“Leaders have to control their

emotions under pressure.”

Rudy Giuliani, Time Magazine’s “Mayor of the world”

     We’re reminded to be kinder than necessary because everyone we meet is fighting some kind of battle. If that reminder is only half true, we’re talking about a lot of pent up stress. Bottled up anxieties = emotions under pressure. Leaders, by virtue of being leaders must rise above that.

     Forcing your brain to functionin ways that are totally opposite of what you are feeling can be a daunting if not overwhelming challenge, but not one that’s impossible. Why? Because you choose your behavior. You choose whether you will reACT or reSPOND to any given situation.

     Being aware that you have that choice and consciously making that choice is a fairly conclusive bit of evidence that you are indeed someone who is in a leadership position. This is not to say that you need to be unfeeling or insensitive about other people and situations. It means you need to control your feelings when you’re in the pressure-cooker!

     The best starting point for this is to follow the 4-step 60-second exercise spelled out at:

http://halalpiar.com/2009/05/4-steps-in-one-minute-zero-stress/

     Next, recognize that not only is the act of leadership a choice, but so too is the designation that empowers the action. Or, as some have more succinctly put it: if you can’t take the heat, get out of the kitchen!

     Remember too that leaders are both born AND made, but that leadership doesn’t fall from the sky! 

     What is this elusive quality all about? TIME magazine (which I don’t think gets very much right in general, but happened to here) had this to say about designating Rudy Giuliani as “Mayor of the World” and as the 2001 “Person of the Year”:

For having more faith in us than we had in ourselves, for being brave when required and rude where appropriate and tender without being trite, for not sleeping and not quitting and not shrinking from the pain all around him.”

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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To be on sale at Barnes & Noble and at special discounted price here! 

259 Months, Kathy Alpiar! 

…and you’re still

the love of my life!

Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Reminder: Friday night is project night at BusinessWorks. 6-days-a-week blog posts return Saturday. But before you click off, please take a few scrolls through recent and past archives for some stimulating (often humorous) ideas and techinques for strengthening your own personal and professional career and the growth and development of your business. Your input is welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (subject line: BusinessWorks) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. See you here tomorrow! Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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“You’ve got to stand

for something, or

you’ll fall for anything”

— Aaron Tippin, Country Western Performer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Hja0XND8Ms 

     The business world seems to have a mission to have a Mission Statement for everything these days…Sales Mission Statements, Customer Service Mission Statements, Corporate Mission Statements, Financial Mission Statements…

     And many of these, I believe, are merely token lip service public relations-type tongue-twisters with no teeth that hang framed on walls and plastered onto every ad and document and website in bordered shadow boxes, flaunted as if they were flags of honor and integrity!

     First of all, any company that has to be boasting about a Mission Statement (no matter how goody-goody it might sound) is simply indulging itself in mental masturbation.

     If your business is as great as the pursuit of its Mission, the people you want to know it, will know it without you having to strut it across every stage. Your behavior and the behavior of your business is what constitutes your “brand” and people will know you by your brand, your conduct.

     That having been said, there is a need in every organization (even sole proprietorships) for an internal “Leadership Mission Statement” that owners, operators, and managers can rally around and bring into daily practice. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

     It needs to address HOW your business leadership will function and communicate with others inside AND outside your organization. Why? Because –no matter what business you’re in, no matter what quality or value of goods and services you offer, no matter how industrious and honorable you may be– 80% of your business is communication!

     If you don’t have a Leadership Mission that focuses attention on the processes and ways you will strive daily to communicate clearly (including, importantly, active listening practices) with associates, staff, customers, prospects, vendors, community, industry and the rest of the world, you are setting your company up for failure.

     I’m not talking about a PR or media or customer service policy  manual, or some empty suit theory. I’m referring to a genuine statement of leadership conduct that calls on human communication best practices at every level… in letters, emails, on the phone, in-person, in presentations, and in all marketing related materials, publishings and broadcasts all of the time. “You need to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.”

What’s the guideline to use? Trust and Authenticity.

With special thanks for inspiring tonight’s blog post to a strategic alliance partner of mine, Andrew Jackson, who sent me the link to the music video source of the headline quote above. 

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 289 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in the new book from Nightengale Press, THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…on sale here! 

The gun goes off!

     No, I’m not suggesting some form of warfare is needed for starting a business (though, at times it can feel like being on the edge of a military engagement). I’m talking about a starter’s gun, the kind that’s used to start events, that shoots blanks? Whew! Glad we got that straight.

     Starting a new business, or a new venture spinning out of an existing business–in case it’s been a while and you’ve forgotten–is very much like the beginning of a crew race. Okay, you live in the desert or the mountains and haven’t the foggiest idea about a crew race.

     Maybe you saw one once on TV? Crew races take place in rivers, lagoons, bays, and lakes. Skinny, lightweight 62-foot-long sculls (boats) with 8 rowers (each with a two-handed oar: 4 on the port side and 4 on the starboard side). Yes, there are also 4 and 2 and 1-rower sculls.

     Each oarsman/oarswoman has his or her feet strapped in, and each slides forward and backward on little butt-snuggling seats that actually have each rower precariously perched in such a manner as to practically hang out over the boat edges just inches above the water.

     There’s a “coxswain” (usually a featherweight athlete with  heavyweight vocal cords) in the bow (front) who steers the boat with guide wires and pounds the rhythm into blocks on the sides of the boat. This little person does a lot of yelling through a megaphone. Oh, thatcrew race! Sooo?

     Competing boats get positioned on the starting line, standing still, dead in the water. Oars and rowers ready. Let me try that headline again: The gun goes off! Every rower slams their oars as fast and furiously as they can in and out of the water in order to get some starting momentum and get the boats moving from their dead weight standstill positions.

     Once some forward motion is established (and assuming no capsizings or tangled oars with other crew teams), the coxswain starts in with a quick paced rhythm, calling “in” and “out” for rowers to coordinate oar placements in and out of the water.

     This builds the pace of movement in a smoother, more team-coordinated manner. The coxswain eventually calls out “stroke” as the pace lengthens out into longer harder quicker pulls.

     The coxswain is all the while banging on the boat because rowers cannot always hear the shouted ins and outs because of wind, but they can feel the vibrations of the pounding and respond to that.

     Rowers slide forward and back in time with lifting their oars up out of the water, twisting the handles so the oar blade skims back across the top of the water, then plunging the blade back in for the exhausting pull through the water, then repeating the motion again and again.

     Rowers must concentrate on staying in tandem (from a head-on view, an observer should see but one single rower when the team is in perfect sync). They must also focus on working to not “catch a crab” (getting an oar stuck out of rhythm with the other seven oars, going into or coming out of the water, and creating a splashy puddle).

“Catching a crab” can be serious enough to “catch” an oar blade and take the oar that’s fastened into the oarlock beyond the point of recovery. This will likely turn the entire boat over, which –aside from losing the race and likely damage to the expensive fragile boat– is not a fun thing in 50-degree water with a hooded sweatsuit!  

Are you beginning to see why this athletic ordeal reminds me of starting a business? Are you paddling fast and furiously to get some forward motion? Are you trying to row and steer your fragile, expensive boat at the same time? Are you missing hearing the steps you have to take but feeling the vibrations? Have you “caught a crab”? Are you lengthening out? Capsized?

Hey, there’s always another race!

  # # #  

Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 288 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in the new book from Nightengale Press, THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…ON SALE HERE! 

Get your hidden agenda

out of the closet!

• CLIENT or BOSS or PROSPECT: Here’s a project we’d like you to do. Please tell us how you would do it, how long it would take and what kind of budget you’d recommend.
• CONSULTANT or MANAGER: Who’s the project for? What’s the purpose? Who or what’s being targeted? When do you need it done? What’s the budget you have to work with?
• CLIENT or BOSS or PROSPECT: Don’t worry about that stuff. We’re not sure of the target and we have no due date or budget; you tell us what you think.
• A WEEK LATER: “We’ve reviewed your proposal and we don’t like the target you selected, we think it should be done quicker and it’s too expensive.”

Whaaaaaaaaat?

     Every business or organizational group works on two levels: The level of the task represented on the surface, and the level of the “hidden agenda” — the undisclosed needs and motives of individual group members.

     Personal goals, values, attitudes, and fears impact the ways that individuals react to or respond to the group’s surface task. Hidden agendas siphon off valuable energy that can be used to accomplish the task at hand.

     People play power games by withholding information. By not telling the person(s) on the receiving end of an assignment, what the parameters are for a particular project, the CLIENT or BOSS or PROSPECT undermines prospects for success. By assuring him or herself of increased personal control, she or he is simultaneously dooming the project to failure.

     Hidden under the surface, you’re likely to find many individual conflicting pushes and pulls. Group members (according to a University Associates Handbook for Group Facilitators) have personal and subjective needs for belonging, acceptance, recognition, self-worth, self-expression, and productivity.

     The needs of one disgruntled or over-zealous or manipulative or misdirected individual can block the needs of another, or of the entire group, or the entire project. These blockages can be resolved in a minute, or drag on for years…in some rare instances, a lifetime.

     The Pfeiffer & Jones Group Facilitator Handbook suggests:

I wonder if we have said all that we feel about the issue. Maybe we should go around the table and ask for individual comments so that we can open up any further thoughts”

…as being the kind of statement a leader might ask anytime that hidden agendas appear to be threatening progress. 

     When you detect a hidden agenda, get it out of the closet!

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 287 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING this September in the new Nightengale Press book, THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING…ON SALE HERE! 

When your back’s

against the wall…

lean!

     That’s right. Let the wall hold you up. It will keep you standing, give you a better position to fight back, and allow you a place to push off of. Besides, being backed against the wall is more likely to make you a tiger than a pussycat.

     Tigers win at business. Pussycats do not. Tigers growl and claw. Pussycats purr and head for the litter-box. [And who said a business blog couldn’t be like Animal Channel?]

     I read and hear and see it everyday. It’s as if a thin coat of discouragement Spackle has been swiped across America’s small businesses. There are not as many smiles. [Please don’t stop smiling. Even forced smiles will eventually lead to real ones, maybe even produce a laugh or two!]

     When your back’s against the wall, turn around and examine the wall. Odds are it’s stronger than you. It’s probably been around a few years, without food or water, or without even using the bathroom…though it does likely have a roof over its head.

     Next, talk to the wall (especially if it’s brick, so you finally will know what all those people mean who claim to liken their discussions with their hi-tech-self-absorbed teenagers being “like talking to a brick wall!”).

     Okay, so now you’ve leaned against the wall that your back’s up against, you’ve looked at and appreciated and respected the wall, you’ve talked to the wall…what’s next?

     We need only drift back a few wonderful years ago when that question was never openly posed for worldwide consideration but received an earth-shattering response nonetheless.

     Are you thinking back and remembering? The assertive response to a none-question, offered in a stern but reassuring tone of voice by none other than the great leader of the free world, who is clearly a “one of our greatest presidents” candidates:

“Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!”  

I say to you here and now once more, in the immortal words of Ronald Reagan, as if he were here to consult you on your business trials and tribulations:

Tear down this wall!

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 286 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)

WATCH FOR ONE OF HAL’S SHORT STORIES COMING THIS SEPTEMBER IN THE NEW NIGHTENGALE PRESS BOOK:  THE ART OF GRANDPARENTING  ON SALE HERE! 

The 3% Sales Factor

     Some interesting information came my way from my strategic alliance partner, Andrew Jackson (no relation to the past president, the twenty-dollar bill, the famous Stonewall, or the recently-deceased entertainer). Andrew is the bright young founding CEO of www.ThePoorIrishman.com.

     It seems, he says, that less than 3% of all online businesses actually make money through their websites. That’s a staggering statistic, even if he’s wildly wrong and happened to be missing a zero after the 3, which he’s not. But, you know what? I started thinking about this, and have concluded that once again, Andrew is right!

     And do you know why? Because all the great graphic designs in the world will not sell what a website offers (unless it’s selling great graphic designs!) as effectively as a few choice words of GREAT COPYWRITING.

     On the Internet, a great word is worth a thousand pictures when it comes to sales. Now, don’t be confused with those fabulous emails we’ve all seen filled with spectacular visuals of amazing jugglers and 3-D artists and talented nature photographers. That’s not the same thing.

     I’m talking about online business website sales!

     So, this thought process prompted me to add a new tab on the top right of this page titled “The 3% Sales Factor.” If you’re curious about the subject of increasing Internet sales and what GREAT COPYWRITING is really all about, try it. You’ll like it.      

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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Is your independence

going down the toilet?

     What better subject on Independence Day than our right to independent choice of healthcare coverage? But, STOP! Don’t click off! This concerns YOU, Dear Mr. or Ms. Entrepreneurially-Minded Business Leader!

     Mr. Obama (He’s only “Mr.” until he proves his citizenship) wants YOU and every other American to be required to buy a health insurance policy… regardless of whether you want it, whether you need it, or whether you can afford it. [Just imagine, if you can, what’s coming next if he gets his way with this. NON-Union Business survival? Right. Good luck!]

     Now get this reasoning: He says it’s the same thing as motorists being required to buy auto insurance.

BUT ISN’T DRIVING A PRIVILEGE?

ISN’T LIFE AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS (INCLUDING HEALTHCARE COVERAGE CHOICE) A RIGHT?

     You want to argue this? Go find me the place in our Constitution or our Bill of Rights that says the Federal Government has the authority to require the purchase of a health insurance policy as a condition of having been born!

     You think that’s a ridiculous exaggeration? Then tell me: WHERE IS FREEDOM when the Federal Government has the power to tell you how to spend after-tax dollars? What distinguishes disposable income from taxes?

     As for the proposal that the IRS be charged with fining citizens who do not purchase a health insurance policy, since the Federal Government just prints more paper money to pay debt, why is taxation or the IRS even necessary? Just shut down the IRS and transfer its budget to indigent care! [And won’t that satisfy all the screaming liberals?]

[With special appreciation for the inspiration and some of the wording to  “BenDoubleCrossed” editorial contributor to the June 26th Larchmont (NY) Gazette www.larchmontgazette.com]

    Before you jump to defend Mr. Obama on this issue, you should know that I speak from more years of healthcare business experience (including five years of National Committee of Quality Health Care membership, authorship of hundreds of healthcare-related articles, and two major books for and about doctors) than he has spent in a lifetime government career.

     His proposals are barking up the wrong tree. And he is continuing to alienate business and industry leaders, in whose hands rest the nation’s only hope for economic recovery! 

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

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RETURN TOMORROW

AFTER FIREWORKS!

Stop shooting yourself

in the Subject Line!

     I had occasion today and yesterday to delete a few thousand emails that had accumulated at an old, unused email address. 99.9% of them (including substantial numbers from leading name companies) had subject line copy that was too stupid for a 6 year-old to consider opening.

     Okay, I realize the vast majority of these were spam, but you would have to be from Pluto or Uranus to think you could find value in clicking open emails with Subject copy like:

• Get Yore Advanced Collage Decree Today: EZ and cheep [I gather we’d not be talking about a Master of Fine Arts in Writing here.]  
• Women will cling to you day and night[This is not something I can imagine a desirable state of existence regardless of gender.]
• Hi. Angelina here. I missed hereing from you[Wow! An old acquaintance; I mist you two!]
• Jumpstart your customer base now! They’ll come rushing to your door with their wallets out! [Not sure that jumpstarts are such a good idea for my surgeon clients! And not many doctors run anywhere with their wallets open anyway!]
• Call Today! Start Earning $10,000 A Week Immediately![Okay. let’s see, that’s $520,000 a year. Hmmm, not bad. Must be a steroid franchise!]

     You get the idea. And you surely get your own fair share as well. The point is that there’s also a very large and very successful email marketing medium out there that is thriving because the people involved are professional enough to recognize that GREAT Subject line copy gets emails opened.

     What makes it great?

1. First (like the ingredients and message of every great direct mail campaign envelope), it’s as personalized as can possibly be.
2. Second (like the copy for every great billboard and branding theme), it’s seven words or less that tell a story that has a beginning, middle and ending and is persuasive!
3. Third (like every great ad and every great marketing campaign), it succeeds at attracting attention, creating interest, stimulating desire, and bringing about action while assuring satisfaction.

     WHEW! That’s a lot of stuff for one email Subject line! Yup! And it takes a lot of time and special skill that can often be pricey. But, how important is it to get your email advertisement opened to start with?

     Remember: no matter how spectacular your message is inside, it’s not worth a hand of sand if your prospect doesn’t open it.   

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Input welcome anytime: Hal@TheWriterWorks.com (”Businessworks” in the subject line) or comment below. Thanks for visiting. Go for your goals, good night and God bless you! halalpiar  # # # 

FREE BLOG SUBSCRIPTION? Click on ”Posts RSS Feed” (Center Column), or now on your AMAZON Kindle for just $1.99 a month after a free trial.

FEELING CREATIVE? Add your own 7 words to the end of the 283 POSTS:  Click under “7-Word Story” (center column)