Bunnies & Duracell Batteries

Bunnies & Duracell Batteries

By Ricardo Andorinho

An astrological crisis is installed since it was reported that Ophiuchus would become the 13th zodiacal sign, pushing all the other signs a month forward.

On this side of the planet, this discussion has a lighter weight since until now, nobody has pointed out the existence of a thirteenth animal sign in the Chinese horoscope. Consequently, we are about to leave the ferocious Year of Tiger and enter into the “mild-mannered” Year of the Rabbit.

During this festive season you should expect to see rabbits, bunnies and fluffy tails everywhere you go and, at night time, while you have a drink, you may also watch them on their hutch at Sands Macao.

The rabbit, bunny or hare are similar creatures which essence derives from the Moon. Being the icon of longevity they have been the chosen animal to represent and promote Duracell brand batteries.

As you may recall, the commercial advertisements of Duracell present several pink rabbits and the “Duracell Bunny” also known as the “Energizer Bunny”. This fluffy fellow is powered by a Duracell battery that allows him to win all races or games against his pink rabbit opponents powered by rival batteries. The point of the advertisement is that the bunny powered by a Duracell battery can continue functioning for a longer amount of time before its battery runs down.

However, and since these little creatures also symbolize graciousness, good manners, sound counsel, kindness, and having a huge sensitivity to beauty they have also been selected to be Playboy´s fantasy archetype.

According to the experts in Chinese Astrology, in each and every rabbit individual there is a strong will and a great self-assurance. They believe in their own ability to survive, relying on their judgment, which makes them at peace with themselves.

They might appear slow or over deliberate at times, but this is most likely due to their sense of caution and discretion. They never use harsh words or vulgarisms, which make them having their credentials flawless.

They jump any obstacles that come into their paths and recover from catastrophes with extraordinary resilience. No matter how the rabbit is tossed he always land on its feet and that is probably why in cartoons, Bugs Bunny always gets his carrots!

So, to benefit from this rabbit wisdom here are some tricks to get your carrots:

1. Admit your mistakes and quit trying to cover them up;
2. Stop blaming other people;
3. Return everything you ever borrowed;
4. Give things away to people less fortune than you;
5. Be kind to the unkind people in your life;
6. Wherever you go, always show up on time;
7. Be positive and speak in the positive language;

We strongly believe that in the long run, those small actions will unlock your potential, making you live a happier, bunny kind, inspired and longer life.

Life is nothing more than a daily race or fight. So, please make sure your batteries are Duracell and that you will take the batteries charger everywhere you go…

What are you here for?

By Ricardo Andorinho

For centuries, people have been struggling with the purpose of their existence.

Maybe you have wondered, you are wondering, or you will one day in the future, wonder what your purpose in life is, what your true north is, what gives your life meaning or simply what you are here for.

The truth is only some of us are living a life of purpose and these people are easily identifiable.

Just think about a particular person, past or present, who has achieved great things... Now, consider what is behind such accomplishments? Don’t you recognize passion and love as his or her drivers? Once you identify such emotions you will probably find out that they were aroused by a compelling purpose.

Not an easy task

Finding your life meaning is often tougher than it might sound. Chances are that you are always busy with your professional life, that you don't have time to stop and think about what your purpose might be, or actually what you want to do with your life.

So, we are here to ask you now: why do you do it? Why do you have that particular job or activity that takes up most of your time? Is there some part of it that you absolutely live for?

Professionally speaking, are you doing your job because you are passionate about it, or are you doing it because of the money?

If you find something in the job that keeps you coming back, day after day, that is probably your purpose. From there, can you identify your gifts and passions? Can you identify how you can serve others, how you can add value, how you can provide solutions to the problems of others?

Once you are able to discover your gifts and passions, your values and roles will be the way through which you express them; or in other words, how you operate daily will reflect those gifts and passions. That is why people who are living a life of purpose are easily identifiable!

Some guidelines

Here are some tips to assist you in living a life of purpose:

1) Imagine you are at your funeral and ask yourself how you would like to be remembered.

2) Write down how you want your parents, your siblings, your co-workers, your friends, your spouse and children to remember you.

3) List what you consider to be the three or four priorities in your life.

4) List the most important relationships in your life.

5) For each priority and each relationship, write down a purpose statement, your current reality and your goals.

6) Think about how you would like to spend the week if you knew that you only had six months to live.

7) Take action!

Do yourself a favour: unlock your gifts and passions and start living a meaningful life!

Living a life of purpose is being in tune with who you really are. It is a spiritual or mystical experience that everyone should allow him or herself to live.

Strategic Planning Success Story

Years ago i was asked to step into a Biotech firm that had just been taken over by new management via a hostile takeover. The place was a wreck. It had been started via a small IPO, and the management team squandered the money on overblown facilities & unproductive staff. My first task was to stabilize cashflow, which I did by collecting past-due receivables and renegotiating just about everything. I then focused on the larger picture of redeveloping the company into a winner (note: they had never made a profit up th this point). I dumped the fancy facilities, reduced the staff to a small key group, outsourced production at reduced cost, and developed a marketing strategy that got the company into profitable status. Meanwhile, I courted a venture capital group who injected cash and took the company private. Ultimately, the company was consolidated with another firm which had national distribution channels. They went from being a near-bankrupt small-cap loser to a vibrant mid-cap winner. I'm proud of that and the many other contributions I've made over my career. There were many lessons to be learned from that experience, but the key lesson was to "get off my butt and do something". The biggest mistake of all is inaction; a lesson the old management learned when they sat on their butts while the company crumbled around them. The second-most-important lesson was to have a plan. Planning forces one to exerise the discipline of developing & thinking through their strategy, and provides a "bible" for running the business. Without a plan, most people are just throwing money away. I've got a great story about an Aerospace company that I'll tell another day.

Regards,
Al Walsh, CEO
Walsh Enterprises, Business & Financial Advisors
http://www.awalsh.us

Go to http://www.walshal.wordpress.com where you can access:
* Articles on Business, Economy, and Career
* Presentations I've written on various business topics
* Information Resources on varied business topics

what makes you a success - how to start?

In the last few weeks, I have been amazed at the amount of traffic and emails, spam, sells, contact me's etc I have received and it suddenly struck me that it seems without doubt, everyone wants to be a success.

Do you?

Exactly - who ever answers that question with a ' well I’m not sure, if I want to be successful, provide for myself and family, have loads of great friends and a really good lifestyle...aherm ...let me think about that!!! And I’ll come back to you. It also seems to me that many people who are great at MLM and marketing and selling themselves also have some fantastic programmes to tap into this natural human desire to succeed and basically sell you 'how to' packages on how you can match their number of friends, make millions and sit on a yacht by a fantastic sunset sipping a cocktail while surrounded by loving admirers ....oh and by the way you can stay sat there by getting loads of other people to do the work for you and re-sell their amazing products and lifestyle while you endorse even more of their products...... and then give great testimonials as to why and how you did it and then everyone can copy your success.....BUT, and there is still truth in the adage that nothing is really for free, it's just a pull line to get you hooked, revved up, jealous ...whatever lights your fire and gets you motivated to buy in to them.

Now, I am not in any way decrying some of the really generous, genuine people out there who really do share their knowledge and success in a meaningful way but what I am saying is DO NOT go into anything blindly without really using and answering some basic questions about yourself and what you really want in your life. It used to be that success was measured by what you had (very firmly); even when people deny they are materialistic , it is human nature to want to be in a good place and have a good life - the key is how YOU measure success and what it means to you. You can feel hugely successful in your life because you have always paid the bills, you have a steady comfortable life and a loving long term partner and great kids who love you OR it might be that you are the CEO of a global company with a fantastic retirement plan and a holiday home in a beautiful place and are on your 3rd beautiful wife who is an ex-model!

The point I am making here is that success is also relative and although we can't help ourselves, affected by outside influences and opinions.

To really get back to basics I refer back to my earlier comment of why am I doing this? what do I really want and what am I going to do to get where I want to be....it's not about the what I haven't got, what everyone else has and what I think I should have....it's all about the basic understanding of who you are and what you can do. So without waffling on further - here are some really basic questions to ask yourself before you sign up to every fantastic offering out there and set yourself up for a fall.

1. What would make me really happy? - Security? Risk? Challenge? Teach? sell? Grow? Develop? Money?

2. What do I really know about myself? - Risk taker? Implementer? Planner? Introvert? Extrovert? Decisive? Team player? Solo? Tough? Emotional?

3. What do I want to achieve? In other words what does success look like to YOU!

4. What are the key drivers in my life? Family? Friend? Position? Title? Security? Money? Emotional satisfaction?

5. What do I really love doing or feel really passionate about? Selling? Talking? Gardening? Reading? Family?

6. What skills do I have that I can use? Admin? Language? Facts? Figures? People? Creativity?

7. What skills don't I have and how/where do I get them? - Knowledge base? Who I know and what do they know? Learn new skills? Copy and expert?

This is fairly basic thought provocation, but once you have answered these you will find that you have a lot of information and will ask yourself even more questions and automatically want to search for more answers BUT at least from a base of understanding yourself and your real desires and needs to be truly happy.

I have seen so many people measure their success on 'been rich' having a great title and good position, only for them to realise when they have all that, they really just wanted to be a gardener or a writer etc and now feel trapped by all their hard work and success.

What really makes you a success is to be passionate, because once you have that fire in your belly, nothing will stop you - no matter how many knocks you get and how many failures you learn from and how many people tell you that you're barking MAD, YOU will get through it with passion and belief and as you know yourself better than anyone else...YOU know what you want and where you are going with it and your intuition will grow and YOU will succeed!

So get out there and put some real thought into who you are and what you want, don't be afraid to be you, set yourself some short, medium and long term goals, don't be afraid to ask for help or learn new skills and JUST GO FOR IT!!!

ps - By all means ask me some questions!

Tracy Sheldon

Communication Strategy - Movies can lead great classes

Negotiating the Rapids

Well it has been another interesting week. The market is lower, some folks are already declaring the stimulus package a failure (I think it's a little premature) and businesses and people are very nervous.
The next few months are what I am referring to as the rapids. We are going to be facing challenges that we haven't faced before and how we navigate has long term implications. Here are some of my thoughts:

• Act, don't react. Many organizations are going to look at rapidly softening markets and look for actions to take. Action is good as long as there is thought around it. Organizations will be in a position of looking at their staffing requirements, marketing expenditures, training, etc . In our service economy "payroll" is one of our largest expenses. It is necessary and appropriate to adjust our workforce from time to time. Do it carefully and methodically. Things like across the board cuts, hiring freezes, etc. are all tactics. Be sure they are the right ones. If you don't have a strong performance management and measurement methodology now might be a real good time to implement one.
• Clarity is king. I have quoted Marcus Buckingham multiple times on the most important role of leadership as being clear. At times like these the need for clear confident leadership becomes even more critical. Your employees are going to want to know that you see a future, that there is a plan.
• Involve your team. This is a time when a management team can really gel or come apart. I believe that when we are making critical decisions we need to involve all levels of management. You don't have to involve them in the same way, but retreating to a place where you make all the decisions or in larger organizations all the decisions are made at the C level does a couple of things, neither of them positive. Number one, it says we don't think you are smart or competent enough to participate. Number two, it puts them in a position where they can not explain or share accountability for the decisions that are made.
• Make adjustments to your budgets and your staff surgically. I talked with a client this morning who is struggling because they reduced the majority of their "production" staff earlier. Now they have brought in some significant orders and are struggling to meet their commitments because they don't have the staff. You may have a situation where you literally need to add staff in one area while reducing in another.
• Think before you slash training or marketing budgets. One of the first casualties I see in many downturns is training followed by marketing. My concern in this area is that as I have written previously less 30% of the organizations in the world have what could be labeled high engagement workforces. The most important part of high engagement is trust and communications. We don't do a good job of teaching that in our colleges and B schools. We need managers who are highly capable in that area. You also send a message to your high performers that you are reducing investment in their skills development and potential. Similarly with marketing if you are not looking for "blue ocean" or refining products where is your future business going to come from? I have seen organizations so consumed with a downturn or a singular initiative that they "take their eye of the ball" in other areas. The world doesn't stop, your competitors are monitoring your vulnerabilities.
• Play your game. I wrote a piece last week where I talked about best practices among other sacred cows. They may be best practices- for somebody else! Don't blindly follow "what we have always done" or "the industry best practices". This way sound overly simplistic, but after the second guy implements it, it isn't the best practice any more; it is the standard practice.

I am an optimist by nature an explorer if you will. I believe that this downturn may be the catalyst to make us re-examine many things that we have done and change them.

I have written a lot about personal competency. Personal competency is the idea that employee and employer are partners in achieving organizational and individual goals. This downturn is making us realize that our current model of corporate codependency where we "take care of employees" can't continue. Corporate America can't fund it and neither can the government. People are going to have to get involved with decisions about their health care, their retirement, and their future. Trickle down economics didn't trickle down.

I find it somewhat interesting how outraged some politicians are about the stimulus program, but they didn't say much about our "investments" in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

So, wear your life jacket, plot your course and you will survive this trip!

Mark Herbert

Turtle or Hare- Part Deaux

Last week I talked a little about organizations in this spiraling economy determining whether they wanted to be a "turtle"; retreating into their shell, or a hare seeking opportunity. I wanted to continue that theme a little bit.
The official "prognosticators" have grimly stated that our current economic situation is 1) likely to get worse before it gets better and 2) likely to last at least twelve moths. So what do we do with the time? Here are some of my suggestions:

• Plot your strategy. How many "overnight" successes have you met that spent years refining and executing their strategy whether personally or professionally. In my last position we took some time to reflect and refine our strategies and then launched a multi point strategy with excellent results. (see my case study- a New Paradigm for Credit Unions). Several competitors commented to me later- we thought you guys had given up- you were massing for D -day!
• Examine your team. Anybody else tired of hearing everybody parrot Jim Collins about getting the right people on the bus? You can't just talk about it, you have to do it! If organizations are cutting budgets or slashing product launches and cutting marketing expenses before looking at the performance metrics of your organization and assisting the bottom 10 -15% off the bus you aren't doing what you need to do!
• Look for "blue ocean". Are you proactively looking for new opportunities and new markets? Are their opportunities to bring your product or service into a new sector?
• Examine your systems. I agree with Collins; the enemy of great isn't bad or awful, it is "good" as in "good" enough. Do you have efficient systems in not only data management, but in business intelligence? Is the data being turned into meaningful action plans and being disseminated to the right people?
• Do you have clarity? Marcus Buckingham tells us the most important role of leadership is clarity. Clarity of purpose and vision. Richard Rumelt of UCLA tells us that the key role of management is to remove or minimize ambiguity. Employees need to understand their role in the organizations plan, especially at times like these.
• Do you have an engagement strategy? If you don't you are not alone, but here are some arguments why you should start now. In my article on "presenteeism" I shared with you that we lose $200 billion annually to productivity drain from people who are not fully engaged, are dealing with personal concerns, or just taking up space. In my series on Compliance to Commitment(TM) and engagement I shared the corollary- organizations with high engagement enjoy 21% higher per capita productivity rates, 60% lower turnover, and outperform their peer group averages by 100% on key financial metrics. Their employees see themselves as part of the solution and actively participate in creating solutions, not whining or abandoning ship.
• Are you playing as a team? When business get in trouble or experience tough times I typically see the executive team "huddle" in a conference room making all the decisions: what do we cut, who do we cut, what do we do? Here is a tip- employees at all levels support decisions that they participate in much more consistently than decisions that are imposed on them. I am not suggesting a vote, but giving employees an opportunity to participate in the how if not the what or at least informing them and getting their input conveys respect and value. If your management team and staff can't contribute to these kinds of decisions you might ask yourself why they are part of your team.

I remember hearing that Native Americans ate when food was plentiful and rested when the opportunity presented itself. I also read in Malcolm Gladwell's latest book the difference between a "rice" culture and a "wheat" culture. A rice culture is not seasonal, when you are not planting and harvesting you are preparing for the next growing season. In our "wheat culture" we spent the winter months inside - sounds a lot like "turtling" to me.

So I hope that I have given you somethings to consider. Comments always welcome.

Mark Herbert

Source: http://www.newparadigmsllc.com/blog/2009/02/turtle-or-hare-part-deaux.html