The tree removal crew showed up on time. Nice. What caught our attention in particular? When Marvin and Bud, each made eye contact, and said with absolute sincerity, “I sure appreciate the work. Thank you Sir!”

Huh?

When’s the last time your mechanic, barista, cable guy, nurse said that? They might be friendly and nice, you could even get a thank you note from head office, they may even be the type who appreciates having the job... but these tree trimming and removal employees acknowledging the work to the customer stood out for one important reason. Dallas Tree Wizards were clearly not coming from a place of entitlement. They didn’t think they deserved a paycheck. They appreciated the client enough to say so. This couldn’t happen by chance…

“Who owns the tree removal services Tree Wizards?”

“Dallas Arbor, Jim Chase, Sir.”

Dear reader, we have a growing epidemic in our society today. It’s called entitlement. What does this humble Dallas Arbor do to create a culture of gratitude over entitlement? Talking to this Jim was worth every second.

“Tell me about yourself.”

“I grew up in an orchard and tree nursery. With nine kids in my family, living on a 20-acre lot, my entrepreneurial nature sparked when I climbed my first tree. Combine that with my artistic nature and I found the magical combination of risk and reward of tree removal.’

Jim’s tree trimming and removal crew loved their work and seemed fearless as they danced from limb to limb. These tree specialist guys mirrored Jim’s passion for Dallas trees and craftsmanship. According to this professional tree service owner, “Climbing is goal oriented. A thinker’s paradise! It rewards you with daily thrills, finding solutions, and then achieving them. The thrill of overcoming fear and repeatedly accomplishing your goals.”

“Okay, I get you like goals. But what do you do to get such appreciative and grateful employees?”

“We only surround ourselves with tree removal people who absolutely love this work. Their passion is my passion. The stakes are high; it’s dangerous. It’s risky and the solutions are always customized. No two trees are alike. When you swallow your fears and trust your abilities the magic happens. Creativity, consistent communication and teamwork combine to make our clients (and us) thrilled with the end result. That – is a cool feeling!”

“That’s great,” I said “so you tell your employees to thank their customers for the tree removal work?”

Jim stared for a second. “I don’t ‘tell them’ to say anything. They interact with the customer in any way they want. Vince, they just love their work and the money is icing on the cake. Every time they get sent out on a job, they appreciate getting to do what they love to do."

Ding! It finally made sense. These tree trimming and removal Wizards defined work as more than just money.

It looks like a simple formula for a grateful, appreciative culture. Engage with people who:

1. Match values with the job.
2. Have a passion for the work.
3. Sync their goals with the customer’s goals.
4. Repeat daily.

Countless business owners admit when hiring, “You never know who will work out.” Looks like the Tree Wizard is the hiring wizard too.

His secret… have professional tree service employees out on a limb of gratitude.

Leading up to the Olympic games athletes get a great deal of support and attention. Clearly, during the Games the accolades and adoration spikes. After the big event athletes become ostensibly invisible. That's life - true. But this post Olympic invisibility is more intense and tough on the psyche than you may realize.

This is not much different from the psychological after effects in the days and months after you've planned your wedding or any event that took all of your attention. With post Olympic depression, for medalists and participants alike, the let down can be fierce. Established National Olympic Committees play a key role in helping Olympians with the transition but maybe you can help more than any NOC.

Post Olympic competitors, to a large degree, retire after the games. Another four years running around in circles, chasing a ball or trying to get to a white line faster than the other guy becomes somewhat pointless. The love of the sport is not what it was and the sense of loss is profound. Until the Olympics the first thing on your mind as you got out of bed was swifter, higher, stronger. Post Olympics the feeling if similar to being cut from a space ship. The tether is severed and you feel lost while floating aimlessly into deep space.

Victor Frankl's book, Man's Search for Meaning and his theories on logotherapy point to a "sense of purpose" being the reason survivors of concentration camps were able to stay alive. He noted, the people who died gave up. They were lost and had no purpose. It's unnerving to admit but there will be Olympians after London who feel the same thing. Their sense of purpose will be gone and there will be some degree of depression. For some, the depression is only a nuisance. Some of it will be life threatening.

In our financial times it is all the more troublesome that retired athletes from the Olympics will face challenges in finding work. If you run a small business and you know an Olympian, reach out to them. Only a select few will be a motivational keynote speaker. Fewer still will get the endorsements necessary to keep them hopping. Grow your business with an Olympian at the helm of a project. Involve them in an initiative you've needed help on. If you work with a large corporation, reach out to an Olympian you know, or know of.

Feeling needed… Exercising your character strengths… Channeling your energies to a new project… these experiences can help an Olympian through an intensely difficult time. At the same moment, you may find yourself working alongside a person who's DNA is about extraordinary achievement and world-class excellence.

The Olympics are over but those people (formerly known as athletes) are not. If you know of an Olympian – reach out. If you don’t contact your National Olympic Committee. Let’s keep cheering for them after the flame burns out.

Olympic Speaker

The media scambles over themselves during 17 days to get "their story." Between the medal count and crafted storylines some newly minted Olympic speakers supercede their 14 mintues of fame. For months after the Olympic Games event planners make assumptions about bringing in an Olympic speaker. Here are the five most common assumptions that can hurt your future corporate event. The five selction mistakes for your

Olympic speaker:

#1. Big Names Draw Attendees. FALSE. This number one assumption is everywhere. Assuming a gold medal Olympian speaker will draw attendees has proven to be false. In a recent study commissioned by the National Speakers Association - there is little correlation between big names and attendee draw. Solution: Invest in great speakers (who don't have to be celebrities) then use video clips plus personal video invitations to drive interest. You will also get bigger numbers next year with a proven speaker this year.

#2 Celebrity Olympic Speakers Can Recreate the Experience. RARELY TRUE. It's tempting to name names but it's really not the Olympic speaker's fault. It's the planners who assume the story they remember from the Olympic games can create the same expereince at the event. Hire a newly famous gold medalist and you will normally get a speech that is underwhelming. There are exceptions - those are the exceptional Olympian presenters who are still speaking today (and even then there are painful exceptions). Solution: Hire an Olympic speaker who can recreate an Olympic experience.

#3. The Interview Format Works Best. SERIOUSLY? Sure, it's better than leaving an unexperienced Olympic speaker out on stage, alone, fumbling with what to say. But these planners have forgotten the number one rule in event planning - the experience is paramount! You've spent tens of thousands of dollars to ultimately watch an Olympic speaker sit in a chair and talk about themselves. Mildly interesting is not the goal of any event planner. Solution: Hire an Olympic speaker who engages the audience eye to eye. Look for an Olympian who is a professional at connecting compelling content to powerful story telling.

#4. His/Her Olympic Story Will Be Great To Hear. NOPE. Let's recap other Olympic speaker bombs in the past. "I did this. This happened to me. I did that. It was hard work. I didn't give up. I won. You can too." Solution: Hire an Olympic speaker who uses "YOU LANGUAGE." Instead of saying what happened to them, the Olympian presenter should draw people into the story as if it is happening to the audience.

#5. A Gold Medal Means He/She is Good At Everything. This is a pervasive assumption. From experience, I can tell you for a fact, when someone finds out you were and Olympian on the golf course they automatically think you are a great golfer. I'm not. The same can be said for table tennis, canoing, climbing, diving board tricks, waterskiing, cooking... you name it. Your Olympic speaker needs to be previewed before you hire them. Solution: My mom used to say, "When you assume you make an ass of you and me." Don't assume anything about the Olympian's speaking ability. Preview and vet their ability and content. If the content is not innovative or counter intuitive it will be between boring and forgettable at best with your audience.

In the spirit of full disclosure, I did not win in the Olympic Games. But, this turned out to be a HUGE advantage as an Olympic speaker. Why? There were no calls for someone who placed 15th in the Olympics. For years I had to hone my craft at speaking. Multiple speaking awards later (including the Council of Peers Award of Excellence from the National Speakers Association - names include Ronald Reagan, Og Mandino and Zig Ziglar), an opening keynote at MDRT (the Carnagie Hall of speaking) and 17 years of speaking professionally around the world the results can be viewed on this video.  If your newly crowned Gold medalist speaker can do this. Hire them. If they can't, hire someone who can.

An Olympic gold medalist is an automatic Olympic speaker. Yet they rarely have the chops to be a naturally good speaker. With the phone ringing all the time, it doesn't seem to matter they don't speak well. They have little motivation to improve. Motivational speaking isn't their only concern. The five assumptions above are alive and well with far too many meeting professionals.

Enjoy the Olympic Games in London. Then, leave your assumptions in the file cabinet.

Hire and Olympic speaker who can light your people up with wisdom, wit and insight.

Our shopping cart company... Shopify posted this interesting article:

8 Tools to Research Your Competition

Summer has a way of taking control. Sure, you plan your holidays as you flirt with the illusion of steering your course. But, between kids and other responsibilities, summer sits in the drivers seat and takes you for a ride. Push bossy summer into the back seat and give it a jolt of healthy, quirky fun.

Below is a Summer Bucket List by our 14 year-old daughter Alex. Her ideas might take a left turn here and there but the concept is definitely worth a test drive.

Alex's Summer Bucket List:

1. Have a summer pool party with friends (just for fun)
2. Get dressed super fancy for one day
3. Go one week without chocolate
4. Walk around the lake with our dog Annie
5. Have a two-person scavenger hunt at the mall
6. Listen to Spanish radio for an hour
7. Volunteer at C.C. Young Retirement Home for an afternoon
   
8. Solve a Rubix Cube
9. Do the splits
10. Prepare a full meal for the family
11. Learn a song on piano
12. Make exact Elf spaghetti (Chocolate syrup. Maple syrup. Sprinkles. M&Ms. Pop-Tarts on cold spaghetti noodles)
13. Get “slushied” Glee style
14. Watch Forrest Gump

Here’s Alex’s roadmap for your own Summer Bucket List.

1. Host a special get together with friends.
2. Get dressed up.
3. Nix a vice for a period of time.
4. Take a pet for a long walk.
5. Make shopping an adventure.
6. Stretch your brain.
7. Help local senior citizens.
8. Solve puzzle.
9. Teach your body a new move.
10. Prepare an innovative meal for loved ones.
11. Learn a song.
12. Reenact a scene from a movie.
13. Reenact a scene from a TV show.
14. Watch a classic movie you haven’t seen (or read a classic book you haven’t read).

Too busy to start your list? Then make a bowl of spaghetti, cover it in chocolate, maple syrup, sprinkles, M&Ms and crushed up Pop Tarts. The sugar rush will give you a 45 minute window to not only make the list but also do everything on it.

Vince

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NY Times bestselling author, Vince Poscente, is the founder of Libretto Publishing and has written five books translated into more than twenty languages. He writes about harnessing the speed of change, the way to reach BIG GOALS in less time, accelerating potential of human capital, how to get out of your own way and best of all, instant impact with lasting influence. Learn more about this motivational keynote speaker.