by Dana Phillips on July 28, 2010
Better communication is a daily requisite for good leadership. Sometimes silence is the highest form of communication. When you ask a question, stop, give the person time to think or process, and avoid the second question. We often do that because we are not comfortable with the silence. Remember that some people take more time to think before they speak. Neil often reminds me, “Dana, some people actually think before they open their mouth.” Imagine that! To allow people time to process, I have purposely put my fingers to my mouth and held them there to remind me that “Silence is Golden.”
by Neil Phillips on July 26, 2010
A thought before you start your week:Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.
~C.S. Lewis
How will you test your courage this week?
Which passionate virtue of yours will be on the line?
How will you celebrate passing the test?
by Neil Phillips on July 19, 2010
A thought before you start your week:
If you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original.
~Sir Ken Robinson
What will being wrong cost?
What is worth the risk of being wrong?
When given a choice between leaving a genuine legacy or not, what is stopping you?
by Neil Phillips on July 11, 2010
A thought before you start your week:
“Technology is the campfire around which we tell our stories.”
~Laurie Anderson
What’s your campfire story?
How will you bring people out of the dark?
How will you help others share the fire?
by Dana Phillips on July 6, 2010
We all want to succeed! Everyone in our business surely has their own individual definition of success: earning enough to buy a dream home, owning one’s own business, raising a family, or even simply helping others improve their lives. Regardless of how you define success in terms of your own life, the guidelines that follow are sure to help you get there.
1. Work to communicate more effectively with others. Do it every day. This includes both talking and listening!
2. Maintain a detailed plan of action. Know at all times what your priorities are, what you need to do next, and where you plan to end up.
3. Appreciate others. You’re sure to rely on the help of countless people as you travel the road to success. Be willing and able to return the favors.
4. Embrace feedback. Always believe that other people’s points of view are valid. Never let pride stand in the way of good advice, and always be willing to admit your mistakes.
5. Know what you want. Allow yourself to think, to dream…to look to the future. Only by discovering what you truly desire will you be able to set your goals.
6. Be a team player. Go “above and beyond” in helping others and the rewards will come back to you.
7. Believe in yourself and don’t give up. History is filled with heroes and legends who kept on trying despite countless setbacks.
by Dana Phillips on July 2, 2010
Leading through conflict is an opportunity to stretch your leadership skills. When someone comes to you to describe a conflict they are having that requires a decision or action from you, it is very easy to see it only from their point of view. A great mentor of mine taught me that there are always at least two sides to a story — sometimes even more than two sides. Before making any decision that you are asked, investigate to discover the other side.
Here is a little formula you might use:
Listen. Listen to the person. This is always valuable because listening doesn’t mean you agree or disagree.
Investigate. Let the person know you will investigate. Many times she will say “No, don’t do that,” and you can sense that maybe it isn’t a big deal, or that she is not looking for you to make a decision.
After you have heard all of the sides of the story, base your decision on three things:
Precedents – what you have done before
Potential – you are setting a precedent for the organization
Principle – your decision should align with your values
Leading with wisdom will serve you and your team for the moment and for the future.
by Dana Phillips on June 30, 2010
“Sometimes I want success for others more than they want it for themselves.” I hear that a lot. You have probably said it at least once. I know I have.
Lately I have come to the realization that the “success” they want may not be my “version.” This realization has opened up amazing opportunities to find out what others really want. Often it is far more than I thought. Many times it requires a different path than I had presumed. I find myself saying, “That is not the path I would take but it is your path.”
Recognizing that others are in charge of their own destiny is so empowering to them and freeing to you, the leader. You are free find more who want to be on your path. You are free to see the greatness in another’s journey. You are free to see others succeed in their own way.
What will you do to learn about your team members’ picture of success?
by Steve Taubman on June 29, 2010
[Ed. Note: We want to welcome Steve Taubman as a new contributor to the blog. He brings great insights to understanding the power of our own mind.]
Kathleen Heyn made a wonderful contribution to More Build It Big in which she described the importance to direct sellers of “peeling the onion.” She explains that our beliefs exist in layers, and that our deepest held, or core, beliefs drive us inexorably toward success or failure. Those beliefs, she asserts, come from past experiences which are filtered through our emotions to create perceptions, which eventually become beliefs.
It’s impossible to generate true and lasting network marketing success in the face of negative beliefs. The incongruence will either stop you completely, impact others at a subconscious level, or tear you apart as you try to be something that inside you don’t feel you are.
So, how do you begin to unravel the negative beliefs which are sabotaging your home-based business success? Here’s a powerful system for doing just that:
- Develop awareness of your own comfort level. Know when you’re in a situation that doesn’t feel good, such as when you’re recruiting or selling.
- As quickly as possible after leaving that situation, write down the exact circumstances, describing the emotions you were feeling.
- Realize that you, not the situation, created the emotion based on unexamined beliefs.
- Write “The reason I created the feeling of __________ when I was _______________is that…”
- Quickly begin to write completions to that sentence over and over again for a minute.
What you’ll discover is that hidden below your conscious filters are all the answers you need to what beliefs are running your life and standing in the way of your direct selling success. The answers you write may surprise you. You may find that you’ve written things like, “…it’s not OK for me to be successful,” or “…I don’t want people to think I’m pushy.”
Realize that those beliefs may seem very real to you, but they’re just interpretations of reality that you created, probably when you were very young and hadn’t the benefit of a broader perspective. Once you’re aware of what those beliefs are, you can get to work rescripting and reframing them to arrive in a more resourceful place, ultimately becoming the powerful business owner you deserve to be!
Dr. Steve Taubman is the author of the Amazon.com self-help bestseller, UnHypnosis and of the authoritative sales mastery system, Increase Your Mind, Increase Your Sales. He’s also a sought after international speaker on the topic of removing hidden barriers to success. His programs are widely recognized for their humor, energy and polish. As a corporate magician and hypnotist, Dr. Taubman brings over two decades of stagecraft to his presentations, coupled by wisdom gained from such diverse areas as transpersonal psychology, mindfulness meditation and improvisational theater. To learn more about Dr. Taubman and his programs, visit www.stevetaubman.com.
by Neil Phillips on June 28, 2010
A thought before you start your week:
Every now and then go away, have a little relaxation, for when you come back to your work your judgment will be surer; since to remain constantly at work will cause you to lose power of judgment …. Go some distance away because the work appears smaller and more of it can be taken in at a glance, and a lack of harmony or proportion is more readily seen.
~Leonardo Da Vinci
What is your best way to restore judgment?
How will you put things in perspective?
What will relaxation provide for your work that can’t be found elsewhere?
by Neil Phillips on June 21, 2010
A thought before you start your week:
Happiness, knowledge, not in another place but this place, not for another hour but this hour.
~Walt Whitman
What does it take for you to own this hour?
What does your head need to be happy right now?
What happiness will knowledge bring you?
