Danny Cox - Accelerationist

Destiny Goals

2012-02-03T15:33:00.000-08:00

Make no littleplans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably they will not berealized. Make big plans, aim high in hope and work, remembering that a noble,logical diagram once recorded will never die, but long after we are gone willbe a living thing, asserting itself with ever-growing insistency.

David Burnham, British Architect

Your goals should be big enough, bold enough, and excitingenough, to turn you on, if they are, and if your goals point you in the rightdirection, you’ll notice that some strange things will start to happen. You’llstart to get excited about taking your goals on, you’ll start to get better atwhat you do, and doors will start opening up for you.

It’s not a lack of talent, but a lack of goals, that causesone’s life to stagnate. Remember: If you are having a hard time getting out ofbed in the morning, its because you have no new goals. Deciding not to have aspecific goal IS a specific goal.

The size of our future goals will determine our future lifestyle. It’s as simple as that but not easy. George Foreman, twice Heavy Weight Boxing Champion said, “IfI see what I want, real good in my mind, I don’t notice any pain in gettingit.”

When we make a commitment to accomplishment––not to waitingpassively for change, but to making change happen––the resulting improvement inmorale becomes a vote of confidence for our life.

A goal’s main purpose is to help develop undevelopedpotential. The goal motivates us to action. We work hard and overcomeobstacles, and the achieved goal becomes a reward for the effort.

Experiencing temporary setbacks is not a crime. Low aim is!So, what are you aiming for? Your goals should make sense for where you’vebeen, where you are now, and where you’re headed.

Be sure you set goals that are: (1) Exciting. (2) Realistic.(3) Measurable. (4) Attainable.

The best goals will energize you and motivate you to takeaction! Goals will bring your life’s energy into focus. Dreaming without everfocusing will dissipate your precious energy and waste your precious time.Think of goals as “dreams with deadlines,” as someone once put it.

Your goals should be too exciting, too powerful, too rootedin what you already find exhilarating for you to ignore. If the goal doesn’t motivate youinstantly, it needs to be revised!

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: Whatever comes to us in life, we create first inour minds. Whether we know it or not, our best dreams and goals––those thatmotivate us in a positive direction––are our Creator’s contribution to ourpersonal suggstion box. Judge your goals by the pictures they create in yourmind and by how much they motivate you.

Crystal-clear Focus on the Future

2011-10-18T10:48:00.000-07:00

“The faster I got, the smoother the ride. Suddenly the Mach needle began to fluctuate. It went up to .965 Mach––then tipped right off the scale. After all the anxiety, after all the anticipation, breaking the sound barrier, the unknown, was just a poke through Jell-O, a perfectly paved speedway, because the real barrier wasn’t in the sky but in our knowledge and experience of supersonic flight.”

––From pilot Chuck Yeager’s autobiography, Yeager

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”

––Thomas Edison

Here’s a very important thing I learned from my mentor, Jim Newton: No-limits people focus with the intensity of a laser beam on what’s still possible. Once they commit themselves to a goal––and to the ongoing development of their own talents and abilities––they don’t spend a whole lot of time looking back and wondering how things might have turned out. They make their own luck. They don’t get sidetracked worrying about what’s gone wrong in the past; they study what works, identify exactly what doesn’t and then move forward.

No-limits people, in other words, learn to focus instinctively on what will still be. Most other people, by contrast, have taught themselves to focus instinctively on what might have been.

Look around you, and you’ll find that most people are content simply to get through the day. They focus on “bad luck” or “ rotten breaks” and look for excuses not to perform at peak levels. Of course, they usually find those excuses. If there were any honesty in the world, the majority of people would plan their days in daily planners that would have a long list of “opportunities to give in today” and perhaps one line devoted to a possible success!

The way people think about the day ahead––“It’ll never work! We’re doomed!” or “God never gives me more than I can handle. I know I can learn from whatever I encounter today”––has a profound impact on the amount we achieve. If we ask merely to get through the day, that’s what we’ll achieve! If we focus on “what might have been,” we never give ourselves the opportunity to become excited about “what will be!”

Immediate Action: Think of someone you know or have worked with whose habits and attitudes remind you of those of the “might-have-been” thinker. Now think of someone you know or have worked with whose example is closer to that of the “will-still-be” thinker. Whose life is more exciting? Whose rewards are more inspiring? Whose company do you enjoy more?

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: No-limits people fall into my category of “Accelerationist,” because they ACCELERATE! Here’s what I mean by that:

A––Awareness. They’re aware of the current situation and the goals they’ve set.

C––Commitment. They’re committed to developing their strengths.

C––Celebrate. They celebrate goals and achievement on a daily basis.

E––Education. They view this as a neverending process.

L––Laughter. They know how to laugh, and they do it often! (Laughter gets rid of negative stress.)

E––Energize. Their energy rubs off on others.

R––Responsibility. They encourage team accountability and are willing to stand behind their own

decisions.

A––Aim. They keep raising it.

T––Time. They take time for themselves and for their family.

E––Evaluate. They regularly evaluate what’s happened and why. In other words, they learn from

themselves, as well as others.

Three Driving Forces

2011-07-26T13:20:00.000-07:00

Restlessness and discontent are the first necessities of progress.”

Thomas Edison

What drives no limits people? That’s what I wanted Jim Newton, author of Uncommon Friends to reveal. He didn’t disappoint me.

I met him thirty years ago when he was in his late seventies. During his early twenties his circle of friends was Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, Harvey Firestone, Nobel Prize Winner Dr. Alexis Carrel and Charles Lindberg.

This group has been called the men who invented the 20^th Century. During the hundreds of hours he was with them, he took notes, actually five or six boxes full of them. This treasure trove became the basis for Jim’s book, “Uncommon Friends.”

Of my many conversations with Jim one is a standout. I learned one of the biggest lessons in my life. I said, “Did these great high achievers have any common driving forces?”

Three interlocking and self-supporting forces, he explained, motivate these high achievers. First of all, no-limits people are inspired by an unshakable sense of purpose. This sense of purpose supports and reinforces (and is supported and reinforced by in turn) two more driving forces. The no-limits person has an unquenchable spirit of adventure and a desire for continued personal growth. These people know they don’t know it all. (Anyone who does think he or she knows it all is in what we used to call “the graveyard spiral” in the flying business.)

As I say, these three motivations don’t operate in a vacuum. Although the sense of purpose (which is sometimes described as a “sense of mission”) initiates the cycle, it connects with each of the other two motivations, and is constantly strengthened by them. Take a look at the diagram, which I developed after a discussion with Jim. It makes the process a little easier to understand.

The cycle starts in the middle—the no-limits person has developed an incredibly strong sense of “what needs to happen and why.” This is the awareness and planning stage, the part of the cycle where goals are developed. Without a firm sense of purpose, without a mission, without a strong goal orientation, there is no such thing as a barrier-breaker.

So the goal’s established and a plan is in place. Then the no-limits person launches that plan and embarks on the adventure of actually achieving the goal. Of course, there are challenges and temporary setbacks along the way; problem solving is part of the adventure. This is the second phase of the process, and it’s very exciting.

Even after the goal is achieved, the no-limits person is motivated—this time, to prepare for the challenges of the future. That third element, the desire for continued personal growth, is a commitment not to “rest on laurels” or “stick with the formula” because it’s always worked before. No-limits people are about positive change, positive growth, and forward movement. For them, the cycle is not complete until there’s evidence of renewal and new understanding.

All three motivations support and reinforce one another. All three are essential forces for the development of a no-limits life.

These are the driving forces that no-limits people use to put their lives into “afterburner” mode, to use Air Force terminology. With practice, you can use these forces to change your life, too!

Immediate Action: Review the three forces that drive no-limits achievers. Jot them down on a separate sheet of paper.

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: No-limits people are those who commit to pushing themselves outside of the comfort zone, those who know what they want and are willing to commit fully to the adventure of achieving their goals, and those who are willing to say, as my friend Jim Rohn says, “In order to do more, I’ve got to be more

Get Unstuck

2011-06-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

May I recommend you go back to the previous Blog and take a look at the two illustrations there. They are the basis for the content of this Blog.

“Short-term comfort for long-term trouble is not the trade you’re looking for. The easy way is not the easy way.”
—Richard Bach, author

If you’re having trouble getting out of bed in the morning, it’s because you have no new goals. Every day has become a repeat of the day before. “What’s your goal today?” “I’m gonna go in and repeat yesterday.” “How was yesterday?” “Not too good.” “Then why do it?” “Well, it’s my job.” Wrong! It’s your habit in doing your job.

We develop a habit in the way we do the job—then we get bored with the habit and blame our boredom on the job! There’s still a lot of adventure and excitement to be realized in your job—if you’re willing to work to get better and better at it.

When people quit getting better at what they do, when they stop attaching themselves to constructive goals, it’s because there’s something inside them that’s misleading them into the feeling that they can’t get better, no matter what they do, or that they know it all. So they stop taking aim at things. Habit has made them complacent and lazy, a little too self-assured and cocky, like that fighter pilot who forgets to “check his six.”

When you’re going around in that familiar circle, you’re just making a living. When you finally manage that right-hand turn, you

could be making a life, with a real sense of enjoyment in what you do—not only something to live on, but something to live for.

I believe that every perceived limitation can be traced to a decision not to make that right-hand turn into growth and greatness. In this book, we’ll be looking at the best ways to help you manage that turn, day in and day out—and make the right decision at the crossroads.

Immediate Action: Think of the last time you had the opportunity to grow, to stretch yourself, to broaden your abilities—and you took it. Maybe you took a class in a subject you loved, or went “into the zone” to develop a new approach for a problem at work. How did it feel to expand your horizons? Did it leave you feeling more energized, better equipped, and with higher morale to deal with the challenges of life?

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: Will Rogers may have put it best: “Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there.”

No More Repeated Yesterdays

2011-03-31T12:54:00.000-07:00

"Choose the road that demands the most from you."

Danny Cox

Charlie’s story from my last blog brings me back to one of the most important lessons I learned during that time of my life. Here it is. Everyday we stand at what some people call the "crossroads of life" but its not really a square cross in the road but a Y in the road. One of the roads leads to sameness and boredom and the other to growth, development and enthusiasm.

So each day ask yourself this question, “Am I doing the best at my job, or am I doing it the way I’ve always done it?” When you know the answer to that question, then you know where that road leads. More often than not, it leads right back to where you were the day before. Instead of taking that tricky right turn, the one that leads to new growth, you find yourself going around in a very familiar circle.

I call that “repeating yesterday.” (We’ll be examining that idea in more depth in a later blog.) This “repeating yesterday” formula is a phenomenon that’s true of companies as well as people—in fact, it would make a pretty good logo for some organizations. These are the companies that I refer to as “Plunging into the future with their eyes affixed to the rear view mirror—they are tradition-centered and unhampered by progress.” They don’t get worked up about new goals; a fair number of them have no goals whatsoever.

Immediate Action: Make photocopies of this “repeating yesterday” diagram, and place them in strategic locations in your home, your office, and on the dashboard of your car to remind yourself of which way you want to go.

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: A love of tradition for its own sake is what I call “nostalgic paralysis”—and it’s a sure-fire recipe for stagnation, inefficiency and burnout.".

A Satisfied Need Doesn’t Motivate

2011-02-07T14:29:00.000-08:00

“We feel the thing we ought to be beating beneath the thing we are.”
—Phillips Brooks, American minister

When I talk about my record-breaking office, I’m often asked, “Where did you find those great salespeople? Did you raid the competition and get their top people? How did you get people who were all cut from the same piece of cloth?” Well, I didn’t and they weren’t. My salespeople came from every walk of life. That was a great office, and I could tell you some very interesting stories about an entire cross section of people. But I’m just going to pick one. Let’s call him Charlie. (That’s not his real name.)

Charlie was the most frustrating human being I ever had working for me. If you’re a manager, you probably know somebody just like him. I saw potential in him that he refused to see himself because of his self-imposed barriers. This guy made $4,000 a month, month in and month out. I don’t even know how he got by on that amount. It was absolutely eerie how close he could get to $4,000 each and every month. It was like an obsession. If he got close to $4,000 and there were just a few days left in the month, he was a basket case. He was actually petrified that someone would walk in and say, “I’m buying from you today,” and that would put him over the $4,000.

One month I said to myself, “Charlie doesn’t know this yet, but he’s going to go through that barrier, or I’m going to die trying to get him over it.” I did everything but move in with him. For a solid month, he could not move in that office without my being right behind him. When he went to the men’s room, I stood guard at the door! I Big Brothered that son of a gun to death!

That month he made close to $8,000—he doubled his productivity—all thanks to my Big Brothering. But mark the sequel: The next month, without me behind him, Charlie made—you guessed it—nothing. Zero. And the next month? $2,000—he had no problem with that.

So I brought him in to my office and sat him down. He was one of those people who have “poor me” written all over their faces and in their voices. I bet with that voice of his he could have cracked a Styrofoam cup. Anyway, after I had pointed out what he was doing, he said, “But Danny, you don’t understand.”

“What don’t I understand?” I asked him.

“Well, I’ve never had any more money in the bank than what my father had in the bank when I was growing up.” As ridiculous as that sounds, that was his excuse. He made absolutely sure that he based his earnings solely on what his father used to have when he was young. He controlled his income. If he’d been on salary, he’d have probably controlled it with his expenses. This, then, was his reason for keeping his self-imposed barrier in what could have been a permanent position.

I looked at him and I said, “So that’s the role model you’re setting for your own children, is it? So someday they’ll be able to sit in an office like this and then tell their manager, ‘We’ve never had any more money in the bank than our father had in the bank. It’s always been that way in our family.’”

Well, Charlie came up out of that chair in a hurry and headed for my desk, as if I’d not only stepped on sacred ground, I had stomped on it. Or that’s the way it seemed. I thought “Cox, here’s one you’ve pushed too far. He’s going to be across that desk doing horrible things to your face in just a moment.” There he stood at my desk, inches
away from me, shaking. But instead of hitting me, he said, “My gosh! That’s what I’m doing, isn’t it?”

“Sure you are,” I said, relieved.

Then he said, “I’m setting a daily example for my kids to see, one of no further growth from their father. My own kids think this is as good as I’ll ever be at what I’ve chosen to do with my life. Well, why should they feel any different? I’ve never given them any reason to.”

He paused a moment, then went on, “They deserve a better example than the one they see at the end of a day when I come home from work, disgusted with myself, carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders, and telling them they’d better get better at what they’re doing. From this point forward,” Charlie said, “I refuse to continue to repeat what I know doesn’t work.”

That’s an important lesson to learn. When we get into a bad habit, we often don’t see what’s happening to us and what’s not working. But we can defeat that by taking a good, long look at ourselves, and then make changes to break the bad habits—starting today! And that’s exactly what Charlie did.

Immediate Action: Ask yourself, “What am I doing now that isn’t working? How could I change it?” How do you know whether what you’re doing works or not? We probably already know instinctively; the question is, when do we decide that the price we’re paying now is too high?

Charlie walked out of my office that day a changed man. Why? Because he had something to prove. The pain of realizing he was affecting his children’s life for the worse was too much—he decided it was time to establish a new routine. He vowed to inspire his family. Whom are you inspiring by the way you do your job? (And notice I said “inspiring,” not “impressing.”)

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: For “things” to change for the better, you’ve got to change for the better...just as Charlie did.

Break Your Own Records––Not Theirs

2010-12-08T11:05:00.000-08:00

“To be what we are, to become what we are capable of becoming is the only end of life.”

Robert Louis Stevenson

A favorite author of mine, O. S. Marden said, “Adversity sometimes strips a person only to discover the person.”

There was a period of time that I had a real chance to learn more about myself as well as the sales team I managed.

It had been a tumultuous seven months since I was appointed to manage the #1 office of 36 offices. In three months we were 36^th because I was trying to get them to sell like I did. It’s a common managerial mistake. My boss said, “I’m looking for your replacement.”

I went into “high gear” looking for good leadership techniques and putting them into practice. In four months we were back to #1. Over the next few months we stayed at #1 but at the same level of productivity.

We were back at our comfort levels in other words we had stopped at our individual self-imposed barriers of the past.

The system I created that worked like a charm was to bring each of my team members in for a “closed door” session with me. In this private conference I said, “I don’t want you to break anyone else’s sales record. I only want you to break your own in five different categories. What is your highest producing day, week, month, quarter and year?

If they didn’t know what their record was in each category I helped them figure it our. I also explained they didn’t have to break them in order. They might have their best week before their best day, for example.

Launching this technique worked extremely well. We broke office records, company records and industry records.

Once they saw that breaking their own personal records was a great motivation their morale went even higher.

It also got them away from that old, inefficient saying, “I’m going to go break ‘so and so’s’ record”. They were more focused on their own records.

Immediate Action: Figure out what was your best productive day. Your best productive week, etc.

Making the Best Better

2010-11-02T16:13:00.000-07:00

“Only a mediocre person is always at his best.”

Somerset Maugham

I was conducting a leadership program at a client’s company headquarters in South Carolina. During the lunch break, as I was strolling around with one of their vice presidents, I couldn’t help but notice the great inspirational quotes hanging on the walls. I commented what a great idea this was. The VP said, “These are the inspirational reminders we used in the turnaround we went through a few years ago. We were a very old company that had drifted into the doldrums and plateaued out. Then our CEO read a book by Philip Crosby called Quality Is Free––and after that we turned the company around. Now we’re the acknowledged world leader in our field.”

The first quote on the wall that really caught my eye said, “There is no saturation to education.” What a great thought! Think about it. Do you realize that nobody has ever been completely educated? There is always room for another new idea! I think that quote ought to be on every manager’s wall and across the top of every company newsletter. There is no saturation to education!

But the one that brought me to a complete halt was a few yards further down the hallway. This is the one that will stick with me forever. “Good is the enemy of best; best is the enemy of better.” Wow! That’s profound! When we get good at something, what do we tend to say? “Why do I have to be the best at this? I’m already good at it.” Should we happen to become the best at something, and then the tendency is to say, “Why do I need to get any better? I’m already Number One.”

When I was in the cockpit of my supersonic fighter I was always “checking my six.” That was the area directly behind me where something bad could slip up on me. Occasionally, we’d see one of our buddies in the squadron getting a little too cocky, a little too self-assured for his own good and ours. That’s when somebody would say, “You’d better check your six. Something’s gaining on you and you don’t even know it.”

That same thing happens in the business world. I spot them in my audiences at conventions and seminars. Their arms are folded; they never take a note and have a “know it all” look on their face. I spring this on them, “Check your six. Something is slipping up on you that you’re not going to like.”

When you take that new road––the one that leads out of the familiar routine and into new goals and new growth––your customers will be thrilled. But what happens if you keep going around and around in the same circle? Plateauing, followed by stagnation, followed by burnout…in that order.

Immediate Action: Think of a person you’ve worked with who thought he or she knew it all, but didn’t. How should he or she have kept up with the challenges of the day? What can you learn from his or her complacency?

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: Don’t forget to check your six. You’ve got to make sure you stay out there where you can focus. For your own good and for the good of others. You’ve got to make sure that complacency isn’t keeping you from developing new talents––and developing defenses against the new challenges you’re going to face.

The Big Discovery

2010-10-14T14:04:00.000-07:00

Self-imposed barriers mark the perimeters of our self-worth. Those barriers are pushed out as faith in our self worth increases and undeveloped potential is discovered.

––Danny Cox

Somerset Maugham, the great English author, once said, “Adversity puts iron in your flesh.” Another one of my favorite authors, a man by the name of Orison Swett Marden, said, “Adversity sometimes strips a person, only to discover the person.” Well, through adversity I discovered quite a lot about my person. I went back to square one and started learning not only about my own potential, but also about the potential of the people who worked for me. And the biggest lesson I learned was that salespeople can get better––right after the sales manager does.

There are universal applications in that principle. Employees get better right after managers do. Kids get better right after parents do. Students get better right after teachers do. Audiences get better right after speakers do. Customers get better right after salespeople, sales managers, upper management, receptionists, secretaries, order clerks, and anybody else who happens to be in the company get better.

I had been with the company two years (one as a salesperson and one as a manager) of one of their small offices. I had been promoted three months prior to this time to the highest producing office out of 36. In those 90 days we slid to #36! My boss told me he was looking for my replacement.

I had to work fast to save my career. Two days away from the office and I figured it out. My problem was trying to turn my salespeople into “copies” of me, an idea that they rejected. My new strategy was to be aware of their weaknesses but communicate with their strengths. It worked! And 120 days later we were back to Number One.

That was a moment to be savored, not only because of the sense of achievement, but because it would then be possible to ease off a bit and relax after that incredible climb back to Number One. Or so I thought. There’s a certain danger in taking that kind of attitude. If I had hung on to it, you know what would have happened, don’t you? Our sales would have plateaued back out and you’d be reading a Blog by some other author, not me!

Well, my salespeople and I started talking about this phenomenon. It can happen to anybody working in any job at any level: When you get to a certain way to doing your job, it’s tempting to just quit getting better at it. That is what is called a self-imposed barrier. We’ll be looking at that kind of barrier in greater detail a little later on, but I want to take this opportunity to give you the introductory tour now.

Nobody builds a self-imposed barrier for you. You build it for yourself. A self-imposed barrier is not a wall around your life; it’s just the margin of your life, where you stopped growing. These barriers can rise up at just about any level, whether it’s low, medium, or even high productivity!

Immediate Action: Think of a time when you’ve told someone––perhaps a friend or family member––“Come on you can do better than that.” Did you ever hear that person reply, “No, I can’t––I’ve never done this job better than that.” The truth is, that’s not a reason that’s not even a good excuse. It’s only the flag atop the so-called barrier. It shows where the new potential starts.

Point to Ponder: Phillips Brooks, the minister who wrote, “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” had a powerful thought: “When you discover you’ve been leading only half a life, the other half is going to haunt you until you develop it.” He was absolutely right.

No-limits thinking is the kind of thinking that’s dedicated to finding a way to live a full life––so that the unexplored half of your identity, the half you can develop but don’t doesn’t come back to haunt you.

The Crossroads

2010-09-29T09:36:00.000-07:00

The Crossroads

“Now is always beginning.” Thomas Hornsby Ferril, author

Every day we stand at the “crossroads of our lives,” which, if the truth be known, is a “Y” in the road. One path leads toward sameness––the other path leads toward no-limits––living that is new, exciting, and adventurous.

Every day there are decisions to be made about which direction we will take. And every day new opportunities for personal growth present themselves to us. Maybe we don’t always see them, but they’re there.

Those opportunities are there for you. Your personal “Y” in the road represents unlimited possibilities to be explored, challenges to be met, and chances to experience life to its fullest. When we take full advantage of those opportunities, we overcome (imaginary) barriers––and prove to ourselves and anybody who’s watching that there are no limits.

You may be asking yourself: How do I know when it’s time to take that new direction? Which fork in that crossroads do I choose? And how do I change direction again if things don’t work out quite as well as I’d hoped? What if it ends up looking a whole lot like there are limits for me, after all? Answering those questions is what this is all about.

When we’re born, our developed potential is only a microscopic dot that sits inside a large circle of our very own undeveloped potential. Then we go to school and the circle gets to be a little bigger, and we start to have more experiences and the circle, again, gets a little bigger. We learn more things through new experiences, and the circle gets bigger still. And then, all too often, when we start a career, the expanding potential stops. We are left with a large area of unfulfilled potential. When we stop developing our potential, stop striving to fill up those circles of potential, we start to take the perceived barriers––that dotted line––for granted.

We often look at that division between the developed potential and the undeveloped potential as though it were a wall. But it’s not; it’s merely a boundary. To move past that dotted line, we must summon the steel inside ourselves.

Thomas Edison’s widely quoted observation that “Genius is 1 percent inspiration and 99 percent perspiration” if often misunderstood. Because of this remark, many people think that Edison believed a life of toil and pain was necessary to produce breakthroughs. Nothing could be further from the truth. Edison delighted in his work, worked on things that delighted him, and was constantly inspired by the task of finding new ways to move past old barriers to take advantage of undeveloped potential. He enjoyed the process of impressing himself––of summoning the steel inside himself to move past what he had done before.

Everyone has a “steel thread” woven into the fabric of their being, whether it’s discovered or undiscovered. What’s yours? If you don’t yet know (or don’t remember) what your steel thread feels like, this book will help you pose the questions that will point you toward the answer.

Immediate Action: Keep reading!

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: “Successful [people] pay no attention to barriers, real or imaginary, erected by people or by customs. [They] persistently refuse to limit themselves, knowing the stagnating and destructive influence of restrictions…Those who limit themselves or others are not only engaging in a certain form of self-destruction, but are traitors to humanity and to the world…One need but choose whether he would take his place with the traitors or with the heroes.” ––Sherman J. Kline, author

Your New Birthday

2010-09-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

There Are No Limits

Breaking the Barriers in Personal High Performance

Each week I will post a select chapter from my popular book, "There Are No Limits" on my blog.

“Apply yourself. Get all the education you can. But then, by God, do something! Don't just stand there––make something happen." Lee Iacocca

This is it––the moment you’ve been waiting for––your moment of glory. Your opportunity to put into action everything you’ve learned thus far in your life––and what you’re about to learn in this guide to a “no limits” life.

We make a pretty big deal about the birthdays we find on our birth certificates. Those birthdays are good reasons for a party––but they’re not the best reasons to celebrate. When you think about it, what did you really do to deserve a birthday party? You were born––you showed up! That’s about it. You should really be throwing a party for your mother on that day, if you ask me!

Actually, I think each of us needs to pick a second birthday––to mark the day when we committed ourselves, consciously and completely, to becoming the best person we’re capable of being, to developing our vast undeveloped potential. By the end of this book, I believe you’ll be ready to make that special commitment.

When someone writes your biography, that person may have to devote one whole chapter to the day you decided, with full conviction, to take personal responsibility for developing all of your remaining potential. In my seminars, I encourage the people I’m training to write a declaration of personal responsibility, a special personalized document that marks the decision to take control of one’s life.

Here’s my declaration. May I suggest that you write your own?

My Declaration of Personal Responsibility

I fully understand that time becomes a burden to me only when it is empty. The past is mine and at this very moment I am purchasing another twenty-four hours of it. The future quickly becomes the past at a control point called the present moment. I not only truly live at that point, but I have full responsibility for the highest and best use of the irreplaceable now.

I accept full responsibility for both the successes and failures in my life. If I am not what I desire to be at this point, what I am is my compromise. I no longer choose to compromise with my undeveloped potential.

I am the sum total of the choices I have made and I continue to choose daily. What I now put under close scrutiny is the value of each up-coming choice. Therein lies the quality of my future lifestyle.

Will my future belong to the "old me" or the "new me"? The answer depends on my attitude toward personal growth at this very moment. What time is left is all that counts and that remaining time is my responsibility. With a newfound maturity I accept full responsibility for how good I can become at what is most important to me.

With personal growth comes a fear of the unknown and new

problems. Those problems are nothing more than the expanding shadow of my personal growth. I now turn my very real fear, with God's help, into a very real adventure.

My life now expands to meet my newfound destiny. "Old me," meet the "new me."

Immediate Action: Describe your life 10 years from now. That’s 3,650 days. Will they be 3,650 “reruns”––or will they be 3,650 days of purpose, adventure, and growth? How much joy will you be experiencing compared to right now? What form will that joy take? (Note: Expect your answers to change by the time you finish this book.)

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: “When what you’ve done in the past looks large to you, you haven’t done much today.”––Elbert Hubbard, American author of (among many other inspirational books) A Message to Garcia, one of the biggest-selling volumes of all time.

A Commitment to Personal Development

2010-07-18T16:28:00.000-07:00

“Some drink at the fountain of knowledge. Others just gargle!”

Anonymous

“The trouble with ignorance is that it picks up

confidence as it goes along.”

Anonymous

To be competitive in the foreseeable future I must learn from others successes as well as their mistakes and what was learned from those disappointments. If they can do it, I can do it. The biggest mistake I can make is that of underestimating my own potential.

Ambition, achievement and high morale are inseparable. To that end, I now focus intensely on the following five-point commitment.

I. If I’m not as good as I can be in my chosen profession, then what’s my plan for improving – short of making the same mistakes others have made in order to learn?

II. I have been feeding my mind on a daily basis but the piercing question is of what has that diet consisted? From this point forward I refuse to cheat my mind by the quantity or quality of nourishment I feed it. Whatever adds to my personal effectiveness, regardless of cost, is worth the price.

III. I will develop a keen awareness for stagnated personal development. My one stinging motion through this life changing process will be that if I’m not growing, I am planting the seeds for some future failure. I will build a personal environment that fosters rising ambition. My life will slant upward.

IV. As my time on earth decreases in twenty-four hour segments, my commitment to the development of personal potential must increase on a daily basis. Therefore each succeeding day becomes more exciting than the previous day. I now make it a life principle to never delay the remedy for anything that is holding me back.

V. I must now develop the skills to make the best use of my God-given talents.
That process takes courage. I am now ready.

Danny Cox

THE LEADER'S DOZEN

2010-06-18T09:05:00.000-07:00

Each time there has been a downturn in economic conditions the requests for my “Leadership When the Heat’s On” program have gone up. Such is the case now. My presentations are tailored for each client’s needs. The structure is build around the maxims in my “Leader's Dozen” which are listed below.

Please keep in mind my track record where 145 salespeople increased production 800% in a five and one-half year period and that included two recession years.

The best IS yet to be!

Danny

THE LEADER'S DOZEN

The ultimate reward for the leader of people is to be able to say at the end of the day, “I saw someone grow today and I helped.”

Charisma = Intensity (goal, focus and direction) and Enthusiasm (expectancy of better things to come).

High performance is often the result of a sudden change of direction.

To achieve great things, know more than the average manager considers necessary.

An organization quits improving right after the manager does.

Help a team member grow and you receive respect in return.

On a scale of 1 – 10, team morale and customer service receive the same score.

Take a mentor to lunch before somebody else eats yours. (It’s not necessary the mentor be in your industry since great leadership principles are non-industry specific.)

Be aware of a team member’s weaknesses but talk to his or her strengths.

An organization will never rise above the quality of its leadership.

Fear has no strength of its own, only that which you choose to give it. Ironically, that’s the very strength you need to overcome it.

Your team members are just as good as you are at planning their time.

If you don’t have enthusiasm that’s contagious what ever you do have is also contagious.

The Ultimate Discovery: Undeveloped Potential

2010-05-11T13:17:00.000-07:00

“We’re tied with straw and think it’s chain.” Danny Cox

I was the new manager of the company’s top office out of thirty-six offices. Three months later we were thirty-sixth and all because I made a common managerial mistake––trying to get everyone to be like me. And my boss was looking for my replacement!

Somerset Maugham, the great English author, once said, “Adversity puts iron in your flesh.” Another one of my favorite authors, a man by the name of Orison Swett Marden, said, “Adversity sometimes strips a person, only to discover the person.” Well, through adversity I discovered quite a lot about my self. I went back to square one and started learning not only about my own potential, but also about the potential of the people who worked for me. And the biggest lesson I learned was that salespeople can get better––right after the sales manager does.

There are universal applications in that principle. Employees get better right after managers do. Kids get better right after parents do. Students get better right after teachers do. Audiences get better right after speakers do. Customers get better right after salespeople, sales managers, upper management, receptionists, secretaries, order clerks, and anybody else who happens to be in the company get better. That’s a lesson we often learn the hard way, through adversity.

It turned out that I didn’t lose my job. I started studying and listening to the people who worked for me, and I stopped trying to turn them into reproductions of myself. I started encouraging a more creative approach to the problems we faced. And 120 days later, we were back up to Number One.

That was a moment to be savored, not only because of the sense of achievement, but because it would then be possible to ease off a bit and relax after that incredible climb back to Number One. Or so I thought. There’s a certain danger in taking that kind of attitude. If I had hung on to it, you know what would have happened, don’t you? Our sales would have plateaued back out and you’d be reading a book by some other author, not me!

Well, my salespeople and I started talking about this phenomenon. It can happen to anybody working in any job at any level: When you get to a certain way of doing your job, it’s tempting to just quit getting better at it. That is what is called a self-imposed barrier.

Nobody builds a self-imposed barrier for you. You build it for yourself. A self-imposed barrier is not a wall around your life; it’s just the margin of your life. It’s the dividing line between developed potential and undeveloped potential. It marks the spot where you’ve stopped growing. These barriers can rise up at just about any level, whether it’s low, medium, or even high productivity!

Immediate Action: Think of a time when you’ve told someone––perhaps a friend or family member––“Come on. You can do better than that.” Did you ever hear that person reply, “No, I can’t––I’ve never done this job better than that.” The truth is, that’s not a reason. That’s not even a good excuse. It’s only the flag atop the so-called barrier. It shows where the new potential starts.

Point to Ponder Before You Go On: Phillips Brooks, the minister who wrote “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” had a powerful thought: “When you discover you’ve been leading only half a life, the other half is going to haunt you until you develop it.” He was absolutely right!
No-limits thinking is the kind of thinking that’s dedicated to finding a way to live a full life––so that the unexplored half of your identity, the half you can develop but don’t, doesn’t come back to haunt you.

Go ahead! Pull the trigger and ride the bullet!

Go Fly a Kite: The Problem-Solving Process

2010-04-08T13:16:00.000-07:00

The Niagara River gorge is 800 feet wide with a 400-foot-wide river channel. Water rushes through the channel at 24 miles per hour. Engineers in the middle of the nineteenth century faced a major challenge when assigned the task of building a railroad suspension bridge across the chasm. No boat could withstand the current and drag a cable across the rushing waters. There was no helicopter in those days to chopper a cable across.

So, creativity came to the rescue. A contest was held in which the first young person who could fly a kite across and have someone grab the kite string on the opposite cliff would receive a prize of ten dollars. Homan Walsh, nine years old, flying his kite from the American side, was the first to have a companion secure the kite string on the other side.

In 1915, Edwin Markham told the rest of the story like this:

The builder who first bridged Niagara’s gorge,

Before he swung his cable, shore to shore,

Sent out across the gulf his venturing kite

Bearing a slender cord for unseen hands

To grasp upon the further cliff and draw

A greater cord, and then a greater yet;

’Till at the last across the chasm swung

The cable--then the mighty bridge in the air!

By 1855, trains were crossing the

1160-foot-long bridge, 230 feet above the river, and it all started with a kite string. Can the difficulties we face be that insurmountable? We have many more resources available to us now. Symbolically, we need to get more kite strings across our problems. Don’t wait for the kite that will fly the bridge across. Nevertheless, now, as then, long journeys begin with small steps. More than anything else, we must not lose our perspective or, more importantly, our sense of humor in the face of problems. At a glance, the six-step problem-solving process looks like this:

Step One—Identify the problem.

Step Two—Gather all relative information.

Step Three—List all possible solutions.

Step Four—Test possible solutions.

Step Five—Select the best solution.

Step Six—Put the solution into action.

A Thought to Ponder:

1. Decide

2. Begin

3. Don't Stop

Declaration of Personal Responsibility

2010-02-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

Several years ago, and all in one afternoon, I wrote what I call my “Declaration of Personal Responsibility.”

The inspiration for this piece was from a man who was in one of my audiences. After the program, he said, “I hope the guy on the white horse gets here soon because I need help. I gently explained that if his problems were going to be solved he’d have to do it himself because the “guy on the white horse” is nonexistent.

My Declaration is in two of the books I’ve written. Dr. Robert H. Schuller asked me to use it in one of his best sellers. Other authors have used it in their books.

Og Mandino, who wrote the worlds best selling. “The Greatest Salesman in the World,” framed a copy of my Declaration and hung it above his desk. He told me he read it every morning before he started writing. His favorite paragraph was the next to the last one that begins “With Personal growth comes a fear of the unknown…”

I’d love to hear which one is your favorite.

My Declaration follows this letter. May I challenge you to write your own Declaration?

Higher up and farther on! The best is yet to be!

Danny Cox

Declaration of Personal Responsibility
By Danny Cox

I currently possess everything I've truly wanted and deserved. This is based on what I have handed out to date. My possessions, my savings and my lifestyle are an exact mirror of me, my efforts and my contribution to society. What I give, I get. If I am unhappy with what I have received it is because, as yet, I have not paid the required price. I have lingered too long in the "quibbling stage."

I fully understand that time becomes a burden to me only when it is empty. The past is mine and at this very moment I am purchasing another twenty-four hours of it. The future quickly becomes the past at a control point called the present moment. I not only truly live at that point, but I have full responsibility for the highest and best use of the irreplaceable now.

I accept full responsibility for both the successes and failures in my life. If I am not what I desire to be at this point, what I am is my compromise. I no longer choose to compromise with my undeveloped potential.

I am the sum total of the choices I have made and I continue to choose daily. What I now put under close scrutiny is the value of each up-coming choice. Therein lies the quality of my future lifestyle.

Will my future belong to the "old me" or the "new me"? The answer depends on my attitude toward personal growth at this very moment. What time is left is all that counts and that remaining time is my responsibility. With a newfound maturity I accept full responsibility for how good I can become at what is most important to me.

With personal growth comes a fear of the unknown and new problems. Those problems are nothing more than the expanding shadow of my personal growth. I now turn my very real fear, with God’s help, into a very real adventure.

My life now expands to meet my newfound destiny. "Old me" meet the "new me."

Copyright 1984

All Heroes Have Heroes

2009-12-10T09:06:00.000-08:00

My boss had just told me he was looking for my replacement. I had taken the company’s top office to the bottom of the 36-office chain in the three months I had been the manager.

Learn fast was the answer, but how? No time to join a college management class or try to find one seminar with all the answers. Were there answers around me that I wasn’t aware of? Yes, was the answer. “Don’t sit down in the meadow and wait for the cow to back up and be milked––go after the cow,” was the way a philosopher from a century ago put it. I launched my “cow hunt” by scouring local newspapers and magazines looking for stories of successful business leaders, perhaps someone who started out with nothing or led a turnaround in a company. When such a person was found, I called him or her, told them my failure story and my determination to rebuild and invited them to lunch. My motto was “Take somebody to lunch before somebody else eats yours.” My learning curve and action curves went way up.

With the help of these one-on-one mentor lunches, seminars I attended and books that I devoured we were back up to #1 in 120 days.

Caution: When contentment in the way you’re doing your job sets in, progress stops. Habit’s goal is to freeze you at your current level of competence. Remedy? Keep learning.

Develop a custom designed personal growth curriculum. Begin by asking yourself two very important questions. Be sure to take notes so you can use this as your growth plan.

1. If I could spend ten days on the beach with ten great people that I could REALLY learn from, one person per day (living or dead) whom would I pick?

2. To help me focus my learning, what’s the one thing I find most interesting about each one?

NOTE: The question is not “What’s the one thing they have in common?”

• Remember these are not your ten favorite celebrities but people you can really learn from.

• Take your spouse or a good friend out for dinner and play this two-question exercise. See if you can

guess three of their ten. There’s a great victory if you know three of theirs.

Now start researching on the Internet for each of your ten. Take notes. How about books on your heroes? Maybe documentaries.

Once you’ve learned all you can remove, that name and replace it with another.

If you’re involved in this with someone who knows you well, you’ll find conversations become very interesting as each of you reveal what you’ve learned from the heroes.

There is a legend that “when God was equipping man for his long life journey of exploration, the attendant angel was about to add the gift of contentment and complete satisfaction. The Creator stayed her hand––“No, He said, “If you bestow that upon him you will rob him forever of all joy of self-discovery.”

Higher up and farther on! The best is yet to be!

Danny

Unlocking Your Powerful Creativity

2009-11-12T10:54:00.000-08:00

For anything to be truly successful, Walt Disney said, it must have three things, which are a unique factor, a “word of mouth” factor and a flair factor. In other words, do it so different that people will talk about it and, finally, do it big, do it right and give it class.

Creativity means creating new things or arranging old things in a new way. It could mean more than “thinking out of the box.” It could mean tearing “the box” apart.

A short parable, written by George McDermott explains this process.

Creativity Likened Unto a Coffee Bean

One day…a long time ago…in, say, a million B.C. somebody figured out that you could put things in water and boil them, then throw out the water and eat the things.
(Somebody also figured out that that was called cooking, but that’s a minor-league creativity.) Well, Cooking was very nice, but it was still a relatively new invention, and they hadn’t worked all the bugs out yet. For instance; coffee beans, even after people cooked them, still tasted crummy. So everyone gave up on coffee beans…at least until some genius had a flash of inspiration. “Hey, maybe Cooking doesn’t always work the same way, “ he said. “Sure, the beans taste lousy, but we haven’t tried drinking the water we cooked them in.”
If that doesn’t sound like significant genius to you, ask your self these questions: Have you ever-tried eating coffee grounds? Would the taste inspire you to drink the water?

The creative process consists of five steps:
1. Gather raw material, i.e. previous work done by others but given up on.
Talk to others who have solved similar problems. Unleash your curiosity.

2. As these raw material pieces are absorbed, start the “kaleidoscope” process. Turn these pieces over and over in your mind. See how these pieces keep repositioning themselves in relation to the others. Look for the coming together like a jig-saw puzzle.

3. Drop the whole subject. Relax. Put the whole project out of your mind. Don’t worry because your subconscious is effectively working on it, even if you go to sleep.

4. Eureka! Wow! Bingo! The idea appears at the most unexpected time. Say to yourself: “But don’t forget there is a fifth step.”

5. Verification. Is it suitable for the situation? Is it feasible? Will it be acceptable to those who use it? When Thomas Edison’s laboratory team had a break through he always challenged them by saying, “There’s always a better way. Find it.”

The best way to sum this up is with this piece from Apple Computer’s “Think Different” campaign.

Here’s to the crazy ones,
The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers.
The round pegs in the square holes.
The ones who see things differently

They’re not fond of rules.
And they have no respect for the status quo.
You can praise them, disagree with them, quote them,
Disbelieve them, glorify them, or vilify them.
About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them

Because they change things,
They invent. They imagine. They heal.
They explore. They create. They inspire.
They push the human race forward.

Maybe they have to be crazy
How else can you stare at an empty canvas and see a work of art?
Or sit in silence and hear a song that’s never been written?
Or gaze at a red planet and see a laboratory on wheels?

And it’s these people who are crazy enough to think
That they can change the world, and they actually do.

(Used with permission and blessings of Apple Computer Co.)

FEAR VS COURAGE

2009-10-13T11:07:00.000-07:00

"Once when Marshall Ney was going into battle, looking down at his knees which were smiting together, he said, 'You may well shake; you would shake worse yet if you knew where I am going to take you.'" Orison Swett Marden

What or who builds self-imposed barriers? A stonemason named Fear, one who is highly skilled in building powerful barriers from nonexistent stones. Where does this craftsman live? In our minds. He's always there, but it's up to us whether he lives in the back of our minds or the front of our minds.
Fear is the sworn enemy of adventure, which is perhaps the most exhilarating force driving no-limits achievement. And Fear goes exactly where we tell him to go.
We move Fear from the back of our minds to the front of our minds by shifting our concentration away from our own courage, and choosing instead to focus on that which frightens us. Not only does that action change Fear's location, but through the process of concentration, it means we actually start to strengthen Fear. Fear has no strength of its own; its only strength is that which we choose to give it.
When Fear defeats us, it does so because of our own mental focus. And unfortunately, the strength we pass along to Fear is the very strength we need to overcome it! If, on the other hand, we choose to push our goals, wrapped in courage, to the forefront of our minds, then barriers break.
You already possess sufficient courage to initiate this process and see your personal adventure through. A person may not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she will certainly possess all the courage needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent that is there. Long after passing on to the next world, we will be remembered by family and friends, not necessarily for our inborn talents, but for the amount of courage we used, especially during our times of trial. The strength and vividness of the memories our loved ones and friends hold of us after we are gone will be directly proportional to the amount of courage we have chosen to use.

Immediate Action: Starve your fear! Feed your courage! Embrace your adventure!

Point to Ponder: "Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there." (From above the fireplace at Hinds' Head Hotel, near London.)

Excerpted from Danny's book, "There Are No Limits: Breaking the Barriers to Personal High Performance."

The Courage of a Five Year-Old

2009-09-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

Some people are content with just wishing for things hoping that the Fairy Godmother will drop it in their laps but she never does. Then these “wishers” get depressed because once again, the Fairy Godmother has let them down. But it wasn’t her that let them down, was it?

Like me, you’ve probably walked in to a sales office and there’s a salesperson reading the local sports page or perhaps doing something that is really mentally taxing such as playing Solitaire on his computer. Hanging above his desk is a picture of a Rolls Royce.

When I ask him what’s the purpose of the picture, he answers proudly, “That’s my goal!”

At this point I like to ask the “wisher” this question, “What do you have to do extra today to make sure that it is in your driveway someday?” The answer is generally, “I …I don’t know. Somebody just told me to hang that up there and one day it would be in my driveway.”

High achievers know that you have to work hard and smart. You have to step out courageously, with creativity, and perhaps sell others on helping you achieve that important goal.

My Grandson, Rex, was five and in Kindergarten when he was overtaken by a serious case of Spring Fever. He walked in to the kitchen and said to his mother, “Mom, it’s too beautiful a day to go to school. Let’s go to the beach!”

She said, “Look, Rex, I’ve got to go to work and you’ve got to go to school.” The little salesman decided to up the ante. “Then let’s go to Disneyland. Think of the fun we could have there today.”

Frustrated with his persistence she said, firmly, “Rex I’ve got to go to work and you’ve got to go to school.”

Good salespeople hang in there, always ask good questions. He looked up at her and said, “Why?”

She decided to appeal to his sympathies. “If you don’t go to school, they could put me in jail.”

He looked at her for about two seconds, put his hands on his hips, tilted his head and asked, “For how long?”

Rex knew to achieve a goal you have to pay a price. And that’s the same for all of us.

The best is yet to be!

Danny

P.S. Take a look at the "Fearless Leader Kit" on the Home Page of my web site. Scroll down for link to my web site.

A Rags to Riches Record Breaker

2009-08-20T09:44:00.000-07:00

Jackie Cochran’s life is a come from behind journey that would inspire anyone. To prove the point, take a look at the following:

Orphan (she never knew her parents). She was not sure within two years of when she was born. Later made up a birth year and birth date.
Lived in abject poverty, had no formal schooling.
Foster parents put her to work full time in a mill in a southern town five years before becoming a teenager.
At approximately eight years of age she received her first pair of shoes.

A few of her accomplishments:

Founded a worldwide cosmetics company
Recruited over 1.000 women to start the W.A.S.P.S. (Women’s Air Force Service Pilots) during WWII
Flew a young Lyndon Johnson to a hospital and saved his life
First woman to fly a bomber across the Atlantic
First woman to fly a jet across the Atlantic
First woman to break the sound barrier
First woman to fly twice the speed of sound
First woman to win the Bendix Air Race against a field of men
In one year set nine international speed, distance and altitude records. The altitude record was over 50,000 feet.
Won the Harmon Trophy as "Outstanding Woman of the Year" 16 times!
Talked a retired general and close friend into running for President. His reluctance gave way to Jackie’s persistence. His name? Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower.
At her death in 1980, she held more speed and altitude records worldwide than anyone else––male or female. This still remains the case.
When asked later in life how she had accomplished so much, she smiled and said:

“I didn’t have shoes, but I had dreams”

The best is yet to be!

Danny

P.S. There is a great deal of information on her on the Internet. Whether you’re a female or a male you won’t be able to put down her autobiography called, “Jackie Cochran.”

STAYING POWER

2009-07-27T15:49:00.000-07:00

Timeless wisdom is tested. It's hidden treasure and just as valuable, if not more, today.

William Ellery Channing, who wrote "Staying Power" that you see below was a popular minister of a church in Boston.

He was born in Rhode Island three years before the Revolutionary War ended. His grandfather was a signer of the Declaration of Independence. When Channing was 32 the War of 1812 began. That was the war where the English burned the White House. It was also the war that inspired Francis Scott Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner."

This eloquent and wise man who lived through such tumultuous times passed "Staying Power" along to us. You'll see why I describe it as timeless wisdom.

Whom do you know that needs a copy of this?

The best is yet to be!

Danny Cox

STAYING POWER

Every condition, be it what it may, has hardships, hazards, pains. We try to escape them; we pine for a sheltered lot, for a smooth path, for cheering friends, and unbroken success. But Providence ordains storms, disasters, hostilities, sufferings; and the great question whether we shall live to any purpose or not, whether we shall grow strong in mind and heart, or be weak and pitiable, depends on nothing so much as on our use of the adverse circumstances. Outward evils are designed to school our passions, and to rouse our faculties and virtues into more intense action. Sometimes they seem to create new powers. Difficulty is the element, and resistance is our true work. Self-culture never goes on so fast as when embarrassed circumstances, the opposition of others or the elements, unexpected changes of the times, or other forms of suffering, instead of disheartening, throw us on our inward resources, turn us for strength to God, clear up to us the great purpose of life and inspire calm resolution. No greatness or goodness is worth much, unless tried in these fires.

Wm. Ellery Channing

What Is Courage?

2009-07-16T15:00:00.000-07:00

You possess sufficient courage to initiate the process to see your personal adventure through. A person may not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she certainly possesses all the courage needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent that is there. Long after passing on to the next world, we will be remembered by family and friends, not necessarily for our inborn talents, but for the amount of courage we used, especially during our times of trial. The strength and vividness of the memories our loved ones and friends hold of us after we are gone will be directly proportional to the amount of courage we have chosen to use.

If you ain’t got a choice be brave. Old Ozark sayin’

I believe that it is everyone’s sacred duty to be prepared to do the biggest thing possible that needs to be done at any given moment. That’s not to say that doing the big thing is always easy—but doing the big thing is always necessary.

The legendary actor Hume Cronyn once told a story about meeting Orson Welles in the late 1930s: “I was lunching at Sardi’s one day and Orson came over to say hello. I had just seen his Julius Caesar. He had given it in modern dress. It was the only time I had seen that work as a comment on fascism, and [it was] very stirring. I said to Orson, ‘What I admired about your production is your sheer courage.’ ‘Courage?’ [Welles replied.]...‘Courage! That’s going to the edge—because you have to be good.’”

Going to the edge can be scary, but it’s a consistent habit of no-limits achievers. As you approach a self-imposed barrier, you may hear a voice saying, “This far and no farther.” It’s not the barrier’s voice that you hear. Listen carefully. Do you recognize it? It's your own!

DC Train Crash takes Great Leader, Great Friend

2009-06-29T16:47:00.000-07:00

As a full time speaker and seminar leader for three decades, I’ve worked with many kinds of companies and met many interesting people. Some who said they learned a lot from me but I’d say it was the other way around. Such was the case with one who became a client as well as a close friend. His name was David Wherley.

Our first meeting was at a full-day leadership program I did in Washington, DC for business leaders in the early 90’s. He was a Lt. Col. then. He sat in the front row center. At the lunch break we discovered we had much in common.

He called me a few weeks later and we set up the first of what turned out to be several full day programs I would do over the next few years for the Washington DC Air National Guard.

In late July 2001, my wife accompanied me to Washington where I did two more programs for his squadron. The bonus for me was flying the F-16 with Dave who was then a Major General.

As we lined up on the Andrews AFB runway in that F-16 Viper, off to my left standing in the grass right beside the runway was Tedi, my wife, and her two escort officers. I gave her the double “thumbs up” sign from the cockpit and then BOOM! We were headed into the blue––fast!

He let me fly it through the sound barrier and do aerobatics. He asked if the supersonic Voodoo that I flew over 1,000 times could fly vertical. I said “Almost.” He said, “Watch this.” He brought the nose straight up and lit the afterburner. We were gaining airspeed going straight up! What a memorable day.

Six weeks later the terrorists hit the Pentagon. Within minutes Dave “scrambled” his F-16 squadron into the skies above Washington with a “free fire” order.

Last Monday, June 22, David and his wife, Ann, boarded the train for Walter Reed hospital to visit a former squadron member who had been seriously wounded in Iraq. It was something they often did after David retired.

This past Tuesday morning I heard on Fox News that he and Ann had been killed in the DC train crash. After what he had lived through––to die that way! But Ann was with him. She was always behind him supporting him in his many accomplishments.

Sitting out in our garden the next day, I thought Dave should make one more high speed pass down the Andrews runway. In my mind, Tedi and I were standing next to the runway where she had stood during the take off in July 2001, In this fantasy flight I could see that F-16 getting closer by the second.
Over the end of the runway David pulled up into vertical flight. The burner was lit and he was picking up speed doing vertical rolls as he went out of sight in the bright blue sky.

The “Big Controller in the Sky” cleared them for landing and of course Dave “greased” it in. After parking, he stood up in the seat and extended his hand out to help his “backseater” out. Ann who was always behind him flashed him a smile and a double thumbs up. She took his hand and said, “David it’s been quite a ride.”

David, my friend, this poem is for you. It was written by Navy Captain Jerry Coffee while a POW for seven years in Hanoi.

We’re gently caught by God’s own hand to reign with Him on high;
To dwell among the soaring clouds we knew so well before –
From victory roll to tailchase – at Heaven’s very door
And as we fly among them there, we sadly hear their plea,
“Take care my friend, and check your six. Do one more roll for me.”

Thoughts on "Repeating Yesterday"

2009-06-15T16:36:00.000-07:00

Stagnation of personal growth is caused by “Monday times 5”

Thoughts on "Repeating Yesterday"
By
Danny Cox

Repeating yesterday re-enforces self imposed barriers. It puts a lid on undeveloped potential.

You're losing ground when you repeat yesterday and the world doesn't.

Repeating yesterday is surrendering the leadership of your life to mere day-by-day tasks.

The habit of repeating yesterday is the result of goal orientation, a negative goal orientation, but still a goal orientation.

Repeating yesterday runs your battery down.

If you have no new goals you are repeating yesterday.

If you continue to repeat yesterday the high point of your life is already behind you.

Repeating yesterday centers on reaction not action.

If you have trouble getting up in the morning you are repeating yesterday.

Repeating yesterday causes psycho sclerosis –hardening of the mind.

A small success can paralyze a person into a long string of repeated yesterdays.

Repeating yesterday is deciding not to delve further into the storehouse of potential that is available.

Stagnated leadership can send a company "hell bent for leather" down the road marked "Return to Yesterday."

If you're repeating yesterday you've fallen in love with false security and out of love with your undeveloped potential. And like an old love it hurts to remember what could have been.

Repeating yesterday becomes hypnotic. It's motion versus direction.

Repeating yesterday is freezing at one rung of life's ladder.

Repeating yesterday is continuing to do what you know doesn't work.

Repeating yesterday makes you a rejecter of information and knowledge rather than a gatherer.

Repeating yesterday freezes you at your current level of competence.

When you give up repeating yesterday, it great to know that you’re best is yet to be.

Point to Ponder: Make a vow to never wake up some day to find yourself master of the mediocre, best of the bottom, average of the average, “leader” of the lukewarm, “champion” of the contented, “king” of the crumbs, “lance corporal” of the leftovers and “almighty” of the almost.

Good Things That Come Out of a Crisis

2009-06-05T14:05:00.000-07:00

"With the help of the thorn in my foot, I can spring higher than anyone with sound feet."
Kierkegaard

If you’re waiting for a defining moment in your life, the current economic conditions could be it. Look at the six benefits of a crisis and the things you can do to make them part of your action plan.

1. New superstars rise in times of crisis.
Circumstances have rarely favored the great. Luxury and ease is not a formula for impressive high achievement. They know that accomplishment is their birthright but limitations are adopted.

These new super stars have discovered that you can have a new start at any moment you choose. This sudden change of direction, this breaking from status quo, is often followed by a higher level of productivity.

Point to Ponder:
"Adversity sometimes strips a person only to discover the person. " O.S. Marden

2. Unresolved problems are clearly identified and a strong commitment is made to find the solution.
These rising superstars ask themselves these three questions: What’s my biggest unresolved problem? What am I doing about it? If I’m not doing anything about it why am I not doing anything about it?

Then they prioritize the problems and go to work on #1. The temptation is to start with #5 because 1 through 4 are hard!

Point to Ponder: A life without risk is like a steak without seasoning; the essentials are there but where is the flavor?

3. Corrective action is accelerated.

"Do the dangerous things fast." General George S. Patton

Fear paralyzes progress. Courage accelerates it. Sometimes the only thing you can do is pull the trigger and ride the bullet. It’s a matter of gritting your teeth and going for it. A good example of this was a few centuries ago, when the Spartans didn’t ask how many of the enemy there were but only their location. Attitude is more important than fact, said Dr. Karl Menninger.

W. C. Fields put it more colorfully. He said, “There comes a time when you must take the bull by the tail and face the situation.”

Point to Ponder: “To make ends meet, start by getting off yours.” Dr. Ken McFarland

4. Self confidence grows.
“You can’t turn back the clock but you can wind it up again.”

Self confidence indicates reserve power. There’s iron in you and you conquer by continuing, not quitting. Positive anticipation becomes energy. Fear becomes procrastination. With every conflict overcome, strength is gained.

Point to Ponder: Never let yesterday use up today.

5. New techniques are developed.
Out of crisis comes creativity. Aim for striking originality. It gets attention. Be unorthodox. Step out of the crowd!

Put your grey cells in high gear and push the pedal to the metal. As one humorous pundit put it, “Think or swim!”

When you get a “hunch” in this process, that’s creativity trying to tell you something. How can the right idea be identified? It explodes in your mind!

Point to Ponder: “Don’t be just a problem solver. Be a problem finder.” Stew Leonard

6. Team members were inspired by victories of others and as a result team spirit, camaraderie and synergy increases.

“Many of life’s failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” Thomas Edison

Thomas Edison held 1093 patients. That’s a new patent every 10 days of his adult life.

In his laboratory there was a sign on the wall saying, “There aren’t any rules around here. We’re trying to accomplish something.” His workers loved him and would work long hours into the night because of it. Edison called them the “Insomnia Squad.” When they had a breakthrough experience, they would celebrate by singing while Edison played the organ he had installed in the laboratory.

When the team came up with a new invention, Edison would say, “There’s always a better way to do it. Find it.” So the new invention became a re-fined new product.

After Edison’s death, Henry Ford had his entire laboratory sent to Greenfield Village in Dearborn. It was very interesting that he had the trash pile transported too. Why? Ford wanted people to see how much Edison had to throw away before he had success.

Point to Ponder: “I never did a days work in my life. It was all fun. “ Thomas Edison

The best is yet to be!

Danny

Building Your Morale

2009-05-15T14:55:00.000-07:00

In order to join the Down and Out Club you have to nominate yourself and second the motion.
Elbert Hubbard (19th Century philosopher)

How long does it take for someone to pinpoint your morale level whether low, medium or high? Answer: 3 to 5 seconds maximum! This analyst of your morale level can be a customer, co-worker, family member or someone you’ve just met. But who’s responsible for your morale level? It’s the person now reading this sentence. Yep! It’s an inside job. It’s you and no other.

So here are a few tips that will really raise your morale level even if it’s high now. It always can be higher.

1. One of the greatest morale builders available is to have a feeling of accomplishment on a daily basis. Flying supersonic fighters at almost twice the speed of sound, I eagerly signed up for numerous survival courses. If I ever ejected and landed in the wild I wanted to stay alive until someone found me even if it was a few days. In every course they drove this point home. If you don’t have a feeling of accomplishment, even in some small way, on a daily basis your morale will be your biggest problem. The same applies to the business world. Remember a few blogs back when I talked about “butt snappers?”

2. Lay out a priority list of problems to be solved. In the Ozarks where I was raised, we said, “If you’ve got a frog to swallow, don’t look at it too long. If you’ve got more than one to swallow, swallow the biggest one first!” Also, they taste better fresh.

3. Find and talk to high morale achievers. They’ll be glad to know you admire them for their morale level and accomplishments. You’ll be inspired by the challenges they’ve overcome and the ones they’re currently working on.

4. Don’t inflate “mole hills into mountains” and stay away from those who do. Some can do that inflation by noon. Some can do it by 10:00 AM! Don’t walk away from negative people. Run! Back home we said it this way: “Don’t let the chickens roost over the well!!" that’ll ruin your drinkin’ water."

5. Have a confidant outside your industry with whom you can talk things over. Often in a friendly conversation with such a person, you explain, in simple terms, what challenge you’re experiencing at work. By reducing it to simple terms, don’t be surprised if that’s when you come up with the perfect answer.

6. Avoid physical and mental fatigue. Go for an occasional get-a-way, or a long walk in a park. Develop a hobby. This is when your mind and body refresh and you feel your morale elevate.

7. Laugh often and loud. Andrew Carnegie said, “I’ve found there is little success where there is little laughter.” Put a different way by humorist Fred Allen who said, “If you suppress laughter it goes to your hips and spreads.” I recommend that if you have had a bad day rent a very funny movie. Alfred Hitchcock’s favorite movie, which was not one he directed, was “Smokey and the Bandit.” I highly recommend it, too. A real knee slapper!

Please feel free to pass this along to others.

Higher up and farther on! The best is yet to be!

Danny

Goal Achievement vs. Shrinking Focus

2009-05-11T16:51:00.000-07:00

George Foreman, former heavyweight boxing champion, and I were having lunch prior to doing a program for a group. Sitting there talking to him, I looked at his nose and thought, here's a guy who understands pain. I asked him how he stood the pain to become heavyweight boxing champion?

His answer is something we can all use. He said, "If I see what I want real good in my mind, I don't notice any pain in getting it."

WOW! Keep that in your mind as your read today's thought.

The best is yet to be, Danny

“What do you have planned for the next six months? How do you think you did over the last six months? What are you doing right now?” (Walt Disney’s three questions to those who reported to him.)

To reach your goals, you have to avoid what I call “wildebeest thinking.” Some time ago, I had the pleasure of taking an early morning hot-air balloon flight over the Serengetti Plain in Africa with world-class adventurer, John Goddard. The scene was beautiful; you could see the elephants, the lions, and the great waves of wildebeest storming across the plain. “It’s a good thing there are so many of them,” mused our African guide, who had noticed me staring at the huge migration of wildebeest. “Otherwise, that species would die out in a hurry.”

I asked him what he meant. He smiled and pointed to a wildebeest that had stopped in its tracks. “You’ll notice that the wildebeest never run for very long. That’s not because they’ve just realized something important and want to stop and think about it. And it’s not because they’re tired. It’s because they’re so unfocused that they forget why they started running in the first place. They see a predator, they realize they’re supposed to run away, and they start moving in the opposite direction. But they lose the focus on what inspired them to run, sometimes at the most inopportune moments. I’ve seen them stop running right next to a predator; sometimes they’ll walk right up to one, as though they weren’t really sure whether this is the same animal that frightened them a few minutes ago. They almost seem to be saying, ‘Hey, Mr. Lion, are you hungry? Care for some lunch?’ If there weren’t a whole lot of wildebeest, I think the whole species would get gobbled up in a matter of weeks.”

It was easy to laugh at the wildebeest while I was on the balloon flight, but before it was over, I found myself with the funny feeling that I’d seen that same kind of problem in the business world.

There are a lot of people whose regular behavior reminds you of the wildebeest. They get a great idea, they commit themselves to a goal, and they run with that goal for a day or maybe for only a half a day. Maybe they just walk around, gingerly, for 15 minutes or so. After those 15 minutes of ambling around, they realize they haven’t gotten to where they said they wanted to get. Then they say to themselves, “Hmmm. This is going to be tough; it isn’t as easy as I thought it was going to be.” And they stop dead in their tracks.

So keep moving. Stay focused. Hang in there!

Point to Ponder: “No one has ever reached a vague goal.” Rick Warren

The No Limits Story of Mary Lawrence

2009-05-05T14:40:00.000-07:00

Mary Lawrence was no stranger to tragedy. For five years after her husband’s death she wandered through life with no real direction. Then late one night, a driver ran a stop sign and what had been two cars was a mass of twisted rubble.

When one of the paramedics found her broken body, he said, “Get the others. This one’s gone.” But she wasn’t and her spirit was uninjured. On the way back to town, an amazed medic had discovered she had a pulse! At the hospital the doctor said she wouldn’t live through the night. She did.

She spent the next year in the hospital. Her teeth and facial bones wired together. Later they performed fifteen root canals. They explained they had to do two facial reconstruction surgeries where no anesthesia could be used. Her response! “Let’s get started.”

A year later, she was released. Her doctor told her to go home and “take it easy.” You don’t say that to “No Limits” people unless you get out of the way first!

When she went shopping, her face still swollen, she would see people she knew were friends. She couldn’t remember their names because of the permanent brain damage. They didn’t recognize her and turned their heads rather than look at her. She said that really hurt.

Her memory was so bad she concentrated on each word of a sentence so she wouldn’t forget what she had said at the beginning. She discovered that getting a California real estate license was very difficult because of the memory work. Typically, she said that’s what she’d do.

She would read each page of that thick real estate manual fifty to sixty times until it was engrained. She passed the full day test the first time!

Mary went to work for one broker who terminated her after a month because she was slow in memorizing the inventory. At the second company, it was the same scenario.

An hour after the second termination my phone rang. This very determined voice said, “I’m Mary Lawrence and I want to work for you.”

She was in our three-week training program a few days later. After she graduated I placed her in one of my offices. WOW! Her sales were incredible.

A year later at our annual banquet I announced from the stage her name as one of our ten Outstanding First Year Salespeople. She came up on the stage. As I handed her the plaque, she leaned over and whispered in my ear, “Save me a place. I’ll be back up here next year.” As I watched her walk away, I thought, she means that.

The very next morning Mary bought a long pink dress to wear one year later. She hung it up in the very center of her closet to remind herself daily of her goal.

The next year I stood on that Grand Ballroom stage of the Disneyland Hotel. I told this story that she had finally told me only a month before. At the end of this triumphant story I announced that she was #1 out of our 700 salespeople in listings taken, listings sold, sales and gross commission. “Ladies and gentlemen, Mary Lawrence.”

The band played “The Impossible Dream” as that no limits champion floated across the dance floor in that long pink dress. A standing ovation!!! Not a dry eye in the audience. As I handed her that big #1 trophy she again leaned over and whispered to me, “I told you I’d be back.”

Adversity sometimes strips a person only to discover the person.
And that person is a no limits person.

There are no Limits! The best is yet to be!

Danny

In Depth Problem Solving

2009-05-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

If a problem has no solution, it is not a problem but a fact of life like any other. If a problem has a solution, it is not a problem either. The problem is the strength of will and determination to adopt the solution.
–– Richard Needham

In depth problem solving is the opposite of using a “band aid” solution. It’s a “band aid” if you think, “This problem is back to haunt me again. Maybe if I try what I’ve done before, I’ll be lucky and it won’t come back.” (It will come back).

For an in depth solution you have to whole-heartedly commit to a “once and for all” commitment to its solution. If you don’t do this you have the illusion that the problem if growing by the second! You forget you’ve solved bigger problems in the past.

When I was a district manager for a large sales company, I would have one of my salespeople (or managers) pop in and say, “Danny, I’ve got a major problem I need to talk to you about.” This was really an invitation for me to solve it for them.

After listening to their description of the problem, my first question to them was “Is this the biggest problem you’ve ever had to solve? “ The response generally was, “Oh, no! It’s nothing compared to that one.” My response was, “Then why don’t you put the current one in that perspective?” This is when their eyes rolled back along with a backward head snap.

As they turned to walk away with determination, I gave the person a final shot of motivation by saying “a high performer like you ought to be able to handle a little problem like that.”

After doing that a few times, I’d have salespeople walk up to tell me about a current problem, stop in mid-description, pause and say, “I know––a high performer like me ought to be able to handle a little problem like that.” They’d laugh and walk away to shoot down another problem. My plan to keep “the monkey on their back” worked.

So to peel back the layers of a problem and solve it in depth ask the “Five Whys.”

1. Why am I having this problem?
“The customer is upset.”
2. Why is she upset?
“She doesn’t understand our new product.”
3. Why doesn’t she understand?
“She says I didn’t spend enough time explaining it to her.”
4. Why didn’t I?
“I had too many customers to see that day.”
5. Why?
“I’m not disciplined enough in my time planning.”

So hang in there! It’s always too soon to quit!

Danny

Creative Problem Solving in a Tough Market

2009-04-29T17:13:00.000-07:00

“The world is a grindstone. Life is your nose.” Fred Allen

The 1200 MPH fighter I flew for several years had a bad flight characteristic called a “pitch up” which could cause it to tumble right out of the sky. At twenty miles per minute, things happen fast.

My pitch up started at 56,000 feet (that’s eleven miles up). In this violent tumble I lost 30,000 feet of altitude. That’s almost six miles! This was the 9th pitch up experienced in this kind of a fighter and three pilots had survived. Not good odds! My goal? Be the 4th one!

The experts said that what saved my life was neutralizing the controls and popping the drag chute on the rear of the plane. This got the air flowing normally over the wings and I was able to recover.

That’s good advice for anyone. If you’re facing a major problem neutralize your controls and pop the drag chute. In other words, take a deep breath and don’t panic.

Out of conflict comes creativity. Expect your creativity to kick in. That’s when you come up with some amazing solutions. A perfect example follows:

In the mid 19th century there was a project to build a suspension bridge that would carry trains back and forth from Canada to America. This bridge would cross the 800-foot wide Niagara gorge and 230 feet below this structure would be the turbulent river formed by the Niagara Falls close by.

Keep in mind this is the mid-1850’s. What would you do to start this construction?

The engineers came up with an ingenious solution. They launched a kite-flying contest. Whoever got the kite string to the other side first would win a $10.00 prize. A nine-year-old boy, Homan Walsh won the prize!

His kite string was pulled across and it was tied to a heavier string, which was tied to a rope, which was tied to a cable, and thus the bridge was started.

We need to get more kite strings across our problems and not wait for the kite that’ll fly the bridge across!

Point to Ponder: It’s always too soon to quit!!!

The best is yet to be!
Danny

On the Shoulders of Giants: A gathering of no-limits thinkers and doers

2009-04-22T16:19:00.000-07:00

You’ve been invited to a mountain top cabin. You’re told to bring only a notebook and a pen. The men and women already there occupying the other chairs in the Great Room are starting a very lively discussion. The topics are facing challenges, innovation, courage, launching new ideas, etc.
After furiously taking notes on what was said that evening your notebook would show some of the following nuggets:

“Argue for your limitations and you get to keep them.”
—Richard Bach, author

“The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them, to the impossible.”
—Arthur C. Clarke

“One of the great discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.”
—Henry Ford

“I’m looking for a lot of [people] who have an infinite capacity to not know what can’t be done.”
—Henry Ford

“Compared to what we ought to be, we are only half-awake.”
—William James, philosopher and psychologist

“We can achieve what we can conceive.”
—Elbert Hubbard

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
—Albert Einstein

“All serious daring starts from within.”
–Eudora Welty

“We want it all. From the instant we saw the birds flying, we wanted what the birds had. It’s intensely human to want it all. That’s how we recognize thresholds. They show us what we don’t have. We took what the birds had, but now we want the stars and every planet we’ve ever imagined...and the ones yet to be imagined. Thus, there will always be thresholds. We ask only the right to cross them.”
—From Threshold: The Blue Angels Experience, by Frank Herbert

“The faster I got, the smoother the ride. Suddenly the Mach needle began to fluctuate. It went up to .965 Mach—then tipped right off the scale. After all the anxiety, after all the anticipation, breaking the sound barrier, the unknown, was just a poke through Jell-O, a perfectly paved speedway, because the real barrier wasn’t in the sky, but in our knowledge and experience of supersonic flight.”
—From pilot Chuck Yeager’s autobiography, Yeager

“One can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
–Helen Keller

“An idea that is not dangerous is unworthy to be called an idea at all.”
—Elbert Hubbard

“A wish is a goal without any action attached to it.”

“Success is perseverance applied to a practical end.”
—Alexander Graham Bell

“A cheerful disposition is a fund of ready capital, a magnet for the good things of life.”
—Orison Swett Marden

The harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It’s a sort of splendid torch which I’ve got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”
—George Bernard Shaw

“If one stands up and is counted from time to time, one may get knocked down. But remember this: A man flattened by an opponent can get up again. A man flattened by conformity stays down for good. Follow the path of the unsafe, independent thinker. Expose your ideas to the dangers of controversy. Speak your mind and fear less the label of ‘crackpot’ than the stigma of conformity. And on issues that seem important, stand up and be counted at any cost.”
—Thomas J. Watson, business executive and first president of IBM

“Tough times never last but tough people do.”
—Dr. Robert H. Schuller

“Failure is only the opportunity to more intelligently begin again.”
—Henry Ford

“I know there is infinity beyond ourselves. I wonder if there is infinity within.”
—Charles Lindbergh (This is one of his last written notes. It was found on a nightstand next to his deathbed.)
“His mind is addled; he’s not worth keeping in school any longer.”

—Eight-year-old Thomas Edison’s grade-school teacher

“I never did a day’s work in my life. It was all fun.”
—Thomas Edison

“If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves.”
—Thomas Edison

“Everything comes to him who waits—provided he hustles while he waits.”
—Thomas Edison

“I know this world is ruled by infinite intelligence.”
—Thomas Edison

“The day before the funeral.”
—Edison’s response to the question “When will you retire?”

“My message to you is: Be courageous! I have lived a long time. I have seen history repeat itself again and again. I have seen many depressions in business. Always America has come out stronger and more prosperous. Be as brave as your fathers before you. Have faith! Go forward!”
—Thomas Edison’s final public message, delivered during the depths of the Great Depression

A Long Lasting Moment of Truth

2009-04-17T11:25:00.000-07:00

Someone can say something to you or you read something that has a long lasting effect on the positive rhythm of your life. It certainly happened to me.

One Sunday, during my teen age years, I read a life-changing piece on the cover of our church bulletin. It was called “Today Is Here.” That front cover stayed with me through high school and then on through college where it was pinned to my bulletin board.

Then it went with me through Air Force pilot training and supersonic flight school. After that “we” (that’s me and the aging “Today Is Here”) were assigned to the Philippines. During those two and a half years “we” did flying assignments in Samar, Zamboanga, Cebu and Taiwan.

After that “we” flew fighters at almost twice the speed of sound while based in both Tucson and Columbus, Ohio.

Leaving the Air Force, “we” headed for Southern California along with my wife and three daughters. “Today Is Here,” continued to be an inspiration during ten years in sales and now in these years as a speaker and author.

What was the text of this powerful long lasting inspiration? With no changes, “Today Is Here” follows. Also a scanned copy of the fragile original is included.

Higher up and farther on! The best is yet to be!

Danny Cox

Today is Here

It’s time to do what you planned on yesterday

Today…is here. I will start with a smile and resolve to be agreeable. I will not criticize. I will refuse to waste my valuable time.
Today…one thing in which I know I am equal with all others is time. All of us draw the same salary in seconds, minutes and hours.
Today…I will not waste my time because the minutes I wasted yesterday are as lost as a vanished thought.
Today…I refuse to spend time worrying about what might happen because it usually doesn’t. I am going to spend time making things happen.
Today…I am determined to do the things I should do. I firmly determine to stop doing the things I should not do.
Today…I am determined to study to improve myself, for tomorrow I may be wanted, and I must not be found lacking.
Today…I begin by doing and not wasting my time. In one week I will be miles beyond the person I am today.
Today…I will not imagine what I would do if things were different. They are not different. I will make success with what material I have.
Today…I will stop saying, “If I had time…” I know I never will find time for anything. If I want time I must make it.
Today…I will act toward other people as though this might be my last day on earth. I will not wait for tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes.
Anonymous Author

Birthplace of a Brighter Future

2009-04-14T13:37:00.000-07:00

Welcome!

The three postings so far in April follow a logical sequence but each stands alone as well. The three in order are:

1. Declaration of Personal Responsibility
2. The Guy on the White Horse
3. Fear vs. Courage

The fourth in this sequence in this current posting is "Birthplace of a Brighter Future," again, by yours truly.

You might find it advantageous to review the previous three and then review the fourofthem. Please feel free to pass these aong to others.

Highger up and farther on! The best is yet to be! Danny

P.S. I'd love to hear from you.

BIRTHPLACE OF A BRIGHTER FUTURE
By Danny Cox

As I concentrate on each word of this thought, now slips by me into the past. My past, then, is nothing more than a history of how well I dealt with each irretrievable now. So if yesterday is history, tomorrow is a prediction. Only the present exists.

The future is nothing more than an approaching series of nows. During one of these nows, I must make a decision that all future nows will be different. A brighter future grows out of a brighter now. Therefore, my future improves only as I make better use of the current moment.

It's the time remaining that counts, but just as important is my understanding of that profound truth. My willingness to accept responsibility for improving that time will determine the quality of the rest of my life.

The speed at which now becomes the past is staggering. Yet, if I commit my God-given strengths to improving each of these approaching nows, the faith in my bright new future will be exhilarating! For I realize that the same velocity that carries this now into the past can carry me at the same rate toward exciting moments of the future when ever increasing goals become reality.

A year yet to be is unborn, untarnished and full of promise. One of those brand-new years bright with potential, accomplishment and joy will be delivered to me tomorrow at dawn. My choice is to accept it as it is given or, through habit, mold it into the shape of years past.

The challenge is clear. The choice is mine. Challenge accepted!

Fear vs Courage

2009-04-09T16:12:00.000-07:00

Courage is the mastery of fear––not the absence of it. Mark Twain

If you ain't got a choioce, be brave. Old Ozark sayin'

A tiger that isn't aggressive, becomes a rug. Danny Cox

FEAR VS COURAGE

"Once when Marshall Ney was going into battle, looking down at his knees, which were smiting together, he said, 'You may well shake; you would shake worse yet if you knew where I am going to take you.'" Orison Swett Marden

What or who builds self-imposed barriers? A stonemason named Fear, one who is highly skilled in building powerful barriers from nonexistent stones. Where does this craftsman live? In our minds. He's always there, but it's up to us whether he lives in the back of our minds or the front of our minds.

Fear is the sworn enemy of adventure, which is perhaps the most exhilarating force driving no-limits achievement. And Fear goes exactly where we tell him to go.

We move Fear from the back of our minds to the front of our minds by shifting our concentration away from our own courage, and choosing instead to focus on that which frightens us. Not only does that action change Fear's location, but through the process of concentration, it means we actually start to strengthen Fear. Fear has no strength of its own; its only strength is that which we choose to give it.

When Fear defeats us, it does so because of our own mental focus. And unfortunately, the strength we pass along to Fear is the very strength we need to overcome it! If, on the other hand, we choose to push our goals, wrapped in courage, to the forefront of our minds, then barriers break.

You already possess sufficient courage to initiate this process and see your personal adventure through. A person may not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she will certainly possess all the courage needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent that is there. Long after passing on to the next world, we will be remembered by family and friends, not necessarily for our inborn talents, but for the amount of courage we used, especially during our times of trial. The strength and vividness of the memories our loved ones and friends hold of us after we are gone will be directly proportional to the amount of courage we have chosen to use.

Immediate Action: Starve your fear! Feed your courage! Embrace your adventure!

Point to Ponder: "Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there." (From above the fireplace at Hinds' Head Hotel, near London.)

Excerpted from Danny's book, There Are No Limits: Breaking the Barriers to Personal High Performance.

Please feel free to pass this along. Danny

The Guy on the White Horse

2009-04-07T10:15:00.000-07:00

“Rise early. Work hard. Strike oil."

—J. Paul Getty’s formula for success

Sometimes, people set up goals for themselves and then find reasons to keep themselves from making any meaningful progress toward those goals. Perhaps you’ve run into people who have established “deserve levels” for themselves—levels of income, or happiness, or career satisfaction that they never go much above or much below, despite the opportunity to do so.

Think about financial goals. Even people who have work situations that allow for wide disparities in monthly income totals—salespeople, say, or home entrepreneurs—somehow manage to keep themselves from moving much outside of this so-called “comfort level.” Although people will say that they want to be able to increase their incomes, they’ll often find some way to link the attainment of that goal to someone other than themselves, and their small steps won’t match up with the big goals they’ve set up. The distance between where they are and where they want to be is measured in excuses: “If only someone would take over the job of organizing things...” “If only our financial system were better targeted...” “If only I had the energy I once had...”

There are far too many unfortunate souls on this earth who think that, once they figure out what life’s all about, they’ll be able to press the “rewind” button and run themselves back to, say, age 21—or any other time when “things were better.” Sad to say, people don’t come equipped with such a button. For these poor folks, life slips by, day by day, as they wait for someone or something to show them the way.

What they’re waiting for, when you get right down to it, is the “guy on the white horse”—the person who will tackle all the mysteries, solve all the problems, ride in and rescue them. While they’re waiting for this person to show up, they disengage. Let me share a secret: You have instant access to the “man or woman on the white horse”—the person on whom our safety and success depends—at any time. All you have to do is look down, and you’ll see that you’re sitting astride that “white horse.”

You are the guy on the white horse! You are the only person who’s qualified to change your present and, thereby, change your future. Don’t wait for great occasions to step forward as your own hero; don’t assume that someone else is blocking your way. Seize common occasions for positive personal change, and make them great.
The time to commit yourself to developing the most efficient plan possible to achieve your goals is right now. And the person who must carry out that plan is you. As someone once said, “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

Immediate Action: Think about how can you take action, today, to address a challenge you had once believed to be someone else’s responsibility. Waiting for someone else to achieve a goal for us means abandoning that “molded-in-clay” goal—before it’s been put into permanent form!

Point to Ponder: Remember: A bad habit—like waiting for the guy on the white horse—can become so strong that it can be mistaken for destiny. Don’t let that happen to you!

Declaration of Personal Responsibility

2009-04-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

Several years ago, and all in one afternoon, I wrote what I call my "Declaration of Personal Responsibility."

The inspiration for this piece was from a man who was in one of my audiences. After the program, he said, "I hope the guy on the white horse gets here soon because I need help." I gently expained that if his problems were going to be solved he'd have to do it himself because the "guy on the white horse" is non-existant.

My Declaration is in two of the books I've written. Dr. Robert H. Schuller asked to use it in one of his best sellers. Other authors have used in in their books.

Og Mandino, who wrote the worlds best selling "The Greatest Salesman in the World," framed a copy of the "Declaration of Personal Responsibility" and hung it above his desk. He told me he read it every morning before he started writing. His favorite paragraph was the next to the last one that begins "With personal growth comes a fear of the unknown..."

I'd love to hear which one is your favorite.

My Declaration follows this letter. May I challenge you to write your own declaration?

Higher up and farther on! The best is yet to be!
Danny Cox

Declaration of Personal Responsibility

My life now expands to meet my newfound destiny. "Old me" meet the "new me."

Leadership Building Blocks

2009-03-26T13:19:00.000-07:00

Danny’s Leadership Building Blocks

“Fear has no strength of its own, only that which you choose to give it. Ironically, that’s the very strength you need to overcome it.”

“On a scale of 1 to 10, team morale and customer service receive the same score.”

“The more each team member learns from the leader, the more they trust each other. It’s the birthplace of synergy.”

“Great leaders turn lights on in corners of your mind that you didn’t know were wired for electricity.”

25 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-03-24T16:10:00.000-07:00

Lesson Twenty-five
Be an Island of Excellence

After speaking to an audience, I had a manager come to me and say, "Danny, I really want to grow and develop as a leader but the managers at all levels above me certainly don't. What can I do?" I gave this individual two bits of advice. One is that you can't change anyone or anything above you on the food chain. You can't manage the organization above your level, so don't even try.

The second nugget I passed along came from Joe Topper, who was in the audience I had just spoken to. He explained that, because he couldn't do much about changing anyone above him, he had decided to become an island of excellence within his sphere of influence. He would get so good at what he was doing that something great was bound to happen. That's the spirit! That's what I'm talking about!

No one is as interested in your career or your future as you are. Take the responsibility of becoming an island of excellence within your present company no matter what anyone else is doing. This will pay off for you in three ways:

• First, you will become more valuable to your present company. Perhaps even to the point of them considering you indispensable. A sustained high performance record of accomplishment can buy a bright future for you and your family.

• Second, the better you get at producing results, the more valuable you become to the competition. You are number one. You need to look after yourself and your family. If your employer won't compensate you for what you're worth, a proven record of accomplishment through sound leadership is valuable on the job market.

• Finally, there might come a time when you want to strike out on your own. Every time you learn and improve as a leader, you become more skilled as an entrepreneur. The more skilled you are as an entrepreneur the better your chances of succeeding on your own.

The ultimate threat to our future is stagnation. Continued personal and professional growth is essential to a tomorrow that will be better than today. The managerial moment of truth comes when you realize that, as the leader, you are the trigger for change in and for the organization. The people in the organization will pay the price in time, energy, and money to grow and develop in their jobs as they see you do the same as their leader. The adaptability that will prepare you for tomorrow’s leadership challenge is anchored in your personal uncompromising integrity and the other leadership qualities to which you aspire. Looking back over the past ten or twenty years, it's easy to see that the leadership challenges of tomorrow never get any easier.

Here are three things to make you the best leader you can be:

Keep an eye on the future, your own and your organization's.

Never stop doing whatever it takes to keep growing as a leader.

Always keep the growth and development of your team members as your top priority.

"Some of the world's greatest achievements were made by those who were self-instructed."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-03-19T15:03:00.000-07:00

Lesson Twenty-four

Lead Through Change

There are six fundamental phases required for successful change management:

In a busy organization, you are very possibly involved in several new projects at once. These phases of change management will help you understand where you are in the project.
• The Education Phase: Inform employees ahead of time change is on the way. The head's up helps to develop the sense of confidence in your organization I talked about.
• The Participation Phase: Encourage input from all employees on
planning and implementation. This bolsters confidence and enthusiasm toward the organization and the project.

• The Communication Phase: This is the final presentation on how the change is about to be implemented. A storyboard showing all the final changes can be used in the presentation.

• The Facilitation Phase: The change is under way. During this phase the leader’s hands on participation brings big benefits. Communicating and coaching can only go so far. The leader must get personally involved to demonstrate his or her personal investment in the project.

• The Information Phase: Now the leader truly keeps his or her ear to
the ground to determine what is working and what is not working. Informal, non-threatening encounters with your people will give you most of this critical feedback. This is when you might learn that proper delegation is not occurring or thinking is still too narrow.

• The Rededication Phase: Enthusiasm and energy don't last forever. After the initial hoopla is over, it is important to evaluate and analyze the progress of the new project. Necessary tune-ups and adjustments are made to enhance the improvement.

These three actions will help you avoid the "Other Shoe Syndrome," which results in cynicism in your team brought on by promoting change and not following through:

Focus on how your change initiatives are affecting morale.
Solving one problem can create others.

Anticipate doubt. People have a natural skepticism that often serves a good purpose.

Never stop selling. Your team members take their clues from you. They watch every day to see if your support and enthusiasm for change has diminished.

"Embrace change. It's saying ‘yes’ to tomorrow and ‘no’ to repeated yesterdays."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-03-17T09:24:00.000-07:00

Lesson Twenty-three
Look at Problems as Opportunities

Some good things rise out of crisis. The Good Book says we should be thankful for problems because crisis builds character. I’ll go one step further and say that crisis also helps to identify character. Winston Churchill said, "You can tell the character of the person by the choices made under pressure." It’s important for leaders to observe how each of their people responds to crisis. Who stays cool under pressure and who doesn’t? Who is best at taking the heat and acting effectively to resolve the crisis? Are different people adept at handling different types of pressure situations? Know who is who in your organization as well as you're own problem-solving strengths and weaknesses.

Meeting problems head-on develops your organization’s ability to resolve problems over time. The more you do it, the better you become. This doesn’t mean you should arbitrarily allow or encourage problems to develop. Every time a problem is confronted and licked, it should be a character-building education for you and your entire organization. Part of getting better at problem solving is getting faster at it. An organization that has been learning from its mistakes and problem-solving experiences will have a capacity for accelerated corrective action.

A problem that remains unresolved long enough eventually become a crisis. A smoldering issue won’t get as much attention as a house on fire. If leaders and team members, for whatever reason, are unaware of the smoldering issues, there will eventually be a fire to put out. I realize this is quite a stretch to see a positive side to unresolved problems. However, one good thing about a crisis is that formerly unresolved problems will finally be handled.

People who solve problems develop increased self-confidence. The problem itself has an initial amount of power that’s proportionate to the amount of disruption the problem is causing in the organization. To resolve the issue so there is no longer any disruption implies that those who attack the problem and defeat it have greater power than the problem. Holding dominion over problems is the substance of self-confidence.

The very existence of a problem or, worse yet, a crisis, indicates that existing methods and techniques are somehow lacking and new methods and techniques are called for. Depending upon the severity of the problem, minor adjustments might be enough to provide lasting solutions. If the crisis is sufficiently threatening, an entirely new agenda might be in order. Crisis calls for something that doesn’t presently exist or, at the very least, a different dosage of existing policy.

Here are three ways to turn lemons into lemonade:

Addressing problems large or small as fast as possible.

Remain alert to the possibility that other problems might be brewing.

Seek simple and straightforward solutions. Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.

"Conflict overcome is strength gained."

Recession Remedy?

2009-03-12T14:19:00.000-07:00

Good morning,

A triumphant journey sometimes starts with one step or a healthy snap from a Butt Snapper as I point out in the following article. This article is my answer to the Recession.
High up and farther on,
Danny

"Butt Snapper"-- Recession Remedy?
By Danny Cox
Author of Leadership When the Heat's On
"A tiger that ain't aggressive becomes a rug." Anonymous

After spending ten years of my life flying supersonic at twice the speed of sound a major problem was solved by the Air Force. To this day I think it has some real cross over value to the business world.

As jet fighters were being introduced to the Air Force, a problem arose with ejection seats. Jets flew faster and higher than their propeller predecessors and pilot ejection, in cases of emergency, became a more sophisticated and dangerous predicament. Ejection seats were separated from the cockpit by an explosive charge equal to a 35mm artillery shell to insure that the pilot cleared the aircraft before the parachute deployed.

The pilot simply needed to roll forward out of the seat once clear of the aircraft and the parachute would be free to open. Unfortunately, a common problem started to pop up (no pun intended) in some ejections. Some pilots would pull up both arm rests exposing the ejection seat triggers and squeeze them detonating the explosive that launched the pilot and seat 150 to 175 feet above the aircraft.

Then, instead of letting go, some pilots kept a death grip on the seat handles, reluctant to separate themselves from the last tangible piece of the airplane that had, until then, always been a safe place. As long as the pilot remained in the ejection seat, the parachute remained trapped against the seat back, unable to open. Striking the ground at 200 miles per hour, still sitting in an ejection seat with an unopened parachute will ruin your whole day!

The Air Force went back to the ejection seat manufacturers with the problem and the government contractors returned with a solution. The new design called for a 2-inch webbed strap that attached to the front edge of the seat, under the pilot and behind him, and attached to an electronic take-up reel behind the headrest. Two seconds after ejection, the electronic take-up reel would immediately take up the slack, forcing the pilot forward out of the seat thus freeing the parachute to open. The pilot was “butt-snapped “ to safety.

A body in motion tends to remain in motion and a body at rest tends to remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Dr. Alexis Carrel used this definition of inertia in a sentence:

Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia.

In a seminar, I once quoted Dr. Carrel and gave a lengthy dissertation on the role of external forces to overcoming inertia. After I had finished, one of those in attendance came up to me and winked.

“I know what you’re trying to say about overcoming inertia,” the man said. “What you mean to say is that we need butt snappers on every chair around the office.”

A butt-snapper, as he described it, is something akin to a spring-loaded whoopee cushion. The bottom line is that, when detonated, it launches your rear end out of the chair. So, if words like external forces overcoming inertia leave you uninspired, think about what butt snappers on everyone’s chairs would do to productivity around the office. Think about how much a butt snapper on your own chair would do for your personal productivity.

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-03-11T10:20:00.000-07:00

Lesson Twenty-two
Create a Creativity-Inducing Environment

I developed what I came to call “imaginars” in place of seminars. These weekly meetings with my managers were, appropriately, held in our district’s Imaginar Room. While most companies were having seminars, we were having imaginars. A sign hung in our imaginar room that read: “None of us is as smart as all of us.”

Our theme was a constant reminder that no one individual could offer as much as the corporate effort of the entire group. My people went in there with the express purpose of discussing solutions to problems and creating new ideas to put into action. Creativity was not only allowed, it was encouraged. Creativity was our first order of business. When we really wanted to dig deep into ourselves for ideas, we rented a room at a local resort and got away from the clutter of daily activities. We covered the walls with flip chart sheets, filled with thoughts and ideas we later verified and put into practice.

Creativity Calls for Experimentation.
Creativity can create heat. A leader is likely to meet resistance from his or her team members as well as those higher in the organization. The thought of doing something new or different terrifies some people and makes the rest nervous. Yet the leader courageously asks, “Why don’t we try this?” The answer is almost automatic from his or her people: “Because we’ve never done it that way." To me that’s just not a valid reason to block creativity. Yet, you’ll hear it nearly every time a new idea is mentioned, if not in so many words.

Creativity Calls Playfulness.
An environment of playfulness simply means an environment that grants permission to have fun. In fact, it encourages people to have fun with what they do. Urge your people to play the "What if?" game and kick new ideas around. Some bosses will catch people brainstorming a new idea and demand they quit goofing off and get back to work. What poor, misguided souls. Their people were engaging in one of the most valuable exercises to improve production, and they were nipped in the bud.

Creativity Calls for Spontaneity. Take the "What if?" mind set seriously. Keep the door to new ideas open constantly. Encourage innovation whenever possible. I know a retail merchant, Stew Leonard, who started what he calls the One Idea Club. Each month, Stew selects about a half-dozen employees, making sure every job level and description is represented regularly, and drives them as far as two hours away to observe a store where customers are served well. The next day, the team that traveled together meets and each team member stands up and shares one new idea learned on the trip to use in their own store.

Try these creativity-enhancing techniques with your team members:

Encourage experimentation by praising "successful failures."

Encourage playfulness by relaxing old rules of conformity.

Encourage spontaneity by publicly recognizing new ideas and insights.

"A leader never forgets that creativity is contagious and can build inertia."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-03-06T11:04:00.000-08:00

Lesson Twenty-one
Cultivate Creativity

When I took the beach break to see if I could figure out what had caused my office to dive from #1 to #36, I needed an answer quickly. I didn’t have the information then I’m sharing with you now. Even though I initially stumbled across the correct action to stimulate my creativity, I can now recommend such isolation to anyone who is experiencing major problems. Most people in the heat of battle will feel they can’t abandon the fight. Believe me, staying in the struggle with no good ideas or anything else to offer won’t accomplish much.

The fellow I learned some helpful principles from lost his job as a young newspaper reporter because he “lacked good ideas.” His editor back in Kansas also said that he was “void of creativity.” Nobody knows the name of that editor. But, almost everyone in the world associates the young reporter’s name, Walt Disney, with creativity. In order for anything to become successful (a book, a company, a movie, yes, even leadership style), Walt Disney said that it must have:

1. A uniqueness factor: Why should anybody get excited about something that’s ordinary?
2. A word-of-mouth factor: People can't stay quiet about a positive experience.
3. A flair factor: Do it big, do it right, and do it with class.

I think of creativity as the voice beyond silence. I’ve already talked about isolating yourself to experience a clear mind. In the silence of isolation will come the voice that is creativity. Whether or not you are able to induce creativity or it simply happens when the time is right, the following four-step process will help you make the most out of your creative experience:

1. Preparation: If your intention is to create a new product or method for doing something, it’s important to learn everything you can about that subject.

2. Incubation: Don't rush things. Give a new and creative idea time to cook in the incubator.

3. Insight: That moment, in the middle of the night, when you sit bolt upright in bed in a moment of insight. Insight is that glimpse at the suddenly clear and illuminated answer.

4. Verification: The process of verification brings it all back to reality and begins to establish boundaries.

Here are some basic ways to go about becoming more creative:

Schedule more uninterrupted private time.

Allow yourself to be gullible.

Look at far-fetched ideas.

"Aim for striking originality. It gets attention"

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-03-03T13:40:00.000-08:00

Lesson Twenty
Value Your Free Time

Leisure time is very important to me for many reasons, and effective time management improves both the quantity and quality of leisure time. One of the most beneficial features of leisure time is the opportunity to recharge your batteries. There is a point of diminishing returns in an overworked individual, and a case of burnout can render a person useless to him- or herself and others. Working oneself to death out of a personal compulsive need is not beneficial to anyone.

To avoid the erosion of morale and a general decrease in effectiveness, I’ve learned to schedule leisure time for both my staff and myself. Setting a good example when it comes to rest is just as vital as being a good model for proper work habits. Mental and physical renewal are vital components of a quality work ethic.

1. Plan some quiet time alone each day.
2. Break tough jobs down into more easily accomplished tasks.

End your workday the right way. The right way is to end on a high note or a point of accomplishment. Doing so promotes satisfaction, improves the quality of your relaxation time, and helps you return to work the following day more refreshed and eager. If you must end your day with an unresolved problem, then write down a clear summary of the problem as it stands when you leave it. Before you leave, clear your desk or work area of clutter and distraction so you can attack the problem when you first walk in the following day. These preparations will also serve you well before breaking for lunch, so you’ll get back up to speed more quickly and with less effort after your break. Reorienting yourself after a break requires energy that can be saved with a little forethought before your break.

Work effectively and then take your vacations, all of them. All too often, personal relationships with friends and family suffer because we are simply overloaded at work. This is too high a price to pay for success. What is it all for anyway? I used to pride myself in skimpy vacations until a mentor taught me that I was simply demonstrating my own lack of effectiveness in getting my work finished. Never having time to take vacations is not a badge of honor, as much as it is a mark of ineffective time management.

Take your time and relax. You’ll be a better worker, and more valuable to yourself and everyone else when you have been recharged. This also means avoiding the urge to turn leisure time into a mini-military drill. Relaxing means spending some time alone and engaging in activities that refresh you and recharge your batteries.

Here are some ways to give yourself a harmony bath (in or out of the tub) and actually get more value out of sleeping:

Turn off the 10 o’clock or 11 o’clock news, with their, “if it bleeds, it leads” format.

Spend the last 60 to 90 minutes of the day listening to relaxing music or reading or both.

"Take a harmony bath at the end of each day. "

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-02-27T14:36:00.000-08:00

Lesson Nineteen
Know the Signs of Low Morale & How to Raise Spirits

Detecting the warning signs of low morale is only the beginning. To fully address the morale issue, an effective leader must understand what causes morale to fall. Without knowing the causes of low morale, a leader might try in vain to correct the situation and never get to the real issue. Here are some of the most common causes of low morale:

1. People’s failure to understand their jobs.
2. Unrealistic or ever-changing goals.
3. Poor communication that can take the form of:
• Constant criticism or (Big Brotherism).
• Inaccessible or absentee management.
• Erratic and inconsistent discipline.
• Being thought of as a number.
• A manager’s lack of growth as a leader.
4. Over-inflated organizational structure.
5. Over-staffing.
6. Misemployment.
7. Poor psychological work environment.
8. Management that is not people-oriented.
9. Lack of performance appraisal and feedback.
10. Continuing education that is dull or nonexistent.

These 10 elements of a high-morale environment are like primary colors and can be mixed and blended in a variety of shades:

1. Keep jobs interesting.
2. Welcome new ideas.
3. Foster a sense of accomplishment.
4. Recognize special efforts.
5. Treat people fairly.
6. Be responsible as a leader.
7. Offer fair and appropriate compensation.
8. Support personal growth.
9. Promote a sense of belonging.
10. Provide opportunity.

Here are three guiding principles for keeping morale high in your organization:

Study the causes of low morale.

Take immediate action to counteract them.

Make strategic plans to keep morale from falling.

"Team members' morale will never be higher than the leader's morale…for long."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-02-24T16:00:00.000-08:00

Lesson Eighteen
Communicate Upward

"What my boss doesn't know can't hurt me."
- The Filter Builder's Motto

Everyone has a comfort zone. There is a point at which individuals become nervous and uncertain about the security of their positions. This is only natural. Losing a job or a reduction in job status impacts a lot more than pride and ego. Throughout a professional career, a person builds a lifestyle that closely reflects his or her professional success: house, car, neighborhood, golf or tennis partners, place of worship, and so on. As a leader you need to understand how much a person's life and lifestyle are tied to his or her position in your organization.

A person tends to become a filter builder over a long period of time with an organization, although it can also happen quickly under the right circumstances. The filter builders know that they can avoid rocking the organizational boat by making sure that the top decision makers don't get upset hearing bad news or by problems they might find disturbing.

If you are a top decision maker, be careful this doesn't happen to you. Make sure that the information you should be receiving from the lower levels of your organization is not being filtered.

Everyone has a bigger fish just one link up the food chain. In management situations, everyone has a smaller fish one link in the other direction. If true, accurate, and factual information is being filtered or, worse, misrepresented, as it makes its way through the ranks, the top leaders are likely to be left in the dark about what's truly going on with their internal and external customers.

How dangerous is this problem? There are some companies we used to hear a lot about that are now gone. They were filtered to death.

To be an effective leader, you need real information, whether the news is good or bad. You have the power to fix problems and to help your people grow and develop. You can't do either of those things if you're operating with limited and/or inaccurate information.

Filter Builders are everywhere, protecting their backsides. Don't think your organization is immune. You must identify them and deal with them. If not, you are putting yourself, your organization, your customers, and all of your stakeholders at risk.

Here are some things you can do to reduce filtered information:

Develop a mobile management style: Tom Peters calls it, "management by walking around."

Deal directly with the people around you: Ask questions of your team members and managers at all levels, act on their ideas, and let them know what you've done.

Eliminate filtering: Let everyone on all levels of management know in no uncertain terms that filtering information will not be tolerated.

"Weed out filter builders."

THE LEADER'S DOZEN

2009-02-17T10:25:00.000-08:00

I Posted this on my BLOG in October and in view of what's happening now in our economy thought it a good time to re-Post. Each time there has been a downturn in economic conditions the requests for my “Leadership When the Heat’s On” program and book have gone up. The structure is built around the maxims in my “Leader’s Dozen” which are listed below.

Please keep in mind my track record where 145 salespeople increased production 800% in a five and one-half year period and that included two recession years.

1. The ultimate reward for the leader of people is to be able to say at the end of the day, “I saw someone grow today and I helped.”

2. Charisma = Intensity (goal, focus and action) plus Enthusiasm (expectancy of better things to come).

3. High performance is often the result of a sudden change of direction.

4. To achieve great things, know more than the average manager considers necessary.

5. An organization quits improving right after the manager does.

6. Help a team member grow and you receive respect in return.

7. On a scale of 1 – 10, team morale and customer service receive the same score.

8. Take a mentor to lunch before somebody else eats yours. (It’s not necessary the mentor be in your industry since great leadership principles are non-industry specific.)

9. Be aware of a team member’s weaknesses but talk to his or her strengths.

10. An organization will never rise above the quality of its leadership.

11. Fear has no strength of its own, only that which you choose to give it. Ironically, that’s the very strength you need to overcome it.

12. Your team members are just as good as you are at planning their time.

13. If you don’t have enthusiasm that’s contagious what ever you do have is also contagious.

Copyright 2008

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-02-13T13:26:00.000-08:00

Lesson Seventeen
Plan Your Time Effectively

Most people waste time the same way every day. Robert Benchley was bullish on human determination when he said, “Anyone can do any amount of work...provided it isn’t what he’s supposed to be doing at the time.” The following thought was found in the pages of Boardroom Reports: "All you can do with time is spend it or waste it. Find the best ways to spend available time and the appropriate amount of time for each task. Concentrate on the best ways to spend time, instead of worrying about saving it."
In a recent survey, business managers blamed their own lack of time management for 92% of the failures among those under their supervision. This raises the ominous question, “How do managers waste so much time?” Several reasons top the list:

• The most common contributor to wasted management time is doing an employee’s job for him or her.

• Another cause of lost productivity in management is doing tasks that can be handled by someone with less responsibility.

• It’s common to find a manager spending a disproportionate amount of time on a favorite or pet project at the expense of items that are more valuable to the organization as a whole.

• Repeating instructions is another time killer. This misguided practice teaches employees that they don’t have to take action until the boss instructs them for the third time.

Minor corrections can mean major improvements. For example, if a manager figures out a way to save only 10 minutes every work day, that savings will total 42 extra hours gained by the end of a year. That would be like having a 53-week year, and would result in one heck of an increase in productivity––all from just 10 minutes per day.

Here are some ways to save time:

Get organized: The average person spends 150 hours per year looking for things. That's almost a full week.

Follow these three suggestions from Peter F. Drucker: Record your time. Don’t count on your memory for an accurate assessment of how you spend your time. Manage your time. Drucker said, “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” Plan your time, but also time your plan. Consolidate your time. Group chores together to increase efficiency.

Don’t fall for these most common excuses for not planning time:

• "It takes too long,” really means “I would rather focus on a day-by-day or short-term basis and just see what happens.”

• "I don’t have enough information to plan well,” really means “I don’t have enough faith in the information I’ve gathered so far so I’d better wait.”

• “It’s impossible to predict the future,” really means “I would have to give up acting on impulse and develop new disciplines.”

"Your team members are no better at planning time than you are."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-02-11T15:23:00.000-08:00

Lesson Sixteen
Overcome Roadblocks to Goal Achievement

I once had a salesperson that was the most frustrating person that ever worked for me. I saw potential in him that he himself, refused to see because of a self-imposed barrier. He made $4,000 on straight commission, almost to the penny, every month. One month, I did everything but move in with him. I big-brothered him to death. He couldn't go to the men's room without me standing guard at the door. I'm proud to say that, in that one month, he nearly doubled his productivity. He made almost $8,000! The following month he made zero dollars. The month after that he made $4,000.

I had forgotten that his breakthrough had to be on his terms, not mine. When we dug deeper, he confessed that he had never had any more money in the bank than his father did when he was growing up. His self-imposed barrier stopped him just short of ever earning more than his father. Once he realized that he was setting the same standard for his children, he broke through his roadblock––and he was still pushing his envelope at last report.

The following roadblocks might be impeding your progress and you may not be fully aware of them:

• Team members fear success: Many people are much more familiar with mediocrity than they are with success and therefore lack the drive to pursue goals. Fear of success is natural if you have little experience with it.

• Team members don’t understand the goals or they seem unattainable: If so, examine how you’ve presented the goals. Did you take the time to think through, from their point of view, their possible reactions to these new goals? Did you break the goals down into doable segments for each person? How clearly did you communicate?

• The effort doesn’t appear to have adequate rewards: When rewards don’t seem forthcoming or consistent with the level of effort required, it’s time for the leader to start selling to the team. Actually, the time for selling is when the goals are being established.

• The procedures for achieving the goals are too rigid: Flexibility is one sign of a confident and creative leader. Too many people impose rigid structure on their organizations because they lack basic confidence in their own abilities and the abilities of their team members. Focusing on results instead of methods will open the door for your people to contribute more of their own originality.

Try these techniques to get your people on the road to achieving goals:

Include the whole team in the goal attainment picture: Make everybody part of your success story from the beginning.

Break down goals into manageable, doable increments: Goals that intimidate can become obstacles. Map out the long journeys as a series of small steps.

Frame the goals so that the rewards are clear: If you can’t sell them on the benefits for then, you’ll probably have to push them all the way.

"Goals are all found upstream."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-02-04T15:10:00.000-08:00

Lesson Fifteen
Make a New Reality

I did a program once with former heavyweight champion George Foreman. Even though he is the former champion, I still called him Champ. As we had lunch together that day, I studied his nose from across the table. A heavyweight boxer’s nose is a work of art. George Foreman’s nose is a monument to goal orientation. It has been sculpted by some of the strongest, meanest punchers ever to step into a ring. I wondered how any man could endure the incredible pain that George Foreman must have endured with so many heavyweight boxers hammering on his nose over the years, so I asked him.

"If I see what I want real good," he answered. "I don't notice any pain in getting it."

A new reality is an achieved goal. We are headed into the future every second, whether we like it or not. We can’t hold back time. So, how are we endeavoring to shape the future? What are we doing now that will leave our mark on our future?

Here are my steps to shaping a new reality:

• Visualize your goal vividly.
Generalizations about your intended goals do you no good. The greater the clarity of your
vision, the more focused and efficient your efforts toward it will be. I don’t know of
anyone who gains value through wasted effort.

• Break your goal down into doable daily tasks.
When goals loom enormous on the horizon, it’s natural to feel intimidated and even
overwhelmed. Be realistic about what a human being can accomplish in a day and don’t
expect any more of yourself or others. Realizing goals is far less dramatic that way, but you
will eventually get there.

• Act on your goals every day.
I'm not suggesting that you work seven days a week. But, don’t let a workday go by without taking even a small step toward a specific goal. Progress is progress, no matter how small,
and the feeling of accomplishment is just as sweet in many small doses as it is in one large
one. However, breaking the task down into smaller disappointments will not minimize the
feeling of disappointment at never achieving the big goal.

Here are three of my guidelines for goal achievement:

Make sure your goals are measurable, realistic, and challenging: In other words, they should be within reach but only if you stretch and you should be able to know when you’ve achieved them.

Categorize your goals: Decide which are short-term, which are midterm, and which are long-term.

Set a timetable for achievement––and keep to it: Begin! Don't stop! Concentrate on results! Then celebrate when a goal is achieved––immediately replace it with a new goal.

"If you don't know what to do on a daily basis to achieve your goal,
then it is not a goal--it's a fantasy."

2009-02-02T11:38:00.001-08:00

Important Notice:

Uncommon leadership for these tough times is a requirement for the organization that will survive and be stronger because of the challenges overcome. Good leadership always tops market conditions whether they’re good OR bad. These leaders do not enjoy being “part of the pack, like everyone else.” The following article reveals the secrets of these triumphant leaders.

(Please feel free to pass this along to other managers)

High Performance Leadership in a Tough, Tough Market

The longer a slow market is in place the more likely bad habits have been developed in both team members and managers. This can cause a slower than necessary re-entry into an improving economic climate, when that happens. These habits, which can take many forms, need to be identified and rooted out quickly by the manager personally and in the team.

To accelerate this re-entry the leader must be sure that the four elements of a high performance organization are in place. Those are inter-active trust between the coach and the team, a sense of purpose, focused action and clear communications.

The first, inter-active trust is initiated by the leader’s commitment to personal growth, thereby setting a good example for the team. The leader doesn’t set this example so all can be copies of him or her but only to prove that the leader is on a growth curve and improving in the role.

When the leader then coaches the individual’s strengths into better job performance the reward is trust from the team member. The individual, the coach, other team members, the customers and, most importantly, the person’s family, see this growth.

As this trust and respect spreads it makes an inter-active statement that “You have my best interest at heart.” A by-product is high morale and a camaraderie that each knows there is something very special going on.

The second element, a sense of purpose, is bigger than just a goal or even a vision. Purpose makes a long-term statement that through the years a number of visions will be achieved. A single vision is made up of numerous goals well aimed at the eventual achievement of the vision.

The leader knows that true enthusiasm is built by the accomplishment of smaller goals that are part of a larger plan. These periodic achievements build team energy in the march toward the vision.

The high performance leader also knows that as soon as a vision is attained it should be celebrated and immediately replaced with another vision lest there be a let down in morale.

Focused action is the third element. The leader is aware of where the team is and the course to be maintained for goal and vision accomplishment. The leader is precise and up to date on progress and keeps the team aware of it. This keeps energy and motivation high in each individual.

The fourth element is effective communications. A high performance leader has inventoried each person’s weaknesses and strengths. He or she knows that to be effective in coaching, you must be aware of the weaknesses but talk to the person’s strengths.

Another important phase of communications is to adapt a policy of “never quit selling your company to your company.” Often, the last time a team member has heard anything good about the company was during the recruiting phase. Keep selling them!

A final reminder: When a team has made it through a storm because of good leadership the cohesion, camaraderie and synergy that takes place is hard to break.

Excerpted from Danny’s book, Leadership When the Heat’s On Second Edition, 2003

© Copyright 2009

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-01-28T11:19:00.000-08:00

Lesson Fourteen
Set Goals When the Heat's On

Come back a few years and picture you and me standing beside my fighter that is capable of speeds near twice the speed of sound. You’re about ready to crawl into the rear cockpit for a ride with me as your pilot-in-command. Before climbing up the side of this sleek, needle nosed, high performance fighter, you might have a few questions.
The first is, “Which way are we going to take off?”
“We’re parked in this direction," I answer. "We might as well take-off the same way."
“Which way are we going to go once we’re airborne?” you ask.
“This direction’s as good as the other 359 available to us,” I respond.
“How high are we going to go?”
“Until the jet quits climbing.”
“How far are we going to go?”
“I don’t know exactly but until we run out of fuel.”

About then you will probably decide to skip the flight. “Thanks anyway!”

Many managers try to manage like that and can’t figure out why they can’t get a long-term commitment from their team members. To build a strong, committed high performance team, each individual must be able to describe in detail what the leaders’ vision is for the organization and how they will achieve it. Equally important is the vision the team members have for themselves.

The vision we invite our people to share with us is the future as it best suits the organization and the people who make up the organization. Helping your people experience the future through their own eyes is critical to effective leadership. Do you know what you’re working for? Can you see it in great detail? If you can’t, how can you help your people see what they’re working for? Helping your people truly see what they’re working for is one of the greatest, lifelong gifts you can ever give them.

The great Mad Magazine cover boy philosopher, Alfred E. Newman, said, “Most folks don’t know what they want, but they’re pretty sure they don’t have it.” Leading your team blindly without clear goals renders all of your sophisticated navigation equipment useless. Being driven by a sense of dissatisfaction with the present is not enough if there is no clear course established. A clearly charted course or plan is the second-best thing to having a distinct goal. With a clearly charted course, you and your organization know in which direction you want to go. You are intending toward something…even if the something is not well defined.

Here are three important steps to get started setting goals:

Determine what you really want: What is your vision? How does that translate into specific goals?

Calculate what it will cost you: How much time, money, and energy will it take you to reach your goals?

Decide if you are willing to pay that price: If so, when should I start paying the price?

"Deciding not to have a specific goal is a specific goal."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-01-20T11:14:00.000-08:00

Lesson Thirteen
Find the Right Manager

Suppose that you will not be allowed to hire any new people for the next five years. Would you rethink how you lead the people you have now? If no new blood was allowed to enter your organization, could you continue to grow and prosper? You bet!

If you face a true moratorium on hiring, I believe you would begin discovering some diamonds in the rough. You will be amazed at the untapped potential in your people if you look at them through different eyes and fully own the long reach you have into their lives.

Your top performers might look at management positions as a way to move up in the organization. There's no doubt that top performers deserve to be rewarded. But, moving them into management positions might not be the best thing for the individual or the organization. The mistaken notion is that managers are overpaid and under worked. That's why team members often refer to promotions as, "retiring into management."

You might not have a managerial candidate chomping at the bit, even though you need a manager. In that case, you need to go out looking. Henry Ford said, "Asking who ought to be the boss is like asking who ought to be the tenor in the quartet. Obviously, the man who can sing tenor." To determine who has the most potential based upon peer respect, go directly to team members and ask, "To whom do you take your problems if your manager isn't around?"

You’re likely to discover that you have a highly respected and well-qualified individual right under your nose--someone who is already demonstrating good coaching and people building abilities.

Your leadership development process should include the following three steps:

Present the realities of managing: Sit down with anyone who is a potential leader and make it clear that managing is not easy. In fact, it is much harder and more challenging than anything he or she has done. If you teach the lesson well, many candidates for management positions will excuse themselves and reconsider the position in which they’ve found success.

Provide opportunities to show management capabilities: If the candidate still thinks that she or he has leadership potential, make temporary assignments that will place the candidate in a typical management situation. Make sure the assignment simulates a challenge that real leaders must regularly deal with. The way he or she handles the assignment will demonstrate the candidate's management capabilities to both of you.

Evaluate progress: If your company has a management development program, your candidate is likely to be enrolled by now. Evaluate his or her progress in regularly scheduled review sessions. Have the potential manager complete a manager's evaluation checklist that you work out together. More than anything else, keep monitoring his or her continuing interest in making the move to management.

"A person out of place in his or her vocation is only half a person."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-01-13T15:23:00.000-08:00

Lesson Twelve
Continue to Grow as a Leader

Right now, I’m extending my arm four to six years into the future and plucking something out to give you. It's the Yellow Pages from the future. For some people, it’s the stock exchange index or Dun and Bradstreet directory. For many, it’s the company organization chart. Is your name listed? In what capacity? Are you surprised at what you see? If you have a sense of urgency about growth and effectiveness as a leader, you and your organization should be in a prominent position. If you don’t, chances are good that there won’t be a trace of you left. Your attitude, shaped by your sense of urgency, will be largely responsible for producing the results you want.

Do you have room to grow? What are your team members saying about you at home to their spouses and children? You're not a topic of conversation––you're the topic of conversation. When someone comes to work for you, he or she is essentially saying, “I trust you and this organization to do right by me and my family.” That is a heavy responsibility. If that person wastes a year or two of his or her life, that time will never be recovered. People’s lives should be enhanced and opportunities should abound for them and their families because they had the good sense to come to work for you. The lives of your employees should be better because they had the good sense to come to work for you. Your effectiveness as a leader affects people’s lives.

A strong desire to do the right thing, beginning with ourselves and permeating every personal and professional relationship we have, marks our commitment to excellence. A healthy discontent for the way things are should make it slightly uncomfortable to sit back and coast. When Walt Disney told his people not to rest on their laurels, it was because he was a leader who understood the consequences of complacency. We should certainly feel pride and a sense of accomplishment when we do a job well, but we must constantly look for new directions and ways to improve and to continue to grow in new directions.

Walt Disney illustrated the need to constantly scan the horizon for growth opportunities when he resisted his advisers’ urging to produce a sequel to the enormously successful Three Little Pigs. They pressured him and he reluctantly agreed. After the sequel (The Big Bad Wolf) turned out to be a box office bust, Disney called his advisers together and announced a new law that is heard around the Disney organization to this very day: "You can’t top pigs with pigs.”

Invest some time and energy in developing the following three important leadership characteristics:

Develop a sense of urgency: How can you grow as a leader? How can you be more effective––now?

Develop a healthy discontent with the way things are: What could you and your people be doing better? How?

Develop an appreciation for the awesome responsibilities of leadership: Think about how you affect your employees, both at work and in their lives beyond work.

"An organization will never rise above the quality of its leadership."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2009-01-06T11:48:00.000-08:00

Lesson Eleven
Motivate to a Progressively Higher Level

Motivation is the by-product of desire. Desire and motivation can’t be separated. They are always at the same level. Motivation, true motivation, can't be cranked up any higher than the level of desire. To best understand how desire increases, and motivation along with it, you must know the three levels of motivation.

Level One: Compliance
The lowest level is compliance. Compliance is doing something because you were told to, without much motivation or personal desire. Character is not built at the compliance level.

"Because I said so" is about all of the management ability needed to get somebody to Level One. Simply order the person around as if he or she can’t think or reason and has no special ability or investment in getting the job done, other than to avoid being fired.

Level Two: Goal Identification
The next higher level is identification with the goal. Identification gives the individual a feeling of investment in the goal and produces increased desire and motivation.

To help people reach Level Two, you must clearly and simply communicate the benefits of achieving the goal. Discuss with them why the job needs to be done and how it is in the best interest for all to do it well. When there is something to gain, people invest more. Many a company turnaround has started at this level.

Level Three: Commitment
The highest level of motivation is commitment. There is no greater motivation than when someone feels the goal is truly his or her own.

To reach Level Three, a person needs to understand why he or she is uniquely suited for the task. Show that person how his or her strengths (not yours) can be used to help achieve the goal. Not only will that person feel there is a personal benefit for a job well done, she or he will also bring a part of himself or herself to the job.

Nobody in your organization will be able to sustain a level of motivation higher than you have as the leader. These three activities will help you motivate to the next highest level:

Rate each team member’s motivation: Who’s only at Level One? Who’s at Level Two? Who’s up to Level Three?

Find out about personal goals: Ask each team member what his or her personal goals are. If they'll work on personal goals, they are more apt to work on company goals.

Coach each person: Use the strengths you now know that each individual has, to help him or her achieve the desired personal or company goal.

"We're tied by straw and think it's chain."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2008-12-16T15:51:00.000-08:00

Lesson Ten
Build a High Performance Team

While out on the beach, I laid out a plan. After listing the people in order by respect, I drew two columns.

The first column was labeled, Weaknesses. This column can get very long, very quickly because we notice weaknesses first and then tend to concentrate on them. You might ask, "Why write down all those negative things?" This list will become a map through the minefield.

I labeled other column Strengths. Then I stared at the blank column: it was as though I had writer’s block. Perhaps I hated to admit this person had any strengths. But she was the most respected person in the office: she had to have strengths. I forced myself to concentrate on her strengths: mathematical ability, loyalty to the company, a good sense of humor, an appreciation for the finer things in life, and so on.

Things I wouldn’t have necessarily associated with strengths on the job began to add up. I began to realize the things that made a person strong as a whole were strengths he or she could apply on the job. My focus then shifted from the long list of weaknesses to the long list of strengths just beside it within each person. The old dog was learning a new trick.

Once I realized how many strengths this woman had, strengths that weren’t being recognized or put to use in our organization, I was bursting with enthusiasm to talk to her strengths the next time I had the chance. She immediately noticed I was enthusiastic about her potential. I reflected back to her the things she felt were important and valuable. What she thought and felt became my priorities; I would no longer impose my priorities.

We can transplant hearts and other vital organs from one person to another, but we can’t transplant strengths. Managers try every day––and the operations have never been successful. Our job, therefore, is to be a catalyst between their strengths and the way we'd like to see the job done. You’ll keep adding to both lists over time.

Do not leave these lists around the office. This is an exercise for you alone. Keep your lists at home. Each evening, take a few minutes to pick a couple of team members from your chart to connect with individually the next day in a coaching session. Select one or two strengths from each person’s lists that you help them to use more in some part of their jobs.

Here are some ways to get started:

Begin with the most respected member of your team: This person is the most influential.

Make two lists for each person: Put weaknesses in one column and strengths in the other. The second list will be more difficult because of the long-term propensity to focus on weaknesses.

Lay out a coaching strategy for each person: Based the plan on your awareness of his or her weaknesses, but emphasize strengths.

"Be aware of their weaknesses, but talk to their strengths."

24 Lessons in High Performance Leadership

2008-12-07T13:12:00.000-08:00

Lesson Nine
Put the Chips Back In Place

When my boss announced that he was searching for my replacement, I did what any sane and logical manager would have done: I went to the beach. My salespeople needed some breathing space, as much as I needed to be alone with my thoughts, the waves, the sand, and a legal pad of paper. That's where I realized that there was a barrier or fence in my organization, with my people on one side and me on the other. And the fence looked different depending on which side you were on. With this revelation came my first major team-building technique.

Only one factor united all of the people on the other side of the fence: they all hated me. That bond wasn’t healthy, but it was strong. I needed to end our segregation.

I could have invoked the power of my position and ordered my people to come over to my side of the fence. But, I knew that authority doesn't produce real cooperation.

Another option was to crawl over to their side of the fence and try to recreate the wonderful camaraderie we had when I came on board as the new salesperson. But that wouldn’t be leadership either.

Then I realized that I couldn’t win over all of my people at one time. At best, I was going to earn their trust one by one. My first thought was to go after the highest producer in the office. But something told me that could foster jealousy among the other team members. The situation could become even more divisive. I needed to win over someone to whom the others would listen.

It dawned on me that the most influential member of the team was not necessarily the superstar but the person whom the others respected the most. Using this new criterion, I rated my team members, from the most respected on down the line. I was incorporating the values of my people into my thinking. The ratings I used were theirs, not mine.

Then, I went to work on the number one most respected person on my list. Before long, that person was actually saying some decent things about me. Why? Because that person was beginning to truly feel that I was open and receptive to the team’s way of thinking. Soon, number two on my list headed for my side of the fence. Then came number three, four, and so on. Once I’d won over about a third of the people, the most respected third, others started heading my way from the far side of the fence. Your people vote every day to decide which side of the fence to be on.

Here's how to get started on the fence technique:

Determine which of your team members is the most respected.

Identify which qualities make this person so trusted.

Rank your team members in order of peer respect: Keep the list for your eyes only.

"Determination makes failure impossible."

24 Lessons in High Performance Management

2008-11-20T13:34:00.000-08:00

Lesson Eight
Take Steps to Grow as a Leader

You shouldn’t wait to start learning how successful leaders think and act until your boss starts looking for your replacement. If I had known then what I know now, my boss would have never come in and set my pants on fire. I would have paid $10,000 for a single copy of this book back then.

The way others successfully handle pressure can educate you so that you’ll never have to experience similar situations. Do you know someone who never seems to be on the hot seat? It might well be that while you had your nose to the grindstone that person had his or her head up and looking and learning from other people’s experiences.

That means:

• Attending seminars, live or online.
• Reading books, magazines, and newspapers.
• Taking to lunch people from whom you can learn.
• Monitoring your own people for things you can learn.
• Gobbling up audio/video multimedia training programs.

It’s not enough to merely study. True learning is the application of knowledge. Things get exciting for everybody when successful techniques are put into practice. Keeping all of your great new knowledge in your head won’t do a thing to increase productivity.

I speak three to five times every week there’s never been an audience that didn’t have at least a few educated failures. Some of them possess enormous amounts of information about the latest leadership methods, yet they’re stagnated or failing. When I ask them how many of the new techniques and strategies they have incorporated into their organization’s daily routines, they hesitate to answer. The truth hurts. The fact is that for most of us there’s a gap between how we do our jobs and the way we know how to do our jobs.

How did you score yourself on the ten leadership characteristics outlined earlier? Now, do it again––as your people would probably rate you as a leader. If you’re gutsy, you might want one or more of your people who have read that lesson to do the rating.

The score your people give you is the real one. You're only as effective as your people’s perception of you. The rating the employees give their boss is always the most accurate measure of effectiveness.

Here are three tough points to consider. You might even want to jot down your reactions:

• Imagine your improvement over the past year charted on a graph: If you asked your team members to graph out the improvement they've seen in you as a leader in the past year, what would their graph look like?
• Plan your growth: What do you need to start planning in order to grow as a leader in the next twelve months?
• Think about how you’ve improved as a leader by handling problems: Pick a problem that your leadership has solved. What did you learn from it?

"Take a mentor to lunch before somebody else eats yours."

24 Lessons in High-Performance Management

2008-11-13T11:32:00.000-08:00

Lesson Seven
Cultivate Characteristics of an Effective Organization

These days, the word creativity makes many businesspeople automatically think of finances, in the same way that stretching used to be something you only did during exercise. But creativity here is originality of thought and execution, which are becoming increasingly necessary in today’s business arena. Creativity is the power that leads to progress.

When the heat’s on, the same old way of handling situations just won’t cut it any more. In fact, the same old routines are probably what got you into those situations. Down pressures are changing in nature and intensity. Up pressures are coming from the rapidly changing dynamics of a workforce with a new identity. Lack of originality in thinking and behavior is a sign that you're oblivious to the vise slowly closing.

Any effective organization has an energy you can sense as soon as you enter the office––even if there’s only one person there at the time. The thought might even pop into your head that this could be a fun place to work. Andrew Carnegie, the great industrialist, said, "I've found there is little success where there is little laughter."

When you walk into an organization with low or no energy, you feel that too. It’s like walking into a big refrigeration unit: the chill makes you shiver––even if there’s only one person there. Some organizations might as well have a sign on the wall that says: Fun is forbidden. Anyone caught enjoying what they’re doing will be punished.

Where there is no fun, there is no energy. How long does it take to detect energy or lack of it in an office? Within five seconds, you can tell how much fun it is to work there. Your customers can tell the same thing within five seconds of being greeted by one of your team members.

Change is what happens when you mix creativity and energy. An effective organization is a changing organization. You can’t reverse that equation, because it’s possible for management to change the look, the staff, the location, and a thousand other things about an organization in an attempt to produce effectiveness artificially.

Change that does not emerge from a healthy combination of creativity and energy will feel synthetic. Creativity combined with energy produces change from within. Changes imposed from outside feel like impositions. Changes from within are self-regulated and guided by realism.

Here are three methods of building energy, creativity, and change:

Analyze the steps used to solve a very difficult problem: Think of one that you or a team member handled in recent months. What did you do?

Consider your team from an outsider’s perspective: Learn what "vibes" the average customer picks up when initially meeting any of your team members.

Identify a change you can initiate right now: What one thing could you do at this point to make your organization more effective?

"Team morale and customer service,
on a scale of 1-10, receive the same score."

24 Lessons in High-Performance Management

2008-11-03T09:36:00.000-08:00

Lesson Six
Practice Humanagement

Humanagement is simply the ability to use the job to develop the person while having fun in the process. My entire emphasis changed as I stopped managing my people like a herd of livestock and began leading them as people. It occurred to me I could help each individual unlock his or her talent, as well as:

• Set more meaningful goals (personal and professional).
• Better understand and plan their time.
• Use more of their creativity.
• Better handle their stress.
• Feel safe pushing their envelope.

If I had an office full of happy, growing people, I thought, there’s no telling what we could accomplish. Sure enough, when they began going home at night with their minds renewed and enriched instead of sore, tired, and aggravated, our entire universe expanded beyond anything we would have previously thought possible.

Don’t forget the “while having fun in the process” part. I don’t mean you open the office with a joke every morning. My experience has proven time and again that people who grow and develop and become more capable of handling problems are happier. They are happier because they are more fulfilled and actualized. When employees become more fulfilled and actualized, morale goes up. With higher morale comes higher productivity. I’ve never seen it fail.

Staff turnover also drops. With low staff turnover comes more bonding and team spirit. High turnover results in suspicion and a lack of personal investment in the job. It’s difficult to feel a part of an organization if the probability of losing your job is high. There are the managers who swear their organization has a terrific atmosphere, but people leave because the money is not competitive. There are also bureaucracies where people stay forever, even though they are miserable. A good logo for them would be: “Repeating Yesterday, Inc; Home of the Living Dead.”

Nobody is having fun in either case. People leave organizations because they’re not happy, not because there's more money elsewhere. The value of having fun on the job ranks above money. Enjoyable work in an enjoyable environment exerts a stronger hold on people than higher wages in an unpleasant job and environment. Here are three ways to help get positioned and mentally prepared to practice Humanagement:

Decide on ways to practice Humangement: Think about ways you can set a better example for your team.

Rate yourself from the perspective of your team members: If you ask them to rate how much fun they have working for you, what grade would they give you?

Imagine yourself the topic of conversation: If you were a fly on the wall in the homes of the people who work for you, what would they be saying about you in the evening?

"Help a team member grow, and you will receive respect in return."

24 Lessons in High-Performance Management

2008-10-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Lesson Five
Develop Characteristics of Great Leaders

Here is a list of 10 characteristics that are common in high performing leaders. They do not come naturally. Great leaders develop them. The characteristics of great leaders are universal and timeless. They reflect what leaders choose to believe and how they decide to behave. Great leaders demonstrate all ten characteristics––-regardless of their field.

1. Uncompromising integrity: It's the foundation for quality and service to both internal and external customers. The would-be leader who doesn't have this will be a "flash in the pan".
2. Absence of pettiness: The greatest drain of energy in an organization is pettiness. Eliminating it results in high energy. Leaders understand the difference between interesting and important.
3. Works on things by priority: This results in stability under pressure and makes for an excellent problem solver. A leader who works by priorities prepares a daily priority list; he or she starts with #1 and doesn't deal with #2 when finished, but instead deals with the new #1, and so on.
4. Courageous: Leaders don't lead life meekly, they know there is a deep well of courage within each of us, whether or no we use it. Leaders do what they fear to keep fear from taking charge. Their credo is "It's always too soon to quit!"
5. Committed: Leaders know that they won’t die an early death by working hard in a job they love. They never hear low achievers saying to them, "Slow down! You're going to ruin your health!" Their work is a developed art form.
6. Goal oriented: Focus is the antidote for pain in the accomplishment of stellar goals. Leaders understand that a lack of goals starts the process of both physical and mental shutdown.
7. Unorthodox: These are the creators, the innovators, and the think-outside-the-box types. They learn from their successes and from their failures. They are originals, not copies.
8. Inspired enthusiasm that's contagious: Leaders grow enthusiastic as they achieve their daily goals, which are part of a larger plan, not just daily tasks. They are acutely aware that without this contagious enthusiasm whatever mood they have will also be contagious.
9. Level headed in times of crisis: These people do not come aparts or cry in their beer. They are steady and therefore grasp the needed facts quickly. They know that conflict overcome is strength gained.
10. Desire to help others grow: Leaders know there is no saturation to education and that passing along knowledge and growth experiences builds synergistic relations and camaraderie.

Here are some suggestions for taking the road to greatness:

Rate yourself for each characteristic: On a scale of 1 to 10, how great are you?

Rate yourself from the prospective of your team members: Would they agree with how you’re rated yourself? If not, why not?

Focus on three points for improvement: Pick out three characteristics to improve in yourself and map out a plan for that improvement.

"An organization quits improving right after the manger quits improving."

24 Lessons in High-Performance Management

2008-10-20T10:35:00.000-07:00

Lesson Four
Search for What Works

I love it when people fight against incredible odds to triumph over problems. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale once said, "You're only as big as the problem that stops you." I am thankful for men and women who were bigger than the problems that would have stopped and did stop so many others. The world got better right after they got better.

During the dark hours when my boss was out looking for my replacement, I started reading articles about successful people in newspapers and magazines. When I came across someone local, I called the person and said, "You don't know me, but my name is Danny Cox and I've just destroyed the number one office in my company by taking it from first place to thirty-sixth in three months. My boss is looking for my replacement right now. Can I have lunch with you?"

These successful people not only took my calls, but also agreed to have lunch with me. Some sensed the urgency in my voice; others just wanted to meet the person who could single-handedly wreak havoc on an entire organization. The one quality in every one of these success stories was an entrepreneurial spirit. Each saw me as a challenge––or at least a curiosity.

I listened and learned and immediately started applying the lessons. I have never stopped seeking out the advice and counsel of effective leaders. Take someone to lunch before someone else eats yours. Pay attention to what's happening in your organization, your industry, and your local business community, so you can learn without experiencing your own disasters.

Work on yourself first. Your pursuit of excellence will set the agenda for everyone in your organization. Just before you drift off to sleep, ask yourself, "Who am I impressing…?" When people are impressed, they say, "You do good work." When they're inspired, they say, "I wish I did my work as well as you do yours."

You must lead by your example of excellence. Think of it this way: Somebody somewhere is going to get better because you’re reading this book.

Here are some ways to start your pursuit of excellence:

Learn from the leaders around you: List the three people you admire most within your organization and the three you admire most outside of your organization. They should be accessible to you. Take these people individually to lunch or, at least, talk with them about their secrets to successful leadership. They’ll enjoy telling you.

Put those methods and techniques to work: Apply what you learn to your leadership challenges. Give your benefactors feedback on how their methods and techniques work for you––and tell them about any innovations you come up with.

Focus on inspiring rather than impressing: When you impress, you rise above others. When you inspire, you bring them up with you.

"To achieve great things, know more than the average person considers necessary."

24 Lessons in High-Performance Management

2008-10-15T10:18:00.000-07:00

Lesson Three
Lift Your Limitations

After returning to the top position, our office leveled off in production exactly where we had been when I took over. Once we returned to our previous level of performance, we went no further; we unknowingly reached our self-imposed barrier.

I emphasize the word self because the barriers are not imposed by the company or customers. A self-imposed barrier is nothing more than the dividing line between developed and undeveloped potential. Yet, we look at that line as though it’s a wall. Self-imposed barriers are not walls around our lives. They are the margins of our lives where nothing has been written––yet. A self-imposed barrier is nothing more than the dividing line between developed and undeveloped potential. Yet, we look at that line as though it's a wall.

Imagine what the world would be like if explorers throughout history believed that they couldn't go anywhere for the first time. That's what we were up against after my office was back at number one. Pushing production higher than ever before meant venturing into uncharted territory. We had reached the collective personal barriers of the team.

My people were not slouches. They were the best in the company and would have been the best in any company. We were already receiving monthly awards for being the top office. Success became a barrier for us. Walt Disney is remembered to this day throughout the Disney organization for warning his staff against “resting on their laurels." Ralph Waldo Emerson put it even more profoundly when he said, "A great man is always willing to be little. Whilst he sits on the cushion of advantages, he goes to sleep."

Another great executive once said to me, "Good is the enemy of best and best is the enemy of better." When most people get to be good, they start to think, "What's the point of struggling to be best? Isn't good, good enough?"

I challenged my team to break through their personal production records and they responded. I asked them to focus on their own records on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, yearly basis, instead of other people's records. When they did, energy, morale, and production skyrocketed.

As our performance received increasing acclamation and overall attention, I was asked where I got all of those great people and how I built such a record-breaking team. Did I steal top producers from our competition or recruit at the top business schools? The one-word answer was "no." They were just ordinary people who discovered they could do the most extraordinary things with their newly discovered potential.

Here are some things you can do right now to help develop undeveloped potential in your team:

Meet individually with your key people to set goals: Tell them, "Don't worry about breaking anyone else's personal record. Just think about breaking your own record on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and yearly basis."

Monitor each team member's progress continuously: Help that person stay focused.

Celebrate record-breaking performances: Do this on a regular basis to show your support and appreciation for your team's effort.

"Accomplishment is your birthright. Limitations are adopted."

THE LEADER’S DOZEN

2008-10-15T09:52:00.000-07:00

Each time there has been a downturn in economic conditions the requests for my “Leadership When the Heat’s On” program have gone up. Such is the case now. Presentations are tailored for each particular client’s needs. The structure is built around the maxims in my “Leader’s Dozen” which are listed below.

Please keep in mind my track record where 145 salespeople increased production 800% in a five and one-half year period and that included two recession years.

The best IS yet to be!

Danny

The Leader’s Dozen:

1. The ultimate reward for the leader of people is to be able to say at the end of the day, “I saw someone grow today and I helped.”

2. Charisma = Intensity (goal, focus and direction) and Enthusiasm (expectancy of better things to come).

3. High performance is often the result of a sudden change of direction.

4. To achieve great things, know more than the average manager considers necessary.

5. An organization quits improving right after the manager does.

6. Help a team member grow and you receive respect in return.

7. On a scale of 1 – 10, team morale and customer service receive the same score.

8. Take a mentor to lunch before somebody else eats yours. (It’s not necessary the mentor be in your industry since great leadership principles are non-industry specific.)

9. Be aware of a team member’s weaknesses but talk to his or her strengths.

10. An organization will never rise above the quality of its leadership.

11. Fear has no strength of its own, only that which you choose to give it. Ironically, that’s the very strength you need to overcome it.

12. Your team members are just as good as you are at planning their time.

13. If you don’t have enthusiasm that’s contagious what ever you do have is also contagious.

Danny Cox Acceleration Unlimited
Copyright 2008

24 Lessons in High-Performance Management

2008-10-06T12:15:00.000-07:00

Lesson Two
Use Problems to Enhance Your Career

I've broken the sound barrier over 2,000 times at the controls of everything from the F-86 Sabre and the F-102 Delta Dagger to the F-101 Voodoo and the F-16 Viper. I have knocked off a lot of plaster and broken countless windows. My extra duty job in the Air Force was to speak to groups of upset, hostile civilians and convince them that those sonic booms were "the sound of freedom."

Having built a reputation in the military as the "sonic boom salesman," I got into sales when I stopped flying. Those hostile audiences must have provided excellent training, because the transition went smoothly. I did so well in my first year as a salesperson that the company executives asked me to manage one of the sales offices.

I managed that small office for a year with some success. One year later, the same executives showed up again to promote me to manager of the top office in the 36-office chain.

That's when I started making the same mistakes nearly every manager makes. I urged my people not to think of me as their boss, but as a friend who was always right. My goal was to turn everyone in that office into a copy of me. It made perfect sense at the time. Turning the salespeople into Danny Cox clones seemed to be what my bosses wanted to do. If I could get my salespeople to do the job exactly as I had done it, they wouldn't bring me any problems that I hadn't already solved.

Under my management, the number-one office plummeted to number 36 out of 36. One day, as I was trying to figure out the problem, my boss showed up in my office, unannounced, without his usual smile and pleasant demeanor.

"Cox," he said through clenched teeth. "I can now see that it was a mistake making you the manager of this office and I feel it's only fair to tell you that I'm already looking for your replacement."

That was the shortest and the most effective motivational seminar I ever attended. I needed to learn how to lead––and I needed to learn fast.

I sought out the counsel of many successful people and soon learned that I needed to work on myself, not the salespeople. Salespeople get better right after their manager.

The techniques I began using had such an immediate effect that within two weeks my boss stopped looking for a replacement. We were heading back to number one.

Here are three ways you can start turning problems into opportunities:

Think of a problem in the past that turned out to be a positive.

Chose a problem that you can turn into a positive if you apply the right attitude and plan.

Decide on one thing you can do in the next 24 hours to improve your leadership style.

"High performance is often the result of a sudden change in direction."

24 Lessons in High-Performance Management

2008-09-22T10:38:00.000-07:00

Lesson One
Leadership When the Heat's On

Only a few feet separate the lead pilot's tailpipe from the nose of my supersonic fighter as we rip through the sky at speeds in excess of 500 miles per hour. I feel the blast from his engine vibrating through my feet on the rudder pedals and through my right hand on the control stick. There are seven more jets behind me packed just as tight in our nine-ship formation.

Almost with one motion, the nose of each fighter gently drops below the horizon. The airspeed builds until the lead pilot pulls back on the stick. The nose of every fighter rises in perfect symmetry as the G forces build. I feel the blood being forced into my legs and feet. All nine of us are now experiencing the same 5 G force ––5 times our body weight. We tighten our leg and abdominal muscles to keep blood in our upper extremities to avoid blacking out.

I concentrate on keeping my hand on the throttle. If it slips off, the G force will push it down between the side panel and my ejection seat. I will lose my ability to make minor throttle adjustments and hold precise position. As we curve over the top of our perfect loop, the world switches places with the sky. The G forces diminish down the backside. I steal a millisecond glance at the two rear view mirrors. Everyone is still tucked in tight. The G pressure builds again as our lead pilot pulls the nose back up to level flight and eight pilots follow in perfect unison.

The lead pilot takes us through a series of horizon tumbling rolls followed by a formation shift to a nine-ship diamond. It's my turn to fly center position as we make a high-speed, low-level pass over the airfield. The noise of eight other jets in front and back, and on both sides, flying two to three yards from wingtip to wingtip is deafening. It's high performance flying right to the edge. There is only one word to describe it: exhilarating. WOW! How I love it!

It's the ultimate team experience. The difference between life and death can be how well we learn from our successes and failures. Our synergy comes from courage, creativity, and being there for each other, no matter what. After leaving the Air Force and entering the corporate world, I had to transfer the principles of individual and team high performance to new challenges.

I had to make some tremendous adjustments, but my drive to again be a part of a high performance team was strong. I sought out advice and counsel from the most successful people I could find in various industries. What they taught me, along with some innovations of my own, put my new team into a supersonic climb. In five years, we increased production 800 percent, morale soared and turnover dropped to nearly zero.

Consider this your supersonic flight plan as you discover how my team broke the old records and continued to break the new ones. You're going to find out how to become the lead pilot for your team and a barrier-breaking leader.

Legend of Speaking Profession

2008-09-12T10:56:00.000-07:00

Last week was an exciting week in two ways. First, I received the “Legend of the Speaking Profession” designation in Hagerstown, MD from the Veteran Speakers Retreat What an honor! Many friends were there, including Jim Cathcart, who also received the same honor.

The second great thing was locating and visiting my colonial ancestors home near Hagerstown. The current owners were very hospitable in showing us the Shelby homestead now sitting on 500 acres. Above is a photo of this historical site. It was formerly 5,000 acres. Several of the Shelbys were born there in that home. Five of my relatives were Officers in George Washington’s Army.

We sat in the living room (parlor) of the stone portion of the house built in 1750. What conversations must have been carried on in that room as the Revolutionary War approached!

The other half of the house is the NEW part built in 1800. By the way, the home is immaculate and is kept like a museum by the owners.

Tedi, my archaeologist, was thrilled with the silver coins that have been dug up, as well as tools and furniture pieces from the mid 1700’s.

"The Sonic Boom Salesman" Flies Again!

2008-08-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest thrills I’ve had so far in the 21st century was the day I blasted off the runway at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland in an F-16 Viper along with the pilot-in-command, Brigadier General David Wherley.

The flight included a supersonic run twenty-five miles off the Maryland coast with speed building to Mach 1.5, one and a half times the speed of sound (1000 + MPH). Aerobatics followed that with aileron rolls, barrel rolls and a loop. The flight was topped off with a high performance vertical climb.

It was quite a ride and given as an orientation for the two half-day programs I presented for the Washington, DC Air National Guard the day prior. The morning program was Leadership When the Heat's On for officers and non-commissioned officers. Then in the afternoon I presented to the recruiters my There Are No Limits program.

Breaking the sound barrier was not new for me. I have broken the barrier almost 2000 times in various high performance fighters I flew in the Air Force, which included the 1200-MPH "Voodoo." In lay terms that's twenty miles per minute or one mile every three seconds!

At those speeds you can break plenty of windows and knock off great chunks of plaster. That's how I picked up the nickname, "The Sonic Boom Salesman." I went out to the communities hard hit by these "booms" and spoke to the hostile, upset civilian audiences. My speech title back in those years was "Better Boomed than Bombed"––a hard hitting speech!

And, yes, I can handle any audience you put in front of me.

Butt Snappers

2008-08-07T15:53:00.000-07:00

After speaking ten years of my life flying supersonic at twice the speed of sound a major problem was solved by the Air Force. To this day I think it has some real cross over value to the business world.

As jet fighters were being introduced to the Air Force, a problem arose with ejection seats. Jets flew faster and higher than their propeller predecessors and pilot ejection, in cases of emergency, became a more sophisticated and dangerous predicament. Ejection seats were separated from the cockpit by an explosive charge equal to a 35mm artillery shell to insure that the pilot cleared the aircraft before the parachute deployed.

The pilot simply needed to roll forward out of the seat once clear of the aircraft and the parachute would be free to open. parachute would be free to open. Unfortunately, a common problem started to pop up (no pun intended) in some ejections. Some pilots would pull up both arm rests exposing the ejection seat triggers and squeeze them detonating the explosive that launched the pilot and seat 150 to 175 feet above the aircraft.

Then, instead of letting go, some pilots kept a death grip on the seat handles, reluctant to separate themselves from the last tangible piece of the airplane that had, until then, always been a safe place. As long as the pilot remained in the ejection seat, the parachute remained trapped against the seat back, unable to open. Striking the ground at 200 miles per hour, still sitting in an ejection seat with an unopened parachute will ruin your whole day!

The Air Force went back to the ejection seat manufacturers with the problem and the government contractors returned with a solution. The new design called for a 2-inch webbed strap that attached to the front edge of the seat, under the pilot and behind him, and attached to an electronic take-up reel behind the headrest. Two seconds after ejection, the electronic take-up reel would immediately take up the slack, forcing the pilot forward out of the seat thus freeing the parachute to open. The pilot was “butt-snapped “ to safety.

A body in motion tends to remain in motion and a body at rest tends to remain at rest until acted upon by an external force. Dr. Alexis Carrel used this definition of inertia in a sentence:

Life leaps like a geyser for those who drill through the rock of inertia.

In a seminar, I once quoted Dr. Carrel and gave a lengthy dissertation on the role of external forces to overcoming inertia. After I had finished, one of those in attendance came up to me and winked.

“I know what you’re trying to say about overcoming inertia,” the man said. “What you mean to say is that we need butt snappers on every chair around the office.”

A butt-snapper, as he described it, is something akin to a spring-loaded whoopee cushion. The bottom line is that, when detonated, it launches your rear end out of the chair. So, if words like external forces overcoming inertia leave you uninspired, think about what butt snappers on everyone’s chairs would do to productivity around the office. Think about how much a butt snapper on your own chair would do for your personal productivity.

Excerpted from Danny Cox's book, Seize the Day: 7 Steps to Achieving the Extraordinary in an Ordinary World.

The Road Block to Higher Productivity: Fear vs. Courage

2008-07-29T10:56:00.000-07:00

"Once when Marshall Ney was going into battle, looking down at his knees which were smiting together, he said, 'You may well shake; you would shake worse yet if you knew where I am going to take you."
-- Orison Swett Marden

What or who builds self-imposed barriers? A stonemason named Fear, one who is highly skilled in building powerful barriers from nonexistent stones. Where does this craftsman live? In our minds. He's always there, but it's up to us whether he lives in the back of our minds or the front of our minds.

Fear is the sworn enemy of adventure, which is perhaps the most exhilarating force driving no-limits achievement. And Fear goes exactly where we tell him to go.

We move Fear from the back of our minds to the front of our minds by shifting our concentration away from our own courage, and choosing instead to focus on that which frightens us. Not only does that action change Fear's location, but through the process of concentration, it means we actually start to strengthen Fear. Fear has no strength of its own; its only strength is that which we choose to give it.

When Fear defeats us, it does so because of our own mental focus. And unfortunately, the strength we pass along to Fear is the very strength we need to overcome it! If, on the other hand, we choose to push our goals, wrapped in courage, to the forefront of our minds, then barriers break.

You already possess sufficient courage to initiate this process and see your personal adventure through. A person may not be born with an overabundance of talent, but he or she will certainly possess all the courage needed, whether used or unused, to develop the talent that is there. Long after passing on to the next world, we will be remembered by family and friends, not necessarily for our inborn talents, but for the amount of courage we used, especially during our times of trial. The strength and vividness of the memories our loved ones and friends hold of us after we are gone will be directly proportional to the amount of courage we have chosen to use.

Immediate Action: Starve your fear! Feed your courage! Embrace your adventure!

Point to Ponder: "Fear knocked at the door. Faith answered. No one was there." (From above the fireplace at Hinds' Head Hotel, near London.)

"We're tied with straw and think it's chain."
Danny Cox

Excerpted from Danny Cox’s book, There Are No Limits: Breaking the Barriers to Personal High Performance.

Visit this Blog often as new articles are being posted for managers and sales people/employees.

Danny Cox, The Accelerationist

2008-04-01T16:34:00.000-07:00

My clients refer to me as “The Accelerationist”, 1: one who causes faster movement, higher efficiency and increased productivity, 2: one who boldly crosses barriers, 3: an adventurer at high speed

In future Blogs I will Post other articles from my three best selling books, Leadership When the Heat’s On Second Edition: Building A record Breaking Team, Seize The Day: Seven Steps To Achieving The Extraordinary In an Ordinary World and There Are No Limits: Breaking The Barriers In Personal High Performance.

This Post features my most popular article from Leadership When The Heat's On. You can find more information about my Keynotes and Seminars and also my books on my website at http://www.dannycox.com.

Ten Leadership Characteristics
By
Danny Cox

No organization can rise above the quality of its leadership. Because leadership is a position that must be earned day in and day out, there are important personal choices that both new and experienced leaders must make on a regular basis. Effective leaders are first and foremost effective people.

Personal ethics can't be separated from professional ethics. Therefore, the character of the leader is essential. The following list of ten characteristics is a valuable guide for quality living in addition to being critical criteria for leadership.

1. A high standard of personal ethics leads the list. Honest Abe Lincoln, who walked miles to return a customer's change, is a classic example of how personal ethics are reflected in professional conduct. Decisions made under pressure and/or temptation separate the great ones from the impostors.

2. High energy. Dealing with petty issues does not exhaust great leaders. These people know right from wrong as well as the difference between what's truly important and what's merely interesting.

3. The ability to work priorities shares equal importance with setting priorities. Many brilliant priority lists end up in the landfill of life. The difference between setting priorities and working them through is the difference between a dreamer and a doer.

4. Courage. The willingness to take risks and accept responsibility for the outcome is a consistent quality among effective leaders. Either you or your fears will control everything you do. An organization will be no bolder than the leader.

5. Committed and dedicated hard working leaders will eventually develop dedicated and hard working organizations regardless of who they start with or the experience they bring to the job.

6. Unorthodox leaders have an urge to create and don't have the patience to wait for a phone to ring before acting. Effective leaders are innovators who bore easily and prefer shaping tomorrow to repeating yesterday.

7. Great leaders have the goal orientation to make tough decisions. Goal orientation produces a drive and energy that shield us from the pain of the task. Keeping an organization focused increases efficiency.

8. Inspired enthusiasm is like the pilot light on the oven. Genuine enthusiasm is contagious. People look to their leaders for enthusiasm. The inspiration level of the organization is directly proportionate to the enthusiasm of the leader--be it high or low.

9. Level-headed people make realistic leaders who respond to problems rather than simply react. A leader who can stay cool under pressure inspires confidence among those in the organization and empowers them to do the same.

10. The desire to help others succeed is the mark of a truly great leader. Synergy is created when a leader truly invests his or her efforts in the success of others. Zig Ziglar says it like this, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care about them."

Whether you're trying to increase your own effectiveness as a leader or are trying to develop leadership talent within your organization, keep studying the characteristics of those you consider to be great leaders.

Remember that leadership is an art, not a science and the difference between a genuinely effective leader and a short-term motivator can be found in the personal decisions an individual makes when choosing how to live his or her life. Long-term commitment to the principles described above will produce an effective leader and, over time, an inspired organization.

Excerpted from Leadership When The Heat's On 2nd Edition
By Danny Cox (McGraw-Hill).