Who is your mentor?

A mentor is someone who knows the road ahead.  They can anticipate and see things you can’t.  They can give good counsel, and that has great power and value.

Who is your mentor?

Should you get one?

"No" is a complete sentence.

“No” is the master skill of the superachiever.

Say no to protect your valuable time to be working on what you said YES to.

You can’t do everything, and if you try, you will be average at everything and remembered for nothing.

Say no and focus.

Constructive Suicide

Hanging on to an old mission that is not working is only preventing you from being successful at something else.

If you succeed at something else, you won’t be remembered for the failure; unless you die still trying the failed experiment.

Sometimes you have to admit failure to start to succeed.

Addicted to being busy

When we just started out, being busy was something we ensured we did so we could survive.  Work hard, work long, don’t stop, multi-task like crazy, and do lots of stuff.

But now we think we should still do that, and it prevents us from stopping to observe, ask ourselves questions, and think strategically.  Our new job awaits us, but we can’t do the old job and the new one at the same time.

What are you putting up with?

I’m not a big fan of firing people, but here’s a question.  If you sold your business to someone who was an experienced proven builder of great teams, what current employee would not be there once the new guy figured out what was going on?

The Hot Shot Rule

(I learned this from Kat Cole.)  If a “Hot Shot” took over my job today and I had no time to finish or pack, (I’m gone!), and the Hot Shot looked at my job and life, what is the one thing they’d look at that I was doing or accepted and would say, “This is unacceptable. I’m changing this asap”?

If they can do that, why can’t I?

I was great – yesterday.

Just because you made things better yesterday, doesn’t mean you don’t have the responsibility to make them better today.  

You’re still the leader.  

Show them the future

People cannot achieve what they cannot believe or see.

The leader must give a clear picture of what the group is trying to achieve.  Not just numbers – explanations, word pictures, drawings, and feelings.  

When the team all knows what they are going for, they can believe it, and make it happen.

Do you need to paint a clearer picture for your team?

Fool me once, shame on you…

Now that your employees have worked for you for a time, would you hire them again, knowing what you now know?

If the answer is no, why are they still there?

"Hell yeah, or NO!"

When hiring, don’t say “He’ll do I guess”, or “I just need someone right now, I think she might do”.

Get to know them through a variety of meetings – by phone, in person interviews, meals, and written questionnaires.  Don’t let them fool you – get to know who they really are.

Then if it’s not “Hell yeah!”, it’s a no.  Keep looking.