Impact Today™
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Dinner at a friend’s house
Franklin was joining his long-time friend for dinner for the first time in their decades old friendship. He was awed by the way his friend preceded every request to his wife with words such as honey, sweetheart, darling, and precious.
He thought this might have been the reason their marriage had lasted for fifty years and wanted to compliment his friend for continuing to use such endearing terms.
“It’s not what you think,” his friend said.
“The reason I use those terms is because I’ve forgotten her real name.”
Life Lesson: If you have trouble remembering names, make sure you have a workaround.
Franklin was joining his long-time friend for dinner for the first time in their decades old friendship. He was awed by the way his friend preceded every request to his wife with words such as honey, sweetheart, darling, and precious.He thought this might have been the reason their marriage had lasted for fifty years and wanted to compliment his friend for continuing to use such endearing terms.
“It’s not what you think,” his friend said.
“The reason I use those terms is because I’ve forgotten her real name.”
Life Lesson: If you have trouble remembering names, make sure you have a workaround.
Labels: Anecdote, Recognition
¶ 12/04/2008 0 Comments Links to this post
Friday, August 29, 2008
The cannibals
ABC Sporting Goods needed people to sharpen their new line of hand-made spears for the fishing department. Unable to find local talent, they located and relocated a group of cannibals from the Amazon jungle.
At orientation the HR Manager was abundantly clear when pointing out that company policy prohibited from eating other employees.
After a month the HR Manager gathered the group to let them know how pleased the company was with the quality output of spears. Unfortunately she was interrupted during the meeting by an emergency in the executive offices. It seems one of their Administrative Assistants was missing.
As soon as she left the leader of the cannibals turned to the others and said, “Okay, which one of you ate the Administrative Assistant?”
After a few seconds a confessing hand rose into the air.
"You fool!" said the leader, "For weeks we've been eating managers and no one noticed anything. But you had to go and eat someone important!"
Life Lesson: Administrative Assistants are typically the most important people in an organization.
ABC Sporting Goods needed people to sharpen their new line of hand-made spears for the fishing department. Unable to find local talent, they located and relocated a group of cannibals from the Amazon jungle.At orientation the HR Manager was abundantly clear when pointing out that company policy prohibited from eating other employees.
After a month the HR Manager gathered the group to let them know how pleased the company was with the quality output of spears. Unfortunately she was interrupted during the meeting by an emergency in the executive offices. It seems one of their Administrative Assistants was missing.
As soon as she left the leader of the cannibals turned to the others and said, “Okay, which one of you ate the Administrative Assistant?”
After a few seconds a confessing hand rose into the air.
"You fool!" said the leader, "For weeks we've been eating managers and no one noticed anything. But you had to go and eat someone important!"
Life Lesson: Administrative Assistants are typically the most important people in an organization.
Labels: Anecdote, Leadership, Recognition
¶ 8/29/2008 0 Comments Links to this post
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Giving thanks
Tomorrow the United States will observe the Thanksgiving holiday. It is a time when Americans pause to show appreciation for the many blessings they have received during the prior year.
Tomorrow the United States will observe the Thanksgiving holiday. It is a time when Americans pause to show appreciation for the many blessings they have received during the prior year.Family and friends are important parts of this holiday, but so is remembering ultimately where our blessings originate.
Giving thanks should not be a one-day event. Leaders understand the importance of giving thanks:
- Employees that go the extra mile
- Customer that remain loyal
- Peers that offer encouragement
- Supervisors that help us discover the leader within us
It is by giving thanks that we show appreciation and strengthen our relationship with each other and our relationship with the One from whom blessings stem.
What I am thankful for
As the leader of Max Impact I am thankful for the many new relationships we have made this year and the fact that we are having another year of growth as an organization in a difficult local economy.
Most of all I am thankful for completing a life dream – the publication of my first book. As I travel and meet new people I am amazed at how many people aspire to write a book. They have great ideas and stories that are locked within their heads and hearts. Yet they have not yet begun to turn their dream into a reality.
It hit me while presenting a talk early this year that until I took the major challenge of writing a book and broke the overall task into smaller goals I would never realize the dream – even though I had been working off-and-on on the book for several years. As the book started to come together in the springtime, I was encouraged. Writing consumed my summer and finally I had a manuscript to send to the publisher.
It was amazing to see the final product and realize that the dream was reality. The feeling was overwhelming. It was humbling to know that it was not something I did on my own. It involved relationships from along the pathway of my life, encouragement from my wife and others, and moments of inspiration to turn brain waves into written words.
The book was designed for business leaders, such as yourself. It is a collection of 53 short stories about the people, events, and things in my life and how they taught me leadership lessons. The book contains many helpful lists to enable dealing with change, handling difficult people, overcoming adversity, leading others, and much more. It is designed to be a learning component in staff meetings or a personal study into how the reader can become a better leader. It is an essential for aspiring leaders and anyone wishing to enhance their leadership ability
Go to http://www.lifesleadershiplessons.com/ to learn more about the book or to place an order (it is only available from the website).
If you have a goal that has evaded you for years, I encourage you to break your goal into small chunks and begin moving toward the finish line. If I can do it there is no doubt that you can accomplish one of your life goals also.
Have a great Thanksgiving!
© 2007 Max Impact
Labels: Goals, Leadership, Recognition, Traits
¶ 11/21/2007 0 Comments Links to this post
