3 Secrets to Being a Better Leader

“Those are my principles. And, if you don’t like them…I have others.” — Groucho Marx “Aberrant Behavior breaks trust. True leaders make decisions based on their principles. This creates consistent behavior & trust.” Those are words of wisdom from my friend, Art Jonak. Let’s first look at the quote itself to make sure we agree…

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The Answer

question

I often receive requests from readers for advice on interpersonal problems they are having. Though I’ve never attempted to present myself as the Dear Abby of the personal development genre, perhaps because I teach “people skills” they figure I might have the answer. Actually, that makes sense. The biggest challenge, however, is incomplete information, both…

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Powerful Persuasion via The Pivot

reframe

You are right. They are wrong. At least, you genuinely feel that way. And, when an issue is important, it’s very natural you’d want to persuade them to your side of the issue. The good news: you have logic on your side. Then again, when a person believes something strongly and you suggest they are…

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“The Success Formula”

In Part 1 we saw that “Success” (from accomplishing a specific goal to an overall feeling of well-being and gratitude) can be defined a number of ways depending upon its context. I believe most would agree that a person who is financially successful but has a poor relationship with their spouse has not attained true…

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The Secret To Success? First, Let’s Define “Success”

I remember years ago being asked to be one of several people to contribute to an article intended to answer the question, “What is the Secret to Success?” Putting aside my personal opinion that there is no one big, overarching, magic bullet-type secret — but rather a set of proven principles — there was something…

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Be Proud to Be a Salesperson

I see it all the time. Or, at least, far too often. Headlines such as: “Sell Without Selling!” “Never Sell Again!” “Salesless Selling!” Have you noticed the proliferation of teachings and articles telling you that you don’t need to sell in order to … sell? I often hear salespeople try and deny they are salespeople.…

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Selling on Low Price

“Competing on price alone is a race to the bottom, and it’s a race nobody wins.” Why do I say that nobody wins when the salespeople compete on price alone? First, please allow a slight correction: there are huge super-store type places whose entire Value Proposition is indeed that they have the lowest prices. They…

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Building Better Belief Systems

“Appearances can be deceiving. Truth is, they nearly always are.” – Pindar (mentor) to Joe (protégé) in The Go-Giver. Why is it so often the case that, what we’re absolutely sure we know turns out to be wrong? Because, as human beings, we make decisions and judgments (both minor and major) based on very limited…

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Communication is Your Responsibility – Not Theirs

Both the look of annoyance on my face as well as the pounding, steady rain outside on that dark and dreary afternoon perfectly represented how I felt. It was nearly 30 years ago, after an appointment with a prospect, in one of my first sales jobs…yet, I remember it almost to a tee. Why the…

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The Truth About Your Value

“Money is an echo of value; it’s the thunder to value’s lightning.” Most people intuitively understand this very basic characteristic of Free-Market Capitalism; that we are rewarded for providing value. The key is understanding that the value comes first. The money is simply a natural and direct result of the value you have provided. And,…

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