Listmania

Happy New Year!!!

Well, here we are in 2008, and my mind is already racing at a mile a minute, plotting and planning for an awesome year to come.

I’ve already come up (thanks to Christine Kane) with my “word of the year” - Om (yes, it is a word - it’s in the dictionary).

Here is what I said on Christine’s blog about it (check out her post, it’s marvelous):

Since I started practicing yoga about six months ago, I’ve found that my times of meditation and the chanting of this mantra believed to be the “spoken essence of the universe” has brought me much in regards to my mental health and well being. I guess I could have chosen “centeredness” as well. I’ve learned its OK to be still, and not think about anything but what’s happening at that very second. I’ve written about “sinking into the earth” at these times of stillness and relaxation, and that’s a mental image that goes hand and hand with the sound of Om.

I’m going to continue this quest for “centeredness” next year, with that word and sound as my touchstone.

All this thinking and “Oming” wouldn’t be complete unless I also conjured up a list of my wishes for the “Ramblings” blogging community:

• A wish that I can meet and talk to at least 300 blogging friends at SOBCon08 in Chicago. Yes, there WILL be a SOBCon, and yes, I will be the MC again. Perhaps I can do that “bloggy dance” again too. What do you think?
• A wish that I can keep learning joyfully and jubilantly with my friends and colleagues at Joyful Jubilant Learning, and anyone else who takes in the warm and welcoming aura that that site, led by the magnificent Rosa Say, gives off each and every day.
• A wish that I can support 100 Bloggers this year with a post or two. My main man Phil Gerbyshak leads this group of excellent writers, and they’ve been too kind leaving my name on the contributors list (when it’s been way too long since I’ve contributed).
• A wish that I can make it to Des Moines this year to see the “Iowa blogging posse” again. Drew, Sandy, Tim, Mike S, Mike W, Tom, Doug and Mitch, stay warm and see you soon.
• A wish that I’ll be able to throw more than a few thoughts into Liz Strauss’ “Open Comment Night” during the year. This is always one heck of a party each and every Tuesday, and the drinks taste pretty good too!
• A wish I can go to a yoga class taught by the “yoginis who blog”, Asia and Liv
• A wish that I can keep getting great comments and encouragement from all who visit here, including Andrew, Robyn, Herman, Ariane, Delaney, Karen, Chris, April, Lyman, Tim, Joe, Steve, Maria, KermitFan, Terry, Robert, Karen, Larry, Chris, Jesse, Rick, Douglas, Stephen, Trevor, Mary, Eric, Angela, Steve, Albert, Deb, Raven, Vern, Denise, Derrick, Liz, Tina, Terri, Jen, Troy, dharmamama, Donna, Doug, Kristen, Jim, Valeria, HART, Priscilla, and Jacklyn (just to name those who have graciously left notes over the past few months).
• A wish to keep reading outstanding stuff from the likes of Jodee, Ben, Steve, Dave, Rebecca, Lisa, Leah, Tony, Kammie ,Hilda, Dwayne, Dawud, Easton, Connie, Alex, Cat, Director Tom, Ellen, Ann, Marti, Craig, Kent, Jason, Char, Erin, Claire, Jonathan, Wendy, John, Dave, Tshombe, Adam, Junebug, Karen, Raymond, Steve, Ryan, Mike, Shawn, Heather, Becky, Jennifer, Kathy, Gina, Digital P, and Amanda. Keep on blogging gang!
• Lastly, a wish filled with positive vibes and great tidings for Susan Reynolds, who’s fighting cancer with wonderful panache and in public, on a separate blog and on Twitter. Inspired by Susan, the Frozen Pea Fund has been established to funnel contributions in her honor to the American Cancer Society. Go to the site and find out how the fund got it’s name, and if you can, pitch in a few bucks to a very worthy cause.

A lot of wishes, yes, but hey, I’m a half-full guy! Have an outstanding, productive, and fulfilling 2008!

One of my favorite business books is Jim Collins’ “Good to Great“. If anything, it got me to think a lot more about greatness and what that really means. It also pushed me to figure out, in combination with my own 25+ years of experience, what “essential elements” need to exist within a company to achieve lasting greatness.

As I noted in last Saturday’s post, I’ve reduced the elements down to 4, and I presented them to my management team last week. Here they are:

• Quality
• Service
• Leadership
• Accountability

Number 1, we have to infuse quality in EVERYTHING we do - every interaction and transaction, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant. And, even more importantly, we cannot sacrifice quality at the altar of expediency. I find that to be the biggest impediment to real quality - someone thinks that doing it faster is better than doing it right. If you can get that mindset eliminated, you are really accomplishing something.

Next, we have to serve - and to me, that means it’s all about exceeding expectations. We have to be there when our customers need us. We have to fully explain our products and services. We need to follow the “Golden Rule” at all times. And, above all else, SMILE. It’s amazing how doing these simple things can be considered extraordinary, but that’s the consumer world we live in right now.

Then there’s leadership - I sum it up this way: we need to be leaders who
roll up the sleeves, focus on people and are involved and empathetic with them, filter effectively, inspire trust, look at and paint the big picture, are good teachers, are humble yet possess a strong will to succeed, lead from the full spectrum, and are part of a unified team. An even shorter way to say it is “Greatness is as greatness does“.

Lastly, we must hold ourselves and our teammates accountable to the established values, standards and policies that govern our business conduct. We can’t do this sitting in what I call the “comfortable middle” of neither reward nor retribution. We have to lead using the Full Spectrum - it is the foundation of a great team.

The benefits of focus on these 4 elements are threefold:

1. Sustained bottom line business growth
2. An excellent reputation as the employer of choice in the communities served
3. (and what I call the “Holy Grail“) Individual job satisfaction and fulfillment

That’s what I’m shooting for in 2008 with my group. Is it Quixotic? I think not. I’ll let you know how we do.

What do YOU think are the keys to greatness?

Just before the holiday one of my best blogging friends and mentors, Phil Gerbyshak, posted his “Make it Great 125” - a group of sites which make his world great.

I happen to be familiar with a lot of these sites, but not all of them, so Phil provided me with many new writers and wisdom to discover.

I was also honored to make the list myself - thank you for that Mr. Gerbyshak!

As a tribute to Phil’s enduring positive energy and relentless pursuit of greatness, and as a means to spread great blogs as far and as wide as I can (notice I take Phil’s word for it - he knows great when he sees it), I reprise the list below:

http://www.angelamaiers.com
http://aprilgroves.com/beautifulchaos
http://aprilgroves.com/makinglifeworkforyou
http://ateegarden.typepad.com/empowerment4life/
http://badgerblogger.com/
http://baileyworkplay.com/
http://bestwellnessconsultant.com/
http://blog.bretttrout.com/
http://blog.buzzoodle.com
http://blog.doyouq.com/
http://blog.lifebeyondcode.com/
http://blog.talk-to-strangers.com/
http://blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/
http://brandautopsy.typepad.com/brandautopsy/
http://bren.pintglass.org/
http://bsetc.ca/blog
http://carpefactum.typepad.com/my_weblog/
http://chrisbrogan.com
http://christinekane.com/
http://cmm.thepodcastnetwork.com
http://creatingabetterlife.net/
http://customersarealways.com/
http://cuberules.com/
http://customersrock.wordpress.com/
http://daveolson.ca/
http://www.davidsfinch.com
http://deb_inside.typepad.com/deb_inside/
http://dmiracle.com/
http://drewsmarketingminute.com
http://edbrenegar.typepad.com/
http://elementaltruths.com/
http://eloquentauthor.wordpress.com
http://essentialkeystrokes.com
http://everydotconnects.com
http://fishcreekhouse.blogspot.com/
http://galmorale.typepad.com/galmorale/
http://getmotivation.com/new.html
http://hellomynameisscott.blogspot.com/
http://ipopin.typepad.com/think_positive/
http://www.ismckenzie.com/
http://jeroen.typepad.com/jeroen/
http://jibberjobber.com/blog
http://jkrbooks.typepad.com/blog/
http://kimandjason.com/blog
http://kitchener-waterloo-real-estate-investments.com/
http://learningvoyager.blogspot.com/
http://lenski.com/
http://makingadifference.typepad.com/making_a_difference/
http://managementcraft.typepad.com/
http://managementcraft.typepad.com/2weeks2abreakthrough/
http://mapmaker.curtrosengren.com/
http://middlezonemusings.com/
http://monkatwork.com/
http://movingspirit.typepad.com/spirit_in_gear/
http://officiallifebydesign.com/
http://passionmeetspurpose.com/blog
http://perfectlypetersen.com
http://positivesharing.com/
http://qlog.typepad.com/the_qlog/
http://rasterweb.net/raster/
http://remarkableleadership.wordpress.com/
http://rohitrohila.com
http://www.rohdesign.com
http://servantleadershipblog.com/servant-leadership/blog/index.htm
http://sharecompassion.blogspot.com/
http://shinsato.com/
http://simplicityitk.blogspot.com/
http://sixdisciplines.blogspot.com/
http://stevefarber.com
http://steves2cents.blogspot.com
http://successbeginstoday.org/wordpress
http://successcreeations.com/
http://successfromthenest.com/
http://syntaxandsoul.com/
http://talkitup.typepad.com/weblog/
http://theconfidentials.blogspot.com/
http://www.thepracticeofleadership.net/
http://www.thekissbusiness.co.uk/
http://thenonbillablehour.typepad.com/nonbillable_hour/
http://thesimplestthing.typepad.com/erikas_blog/
http://thoughtsphilosophies.com/
http://thriftynaturalist.wordpress.com/
http://troyworman.com/wordpress
http://www.terrystarbucker.com/
http://westallen.typepad.com/idealawg/
http://workfromwithin.typepad.com/weblog/
http://www.adversityuniversityblog.com/
http://www.alexshalman.com/blog
http://www.balancedlifecenter.com/
http://www.bawldguy.com/
http://www.becausepeoplematter.com
http://www.bloggingforbusinessbook.com
http://www.bobtheking.com/index.php
http://www.bootsandsabers.com/
http://www.brainbasedbusiness.com/
http://www.converstations.com
http://www.daverothacker.com/rothacker_reviews/
http://www.davidzinger.com/
http://www.directortom.com/director-tom/
http://www.emomsathome.com/blog
http://www.genuinecuriosity.com
http://www.getfreshminds.com/
http://www.ggci.com/blog/index.htm
http://www.goodwordediting.com/
http://www.idea-sandbox.com/blog/
http://www.intrinsiclifedesign.com/scaffolding/
http://www.instigatorblog.com/
http://www.jorydesjardins.com/pause/
http://www.kevineikenberry.com/blogs/index.asp
http://www.kimandjason.com/jennasblog
http://www.kirkweisler.com/t4d
http://www.lipsticking.com/
http://www.manager-tools.com/
http://www.maryschmidt.com/
http://www.mikemcbrideonline.com/blogger.html
http://www.movingfrommetowe.com/
http://www.networkmarketingjourney.com/
http://www.nickschweitzer.net/
http://www.ownyourbrand.com
http://www.perfectlypetersen.com/
http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/
http://www.personal-growth-with-corinne-edwards.com/
http://www.petsgardenblog.com/
http://www.positivityblog.com/
http://www.priscillapalmer.com
http://www.purplewren.com/
http://www.qaqna.com/
http://ravenyoung.spaces.live.com/
http://www.ribriot.com/
http://www.rohdesign.com/weblog/
http://www.sayleadershipcoaching.com/mwacoaching/
http://www.sbannister.com/blog
http://www.scotthyoung.com/blog
http://www.shardsofconsciousness.com/
http://www.simplerich.com/blog
http://www.smallbizsurvival.com/
http://www.smallbusinesstransitions.com/
http://www.spinningsilk.com/
http://www.successful-blog.com
http://www.theideadude.com/
http://www.tonymorganlive.com/
http://www.virtualosophy.com/
http://www.wealth-prosperity.info/
http://youalreadyknowthisstuff.blogspot.com/
http://zenchillcom.blogspot.com/
http://walkingmyownwalk.com/

Thanks again Phil, and to all of you on the list, I look forward to our current and future conversations.

Last Saturday in the NY Times I read a piece by Paul Brown about a magazine article appearing in Rotman, the University of Toronto business school magazine. The article presented the authors’ view on the nature of success and how it is achieved.

Based on interviews with 200 people “who have made a difference in their fields“, they broke it down to three things -three “essential elements” that need to come into alignment:

• Meaning - what you do must matter deeply to you
• A highly developed sense of accountability, audacity, passion and responsible optimism
• Finding effective ways to take action

The overall conclusion was that “success in the long run has less to do with finding the best idea or business model that it does with discovering what matters to us as individuals“.

“Discovering what matters to us“…………..the more I dwell on that phrase, the more it resonates.

If I discover the best widget of all time and make multi-billions because of it, but it doesn’t matter much to me, than I won’t be “successful”.

It sounds too simple, doesn’t it? Can the real keys to our success be essentially found in our hearts and not our heads?

I had come up with my own list of 10 essential success elements about 14 months ago:

1. Common Sense – The definition says it all: “Sound judgment not based on specialized knowledge”. It’s an innate logic barometer that guides me from situation to situation and counsels me from decision to decision.
2. Intellectual Curiosity – I’ve always had a huge appetite for learning, since I started reading encyclopedias when I was 3 (at least that’s what my mom tells me!). This curiosity has pushed me forward in opening up my world to new ideas and experiences. It also keeps me humble in a sense that there’s so much I DON’T know.
3. Passion - The best way to figure out the importance of this one is to recall a time in one’s life or career where it didn’t exist – that happened to me, and it’s like draining all the oil out of an engine and still trying to go 100 miles an hour. It’s not pretty, all the grinding and gnashing. Passion is the “oil” that keeps me going at peak performance.
4. Relentless Optimism - Yes, my glass is half full – and in a recent post I explained how I got there. I’ve also defined half-fullism as “dealing with the literal world in a favorable way”, and that really speaks to my viewpoint – I’m always trying to make lemonade out of lemons (without rose colored glasses).
5. Influential Mentor and/or Parent - The influence of my parents and a couple of key mentors have been invaluable to my personal and career development – my parents taught me the value of trust, and my two mentors taught me about business, leadership and optimism in two totally different ways, but both utterly valuable.
6. Love - When I think of love I can’t help but also think of those lines by Ewan McGregor in “Moulin Rouge” (one of my favorite musical movies)-”Love is a many splendored thing, Love lifts us up where we belong, All you need is Love!” In some respects it is indeed the only thing - while passion is the oil, love is the gas.
7. Good Moral Grounding - For me, the ability to make personal distinctions between right and wrong couldn’t happen without being properly grounded in moral principles - I was fortunate to get that from my family, and from the parochial education I received all the way through college.
8. Luck - I know one can “create” luck, or put oneself in a position to take advantage of luck, but it’s still luck. I had several instances where luck, fate, karma, or some similar phenomenon intervened and changed my life, mostly for the better (but sometimes not).
9. Integrity - The net result of the moral grounding, I always try to keep my my promises and fulfill my committments- being trusted by others is one of the gifts I treasure the most.
10. Belief in Yourself - This is the foundation of all successes - a deep seeded confidence that someway, somehow you can get to where you want to go. For me, I always wanted to be a leader, and I kept at it knowing that if I was given that responsibility, I could do it and do it well. Fortunately I have been given that opportunity, and it’s been a great ride.

In re-reviewing this list and comparing it to the Rotman article list, “heart” has a very distinct presence in both. So does the element of optimism - they call it “responsible optimism“, I call it “realistic optimism“, or “half-fullism“.

No matter how I slice it, I keep coming back to the simplicity of these “secrets” - I just can’t over complicate it, or shift to more materialistic factors like wealth, power, or fame (my friend Trevor is really on the right track here!).

Thus, the “unlocking” comes from digging deep within, and keeping it simple. And given the way we know our minds can work sometimes, doesn’t that make perfect sense?

My friend and fellow SOBCon co-founder Liz Strauss tagged me for a pretty darn special thing last week while I was on vacation.

Now that I’m back, it’s time for me to respond to the tag for “Joe’s Promise”

Joe is a good friend and fellow blogger who writes consistently great stuff on “Working at Home on the Internet“. He’s also as honest and transparent as they come - traits which I greatly admire.

So it really wasn’t that much of a surprise that Joe, when he realized that he was “missing” from our little blogging community for a while, decided to make a reappearance in a big way, by putting “right out there” a promise to all of us:

- I will be sure to comment on other Blogs if I can add to the conversation.
- I will respond to comments on my own Blog.
- I will acknowledge any links to my Blog with a comment on the linker’s Blog.
- I will continue to link to other Blogs that are pertinent to a posts content.

- I will once again be a part of the Blogging Community.

I polled the “tagees” to see how this is resonating in the blogosphere. My observations were most interesting:

Liz called it “a stunning example of writing” (I agree).

Chris Cree (another SOBCon co-founder), said this: “It’s a good set of promises to keep, whether you are brand new to blogging, or whether you are an old hat that like me that has been focused elsewhere.”

Rick Cockrum asked these questions about Joe’s Promise and also encouraged us to make our own promise: “Do you think it’s a worthwhile goal? Do you think it’s a worthwhile promise? You can do it. Do it in your heart, or if you want to tell the world, do it on your blog.” He also created the cool button you see at the beginning of the post (there are two other colors too).

Jesse Petersen puts it all in perspective in his take on the promise: “Sometimes you just need to pull back, lie low, and observe.”

I like Giddy Tigers viewpoint on how “going missing” can so easily happen: “Some bloggers are often led astray when they have been blogging for say months on end, or years… they forget the reason why they started blogging in the first place.”

Troy Worman cautions us to “consider it (the promise) carefully. A promise is a promise is a promise.”

April Groves calls the promise a “commitment to untangle the wires”. I like that analogy a lot.

Lastly, a tumblelog On Financial Success puts it succinctly, calling Joe’s post “an excellent reminder to bloggers and web entrepreneurs that communication and relationships are ‘integral to blogging’”.

What’s my take? If I really want blogging to be a true social medium and not a personal diary, I need to fully subscribe to these tenets to make it work. Since I’m in the former camp and not the latter, I’ll say this:

I’m making Joe’s Promise too!

I’m passing this on to Hilda, Valeria, Tim, Jodee, and Rosa. Spread the promise!