Nail it or fail it?

"A small thing you nail can be better than a big thing you fail."
-- James B. Johnson

I was in a meeting the other day and we were discussing some objectives for a new team that is forming, and Jim (my CEO) said the line above.  He has been quite effective in getting our company to increase our success in both large and small things, so I tend to listen to what he says.  As many of us begin to make plans and set lofty goals for 2010 (personally and professionally) I thought this quote was worth sharing.

The balance can be tricky - I know of many times when I have set some seemingly impossible goals, only to one day discover I've achieved them.  But I can think of many more lofty goals that I never got done.

Making the impossible happen

So what's the difference?  I'd say the successful "impossible goals" that were accomplished in spite of their 'impossibleness' had a few things in common:

• Heartfelt commitment.  Each of the impossible goals that got done was something I deliberately committed to, far beyond just lip service and platitudes.
• Sustained passion.  These goals also tended to be things I could not only get excited about, but I could stay passionate about.
• Engaged others.  I think this is linked to the sustained passion - I am good at evangelizing the things I'm passionate about, and that's when I recruit others to my cause.
• Clarity of desired outcome.  This is not always what it seems - these outcomes are specific, but not in a checklist sort of way.  For me, the best outcomes are framed in terms of what it will feel and 'be' like when we are successful.
• A good idea of how to get there.  It's kind of like David Allen talks about in his "Getting Things Done" model - you won't be successful until you can see yourself doing it.  That doesn't mean you have all the answers, but it does mean you have a good idea of some of the things you need to do to get the answers.

Get your wins along the way

The interesting aspect of Jim's quote above is that you need to feel like you can win.  The art here is to set at least some goals that are challenging, but that have a high probability of getting done.  If you never win, you never feel like a winner, and you can create an unhealthy dynamic within your team.

I've seen lots of sports teams where it took one good win to turn the tide from a losing record to a winning one - there is something very powerful in the psychology of even a small win.

This is true at many levels:

• As managers, part of our job is to help our teams feel challenged, but to have enough wins along the way that they feel like winners. 
• As team members, we need to hold our teams accountable to blending the possible with the impossible.
• As parents, we need to help our kids learn to set goals that stretch them but allow them to taste success on a regular basis.
• As individuals, we need to set our own goals with the same philosophy. 

It's a delicate - but very important - balance.

How do you approach this challenge?  Any best practices (or hard-won lessons) to share?

The Market Has Changed. Have You?

If you're involved in selling anything in today's economy, you know that priorities, business drivers, and competition are very different than they were a year or two ago.  So, what's a sales professional to do?

Author Paul D'Souza knows where you're coming from.  As an experienced sales guy he has done a lot of the analysis for you and his book, "The Market Has Changed - Have You?" is just what you might need to develop your own strategy to adapt to the new market dynamics.

Paul's book takes you through 25 steps exemplifying what he refers to as the "Wha-Do" sales philosophy (apparently, "Wha-Do" means "The Way of Harmony" in Japanese).  This philosophy is all about creating leverage through people (relationships) and applying repeatable principles and business practices.

(Paul has more on the Wha-Do philosophy on his site)

A solid foundation

A lot of the concepts Paul brings to bear are rooted in things you've heard before - setting goals, understanding your motivation, setting out a plan, developing discipline in how you execute, etc.  But a couple of aspects are different in this book.

First, Paul comes at this from the perspective of a sales person.  If you're involved in selling, you know that you hear "no" more often than you hear a "yes" so it's vital that you have clarity of purpose and a compelling reason to keep driving until you get another "yes."  The methods Paul exposes in this book will "snap in" to your selling workflow pretty easily without feeling unnatural or fluffy.

Second, this is as much a workbook as it is a reading book.  The book is filled with worksheets, cues, and examples to enable you to go from a cerebral understanding of the material well into the next step of documenting and personalizing the content.  In other words, if you really follow the process and use the worksheets provided in the book, you'll have your own plan - not just a bunch of new ideas.

It's about what you bring to the table

I think Paul's methods work because they tap into your inner strengths and motivations, but they are also anchored in creating clear and compelling value for your customers.  By design, this will drive you to better understand your customers and why they buy so you can increase the odds that your approach and message will resonate with them.

They also help bring you beyond your "one against the world" view and tap into your colleagues, your mentors, and even your customers themselves to increase your success.

This is a compelling read and well worth your time if you're a sales or marketing professional looking for an advantage. 

But this book is not just for hardcore sales people.  It will also help anyone who relies on relationships in their job, such as doctors, dentists, personal trainers, retailers, investment bankers, business development, alliances people, and more.

Check it out, and start adapting to the new reality of the market.

Kindle goes horizontal

I just finished installing Amazon's latest update on my Kindle 2.  This update adds a number of enhancements:

Support for landscape-mode reading.

• This capability was already included on the larger Kindle DX, and now works on Kindle 2 devices.  There is no sensor in the device, so you change the orientation of the screen manually from a new option in the text menu (at right).

Native support for PDF files. 

• You can get them on your device in 2 ways:
• Email them to a special address that sends them to the Kindle for 15 cents per megabyte.
• Connect the Kindle to your computer via the USB cable and drag your PDF files over to the Kindle - this is free.

Longer battery life on the global wireless version.

• This will allow you to read for up to a week - even with the wireless on.  Apparently, this doesn't improve wireless battery life on the US-only version since the US version uses a different wireless technology.

The option to convert your PDF's to the Kindle format

• Converting your documents to the native Kindle format can sometimes make them more readable as this will allow them to be reformatted based on your selected font size (this requires you to use the email-based conversion process, which costs 15 cents per megabyte).

How do you get the Kindle update?

You'll receive the update automatically over wireless in the next few weeks. If, like me, you are impatient, Amazon has provided instructions for updating your Kindle to the new firmware manually.  It's a piece of cake - I installed mine in less than 10 minutes and it worked flawlessly.

If you're thinking about a Kindle, let me just tell you this:  I have had mine since the Kindle 2 was released early this year and I haven't gotten tired of it yet.  In fact, I'm growing even fonder of my Kindle since I can carry so many books with me with so little effort (and yes, I've used the iPhone Kindle app - it doesn't hold a candle to the Kindle).

Whether you want to pick one up for yourself or as a gift, I recommend you become a Kindle owner and pick one up, especially since they lowered the price recently.  If you're still on the fence, you can read my initial review of the Kindle 2 for more data.

Be Careful with (and accountable to) your customers

Recently, someone shared a video with me from a guy who traveled on United Airlines but had his guitar broken by their baggage handlers.  He tried to get them to resolve it but they wouldn't.  So, he created a catchy song and video called "United Breaks Guitars" and put it on YouTube.  It has now been viewed over 6 million times as I write this (and the sequel, "United Breaks Guitars Song 2," has been viewed over 500,000 times).

The moral?  Be good to your customers - and, when you screw up, take responsibility for it and try to make it right.

By the way - if you want the "back story" on this incident, the guy has also put it on his blog.  It sounds like United eventually came around (somewhat) from the saga told here, but it could have been much better for their image if they'd just paid to have the guy's guitar fixed after they allowed it to be broken during the baggage handling process.

Change Things Up To Get Better

A lot of the fitness articles I read talk about the importance of varying your routine to accelerate your improvements in workouts.  The premise is that if you do the same exercises all the time and use the same amounts of weight, your body gets used to the routine and becomes more efficient.  What that means is that you get less benefit out of the same amount of effort.

I think that concept can apply to other parts of life, to some degree.  If you keep doing the same thing week in & week out, the routine can get  a bit dull, and you don't improve your skills as much as when things were new and challenging.

So, what kinds of things can you do to change up your routine and make it challenging again?  Here are some ideas (a mix of personal and professional kinds of things):

• Read a different kind of book to make your mind think about new things.
  If you usually read fiction, read some non-fiction.  If you usually read management books, read some fantasy.  If you usually read self-help books, try reading a few biographies instead. 
• Take on a new project in an unfamiliar area.
  Sometimes, nothing helps get your juices going like working on something unfamiliar.  Ask to be involved in (or even lead) a project in a new area.
• Swap the cerebral for the physical.
  If you normally spend most of your time in front of your computer, how about starting a project or activity that requires you to get out and do something physical? It could be sports-related, or it could be carpentry, or even just cleaning out your garage.  Get moving!
• Put yourself out there.
  Volunteer to teach something - even holding a brown bag lunch on a topic you know can be challenging fun.  Start presenting - either at work or in a group like Toastmasters.  Or, do a video blog or something you've never done before online.

And there are, of course, lots of other possibilities. 

So, what do you think?  Does this ring true for you?  What have you done to mix things up in your life that you'd recommend to others?