Weedin 360

Donald Driver on Dancing with the Stars

I love watching Dancing with the Stars and American Idol. Just like with the food channel reality shows, I get a lot of entertainment value and I pick up a lot of tips. I also am constantly amazed at the business lessons that come out from them.

Green Bay Packers wide receiver Donald Driver took home the Mirror Ball trophy on Dancing with the Stars. He had been good all season, but probably not technically the best dancer. The two other finalists, Katherine Jenkins and William Levy were probably better technically. That being said, it’s hard to out-poll a dude who plays for the Packers and is getting promos from his pals Aaron Rodgers and Clay Matthews. Similarly, on American Idol, Phillip Phillips was probably the leader in the clubhouse all year, but Jessica Sanchez and Joshua Ledet may have been better. When Ledet got bumped, Phillips probably scored the teenage girl to twenty-something vote to get him the title. People get mad. They thinks it’s not a real contest; just a popularity contest. Really? You’re just figuring this out now?

Of course it’s a popularity contest. When you ask the world to phone, text, or go online to vote (multiple times mind you), it’s basically stuffing the ballot box for your favorite. These aren’t truly “competitions.” They are popularity contests and to the victors go the spoils.

Think about how this relates to acquiring business.

You may be the smartest person when it comes to your product or industry. You can spout off methodology, process, and product knowledge while falling out of bed at 2 AM. You’re a walking encyclopedia of facts and any client would be fortunate to have your knowledge on their team.

But, if you have no personality; no selling skills; no ability to persuade; can’t deal with objections or rejection; and no ambition to market yourself – then you’re not going to get the business. Sales isn’t about who has the most technical “smarts.” It’s not about who has the broadest markets, the fanciest graphics; or the most credentials behind their name. It’s about who the prospect likes; who they trust the most; and who can be the most persuasive and influential. It’s about how popular trumps brains only. You need to have both. And if one is stronger than the other, if you’re in sales it’s about your ability to persuade people to “vote” for you!

Don’t get me wrong. Product knowledge is important. You have to be credible. However, I’ve met plenty of credible sales people who couldn’t convince a starving man to eat. There are roles for everyone and finding those is one of the most important things an owner or executive can do.

Final thoughts. If you are in sales and want to increase your business through professional development, invest more time and money into professional sales skills rather than methodology and process. Spend time improving your language skills, presentation prowess, marketing skills, networking strategy, and writing skills. In the end, your innate ability to persuade and inspire will earn you more business and reap greater rewards for your business.

Time for the next dance…

© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

This is an excellent excerpt from my professional mentor, Alan Weiss on the difference between confidence and arrogance. Really pertinent to all business professionals. It comes from his weekly Monday Morning Memo. It takes about 20 seconds to read and well worth it…

This week’s focus point: When you hold firm opinions and defend your belief system, people who can’t debate well often resort to calling you names, typically “arrogant.” Don’t let it bother you. True arrogance is the belief that you have nothing left to learn, while true confidence is the belief that you can help others to learn as you continue learning yourself. (Smugness is arrogance without the talent.) Arrogant people often try to “sell” and “pitch.” Confident people share value, often providing their intellectual property for free in so doing. If you think you’re “selling,” you tend to believe someone wins and someone loses and you must overcome opposition. If you’re providing value, you tend to think that you’re trying to help others and would be remiss not to, since it’s a “win/win” proposition.

Monday Morning Perspective: When the house is finished, death comes. — Thomas Mann

Hole #11 - Harbour Pointe Golf Course

Tiger Woods is arguably the most skilled golfer of all time. At the writing of this article, he won for only the second time since his infamous personal meltdown brought him back to earth. Regardless of his personal behaviors and choices, there is no doubt that for a period of a dozen years, he was not only the best golfer on the planet; he was the best at his craft in the entertainment industry (athletes, actors, singers, etc). And, Tiger Woods had a coach.

The fact is that Woods and other top line professional athletes like Michael Jordan, Tom Brady, and Serena Williams having coaches, goes unnoticed and with no fanfare. It’s a given. Singers have voice coaches. Actors have acting coaches. Dancers employ coaches. Coaches and mentors are considered essential to develop skills and accelerate growth and development.

Let’s take a closer look at Tiger Woods and what coaching has done to enhance and accelerate his career…

Shortly after Woods won his first Masters title by a landslide, he went about developing a new swing. He hired a new coach and set the wheels in motion to “reinvent” his swing and his game. Fans and analysts thought he was crazy? Why fix something that is so not broken? The end result is that Woods became even more dominant and more consistent. The coaching had vaulted him past being really good and into legendary status.

After Tiger’s personal life fell apart in front of the world and injuries forced him to miss needed practice time and rounds, he set out again to “reinvent” himself again. Armed with new coaching, he set the stage to work on his game. After his recent win and momentum, he may be nearing the lofty heights he had set for himself. The only way he could get there was with a coach honing his enormous skill; holding him accountable; and offering new strategy and technique for his age and physical limitations.

In business, the top executives and “rainmakers” all use coaches. Why? For the same reasons that athletes, actors, and dancers do. To challenge, motivate, cajole, and improve their craft. The irony is that the top 1% of income producers use executive coaches and mentors like Marshall Goldsmith, Patricia Fripp, and Alan Weiss; while the vast majority of professionals who struggle to make ends meet on a daily basis don’t invest in themselves through coaching.

You can’t be brilliant by yourself. Athletes and other celebrity from the entertainment world have always known this. Kobe Bryant employs five new coaches every summer to help him improve his game, even after multiple world championship rings and Most Valuable Player trophies. Woods has hired new coaches to hone his game in an effort to return to the greatness he once had. Both Bryant and Woods know that no matter the length of time you have in the “game,” you are never too old or experienced to learn. In fact, it’s those that are most ready to learn new things and be “coachable” that continue to get the most out of their talent. The most effective rainmakers in the insurance industry are beating the tar out of their competition because they use coaches and mentors.

Here are 5 reasons you need to consider using a coach…

1. Skill development. In sales, your skill set needs to include powerful use of language, visioning, overcoming objections, and fighting through gatekeepers, to name a few. The solutions are not always evident and a strong coach will guide you through strategies to create and enhance these skills. Practicing conversations and interactions is a lost art among most insurance pros. In my experience, the majority just “wing it.” Coaching will speed up the success rate of these communications and deliver quicker results.

2. Feedback. When I coached high school basketball, my teams and I would watch game film. The video never lied. My feedback to them was invaluable because I would point out areas of weakness and areas of strength to work on. How do you know you did something well (or not) without an objective voice?

3. Feed Forward. Executive coaching guru Marshall Goldsmith coined a concept called “Feed Forward.” Feed forward is about creating solutions in the future and forgetting the past failures. Once we’ve acknowledged our mistakes, then coaches provide constructive “to do” strategies to hasten development. Feed forward comes from observation and compelling questioning that peels away at the onion to reveal real barriers to progress. This can only be accomplished with a trusted coach.

4. Sounding board. Sometimes you just need to let off steam. You need an ear to vent to; someone to simply listen. In most cases, bosses, sales managers, and spouses are not good options for this. A coach is a safe place to vent anger and frustration; as well as a place to celebrate successes.

5. Accountability. From den mothers to drill sergeants; teachers to athletic coaches; parents to pastors; we’ve all had someone keep us accountable. In your business life today, it’s harder than ever to find that accountability partner. A coach takes on that role and without baggage or excuses, holds you to the things you know you need to do to be successful. As with a sounding board, those other important people in your life are often ill equipped to objectively be that person; or will let you off the hook too easily.

Bottom Line

You can’t be brilliant by yourself. Everyone needs a coach. In the entertainment world, coaches are often less skilled than their mentorees; yet have a unique ability to ignite their talent and get them to perform at their maximum capability. Coaches in business elevate their mentorees to the same level of success and help them thrive personally and professionally. Not employing that kind of help is not only foolish, but also selfish. Think of all those who could be helped, yet never will.

Allowing yourself to be vulnerable and be coached takes immense self-confidence. The financial and time investments are usually dwarfed by the return of increased revenues, more discretionary time, and improved life balance.

Tiger Woods utilized coaches that ranged from his own father during his childhood; to his coaches at Stanford; to multiple big name golf coaches like Butch Harmon and Hank Haney. If a guy like Tiger Woods, who may be one of the greatest competitors of all time, can be coached, why wouldn’t you?

The reality is that insurance professionals, who overlook being coached because they think they can do it on their own, usually never reach the apex of their talents and thus fail to earn the income and life they could have realized. Those insurance pros that accept the challenge of being coached will reach greater heights in their career and enjoy the fruits of that success both professionally and personally.

The first tee is right this way. Are you ready to play?

© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

I often get asked, “How do you find your content to write your blogs and articles?”

The answer is simple. I pay attention and try to stay in the moment. If you’re creating intellectual property (IP for the rest of this article), then you need to find a way to use real-life, every day events that people can relate to as a metaphor for not-so-simple “stuff.”

Take Jerry Seinfeld. The dude made a boatload of money over 9 years making a television show about “nothing.” Add to it, that all of that material came from a highly successful comedy act, which he still uses today. Making money on “nothing.” That nothing, however, is what we deal with in our daily lives. One of my favorite episodes was when the gang lost Kramer’s car in the mall parking lot. An entire episode was dedicated to the goofy search for the car. How many of us have ever lost our car in a parking lot? I have…and recently at a grocery store when I realized that I have a new car and I should stop looking for the old one! That episode, as well as all the others take a real-life situation and engages the audience because we can relate.

If you follow my blog posts, my newsletters, and my speeches, you will hear stories about my dogs, my kids, my wife (although she scares me most so I have to be careful), my parents, my basketball coaching, my cooking, and my professional experiences. You’ve heard about me walking the dogs, moving furniture, burning my hand, hitting poor golf shots, and walking around New York City with $5,000 in cash. Why? Because you can relate to all of these things. They make the “stuff” I talk about – insurance, crisis leadership, risk management, executive leadership, and change management more palatable. I hope that when I draw a metaphor, the light goes on and you say “Ah Ha!”

So when you write your next blog post, article, or executive brief OR present your next speech or video, consider your uniqueness. As my professional mentor, Alan Weiss always says, there is nothing new under the sun. You’re methodology, theories, strategies, and the like are not necessarily new. However, you are unique and your experiences make your IP different from everyone else!

To create great IP, you have to add one key ingredient…YOU! Pay attention to your life. Don’t think nothing happens to you. It does. Be in the moment and find those crazy little things that make you chuckle or shake your head. Most likely, it’s the start of a great new story.

Now, if you only had a neighbor like Kramer…

© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

From my February newsletter – to subscribe, click here

Your Secret Sauce to Success: 
Re-Purposing

© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

Aaron Rodgers now has time to practice his discount double-check for Dancing with the Stars…

The New York Giants came in hot to frigid Green Bay and bounced the defending champion Packers with a smothering defense and methodical offense. As with the year the Giants won it all, momentum played a huge part in their win.

The Giants started their roll with a strong outing against the Jets in Week 16; and followed it up with a thumping of Dallas to win the NFC East and get to the playoffs. Last week in Wild Card weekend, they stymied the Atlanta Falcons by giving up only a safety. Today, they took their great momentum into Lambeau Field.

Green Bay started petering out in a loss to the lowly Kansas City Chiefs to break their unbeaten streak. They just kind of staggered to the end by sitting Rodgers in the final game. Then they got a week off. Any momentum they had was trending the wrong way.

Momentum is powerful in sports. It’s also powerful in business and life. Be careful. You need to be aware of when you are losing momentum and get it back. As a basketball coach, I drilled for momentum. You have to, too. Understand what it looks and feels like to have momentum and be vigilant in keeping the trend upwards.

There are always lulls in life. Make sure you keep them short. Learn a lesson from this weekend’s NFL playoff games. Momentum determines wins and losses…

Everywhere!

© 2012 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

I got absolutely terrific news yesterday. My daughter who is the nurse back in Pittsburgh just got her semester grades for her first year in her Masters program. She received a perfect 4.0! She is now working full-time, going to school at night, and living 2400 miles away from home. Our other daughter, the sports management guru, is working two jobs and has an internship. She recently led the country in one-day sales for the retailer she works for; just started a job at the university in a research position; and is active as an intern for the Pittsburgh Marathon. And, oh yeah, she is doing very well in school.

There are two reasons for this blog post today. The first is to brag about my kids. It’s my blog, so I guess I can do that, right?

The second is to give you pause to think…

Certainly, our daughter’s accomplishments are theirs and theirs alone. They have worked hard, been committed, sacrificed, and made hard changes in their lives. They’ve done all of this by living a long way from family and friends. That being said, I would like to think they picked up some of their work ethic, morals, and behaviors from what their mother and I have tried to drill in them growing up. The hardest and most rewarding job I’ve ever had is raising kids. For those of you who do it, or have done it, you know. In addition to all the joy, there is a certain amount of leadership and role modeling that must be done.

In your business, there is much the same dynamics. I have spoken to many a business owner who compares themselves to a parent. Leadership, role modeling, and “parenting” are a large part of running any organization. The question to ask yourself is, “Are my employees better because of me, despite me, or not at all.” If you are the leader of any part of your business – owner, manager, supervisor – you are mentoring at some level. Your mission is to make the person you are mentoring better. How will you know?

1. They will tell you. This doesn’t always happen in parenting, but it often happens in business.
2. They will show you. You will have empirical evidence that there work and/or behavior has improved.
3. Others will tell you. Fellow members of your team will tell you they’ve noticed improvement or growth.

Just like a tremendous point guard makes the players around his basketball team better, you have that ability to. Take advantage of the opportunity to improve the lives and condition of others.

© 2011 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

It only takes one mistake…

Joe Paterno

Legendary Penn State football coach Joe Paterno is stepping down at the end of the season and leaving Happy Valley in disgrace. Not for anything that happened on the football field; not for wins and losses; and not even for NCAA violations. His 61 years at the same institution (46 as head coach) ends abruptly because he made poor decisions and turned a blind eye to issues involving his subordinates.

Read ESPN story

Paterno was aware of allegations against his defensive coordinator and friend Jerry Sandusky, who is now being accused of molesting many young boys from 1994-2010. Paterno turned in the information and left it in the hands of his boss. Big mistake. His boss is now being charged with perjury and obstruction of justice. The school’s board of trustees are scampering around trying to quell the uproar. The crisis has now escalated beyond the sports world.

So you may ask, what did Coach Paterno do wrong? He has not been charged with any legal improprieties. Why has he become the central figure of this giant mess? Why will he ultimately be included in civil lawsuits that will continue to haunt his days?

Joe Paterno is Penn State. His brand and reputation over 46 years as the head man at the helm of a successful football program makes him the face of the university. Good, bad, or indifferent; that is the reality.

As CEO of the football program, he bears the ultimate responsibility for what happens on and off the field. Issues dealing with wins and losses may just cost you your job. Issues as detestable as what happened with Sandusky will cost you your job, tarnish your reputation, and potentially hurt the university in a myriad of ways.

Paterno is guilty of doing the minimum. He handed off the issue to his Athletic Director. His next mistake was the killer. He did nothing. He blindly put his trust in his boss to deal with it and then went back to coaching and recruiting. He allowed Sandusky to stay around the program and the campus. In fact, in 1998, the police investigated Sandusky for this type of behavior. At that point, the guy should be gone. Should be allowed nowhere near the campus.  Paterno had that control. Instead, Paterno stuck his head in the sand and left it to others to clean up. Here is the problem…when you are the face of the institution and the CEO, you’d better make sure things get resolved.

Paterno told the board of trustees to not spend another minute thinking about him. Really? Paterno wants to go out on his terms and finish the season. I say no. He forfeited that opportunity. The trustees are now the ones in crisis management. What does their communication plan say? What do they need to do to salvage any semblance of reputation for their academic university that has always been viewed as “clean?” In my estimation, you don’t allow one of the central figures in a cover up to have a coronation. Heck, last night, the 84-year old Paterno made the decision that it was okay to encourage a pep rally outside of his home with 3,000 students by leading a “We are Penn State” cheer and a hearty “Beat Nebraska!” Yeah, like that is important. Disturbing. The board of trustees need to show courage in decision-making and dismiss him. If you were in their seats, what would you do?

Hindsight is 20/20. I get that. However, that is why it is so important for executives and business owners to think about this in advance. By virtue of having employees, these things are liable to happen. They are vulnerabilities that you face. How do you respond to employees, the media, your customers, your supply chain, your family? If you don’t have a plan in place now, then you risk your business and your reputation.

If the mighty Joe Paterno, who built an empire in over 60 years, can fall in 5 days, how quickly can you and your organization fall?

© 2011 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

One of my colleagues who I really enjoy reading is Dave Gardner. Dave is a fantastic consultant from the Bay Area and specializes on strategy. His only drawback is that he’s a 49′ers fan, but these days that’s better than a Seahawks fan! He puts out a weekly memo that I religiously read and I wanted to share it from today with his permission…

Focus on the wrong things can be debilitating. Too many people are focused on matters they have no control over. If this was a good thing, I’d not be writing about it.

We don’t have control over the stock market, what then banks are doing, what the government is doing, what’s going on in the global economy, what our competitors are doing, etc.

What we do have control over is setting our own strategy and executing that strategy, irrespective of all the ambiguities that we are exposed to.

We have to manage our businesses.  If that means we need to turn off the news so we can focus, then so be it.

We must set a certain course and follow it, not become a rudderless ship being tossed about in a turbulent sea.  This is key to thriving.

This is a blog post preparing for my presentation on August 25th in Bogotá, Colombia a at the Occupational Health & Safety Management Summit. These posts will be precursors for my presentation and I welcome any and all comments. I will attempt to translate in Spanish below the original post through the magic of Google Translator!

One of my consulting colleagues was putting on a webinar for her mentorees and invited me to attend. We are both Master Mentors in the Alan Weiss global consulting community and she thought I might be able to add some value. I logged on at the appropriate time (about 5 minutes early) and found several of her mentorees on the webinar. The one missing person…was her.

As I sat and made conversation with the group, I quickly texted her to see what was going on. Turns out she WAS on the call; could hear all of us; but nobody could hear her. A presenters nightmare! She tried several times to get back on to no avail. It was during our texting that I realized that if we could text, we could talk! I had her phone in on my land line and put her on speakerphone so all could hear her. She was able to go on with an excellent presentation that was well received by her audience.

Resiliency is defined the ability to “bounce back.”

Now it wasn’t just pure brilliance to use the phone. I have had my own communication conundrums of epic proportion before. One time for a teleconference where nearly 30 people were registered for, I sent out the WRONG identification code. I was sitting on the phone with a minute to go flabbergasted that I was the only one on the call. That is, until I started receiving a flurry of telephone calls, e-mails, and texts from frantic audience members! I was able to go back in and send mass e-mails with the correct identification code and we started 15 minutes late.

The bottom line is this – you need to scrape your knees a few times in order to learn resiliency. It’s one thing to talk a good game, but without having experienced the pain a few times, you can’t really know how to respond.

I work with business owners on how to be resilient. It works because they’ve skinned their knees a few times, and so have I. We all had experiences and “war stories” to share and learn from. In order to be a resilient leader and a resilient organization, you must take time to discuss the habits and best practices of organizations who both fail and succeed in the face of adversity. You must be able to identify vulnerabilities; prepare for the worst; and (here’s the important part so pay attention) PRACTICE your response. Why do you think you always have to re-do CPR and First Aid training? It’s because muscle and mind memory needs practice!

Learn from your mistakes and those things that happened which were out of your control (more often than not the case). By practicing resilience, you will find yourself better prepared to thrive.

© 2011 Dan Weedin. All Rights Reserved

En Espanol

Uno de los colegas de mi consultorio estaba poniendo en un seminario para su mentorees y me invitó a asistir. Los dos somos mentores maestro en la comunidad global de consultoría de Alan Weiss, y ella pensó que yo podría ser capaz de añadir valor. Me he registrado en el momento adecuado (unos 5 minutos antes) y se encontró a varios de sus mentorees en el seminario. La única persona que falta … era ella.

Cuando me senté e hizo una conversación con el grupo, que rápidamente le envió un mensaje para ver qué estaba pasando. Resulta que ella estaba en la convocatoria, podía oír a todos nosotros, pero nadie podía escucharla. A los presentadores pesadilla! Intentó varias veces para volver a en vano. Fue durante los mensajes de texto que me di cuenta de que si el texto podría, podríamos hablar! Tenía su teléfono en línea en mi tierra y la puso en el altavoz para que todos pudieran oírla. Ella fue capaz de seguir adelante con una excelente presentación que fue bien recibido por su público.

Resiliencia se define la capacidad de “recuperarse”.

Ahora bien, no era sólo pura brillantez de usar el teléfono. He tenido mis enigmas de comunicación propios de proporciones épicas antes. Una vez para una teleconferencia donde cerca de 30 personas se registraron para, me envió el código de identificación errónea. Yo estaba sentado al teléfono con un minuto por jugarse asombrado que yo era el único en la llamada. Es decir, hasta que comenzó a recibir un aluvión de llamadas telefónicas, correos electrónicos y textos de los miembros del público frenético! Tuve la oportunidad de regresar y enviar correos electrónicos masivos con el código de identificación correcta y que comenzó 15 minutos tarde.

El fondo es éste – que necesita para raspar las rodillas un par de veces para aprender la resistencia. Una cosa es hablar de un buen juego, pero sin haber experimentado el dolor de un par de veces, realmente no se puede saber cómo responder.

Yo trabajo con los empresarios sobre la forma de ser resistente. Funciona porque han pelado las rodillas un par de veces, y yo también hemos tenido todas las experiencias y las “historias de guerra” para compartir y aprender. Para ser un líder resistente y una organización flexible, usted debe tomar tiempo para hablar de los hábitos y las mejores prácticas de organizaciones que no tanto y tener éxito en la adversidad. Usted debe ser capaz de identificar las vulnerabilidades, prepararse para lo peor, y (aquí viene la parte importante así que presta atención) la práctica su respuesta. ¿Por qué crees que siempre hay que volver a hacer entrenamiento en RCP y Primeros Auxilios? Es porque la memoria muscular y la mente necesita práctica!

Aprenda de sus errores y esas cosas que pasan, que estaban fuera de su control (más a menudo que no es el caso). Mediante la práctica de la resistencia, usted se encontrará mejor preparado para prosperar.

© 2011 Dan Weedin. Todos los derechos reservados