Keep It Simple…

When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live life. - Greg Anderson

Sometimes, life could be complicated especially due to many circumstances beyond our control. Therefore, it is imperative that we do our best to keep things simple. One of the easiest ways is to always remember to use the good old ‘KISS’ (Keep It Simple Sweetheart) aphorism.

Handsome John (or Pretty Jane) weighs 300 lb., but decides he wants to lose 100 lb. within a year. If he tries to push himself beyond his limit, and then feels tired and couldn't move forward with it, he might be discouraged and give up altogether.

However, if he decides to lose only 40 lb. within a year, and then keeps it simple and reasonable by losing only 10 lb. every three months, it would be easier and realistic to accomplish that goal. So he sits down and develops a simple plan. The plan involves a simple step-by-step details of how he would accomplish his goal on a daily basis. Details such as ‘he will: go to sleep (after saying his prayers to the higher power) at 10 PM for 8 hours; get up at 6 AM to work out for 1 hr; shower and have a healthy breakfast; go to work thinking positive throughout the day; have a healthy sandwich and water (no sugar drinks) for lunch; have a fruit salad or mixed vegetables for dinner; read good positive self improvement book to end the day.’

Supposing John is able to achieve his goal within 9 months as a result of self-discipline and perseverance, he will be happy, excited and motivated to lose another 40 pounds within 10 months. As you can surmise, it would take a little longer than 1 year to lose 100 pounds, but step-by-step, John would definitely accomplish his mission.

Similarly, if your goal or project looks like climbing a very high mountain. Simply divide the project into four parts or stages. Develop a simple plan to accomplish the first stage, then the second, the third, and finally the fourth. The plan doesn't have to be perfect. But it is imperative that you have a plan. Just having an actionable plan to work on a daily basis removes any stress or doubt from the mind. Later on, if you think of a better plan during the implementation process, then go ahead and improve it, or change the plan completely to achieve to a better result if that seems to be the case.

Simply accomplishing the goal in small simple steps (mini-goals) gives you the confidence to move on to a better, bigger and more exciting challenges that will make your life worth living. So go ahead and start working on that big goal of yours today!

Dreaming is wonderful, goal setting is crucial, but action is supreme. To make something great happen you must get busy and make it happen. Take that action step today that will put you on your path to achievement. - Greg Warner

”Whatever you want (positively) in life is already waiting for you, just go and get it.” - Elliot A. Wilson

If you have any question, need any help in achieving your goal(s), or working strategically to grow your business, then do not hesitate to follow/connect with me @ www.google.com/+EllAWilson, www.linkedin.com/in/ellawilson, or www.twitter.com/#!/Ell_Wilson

It’s All About People!

I long to accomplish a great and noble task, but it is my chief duty to accomplish small tasks to see if they were great and noble. – Helen Keller

Many organizations are trying hard to be very successful by pleasing their stakeholders. Many entrepreneurs are also working hard to be very successful in achieving their objectives both in business and personal life. Sometimes, a simple impeccable strategy and a flawless implementation and execution are all that is necessary.

To achieve this, you must have the right people with the right skills and enthusiasm in the right job. Invest in continuous training and coaching to enhance the capabilities of your people. An individual entrepreneur must do the same.

Any organization, small, medium or large, must have the right human assets, capabilities and drive to be a truly customer-centric organization. Treat your people right and they would treat your customers better. This also applies to a single individual operator or entrepreneur, who must have the best skills needed to provide the best service to h/her customers.

Organizations/entrepreneurs must continuously strive on a daily basis to advance their agenda, goals or objectives to exceed customer expectations.

Finally, they must go beyond the industry offerings, expand their network by adding more customers to improve the economies of scale to add value to the customers, and increasing the loyalty of existing customers by continuously finding new ways of treating them better.

Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal. Nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude. — Thomas Jefferson

If you have any question, need any help in achieving your goal(s), or working strategically to grow your business, then do not hesitate to follow/connect with me @ www.google.com/+EllAWilson, www.linkedin.com/in/ellawilson, or www.twitter.com/#!/Ell_Wilson

Innovate, Try, Fail, Succeed

"Even the knowledge of my own fallibility cannot keep me from making mistakes. Only when I fall do I get up again.” – Vincent Van Gogh

Even experts are not infallible! So get out there and take some risks, take a chance, and do what’s on your mind after doing your homework or some research. Learn the lesson only failure can teach!

However, just in case you happened to succeed, try something new - take that success to the next level. Challenge yourself, keep on finding better ways of doing things.

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by the dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly; so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory or defeat.” That’s Teddy Roosevelt speaking at the Sorbonne in 1910, but he could have just as easily been speaking to you.

If you have any question, need any help in achieving your goal(s), or working strategically to grow your business, then do not hesitate to follow/connect with me @ www.google.com/+EllAWilson, www.linkedin.com/in/ellawilson, or www.twitter.com/#!/Ell_Wilson

Think Strategically & Share Your Positive Voice

 “To the world you may be just one person...
       But to one person you might just be the world.” — Mark Twain

Cynicism and negative thinking do not inspire or help anybody. However, your positive voice, which consists of your PQ, IQ, EQ and SQ would inspire people to find their voices and perform to amazing heights. The oldest of admonition is “Man Know Thyself.” 

Years ago, Dr. Christensen of HBS worked with the former CEO of Intel Corp. on an open strategic question based on a strategic model. The open question inspired the management team to think of infinite possibilities. As a result, they found their positive voices to think differently and created new semi-conductors worth billions of dollars. Open questions and positive discussions do lead to increase in productivity even though initially there may not be any defined objectives/outcomes. Experienced professionals do clearly understand this proven concept.

 
It was through open, unrestricted, positive thinking that Edison was able to develop the light bulb, the Wright brothers and the airplane, Ford and the V8 engine, and Einstein the E=MC2. We all know that we just moved to the Info/Knowledge Age from the Industrial Age. According to the HBR, the average person has more information available to him in the last 5 years than the past 2000 years. The most important thing is how to think accurately, organize info properly, find your positive voice and help others to find theirs. This is wisdom. A lot of studies done by experts such as Dr. Stephen Covey, indicated that the next age would be the Wisdom Age. Are you ready for it?

For companies to encourage strategic thinking at all levels of an organization, management must first inspire, coach, and empower employees to think and find their voices by developing their PQ, IQ, EQ and SQ as “strategic thinking” is a continuous thinking process. Voices that: build (not destroy); create (not stagnate); inspire (not discourage); think open-mindedly & 360 (not linearly); listen, seek understanding, and think of infinite possibilities of adding value to a company or society.

Some people are too indifferent or lazy to acquire facts from which to think accurately. They do guess work instead of thinking. They prefer to act on opinions created by guess work or snap judgements. These type of people would certainly find it difficult to learn how to think strategically. Tremendous work needs to be done before strategic thinking could be encouraged and implemented at all levels of an organization or society. However, if an organization or society is prepared to work hard and bear the cost, the result would be significantly remarkable! Unfortunately, most organizations are obviously not prepared to practice it, and this is a fact. According to Dr. Christensen’s years of research, strategic thinking is not a core managerial competence at most organizations.

Organizations or society can definitely solve this problem by inspiring people to find their positive voices. Consequently, many stakeholders including employees would develop enough wisdom to demand that strategic thinking be established as a core managerial competence, which can then spread throughout the organization or society.  

Always share your positive voice to inspire others!

“One of the most beautiful compensations in life is that no man can help another without helping himself.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

If you have any question, need any help in achieving your goal(s), or working strategically to grow your business, then do not hesitate to follow/connect with me @ www.google.com/+EllAWilson, www.linkedin.com/in/ellawilson, or www.twitter.com/#!/Ell_Wilson

Next Strategic Challenge

"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." — Eleanor Roosevelt

A friend asked for my thoughts on Societal Innovation, and I wanted to share my voice with you all. Strategy is the most common concept discussed in the business world, and yet the most abused and misconstrued. Based on academic data & research, one of the key elements of the problem that I like the most is the fact that many people in business or society in general have not been trained on “how to think” properly.

A joke that supports this points is “A student’s strategic objective is to pass each exam to get a certificate/degree to get a job.” That’s it? Another joke says “A student comes out of the exam and says “had the prof asked the question my way, I would have gotten an A+”

I’m certain you can discern the societal paradigm of this dilemma. Of course there are few exceptions like Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, Michael Dell, and other entrepreneurs who chose to think differently - outside the education institutional box!

Through proper thinking, businesses and society at large would come to understand that - what’s good for business could also be good for society and vice versa.

I very much like what Dr. Stephen Covey said based on his life’s research that - A company’s Mission should reflect something like this: To improve the Economic Well Being and Quality of Life of ALL Stakeholders (employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders, and society in general.)

Therefore, yes! I think societal innovation would be one of the next major strategic challenge. In addition to improving our ability to strategically think constructively, we must be able to improve our strategic thinking creatively to promote societal innovation.

“You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” — Buckminster Fuller

‘’The best way to predict your future is to create it’’ — Abraham Lincoln

If you have any question, need any help in achieving your goal(s), or working strategically to grow your business, then do not hesitate to follow/connect with me @ www.google.com/+EllAWilson, www.linkedin.com/in/ellawilson, or www.twitter.com/#!/Ell_Wilson