Category: Motivation

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Stress Test

My nephew just completed the first 90 days of his new career in the high-risk insurance industry. The interesting thing is he almost didn’t have the opportunity to take on this new role after spending six years in real estate. After several interviews at various levels of the company, he met with the founder. Everything went well until he got up to leave.

That’s when the key decision-maker looked him in the eye and said: “Ryan, when I was in your position, I would finish an interview and wonder, ‘Where do I stand?’ So I want to let you know what I’m thinking. To succeed in our business, we need people who are 10s. I see you as a five. That’s not meant to hurt your feelings, just to let you know I’m not sure you’ll make it here.”

Although caught off-guard, Ryan said, “Well, I respectfully disagree and hope you’ll reconsider.” They shook hands and parted. After a few hours, Ryan had time to digest the unexpected ending, so he wrote a polite email to this gentleman outlining why he sees himself as a 10 and exactly what he would do to prove that. The next day he received an offer.

A few weeks after starting at the company, Ryan was sharing this story with a couple of veteran salesmen. They smiled and told him the founder did the same thing after their interviews. “He gave you a five?” one of them said. “All I got was a four.”

Successful salespeople have to be comfortable overcoming deflection and rejection. This veteran leader utilizes a unique interview technique to test candidates. Is there something similar your company could adopt to see who rises to the top and responds appropriately?

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Winning Formula

Since we moved to Houston in 1998, the only local sports highlights were when the Astros played in the National League Championship Series twice and made it to the World Series once. Rockets? One playoff series win in 13 seasons. Texans? Still mired in mediocrity after nine years. Meanwhile, in the past eight months, my hometown – DFW – has seen the Rangers play in the World Series and crowned the Mavericks as NBA Champions. That’s great for my family and friends there… and I’m enjoying it from afar.

Listening to and reading commentary of media experts this morning about what happened to the South Beach dream team – for instance, Colin Cowherd on ESPN Radio said, “I honestly thought Miami was better last night with LeBron James on the bench” – it’s clear Dirk Nowitzki and the deepest roster in the league outplayed the Heat’s three highly paid All Stars.

Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh and LeBron joined together last summer with the goal to win multiple championships. Number one will have to wait another year. As Michael Rosenberg wrote on SI.com: “The self-proclaimed King wanted it to be easy. His company’s logo should be a cart in front of a horse.” LeBron disappeared in the fourth quarter of every game. He’ll have the next four months to develop his post play and figure out how to do more when the basketball is in someone else’s hands

The Heat proved it’s hard to buy your way to success. Its travails serve as a lesson to business leaders that you need everyone on your team working together to become a champion. It took Dirk 13 years to lift that trophy. Time will tell whether the Big Three ever stand on the podium with smiles on their faces… or if this great experiment turns out to be the Big Mistake.

Note: Tomorrow at 1 p.m. EDT, I’ll appear on Insights Live, an Internet radio show, to share how to get everyone on your team pulling in the same direction. Here’s a link if you’d like to join us: http://bit.ly/keUIj4

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Forward Motion

Over the last year I worked to develop a relationship with a large company in the transportation industry. This included starting over midway through when the person who oversees their coaching practice left the organization. Several months after that setback I had a terrific conversation with the new director. Finally, on her recommendation, I interviewed with two HR specialists to become part of their stable of coaches. I waited patiently as two weeks passed without hearing a word. Then I received an email informing me they selected someone else.

As the disappointment set in that I wouldn’t be coaching their senior leaders, I felt the dejection of rejection. It’s not a feeling I enjoy, and it’s one reason being a salesperson will never be in my career plans. I moped around for about an hour, went outside for some fresh air and about every 30 minutes until bedtime kept falling back into wondering what went wrong.

The next morning I woke up refreshed and with a new attitude. While I could have sat around feeling sorry for myself – ‘How could they not choose me?’ – that would have only wasted time. It wouldn’t have changed anything.

Then wisdom arrived: This was not about me being qualified or talented enough to coach their leaders; it was about the decision-maker selecting what is best – from her perspective – for their organization. My role in the process was to be authentic. I did my part. She did hers. This time there wasn’t alignment. Tomorrow will be another opportunity with another organization. I’m ready.

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Higher Motivation

Birds have always held a fascination for me. Not the sparrows, robins and blue jays that land in the crepe myrtles outside my office window. I like the big, soaring, graceful birds of prey: eagle, falcon and hawk.

The houses on our side of the street back up to a power company easement, so there is a long field probably 50 yards across with two of those big metal towers that carry lines elsewhere buried throughout the neighborhood. Two weeks ago a red tail hawk started roosting high in the air atop one of them.

Of course, I had to get out binoculars to take a close-up look. Then I had to get my family outside to see. Then I had to get my neighbor over and share the excitement of ‘my hawk.’ It took about two minutes for him to one-up me with: ‘Let’s walk back here about three houses and I’ll show you something even better.’ Across the field, nearly hidden in the forest of pine trees were two hawks guarding a nest. “I got my binoculars yesterday,” he said. “There are babies in the nest.” It’s a family.

Energy comes into our lives from many places. For some it’s a morning cup of coffee. Others find it in fruit. Kids prefer Frosted Flakes. For many years running did it for me. Last summer I switched to swimming and – once I figured out how to breathe – that does the trick. However, nothing is more uplifting than the instantaneous surge I feel when I see ‘my hawk’ sitting on his 100-foot high perch or soaring gracefully over the field.

Where does energy find you?

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Green Thumb

One of the things I take a lot of pride in is the appearance of our yard. While the one-eighth acre lot is not exactly a botanical garden, it means a lot to me that it’s always green and clean. While my 16-year-old son and I do the mowing and pruning, we turn over chemical applications to a pro. That’s why I think we have one of the nicest lawns in our neighborhood. Or at least we did for a dozen years.

Last September I noticed a small corner of our front yard was browning in a two-foot wide area. Within a week, it had spread wider, so we called ‘Fertilizer Man.’ (After all these years we still don’t know his name. He just shows up unannounced, does his thing and leaves a preprinted invoice. Then we send a check to his office.) He applied a special treatment to the St. Augustine and said we should be fine with new growth in the spring.

Unfortunately, when the grass turned green six weeks ago, the now 10-foot triangular patch failed to arrive as planned. Add the worst drought in these parts in decades and my pride and joy is looking poor and neglected.

Yesterday, FM returned for his quarterly application. I went out to ask for advice, and the first thing he said was, “I am embarrassed and confused about this. I apologize for not knowing what to do. It has me completely baffled.” He suggested we rake the area clean, replant two trays of plugs, add Leaf Mold Compost – ‘the most magical dirt you’ll ever find’ – and nurture the lawn back to health.

It was great to experience a person who takes so much pride in his work that he apologized and felt the need to admit his lack of understanding. Here’s a guy who spends every day in the hot Texas sun fertilizing yards for people he neither knows nor sees, and yet he treats each lawn as an artist views his canvas. Those are attributes to which every professional should aspire.

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