Give excellence a shot....

Recruiting for a chef often includes an audition: it’s called a tasting, and the final candidate cooks one of his or her signature dishes. There are other instances where recruiters hold auditions: for acting jobs, technical jobs, and others…. but of them all the auditions that include meals have always been a favorite of mine. That’s because meals today are more than food: in addition to the taste, it’s the creativity, the plating, and the overall presentation. Everyone’s a foodie, and all like to be impressed, and when a prospective chef delivers excellence, it gives him or her the best shot at the best future they can have coming. All cooks dream of becoming the next celebrity chef, just like everyone doing anything has the same dream in their chosen field. If you want to be great, make a commitment to doing everything great, every time.  Give whatever you’re doing your best shot today.

Robert Wallace Forster, Jr. (b. 1941): American actor

Leap with courage and conviction....

Politicians don’t often talk about leaping an abyss: that’s more often reserved for the coyote in those Road Runner cartoons. But anyone thinking about doing something big like that needs the foresight and courage to take bold steps. Many of the things business leaders face require taking steps, both big and little, to handle their daily work. Think of these daily issues as candidates for a turnaround from where you are to where you need to be.  Like when there’s a problem with a subordinate’s attendance or performance: you can’t avoid it – it will only continue; you can’t give conflicting signals – be open and straight-forward about what’s expected and what will happen if the problem continues; and you don’t want to send mixed signals – people want to know where you stand so they know what they need to do. Doing too little is no good when leaping an abyss or dealing with difficult work issues. Never let an abyss, or an abysmal situation, keep you from being successful today.

David Lloyd George (1863 – 1945): British statesman and Liberal Party politician; he was the final Liberal to serve as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

Rock On!

Everyone growing up in the 50s and 60s was influenced by the music of those times: we all wanted to be musicians like those we heard on the radio. But every kid who picked up a guitar or played the drums quickly learned how much work it would take to get from the garage to the grand stage. To be at the top of any profession takes dedication – you have to keep going no matter how long it takes; perseverance – to learn to overcome adversity and rejection; optimism – believing in the face of incredible odds that you will get there; and grit – the courage, resolve, and strength of character to be a leader. McCartney is an icon, the Rock Star everyone looks up to; there are icons in every walk and station of life, people others want to be with and follow: none of them work at being ordinary. They are the ones continually doing great things both big and small. Work at not being ordinary today.

Sir James Paul McCartney (b. 1942): English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bass guitarist and singer for the rock band the Beatles

And the winner is....

Nobody just wakes up and finds themselves wildly successful. Lessons can be learned from the acceptance speeches at last night’s Academy Awards: every winner talked of the hard work it took to achieve their success, and it was tacitly recognized that those who didn’t win nonetheless worked equally hard and will continue to do so. The Best Actor who portrayed Freddy Mercury of the band Queen talked about how hard he worked to show how hard Mercury worked; the actor who won Best Actress for her role in The Favouriteacknowledged one of the other nominees for all the hard work they had done throughout their career. And in the end, everyone there realized the importance of continually trying to be better than yourself: that’s a message that everyone can adopt in their own lives today.

William Faulkner (1897 –1962): American writer, Nobel Prize laureate; one of the most celebrated writers in American literature

PLAY BALL!

Most managers worry about hiring when in fact they should be more concerned about managing. The key to hiring is not finding the absolute best person for the job but selecting the best one that applied. Then, as many will tell you, it’s what you as a manager do after hiring someone that makes all the difference. Like making sure they get all the training they need to have the tools to be successful; actively coaching them throughout their tenure to make sure their skills remain sharp and relevant; providing continuous feedback about and recognition of their performance; challenging them to be their best every day, and letting them know you continue to care about their success. Everyone wants to part of something larger than themselves: sports teams and work groups can provide that. A good manager – in sports or business – has the unique responsibility to make create that kind of environment where people play or work together effectively. Get your team to play well together today. 

"Casey" Stengel (1890 – 1975): American Major League Baseball right fielder, and manager of both the New York Yankees and the Mets

#TeamSpirit #TeamWork #Leadership #Coaching #HR 

Pace yourself....

Companies often complete annual business plans and budgets: many of the line items, however, often take more than a year to complete. The mega-resorts I opened took up to 36 months of planning before opening, and the challenge there was to keep the teams focused on the project rather than the calendar. One of my clients started a turnaround effort after buying the company: lots of things were done in the short term and many more became long-term building blocks for the future. And a Native casino I know opened quickly in a tent and then spent the next dozen years working to build out the entire property. Because nothing comes easily or quickly, people in projects like those have to pace themselves as short-term plans become long-term projects. If that describes your life, learn to run far enough on your first wind to find that you have a second (and third and….). Make sure you’ve got people with long-term perspectives on your team today.

William James (1842–1910): American philosopher and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States

Learn from yesterday to prepare for today.....

Whatever games you play, work you do, or news you read is always different from one day to the next.  Sometimes things are related, but most represent a new set of circumstances. Like many, my family and I have favorite restaurants that we go back to repeatedly: most of the time the dishes are prepared the same, but sometimes they’re not; the people working there are usually the same, but some days they’re on top of their game, and sometimes they’re not. So, I’m thinking: business people use so many examples from sports to reference how they want employees to behave and perform, but they don’t often enough emulate the playbooks that are used and the endless practices that are run to try and get the consistent performance from their employees that coaches get from their players. Effective leaders, like good coaches, keep their people ready by continuously going over standards and expectations, giving lots of feedback, and keeping everyone focused. Remember: great employees, like championship athletes, never take their eye off the ball, or standards, or goals. Use what you learned from yesterday’s game to be at the top of your game today.

Walter Wellesley "Red" Smith (1905 – 1982): Pulitzer Prize-winning American sportswriter

Outwork your competition....

Working with celebrity chefs was a unique experience: each epitomized the definition of ‘individual’.  They each had unique routines; each required their own unique set of vendors; and each had a unique style and signature.  However, the thing that was common to all was a work ethic that was inspired, driven and unending. Corporate environments often sought consistencies and synergies that could be reflected in efficiencies and savings: having a dozen or more individual people, programs and processes was a challenge to those corporatized philosophies. They were all drawn to play on Las Vegas’ large stage and attracted many others who wanted to learn and bask in the glow here. And what everyone learned was that to get to the top meant having the ability to outwork everyone else. There’s a reason there aren’t many seats at the top of any successful organization. The lesson learned: the surest way to get one of those coveted seats was to outplay ANDoutwork the competition every day. 

Ben Hogan (1912 – 1997): American professional golfer who is generally considered to be one of the greatest players in the history of the game

Love what you do....

If you ever saw Mike Singletary play football, you knew he was into it: you could see it in his eyes. There was a level of intensity as he watched the quarterback and it led to his being involved in most defensive plays.  Years ago, I worked with a Casino Host named Gary Nolan: he had that same look when he came to work, and attributed it to his years as a pitcher for baseball’s Cincinnati Reds. Both loved playing and it showed: Nolan once told me that’s what it took to compete effectively. This week’s quotes are about teamwork and team spirit, and there are countless sport’s metaphors that apply to work: many companies refer to their employees as teammates and actively work at team building. Effective leaders build workplace cultures that drive motivation and engagement, and high performing employees are positive and work well with others. Make it so your employees love the opportunity to come to work today.

Michael Singletary (b. 1958): American football coach and former professional football player

What's in your job description?

I recently had a consulting assignment to review a company’s job descriptions: I added the qualities in today’s quote to those of their leadership and professional positions. These are qualities that any company should look for when hiring professionals. Like wanting people who can work unsupervised: thinking for themselves and being self-motivated; having the ability to certify when a job or task is completed: both the quantity and quality; and acting with integrity: doing what is right whether someone is watching or not.  The technical competencies in a professional’s job description are easier to define than the qualities of character needed to work hard and care a lot all the time: they summarize the kinds of things that professionals need to do to be effective. Make sure the professionals that work for you understand what’s required, coach them to meet expectations, and give them lots of feedback.  That’s the professional approach to managing professionals today.

Subroto Bagchi (Born 1957): Indian entrepreneur, author, business leader and co-founder of Mindtree 

Happy Valentines Day!

“All you need is love.  But a little chocolate now and then doesn’t hurt.”  Charles Schultz

This Valentine's Day is going to be a little less sweet. SweetHearts, the colorful, heart-shaped candies with sugary messages like "Kiss Me" and "My Love" will be scarce this year: if you're lucky enough to find them, they'll be from last year's batch.  These candies have been a mainstay of Valentine's Day since 1866. The candies are so entwined with this special day that they ranked as the No. 1 candy for Valentine's Day in 2017 and 2018 – The New England Confectionary Company made about 8 billion SweetHearts each year. But they went out of business last year and the company that bought them somehow wasn’t ready for production to get them ready for today. But, one company’s demise is another’s good fortune: look on the shelves and you’ll see M&Ms with similar Valentine’s Day messages. Smart and attentive professionals always spot opportunities and this is no different: the candies may not be exactly the same, but, like your mother used to say: it’s the thought that counts. Here’s hoping you get a whole lot of love and candy today.

Charles Schulz (1922 – 2000): American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Peanuts 

Simple and manageable matters....

People always asked how we opened large and complex casinos: the simple answer was that it was a lot of people doing a lot of small jobs. At first, it seemed overwhelming to us, but then one of our executives suggested breaking it down on a Gantt chart, which is a type of bar chart that illustrates a project schedule. This chart listed the tasks to be performed (in our case, thousands) on the vertical axis, and time intervals (in our case 365 days) on the horizontal axis: the width of the horizontal bars in the graph showed the duration of each activity. We’d never done this before and that first chart helped us to see and track the whole project and everyone’s respective part of the whole. And once we did it, the project no longer seemed quite so daunting. We all do things – both big and small – and they’re all more manageable when divided into small components. This is an idea that can make everyone’s efforts more effective today.  

Henry Ford (1863 – 1947): American industrialist and a business magnate, the founder of the Ford Motor Company

Strive to live a good life....

Consider the things that Confucius says constitute perfect virtue: gravity: being serious about all the right things; magnanimity: being gracious at all the right times; earnestness: being serious for all the right reasons; sincerity: being true to all the right things.; and kindness: caring at all the right moments.  Now imagine how professional you would be if you were to find ways to incorporate them into your life?  You wouldn’t have to be perfect at any one of them: just to know and understand what they are, to work diligently towards achieving them, to fine-tune what you do to stay on track pursuing them, and to adjust when you got off course with any of them.  Find people who have these virtues and learn from them; surround yourself with people like that and grow your awareness of those virtues, and develop your life around the kind of virtues that will make you a better person.  Adopt these five virtues to be a better person today.

Confucius (551–479 BC): Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher

Keep both eyes open....

“We are told we must choose -- the old or the new. In fact, we must choose both.”Susan Sontag

Professionals should always have one eye on the past: knowing the history of what they’re doing helps prepare them for today and tomorrow. Much of what we know and do is based on the legacy of a product or event: how and why it got to be what it is, what people have thought of it over time, and what it will take to keep it new and exciting in the future. All have to be considered. If you’re starting something, study similar situations and learn from others; if you’re joining a work in progress, learn everything about it, ask everyone associated with it (employees, executives and customers) for their impressions, and never stop looking for ways to continually improve it. The old holds the keys to the new: use them to open all of its doors. And as much as you know, there will always be more to discover. Choose to recognize and use both the old and the new for everything you’re doing  today.

Susan Sontag (1933 – 2004): American writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist

If you see something, say something....

The five most important words a leader can speak are - 'I am proud of you'

The four most important are - 'What is your opinion?'

The three most important are - 'If you please'

The two most important are - 'Thank You'

And the most important single word of all is - 'You’       Denis Waitley

Think about what motivates you: it’s often someone paying attention to you, recognizing your efforts, and letting you know they care. Remember how you felt when someone said ‘thank you’ or ‘good job’: things like that make hard work worthwhile. My buddy who is CEO of a gaming company in Canada regularly walks the floor and talks to his employees: he knows their names and makes sure his comments are about them, the work they do, and the things that are important to them. That kind of focus and attention makes an impact: it manifests itself in their demeanor and work. Great leaders make it all about the people they’re leading. Let your employees know you’re proud of them today.

Denis E. Waitley (b. 1933): American motivational speaker, writer and consultant

Make your parents (and everyone else) proud.....

Bloody cold is how my friends described the minus 20-degree temperature (that’s Fahrenheit) in Edmonton yesterday: I was there for a meeting and not anxious to go outside. So, you could imagine my concern when the flight back to Las Vegas was cancelled and I had to drive to Calgary and spend last night in a Marriott Hotel at the airport there waiting for this morning’s flight. That’s the bad news.  The good news started as I stepped inside from the cold and was greeted warmly (no pun intended) by Dhiraj, a smiling desk clerk who came around the counter to help me with my luggage and quickly check me in. Followed by Carly, a restaurant server who’s smile warmed the cold I still felt and made my dinner alone feel like a personal banquet. Neither was famous, but their parents would have been proud of the hospitality they provided. If you’re ever in Calgary, I highly recommend the airport Marriott: the service and the pillows are great. Make your parents proud by providing great service like that today.

Mary Louise "Meryl" Streep (b. 1949): American actress; often described as the "best actress of her generation and known for her versatility and accent adaptation

Be proud of yourself....

Companies are all about building strong and effective work teams, but they’ll never have strong teams until each of their employees is competent in their job and confident in themselves. Meaning employees have to know themselves and what they want: give them an opportunity to discuss their hopes and fears openly to create an environment of camaraderie and trust. Meaning employees have to be proud of themselves: help them learn from their successes and failures as they transform their new-found trust into respect.  Meaning they have to be comfortable being open with their co-workers: the kind of openness that uses shared experiences and goals to bring people and teams together. Teams are complex organisms: leaders must learn to develop and guide their teams effectively in order to get the most out of each individual on that team. Learn to like yourself if you want to be proud of yourself and your work today.

 Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (b. 1981): American singer, songwriter, actress, record producer and dancer

Live your life proudly....

I’m getting to that age when friends are retiring: they’ve had great professional lives, made wonderful contributions, and are now doing the things they’ve dreamed about. A doctor I know has lived in a small New England community, been a popular family practitioner, and now spends his time taking guitar lessons, playing golf and volunteering his time. Several HR colleagues I’ve known thru our mutual association with the Society of Human Resource Management are retired, living in places they’ve chosen, writing books, mentoring up-and-coming HR practitioners, and also volunteering their time. And there are countless others whose lives have taken similar journeys: all of them proud of where they are and living where people are proud of them. I used to fret about getting old, but those AARP materials about the golden years are true. Live a good and proud life and reap its rewards today.

Abraham Lincoln (1809 – 1865): American lawyer and politician who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in April 1865

Learn life's lessons....

Last night’s Super Bowl was a good game, irrespective of who you were rooting for. As sometimes happens, last year’s loser becomes this year’s champion: that’s certainly the case for the New England Patriots. Losses in the big game can often have a big impact, but the Patriots let last year’s results motivate them to re-double their efforts for this year’s campaign. Tom Brady talked about that when receiving this year’s trophy: about battling back and reaching the winner’s podium again, for the 6^thtime.  We all bask in the results of our favorite team’s results and the lessons they learn and exhibit. Battling back from any setback is hard: that’s why humility in accepting what happens is so important. Take your wins and pride in the moment they happen and move on; but keep the lessons learned from your losses forever. That’s how to put the ups and downs of life into perspective today.

Anthony Liccione is from Upstate New York and has been writing poetry 

for over ten years

Share your enthusiasm....

Close your eyes: think of a great leader you really admire.  What is it about him or her that inspires you: it’s probably not so much what they know but how they make you feel; not what they do exactly, but how passionate about it they are. Same with you co-workers: it seems that too many people just go through the motions at work, while others seem to really enjoy it, are actively making suggestions and helping their colleagues, and always seem to be full of energy and passion. You’ll probably see it this weekend during the Super Bowl: there will be players on both teams jumping up and down on the sidelines, exhorting the crowd, and performing with a passion that is palpable. It won’t matter if those players are captains – they’ll be playing with an intensity and vision that comes from their passion, not their position. That’s the kind of spirit and leadership that motivates a whole team. You be that way in whatever you’re doing today.

John Calvin Maxwell (b. 1947): American author, speaker, and pastor who has written many books, primarily focusing on leadership