MULTIPLICATION & Want to Grow Very Fast? Get Mentors and Read Lots of Books

by Jordan Kastler, Inc. Magazine, 7/28/17.

…with the number of tools available today, the goal of becoming a profitable entrepreneur is more achievable than it was ten years ago. Today, it’s easier to connect with people, find mentors who have years of experience related to where you want to go, and read books to accelerate your growth.

I recently caught up with Tai Lopez to pick his brain… An investor, partner, and advisor to over 20 multi-million dollar businesses sums up his occupation…

He attributes his success majorly to mentors he’s had and books he’s read. Here are some excerpts from my chat with him:

Kasteler: Could you share your story of starting out as an entrepreneur?

Lopez: I really started at around age 19 when I partnered with my first mentor Joel Salatin. I was working for him on his farm, and a neighbor farm came up available for rent but Joel said he was too busy to do it.

So I said, “What if I take over the farm, you put the money in to start it, and I will split the profits with you?” He said, “Well, as long as you do all the work.”

I worked on that farm every night when I was done at Joel’s farm, I’d drive an hour and work late into the night on that other farm. My profit after one year was $12,000 after I split and paid back Joel. It felt as a lot of money at the time because I’d never seen that much money–it was a great start. One of the things I learned is that when you’re first starting out, it’s great if you can partner up with somebody who is more stable…

What lead you to reading a book a day?

I already started with that concept back when I was 19. Joel Salatin had a mentor named Allan Nation who was visiting from Mississippi and one day he came down to eat breakfast with us and he started talking with all these interesting stories and anecdotes and facts right off the tip of his tongue.

I was like, “How do you know so much about this subject? I do not even remember it.” Allan said, “Oh, I read a book this morning before breakfast.” This was on a farm, so we were eating breakfast at 7:30 in the morning. And I said, “What do you mean, you read a book this morning?”

He said, “Yeah, every morning before I eat, I read a book.” I asked him how long it takes him and he was like, about an hour. He just sat there and would read a book, had developed a great memory, and that was always a set impression on me. I didn’t always read a book a day, but I went in phases–I’d always have that as my goal and landmark of what was possible.

…put a book and a chair in a little room even if you want to read for five minutes a day…

It doesn’t really matter how long you do it. People make the mistake of reading a lot and burn out. They’re like, “I cannot do that, I do not have the time.”

Well, read a little bit and then build up to it…

Read more at … https://www.inc.com/jordan-kasteler/want-to-grow-very-fast-get-mentors-and-read-lots-o.html

MISSION vs VISION & In One Short Sentence, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Explained the Flaw w/ Bill Gates’ Original Mission

by Bob Whitesel D.Min. Ph.D, 2/27/17.

Why are Apple fans more passionate than PC followers? Why are artists, who think abstractly, drawn to Apple more than Microsoft?

It has to do with one of their founder’s mixup of vision with mission.

Bill Gates equated mission with vision. As I teach my students, the two are distinctly different: mission never changes, but vision is temporal and may change, albeit carefully, over time and with strategic analysis.

Gates equated mission with vision as the current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “It always bothered me that we confused an enduring mission with a temporal goal.”

Nadelle explained, “When I joined the company in 1992, we used to talk about our mission as putting a PC in every home, and by the end of the decade we have done that, at least in the developed world,” said Nadella.

Nadella is right, “putting a PC in every home” is not a mission – because it is a vision. It is something that can be reached, can be pictured in your mind and is temporally bound. You can see a vision in your mind. You can envision every house having a PC computer. That is why every house today doesn’t, many have Macs.

A mission drives the company and its values, therefore shaping it’s decisions. It is much bigger and grander than a vision.

When Steve Jobs was luring Bill Scully from PepsiCo to become CEO of Apple, Jobs shared a mission, not a vision, saying: “Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?” (Odyssey: Pepsi to Apple: A Journey of Adventure, Ideas, and the Future [1987] by John Sculley and John A. Byrne)

A mission is just like that. It is exciting, world-changing … but somewhat imprecise so it could be manifest in many different outcomes. It is also not temporally bound, like “putting a PC in every home.” A mission drives your values and decisions through many different projects.

But, people like visions because they can envision what the future looks like. For instance, they can picture every home having a PC.

In contrast, look at the loyal following and passionate followers of Apple. Steve Jobs had a mission to “change the world” by reinventing the way the world interacts. This change mission includes, but is not limited to, putting an Apple Computer in every home. But it also includes visions such as putting an Apple iPhone in every hand, perfecting the computer notepad, reinventing how we obtain/listen to music, etc.

A person who knows the difference between vision and mission understands why it was much more fun and exciting to work for Jobs than for Gates. And a person who knows the difference between vision and mission understands why people are more passionate about companies like Apple.

If you are trying to get people excited about the mission of the church and your vision, then you must begin by understanding the difference between vision and mission. Even mega-wealthy entrepreneurs like Gates didn’t get it and their legacy reminds us of this.

Read this article to discover why Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said, “It always bothered me that we confused an enduring mission with a temporal goal.”

In One Short Sentence, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella Explained the Flaw w/ Bill Gates’ Original Mission

by Justin Bariso, Inc. Magazine, 2/27/17.

I’ve been a fan of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella for some time. From encouraging employees after an epic fail to the amazing autonomy he’s granted LinkedIn (after that company’s recent acquisition), Nadella has proven he’s the right leader to guide Microsoft into the future.

Of course, Nadella took over a position that was once held by the company’s founder and world’s wealthiest man Bill Gates. But in a recent interview with USA Today, Nadella showed that he’s not afraid to forge his own path–by sharing what he saw as a flaw in Gates’s original mission statement.

“When I joined the company in 1992, we used to talk about our mission as putting a PC in every home, and by the end of the decade we have done that, at least in the developed world,” said Nadella.

He continues: “It always bothered me that we confused an enduring mission with a temporal goal.”

Moving Forward

For his part, Nadella has tried to embrace a more forward-thinking philosophy.  Just a few examples:

• Microsoft Azure (the company’s cloud computing service) is growing rapidly, and second in market share only to Amazon’s AWS…

Read more at … http://www.inc.com/justin-bariso/in-one-short-sentence-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-explained-the-flaw-with-bill-g.html

#LEAD600 #LEAD545

 

LEADERSHIP & MANAGEMENT: The fundamental differences & why you need both.

Commentary by Dr. Whitesel:

“Most church leaders fail because they lack management skills, not leadership skills.”

I have found church leaders are usually adequately prepared to set the vision and define objectives, but an under-prepared to manage the process to get there.

My above statements are often quoted by church leaders and students.  I think they resonate in part because in the church world there are hundreds of books on leadership. But on the corollary task of management, only a few (including two, to which I contributed chapters: Foundations of Church Administration [Beacon Hill] and The Church Leader’s MBA [Ohio Christian Univ. Press]).

To understand the differences between leadership and management read this helpful definition from Brent Gleason.

by Brent Gleeson, Inc. Magazine, 2/23/17.

Generally speaking, management is a set of systems and processes designed for organizing, budgeting, staffing, and problem solving to achieve the desired results of an organization. Leadership defines the vision, mission, and what the “win” looks like in the future. It inspires the team to embody the beliefs and behaviors necessary to take the actions needed to achieve those results.

Read more at … http://www.inc.com/brent-gleeson/the-fundamental-differences-between-leadership-and-management.html

MICROMANAGEMENT & Research Finds the Fastest Way to Be a Hated Boss: Micromanage.

By Marcel Schwantes, Inc. Magazine, 1/31/17.

Last year, I conducted a workplace survey and asked the question, “What is the one mistake leaders make more frequently than others?”

Before clicking on the link, can you guess what the top answer was? It’s the basis for the rest of this article and the sentiment of hundreds of responses I received.

Yep, you guessed it. The 1 thing that really bad bosses do that drive employees away? Micro-management.

Read more at … http://www.inc.com/marcel-schwantes/want-to-be-a-really-bad-boss-hated-by-your-top-performers-do-this-1-thing.html

FAILURE & 6 Ways to Bounce Back After a Project Falls Through

by Young Entrepreneur Council, Inc. Magazine, 1/30/17.

How do you bounce back? As an entrepreneur, it’s all about being scrappy, cutting your losses and not getting hung up on what could have been. These six entrepreneurs have been in your shoes before — and have some strategies to turn a negative outlook into a positive one.

Find the humor.

“Whether it’s cracking jokes with co-workers, watching something humorous online, or most often making fun of myself internally, humor puts things in perspective and lets me move on,” he says…

Remember that it’s not the first time — nor the last.

Why get bogged down in something that didn’t work out when a better opportunity could be just ahead?

“…One thing I’ve done to remedy this feeling is to reflect back on past times when similar outcomes presented themselves, and then remember how another opportunity that ultimately was a better fit later came along.”

Stay positive and connected.

“…Even though it may look like you’ve lost something, you’ve still established a connection that may come in handy down the road,” says Brett Farmiloe, founder of digital marketing agency Markitors…

Focus on the opportunities in hand.

If you’re so focused on chasing the next big opportunity, you’ll lose sight of the existing opportunities you do have…

Reframe your interpretation.

For every deal that doesn’t quite pan out, you walk away with a better understanding of how to get it right next time…

“Change your mindset so that every missed opportunity is a learning opportunity,” says Bryanne Lawless, owner of PR agency BLND Public Relations…

Read more at … http://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/6-ways-to-bounce-back-after-a-deal-falls-through.html

CHANGE & How You Can Lead Change Better By Doing One Thing (That Most of Us Fear Doing)

by James Sudakow, Inc. Magazine, 1/24/17.

In many ways, though, the single biggest strategy I found that worked isn’t really a secret at all. And it isn’t that hard to do except that most of us don’t do it simply out of fear:

Find the people who are dead set against the change you are trying to lead, and go get them involved in it.

It sounds counter-intuitive. Why would you actually seek out the people who want you to fail or who are actively, or frequently passive aggressively, lobbying against you? Why would you put them on the core team who is leading the change? Isn’t that kind of like sabotaging yourself?

Maybe not.

In every change effort I lead, I actively find the loudest conscientious objectors to genuinely get them involved because they do two critical things that will make the change actually stick:

1. They will tell you all of the reasons (that you don’t want to hear) about why people don’t want to, or can’t, make the change a reality.

That information is really important. Not only does it help you understand why people may resist so you can think about how to handle it, but it also forces you to confront potentially legitimate flaws in the change you are trying to make or blind spots in your thinking. Whether you like it or not, you will be forced to hear perspectives counter to your own about the change.

2. If you find a way to work with them towards a solution they support, they will become your biggest advocates in selling the change.

There’s an old expression that says that “nobody is more zealous than a convert.” If you can truly find a way to collaborate with the objectors and find a solution they can support, they will sell the change enthusiastically. A lot of the objectors are quite influential across the company.

Read more at … http://www.inc.com/james-sudakow/how-you-can-lead-change-better-by-doing-one-thing-that-most-of-us-fear-doing.html

PREACHING & Great Presenters Do One Thing That Most of You Don’t, Science Says

by James Sudakow, Inc. Magazine, 1/18/16.

…What if I told you that the thing you spend the most time on when preparing for your big presentation might actually be the thing that influences your audience the least? That’s exactly what a landmark study by Albert Mehrabian, UCLA Professor Emeritus of Psychology, found.

Mehrabian found that there are three elements of communication that influence an audience:

Visual

This is not how cool your power point slides are (although that matters, too). What Mehrabian was referring to here were key things like eye contact, body movement, and gestures. In other words, these are the things that the audience sees you do with your eyes, your hands, your arms, and your entire body…

Vocal

This is all about your voice. The three key areas that are most important are your rate, volume, and inflection. A rate that is too fast makes you seem “junior”, lack of inflection makes you look dispassionate, and lack of volume leaves you sounding less confident.

Verbal

This is simply about content. In this study, Verbal refers to the actual words you are saying. In preparing a presentation, most of us spend a significant amount of time, if not the majority, on Verbal. It makes sense, right? You can’t make a good presentation without good content.

Here is where the research gets really interesting in a way that just might change your approach:

From the study, Verbal accounted for only 7% of what influenced the audience. That left a whopping 93% of audience influence based on Visual and Vocal. Specifically, the study showed that 55% of audience influence was based on Visual and 38% was based on Vocal…

Read more at … http://www.inc.com/james-sudakow/great-presenters-do-one-thing-that-most-of-you-dont-science-says.html