The romantic notion, “America is the land of opportunity (if you work hard).” The same goes for any developing or developed country. But today, hard work alone is a frustrating dead-end. Drive down the road and you’ll pass countless people working hard: washing cars, filling in potholes, serving customers, selling stuff. But recently we experienced a new realization: If I work hard, I will succeed – is only a half truth.

Hard work guarantees nothing! Zilch!

Case in point: Arturo Souza is an immigrant. When he moved to Canada he had to learn English. With a thick accent his first job was selling real estate. His sales manager gave him the script and the advice to financial freedom, “Call until someone says yes.”

Day after, agonizing day, Arturo sat at his cubical. As directed, from 3 to 7 pm, he went through the reverse directory, dialed and repeated, “Hello, my name is Arturo from Century 21 Real Estate. Are you planning on buying or selling a house now or in the near future?” There were a lot of new Realtors coming through the office. None stuck to the game plan better than Arturo. NONE worked harder at finding a client than Arturo. It was a feat of human perseverance to see him pound the phones. Days turned into weeks. Weeks turned into months. Arturo had zero luck. NO LUCK. No business. But he worked harder than anyone at the office. What did he do wrong?

Onward there will be three character traits you will be forced to embrace if you want to create your own luck.

1. Your Gift – You have a talent for solving certain problems. You have demonstrated a capacity to do something no one else in the room or the business was able to conquer. Blow people away with your gift. If you gift needs improving. Improve it.
2. Your Drive - You have demonstrated drive in the past. Today, you may even have super-human drive like Arturo. Your drive will take you forward. Get serious about driving ahead with a smart, clear intention.
3. Your Influence – You have a special allure. You have shown a capacity for influencing others. Authentically show up with an all-in mentality.

Just like hard work alone, any one of these character traits, in isolation, are not enough to succeed today. In order for your hard work to convert into “smart work” you must show up with your gift, drive and influence in concert!  
Might your 2015 mantra be...

“The smarter I work. The luckier I get.”

The Main Street Leader

Match Mobility with Mobility

SalesAndMarketing.com Sales Processes & Systems

The time is fast approaching when filling your car trunk with brochures, catalogs, and other sales tools will be a thing of the past. Sales teams that have been more focused on these traditional tools are finding themselves challenged, since more and more customers are using their mobile devices for ...

The Internet of Everything
Economist Group Marketing Media & Technology

The Internet of Everything is changing the way marketing, even B-to-B marketing, is handled. Cisco’s marketing chief explains the impact of the cloud and why marketers sometimes talk like pirates.

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Six Ways To Objectively Determine Your Worth At Work
Fast Company Career Development

Stop relying on guesswork and follow these steps to figure out your personal value proposition.
One of the basic tenets of any successful negotiation is to know your worth. Having a sound understanding of what you bring to the table and how important or valuable it is to the other ...
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5 Social Media Marketing Myths Debunked
Direct Marketing News Social Media , Entrepreneur Marketing

Not all social media best practices are good choices for marketers; here's a breakdown of five common social myths.

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Why Fear Kills Productivity
dealbook.nytimes.com Innovation & Creativity , Motivation & Enthusiasm , Performance Management

It’s in any company’s self-interest to create a culture that minimizes fear, Tony Schwartz writes in the Life@Work column.

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Millennials aren’t job hopping as much as previous generations. Here’s why that’s bad.
Washington Post Career Development

Amanda Healy has worked for three companies in the last three years.
She’s had her current job as a marketing manager for TIBCO Software Inc. for about eight months — and she hopes to stay there for the long run. But her stint at her previous employer lasted only 10 ...

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Stealing, Cheating, Lying and Other Side Effects of Work Stress
Businessweek Work-Life Balance , Values & Culture

Companies, take note: Stressed out workers are more likely to be dishonest or make unethical decisions.

Before You Quit Your Job To Become An Entrepreneur, Read This
huffingtonpost.com Principles of Entrepreneurship

You could be sitting on the fence with an idea or a desire to start your own business. Inspiration comes through many different sources and not all reasons are valid enough to pursue a business.

To access in our Leader Library, please visit www.themainstreetleader.com

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How to Reach Your BIG GOALS in ½ the Time.

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.

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At the heart of Bloomberg’s Manhattan offices is the complimentary food court. Nothing brings people together like chow. But for Big Biz Bloomberg, food’s not on the leadership's menu. Instead, they know by bringing people together, there is a recipe for innovation.

Bloomberg’s HQ features, low barrier cubicles, open offices, glass conference rooms, elevators at every other floor and multiple, open staircases between levels. Central to their 23 stories, is the sixth floor. All traffic must channel through the lobby. The premise is concise. When people cross paths they make connected inroads towards progress.

Interaction by design is not new. Thomas Edison made sure his lab had plenty of interactive opportunities. Interfacing with people, materials, projects and environments was at the center of Edison’s innovation. In Edison’s words, “Hell, there are no rules here – we’re trying to accomplish something.”

Up until fairly recently, separating senior executives from employees was the norm. Now, personnel and officers routinely mix. A walk through the amped-up Zappo’s facility or an elder corporate entity, State Farm, floor plans feature an open, collaborative work environment as the new-normal. 

The first obvious question: “Isn’t an open environment distracting?” According to Michael Bloomberg, shutting out distraction is a skill. The assumption is that people will adapt. Take a random sampling of employees who work in an interactive workspace and the response is consistent. Yes, you kind of adapt. You wear headphones. It can still be distracting and frustrating.

The International Management Facility Association states that nearly 70 percent of US employees work in open office plans. But the love affair with a collaborative setting by minimizing cubicles or offices has proved ineffective when the “ability to focus was not also considered,” evidenced in a recent study by the Gensler design agency. In other words, if collaboration trumps focus, neither is effective. 

Google is known for its obsession with tweaking an idea until they get it right. Such is the case with their office space. Open work areas are mixed with, flexible furniture, private and semi-private settings. It seems the ghost of Thomas Edison is alive and well at Google.

Well ahead of his time, Edison instinctively knew a collaborative dynamic was critical in the pursuit of innovation. He mixed machine shop equipment, alongside chemical laboratories, office space and wood lathes for prototyping models. Although he set aside his own office space, it doubled as the company library. Each employee was encouraged to work in the library, or any other space, as desired. Thomas Edison favored networks over hierarchies. His dedication to a learning centric environment was clearly a boon to 20th century innovations.

Here are the 3 Motivational Ingredients for Innovation at Work. 

Be a:
• “Cross Path” Planner – Structure settings and processes for crossing paths with your network of colleagues. 
• “Quiet Retreat” Strategist – Erase distractions when needed.
• “Collaboration” Mixologist – Don’t just rely on a dyad for idea exchange. Make sure your collaboration cocktail has 3 or more people in it. 

Add this recipe to your innovation cookbook for delicious, motivational progress.

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Yesteryear, if you told someone you’re busy they may empathize.

Tell people you’re busy today and a little voice in the ether goes, “Uh oh!” 

A respected colleague, Victoria Labalme talks about how bringing up “busy” leads to a series of one-up-manship. 

“How are you?”

“I’m really busy. How are you?”

“Oh, I’m crazy busy. I’ve got busy, on top of busy.”

As Labalme astutely points out, busy is nothing to brag about.

Today, ‘busy’ has become a fading badge oh honor. Much in the same way, admitting “I don’t know how to turn on a computer,” was okay to say until it eventually became a sign of complete ignorance.

Let’s face it. With the quality and proliferation of technological solutions, busy is no longer a positive sign. It is, in fact, a red flag. It is a harbinger for ineffective behavior. A symbol of someone out of control.

This should put sayings like, “If you want to get something done, give it to a busy person,” a cause for pause. 

“If you want to get something done, give it to an efficient person.” Isn't that better (albeit not a play on words)?

Here are Five Signs you’re busyness may be holding you back:

1. You Feel Busy but Don’t Notice Results. 
2. You Admit Busyness and Feel Out of Control.
3. You’re Exhausted From The Weight of Your Commitments.
4. You Can’t Quite Recall What You Did Today.
5. You’ve Given Up Lists for Reactionary Work.

The antidote to busy?

• List Your MITs - List the Peter Thomas, MITs (the most important things you want to get done) at the beginning of each day. 
• Target Specific Results - Target the specific progress or results you want to accomplish each day.
• Attach Emotion to Progress - Emotionally attach your progress to the end game, the ultimate prize you aim to attain. 

Now, don’t panic. It is still relatively acceptable to say you’re busy. But that window of acceptability is rapidly closing. Then, one day, admitting you’re busy will be an outright admission of ignorance. 

Best to get busy on solving busy, before its too late.

Goal-setting is vital in every aspect of life. It will preserve aspirations, dreams, ambitions and hopes that one seeks to reach. Here is how you can help others reach their goals faster.

First, one must look at the bigger snapshot, meaning: What is it the person you're helping seeks to accomplish in their lifetime? Determine what it is that he or she values, and then breakdown how one can get to the finish-line. For example, if money is a motivating factor in daily life, set aside specific time to write out what needs to be accomplished in order to get to the goal.

Second, and just as importantly, one must compose the goal in detail and follow progress. If it's not set-in-stone (tell others, put it on your wall, take a sculpture class and actually chip the words into stone) the goals are not likely to be accomplished.

Third, split goals into steps and immediate action, so one can follow one at a time. Track the triumphs attained. Any goal set ought to be distinct easily measured and important to the goal setter. Set a deadline and work towards that target date.

Fourth, maintaining a Goals Journal is effective, because it's possible to follow the progress and development or regression. As each step is attained, mark it off the journal and reward yourself for that achievement. Reexamine the goal if it is taking too much time to reach.

Impractical goals will become frustrating for the goal setter, and therefore, may cause someone to stop trying after a large amount of effort was put forth.

Fifth and finally, have multiple goals, and prioritize which are the most important. Goals with more meaning are those you are coaching will put more emphasis on.

{Invitation: Take a look at more about setting goals on our home page to navigate towards your goals. www.vinceposcente.com}

When five Down’s syndrome angels dance into your life, pay attention. (This particular motivational keynote speaker did...)

It was a typical travel day in Orlando’s International sensory overload airport. Typical until the Russell Home Dance Team showed up.

90,000 people went in and out of OIA on Monday. Of the 800 flights, 39 airlines were business as usual. One airline, brought in a heartwarming reminder that we could all smile more.

Listen, I’m a dad who pays for dance lessons and watches his kid perform. It makes Isabella happy and that is extremely gratifying. Yes, she’s talented. She just made ‘company’ at Dallas Ballet Center. It is a pre-professional vocation she does 20+ hours per week. For yours truly, admittedly, dance has become a bit of a routine – until Monday.

There were no explanations. No pitch to raise money for the extraordinary, Russell Home. No VP from Southwest Airlines giving a speech about their Southwest's Citizenship campaign. Just five atypical dancers in matching white dresses and pink, slip on dance shoes, smiling so wide they lit up the concourse.

Only a few dozen people watched the troupe in each location at the airport. Roughly 89,900 people completely missed the one song routine. But the audience had very little to do with the reason they were there.

Back in high school I taught swimming. From four year old kids to 40 year old adults. But my favorite lessons were with the Down’s kids who’d come to the Strathcona Pool once a week. Why “favorite?” Joy. Every single stroke, splash and jump was expressed with pure, unfiltered happiness. No agenda. No ego. Just delight!

To experience five pure souls perform what they must have spent hours preparing was outright magic. The rapture they felt after their performance was infectious. People who resisted the urge to rush to their gate were wiping away tears. The travelers who walked right by (with a possible unattached glance) missed out.

We each dance through our day, determined to deliver a desired result. The routine turns into a spinning wheel, blurring the meaning behind it all. Yet, do we dance for the pleasure of it or dance through the motions?

Today, focus on the routine you have at work or with what you ‘have’ to do. Find the bliss in this dance of yours.

You may be tempted to lift back a tiny foot in delight.

Moreover, you’ll love the effect it has on the rest of your day.

Did you know in Europe it’s rude to ask someone what they do? This is probably because they have a few more centuries experience than North Americans regarding horrible answers. You see, if you don’t answer this question properly, you’ll end up with unintended confusion.

For example, here’s how cynics interpret the answer to, “So, what do you do?”

Answer                                 A Cynic’s Interpretation

To avoid confusion and cynics looking down their disrespective noses at you – take a page out of marketing professionals everywhere. Lead with value!

First – Think of Yourself as a Brand
If a BMW had lips and answered the “So what do you do?” question with, “I’m a car,” how appealing would that be? Instead, your be-lipped BMW would use the tag line, “I am the ultimate driving machine.” That’s better and more valuable to the listener.

Second – Lose Your Features Addiction
Since a speaker, author and consultant wrote what you’re reading, when I see a person put Speaker, Author, and Consultant under his or her name I get nauseous. (Oops… I’m made myself gag.) Do you have any idea how many speakers, authors and consultants put the "Speaker, Author, Consultant" under their names? A gazillion! Lose your addiction to what you do and refocus attention on what you deliver. Question: “So, what do you do?” Answer: “I help companies reach BIG GOALS in half the time.” That’s intriguing value.

Third – Its Only Valuable Memory that Counts
If you said, lawyer, teacher, motivational speaker or any other profession, the chances are your listener will remember you based on their cynical interpretation. Why leave it up to them as to what they remember? Burn an image into their memory that oozes value. Let’s revisit better answers to the question, “So, what do you do?”

Answer 
I help corporations avoid painful lawsuits.
I teach 8th graders how to speak and read in French. 
I open conferences with a Big Goals in Short Order presentations. 
I help people find affordable and dependable cars. 
I help people reach their financial goals.
I help families find the home of their dreams.
I help people achieve simple wealth and simple health.
I am a doctor and I don’t want to check your prostate.

Sure, it’s easier just to answer with __(insert your job here)__. But who needs to give the cynics, or Europeans for that matter, any more ammunition than they already have?

A number of marketing minds wondering the same thing about the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, "How can we create similar success for our cause?" 

The Challenge has raised nearly $42 million to support research into Lou Gehrig’s disease. Heck, there are people doing the challenge without a clue about ALS. Celebrities are looking at creative ways to get on board for a good cause. Grandparents are challenging their grandkids, neighbors are challenging baseball teams.

Below are the elements that have helped make the Ice Bucket Challenge popular. These same elements can be used for a cause you'd like to promote:

• It's Unique, Fun to Watch and Fun to Do. YouTube and Facebook videos continue to experience explosive growth in viewership. Fun is viral. Unique is intriguing. If it's unique, fun to watch and do, then you have triple the probability of it being viral.
• Put a Person in FRONT of a Cause (Not a Cause Before all Else). Last year between July 29 and August 21st the ALS 'Cause' brought in $2.1m. In the same period this year... $41.8 m. Why? One person challenged others. If it were just a cause, the motivational stickiness of the concept is weak. Put a person in front of the cause and you get the motivational ball rolling. 
• People Love to be Noticed. The 'Challenge' is the ultimate selfie. Being relevant and noticed is a central part of the human condition. Look at the power of Yelp. Why would someone want to help or hurt a local business? It ultimately means people want their opinion to matter because they want to matter. Yelp is a magical combination of valuing someone's opinion (of being done right or wrong) and taking notice of who said it.
• When Celebrities Jump In, People Take Extra Notice. Look way, way back in history... to last year. Remember the Harlem Shake? The EDM clip got viral traction in the begining of February 2013, but it went exponentially viral When the Miami Heat did their own video of their Harlem Shake. 
• Celebrities Need to Stay in the Public Eye. Having a good cause made it a short, playful celebrity leap to a 15 second video and a cold bucket of water.

Of course, if going viral was easy, every marketing department would be motivated to get on the same wagon. But the last, and most elusive thing it takes - is to get a little lucky.