Winning Insights - A Blog By Farid Premani: Do What’s Most Difficult

"Do What’s Most Difficult Sam Keen had a great line, “You are caught by what yo Genius. u are running from.” We attempt to structure our ..."

Do What’s Most Difficult

Do What’s Most Difficult

Sam Keen had a great line, “You are caught by what yo Genius.

u are running from.”
We attempt to structure our lives to avoid our fears but that’s about as intelligent as straightening the deck chairs on the Titanic. The best way to overcome a fear is to face your fear. As a matter of fact, every time we do something we’ve been avoiding, we take back the power that seemingly scary or difficult thing had over us.
Every Leader Without a Title and world-class Productive runs toward what they are most resisting versus toward the exit door. They feel the fear of tackling a game changing project and do the project anyway. They acknowledge the sweaty palms before the high-stakes presentation, and give the presentation anyway. They experience the runaway heartbeats accompanying asking for the biggest order in the history of their company, and they ask anyway. And that’s what makes them great.
Keep Leading Without A Title.

73 Best Business and Success Lessons by Robin Sharma

1. You can really Lead Without a Title.
2. Knowing what to do and not doing it is the same as not knowing what to do.
3. Give away what you most wish to receive.
4. The antidote to stagnation is innovation.
5. The conversations you are most resisting are the conversations you most need to be having.
6. Leadership is no longer about position – but passion. It’s no longer about image but impact. This is Leadership 2.0.
7. The bigger the dream, the more important to the team.
8. Visionaries see the “impossible” as the inevitable.
9. All great thinkers are initially ridiculed – and eventually revered.
10. The more you worry about being applauded by others and making money, the less you’ll focus on doing the great work that will generate applause. And make you money.
11. To double your net worth, double your self-worth. Because you will never exceed the height of your self-image.
12. The more messes you allow into your life, the more messes will become a normal (and acceptable) part of your life.
13. The secret to genius is not genetics but daily practice married with relentless perseverance.
14. The best leaders lift people up versus tear people down.
15. The most precious resource for businesspeople is not their time. It’s their energy. Manage it well.
16. The fears you run from run to you.
17. The most dangerous place is in your safety zone.
18. The more you go to your limits, the more your limits will expand.
19. Every moment in front of a customer is a gorgeous opportunity to live your values.
20. Be so good at what you do that no one else in the world can do what you do.
21. You’ll never go wrong in doing what is right.
22. It generally takes about 10 years to become an overnight sensation.
23. Never leave the site of a strong idea without doing something to execute around it.
24. A strong foundation at home sets you up for a strong foundation at work.
25. Never miss a moment to encourage someone you work with.
26. Saying “I’ll try” really means “I’m not really committed.”
27. The secret of passion is purpose.
28. Do a few things at mastery versus many things at mediocrity.
29. To have the rewards that very few have, do the things that very few people are willing to do.
30. Go where no one’s gone and leave a trail of excellence behind you.
31. Who you are becoming is more important than what you are accumulating.
32. Accept your teammates for what they are and inspire them to become all they can be.
33. To triple the growth of your organization, triple the growth of your people.
34. The best leaders are the most dedicated learners. Read great books daily. Investing in your self-development is the best investment you will ever make.
35. Other people’s opinions of you are none of your business.
36. Change is hardest at the beginning, messiest in the middle and best at the end.
37. Measure your success by your inner scorecard versus an outer one.
38. Understand the acute difference between the cost of something and the value of something.
39. Nothing fails like success. Because when you are at the top, it’s so easy to stop doing the very things that brought you to the top.
40. The best leaders blend courage with compassion.
41. The less you are like others, the less others will like you.
42. You’ll never go wrong in doing what’s right.
43. Excellence in one area is the beginning of excellence in every area.
44. The real reward for doing your best work is not the money you make but the leader you become.
45. Passion + production = performance.
46. The value of getting to your goals lives not in reaching the goal but what the talents/strengths/capabilities the journey reveals to you.
47. Stand for something. Or else you’ll fall for anything.
48. Say “thank you” when you’re grateful and “sorry” when you’re wrong.
49. Make the work you are doing today better than the work you did yesterday.
50. Small daily – seemingly insignificant – improvements and innovations lead to staggering achievements over time.
51. Peak performers replace depletion with inspiration on a daily basis.
52. Take care of your relationships and the sales/money will take care of itself.
53. You can’t be great if you don’t feel great. Make exceptional health your #1 priority.
54. Doing the difficult things that you’ve never done awakens the talents you never knew you had.
55. As we each express our natural genius, we all elevate our world.
56. Your daily schedule reflects your deepest values.
57. People do business with people who make them feel special.
58. All things being equal, the primary competitive advantage of your business will be your ability to grow Leaders Without Titles faster than your industry peers.
59. Treat people well on your way up and they’ll treat you well on your way down.
60. Success lies in a masterful consistency around a few fundamentals. It really is simple. Not easy. But simple.
61. The business (and person) who tries to be everything to everyone ends up being nothing to anyone.
62. One of the primary tactics for enduring winning is daily learning.
63. To have everything you want, help as many people as you can possibly find get everything they want.
64. Understand that a problem is only a problem if you choose to view it as a problem (vs. an opportunity).
65. Clarity precedes mastery. Craft clear and precise plans/goals/deliverables. And then block out all else.
66. The best in business spend far more time on learning than in leisure.
67. Lucky is where skill meets persistence.
68. The best Leaders Without a Title use their heads and listen to their hearts.
69. The things that are hardest to do are often the things that are the best to do.
70. Every single person in the world could be a genius at something, if they practiced it daily for at least ten years (as confirmed by the research of Anders Ericsson and others).
71. Daily exercise is an insurance policy against future illness. The best Leaders Without Titles are the fittest.
72. Education is the beginning of transformation. Dedicate yourself to daily learning via books/audios/seminars and coaching.
73. The quickest way to grow the sales of your business is to grow your people.

Blue Ocean Strategy - Work Win-Win to Get Mutually

Blue Ocean Strategy The concept of Blue Ocean Strategy was introduced to help companies to move away from fiercely contended "red oceans", by creating "blue oceans" of uncontested market place.

I think the important question to ask is: why do "blue oceans" have to turn "red"? Why can't "blue oceans" stay "blue"? I believe we can find the answer if we just switch off our competitive mind-set for a while, and think about collaboration. That was my suggestion in series of articles I have written about "collaborative advantage".
In collaborative mode, we work with our "enemies", we help each other to grow instead of killing one another, and we do not sacrifice losers, but will help them to help us. Only when everyone has a chance to share the "blue oceans" regardless of whoever discover them, we will be able to keep the "blue oceans" "blue", and we can have long term peace.
Blue Ocean Strategy has provided us with a tool to expand our innovative horizons. It is up to us to decide whether the "blue oceans" created to stay "blue" or turn "red". I suggest that we share new innovations through collaborative spirits to keep the oceans "blue". In this new century, we need to fight for our mutual survival, but not against each other!

What I Didn't Learn in Business School: How Strategy Works in the Real World - A Review

In What I Didn't Learn in Business School, Justin Campbell, with a brand new MBA degree, is hired on by a business consulting firm and sent off to Chicago to help an old and established company decide what to do with a new technology they have accidentally discovered. It isn't a smooth ride as Justin finds there are nuances in the corporate world that aren't always taught in school.
Although this is one of the many business books available today, it is also one of the few written in this genre; the business text thinly disguised as a novel. There are probably so few business novels that clearly teach specific points because writing such a creation is difficult. Jay Barney and Trish Gorman Clifford have pulled it off well.
Justin, the protagonist, is a well educated and very naïve business school graduate. In fact, his naiveté is a bit obvious. Justin's gullibility is necessary though to provide the canvas on which the authors can illustrate the pitfalls of relying only on academic learning without considering the human element that is always involved in business situations. Justin, the intrepid hero of the story again and again approaches each situation as a school case study, missing the influence of the other character's motives. He does eventually come around, after some mentoring from the boss, and by the end of the story he...well I won't spoil the ending for you.
Barney and Clifford have added an element that is somewhat novel for a novel. Each chapter ends with a series of questions. These aren't easy Management 101 questions, but thought provoking questions with no simple answers. In fact, they look a lot like the essay questions on a test! In fact, I suggest reading this book all the way through; then, for the serious student, returning to the questions. That's probably not what the authors had in mind, as some of the questions are at least partially answered in later chapters, but I don't think such an approach would diminish the learning opportunity.
Another great resource provided by the authors is a reading list for the main subject of each chapter. Again, for the serious student, this list transforms the novel into a very comprehensive source for learning about making strategic decisions.
There is a sub plot that plays out in this novel; group dynamics and team management. Both the management of the company and the team of consultants that includes Justin have some problems and could be run better. For instance, the consulting team seems to rely very heavily on virtual communication, which, as it turns out, has varying effectiveness with different team members. Likewise, the subject company's leadership team seems to lack a company-wide single focus.
What I Didn't Learn in Business School is a good read. If you're looking for an easy to read text on strategy development and execution, this is it. I really appreciate the author's emphasis that academic education is useful, but the real world also requires concentration on people and how they act and interact.