Welcome to the world’s first

BIZ ALPHABET SERIES of blog posts

“A”… AUTHENTICITY

Not to worry. The other “A” subjects have been adequately addressed already. You can put Attitude and Action and Advertising and Addiction into the Search window and find ample applicati0ns. I have dealt with “Authenticity,” but not with such appropriate substance! So, here you go:

AUTHENTICITY is not just acting authentically –genuinely, realistically– but actually BEING authentic. Not just occasionally or periodically, or just with certain people. Being authentic means all the time, with every encounter, every day, from opening your eyes on the pillow, to closing your eyes on your pillow.

BAH! That’s not possible, you might think. Who, after all, can be genuine every waking minute of every day? We’re humans, you might argue. We’re inherently manipulative, devious, off-putting. It’s not like turning a water faucet on and off.

 What’s your AQ?

(Authenticity Quotient . . . is there such a thing?

Who knows?

But pretend there is.

Make it what you want to be and keep reading!)

Hey, points well taken. But there ARE opportunities for each of us to do better than what we do. Part of that is attached to visualizing the payoff, and recognizing that increasing our Authenticity Quotient from –for instance– 30% to, say, 50%, has most of all to do with recognizing and accepting that authentic behavior is a choice!

[And, like smiling when you don't feel like it has been proven to actually make you feel better,behaving in more authentic ways can actually help you BE more authentic.]                                 

Whats the ROI? How about a more fulfilling life, a more productive and rewarding business, strengthened relationships, and a head-over-shoulders reputation for being upstanding? You need a bigger carrot on the stick, a bigger pot of gold at the end of the rainbow?

Does feeling better

about yourself count?

Does  making a difference

with your life count?

Ah, getting closer to your inner spirit and the heart of the matter?

Authenticity is seldom a birthright quality. It’s something we learn over years of observation, application of our gut instincts, and our interactions with others. So, start boosting your Authenticity Quotient by paying closer attention to saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

Ask those around you who you trust to tell you what animal or creature they associate most with you. And, VERY important to preserving your trust relationship, do not argue or rebuttal their responses. Take it in. Take it on the chin. Smile and thank each person you ask. Then start to process what you learn.

Do you get responses like Saint Bernard (perhaps because you’re always rescuing others?) or Shephard (because you’re always herding people together or team-building?), or how authentic do you think a snake or fox (or worm?) might suggest? Cats of every type and size are generally considered sneaky (and some, vicious).

Elephant could imply steadiness or dependability (or that you’re a Republican frontrunner). A donkey or mule could mean your stubborness prevails. A new, eager-to-please puppy will be seen as more authentic than a snapping turtle, an alligator, a shark. You can imagine the rest.

Does this prove or disprove authenticity? Of course not, but it will give those who may be unsure about how them come adcross to others, some clue about how they are perceived. And perceptions are facts!     

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Small Businesses Once Again Ignored . . .

Financial Expert Reports 

of “Economic Rebound”

Grossly Exaggerated

 I had occasion yesterday to hear parts of a Baltimore radio broadcast that featured an on-air personality we will call Mr. Advisor, a man who proclaims himself a seminar presenter, radio and TV host, book author, and one of America’s top-ranked financial advisors.

I like this station’s programming. Most of the hosts are challenging, provocative, and informative. I try to tune in whenever I can.

I liked the overall theme of Mr. Advisor’s message which suggested that worrying about money gets us nowhere. As you know if you’ve visited here before, I have taught for more than 40 years that worry about ANYthing accomplishes nothing. Neither does dwelling on the past.

The past and future are fantasyland,

and generally not good places for

nurturing entrepreneurial minds.

So, if I am as I say, a present-moment, here-and-now thinker, who’s taught this mindset as the key to life success in management training sessions, college classrooms, books I’ve written, and this blog — what’s my issue? Part of my issue is with Mr. Advisor’s use of this awareness to quell economy fears as a bridge to selling his services.

I have no quarrel, in other words, with any effort to get people to focus more energy on the here and now because that is what life is really all about. I take exception with Mr. Advisor because after laying this groundwork, he proceeded to rattle off bogus interpretations of government and corporate statistics to make his points.

New housing startups and manufacturing indicators, he says, signal a rebounding economy . . . major corporate proclamations of sales and revenue increases and expansion plans add up to additional support, he says. Actual statements made were either misleading or naive. Considering his credentials, naivety is doubtful.

He tells his audience to not worry so much because things are looking up and that we can’t let fear of the unknown get in our way of making prudent investments. So do advisors who misrepresent reality.

Certainly, we as human beings do ourselves great injustice by fear of any unknown, but reality here has nothing to do with Mr. Advisor’s careful layering of reason to support his sales pitch.

The bottom line is that:

A)  The economy positively cannot rebound –no matter what government and mega-corporations do– until new small businesses begin to create new jobs.

B)  This is simply not going to happen with Mr. Obama in the White House because Mr. Obama has proven he is NOT a Democrat. He has proven, in fact, to be a Socialist who doesn’t believe in or accept the world of small business and free enterprise competition that built America (and the Democratic Party, I might add) to begin with. 

C)  It really makes no difference what big business and government try to accomplish if it’s without the support of small business.

(And, it’s here that Mr. Advisor goes astray. He seems –not unlike Messrs Obama and Biden– to forget and discount that there are 30 MILLION small business owners in the United States! But perhaps these are not prospective investors for Mr. Advisor?)

My point here is that Mr. Advisor is correct about the need for Americans to stay focused on the here and now, and not worry about what hasn’t come yet and may never come, and the unhealthiness of dwelling on the past that’s over and cannot be changed anyway.

These are mentally and emotionally sound ways to be thinking, but they are not portals to prudent investing. Neither are they any cause for a rebounding economy.

The economy is NOT turning around. Ask any of the 30 million small business owners out there. The economy is NOT rebounding because small business owners have no reason to trust a government that seeks to undermine, over-regulate and over-tax at every turn.

The issue, Mr. Advisor, is TRUST, and the fact is that this White House has failed to inspire any confidence or reason to believe. And as you surely know, Mr. Advisor, credibility is what drives market growth.

Why should small businesses create new jobs and then get slammed with major new taxes and regulations that end up costing them even more than a no-new-jobs economy is costing? Because Obama says that that won’t happen? HA! November 6, 2012. Be there.    

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116

Open  Minds  Open  Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

“That’s me! That’s 

just the way I am!”

Yup! and that’s also a choice – to avoid telling the truth or avoid offering an explanation that feels awkward. 

Do we hear this kind of excuse with regularity, or am I just imagining things? It almost doesn’t matter what the question is that triggers this response. Asking why a person did something, or failed to do something can be equally responsible for getting that shoulder-shrug, palms up answer. Because it’s an easier “out” than admitting an error.

Notice, btw, that the keyword that sets off these (“That’s me,” “That’s just the way I am,” ”Hey, whadda I know?”) kinds of retorts is WHY?

“Why” is a terrible word for anyone except a scientist.

All it does is provoke excuses.

“Why were you late to work the last three days?” will get you ”My car broke down” or “My dog has been throwing up a lot” or “I had to give my neighbor’s kid a ride to school this week.”

Entrepreneurs don’t spend their energy analyzing.

It wastes too much time.

Better to use “HOW?”

How? forces excuse-makers to deal with reality. It begs the question of process. What specific steps can be taken, in other words. “How can you avoid being late beginning tomorrow?” Effectively followed by: “Please give me a 3-point list of specific steps (HOW?) you will take to be on time/restore the dog’s health/leave earlier for school?” 

“That’s me. That’s just the way I am”

. . . is the classic response from those who are lazy, yes, but more telling than that: from those with low self-esteem. Today’s society is literally plagued with low self-esteem. Children are not taught that they are okay. Parents rarely reinforce what they believe is obvious. Employers have stopped back-patting.

And social media is nothing more than an avalanche of token compliments and empty promises.

Many have come to accept social media exchanges so readily that they convince themselves that their 14,000 Twitter Followers are actual friends, and that their Facebook Friends are far beyond acquaintanceship.

Self-esteem reality is being dwarfed by ego fantasy.

I find this trend disconcerting because I (and many psychologists) believe success in life and in business has more to do with a person’s sense of self-confidence than almost any other factor. Self-confidence is a by-product of self-esteem. When someone feels good about her or himself, he or she becomes confident in her or his pursuits.

Of course there are exceptions to the above, but generally speaking, the best thing we can do for our loved ones (especially for the malleable minds of our children and grandchildren), and for our employees and associates, is to plant and nurture as many seeds of esteem-building words and actions as possible, as often as possible.

The return on investment can be enormous, and there is nothing more self-satisfying you can give to others than your sincere compliments and encouragement. Try looking for opportunities to “accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative” (a song my father used to sing). The more it works, so will your business, and your life. 

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116

Open Minds Open Doors

Many thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

 Make today a GREAT day for someone!

If I had my life to live over

If I had my life to live over, I’d dare to make more mistakes next time. I’d relax. I would limber up. I would be sillier than I have been this trip. I would take fewer things seriously.

I would take more chances. I would take more trips. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers. I would eat more ice cream and less beans.

I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but I’d have fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I’m one of those people who live sensibly and sanely hour after hour, day after day. Oh, I’ve had my moments and if I had to do it over again, I’d have more of them. In fact, I’d try to have nothing else. Just moments, one after another, instead of living so many years ahead of each day.

I’ve been one of those persons who never goes anywhere without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat, and a parachute. If I had to do it over again, I would travel lighter than I have.

If I had my life to live over, I would start barefoot earlier in the spring, and stay that way later in the fall. I would go to more dances. I would ride more merry-go-rounds. I would pick more daisies.”

   

– Nadine Stair, 85 years old (in 1968), Louisville, Kentucky

(Links inspired by these words were inserted by Hal)

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  Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116

  Open Minds Open Doors 

   Thanks for your visit and God Bless You.

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

How can you ever get where

you’re going if you don’t 

know where you’ve been?

You’ve heard me a zillion times about the importance of focusing on the “here-and-now” present moment if you seek success in any form – and it’s a particularly embracable idea if you’re a leader, a small business or professional practice owner or manager, an entrepreneur, a parent, teacher, in military or community service, or unemployed.

I’ve belabored the point that dwelling on or in the past, and worrying about the future, are mentally, emotionally, and physically unhealthy places to be. They are fantasyland locations and are at the core of neurosis.

 BUT when you can make use of the past or future from a present-moment mindset, so that you control past and future thoughts . . .

You Win! Don’t believe it? Follow this:

• Think for a minute, from your present-moment level of awareness, about where you’ve been in life (not  on a map, but where your thought patterns, performance levels, relationships, and business experiences have been). When you think about those things, what value do you give them in the here-and-now? 

• Are these experiences that led you to where you are? So reaching back into them, which ones yield you the greatest value in the present? Which can most dramatically, most effectively, launch you into the future? Where exactly do you want to go in life? What in your past can most help you get there?

• What roadblocks have you chosen to put between past learning experiences and future plans? What are the 3 most important steps you can take right now to start getting over or around those roadblocks? What excuses are you choosing to use to keep yourself from taking the most important of those 3 steps?

• Take some deep breaths and mentally stand back from yourself, in a vacuum, without feeling past guilt or future worry, and describe you as you imagine yourself to be 10 years from today, August 3, 2021. What would you tell you to do NOW to get yourself on a more productive, happier, healthier, more rewarding path?

• Go ahead, tell yourself –maybe in a mirror? Take some more deep breaths. Imagine, see yourself as the person you most want to become. Try to visualize your physical appearance (clothes, jewelry, skin, hair, teeth, brightness of eyes) and your attitude (how you walk, talk, carry yourself).

• You have the ability to choose now, today, tonight, this hour, this minute to start on the path that will take you where you want to be. And this moment in time will be your past when you achieve that new goal for yourself. Will you look back to it then and commend your decision to move forward or wallow in self-misery for not choosing?

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Hal@Businessworks.US 302.933.0116 

 Open minds open doors

 Thanks for visiting.     God bless you. 

  Make today a GREAT day for someone

“I am me . . . 

in all the world,

there is no one else

exactly like me.

I am okay!”

 – World renown family therapist VIRGINIA SATIR

[What? You came here looking for that all-time great 56-year-old recording hit "Only You," by the Platters?]

People around you may sometimes prompt you to think –because you own or run or manage a small business or professional practice– that you are Mr. or Ms. (or Dr.) Awesome in the flesh. And perhaps that’s warranted, especially if you are what’s commonly referred to as “self-made,” in which case: congratulations!

If, however, you can’t even begin to think about your business success because right now you’re down there in the trenches with America’s other 29,999,999 small business owners who are struggling to survive the fanatical progressive/socialist/liberal agenda that has steered government into a trample-free-market-competition mode.

Then the time has come to step back and take personal stock of who you are and where you’re going. And I’m sorry to tell you I can’t help you with where you’re going; only you know that answer. Godspeed!

So let’s explore the real you, the only you, the you that only your inner circle of family and friends knows. I can help you with that. I have lots of experience guiding people (especially business people) to find themselves. It’s not always easy. Some entrepreneurs thrive on making themselves be needles in a haystack.

Begin with accepting the awareness that you are unique.

There is (if you check with your friendly local DNA expert, and as Virginia Satir’s quote above says), no one else exactly like you.

Next, consider that if in fact this is true for every human on Earth, then HOW employees and customers respond to the messages you put out is never exactly the same twice.

Now that should tell you something right off the bat. What you want others to know about you, your products and services is very likely to be not what they are getting from your messages. But let’s return to you.

Government has cultivated dependency among the brain-dead, who make themselves too busy with life to bother with work. Who needs a job when you can get it all (food, shelter, clothing, healthcare, education) for free? There are others who work just enough to get by, but most of them seem to have RDD (Responsibility Deficit Disorder).

You are not among those who live off of others or you wouldn’t be reading this.

But some questions for you are in order: Do you choose to make yourself too busy with work to live life? Is it essential to your survival or are your business priorities simply wrapped around “what if” worries? Do you take enough breaks and pat yourself on the back enough for the good things you do? Do you eat and sleep right?

Have you ever “almost died”?

Do you get enough exercise? Are you answering these questions truthfully? Do you realize that because you are unique, so are your needs, so is your activity level, so is your spunk and gumption, so is your faith, your sense of patriotism, and your entrepreneurial spirit? When did you last stop to think about those values and variables?

What can you do right now to give your unique self a boost?

We do, in fact, become what we think about. Have you been thinking about what you really want to become, or have you been preoccupied with being the person you think others want you to be? There’s no such thing as working smarter and not harder. The issue is one of balance. There is a way that you already know . . . and, there is prayer.      

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Hal@Businessworks.US   302.933.0116 

 Open minds open doors.

 Thanks for visiting.  God bless you. 

  Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

Who knew?

You can end up going 

under when you’re

too over-the-top!

The boy who cried wolf… the lady doth protest too much… the sky is falling. Doomsday attitudes breed doom. We become what we think about!  

The more we think it, the more we bring it on. We become what we think about. We all know the type: the doom and gloomer — no matter what we say or do, it’s “poor me!” and “the business can never survive.”

Well, guess what? If that’s what we believe, we can bet our butts that that’s what we’ll get. We become what we think about. Why do we make it so hard on ourselves to unravel the tangled web of negativity that’s wrapped around our brains? We know better, don’t we? I mean this ain’t rocket science. It’s attitude. It’s a choice. We choose it!

So why do we choose negative thoughts and pessimism when we can just as easily choose positive thoughts and optimism? But it’s not “easy” we say. Well, then that too is a choice. We can choose to make it easy. Sounds good, but a whole lot of the problem is that the tangled web is full of then and there and if and when instead of here and now. 

Choosing to focus our minds on the here and now present moment as much as possible throughout the day (and night) is the healthiest place to be — physically (to prevent accidents, mentally (to prevent errors), and emotionally (to be able to respond instead of react!). It’s not possible 100% of the time, but it certainly can be more than it is!

We’ve all seen examples in every walk of life of unlikely people performing majestic feats only because they believed they could. We become what we think about. Believing in our selves, in things, relationships, sales, profits, innovation, productivity, and performance delivers the goods where hard work alone cannot.

I am now writing my second commissioned memoir. Both books are about a believer who has surpassed all odds –including threats at gunpoint– and succeeded by every life’s measure:

Both men believed so hard in what they were doing (and curiously couldn’t have been farther apart in their pursuits — home fabrics and public service for one, driving faith-based reform into the rough and tumble trucking industry for the other) that, without even trying, they put themselves in the right places at the right times and became winners!

Either of these men could have easily quit at any time, and lived a comfortable life, but both believed there was more to it than that. Both believed in service to others. Both had a here and now focus. Both choose prayer and faith as primary tools to nurture and support their belief systems.

Neither ever ventured “over the top”in their words and deeds, or in the ways they treated and respected others — employees, customers, suppliers, advisors, referrers–  and most importantly, their families. They were models of humility, trustworthiness, self-confidence and, though neither would admit it: inspired leadership.

In both cases, the fact that their competitors put their businesses under by talking too much and performing too little proves the point that over the top attitudes can drive business under. 

More on success? No compensation involved, but I heartily recommend Malcolm Gladwell’s book, OUTLIERS. Short. Fascinating. Challenging.

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Hal@Businessworks.US  302.933.0116 

  Open minds open doors. 

 Thanks for visiting and God bless you. 

   Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

24 Hours from right now,

you will have used up

86,400 seconds of your life.

Will you have made them count?

How often do you micro-manage your SELF? From all I’ve been able to determine in studying truly successful people, is that they seem –universally– to do this on a fairly regular basis. They plan and deliver to themselves short periods of introspection.

A few minutes a day perhaps. Or maybe an hour or two over the weekend? Is it time to prime the pump and recharge the batteries?

“I take yoga,” one person tells me. “I run (walk, jog),” others proclaim. There are also, of course, the “workout freaks” whose lives revolve around the gym and the weights they lift.

The bottom line, though, is that –while all of these and many other methods are great for all-around good health– it takes that extra conscious attention to the unconscious to be fully productive and rise above the limits of physical accomplishment.

Don’t abandon yoga or running or lifting. Take them to the next step and make them work for you.

Creative and spiritual people excel at this.

Some part of them knows instinctively when and where and how to mentally and emotionally “drop back” into themselves for a “How Goes It?” self-inventory and assessment.

It’s rarely as formal and compartmentalized as this suggests, but it nonetheless serves to rally your energy and your focus.

If you’re serious about wanting to take as full advantage as possible of every passing day’s worth of 86,400 seconds, you will not be offended by my never-ending suggestions to integrate more deep breathing into more of your life: Just click here for the free 60-second exercise that can change your life, and ignite your business.

Deep breathing gets more oxygen to your brain for better decision-making and it stimulates blood flow for more relaxed, not weaker, less stressed muscles. It works for every level of health and fitness. You will feel better!

The combination of effects rewards those who make deep breathing an ongoing practice, with substantially-increased self-control, self-confidence, and better health. It’s free. With little practice, it’s also “invisible.”

With improved self-control, self-confidence, and health, also comes a much-enhanced ability to respond instead of react to what would otherwise be stressful external circumstances and individuals.

If you don’t react, you can never over-react!

That single benefit is generally the “crowbar” that separates true leaders from lifelong followers. And if that’s not enough, be reminded that self-control and self-confidence come partnered with HIGH TRUST!

Who wants to follow someone who’s out of control emotionally, or for whom they have no or low trust? 

So, making the most of your next 86,400 seconds will serve to point you in the direction of strengthened self-control and leadership. What more could you ask? Uh, odds are you’ve probably just used up 100-150 seconds reading this post. That leaves you with about 86,200 seconds in the next 24 hours. make the most of them!

And remember that pausing to enjoy, and to introspect, helps ensure that your next round will also be productive! Oh, and did I mention “HAPPY”? Well, if you’re feeling mentally, physically and emotionally healthier, and getting more accomplished . . .  

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone! 

“Someone’s opinion of you

   does not have to become 

   your reality.”

—Motivational Speaker Les Brown

Let’s look at it this way: You are reading this right now because you are an entrepreneurial thinker and/or leader, because you own or operate or manage a small business or professional practice, or because you are a partner or investor in, or advisor to (or a student of) small business.

If this is true of you, then you know you are made of different stuff than are corporate or union folks, or those engaged in mass media. . . or government employees (from the White House to your State House, County Seat and Town Hall . . . including all levels of government agencies) . . . or those theoretical academic types.

Let’s put all those people aside for a minute. (Yes, of course there are exceptions; I’m talking about the overwhelming, vast majority of individuals who simply don’t get it, and who prefer being sheep!)

You, on the other hand, have a brain. And common sense skills. You know how to think and act productively.

You are focused on the here-and-now present-moment more than most people, and have little or no use for analyzing the past or fantasizing the future, beyond getting your ideas to work.

You know how to make things happen.

You have a sense of urgency, and you know how to “turn on a dime” when it’s time to change direction or meet a market need.

You create your own opportunities and are not afraid to step up to the plate when they arise — plus, you are smart enough to know how to get yourself on base without swinging wildly for the seats on every pitch.

Okay, so as far as others cut from the same fabric as you are concerned, all of the above makes you a (no gender implied) “Good Guy.” (There are 30 million of us!)  

But–alas–those admirable qualities that set the entrepreneurially-minded apart from the closed-minded also fail to insulate small business enterprise high-achievers from warped opinions!

Here’s the bottom line: When you find yourself beginning to worry about others’ opinions of you, your behavior, the way you run your business, the kind of schedule you keep, ask first if you are behaving legally and second if you are sacrificing your own health or your family’s existence.

If it’s “no” to both of these questions, change the channel.

It’s your brain. You are the only one who controls your brain. Simply change the mental channel in your brain from whatever self-denial, self-badgering, self-guilt station is playing, to something more challenging or geared more to easy listening.

It’s a choice. You can choose to rise above other’s opinions and pursue your burning desires freely.

Imagine if Edison or Ford or Gates or Winfrey or Ashe or Carnegie or Jobs or any great entrepreneur had balked at others’ negative opinions. We’d probably be –just for starters– without lightbulbs, cars and computers. Don’t choose for the negative opinions of those who can’t see your light to create darkness for your business ventures.

There’s too much to do, and life is too short to waste time dwelling on or worrying about other people’s opinions. Because–in the end– all you have for certain is you!

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals. God Bless You.

Make today a GREAT day for someone!

Yeast, the Sun,

and Leadership.

I get (and agree with) what Paul Ryan’s advice to Mr. Obama was all about when he visited the White House yesterday and reminded the man that “leadership starts at the top,” but I take some exception to the semantics of what that advice might suggest as it is applied to the rest of the world. 

———————————————-

Leadership, like yeast, like the sun on the horizon, rises from low places. It starts, often below the surface, and grows to recognition, then to love and respect or –sadly, in many cases– to fear and loathing, with little room left in-between those two extremes for tolerance and apathy. The problem is that yeast and the sun are fairly predictable.

Some aspects of leadership are also predictable.

Qualities like being able to inspire and motivate others, for example, are part of almost every description of leadership since the beginning of time.

Truth and reality, however, measure all leadership by one word alone.

What’s your best guess?

What single word sums up “leadership” most definitively?

Surely you know the word if you think about it enough. It’s authenticity. Authenticity of character, of personality, of purpose, of attitude, of responsiveness, of courage, of self-image, of the nature of the people involved, of the nature of the tasks to be done. It cannot be manufactured, pretended, stolen, replaced, avoided, dismissed, disregarded, or disarmed.  

Almost never to be found near government or political enterprises or management: authenticity. And rarely does it appear in corporate life when it isn’t guarded — easy to understand when UN-authentic people hovering at the top feel threatened. Yet, say many, true authenticity must also be free, so how could it be guarded?

Okay, so cross off corporate authenticity. And what are we left with? Family life and small business. Why? Because there is less need to lie, make excuses, and cover one’s butt, and because entrepreneurial attitudes are not so affected and convoluted by status-ladder-climbing and artificial allegiances.

-————————————-

TEN EXAMPLES of authenticity:

1. Giving credit where credit is due.

2. Speaking up for what you believe in and supporting others who share your purpose.

3. Accepting responsibility without excuses.

4. Acknowledging screw-ups and owning up to your mistakes, also without excuses.

5. Taking immediate corrective action when called for instead of analyzing and seeking blame.

6. Being focused on the present “here and now” moment as much as possible.

7. Always acknowledging the human factor in every decision and action, even when others pass it over. Business transactions are impacted by illness, injury, and family issues.

8. Nurturing (and cultivating) positive and productive behavior and attitudes consistently.

9. Soliciting and respecting the opinions of others . . . praise in public and criticize (constructively) in private.

10. Treat every employee and every customer like the special people they are, the way YOU want to be treated, every day, all of the time, without exception.  

————————————

How do you measure up, stack up, size up, match up? What three steps do you need to take now to give rise to more of that authenticity you have inside you? Can you take that first step right now?

It is, you know, a choice. 

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Hal@Businessworks.US or 302.933.0116

“The price of freedom is eternal vigilance!” [Thomas Jefferson] 

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