Chalk Up a "6"

Andrew Carnegie hired Charles M. Schwab to run US Steel in 1921 and paid him $1 million per year. That was $3,000 per day, when people who made $50 per week, were considered well off. He was not hired because he knew more about steel than anyone else. Carnegie hired him because he was a genius at dealing with people. There was a book written about Mr. Schwab back in 1912 entitled Succeeding with What You Have. I would like to pull a short excerpt from the book that gives a great example of how Mr. Schwab was able to motivate his people to accomplish more without threats, condemnation, fear, criticism, intimidation, or pressure.

Attention Getter

I recently did a program on How to GRAB the Attention of Clients and Prospects. Here are a few points from that talk. According to the top advertising agencies in the world you’ve got 3 seconds to grab their attention. You scroll through your… Emails, Facebook feed, Today’s news, Tweets, Pins, Ads, Pics, and Videos … drowning in a sea of soundbites and thumbnails and headline after headline, page after page of information and ideas, until… suddenly, YOU stop scrolling. WHY! You hit that headline, that image, that quote that really speaks to YOU. You’re drawn into this piece of content and before you know it, you've consumed an entire email, article, blog, or post.

Words Make a Difference

Highly successful people know, that before speaking, they need to consider the purpose behind their words. A little thought before we speak will make our words have more meaning and be more effective. I don’t care what your objective is … to help, persuade, inspire, teach, or sell … whatever your intentions are, choose your words wisely. Here are 6 words/phrases you should avoid saying. They detract from your ability to make a point, your desire to continue a productive dialogue or they may simply offend the listener. 

Corporate Decision Process

The great news is my wife’s emergency surgery was a success and she is on the mend. Taking care of her while she was recuperating was not an issue. That is just what you do … BUT … taking over “ALL” the things she does for the family, well that was a different matter. I needed to become Annie, and I had no idea what that entailed. Every time I turned around, there was something else that needed to be done or some errand that needed to be run.

It Seemed That Time Stopped

Time never stops. Well, it seemingly did for me on February 24th at approximately 8:00 am. My wife called out, and I found her on the floor, writhing in pain. We had no clue what was going on, so we headed for the emergency room. Time seemed to stop. Nothing mattered except getting to the ER. Meetings would be missed, Zoom calls cancelled, interviews for programs would have to wait. TIME STOPPED.

Shorten Your Learning Curve

If I have learned one thing in business, it is “WHY” experience the pain to learn something when you don’t have to; the more knowledge you can gain from others, the better for you. Go to school on other people’s experiences. Learn from their wise words or from their mistakes and shorten your learning curve. I heard it once said: “He is truly wise who gains wisdom from another’s mishap.”