(these are not my thoughts J and are copied from Robin’s book)