The Need to Lead - by Brian Tracy

January 9, 2010

The Need to Lead
By Brian Tracy

The greatest need we have today, in every area, is for men and women to practice the values of integrity, discipline, responsibility, courage, and long time perspective, both as individuals and in their families. These are the key qualities of leadership.

Our society needs leaders at all levels who practice the principles that lead to long-term success. Especially, we need people in positions of authority and political power to support and encourage others, whose lives and work they influence, to develop character and resist the tendency to act expediently in ways that are harmful to themselves and others.

Everyone needs to take "The Values Pledge," to live by it, and then encourage others to live by it. It is only the solid bulwark of character, based on values, virtues, long-term thinking, and the accurate assessment of secondary consequences that can curb and mitigate the destructive influences and behavior of the Expediency Factor (the E-Factor)

Live In Truth
The philosopher Immanuel Kant postulated what he called "The Universal Maxim." He suggested that "you should live your life as though your every act were to become universal law for all people." The very best judge of truth for you is to ask, "Is it true for me?" If everyone was to be encouraged to live their life as though your every act were to become universal principle for all others, most government policies and programs would be abolished overnight. The fact is, that the only way that many "something for nothing" ideas in government and society can be put forward is with the hope that most people will not take advantage of them.

Think about it. What if everyone were to go on welfare? What if everyone were to apply for every government program that was available to them? What if everyone dedicated themselves to doing the very least amount of work that they could get away with? What if everyone began spending all their time trying to get free money from anywhere that it might be available?

"Leaders Are Made, Not Born"
Leaders have a sense of missions--vision--that uplifts, motivates and inspires men and women to heights to help them achieve that vision. Leaders make things happen.

Would you like to be able to motivate, inspire and uplift people to achieve your vision?

Four Questions to Stay on Track
There are four questions that you can ask and answer every day to keep yourself on track in each part of your life. First, ask yourself; "What kind of a world would this be if everyone in it was just like me?"

When you ask and answer this question honestly, you will admit that if everyone in the world was just like you, this would probably not be the best of all possible worlds. Look inside yourself and think about some of the things that you could change or do differently to become a better "citizen of the world."

The second question you can ask is, "What kind of a country would America be, if everyone in it was just like me?"

This is perhaps the most important question that we can ask and answer for ourselves. If everyone in America did the same thing that you did, every single day, would America be better, happier, healthier, and a more prosperous democracy? If not, what are some of the changes that you could make in your behaviors that would make America a better place?

The third question you can ask is, "What kind of a company would my company be if everyone in it was just like me?"

If you are honest with yourself, you will see different things that you could do to become a more valuable and important contributor to your company. Perhaps you should start a little earlier, work a little harder or stay a little later. Perhaps you could volunteer for more assignments, or upgrade your knowledge and skills as they relate to your job. How could you become the very best person you could possibly become at your work?
The final question, and perhaps the more important, is, "What kind of family would my family be if everyone in it was just like me?"

If everyone in your family behaved the way you do, and treated everyone else the way you treat them, would your family be a warmer, happier, and more loving group of people? What could you do, starting today, to be a better family member?

Take the High Road
The true mark of the superior person is that he sets high standards for himself, and refuses to compromise those standards for any reason. He sees himself as a role model for others. He behaves at all times as if everyone was watching, even when no one is watching.

The truly superior person does not give into forces of expediency. He does not seek something for nothing. He refuses to take anything to which he is not entitled. He insists upon earning everything he gets. He practices the Golden Rule and treats everyone the way he would like to be treated himself. He sets high standards for himself and continually strives to meet those standards. If everyone in America were to take the pledge below, this would be a better country in every way.

Action Exercise
Take the Values Pledge
"I hereby resolve to clarify my values and then to live by those values, to remain true to the very best I know, and to be the best person I can possibly be.
"I will not compromise what I know to be right for any reason. I will live my life as though my every act was to become a universal law for everyone else."

Get started making improvements in your life today. Take this free business assessment to learn what you can do to lead the way in your family, your business, your community and your country. Click on the picture of Brian Tracy and Ron Stebelton to start you free assessment today!

Ron Stebelton, CEO Eagle Leadership Consulting
&
Brian Tracy

Keeping Your Sales Funnel Full by Brian Tracy

In my ongoing service to my readers, I am providing some insights provided by my friend and mentor, Brian Tracy. Here's what Brian had to say today about keeping your sales funnel full.

Enjoy the post! - Ron Stebelton

Keeping Your Sales Funnel Full
By Brian Tracy

Professional selling has three stages, which have been the same throughout history. They are prospect, present, and follow up. These three phases constitute the three parts of the "sales funnel." If your sales and income are down, it is because you are not prospecting enough, presenting enough, or following up and closing enough. The way to increase your sales is usually for you to increase the quality or quantity of your activities in one or more of these areas.

Imagine Your Funnel
Imagine the basic sales model as a funnel. At the top of the funnel, you put in prospects. You have to call on a certain number of people, or suspects, to get a certain number of prospects. This number varies depending on the market, your product or service, your individual skills in prospecting, advertising, and many other factors.

Presenting
The second part of the sales funnel is presenting. There is a direct ratio between the number of people you call on initially and the number of people who will agree to meet with you. Let us say, for example, that you have to call on twenty prospects to get five presentations. This would give you a ratio of 20 to 5 for your prospecting activities. Selling is very much a numbers game.

Follow Up and Close
In the third part of the sales funnel you have following up and closing. Let us say that you have to follow up with two prospects to get one sale. What this means is that you have to put twenty prospects in the top of the funnel to get one sale out of the bottom of the funnel, a ratio of 20 to 1. The rule therefore is this "keep your funnel full."

Prospecting Power
The definition of a good prospect is "Someone who can and will buy and pay within a reasonable period of time." Do not waste your precious selling time with nice people who do not have the authority, money, or ability to buy from you. Think continually about your personal income, and always be sure that the person you are talking to can contribute to that income soon enough to justify the time you are investing in him or her.

Qualities of a Good Prospect

• The prospect has a genuine need that your product/service can fill.
• The prospect is friendly toward you and have a favorable impression of your company and industry.
• The prospect is willing and able to make a buying decision in the near future.
• The prospect is a good potential source of further sales and referrals.

Qualities of Poor Prospects

• The prospect has no money or need for your product or service.
• The prospect is critical of you, your company, or your product.
• The prospect immediately haggles and complains about your price.
• The prospect is indecisive about purchasing from you or anyone.

Action Exercise
Develop a powerful opening statement or question that will immediately grab the attention and interest of a good prospect for what you sell. Try it out and test it until it works every single time.

The Law of Superb Execution

Enjoy this short article by Brian Tracy. What distinguishes leaders from followers is the propensity to act, to execute, to simply get started and take action. There are two outstanding resources included in the article that can help you in your current job or business. Also, please feel free to visit me at by clicking HERE or on my picture and you can get my free goal planning kit just for visiting my site. Happy New Year!

The Law of Superb Execution

By Brian Tracy

Leaders are committed to excellent performance of the business task at hand, and to continuous improvement. A leader is the person who chooses the area of excellence for his or her team. A leader knows that excellence is a journey, not a destination. Leaders are committed to being the best in everything they do. They constantly strive to be better in their key result areas. They compare themselves with people, organizations, and products or services that are better than they are, and they are continually improving.

Standards of Excellence

Leaders set standards of excellence for everyone who reports to them. They are ruthless about weeding out incompetence and poor performance. Leaders demand quality work and insist that people do their jobs well. The leader sets the standard of excellence. No one, or no part of the organization, can be any better than the standard that the leader represents and enforces. For this reason, leaders are committed to personal excellence in everything they do.

Leaders are Learners

Leaders are learners, continually striving to be better in their work and personal lives. They read, take additional courses and seminars, and listen to audio programs in their cars. They attend conventions and association meetings, go to the important sessions, and take good notes. They are committed to learning and growing in every area where they feel they can make an even more valuable contribution to their work.

Inspiring People

People are most inspired when they feel they are working for an organization in which excellence is expected. The very best way to motivate and inspire others is for you to announce your commitment to being the best in your field or industry. Then, continually benchmark your performance and the performance of your organization against the very "best in class" in your business.

Core Competencies

Leaders identify their core competencies, the vital tasks they do that are responsible for them being in business. They continually look for ways to upgrade these core competencies to assure that they maintain a competitive edge in the marketplace. Leaders think about the future and identify the core competencies that will be required for success in the years ahead. They then develop plans to acquire those core competencies well before they will be needed to compete effectively in the marketplace of tomorrow.

Action Exercise

Identify your personal core competencies. What are the essential skills of your job, the abilities that make you valuable, if not indispensable? What core competencies do you need to acquire if you want to be the best in your field in the years ahead? Make a plan today to develop the key skills and core competencies you will need tomorrow.

 

Happy At Work?

“Get happiness out of your work or you may never know what happiness is.” Elbert Hubbard

Your ability to get happiness out of your work becomes easier the closer your work comes to connecting with your passions. A job is something you do for money. A career is something you do based on an inner desire and motivation. Even if you aren’t in the “perfect” career at the moment, you can still get happiness out of your work - if you are willing to passionately throw yourself, your talents and skills into your work.

People who are paid exactly what they are worth (or more) often find themselves replaced, declared obsolete or reengineered out of the organization. On the other hand, people who are underpaid for the amount and quality of the service they provide are always in highest demand - so money and opportunity are always chasing them.

Keep the level of your yearning and learning, ahead of your earning. Be inspired to learn as much as you can, to know as much as you can, to gain skills as much as you can, to find a cause and a passion which benefits humankind - and you’ll be sought after for your quality of service and your dedication to excellence.

Your power, passion and motivation will make you oblivious to quitting time and to the length of your workday. You will awake each and every morning with the passion of pursuit, not just the pursuit of a paycheck and true happiness will be a natural by-product of the passion you are putting into your work.

Those who deliver more in service than they expect to receive in compensation are always sought for and are always in demand. Their name and their work outlive them, and their services always command the highest price. Therefore, you would be most wise to - chase your passion, not your pension!

Bill Gates, who dropped out of college to found Microsoft and become one of the wealthiest individuals in the world before reaching age 40, could retire with a lifestyle of the rich and famous. But he won’t. At a computer industry meeting he told the audience that even though he could do anything he wants, his greatest thrill is to go to work every day and find exciting problems in search of solutions.

Everyone told the artist Renoir to give up painting because he had no talent. A group of artists who were rejected by the establishment of their time formed their own little team consisting of Degas, Pissarro, Monet, Cezanne, and Renoir – five of the all-time great masters, doing what they believed in, pursuing their passions while the critics laughed and mocked. One Parisian expert looked over Renoir’s paintings and sneered: “You are, I presume, dabbling in paint to amuse yourself.” To which Renoir rapidly and passionately replied: “Of course! When it ceases to amuse me, I will stop painting.”

In Renoir’s later life he suffered from advanced rheumatism, particularly in his hands. When Matisse stopped by to see the aging painter, he noticed that every brush stroke caused Renoir great pain. And Matisse asked: “Why is it that you still work? Why do you continue to push yourself?” Renoir slowly answered: “The pain passes, but the pleasure, the creation of beauty, remains.”

Remember – by putting your passion first, you will be able to enjoy happiness today and create a legacy which will truly last.

This lesson brought to by Expert Directed Guided Education (EDGE) and iLearningGlobal. To learn more about how you can get iLearningGlobal and the EDGE in your life daily, go to: http://www.theilgmarketer.com

Strategy and Tactics - What You Need To Know About Both

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” —Sun Tzu, The Art of War

When it comes to winning in business and in life there is an important connection between strategy and tactics. Successful entrepreneurs are those who can bring these two vital facets together.

The world is filled with visionaries and strategist who can spew forth great ideas, inspiring concepts and blue-sky, shoot-the-moon opportunities. Unfortunately, many of them are never able to transform those visions into practical, tactical applications which can be executed in order to produce real results.

Even on an individual level there are scores of people who have dreams of grandeur while their head rests on the pillow, or have compelling visions of what is possible when standing in the shower – yet, without any specific tactics they simply lead to frustration and disappointment. With no clear daily tactics the way becomes so slow that victory is often lost, not for lack of opportunity, but for lack of time, resources and energy.

The old saying, “Where there is no vision, the people perish,” is as true today as it was in centuries gone by. Tactics without vision or strategy is drudgery and in the end all of the effort is nothing more than the noise before defeat or window dressing on an empty home. And yet, so many individuals and businesses end up laser focused on day-to-day tactics which are completely disconnected from any strategic path. Ultimately this leads to being busy, but not productive, having much motion, but no forward movement.

Combine the two – strategy and tactics and you will set yourself up for instant impact and real results. As a leader you must constantly strive to connect the dots for those you lead. It is part of your role to continually help those you lead see the vital connection between your strategy and the daily tactics they carry out.

Sun Tzu was right, Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.” Together every opportunity will be yours and nothing will keep you from success.

Another lesson from iLearningGlobal and Expert Directed Guided Education! EDGE

To learn more about ILG and what it can do for you, click HERE.

Bloom Where You're Planted

Bloom where you are planted! - Anonymous

In our fast paced world it is easy to look at others around us and wish that we had their talent, their skill, their house, their bank account and their future. We are bombarded with messages from the media that tell us to look elsewhere for our success.

We are even told that we aren’t smart enough, young enough, secure enough, rich enough or bold enough unless we use their product, drive their car or go on their vacation. Far too many of us are on a wild goose chase in search of some holy grail that will suddenly make us rich, secure, happy and successful.

With all of this searching, more and more of us are getting depressed and discouraged with our lot in life. We feel as though we just don’t have what it takes to be successful and happy. We truly need to stop looking outside and beyond and start looking inside and beneath our own skin to find what success is really all about.

Dr. Russell Conwell of Temple University once delivered a lecture that was quoted in a December 1980 edition of the wall Street Journal. Dr. Conwell told of a man in Titusville, Pennsylvania, who sold his farm for $833 to go off and search for oil in Canada. The man continued his search for many years but never hit oil, never found success and finally gave up his quest in frustration. He had searched high and low for the magic spot that would give him all the success and security he dreamed of. Yet in his chase he came up entirely empty.

The man who purchased the farm for $833, however, settled into his new environment and worked hard at his labors each day. As he dug a well for additional water, he found instead a rich well of oil and launched a billion dollar industry.

Today, with faster communications and transportation, instant access to information and people, it is ever easier to look at the fact that the grass may appear greener on the other side. Yet what really counts is what is going in your own back yard and what is going on in between your own two ears.

The old saying is true that success is like a butterfly -- the more you chase it the more it eludes you-- but if you will settle in and focus on the task at hand, it will come and softly land on your shoulder. So unpack your bags, bloom where you are planted and find the success, joy and satisfaction that is waiting for you, right where you are – blooming in your own back yard.

This lesson is provided by Expert Directed Guided Education (EDGE) and is available as one of the powerful membership options on iLearningGlobal the online learning system I use with my coaching clients. To learn more about it, just go to: http://www.theilgmarketer.com

Kind regards,

Ron Stebelton,CEO/Founder

Eagle Leadership Consulting

http://www.eagleleadershipconsulting.com

Excellence Isn't An Accident

"We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit." - Aristotle

Excellence is never an accident - true, lasting, sustainable excellence is a natural by-product of repeated, disciplined action. There are certain disciplines required if you are going to run your business and live your live with excellence.

The legendary Vince Lombardi declared, "Winning isn't a sometimes thing, it is an all the time thing. Winning is a habit - and unfortunately, so is losing." If you are going to win, win big and win over an extended period of time - you must develop the habits of excellence.

Every area of life or business has a set of disciplines or habits which are vital to sustained excellence and success. There are two major factors to developing and deploying these habits of excellence. First, you must understand what the vital habits, skills, attitudes and disciplines are, and second, you must then put yourself on a course to develop them from within.

Talent is important, gifts are great, natural ability goes a long way. Yet, without the discipline to develop the habits of excellence, you will be doomed to mediocrity and middle of the road performance. The path to peak performance personal excellence is littered with talented people who never developed the necessary discipline.

Begin today to identify the habits of excellence you need in your business, or any other area of life, you wish to improve. Then go out and repeat, practice and internalize - make these disciplines true, reflex habits and you will be on your way to achieving the extraordinary.

To learn more about how you can get the EDGE in your personal and professional life visit: http://www.theilgmarketer.com

To learn more about what Life Coaching can do to help you get the EDGE in your pesonal and professional life visit: http://www.myedgeadvantage.com