ValuExecBlog

John Wooden : A Game Plan for Life. The Power of Mentoring

Let me come straight to the point. John Wooden & Don Yaeger's book 'A Game Plan for Life. The Power, of Mentoring' is very simply a 'must read', not only because it adds to the knowledge that we have of a wonderful man and his guiding principles and values, but also because it is filled from cover to cover with wisdom, wisdom that you can take and embrace immediately. Wooden's father lived by a very simple rule 'Don't whine, don't complain, don't make excuses. Just do the best you can. Nobody can do more than that'; advice that he passed on to his sons and one senses that that is exactly how John Wooden has lived his life - no complaints, no excuses, just doing the best he can.

Do not approach this book simply as a guide for mentoring because you will miss out on the subtle nuances that are dotted throughout the book on values by which to live your life by. And at the same time, do not approach this book simply as a guide for living your life because you will miss out on the subtle messages on mentoring. The two themes are intertwined and my take out of the book is that unless you embrace both, you run the risk of not living your life to the full. Mentoring enables you to give back to society. 

I was interested in Wooden's choice of his 7 mentors because I believe that says alot about the man. His father and his beloved wife, Nellie were included as were 3 coaches that signifcantly influenced his life. But, also included were Mother Teresa and Abraham Lincoln. As Wooden suggests 'We can all benefit from studying the lives of great men and women. Their courage, vision, and actions can serve to mentor us in a different kind of way - we can seek them out. A person cannot always choose who will surround him or her in life. We always can choose what biographies to pull from a shelf, or what studies to seek in the library. Sometimes we select the mentor for the lessons we want to learn. And the mentor doesn't have to be someone who is physically present in your life. It isn't necessary to have ever actually met an individual to have been mentored by him or her.' I have never met John Wooden but I have often imagined sitting with him and just spending hours listening to him talk about life in general. What an experience that must be.

When next you are at a bookstore, or on Amazon.com or even visiting your local library, pull 'A Game Plan for Life. The Power of Mentoring' from the shelf and study it. You will learn a great deal from a great mentor. Happy reading.

ian  

 

Yes, we will!

It never ceases to amaze me how resilient we are as a species. No matter what life seems to throw at us, we always seem to bounce back. We may be hurt, we may be in pain and we may even be down; but on average, we always seem to bounce back. That is the wonderful thing about us humans!

Whatever you may call the current crisis that we are facing, be it meltdown, recession, catastrophe, shameful, unfair - there has been no limit to the descriptors used in the media - one thing I know for certain and that is we will bounce back. Yes, we will. We will be a little stronger, and a lot wiser; but we will bounce back.

The question that I ask though when we do come out of this is 'what do you want to look like? How will you describe the way you behaved? What will our actions tell others about ourselves? How will what we do today in this crisis position us for the future? How will our companies or departments look like and what would we have done to shape those companies or departments? Did we put our hands up to be included in change or did we keep our heads bowed?

Prior to his becoming President, Barack Obama suggested that each of us is responsible for doing our part and that we can not and should not wait for government or for others to fix the mess. We need to take the initiative and do our part. 

To say that I am not worried by the state of the world's economy or even for that matter, for the state of my country's own economy, would be a lie. I am in the consulting business and will be impacted by the crisis. I am also in the middle of raising funds for a new business venture that we will be launching next month - now how idiotic is that!! But, I am also excited by the changes that are happening across the corporate world. No, I am not in favor of regulation on executive salaries and will have to live with 'social capitalism' for now. I am excited that in order to survive, companies are off-loading weak or debt-ridden companies that were nothing more than a noose around their necks anyway and created no value for shareholders. I am excited that managers are being forced to find costs outside that of simply 'cutting labor' because a more business and operationally savvy manager will be born. Weak companies that should have folded years ago, will disappear and well-managed companies will get stronger leading to more value overall. The supply and demand for labor at all levels will change as labor enters the realm of 'free agent' status. And, finally outside of the corporate arena, I am excited that we, as individuals, will change as we take stock of what is truly important to us and realize that spending beyond our means is not always a wise investment. 

Yes, we will get through this and when we do, I want to make sure that I can look back and honestly say that I played a part in the changing landscape; that I painted on the new canvas and was not just a spectator or a critic from afar. And also, when we do get through this, I want to make sure that I am ready to move quickly on the opportunities that will surely be available. Yes, they will.

ian

The Layman's Guide to Goal Attainment

I have often wondered what makes a winning team, or a successful athlete or simply for that matter, what enables one person to achieve their goals whilst another fails.  As we reflect back on the year at our successes and our misses and as we get ready to set our goals for the year ahead that will move us forward, I thought it timely to revisit the question of 'What makes a winning team or a successful person?" After observing winning teams and successful people for awhile, I have boiled it down to 10 crucial factors. At the outset though, let me add that throughout this post I make use of the term 'successful people' which for this exercise is simply someone/team who has achieved a specific goal. Here then are my 10 points to achieving goals or rather 'The Layman's Guide to Goal Attainment' :

1. Prepare and prepare hard
I have noticed that winning teams, successful people or athletes not only practice, practice, practice but they also practice hard. There is the classic example of Johnny Wilkinson, the England rugby player who, at the end of every training session and after his team mates were having their showers, spent hour upon hour kicking a ball through 2 upright posts until he mastered every angle possible. It was no coincidence that it was his kick in the dying minutes of the final game that won England the World Cup.

2. Know what your end goal is
Knowing what your end goal is is one thing, but knowing what it feels like, smells like is quite another. Successful people know every specific detail of their goal.

3. Focus everything on that end goal
Have you noticed that successful people are never easily distracted? They actually live, eat and breathe their goal every waking moment of the day and night. They have an intensity that is hard to extinguish. Next time you see Tom Cruise look at his eyes and the intensity that he brings to everything he does.

4. Have a plan to get you there
This may seem pretty obvious, but successful people have detailed plans with specific milestones that enable them to monitor their progress. In addition, their plans although somewhat detailed are nevertheless flexible so that they are able to alter course if a particular activity is not producing the expected results.

5. Put in place your support team
These are the 'backroom' people; the people that get you out of bed at the wee hours of the morning; the people that pick you up and dust you off and set you on your way when you stumble. Successful people have a support team that believe in what they are doing and never tire in their support.

6. Be the fittest you have ever been mentally
There will be times when successful people stumble, but they are so mentally tough that they continue on their course despite the knock downs.

7. Sacrifice everything in the attainment of your goal
Unfortunately, in order to gain something worthwhile, we have to in all probability lose something in return. Some of us are quite prepared to sacrifice something in the short term, but baulk at long term sacrifices. Successful people, I have noticed are quite prepared to sacrifice much for however long it takes until their goal is reached.

8. Never take your foot off the accelerator until your goal is complete
Call it the 'killer instinct,' but successful people never let up until they reach their goal because they know that if they do they could well be pipped at the post.

9. Celebrate when you have attained your goal (i.e., live in the moment)
Successful people enjoy and celebrate their successes because they know the sacrifices that they and others have made to get them there.

10. Never doubt your ability to reach your goal, no matter what is thrown at you
Doubt is the biggest killer of goal attainment. Successful people have a tremendous belief in their ability to achieve their goal regardless of what is thrown across their path. They may wobble at times, but quitting is not an option to them because of their belief that they will succeed.

Have a wonderful and prosperous 2008 and may all your goals be realized. Thanks again for sharing 2007 with me. It has been fun.

ian

 

Balance Sheets - The Language of Value

I read somewhere that if you go to bed having not learnt a single thing that day, then it is a day wasted. Yesterday, I learnt something that I would like to share with you.

I was talking to a colleague of mine who is a contractor. During the course of our discussion, he told me that recently he had been asked to quote on providing air-conditioning for one floor of a particular building. A project worth $40,000. After listening to the briefing from the architect, he asked if he could have a few minutes with the CEO of the company that was commissioning the project and that would be occupying the building. The architect agreed.

My colleague spoke to the CEO about balance sheets. First, he spoke about the Commercial balance sheet and how he could save the company money over the medium term as well as improve her employees' productivity in the short term.

Then, my colleague spoke about the Social balance sheet and how he could enhance the lives of her employees by improving their work environment. They would not be constantly sick as he would virtually eliminate 'sickness building syndrome' and because of this they would go home to their families feeling healthy and happy. That in turn would impact their families positively.

My colleague then spoke about the Environmental balance sheet and how he could reduce her energy costs quite considerably.

Finally, my colleague spoke about the Scarce Resource balance sheet and how he could recycle the water generated by the building's air-conditioning system rather than have it channelled directly into the sewage system.

The net result was that his $40,000 project was approved at $180,000 and subsequent orders from the company amounted to over $1 million.

Today, as I was sitting in front of my client, I spoke about balance sheets.

When you provide value to others, they will always be willing to pay for it.