“The greatest danger in times of turbulence is not the turbulence;
it is to meet the turbulence with yesterday’s logic.”
-Peter Drucker

What’s new?

By far, the most popular question I’m asked. My translation of that question is: What’s the last innovative thing you’ve seen or done?

Like many, I love when people ask that question because it implies it’s common for something to be new, which provides a way for us to separate ourselves from the pack.

I call that our DF or differentiation factor.

The truth is differentiation really only counts when it brings value. In the skies-the-limit, always connected world we live in today, being innovative is neither easy nor for the faint of heart; especially when at the same time we’re also required to stay on the top of our game with the multitude of every day responsibilities. And, that is exactly why we must remain in a constant ‘eyes-ears-heart open’ state of mind!

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Its’ funny what you draw knowledge and inspiration from. Generally, I read journals or hear lectures that will spawn business insight or ideas. Movies or novels can also be inspiring if you see through the drama and capture the underlying message that the writer is trying to artistically convey.

A couple of months ago, late at night, I’m doing a guy thing – sitting on the couch, mindlessly flipping channels on the TV. I scroll across a movie that presented me with a management epiphany a long time ago. It was the deep and epic business management classic – Flashdance.

Yep. Flashdance. It came out in 1983 when disco and big hair was dying a merciful death. Most of you are probably too young to remember this forgettable movie.

Here’s the plot:

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Recently while revisiting my yearly goals, I was thrilled that I was further along than I had been any other year. I’ve been running full throttle this entire year, so it was a nice that the finish line was closer than I thought; especially given my body was actually feeling it this year! But that’s what success is about, right? I’ll just suck it up, focus on the finish line, and prepare to celebrate!

I normally set five annual goals. Two are professional, two are personal, and one is what I call a make a difference goal. In that order, which didn’t occur to me until now. As I went goal by goal, mentally hearing “check – check” the mental debate began.

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I get my best stories in the trenches – don’t you? Last week one of my hospital CEO’s used a “swimming in the deep end” metaphor to describe a situation where someone was in over their head and would have been much safer (in their position) had they stayed in the shallow end.

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So what are you aiming at today? We’ll all get 1,440 minutes today and every day. What if I told you I could give you that amount in CASH every single day? If I promised to have $1,440 on your night stand every morning when you opened your eyes, I bet you would already have plans for that money days, or even longer, in advance. NO WAY would you risk losing that guaranteed money by neglecting to plan for it every day because just like TIME, its use it or lose it!

So let me ask you again … What are you aiming at today?

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Who doesn’t want to fit in? The fact is most of us grew up trying very hard to fit in. Although in today’s busy world, we’re told the only way to experience real success is to be different, to stand out from all the rest! So which is it?

Recently I met a ton (no pun intended) of awesome people in Naples, Florida at my Make it Matter sales training program. They were all the same (Directors of Physician Outreach) but were also very different. That’s where I had my AHA moment! The more I got to know each of them, the more I saw how each of them stands-out in their own very unique and powerful way.

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I’m excited and admittedly a little nervous about my new blog. While I’ve studied the do’s and the don’ts of blogging, I’ve also studied the do’s and the don’ts of diets and exercise, love and marriage, selling and ringing the cash register; all have conflicting rules! As a general rule, I don’t like rules; though in the spirit of readership, I promise to follow the rules related to keeping with interesting content, giving you a return for the time you’ve invested, with the utmost respect for those like me, who have a very limited attention span, better known as shiny object syndrome. I’ll blog about soon. With those few rules and one secret ingredient, I feel we’ll deliver an ongoing successful blog.

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