I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the CEOs I interact with in my speaking, coaching and mentoring roles. Most of them are awesome. In fact, all of them are awesome at times, but like me, they miss on occasion too and have areas to improve on. There are a few areas I’d like each of them to work on during 2012.
However, instead of worrying about where I’d like them to improve, I thought I’d focus on my areas to work on instead.
Here are the TOP 5 areas I’ll work on in 2012:
1) I will not get as defensive when I hear things about me or my business.
2) I will focus more intently during my coaching and mentoring calls.
3) I will take better notes during coaching calls, so I can follow up tighter and hold the CEOs more accountable to do what they said they’d do.
4) I’m going to tell my coaching clients exactly what I think they should do. And I’m going to keep pushing them to make the hard decisions they need to make.
5) I’m going to laugh more and have more fun. And I’m going to take more time off too.
Hope about you ? Where are you going to improve business wise during 2012 ?
If government doesn’t start cutting their own costs, and getting their own budgets in place, businesses will be leaving for other countries in addition to moving to other cities and states.
It’s crazy that companies & households have to cut back – but government doesn’t.
Stop saying you want to do things. Stop saying you want to learn things. Stop saying you want to try things. Stop talking about your “bucket list” and start crossing things off of it.
I talked via email with a friend in Boston, David Hauser, CEO of Grasshopper. He’d just come back from a one-hour bike ride in the dead of winter with a fellow entrepreneur, Kris Kaplan. David and Kris aren’t talking about it. They’re doing it. Kris has become a maniacally focused athlete and when he’s not having fun, he’s working, andhard. David has an annual pass to a Go Kart Race track – awesome. Still makes me laugh. Make a commitment to stop saying you’re going to do something and go ahead and do it.
Watch these women who finally stopped saying they were going to do an IronMan and did it. Imagine the feeling of victory they had (the next day). What are you going to DO today ? Perhaps try Teamly to help you get it done.
On Saturday I got part way to my dream of speaking at TED. I was able to speak at TEDx Edmonton about something I’m super passionate about.
As a kid in school I was always told I wouldn’t do well because I didn’t fit the system. In high school & university I figured the system out and beat it – graduating while being able to run little companies on the side.
The problem was the school system never say nor nurtured my entrepreneurial traits. They also never showed starting & owning a company as equal to careers like law, medicine, dentistry etc. Amazingly they actually felt working for government was a better career move that starting my own business.
Thankfully my father & grandfather nurtured – or perhaps forced is a better word – me into running my own business. I grew up feeling sick thinking about having a ‘job’. So an entrepreneur I’ve been. And having been able to run a successful business, I started coaching CEO’s on how to run their own.
My TEDx talk which I’ll post soon was about “Raising Kids to Be Entrepreneurs Instead of Lawyers Will Change the World”. And my TED Wish if I’m giving the chance to speak at TED (nominations are welcome) is to see Entrepreneurs be viewed as equal to professions that schools push kids into currently: Law, Engineering, Medicine, Dentistry, Teaching, Finance, etc.
Were you raised as an entrepreneur? What’s your story? I’d love to read your comments…
In my second year of university I took an organizational behavior course. One day my professor was teaching us how to hire people. I remember thinking, “This is stupid. It’s all textbook stuff that he’s just reading to us. I’ll bet he’s never interviewed or hired anyone.” So I threw my hand up and asked him point-blank, “Um, have you ever actually interviewed or hired anyone?”
“No, have you?” He replied. Uh, wrong question!
I replied, “Yes, in fact, I have. I have nine people working for me now in a house painting business I started.”
Wrong answer!
The whole class turned around to look at me after my response, and right then and there I began teaching people how to hire great employees as I went on a fifteen-minute diatribe of what it’s really like to hire awesome people. This is the time I actually started using my business coaching and mentoring skills.
I didn’t become BFFs with the prof, but I got a cute girl’s phone number and serious classroom clout.
Just a quick reminder to put down the books and start doing it – you’ll learn more than the books can teach you.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about all the CEOs I interact with in my speaking, coaching and mentoring roles. Most of them are awesome. In fact, all of them are awesome at times, but like me, they miss on occasion too and have areas to improve on. There are a few areas I’d like each of them to work on during 2012.
