Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. — Aristotle
Marietta — Kenichi Ohmae has been called, “Mr. Strategy,” for his innovative writings on corporate strategy and his creation of “The 3 C’s” business concept: 1) Customer, 2) Competitors, and 3) Corporation. His 1982 book entitled, “The Mind of the Strategist,” was a game changer in the world of organizational development for its insightful wisdom on how to identify the customer’s needs, evaluate the strengths of the company, and overcome competition. His comparisons of Japanese company structure vs. US companies strategic development have improved the way we do business globally and how growth has brought cross-cultural understanding as we all evolve into a global economy through technological improvements. Mr. Ohmae has held teaching positions at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, MIT, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Stanford University, along with others. Check out his recent work here.
In their interesting book entitled, “Superconnect,” written by Richard Koch and Gregory Lockwood, they describe three distinct networks we encounter in our lives: strong links, weak links and hubs. There are good reasons for all three types, but connections are extremely crucial in our lives, both personally and professionally. Check out this fascinating read here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/search?index=books&linkCode=qs&keywords=9780393079203. #Encourage Excellence
Marietta – Another item for the “Can’t fix stupid” folder. The Internet is full these days with guru’s promising to help you attract the opposite sex, get lucky, have more dates than you can ever handle, how to talk to women, or men. People actually fall for spending money on corny classes and conferences on how to have crazy sex anytime they want. Let me let you in on a little secret that has a 100% guarantee, “if you want to want to get “lucky” with new partners every day, then have very low standards.” That’s it.
Develop and work on having good relationships. You become who you associate with. #NcourageXcellence
Marietta, GA – To continue growing in your selected field of study or career, you must develop the habit of learning and stretching your mind to learn more. Adapt and overcome limitations with constant curiosity and good questions. Read something about your career every day and look for learning opportunities to apply your knowledge by asking questions. Basic rule is, “Don’t let your mind get stale.”
In true EvE (Effort v. Effectiveness) fashion, here are 10 things that will help you get started.
Just stack these 10 items in order of importance to you and attack the top two first:
Never discourage curiosity. Data is gathered in many ways.
Seek answers every day. Overcome your fear of not knowing something.
Make problem solving fun not boring
Find information to apply when others see roadblocks
Mind sharing with others, always be open minded
Exercise your mind, always be learning
Practice conscious decision making
Have fun helping others by sharing your knowledge with them. Be a mentor
Research and read something about work topics or classwork everyday
Set goals and objectives to ask more questions and seek more answers.
KENNESAW – Do you really value your professional and personal relationships? I had an opportunity to meet David Nour, www.davidnour.com in 2010 to discuss his book, Relationship Economics (Amazon). Not only was David fascinating to talk to, but his application of social media to promote his activities and capabilities is spectacular. He argues that all relationships have value, either positive or negative. Inventory your relationships and make the most of the positive ones in your life.
Author: David Nour
Relationships become the human capital of our lives and either make us stronger or weaker, richer or poorer. Nurturing good relationships and shedding bad ones should become second nature to us. If you want to reach the next level in your personal and business life, then invest in good relationships. Give of yourself to help others be successful and it will return huge benefits, not only to you, but to the world.
This becomes the foundation for the 80/20 lifestyle. Twenty percent of the relationships of our lives determine eighty percent of our life’s outcome. Focus on strengthening the good relationships in our business and personal lives and shedding the bad ones. It shouldn’t be hard determining which ones are which.
Encourage Excellence today with one of your close friends.
Warren Buffet is a favorite figure in today’s investment world. He’s been a successful investor for decades by applying simple rules and not deviating far from his core values whether you agree with them or not.
Kennesaw- Peter Drucker emphasized simplicity for decades. Part of his genius was the ability to take complex problems and break them down into simple observations that can be analyzed. “A turnaround requires abandoning whatever does not perform and doing more of what does perform”. Post-Capitalist Society
His message to us is to improve effectiveness by concentrating more on what works. Can’t get much simpler than that.
Encourage excellence by helping others focus on improving their strengths.
Click the link below to be redirected to a video segment of an interview with Drucker on his philosophies:
Environmental psychologist Sally Augustin, Ph.D., teaches individuals and businesses how to use color to help them achieve their goals. Whether you’re a supervisor looking to renovate your store, or a manager deciding what color to paint the office, color psychology can help us in our pursuits for success.
According to Augustin, the color of a wall can actually influence the way a person perceives temperature. For instance, cool colors like blue, green, and light purple have a tendency to make us believe it is colder, while warmer colors such as yellow, red, and orange can cause us to think it is warmer. Business owners can use this philosophy to their advantage by saving on heating and cooling costs. If you are based in a colder environment, painting a waiting room a warm color might cause others to think it is a few degrees warmer than it really is. While you should always keep your thermostat at a reasonable and safe temperature, it may still allow you to keep the temperature a few degrees lower.
The color green has been linked to broader thinking and creativity! I LOVE creative writing, so maybe this is one of the reasons I love this color? According to Augustin, “There is a positive association between nature and regrowth” when it comes to the color green. Likewise, Augustin argues that painting a work area green could help your employees be more productive.
Did you know that red sports cost more to insure? Forbes.com contributor Amy Morin writes, “When humans see the color red, their reactions become faster and more forceful”. Yet, this burst of energy, though powerful, is only momentary and red ultimately reduces our analytic thinking.
University of Rochester psychology professor Andrew Elliot maintains that “athletes are more likely to lose when they compete against an opponent wearing red, and students exposed to red before a test are likely to perform worse”.
Red has long been connected with concentration difficulties and feelings of defeat due to our memories of teachers using red pen to mark up our papers and tests.
While yellow usually isn’t a popular color, research surveys have shown the color blue to be the most preferred color among large groups. Historically, when our ancestors saw the color blue like a clear blue sky or a watering hole, it was a good sign. Painting an office building blue, therefore, is “likely to satisfy the majority of the people”.
What colors can you incorporate in your office to encourage excellence in others?
Click the link below to be redirected to the webpage for Sally Augustin’s business, Design with Science:
Kennesaw- Friends, as you know, I am a huge fan of Peter Drucker (The Age of Discontinuity) and Richard Koch (80/20 Principle). Large companies have to adapt to rapid change in our new economy both internally and externally. If you work for a Fortune 500 company, take some time to study how you are going to contribute this year and how you can add measurable value to the bottom line. Like a manager of mine once said, revenue and margin solves most problems. Encourage excellence today.
Shawn Achor, Harvard scholar and researcher and author, has provided valuable insight on how to improve your daily productivity, by simply decreasing the amount of unnecessary “noise” in your life. In his book, Before Happiness, Achor discusses the surprising rewards of that can result from simply decreasing 5 percent of the “noise” in our daily lives.
Specifically, there are 4 effective ways we can allot more room in our brains by eliminating the following types of auditory input:
1) Mute TV and Internet commercials
2) Turn off the car radio when talking to others
3) Leave the radio off for the first 5 minutes in the car
4) Remove news media links from your internet bookmarks
For more information on Shawn Achor’s book and career research, click the link below to be directed to his website:
Marietta — Kenichi Ohmae has been called, “Mr. Strategy,” for his innovative writings on corporate strategy and his creation of “The 3 C’s” business concept: 1) Customer, 2) Competitors, and 3) Corporation. His 1982 book entitled, “The Mind of the Strategist,” was a game changer in the world of organizational development for its insightful wisdom on how to identify the customer’s needs, evaluate the strengths of the company, and overcome competition. His comparisons of Japanese company structure vs. US companies strategic development have improved the way we do business globally and how growth has brought cross-cultural understanding as we all evolve into a global economy through technological improvements. Mr. Ohmae has held teaching positions at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, MIT, UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs and Stanford University, along with others. Check out his recent work here. 
