S&B Management Partners LLC
When a fellow speaker presents the audience with an “Aha” moment…my heart is smiling. And when I see another speaker in an embarrassing moment…I am blushing, too.Let me tell you about one of those blushing moments.
...our job was much more about listening than it was speaking.
We can only develop personal empathy for others when we personally identify with their pain. Whether from a sincere heart or not, one of Bill Clinton’s most appreciated comments was, “I feel your pain.” That short sentence resonated with millions of Americans. People hold their money back from others because they’ve forgotten what it felt like to be without. Generous giving is more about who...
Read More
I still remember the night. It was in the early morning hours, probably around 3:00 a.m., in August 1974. I was involved in the Nashville record scene and had received word that Elvis was in town for one of his clandestine middle-of-the-night recording sessions. So I slipped by RCA Studio B and arranged to be there when Elvis ended the session. As he walked out,...
Read More
When it comes to credit cards—there’s an important topic to consider: beware of the minimum payment trap. Millions of Americans think they’re doing just fine as long as they make the minimum payment each month. But, believe me, if that’s all you’re paying you’ve already got one foot in the financial grave and the other on a banana peel! Credit card companies love people who...
Read More
In the 1930’s the United States government told us a lie. They told us that if we were working 40 hours per week…we were fully employed. Wow. That was interesting! Historically, a typical workweek included 12-hour days, six days a week. There are 168 hours in a week. I personally can tell you that you can work more than 40 of them. As a matter...
Read More
Herd-Think (when we follow others for no good reason) is one of the great killers of accomplishment. While crabs don’t congregate in herds, their behavior in groups is a perfect example of Herd-Think. Crab fishermen have learned a curious truth about the crustaceans they seize from the sea. They’ve learned that crabs hate succeeders. When a crab trap is lowered into the sea, the little...
Read More
There is a great chasm in our culture. This is the reason fifty-five-year-old bosses are clueless when it comes to motivating and dispatching their younger workforce. This is why parents feel adrift when communicating with their pre-teen and teenage children. This is why we don’t get along. What causes this? It is the cultural divide between Modernists and Post-Modernists. In case these are terms with...
Read More
An old sage once remarked, “A mind once stretched by a new idea will never return to its original dimension.” I don’t expect you to necessarily agree with every assumption, comment, or strategy I share. That’s okay. My simple hope is that you will find a few golden nuggets that will revolutionize your selling career. To begin, selling is about much more than getting appointments,...
Read More
Unless you are an Internet genius, a star athlete, or were born to a Fortune 500 CEO, your best way to build wealth is through your sales career. But in order to work, you have to remain healthy. Here’s the Secret to a Healthy Life: Choose your parents carefully. But short of that… The fact is: sick is expensive. I believe we owe it to...
Read More
At its core, selling is communication and persuasion. To accomplish this, we must be likeable people. This means that you don’t have the luxury of bringing your problems to work with you. When you arrive at work, everything else goes away. You put on your game face. You focus on your customers and clients. Your only reason for existence is to serve…not to be served....
Read More
Which type of leader are you? As I discussed in my book, ReTooled & ReFueled, there are essentially two leadership models. The first is power-driven leadership. This is where a person with power leads through fear and intimidation. At its worst, this is a slave master who abuses a slave. More often today, it’s a boss who is more focused on his own career than...
Read More
These days, hotel owners routinely supply their guests with hospitalities and amenities that were unheard of 15 years ago. An example of going the extra mile. There’s a simple reason for this: competition. They know they have a vanishing inventory. Any room that goes unsold tonight is a sales opportunity that’s lost forever. This means everyone is trying to outdo the competitors. So it follows...
Read More
FACT: Successful Leadership is a most counterintuitive commodity. It was in late 1981, the country still in a deep economic recession, that I first noticed a forlorn-looking office building on Nashville’s world famous Music Row. Our business was still young, and so was I—just 29. Money was tight. But, at a glance, I saw what could be done with this property. So, I inquired and...
Read More
I’m about to arm you with a machine gun, so I want to begin with a warning. I always hesitate discussing techniques on closings until I’m sure that I’m not arming a sales terrorist. The techniques I’m about to share with you will help you make sales. That can be a good or a bad thing. It’s a good thing if you use these closings...
Read More
One of the things I warn audiences about is a phenomenon where people all do the same thing. A prime example is people buying the same investments that lots of other people are buying…not because they make good logical sense, but because everyone else is doing it. At the base of this behavior is the fear that the crowd will succeed and the individual will...
Read More
Over the last 16 years I’ve spoken to audiences hundreds of times on the topic of personal finance in my No Debt No Sweat Money Management Seminar™. I’ve written scores of articles on the topic and the No Debt No Sweat™ book has been a big seller. So it’s fair to say that I’ve got a real interest (and some experience) in the area of...
Read More
As I’ve mentioned before, I had a 25-year career as head of a Nashville advertising and branding agency. In that business, when we developed a product’s brand, we began by searching for that product’s distinctive (Differential) benefit (Advantage.) This was that special benefit our product offered that other similar products did not offer. This is what made our product distinctive, noteworthy, and special. Through those...
Read More
These days, hotel owners routinely supply their guests with hospitalities and amenities that were unheard of 15 years ago. There’s a simple reason for this: competition. They know they have a vanishing inventory. Any room that goes unsold tonight is a sales opportunity that’s lost forever. This means everyone is trying to outdo the competitors. So it follows that I’ve enjoyed some pretty good hotel...
Read More
The earmark of contemporary Western culture is an unmitigated drive for instant gratification. That’s why we drive cars we can’t afford with money we don’t have to impress people at traffic lights we don’t know. We routinely see CEOs running up stock prices by doing things that will hurt their companies in the long-term. But there are, as there always have been, a relatively small...
Read More
One of the most important lessons in success that I’ve learned is the need to focus on the long-term rather than the short term. Every failure in my life has been because of short-term thinking. This may be true for you, too. It is for most people. But, a person might say, “No, that business failed because its biggest client pulled out.” Yes, that may...
Read More
FACT: Successful Leadership is a most counterintuitive commodity. I first noticed a forlorn-looking office building on Nashville’s world famous Music Row in late 1981 with our country still deep in an economic recession. Our business was still young, and so was I—just 29. Money was tight. But, at a glance, I saw what could be done with this property. So, I inquired and found that...
Read More
With whom are you angry? Yes, that’s the question. Right this minute, who are you mad at? Who do you need to forgive? Is it your business partner who expects you to do the grunt work while he shows up for the rewards? What about the person you helped with a project who got the position you were vying for? Is it a colleague who...
Read More
My goal is to reduce my RQ. To explain: most of us are familiar with the IQ (intelligence quotient) concept. This is the way smart people determine the intelligence of the rest of us. Generally speaking, someone with an IQ of around 100-110 is considered to be of average intelligence. Those with IQs of 120 will probably grow up to manage other people. And those...
Read More
We can only develop personal empathy for others when we personally identify with their pain. Whether from a sincere heart or not, one of Bill Clinton’s most appreciated comments was, “I feel your pain.” That short sentence resonated with millions of Americans. People hold their money back from others because they’ve forgotten what it felt like to be without. Generous giving is more about who...
Read More
I still remember the night. Actually, it was in the early morning hours, probably around 3:00 a.m., in August 1974. I was involved in the Nashville record scene and had received word that Elvis was in town for one of his clandestine middle-of-the-night recording sessions. So I slipped by RCA Studio B and arranged to be there when Elvis ended the session. As he walked...
Read More
I still remember a delightful couple we met some years ago on a trip to the Southwest. It was obvious from their dress and presentation that they had no money worries. As our conversation progressed, I asked the other man what all guys ask each other, “So, what do you do?” His response surprised and intrigued me, “I’m in the portable outhouse business.” Over the...
Read More
In high school, Jeremiah had never won any awards for brilliance. His wheel was still spinning, but the hamster was dead. So, it came as a big surprise when Jeremiah returned to his hometown three years after graduation as the richest kid who had ever come from that town. Today, he was a quad-zillionaire…and no one could figure it out. Finally, some of Jeremiah’s old...
Read More
I’m known as the Fast-Forward Leadership guy. Each year I speak to audiences over 100 times…many on the topic of the Principles of Principled Leadership. Below are three critical considerations for any of us who presume to lead others. 1) FACT: Most people focus on their weaknesses. Successful people play to their strengths. This doesn’t mean we ignore those weaknesses forever. Quite the contrary. Instead...
Read More
I’m presently at about 30,000 feet flying home from an extraordinary visit in Lubbock, Texas with my friend, Rick Betenbough of Betenbough Homes. BH is one of America’s 100 largest homebuilders. The company started in 1992 with Rick and his dad, Ron, pretty much making it up as they went. Their goal was to build 40 or 50 homes. But something happened. Ron, who had...
Read More
It’s hard to see the big picture while living in a world filled with small thinking people. We tend to start projects with high goals, but somehow drift into the weeds of life, making it difficult to remember what’s most important. Take the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright who made their first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. On...
Read More
To quote the great 20th-century philosopher, Mayberry’s Deputy Barney Fife, one of the best ways to avoid conflicts is to do the right thing in the first place and simply, “Nip it in the bud!” Succinctly put, conflict often happens because people tend to be gutless. I’ve heard it said, “If you want to have less conflict, have more of it.” I think that’s profound....
Read More
The only thing worse than a conflict is an even worse conflict. Here are four ideas from my bestseller, ReTooled & ReFueled, which you might find helpful. 1. Picking the wrong time and place. Little good is accomplished when we are tired, stressed, ill, or focused on too many other issues. Sometimes the best thing to do is schedule an exact time for discussing a...
Read More
Bonnie and I opened The Franklin Group, Inc. in the mid 1970s. Those first years were tough. We worked lots of seventy and ninety hour weeks. It was typical for me to start early in the morning catching up on paperwork, then to spend most of the day visiting clients and prospects. Since we didn’t yet have an art department, a copywriter, or even a...
Read More
Sssshh! Don’t tell anyone, but today there’s a dirty little secret in many of our homes that is robbing us of peace, damaging our witness, and destroying our spiritual vigor. Sure, this might be the introduction to an article about marital infidelity, internet pornography, or one of the other high profile problems. But it’s not. Instead, I’m referring to a plague that we rarely acknowledge...
Read More
We are living in the age of the victim. We live in a culture that worships at the altar of the victim. Americans everywhere are looking for others to blame. If I trip in my neighbor’s yard—it’s his fault. If I hang out at Burger King until I look like a Whooper—somehow Burger King is to blame. On the surface this may be a comforting...
Read More
“There is nothing new under the sun.” If he had never made another statement, this comment would have proven Solomon’s wisdom. Each generation goes to great lengths to convince itself that their generation is the worst and most depraved one yet. But the fact is human nature is pretty predictable. Conflict among humans has been around as long as there have been humans. In frontier...
Read More
As you may know, I am a professional speaker. Each year I travel nationally and abroad and speak about 150 times. Bottom-line: I fly a lot…about 100 flights annually. So, it doesn’t take me long to size up a flight attendant’s mood. This is an important skill because the flight attendant’s mood is a good predictor of how enjoyable the flight will be. Recently I...
Read More
Success is not determined by our hardware — it is usually determined by the software that we’re running. Most people have perfectly capable hardware…normal intelligence and decent health. The difference between winners and losers is in the software they run. By software, I’m referring to the things we tell ourselves, the way we choose to look at the world around us, our internal motivation, and...
Read More
In the spring of 1977, Bon and I determined to begin our own business…an ad agency in Nashville. But, due to terrible spending habits, I’d wasted all the money I’d earned in the three years since graduating from college in 1974. The only money we had was $4,000 that Bonnie’s family and friends had given us as investors in our new business. (To this day,...
Read More
Life is a beautiful path of stepping-stones — each experience can be linked to the next—much like stepping-stones across a stream. One of the best ways to assure defeat and depression is to approach life with an all-or-nothing attitude. That is, if you don’t get the whole cake — you won’t enjoy the party. Sure, I believe in striving for excellence, but there’s a difference...
Read More
It’s human nature to desire success without effort. But unless you have a big inheritance (or a mask and a gun), that probably won’t happen. The ancient biblical proverb says, “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” The most successful people put out the most effort. While the old saying “practice makes perfect” may not be literally...
Read More
There may be five, 10, or even 50 different ways to accomplish a task. But there is always only one best way to do anything. Successful people are those rare people who understand that there is always only one best way to do anything. And, it’s those people who find that best way to do something, then repeats that process over and over and over...
Read More
I call it “herd-think”…the tendency to do exactly what everyone else is doing. People fall into “herd-think” for various reasons: 1) They incorrectly assume that others are smarter. 2) They are too lazy to think for themselves. 3) They are afraid to take “the path less traveled.” Suppose I asked you to select a number between one and a 100. Then suppose I told you...
Read More
Successful people tick differently from other people. They see things differently. They process data differently. They approach challenges differently. Here are 3 truths that successful people live by. Success Truth #1: Not Everyone Is Going to Like You—Get Over It! Successful people are true to themselves. They set high standards of performance and integrity. But, they don’t allow others to define them. Most of us...
Read More
How many times have you gone away from a conflict feeling as though nothing beneficial happened? As an executive coach, I’ve found five important reasons why attempts at conflict resolution often fail. 1. Rabbit chasing. The easiest thing to do in a dispute is to get off message and begin chasing rabbits. If two account executives, Ron and Janice, are feuding over how to best...
Read More
QUESTION: What do Microsoft founder Bill Gates; America’s undisputed king of talk radio Rush Limbaugh; and the late Peter Jennings, ABC News chief and anchorman, all have in common? ANSWER: None of them graduated from college. Some of the most successful people I’ve known are not the most academically brilliant people on the planet. Maybe this explains why many great leaders and achievers weren’t particularly...
Read More
Today, I like roller coasters, but it hasn’t always been that way. They used to scare me. When the coaster would speed over the top and drop straight down, I would grab the bar in front of me hanging on for dear life. My knuckles were white, my eyes were closed, and my teeth were clinched. It would be an understatement to say that I...
Read More
The 1950s were a good time for America. We had won the big war. The baby boom was in full swing. America liked Ike. We were feeling our collective oats. But not everything was as it seemed. In fact, we didn’t know that several decades later we’d look back on the 1950s as the Happy Days era. In reality, there was a lot of tension...
Read More
I fly a lot. So, it doesn’t take me long to size up a flight attendant’s mood. This is an important skill because the flight attendant’s mood is a good predictor of how enjoyable the flight will be. Recently I was flying from Chicago to Nashville with an angry flight attendant. As a matter of fact, she bluntly announced, “I’m in a bad mood!”—and she...
Read More
Successful people realize true success is not always outcome based. This truth is not one you will find in most success manuals. It runs counter to what the world says about success. But I believe it may be the most important of the success truths. True success is the determination to do the right thing— no matter what the cost. And realize, it is very...
Read More
Do you dread change? Most of us do. However, one difference between succeeders and failures is that succeeders learn to embrace healthy change. It actually invigorates them. When you boil it all down, most of us resist change for three reasons: 1. Fear of the unknown. It amazes me how people will sometimes live endlessly in a painful situation simply because they’re afraid of trying...
Read More
In 1977, Bonnie and I opened our advertising agency. Those first years were tough. We worked lots of seventy and ninety hour weeks. It was typical for me to start early in the morning catching up on paperwork, then to spend most of the day visiting clients and prospects. Since we didn’t yet have an art department, a copywriter, or even a staff media buyer,...
Read More
Perfectionism is the great killer of the good. Successful people learn to roll with the punches. People who insist on things going their way in every case (Plan A) will be continually frustrated and feel like failures. If Plan A equals happiness, you will be unhappy about 90 percent of the time, and frightened of becoming unhappy the other 10 percent. Learning to embrace change...
Read More
It’s human nature to desire success without effort. But unless you have a big inheritance (or, a mask and a gun), that probably won’t happen. The ancient biblical proverb says, “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” Following are three ideas you may find helpful: 1) The most successful people put out the most effort. While the...
Read More
“Great, so, what does that mean?” you ask.
Do you remember that kid in grade school who could write equally well with either her right or left hand? She was said to be ambidextrous. In a similar way, most successful people learn to work from both their right and left-brains. We’re told that there are two groups of people: right-brained thinkers (those who are primarily...
Read More
I started my advertising agency, in part, because I didn’t want to work for someone else. It wasn’t arrogance that led me to this. It was conviction. As I surveyed the advertising agency world, I wasn’t impressed. Agencies seemed too focused on winning awards and padding expense accounts, and woefully disinterested in their clients’ true needs. Also, there was the morality thing. I didn’t like...
Read More
There are some fictions that we probably can live with. But there are some that, if we believe them, will ruin our lives. The advertising world expends a lot of effort and money trying to convince us that we “can have it all.” But the fact is, you can’t have it all. No one can have it all. Having it all is a fiction that...
Read More
As I discuss in my book, Fast-Forward Leadership, there are essentially two leadership models. The first is power-driven leadership. This is where a person with power leads through fear and intimidation. At its worst, this is a slave master who abuses a slave. More often today, it’s a boss who is more focused on his own career than he is on the greater good of...
Read More
This has been a tough learning curve for me. Like so many other leadership and motivational speakers, I have stood before many audiences and said, “The longest 15” trip in the world is from our heads to our hearts.” I believed it. That’s why I said it. After all, it had always been true in my experience. In my world, the facts (or mind) led....
Read More
During the 25 years I ran my advertising agency we often spoke of an advertiser’s “target markets.” By this we referred the age, income levels, genders, etc. of the people we hoped to reach with our message. Saying with our advertising metaphor, you need to understand that each of us has two target markets. We should determine to be a ferocious truth teller with both:...
Read More
There is a great chasm in our culture. This is the reason fifty-five-year-old bosses are clueless when it comes to motivating and dispatching their younger workforce. This is why parents feel adrift when communicating with their pre-teen and teenage children. This is why we don’t get along. What causes this? It is the cultural divide between Modernists and Post-Modernists. In case these are terms with...
Read More
Following are four tips that have helped me deal with change. You may want to consider using some of them the next time you are faced with a “change moment.” 1) Don’t wait for all the details. Good leaders want lots of details before they make a decision. That’s great…up to a point. Despite one’s best efforts, in most situations it’s impossible to get all...
Read More
Most of the failed people whom I’ve known have been herd thinkers. So, one of the things I warn audiences about is this phenomenon where people all do the same thing. A prime example is people buying the same investment that lots of other people are buying…not because it makes logical sense, but because everyone else is buying it. At the base of this behavior...
Read More
I want to tell you about a call from a young person that I’ll call Greg. I’ve known Greg all of his life. He is well educated and has extremely good people skills. However, this call wasn’t a pleasant one. Greg told me that he was depressed and discouraged. As a matter of fact, he was ready to rethink his chosen career path. “What,” I...
Read More
Life is a to do list and in this post I’m going to show you how to make a to do list for both business and life! I grew up in the 1960s…the era of rebellion and non-conformity. Sadly, we still have some warmed-over hippies left from that time. Their attitude is, “Don’t complicate my life with your strategies…let me do my own thing.” On...
Read More
No one needs to tell you that we live in a restless and tightly wound society. The culture has become coarse and strained. From workplace shooting to road rage on the highway, we see conflict all around us. But, there are some very effective ways to approach, and resolve, conflicts. Through the years, I’ve listened and learned from some very wise people. I’ve also had...
Read More
The 1950s was a good time for America. We had won the big war. The baby boom was in full swing. America liked Ike. We were feeling our collective oats. But not everything was as it seemed. In fact, we didn’t know that several decades later we’d look back on the 1950s as the Happy Days era. In reality, there was a lot of tension...
Read More
For anyone who aspires to succeed in a field, it’s always best to study what other successful people are already doing. Through the years I’ve dealt with conflict resolution on various levels. Here are 4 tricks the greats all use: 1. They listen. Effective conflict resolvers are good listeners. They make it a point to hear what is being said. Much of the conflict I...
Read More
As a professional speaker, I’m a huge fan of other professional speakers. When one of my peers gets a standing O…I find myself enjoying a standing O vicariously. When a fellow speaker presents the audience with an “Aha” moment…my heart is smiling. And when I see another speaker in an embarrassing moment…I am blushing, too. Let me tell you about one of those blushing moments....
Read More
Alexis de Tocqueville said, “Americans are so enamored of equality, they would rather be equal in slavery than unequal in freedom.” He was right. Tocqueville understood one of the most fundamental of all leadership concepts…one will never be a great leader until she has the courage to step away from the herd when the herd is not performing well. And, on that point, it’s rare...
Read More
To paraphrase the late, great Coach Bear Bryant, “The trouble with the road to success is that it’s filled with too many parking places!” We don’t usually have difficulties and failures in our lives because we simply don’t know what we ought to do. We don’t live defeated lives because we don’t promise ourselves that we’ll do better. Instead, most of our self-disappointment comes because...
Read More
To deal with conflict, we must understand its different forms. More importantly, we must choose our battles very carefully. A while ago, I was in a coaching session with a young educator in a southeastern state. She was terribly upset because a program in which she had invested a lot of time and energy was being re-thought. She was hurt and angry. In reality,...
Read More
It’s hard to see the big picture while living in a world filled with small thinking people. We tend to start projects with high goals, but somehow drift into the weeds of life, making it difficult to remember what’s most important. Take the story of Orville and Wilbur Wright who made their first airplane flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina on December 17, 1903. On...
Read More
To quote the great 20th-century philosopher, Mayberry’s Deputy Barney Fife, one of the best ways to avoid consequences is to do the right thing in the first place and simply, “Nip it in the bud!” Succinctly put, conflict often happens because people tend to be gutless. I’ve heard it said, “If you want to have less conflict, have more of it.” I think that’s profound....
Read More
The only thing worse than a conflict is an even worse conflict. Here are four ideas from my bestseller, ReTooled & ReFueled, which you might find helpful. Picking the wrong time and place. Little good is accomplished when we are tired, stressed, ill, or focused on too many other issues. Sometimes the best thing to do is schedule an exact time for discussing a conflict....
Read More
No matter how successful you are, or have been, you must continue to master the art of listening.
Success is not determined by our hardware — it is usually determined by the software that we’re running. Most people have perfectly capable hardware…normal intelligence and decent health. The difference between winners and losers is in the software they run. By software, I’m referring to the things we tell ourselves, the way we choose to look at the world around us, our internal motivation, and...
Read More
“There is nothing new under the sun.” If he had never made another statement, this comment would have proven Solomon’s wisdom. Each generation goes to great lengths to convince itself that their generation is the worst and most depraved one yet. But the fact is human nature is pretty predictable. Conflict among humans has been around as long as there have been humans. In frontier...
Read More
As you may know, I am a professional speaker. Each year I travel nationally and abroad and speak about 150 times. Bottom-line: I fly a lot…about 100 flights annually. So, it doesn’t take me long to size up a flight attendant’s mood. This is an important skill because the flight attendant’s mood is a good predictor of how enjoyable the flight will be. Recently I...
Read More
One of the lessons I’ve learned as I travel America speaking to all sorts of audiences: It’s human nature to desire success without effort. But unless you have a big inheritance (or a mask and a gun), that probably won’t happen. The ancient biblical proverb says, “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” The most successful people...
Read More
In the spring of 1977, Bon and I determined to begin our own business…an ad agency in Nashville. But, due to terrible spending habits, I’d wasted all the money I’d earned in the three years since graduating from college in 1974. The only money we had was $4,000 that Bonnie’s family and friends had given us as investors in our new business. (To this day,...
Read More
We are living in the age of the victim. We live in a culture that worships at the altar of the victim. Americans everywhere are looking for others to blame. If I trip in my neighbor’s yard—it’s his fault. If I hang out at Burger King until I look like a Whooper—somehow Burger King is to blame. On the surface this may be a comforting...
Read More
Sssshh! Don’t tell anyone, but today there’s a dirty little secret in many of our homes that is robbing us of peace, damaging our witness, and destroying our spiritual vigor. Sure, this might be the introduction to an article about marital infidelity, internet pornography, or one of the other high profile problems. But it’s not. Instead, I’m referring to a plague that we rarely acknowledge...
Read More
Like they say: There’s little consolation in being the best-looking horse in the glue factory. Knowing that many of our friends have lost their jobs is little comfort when you lose your job. So, let’s get ahead of the curve—and talk about how to stay employed. 1. Earn your keep. When we’re on the boss’ clock that means we should be working for the boss. Billions...
Read More
There may be five, 10, or even 50 different ways to accomplish a task. But there is always only one best way to do anything. Successful people are those rare people who understand that there is always only one best way to do anything. And, it’s those people who find that best way to do something, then repeats that process over and over and over...
Read More
I call it “herd-think”…the tendency to do exactly what everyone else is doing. People fall into “herd-think” for various reasons: 1) They incorrectly assume that others are smarter. 2) They are too lazy to think for themselves. 3) They are afraid to take “the path less traveled.” Suppose I asked you to select a number between one and a 100....
Read More
Successful people tick differently from other people. They see things differently. They process data differently. They approach challenges differently. Here are 3 truths that successful people live by. Success Truth #1: Not Everyone Is Going to Like You—Get Over It! Successful people are true to themselves. They set high standards of performance and integrity. But, they don’t allow others to define them. Most of us...
Read More
As I write this, Bon and I are in Dubrovnik, Croatia for a series of speaking engagements. Yesterday, we had the day off…and an opportunity to visit this most beautiful Mediterranean coastal city. However, the peace and calm were abruptly halted when three men began a very load argument in the middle of the old city street. After several moments, things calmed down. But, once again,...
Read More
This morning I spoke to an audience on the Celebrity Equinox Cruise Ship somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea…about how to resolve conflict. But, in truth, sometimes resolving a conflict can take a Herculean effort. How many times have you gone away from a conflict feeling as though nothing beneficial happened? As an executive coach, I’ve found five important reasons why attempts at conflict resolution often...
Read More
Today, I like roller coasters, but it hasn’t always been that way. They used to scare me. When the coaster would speed over the top and drop straight down, I would grab the bar in front of me hanging on for dear life. My knuckles were white, my eyes were closed, and my teeth were clinched. It would be an understatement to say that I...
Read More
QUESTION: What do Microsoft founder Bill Gates; America’s undisputed king of talk radio Rush Limbaugh; and the late Peter Jennings, ABC News chief and anchorman, all have in common? ANSWER: None of them graduated from college. Some of the most successful people I’ve known are not the most academically brilliant people on the planet. Maybe this explains why many great leaders and achievers weren’t particularly...
Read More
The 1950s was a good time for America. We had won the big war. The baby boom was in full swing. America liked Ike. We were feeling our collective oats. But not everything was as it seemed. In fact, we didn’t know that several decades later we’d look back on the 1950s as the Happy Days era. In reality, there was a lot of tension...
Read More
I fly a lot. So, it doesn’t take me long to size up a flight attendant’s mood. This is an important skill because the flight attendant’s mood is a good predictor of how enjoyable the flight will be. Recently I was flying from Chicago to Nashville with an angry flight attendant. As a matter of fact, she bluntly announced, “I’m in a bad mood!”—and she...
Read More
Successful people realize true success is not always outcome based. This truth is not one you will find in most success manuals. It runs counter to what the world says about success. But I believe it may be the most important of the success truths. True success is the determination to do the right thing— no matter what the cost. And realize, it is very...
Read More
This new video that I call, POP Goes the Music, pulls back the curtain on the history of Pop Music...with lots of personal memories. Go to https://stevediggs.com/steve-diggs-videos/ (2nd video down on left side). Filled with vintage videos and stories of the people I've met and worked with: Pat Boone, Elvis, Beach Boys,Bobby Vinton, Dr. Hook...and more. Please share your thoughts and advice...as I can always use the help. My Occupation? I speak to businesses and other organizations worldwide about 150x yearly on Leadership, Sales Training, Customer Service, Branding, and Maximizing Our Potential. But My Avocation is Pop Music. Huge thanks to Dieter Spears and InHaus Productions for all the hard work!
Do you dread change? Most of us do. However, one difference between succeeders and failures is that succeeders learn to embrace healthy change. It actually invigorates them. When you boil it all down, most of us resist change for three reasons:
If I'd Known This...It'd Saved me $1,000's!
Perfectionism is the great killer of the good. Successful people learn to roll with the punches. People who insist on things going their way in every case (Plan A) will be continually frustrated and feel like failures. If Plan A equals happiness, you will be unhappy about 90 percent of the time, and frightened of becoming unhappy the other 10 percent. Learning to embrace change...
Read More
It’s human nature to desire success without effort. But unless you have a big inheritance (or, a mask and a gun), that probably won’t happen. The ancient biblical proverb says, “The sluggard craves and gets nothing, but the desires of the diligent are fully satisfied.” Following are three ideas you may find helpful: 1) The most successful people put out the most effort. While the...
Read More
I still remember a conversation with Al Jardine of the Beach Boys. By this time, the Beach Boys had been in the entertainment business for decades. The group had produced scores of hit records and sold-out concerts. If any group in America had the right to rest on its laurels, it would be these guys. Yet, I remember how introspectively Al answered my question when...
Read More
“Great, so, what does that mean?” you ask.
Do you remember that kid in grade school who could write equally well with either her right or left hand? She was said to be ambidextrous. In a similar way, most successful people learn to work from both their right and left-brains. We’re told that there are two groups of people: right-brained thinkers (those who are primarily artistic,...
Read More
At first blush, this sounds like a no-brainer. However, most people do not follow this fundamental principle. Studies show that more than 85 percent of people believe the key to success is based on fixing their weaknesses. While fixing problems is important, no person or organization will fully succeed until it learns to maximize its strengths. This isn’t news for most major corporations. Corporate types...
Read More
The key is not to wait for the right mood, the perfect opportunity, or the most desirable circumstance. The key is to start doing the right thing right now. Don’t do the right thing because you get stroked, get the raise, or get it reported in the news. Do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.
Jack Welch, retired General Electric CEO, says, “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete.” There may be five, ten, or even fifty different ways to accomplish a task. But there is always only one best way to do anything. Successful people are those people who find the best way to do something, then repeat that process over and over and over again. In...
Read More
That’s sort of an odd comment isn’t it? But it’s true. I’m convinced that most of us would not fear failure so much if we understood its benefits. In fact, many of today’s most successful people are the same folks who have suffered some of the greatest failures. How did they accomplish this? I’m glad you asked. Used correctly, failure can catapult us to success...
Read More
Let me explain. Suppose I asked you to select a number between one and a hundred. Then suppose I told you that I could predict which number you have selected in seven guesses or less, provided you tell me whether my guesses are too high or too low. You’re skeptical, right? After all, mathematically speaking, seven is only 14 percent of 100. So doesn’t it...
Read More
From that first hit record in 1955 (Two Hearts, Two Kisses)…through years of success and challenges…this guy is the REAL DEAL. Pat comes from great stock. His parents, Margaret and Archie, were like...
Read More
When our outgo exceeds our income…then our upkeep will be our downfall.
When one’s outgo exceeds one’s income…then one’s upkeep will be that one’s downfall. www.stevediggs.com
If you’re part of the American workforce, you are likely concerned about the security of your present job or the job of a family member. As I visit around the country and read your emails, it is obvious to me that Christians everywhere are struggling.
One of the most human of all the things we do is try to avoid pain. No one wants to be hurt. For most of us, problems are the quicksand of life. They bog us down and stop our forward motion. Allowed to go unchecked, problems will kill our productivity, energy, passion, and optimism.
As a habit, I don’t put bumper stickers on my car. It’s partially because they distract from the appearance of the car, but there’s actually another reason why my car is a sticker-free zone.
As I tell audiences across the country in my No Debt No Sweat! Christian Money Management Seminars: “If you don’t control your money—your money will control you.” Some of us have forgotten a couple of vital principles: 1) Bank withdrawals must be preceded by deposits! 2) When your outgo exceeds your income, then your upkeep will be your downfall! As we’ve been discussing in this...
Read More
