Newspapers: Why bother?

by | For Business Owners, Quotes and Aphorisms

 

 

I have often remarked on this myself; now I learn it has an “official” name.

Why Speculate?
A talk
by Michael Crichton
International Leadership Forum
La Jolla
April 26, 2002

 

 

…the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray’s case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the “wet streets cause rain” stories. Paper’s full of them.

In any case, you read with exasperation or amusement the multiple errors in a story, and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.

 —Michael Crichton

 

My theory on why we still read ’em

  1. To learn what other people are reading; be part of the culture
  2. Being conceited enough to think we can separate the wheat from the chaff

 

 

Help with Eating Healthy

by | For Business Owners, Quotes and Aphorisms

 

 

Here’s a useful site, paid for by the foundation established by the founder of Health Valley Foods. The World’s Healthiest Foods List at: http://www.whfoods.com/foodstoc.php

I was glad to have more reasons for eating basil,

Research studies on basil have shown unique health-protecting effects in two basic areas: basil’s flavonoids and volatile oils.

and eggplant,

In addition to featuring a host of vitamins and minerals, eggplant also contains important phytonutrients, many which have antioxidant activity. Phytonutrients contained in eggplant include phenolic compounds, such caffeic and chlorogenic acid, and flavonoids, such as nasunin.

 

Plus, of course, fiber. Gotta keep things moving!

 

 

Another Good Reason to Meditate

by | For Business Owners, Quotes and Aphorisms, Stress Management

 

Dr. Peter Suedfeld, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and an expert in human cognition. …told us that creativity is a “very mysterious thing” that “exists in pretty much everyone” — but that there are indeed ways to improve it. One method he has studied extensively is what he calls the Restricted Environmental Stimulation Technique (REST) — putting people into places with no light or outside stimuli.

“What I’ve found,” he said, “is that far from making people crazy, moderate deprivation lowers blood pressure, improves mood, and makes people more creative.”

From: “Outside the Box”: The Inside Story
By Martin Kihn, Fast Company, June 2005

Found in:

IDEAS IN THE NEWS
A biweekly publication of MeansBusiness
Vol. VI No. 8 — June 29, 2005 

 

 

See free, easy Meditation Instructions on this blog.

 

Meditation for Managers video

 

What would you give up to truly give?

by | For Business Owners, For Executive Coaches, Leadership Development, Quotes and Aphorisms, Team Manager Skills

 

 

It is rare indeed that people give.

 

Most people guard and keep; they suppose that it is they themselves and what they identify with themselves that they are guarding and keeping, whereas what they are actually guarding and keeping is the system of reality in what they assume themselves to be. One can give nothing whatever without giving oneself – that is to say, risking oneself.

 

If one cannot risk oneself, then one is simply incapable of giving.

 

–The Price of the Ticket:
Collected Nonfiction 1948-1985
by James Baldwin
Page 370

 

 

Fear is Running Your Career and Your Company

by | For Business Owners, For Salespeople, Leadership Development

 

 

Your efforts to lead, manage, and sell often fail because of people’s fears. The fear may be disguised as resistance, indecision, lack of creativity, poor communication or reluctance to take responsibility. You can work on the symptoms forever, but the big rewards come from dealing with the fundamental fears we all share.

We promise according to our hopes and
perform according to our fears.

— La Rochefoucauld

I painted a lot of houses when I was a teenager. Each season, when school let out, I had to force myself up the ladder again. I didn’t look down, I maintained a white knuckle grip, I kept as much of my body in contact with the ladder as possible. The occasional trips across a plank between ladders were performed sitting down with one hand on the wall. Every sway and breeze was a stomach churning calamity. Some say acrophobia isn’t a fear of heights but a fear of falling and hitting, but that wasn’t true for me. I didn’t think about falling. My body just hated being up there. Over the course of a few days I got more accustomed to being on the ladder and by the end of the summer I even made a few trips across the plank standing up. The fear never went away. I just managed it better. The next season it would be back, full force.

Why would anyone do that to themselves? Why did I tolerate so much discomfort? Why would I place myself in situations which brought up so much fear? The reason, ironically, was (more…)

The Courage to Create Community

by | Communication, Conversation, & Confrontation, For Business Owners, Team Manager Skills

Expanded 2nd Edition Now on Sale!

Tony’s short book on building community is now available
with an extra chapter and a guide to additional resources.

The Courage to Be in Community Expanded 2nd Edition

The new chapter is a simple, practical guide to building better relationships at work and at home. The focus of the book is the importance of compassion and authenticity, while this new section is all about implementation, with specific advice on how to be compassionate and authentic in your day-to-day life.

This expanded edition also includes links to recommended books and articles for further study and practice.

Click here to “Look Inside” & see a sample on Amazon.

➤ Paperback , hardcover, and Kindle available on Amazon!

➤ Paperback and hard cover available on Barnes and Noble!

 

iTunes Spoken word version available on Audible

Audio version read by Tony Mayo also available.

 To hear a sample click here for Audible or iTunes.

 

 

(more…)

Evolving from Management to Leadership

by | For Business Owners, Leadership Development

 

 

This summary note, based on recent conversations with coaching clients, is useful for any business owner who has grown beyond finding and fixing and is ready for the next stage of development.

 Strategic Leadership

Developing people is your primary work product.

  1. Empowering others by holding a space that calls forth excellent performance
  2. Being open to & on the lookout for ways the strategic leader is limiting other people’s development, e.g. rescuing and intervening.
  3. Remember to share credit and responsibility.

Expecting relevant, actionable reports rather than chasing answers

  1. Training and then trusting your people to report also supports their development, i.e., learning which events, changes, and data matter to leadership
  2. Makes visible who is up for responsibility–or not

Standing in the future

  1. Vision.
  2. Strategy
  3. Opportunities.
  4. Structures.
  5. Positioning.

The key is, more and more, stepping out of operations, perhaps by putting someone else in charge of day-to-day, even month-to-month operations.

 

Study: Treadmill Desks Improve Job Performance

by | For Business Owners

 

 

A yearlong study …found that … within four to six months, all three measures of performance—quality and quantity of work, and quality of interactions with colleagues—rose steadily, according to weekly surveys of participants.

…

Performance ratings given by their supervisors, who filled out weekly surveys rating both treadmill users and non-users, rose for walkers by a full point [on scale of ten] by the end of the year.

—Walk This Way
Treadmill Desks May Improve Job Performance
Wall Street Journal

 

 

Read about my treadmill desk and download free construction plans by clicking here.

 

 

Executive Coach Helps Real Estate Entrepreneur Pursue What’s Possible

by | Client Comments

 

 

I began working with Tony in January of 2013. His guidance has helped me to look at the world from an entirely new perspective. After years of trying to fix “what’s wrong” in my business and life, he’s helped me learn to pursue what’s possible.

The change in perspective has made all the difference.

I recommend Tony Mayo to any successful business person looking for help reaching the next step in their professional and personal development.

Top Qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity
 

—Josh Weidman
Real Estate Entrepreneur
 

 

Jeffrey Pfeffer

by | For Business Owners, Quotes and Aphorisms, Team Manager Skills

 

This was a guy in one of their [Men’s Wearhouse] stores in the Northwest who was an exceptional salesperson. But the company’s managers believe in the concept of team selling — they believe in this idea of human development that you always succeed when your colleagues around you succeed, and that you ought to participate in all this training. And this guy said, “I’m not going to do any of this stuff.”

 

The company’s big measures are the number of transactions and the dollars of sales per transaction. This guy was way above on the number of transactions but not doing very well on dollars per transaction. What that meant was that people would come in the store and he would steal them. Finally, they said to this guy, “We want you to get with the program,” and he wouldn’t.

 

So they fired him — and guess what? Sales in the store went up 30 percent. His replacement, of course, did not sell as much as he did. But everybody else in the store sold more. In other words, he was bringing everybody else down. And you see this in other organizations where there is one star.

 

—Jeffrey Pfeffer
Strategy & Business