Great Read Book Review & Excerpt | Irene Becker | www.justcoachit.com | Qblog
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smarter, faster & happier

Managing with a Conscience (2^nd edition) by Frank K. Sonnenberg
Winner, Best Small Business Book of the Year

Managing with a Conscience is MORE than an award winning book for small business, it is a timeless reference point for all organizations, enterprises and business who want seek to improve performance through integrity, trust and commitment.

How can we manage and lead forward in a bold new world of unremitting change, challenges and opportunities?  People make profits, people are the engine of creativity, productivity and promise.  Frank Sonnenberg has given us MUST read roadmap for management and leadership in a brave new age of changes, challenges and opportunities.

Are You Working at Cross-purposes?

If you randomly selected 50 employees and asked them basic questions about the heart of your organization, would their answers be similar? For example, ask them: What is our organization’s mission? What are our core values? What factors are most important to our future success? What are our core competencies? How does someone get ahead in our organization? How do we differentiate ourselves from the competition? What are our key initiatives this year? How will our industry change over the next few years? How will we respond to this change? What’s the impact of this phenomenon? Unless your employees give similar answers to these most basic questions, waste, redundancies, inefficiencies, confusion, and anxiety are likely; the result—employees working at cross-purposes.

Promises Promises

Be careful about promises made. As Kristin Anderson says in Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service, “You can’t promise your customers sunny weather, but you can promise to hold an umbrella over them when it rains.” Problems arise when promises can’t be met. There are no degrees of promises; every promise is equally important because the person who is disappointed by your failure to keep a promise is likely to think: “If they can’t be counted on for small things, I sure won’t trust them on large ones.”

Are You a Good Listener?

Everyone in the organization, from the top to the bottom, should strive to communicate more effectively. According to research, we spend 7 out of every 10 minutes that we are awake communicating, and that communication time is devoted 9 percent to writing, 16 percent to reading, 30 percent to speaking, and 45 percent to listening. When report cards are given out for how well we listen, however, very few of us would receive passing grades. Barriers to listening include assuming a subject is uninteresting and tuning out, focusing on how something is said rather than on what is being said, reacting too quickly before the message is completed, picking up on emotional words and not hearing the rest of the message, listening only for facts rather than trying to absorb ideas, allowing yourself to be distracted, and avoiding listening to subjects that you don’t understand. Everyone must learn to overcome these barriers.

Leadership: Creating a vision

Leaders must create a shared vision that shapes the way employees feel about their organization. They must accept responsibility for making “the company,” “our company”–– a place where people work together instead of “doing their own thing.” The vision may be precise or vague; it may highlight a specific goal or a dream of a better future. It is critical to present a clear and concise view of the organization that is compelling, realistic, believable, and attractive. Furthermore, it must promise a better future than prevailing conditions in visible and important ways.

Frank Sonnenberg, a marketing strategist, has written four books and published over 300 articles. This was adapted from Frank’s new book, Managing with a Conscience: How to Improve Performance Through Integrity, Trust, and Commitment (2nd edition). Trust Across America named Sonnenberg one of the Top 100 Thought Leaders of 2011 and 2012 • In 2011, Social Media Marketing Magazine (SMM) selected Sonnenberg as one of the top marketing authors in the world on Twitter. © 2012 Frank Sonnenberg. All rights reserved.

Twitter @FSonnenberg
http://www.franksonnenbergonline.com  Facebook http://www.facebook.com/FrankSonnenbergOnline

What do I know about Managing with a Conscience and Effective Leadership?  Actually quite a bit First woman CEO of a steel company in Canada, I also helped to set up the first mentorship program for business women in the country.  My career in business and as an executive coach and communication/leadership advisor has been predicated by the values that are implicit in Mr. Sonnenberg’s must read book and in sustainable success. Sharing a short interview that I hope will inspire others to  Manage with a Consience! http://bit.ly/JTvbYm

 Helping smart people and organizations communicate and lead forward
smarter, faster and happier is what I do best. Discover executive coaching, consulting, keynotes and articles with a 3Q Edge™

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Career, Communication and Leadership Programs & Services
Toronto & Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 – Skype: beckerirene

What Is A Community of  Purpose and Why Do YOU Need One?

©Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier

What is a Community of Purpose?

As we move from the Age of Information to the Age of Innovation the value we create for all stakeholders and communities will drive success. Whether you want to build a happy life, a successful enterprise, small business or professional practice; YOU need a community of purpose Your community of purpose can be a small group or team, it can be a few people or just a valued and trusted coach or advisor…developing that community of purpose is one of the most important things you can do for yourself, the actualization of your potential and the potential of those you lead and serve.

We all need communities of purpose, because it can be terribly lonely at the top, and it is lonely in the middle and at the bottom too.  Loneliness, isolation, lack of trust, lack of solid personal and career relationships…lack of communities of purpose can break even the best and brightest among us, or leave us spinning in overdrive or stuck in stasis.

Why do YOU need one?

Success is sustained by a community of purpose.  Like minded people who share values and goals have the ability to reach past what is and create what can be.  The heads, hearts and souls of many can together make a difference that can move a life, many lives, organizations and ultimately our world.  It takes a village to raise a child, and it takes a community of like minded people to create and sustain any successful venture.

Our potential to DO GOOD is as real as the threats that we face; the threat of narcissism, greed, fear, negativity and all those ugly contagions of destruction that lurk in the shadows of our minds, our lives, our workplaces….our world. Surviving and thriving is about reaching past self imposed and all barriers to actualize our potential and the potential of others.  Staying focused, healthy, happy and able to meet and greet challenges and opportunities that will continue to hit us on the face harder and faster than ever before demands a community of purpose.

How can you build a Community of Purpose™?

Open your mind, open your heart to likeminded people who can be partners in your success, and you in theirs.  Reach past the din of noise, negativity, narcissism we all face and look for people who stand up, stand strong.   Focus on finding people you can count on and those who can count on you.   And, remember what you focus on grows! Look not at the number of  social media followers you have, but rather pause and ask yourself about the people you know, the people you communicate with who can be part of your personal or professional/business community of purpose. Who will you reach out to?  What can you accomplish together?  Take this moment to reach out to simply one individual who can be a part of your community of purpose; you will be pleasantly surprised when they reach back.  And, if they do not reach back, move forward and look for members who will become your community of purpose.
Copyright © 2012, Irene Becker

Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people & organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier
Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes & Articles with a 3Q Edge™ | Toronto and Virtually Everywhere | (1) 416-671-4726 

Constructive discontent? Yes, you betcha!
Constructive Discontent is a Critical 3Q Edge™ Skill. 
TenTips & Ten Posts
Irene Becker | Just Coach It-The 3Q Edge™ | QBlog
Helping smart people and organizations communicate & LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier

Attitude is altitude, but what do you do when your attitude is negatively impacted by actions of another person?  No matter how optimistic or positive you are, we all come face to face with negative experiences.  We can adopt a Hobbesian view of life and see our journey as “short, nasty and brutish”, or we can uncomfortable while not being held hostage by it.

Constructive discontent is the ability to become the neutral observer in your life so that you can find the learning point, the benefit in whatever has transpired. Can constructive discontent be learned?  Yes, I am living proof, as our my clients; and the benefits are multi-fold.  How much better would you do, how much better would you feel, how much more effectively would you communicate, lead and live if you mastered the art of constructive discontent?

Think about it.  How many minutes a day, a week, a  month are usurped by frustration, stress, irritation? The World Health Organization reports that stress will be the leading cause of physical disability by 2020.  Will you become a stress statistic or a success statistic.  Success means changing your relationship with discontent.

How often do you either react and regret it, or go into the cave and disable your ability to respond effectively?  Here are Ten Simple Steps to Developing Constructive Discontent, as well as links to other posts including Building Constructive Discontent is a Critical Life & Leadership  Skill (3Q Skill)

Ten Tips for Building Constructive Discontent

1.  Expect to encounter people and situations that will challenge you.  Decide that YOU will NOT react or retreat/hide unless your personal safety is threatened.  Learn strategies to help you get past the usual 90 second window of a fight or flight response.

2.  Don’t take responsibility for the actions of others. Understand that the only person you can control is yourself.  You can learn to deal more effectively by reacting less or not running away from confrontational or unpleasant situations, by learning to respond in the most effective way.

3. Learn to set small goals, achieve them, celebrate them in your mind’s eye and start the process all over again.  The smallest goal, done consistently rewrites the neural pathway. Small changes lead to BIG steps forward. 

4.  If you cannot be happy where you are right now, be neutral.  Apply an attitude of gratitude; look at what is working before you focus on the challenge or pain point at hand. 

5. Stay in neutral by learning to move through a painful feeling or reaction.  Do a silent scream (Go to a private place and just scream with NO sound.  That’s right do silent scream and watch negative tension dissipate).

6.  Take a walk.  Do something physical for 20 minutes to distract your self from focusing on the pain point.

7. Enjoy what YOU have achieved. Often we are so busy trying to do more or have more that we do not pay tribute to our own accomplishments.

8.  Unlearn focusing on what is wrong.  Most of us are socialized to focus on what is wrong.  Start being solution focused.  Take small steps to just observe whatever you are experiencing that is uncomfortable by not focusing on the problem but searching for the solution.

9.  Balance discontent with gratitude.  Focus first on what you are grateful for.  Balance the negative with an outstanding positive.

10.  Expect to be disappointed, but know that there is a positive learning waiting for you in the most challenging of conversations, situations or experiences.  If you cannot find the silver lining, find someone who can help you see the challenge at hand with new eyes. Success is never achieved alone.  You need a village to raise a child, and many people all have different roles to play in the personal success of an adult human being.

More on Constructive Discontent?  More on living and leading happier? YES! 

Constructive Discontent – A Critical Life and Leadership Skill

Ten Steps to a Happier More Successful YOU

Rediscover Your Personal Genius -Take the Garbage Out

Seven Practical, Purposeful, Positive Coaching Tips

Get Happier-7 Steps

Rediscover YOUR Fire

Three Simple Reasons to Reclaim YOUR Joy

Step UP to Leadership, Wellbeing & More!

Get Back On Track When You Have Hit A Wall

I couldn’t see the forest for the trees so I built my own path.
I inspired others to join me. Together, we LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier!

Irene Becker | Just Coach It | The 3Q Edge™
Helping smart people and organizations communicate and LEAD forward smarter, faster, happier
Coaching, Consulting, Keynotes & Articles with a 3Q Edge™
Yorkville, West End Toronto and VIRTUALLY Everywhere   Call 416-671-4726   Email irene@justcoachit.com

Do you want to hire me to speak/write? Build constructive discontent?  Learn more about 3Q Edge™ coaching