Let me first state that there are two types of failures, the first are those that do nothing and fail, the second are those that take a risk and end up failing. We are focusing on the second type in this case. If you’ve ever had a failed effort, I hope you feel the same about the reams of research on this. I know I do. From failed efforts it is proven that we have our best learning experiences, we grow, and we gain the experiences necessary for future significant successes. The fact is that businesses will not assume the risks necessary for innovation and development if they’re not ok with the idea of failing on some level.
I know those that are so afraid of failing that they will do anything to avoid it. The problem with fearing failure is that you ultimately avoid risk, don’t bet on yourself or your business, and stunt your richest experiences. Apparently those who have never faced a failure in a product, division or business don’t have the experience that is valued in business. But, no one WANTS to fail!

I recently heard someone quote a high-ranking executive and head of a US division of a multinational company saying that he was sure, nearly 20 times in his career, that he would be fired. Fired for standing out, speaking his mind, and taking relatively risky actions. He was never fired, however, only promoted. But it can be a very fine line at times.

And failure doesn’t just come in the form of losing money. If you commit to working incredibly hard, day and night, to get your business off the ground or move your career forward and it doesn’t work – it is also a failure (and perhaps a blow to your ego after pouring your heart and soul into your failed initiative). It could be assumed that it is simply less disappointing and easier to not work that hard and not reach success. The excuse is built in to the equation already. What would happen if you tried your hardest and it didn’t work out? The real questions is – what if you didn’t?  What could you be losing out on by never trying at all?

I mentioned before that I have had some failures in my business over the years. Painful lessons I certainly don’t want to repeat. But I know the key now is to manage for failures. Be prepared to share what went wrong and dissect it. Also, a strategy I have learned is to create a “disengagement process” for getting out of a project that is showing triggering signs of failure. We all should try enough things that inevitably will result in some that don’t work out so that many more will.

Many times we don’t get honest, insightful and helpful feedback because people are afraid to tell us the truth. It takes too much energy to tell someone how they can improve, and frankly, they don’t care. Many businesses ask their clients to rate their service via a survey. But the questions must be structured properly in order to get the real feedback you need from those who care enough to give it. Try asking a question that may give you insightful feedback like, “Could you give us ONE thing we could do to improve this year?” or some variation on that.

I now have a few people I can count on to give me insightful feedback in addition to my coach, Lou Heckler. And if they haven’t seen me speak in a while I send them a DVD of me speaking and a tin of popcorn begging them to take one hour and give me feedback. I believe this is how I have been able to continue speaking year after year. Recently, I was selected to speak at a large Toastmasters convention. I can guarantee I’ll get some feedback there, and I can’t wait!

How do you get feedback to help your business?

At a hotel this week I was offered 3 things at check in. It was midnight and I was tired, but I did answer the questions of the employee at registration. First he asked me if I wanted a USA Today newspaper in the morning. I said that I would. Then he asked if I’d like any other newspapers.  I said that one is fine. Next he told me that with my reservation, wireless internet would be free. He explained how I would be able to log on and asked me if I understood. I said that I did. Finally, he asked me if I wanted to be a part of the hotel’s “Green Program” where you can decline housekeeping service in return for points in the hotel rewards program. There were a few other options in the program, but I told him that I would just take the points. Frankly, I knew I’d be on the phone for most of the morning with clients so I didn’t want housekeeping.

The next morning things started getting weird. First, I tried to access the Internet but my mobile broadband did not have good reception. I remembered the free internet offer, but when I tried to log on the computer said I wasn’t a registered guest. So I called the front desk and they referred me to the help desk where I was on hold for nearly 10 minutes and finally had to purchase the service which they said they would take off my bill. Then I opened the door to get my newspaper. Every other door down the hall had newspapers – but not mine. Finally, I was on the phone with clients and 3 times housekeeping came knocking to service the room. I thought, perhaps I was not really there! I called to the front desk to find out if I was in fact checked in (not joking). They looked up my reservation and yes, everything was just fine. Yes, fine except for all the things I really didn’t want or truly need that they in the end didn’t deliver on.

I work with a midsize firm that made a promise to their clients to answer every phone call on the first or second ring with a live person. When they began to get busier they couldn’t keep up with the promise so they hired a second receptionist. Today they often have 3 people sitting at a large front desk answering the phones. Now that’s a commitment that few would follow through on.

Can you keep your promises – even those you made years ago to your clients, your staff, your vendors? How about yourself? My friend Wendi Kelly, an author and superb business coach, shared with me that if you don’t keep promises to yourself, will you honestly keep them for others? She’s right! Here’s a link to a powerful blog she wrote on this very topic: http://lifeslittleinspirations.com/a-promise-to-my-heart

Promises, promises…

In the book, The Connectors, I wrote about one of the most exceptional speakers I have heard, Chris Mee. He has an incredible sense of time, and he puts it to use in his presentations as well in meetings and conversations. In one instance, Mee was asked to speak for 40 minutes to a group of financial advisors. The speakers before him each ran long on their allotted time. He looked at the organizer and said that he could get the meeting back on time. He did his 40 minute presentation in 5 minutes without ever looking at his watch. It was, by the way, the highest rated presentation of the day. How is that possible?

Whether in a meeting, on the phone, or in delivery of a presentation, there are some key points to both stay on time, while delivering compelling information:

1. Get to the point. Determine what in your presentation or conversation is the most important, compelling and potentially valuable for your audience (be it an individual or entire group).

2. Practice. Know how long it should take you to describe certain elements of your business, products, or services. Be prepared.

3. Time yourself. If you find yourself “going long” in conversations or presentations – and even if you think you are always right on time – check your watch. When you start talking during a business meeting, look at your watch. Then, check back when you’re done. How much of the meeting did your conversation occupy? Was your percentage of the meeting justified with the content you covered? Focusing on time will help train your internal clock.

In business, time is critical. It is one of the most precious commodities. So, don’t let time wasters get away with stealing your precious time – including yourself!

I’ve read about all the people in the news complaining about our nation’s protectors of the air – the TSA. I’ve listened to the fears people have of the dreaded full body scanner, some resorting to alternate means of travel just to avoid enduring a full body pat down. Really I didn’t pay much attention…until yesterday.

Going through security at the Milwaukee airport, I was directed to go through the body scanner. I’ve been through them many times in many airports, and I don’t even think about it. But yesterday, with a pair of simple black pants with no pockets and a fitted, long sleeve shirt on, I stepped forward, put my hands on top of my head and watched the scanner run around the outside of the glass structure. I was scanned. I took my normal position waiting for the TSA (an official looking guy with a wire in his ear) to get the message from the person watching the screening in some undisclosed location.

Next thing I know the TSA official is calling out for additional personnel.  I thought for sure he was calling in the heavys because of the person waiting behind me. But then they asked me (who me?) which bags belonged to me. Suddenly, 3 TSA personnel began picking up my things announcing (a little louder than I would have liked) that they were taking them into a private room. It was frankly an embarrassing scene. Then they told me I needed to have a full body pat down (also a little louder than I would have liked). I said, “fine, please do it right here.” But they insisted that I go into the private room with the frosted windows, behind closed doors, for a next level security pat down. I kept thinking –what are they looking for? Well whatever it was – they were determined to find something. There were 2 people in the room observing my pat down in addition to the 1 woman who was the chief patter. She told me exactly what she was going to do which honestly made me want to cry. Every crevice of my body was touched with the back and side of her hands. Every crevice. What were they looking for?

From a business perspective, if you were to watch the TSA rules being enacted, you may think their set of rules misguided, inefficient and extremely inflexible. How about determining a few suspicious locations to pat? I understand that the rules exist because they don’t want the individual TSA personnel making judgment calls. Everyone gets treated by the same set of rules. But that reality didn’t make the lack of flexibility and the over manned private room where, for 7 excruciatingly long minutes, I endured patting and then bomb residue scanning. Surprisingly… nothing was found. Me, the singled out suspect, embarrassingly called out in front of a busy security line, was left to go free.

If someone came into your business and analyzed your rules and systems would they say… ‘That doesn’t make any sense’ or ‘What a waste of staff time’ or ‘Isn’t there a better way to do this?’ Once a year it may be helpful to review your own systems to determine if you continue to have the best, most efficient and complete ways of doing things. You certainly want to make sure that your well-thought-out systems are smarter than the TSA’s, although that’s not much of a benchmark.

After it was all over, in disbelief, I call my husband to tell him about my TSA experience. I was looking for a little sympathy. Instead, he laughs and says, “Hey kids! Mom almost didn’t make it through security!!” Sure, laugh all you want – until it happens to you.

The objective of most marketing collateral is to present a distinctive company filled with unique benefits that a customer needs and wants. Ultimately, the goal is to have a brochure so compelling in nature that people read through it and then decide they HAVE to do business with the firm! But the reality is, people aren’t reading most brochures (or other marketing materials, for that matter) because they know exactly why it is being presented to them. To “sell” them.

A brochure or even your website, filled with perfectly created marketing phrases and pictures of models and ocean waves hitting the shore, certainly are aesthetically pleasing. But in order to compel people to read your brochure and find out more about your firm, your message must sound and be authentic. That is truly attractive. Marketing today should be…

…as authentic as you are. The words you use should be the words your clients and prospects would use to describe their challenges, solutions and benefits. Not perfect words and perfect pictures.  People want to work with someone they are comfortable with, someone they can trust. In sales, less of the pitch and more of the informal conversational approach has proven to be more successful. And that’s what we need more of today.

We are attracted to real, authentic marketing and portrayals of what you do and who you are.  So, take out the perfect-ness to your marketing and replace it with you. Create a blog with your words, use real pictures, create a video. Show them the real you. You may be surprised at how much more attractive you are – without any of the fluff!

The regulatory agencies like the SEC and FINRA want to make sure that advisors are not promising investors returns or engaging in promotion of unregistered funds, such as private-equity funds or hedge funds through social media or social networking sites.

But many advisors that understand their limitations using social media and their compliance departments’ challenges in retaining online messages, have found using social media to be a very valuable tool. Within their firms’ guidelines, they are using social media sites to push (not push and pull) out much needed brand exposure, credibility and a searchable online presence – not as a way to conduct illicit activities. So ultimately, the biggest fear with social media shouldn’t be the regulatory agencies or compliance but something else entirely.

Once you have established an online presence, the most important task is in front of you – protecting your reputation! Much as you would protect your credit, regularly check for activity connected to your name and your business. Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter all rank highly in Google searches. Be careful what you post, anything you say could permanently show up at the top of search engine searches. Think of yourself as a public figure that may have your every word scrutinized.

One of the easiest ways to monitor your reputation is by setting up Google Alerts that will inform you of anything that has appeared about you online. Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. Go to www.Google.com/Alerts and set up a free alert of your name and your firm’s name. Whenever anything appears online that you or someone else has posted about you, an email will be sent to you with a link to the online occurrence.

Ultimately, the best way to manage your online reputation is by generating positive search results through your online posts and profiles that will rank as highly as possible on any list of search results. Protect your most important assets – your brand and online reputation.

1. Singing: Apparently knowing all the words to The Star Spangled Banner is not a prerequisite to singing it. You can’t “remix” this song. I hope we never forget what is important about what we’re doing.
2. Forgiving: Everyone makes mistakes. Jordy Nelson dropped 3 near perfect passes. But his QB kept passing to him! Many of us may have stopped after the first mistake and surely after the second. But Aaron Rodgers seemed to forgive, forget, and then continued throwing completing 9 passes to Nelson for 140 yards including a touchdown pass. Forgiving pays.
3. Passion: Packers Charles Woodson, after he found out he had a broken collar bone and could not play in the 2nd half, was quoted saying to a sideline reporter, “I don’t think I’ve cried that much since I was a kid.”  What if we felt that same passion for the work we do? What if more employees did?
4. Labels: I guess we really shouldn’t believe the labels people assign us. Runner up to Defensive Player of the Year, Clay Matthews, was a walk-on player at USC and didn’t start until midway through his senior year. Aaron Rodgers, the Super Bowl MVP, was lightly recruited out of high school with only one college showing interest. Later, he fell to 24th in the NFL draft. Believing the labels others give us, good or bad, can lead to a shortfall in the potential to success ratio. Mindset is more important than talent and talent is more important than talk.
5. Heaven: I believe my Grandma was smiling down at the Packers winning on Sunday night.

Whoever said “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” was right – especially Sunday. Thank you Mr. Lombardi. Go Packers!

So what makes a good boss, and how can we get better?  In the January/February issue of Harvard Business Review an article on becoming a great boss offers research and some key tips for improving as a boss.

A good boss is typically influential. But where does the influence come from? Fear? Likability? Actually, true sustainable influence seems to be rooted in trust. Your employees may be listening to every word you say and how you say it. They are looking to confirm or deny their trust and belief in you.

Trust is developed through evidence of your competence and their belief in your character.

In order to keep “training” your leadership skills, here are a few tips…

1. Prepare for opportunities to learn and develop as a manager. For instance, delegate more and test the response, results and detail what you learned.

2. Communicate openly and often. The goal isn’t to become best friends with your staff. On the other hand, focusing on business only and not the person will probably not produce the desired result – influence based on trust. Quantify the individual and personal interactions you are having.

3. Review your actions at the end of every day. Are you influential? Rate yourself.
Some days will be better than others as a boss, but if we keep the focus on getting better, not being perfect, we are headed in the right direction.

Many years ago I worked for an individual who was so far on the side of being a bad boss that he believed he actually was a great boss. His staff did not respect him, his best employees kept leaving, and their departures surprised him every time. Ultimately, he was out of touch. And unfortunately, it can be easy to get out of touch if we stop trying to get better. I know I’m trying.

It is the same for true fans of your business. A fan of yours WANTS you to win. They cheer you on, want to help you, and are proactive in their support. We all have fans that we are grateful for, but the question is — how can we get more fans? I’d venture to say that all of us could use a few more no matter how many unconditional fans we have.

Why does someone become a fan? Being a true fan is more about a feeling than about the tangible products we sell. Observation of successful firms has shown that perhaps the best way to get this loyalty may be through the little things, not the extravagant ones. Listening more than talking, more face-to-face with our best clients, and truly making them feel important. Intangibles.

Measure it! How are you doing? How many clients do you have that are loyal? How many unconditional fans? Maybe 2011 could be the year of the fan – your fans!

I have been a Packer fan forever. I’ve seen them in terrible years (remember the 1970’s and early 80’s?) but I never stopped cheering. I’m a fan and would be even if they lost last Sunday to the rival Bears. And it’s a sure bet that I’ll be cheering like wild on February 6 in Dallas. Now if I only had tickets…