Posted: January 6, 2016 | Categories: Sales, Self-Improvement

23 years ago a fellow team member and I were sitting in a lobby waiting to see a prospect.  My buddy Joe brings out a copy of Golf Digest to read.  This was the issue that listed the top PGA money winners of the past year.  Joe pointed out who was in first place:  It was Fred Couples.  He had made $1,344,188, participated in 22 events, and his average score per 18 holes was 69.38.  Then Joe showed me the stats for the person in 130th place.  His name was John Mahaffey, his total winnings were $101,512, he participated in 28 events, and his average score per 18 holes was 71.99.  Think about that!  The difference between the person in first place and 130th place was only  a difference of 2.61 strokes per 18 holes.  Does that sound unusual?  Not really.  A major league baseball player  whose career batting average is 300 will probably end up in the Hall of Fame if he plays a full career.  This is what champions call the slight edge.  It means that the person at the top and the person in 2nd are not that far apart.  Instead of thinking we need to be twice as good as our competition, often all we need to do is develop the slight edge.Read More…

Posted: January 5, 2016 | Categories: Leadership, Team Building

If you are a boss or a leader, one of your main jobs is to build others and make them more successful.  Sometimes we need to re-direct our subordinates when they are falling short or simply being too complacent.  The question is:  How do we do this without creating resentment? Read More…

Posted: December 28, 2015 | Categories: Self-Improvement

We’ve all heard that one.  The problem is that New Year’s resolutions only have a 10% of success.  As we approach the New Year, would you like to increase your resolution success percentage from 10% to 80%?   I will tell you how:  Learn and consistently practice the “Three D’s”.  The Three D’s are Desire, Discipline, and Determination.  Read More…

Posted: December 10, 2015 | Categories: Leadership, Self-Improvement, Team Building

When I was in my late 30’s, I was attending a 6-week leadership seminar and learned a valuable lesson:  Be careful when you tease.  The subject was teamwork, and the instructor brought up the topic of teasing.  He said, “Teasing can be one of the most subtle forms of cruelty.”  He went on to say, “Have any of you ever been in situation where someone said something to you in jest, you chuckled, and then later had second thoughts?”  “You may have thought to yourself, “I wonder what he meant by that”.Read More…

Posted: December 4, 2015 | Categories: Leadership, Management

Have you ever worked for a boss where you felt you couldn’t do anything right?  Then there is the other extreme:  The boss who never says anything.  You don’t know if what you are doing is right or wrong.Read More…