Success isn't sexy

Success isn’t sexy

 

Too many leadership experts make being successful and fulfilled sound complicated. They preach the latest technique and offer the latest modality that they say will speed us to our greatest life. Take a magic pill or try the latest fad and all will be fine – life will be perfect.

 

Nonsense. Yes, crafting an extraordinary existence takes work. Of course, getting to greatness – personally and professionally – requires sacrifices. A primary sign of maturity is the ability to give up instant gratification for a much more spectacular pleasure down the road. And true, the right thing to do is generally the hardest thing to do. With daily consistent effort in the direction of our dreams and an application of the fundamentals of success, one can really get to the place one have always dreamed of getting to.

 

Success isn’t sexy. It’s all about working the basics of excellence with a passionate consistency. I love that word. Consistency. It’s amazing how far one will get by just staying with something long enough. Most people give up too early. Their fears are bigger than their faith, I guess.

 

Stick to the fundamentals that we know in our hear are true and we’ll do just fine. Things like being being positive, taking responsibility for our role in what’s not working in our lives, treating people well, working hard, being an innovator rather than a follower, getting up early, getting goals, speaking one’s truth, being self-disciplined, saving money, caring for health and valuing family. “ the smallest of actions is always better than the noblest of intentions”

 

Don’t complicate things. Getting to best life is simple. Not easy but simple. It just takes focus and effort. That philosophy about the thousand mile journey beginning with a single step is true. Do a little each day to get the goals and over time, the goals will be achieved. Small daily gains leads to giant results over a life time.

 

Personal & organizational greatness is not about revolution but about evolution, those small but consistent wins. Sam Walton began with a single store. Bill & Alan started Microsoft from their homes. Every dream starts small. But you need to start. Today.

 

“It’s amazing how far one will get by just staying with something long enough. Most people give up too early. Their fears are bigger than their faith”

 

RE: BE AN IDEA FACTORY

CREDIT DOESN’T MATTER

 

“You can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets the credit”, observed Harry Truman. Splendid thought. Leave your ego at the front door when you go to work and just do superb work. Good things will happen. For you.

 

It’s so human to crave applause and recognition and acclaim. We all want to be appreciate by our peers and revered by the tribe. But leadership is about a lot more than trying to look good in the eyes of others. It’s about standing for a cause (as Pablo Picasso added, “It’s your Work in life that is the ultimate seduction”). It’s about being BIW (Best in the World) at what you do. It’s about leaving people better than you found them. And it’s about not worrying who gets the credit for a job well done.

 

People who are outstanding always get found out. The cliché is true: the cream always rises to the top. The best always come to light. And the Great Ones among us can never be held back.

 

BE AN IDEA FACTORY

BE AN IDEA FACTORY

 

One big idea could revolutionize your life – and even the world around you. All it takes is that single genius thought to change the whole game. I’m reading a fantastic book called Humble master pieces: Every day Marvels of Design by Paola Antonelli, curator of architecture and design at new york’s museum of Modern Art. In one of the chapters, I learned of designer Daniel Cudzik. He’s the brave dreamer who invented the stay-on metal tab that you now see on everyone single one of the billion aluminum cans made every year. Before his invention, tabs were pulled off and thrown away, creating tons of litter, not to mention hurt feet. One idea transformed all that.

 

Cudzik was watching TV one night with his two kids when the vision came to him. (Your best ideas will come when you least expect it. Most revolutionary thoughts don’t come when you are keeping a frenetic pace, they come when you’re having fun, so have some fun – it’s good for business, as well as for your soul). Rather than letting the idea slip away (like most of us do), he wrote it down, sketching his plan for the stay-on tab. He quickly gave it to a draftsman, and they soon created the prototype. Guess what? It worked. Brings me to my suggestion: Become an idea factory. Of course, you also need to have a passionate commitment to breathing life into your big ideas through near-flawless execution. Couple the two and you just might produce something extraordinarily valuable. And wouldn’t that be a wonderful thing?

 

“One big idea could revolutionize your life – and even the world around you. All it takes is that single genius thought to change the whole game”

 

ASK TO GET

ASK TO GET

 

You’ll never know if you don’t even try. There is enormous power in asking for what you want. All too often, our internal chatter prevents us from taking the steps needed to get us to our own unique form of greatness. We are kept small from our inner imaginings – so many of which are lies.

 

The most brilliant of the best, those who live glorious lives that matter, ask like crazy. They understand that it’s a habit that must be polished for it to shine. And the more you do it, the easier it gets ( like any skill). So they ask. For the support and help they need they need for their business. For a better table at their favorite restaurant. For a better seat at a sold-out concert. And because they ask more, they get more (success always has been a numbers game).

 

Nothing happens until you ask. People are not mind readers. They need to know what’s meaningful to you. And if you ask nicely, they just might say yes.

 

“The most brilliant of the best, those who live glorious lives that matter, ask like crazy”

 

CHERISH CONFLICT

CHERISH CONFLICT

 

Everybody runs from conflict. It makes us feel bad, so we avoid it. Hope it will somehow resolve itself. It never does. Instead it just festers like a bad wound (what we resist really does persist).

 

Conflict is nothing more than an opportunity for greater growth and a deeper personal connection. Every conflict carries within it a chance for us to learn a powerful lesson and to grow as a human being (in our understanding and awareness/perspective). And every conflict, whether with a loved one or a customer, is a gorgeous opportunity to forge an even closer bond with them. By turning their dissatisfaction into a wow for both of you.

 

So don’t run from conflict. Don’t send the email when you know you need to speak some truth face to face. Leadership is about balancing compassion with courage. And though it can feel so messy, in truth it’s a gift. Embrace it. Relish the potential it carries. Celebrate it. It can serve us so well.

 

“Conflict is nothing more than an opportunity for greater growth and a deeper connection”

 

DONT WAIT FOR CHANGE

DON’T WAIT FOR CHANGE

 

You know I am very ordinary. I have my strengths and my flaws. One of my weakness is impatience. I just have this aching need to get great things done. Can’t stand slow change. Need to make my impact, and to spend my talents. Now.

 

Like some weaknesses, it’s also a great source of success. I move things forward fast. Just love speed. Only results matter (I’, generalizing, a bit). Makes me think of what Clint Eastwood said in a recent issue of Best Life: “ Sometimes if you want to see a change for better, you have to take things into your own hands”. Exactly. Sure, work with your team. Yes, collaborate. Of course delegate to other who have strengths where you don’t. But sometimes, when everyone is waiting for someone else to take the first step, you need to be the one to drive the change. To me, that’s courage in action. To me, that’s using your life well. To me, that’s leadership – and standing for being extraordinary.

 

“Sometimes, when everyone else is waiting for someone else to take the first step, you need to be the one to drive the change”

 

Fail Faster

FAIL FASTER

 

I’m not the first to use the term “fail faster”. But I do love it. The CEO of Coca-Cola at the annual meeting informed shareholders that the company was now going on an innovation tear and that his organization’s reinvention plan was contained in a document entitled “The Manifesto for Growth”. He noted that spending on marketing and innovation would increase by US$400 million and then – here’s the big line – observed, “You will see some failures. As we take more risks, this is something we must accept as part of the regeneration process.” Which brings me to the imperative of the Failing Fast.

 

At a leadership presentation I gave a while ago to the sales team of a large pharmaceutical company, someone came up to me afterwards and said, “ Robin, I loved your speech. Especially the idea about failure being the price of greatness.” That reminded me that too many of us are so afraid of failure that we don’t even try (Seneca once said, “It is not because things are difficult that we do not dare. It is because we do not dare that things are difficult”) Many of us are frightened of looking silly or being embarrassed by failure and as a result, we don’t take the risk and seize an opportunity. We think failure is bad. It isn’t. It’s good. No, it’s great.

 

There can be no success without failure. It’s just part of the process. The company and people who have reached the heights of success are the ones that have failed the most often. You need to fail to win. And the faster you fail, the more quickly you’ll learn precisely what you need to do to win. So fail fast. Out-fail the competition. Out-fail the person you once were. I’ll leave you with a quote from Robert F Kennedy: “Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly”

 

“There can be no success without failure. It’s just part of the process…You need to fail to win”