The negatives of Amazon and Wal-Mart are all lost in the amount of time that these companies save their customers. With Amazon, the convenience of shopping online far outweighs the one to three days that it takes for products to show up on the doorsteps of shoppers. And then, if you need something immediately, Wal-Mart is typically the best solution, as they have almost everything you need in one physical location. And to compete even more with Amazon, they recently purchased jet.com, but it will take some time to see just how much advantage this brings to Wal-Mart. Anyway, say what you will about their business practices; the reason that these companies are both still alive and well is that they make shopping more convenient for consumers, a practice that many businesses should take note of. [Read more…] about Amazon vs. Wal-Mart: Time, Money, and Service
CEO
Aspire to Be This Kind of CEO – Glenn Brooke
I saw a sign once which said “I encourage people. What’s your super power?”
Encouragement is a super power available to everyone.
Not everyone will be a Chief Executive Officer of an organization, or be in the C-suite at all. But, there is a CEO role which every leader can wield:
Chief Encouragement Officer
Leaders, you have the option to be an encouragement engine for the people in your sphere of influence.
Years ago I decided to cooperate with God on this business of encouragement. I promised the Lord that when he brought someone to mind, I would pray for them and reach out somehow to encourage them. I use email, text, occasionally a physical drop-by, notecards, and sometimes a quick phone call. It never ceases to amaze me how often my word of encouragement came at a needed time. I give God all the credit.
(There is a side-benefit as well. When we become well-practiced at listening and responding to God’s promptings, we lay the ground work to hear and respond to the Big Memos from the Head Office.)
Habits like this – frequently reaching out to encourage people, to express appreciation for their work, to inquire about them – strengthen relationships, facilitate great work contributions, and remind people that there are larger aspects to their work and their struggles.
Notice I said these were habits. Compared to others, I’m naturally wired to do these things, BUT… most people don’t know how much I rely on my system of task reminders and calendar entries to remind to check in with people at the right times. I make the decision to let the computer remind me, because I’m weak-minded and easily distracted with other urgent tasks.
Practical assignment – do you know things about your colleague’s birthdays, anniversaries, kid events, work milestones? Gently find out, and as you do, set up reminders that work for you. You can help people, too, by tracking sad milestones – the death of loved ones, for example. I don’t think I’m different than other people who intensely feel the anniversary of a father’s death.
Be the CEO – Chief Encouragement Officer.
Whom can you encourage today?
(If a bunch of excuses just floated up in your mind about why you can’t encourage someone today, then… put those aside and encourage someone. Today.)
You Can’t Look At Where They Are Today
Creative Commons Photo Credit by gmacorig
People have all kinds of definitions and ideas of what success is, but I do know one thing…
I know that you want to be successful.
In some way, shape or form.
If you aren’t successful at the task at hand, you will either be motivated to achieve the challenge or you will be frustrated into submission. If you lose enough times, it can and will affect your confidence level. All people need a few wins to see a different outlook. When you succeed, your self-talk begins to change to the positive. You believe that you can do anything. And it is that one thing you will need most to succeed.
The thing is…