Power to Prosperity

Power Play # 30 - Shift The Criteria for Success

My friend Rajesh Setty is at it again! He has published another eBook today called Defiant! - what's cool is that he made it free for us to download.  There are no registration requirements or things to sign up for to have access to this eBook - check it out http://www.activegarage.com/projects/defiant

One thing that stood out, while I was grazing through the book was this idea of Shifting the Criteria for how "Others" evaluate the value you offer them.  What makes this so powerful is that he offers us insight on a "game changing" play we can make to set us apart from all the others we would typically be competing with.

In today's economy that playing field could be very crowded, with so many people being laid off.  And another concentration factor that I have noticed; the many Forced Entrepreneurs that are responding to the market and offering solutions the problems people have.  Shifting the Criteria how people value the offer you make them is a game changer.

This is a different kind of book ... because it offers you an opportunity to design and build a powerful strategy for success. While Defiant! is about strategy he offers us 80 Tips and Ideas that will help.  There was one that stood out and resonated with me ... it is this idea of taking care of ourselves.  Check out Tip # 35 A letter from David Zinger, its page on 61.

Congrats Rajesh and Thanks for this gift to all of us.  I love it.

Power Play # 29 - Do YOUR Thing!!

I recently met Donna Browning of Sweaty Bands (www.sweatybands.com) and loved her story of doing her thing!  She is living her dream, doing what she loves to do and energizing a host of people along the way.

She started Sweaty Bands from a need she found herself.  Let me tell you, she is one tough mama!! and has a career doing exercise related activity, from Personal Training to Yoga, it was during these workouts, that she was getting so irritated with her hair falling on her face, that she decided to find a solution.  And a solution she did find.  Donna designed head bands with super utility and style.  She improved on a product that been around for decades, but took it to the next level and made them much more effective and totally cool and exciting. 

What makes her story additionally powerful is that she is not outsourcing her manufacturing to far away lands of cheap labor and other costs. Instead her business model leverages her friends and others locally in the Cincinnati area to manufacture these head bands for her.  She is keeping jobs here and is giving people an opportunity to be productive right here at home.   What she likes about this model is that it makes her feel connected with people in ways she did not expect, some of these women have come back and thanked her for the opportunity to save their home, with the recession we are in - every dollar earned is put to good use.

Congrats Donna and we wish you all the very best.  Here is a pic of Donna with my wife, Shino; that bought a few of them which she will be sending to Tokyo to our friends that do Yoga there.

Sweaty Bands make great gifts!!

Where is the harmony in your life?

Had the opportunity to spend most of the day with Uncle Jim and Aunt Katie in Kentucky today.  I always love chatting with them, they ground my thinking in so many ways.  One of the many conversations we had was around the subject of the market and our speculation of when things might come back ... which led to a conversation on "Come back to what?"

The good news is that we were in agreement, that the market should come back, be more robust and enable people to make money and have better lives, but in a way that was healthy.

They spoke of some one they know who was living the "New American Dream" that just got shattered.  A $800,000 home, boats, cars, two jobs and lots of bills.  Well both husband and wife lost their $100K+ jobs over a two year period and sort of lost most of it.

The story ends with the husband finding a job with Toyota and the wife get a job that pays 25% of what she was making before, they now live in a much smaller house ... BUT they are in a sense, glad that it all happened.  What they say is that they came out on the other side - living happier lives, feeling more in love with each other and overall in a much healthier place. With that wake up call they now focus on what is important; the joy, the harmony the love in the their lives.

All's I'm going to say to this is ... Amen!

Staying Grounded

Had an interesting conversation with my friend Chip yesterday, he was visiting from VA and we were talking about the market and what he was doing. I loved his perspective on the job transition he is currently making.  He recently joined a company that is doing about $1.4 Million a year. They do IT consulting for web sites and web applications with some big accounts like Whirlpool. But obviously many smaller ones (250 of them).

The idea I liked was their strategy to bring him on as their COO to help improve project delivery and customer experiences.  This would give him a fantastic opportunity to get to know everyone in the company.  He will also get to learn about their customers and their needs in this new market segment that he is going into.

The plan is for him to start here, help increase revenue and then take over as the President of the company a year or so later. I love that, right off the bat, everyone is clear that its about increasing revenue and he gets comped on it. As simple as this sounds, I do not see this often enough.  This way, he is prepared to take over the company when it is his time.

My experience has been that most often, business leaders do not have the long therm vision to bring someone on and chart their strategic development path in such a grounded manner, almost sounds Japanese!

Congrats Chip enjoy your new position and I wish you much success now and in the furture as President of the company.

Power Play # 24 - Lighten Up!

Found this delightful video and just had to share it with you. She sings an important message. The first one is that we should all loose the right to Sing the Blues!! How cool is that. And the second is simply for us to Lighten Up ... Go ahead and listen, it is worth the time.

The deeper message in both songs is anchored in the Natural Law - Energy Follows Thought.

Its Time ... To Break the Myths

Make change happen now.

Saw this in The Fast Company a few weeks ago.  Love the list, so I wrote them down and then added my commentary on them.

These are the Myths that many of us believe in ...  by Po Bronson

1. People are the architects of their own Change.
   The truth is that ...
   Most of us are pushed into change - life happens.  Most often, life altering decisions happen because of unplanned life experiences.  Think about it.
   
2. All it takes is passion
   The truth is that ...
   You need more than just passion - be real about life and the economic principles that surround you
   
3. You dream job has no sucky parts
   The truth is that ...
   Look at the big picture - look at all the things that go into being successful in that job or career
   
4. You'll love the job for the job itself
   The truth is that ...
   Everybody works for some specific reason - kids, food, etc.  What are you working towards.
   
5. There is "the one"
   The truth is that ...
   There are many things we could do.  Choose wisely. Get clear about what you want to do and why, you will make the right choices after that.
   
6. You don't know what you want
   The truth is that ...
   We all know what we want - but how do we go about getting it? Now that is a whole different situation.

PEAK Suggestion

This is a reprint from something I wrote on the PEAK community on Ning - It's a new community we started to talk about Chip Conley's PEAK principles - I am totally committed to spreading the word and helping people move to places of power using these principles.  I find his work very complementary to what I am doing with Wha-Dho.  I suggest you get his book PEAK and read it, and then start using this approach with your people teams in business and other places.  Check it out.

Hi there my fellow Peakers - trust all is well with you. Was sitting here in my home in Cincinnati trying to come up with an idea of how "We" can do more to move people and companies to places of PEAK performance. I see this more as a calling and a need to serve than anything else. So allow me to work through some ideas here.

Could we "Collectively" start thinking of PEAK Suggestions that we can post here form us and others to use in our lives and with their teams. You know it always starts with us. Once we make the commitment to lead our own lives with self integrity and excellence it will be easier for others to adopt the ideas we share.

So, my PEAK Suggestion for the day is to make a commitment to be attentive to everyone I speak to in the next 24 hours. I mean seriously pay attention, to what they are saying, what their moods are, what there energy level is, etc.

For example, the waiter at the restaurant we were at yesterday for Brunch ... was tired, polite, pre-occupied, disinterested, a bit upset, possibly sad. In that situation ... we have an opportunity to cheer him up, go the extra mile and have him re-confirm the order (preventive medicine, so the meal comes out ok) we might even crack a joke and cheer him up. If we were his supervisor, there might be other potential steps we could have taken.

My point is that - none of these options would have been possible if we were not attentive to his mood, energy etc. We are our moods - so lets watch them. This will give us the space of possibility to act powerfully and get us to the PEAK!

Power Play # 11 - Launch Your Own Business

Value Based Goal Setting

OMG!! - this is great.  That's me practicing my texting skills.  Mia culpa.

Anyway, I found this video and realized it was too good to not share. David Knox explains it very well.  He speaks as a thought leader in the domain of Real Estate, but trust me - the essence of this approach is universal and timeless.  Very powerful stuff.  I like the simplicity of it too.

In short his explanation of Value Based Goal Setting is that you have to start with What? (the Goal) you want to accomplish?  Specify How? (the Objective) you are going to get it and know Why? (the Value) you want to make it happen. 

He actually starts off talking about a simple distinction that is very important - its the distinctions between Get and Give. 

1. If you want to Get Money - you have to Give others Value
2. If you want to Get Wealth - you have to make (Give) a lot of Work and Effort
3. If you want to Get Love - you have to Give Love to others
4. If you want to Get Honesty - you have to Give Truth to others
5. If you want to Get Prospects - you have to make (Give) Contact with people
6. If you want to Get Health - you have to Give yourself Diet and Exercise

Knowing WHY? you want to do any of this is the Value that you will anchor your efforts in.  If the Why? is not important, then most of all this effort that your Give will not be so strong.  Be clear Why you do anything, which is why my 5 Principles of Change also start with The Principle of Purpose.

So, think about what you have wanted to accomplish and have not and revisit it, assess why you might have not done it yet in these terms.  I am beginning to really see the opportunities that lie in a recession, I think it gives us the space to re-assess why we do anything.  Take care of yourSelf and your Family and your Health first.  Everything else can be replaced.

I think it is time to Reassess # 2

Yes - here I am again, talking about this processing of reassessing what is important.  The good news is that it is always good to reassess what you are doing and how it fits into your life plan.  Everything is moving all the time, they are all moving parts and you have to constantly be working to take care of yourself.

One of my friends was talking to me the other day about how things at the office were beginning to change.  She was surprised to find out that some business initiatives they were working on got altered and now there was a chance that many people in her division could potentially loose their job in a year or so.  Including her. She was beginning to get worried about this now.

So now what?  Folks - this is a going to happen to more and more of us.  Large organizations and small ones are going to be making changes to take care of their numbers and future.  Intel just announced that it's profits dropped 90%.  You know there are going to be crazy changes there.  Not many will be spared.

Today's post is about looking at the big picture - I would say extend your horizon's of time and look out into the future and ask yourself.  What is the best think I should do now to ensure that I can have the future I want?  Look at current income, saving, future income, life style, interests, hobbies, etc,.  Have you thought about where you want to live? how about medical insurances and other benefits?  This list goes on.  My recommendation is that we create the space to think about all these things.

It's time to Reassess folks.  Check out this cool social networking site that allows people to share their dreams and goals. I just joined it, will keep you posted on my experience there.

My ID here is "pdsouza" - http://www.43things.com