What would happen if we eliminated all the "adult daycare drama" out of a sales organization? Let’s fantasize for a moment… that happy place in corporate la-la land. What if a sale’s manager’s job was not managing people problems? What if his or her sole focus was just on improving sales? 

No damage control on who hurt who has feelings. No fragile egos running to the managers office to complain about stuff. An entire office of people 100% accountable for their actions and results. 

Don’t jump out of the dream just yet. Imagine a sales manager who could spend his or her time as follows:

• 35% on generating leads for the sales people
• 35% on improving efficiency of sales operations
• 20% on internal effectiveness initiatives like less paperwork
• 10% on protecting the rebels and their wellspring of innovation

How would that accelerate your organization’s sales?

You might be fortunate to be part of a well-oiled, highly accountable sales division.

You might be part of a semi-dysfunctional sales group.

Or you might be suffering in a sales organization that is like an adult daycare.

Whatever your situation, the sales team can always improve.

Be a part of the solution. Find ways to own the problem.

Do this and your sales numbers will soar and your drama will whither.

Need help with focusing your sales team? Would a motivational kick-in-the-pants help? Check our availability...

Life balance? HA! But think about how fun balance can be when you're on a see saw. You're up. You're down. Sometimes your skinny butt stays up because the 'husky' kid won't let you down. During this time, take a breather, sharpen your (SEE things clearer) SAW. 

Senior Covey's 7th habit, "Sharpen your Saw" reminds us, "... preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have–you. It means having a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual."

There is that word again, balance. HA! HA! We are so busy, we simply drive past logic. We each, unconsciously believe we need to keep driving forward, cutting wood, bouncing up and down on the see saw. 

YOU ARE DOING IT RIGHT NOW.

You are likely blasting through this article so you can get onto your next activity. Odds are your time is tight and you can't rationalize taking anything more than a 70 second break. Unless you take control of your life starting now. 

Take control of your life, one of two ways.

1. Be Impulsive about slowing down. Here's a little test. Let's see how you do. To the left is an 8 minute video. It is PACKED with powerful information designed to improve your life. If you impulsively took 8 minutes and dedicated it to sharpening your own (SEE things clearer) SAW you may just be yelling "Timber" more often today. Take time to sharpen you - and you get more done.  

2. Be Tactical about taking a break. Every Wednesday, fellow hockey buddies invest time with a Stanley Cup champion (Brent Severyn) for skills training. We love the one on one learning with an NHL professional. Is it manditory we each take time to sharpen our skills for beer league hockey? No. But it makes playing the game more fun. The same goes for the game of life in your world. As for the business of life... leading up to each Wednesday, a few hours are spent writing this eBrief for you. Is it essential you get to read a free eBrief from yours truly. No. But each week, my writing skills get sharpened, a little at a time. With your welcoming mind, I plan on being a better writer and motivational keynote speaker.

Hopefully, you took a moment and watched the video clip above.

Fingers crossed you will get more tactical about forcing some balance into your life.

Balance? HA HA HA... this SEE SAW is a great ride.

Is our 24/7, instant message, more-faster-now world eating us alive or setting us free? A recent nationwide “Speed Survey” has some answers for us. The results reveal how we are seemingly, just surviving vs thriving. (I’ll save the stats on sex vs high speed technology until the end.)

• 9 out of 10 employees are feeling rushed several times per week if not every day
• 9 out of 10 feel they have to get more done in less time

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone but check this out:

• 1/2 feel that in order to succeed they need to slow things down
• yet 3/4 feel the pace of work will only increase in the next five years

There is a disconnect that must not be ignored here. Most of us are approaching or in the thick of overwhelm and more than half believe that slowing down is the answer to success but most are convinced things will only get faster.

YIKES!

It reminds me of a nightmare where things only get worse the harder you try to get past the struggle. Folks, there is an oncoming force and it is called “speed.” And a large percentage of corporate managers are ignoring this force.

• Over 2 out of 5 feel that management doesn’t understand the impact of the more-faster-now demands on the employees in our organizations.
• While 1 out of 3 employees are uncomfortable with the demands for speed in their company

Somebody’s in for a wake-up call.

• 1/3rd of all respondents don’t feel their organization is embracing speed.
• and 1/3rd people feel their organization is more stressful and intense than ever.

An interesting theme was revealed in the Speed Survey. We want to HAVE things faster, but we don’t necessarily want to DO things faster. Speed becomes a love, hate relationship and it is only going to paradoxically intensify.

According to Scott Cook, the Chairman and co-founder of Intuit (the makers of Quicken and Quick Books) says, there is a “speed tsunami that’s overtaking business and life.”

Where will the solution come from? How can we make the oncoming force of speed in our world our friend, not the enemy? The answer lies in being able to both embrace speed and harness this oncoming force that Cook talks about.

Now for the Sex vs High Speed Technology.

• 1/3rd of our survey respondents would give up sex for week before they would give up their high speed internet connection or their email
• 1/3rd would pass on the PDA in favor or a week of whoopy.

So there you go. Life in the age of speed is truly interesting and one to be reckoned with. Harness speed and leave chaos behind.

(Click the book to invest in a hard cover copy of The Age of Speed)

Nine years later, a flashback of nearly dying keeps resurfacing.

It was on the summit attempt of Chakri Peak when we were faced with a twenty-foot rock-wall as the last challenge before reaching the mountain top. I kept thinking about a friend in college who went rock climbing one weekend and didn’t come home. His hand slipped, he fell and died from internal bleeding. He was nineteen years old.

At the time I thought it was tragic that such a young soul would have to perish doing what seemed like an overly dangerous sport. But, there I was, approaching 17,000 feet, in the Himalayas of India staring at my options on a rock face. Our leader, Jeff Salz (part mountain goat, all friend, also a motivational keynote speaker), had scampered up the face in a matter of seconds. My skills weren’t near his so I took my time.

The way he went up seemed too difficult for me. So, I stepped back and reassessed other options. To the left it was just as steep but it appeared to have more of a pronounced set of foot and hand holds. The draw back wa it overhung a 1000-foot drop. But, falling wasn’t an option, climbing was the objective.

As I tested my foothold everything seemed perfect. The first handhold was just as solid so I reached out further over the cliff to grab onto a rock with my left hand. This is when things went wrong.

From an observer’s standpoint it probably looked like I just reached up, grabbed a rock, changed my mind and backtracked. Yet, in my own skin, it was far more tenuous of a maneuver. As I grabbed the furthest rock with my left hand it felt good for a second but as I engaged more weight it started to pull out of the loose rock wall.

Had I hung on for anymore time, it would have dislodged and I would have cart wheeled to the left spinning like a starfish towards a nasty thud on the rocks below. Shards of time separated disaster from recovery. In a quick and decisive move my boot blindly found the previous foothold and I stepped back into a safe space. What could have been a horrible fall ended up being an education in what wouldn’t work. Jeff’s path turned out to be the best one after all.

Accelerating decision-making in rock climbing or any pursuit in life can have the same sort of outcome. There are three things that relate to a little speed making a big difference.

1. Don’t freeze. The worst mistake would have been freezing long enough for it to be too late to backtrack. The biggest blunder you can make in a touch-and-go situation is to freeze.

2. Multiply your options. Rock climbing is a blend of art and technique. Climbing our way through life is the same. Keep scanning your path for options. Like a chess player, pick a strategy where you multiply your options.

3. Trust your instinct. We each have an innate capability or aptitude with more situations than we are conscious of. The sheer power of the subconscious mind can handle a variety of problems at high speed.

The little extra speed with which you handle a situation can translate into a big difference in many parts of your life. Take a moment and see where you are stopping yourself. Take an inventory of your options and trust your instinct. Move deliberately and move quickly.

Do this and you’ll (safely) reach your BIG GOALS in ½ the time.

NOTE: I have a new keynote called BIG GOALS FAST. You may have a group interested in reaching thier own lofty objectives. ASK US HOW.

When Starlighter was past her prime, Dale Leicht took her in. Years ago, Starlighter was a finalist in the Fort Worth Cutting Horse Futurity. One day, in a dimly lit practice arena, Starlighter taught me how to get in sync with high-speed decisions.

I watched as other skilled riders worked with their horses. As each herd of calves was approached the horse morphed into a massive feline. Ears would twitch back and front haunches would lower. Rider and horse found a near telepathic way of selecting the calf to be cut from the heard. Back and forth, rider and horse faced the selected calf looking for the chance to cut it from the pack. As options for the calf diminished the horse’s posture was even more determined.

The herd started with dozen calves. Then six would be cut out. Then three. Then two. In a flurried dance the front hooves pounced left or right as a desperate calf tried to reunite with the group. If rider and horse worked well together within the permitted two and half minutes, the selected calf gets cut off completely from the herd and the team’s artistic score is recorded. But this was practice and it was my turn.

I naively rode Starlighter toward the dozen calves. As we got closer it became a guessing game which calf Starlighter had her eye on. And I am quite sure Starlighter was wondering if the bozo on her back would give her a clue which calf, said bozo, had chosen.

Finally there was one calf that stood out. Quickly we cut the heard in half and then reduced the grouping to three. Starlighter eased into the zone she’d been trained to engage. I buried my boots into the stirrups, kept a death grip on the horn and held my other hand with reins just above the mane.

In a flash our designated calf made a run for the herd. Starlighter saw it before I did. The feeling of a 2000 pound animal making an instantaneous 180 degree shift caught me off guard. As Starlighter deeked right I was like Wile E. Coyote on the left, suspended in midair. While my entire body was leaving the saddle, I thrust my right heel toward the horn, hooked it and pulled myself back onto my cutting steed.

Back in the saddle we continued the somewhat poetic dance of rider and cutting horse. As I write I am reliving the feeling of syncing with Starlighter’s powerful flanks. Back and forth. Grace and power blended. I get shivers thinking about it because years later I vividly remember the feeling.

After we cut the calf I got off the Starlighter and walked her past a seasoned cowboy. I was clearly buzzing from my experience. Trying to be funny I said, “Betcha never seen a move like that? Did you see how I kept on the horse with my heel?”

“Weren’t you,” said the cowboy. “Starlighter knew your was falling off, scooped you back up and then went back to cuttin’… she musta felt sorry for ya.”

Starlighter, not the cowboy, taught me a lesson that day. When quick decisions are about to be made you had better be in anticipation mode.

Be ready for anything, even a 180 degree change. If that kind of decision occurs, blend with it, get the most from it. If you do you will enjoy the ride.

If you would like a motivational story like this or a tailored inspirational / dealing with change message for your people... just ASK US HOW.

An excuse is never a good idea, unless there's a gift in mind. The gift doesn't have to be tied in a bow. The excuse doesn't have to be a set-back.

Anniversaries, special events, an idle Wednesday or most recently, Valentine's Day can be an excuse worthy of a gift you'd like to give a loved one. Recently, Mom opened an email. It was a 90 second video acknowledging the extraordinary person she is, and the gift she was a part of with health care professionals.

This past Saturday, she sent an email to her inner circle.

My son Vince has always liked to make his own Valentine gifts for his mom.
When he was age 7 or 8 he took an empty metal juice can.
He turned it upside down. Vincent envisioned a work of art that his mom could treasure.
On his own, he found hands full of flat-head 3 inch long nails in a jar on his Dad's workbench.
The family-sized juice can was about as tall as our, then, glass milk bottles or my vase which sometimes held flowers from my garden. But this was February 14th, in Edmonton. My flower garden was covered with snow. Obviously, Vince wanted to give me a bouquet of flowers.

I still have it at home in Canada. It certainly is true; it's the thought that counts.

This year, Vince edited some meaningful words from a DVD of a speaking engagement.
He was addressing a room full of pharmacists.
This home-made Valentine showed up as one of my emails.
Hope you enjoy it as much as I did/do.
Happy Valentine's Day. (Sent from Patricia Poscente's iPad)

It helps to have an excuse to remind someone special in your life how special they are. Maybe this 70 second eBrief is excuse enough for you to send a gift of your time... or a tin can with nails in it. The thoughts you share do indeed count as a treasured gift.

Check out how these three meeting trends lead to engagement, retention and execution for increased ROI from your event:

1. Immersive Encounter is the number one trend in meetings and conventions. No longer is a talking-head enough for your attendees. Bring information to life through music, visuals and experiential story telling. We've found Immersive Encounters create a different conference experience when I use Olympic music, interaction as if they are skiing down the mountain, energizing video clips and stories told as if your audience is experiencing the journey.

2. Mobile Conference Apps keep your audience members engaged throughout the conference. This direct form of contact can communicate everything from speaker content to last minute changes. The Big Goals Fast Institute has a free app to ensure attendees get engaged, in real time, reaching their own short and long term goals. This becomes a link between emotional impact and organization-wide execution.

3. Extend the Life Cycle of a three or four day meeting. Before the event, we've found our teaser videos drum-up interest. Attendees already research who you’ve booked. Planners who get ahead of that curve build excitement. During and after the event, we deliver content designed to have a long term effect for higher retention and a significant return on investment.

When you combine all three trends you increase audience engagement, content retention and cascading execution. This means, a return on your meeting investment.

Ask Us How your meeting can have a better ROI from one keynote speech.