What Do Zig Ziglar, Harvey Mackay, and Dale Carnegie Have In Common – And How Can It Help YOU?

Zig , Harvey, and Dale contributed significantly to my professional development. How?

By telling stories to show the benefit of doing something a certain way.

Ziglar would talk about 'the Redhead' and 'Yazoo', Mississippi while weaving his lessons about listening and giving value.

Mackay would wrap his storytelling around applying the laws of human nature and making it easier to have a deep relationship with others.

Carnegie was the geek of the group and told 'why' stories – why, based on observation and research, doing it this way gets your desired result to happen smoothly.

These three gentlemen had a common theme: communication is about 80% listening, 10% talking, and 10% just being there quietly while the prospect connects the dots.

On the surface, their topic was about sales and the message was to learn and satisfy the buyer's needs. To see the true scope and range of their teachings, simply substitute 'relationship' for sales and 'friend' (or 'redhead') for buyer – these lessons work with people you care about at every level.

They each said it best in a quote captured for the ages:

• Zig Ziglar: You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.
• Harvey Mackay: A mediocre person tells. A good person explains. A superior person demonstrates. A great person inspires others to see for themselves.
• Dale Carnegie: You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in the other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you.

I'm all done with the 10% talking – now it's time for the 80% listening part – please share your thoughts.

How will this point of view help you?

Perfection...Or Excellence?

A client had just completed managing a thousand person global technology gathering and we were conducting the post-learning.

Before the event, her strongest team had been the planners. Granular she called them. Material was ordered and inventoried, prepackaged and pre-staged.

As the event started, the plan blew up, and another team came to the front. I call it the maitre d’ function, “How can I help?” and ‘Here’s what you can do...” A dizzying flow of problems and requests, not relying on planning or inventory to fix the problems.

In hindsight, the plan took care of most of the transactions, the maitre d’s took over when the plan was not enough.

The feedback was that the attendees had a best ever five day party, the customer had a blowout success.

Our planning team had major complaints about the maitre ‘d team ignoring their plan. They wanted to know, what was appropriate punishment?

The maitre d’ team didn’t bother coming to the meeting. Their job was done.

Later I complimented the client on keeping a sunny disposition through the event and through an emotional review meeting.

She said, “I learned a long time ago not to be concerned about attaining perfection. I am very concerned about maintaining excellence, and I did that when I was recruiting the teams for the event. When things get tense, I remind myself that now is not the time to be the leader.”

How do you make the most of whatever you’ve got?

Way to Go, Amazon!

I am an Amazon.Com customer - have been since Jeff Bezos launched it in 1995. It's still evolving as an innovative on-line commerce platform. They have initiated a socially responsible program worth noting.

Today my visit to the site opened with a letter from Jeff – about an investment in the future. He announced a focused scholarship program for their employees who want to change fields.

Scholarship programs are not new – many organizations and agencies have had them for years - but Amazon's is targeted to professions which are in critical demand in the country. Jeff describes the program:

We're announcing the Amazon Career Choice Program. Many of our fulfillment center employees will choose to build their careers at Amazon. For others, we're offering to pre-pay 95% of the cost of courses such as aircraft mechanics, computer-aided design, machine tool technologies, medical lab technologies, nursing, and many other fields - exclusively funding education only in areas that are well-paying and in high demand according to sources like the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and we fund those areas regardless of whether those skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.

Amazon's initiative contributes in a positive way to retraining individuals for needed roles in the country, and invests in their employees, even if the firm doesn't benefit directly.

Way to go, Jeff!

What other ways could organizations make a positive difference in the national or local economy?

Traffic Optimization

Most of what I read about SEO, metatags, website tuning, is aimed at attracting citizens of a global web. That certainly sounds impressive, but I haven’t had much use for it.

Most of my web promotion is targeted to a specific community, for a limited time, a specific event. The web destination delivers the experience, or the information, or enables admission to a next level.

How do you create traffic for that?

Not everyone lives their life on the internet. Most of the people I want to attract are full up with other responsibilities. There is always more work left over at the end of the day.

Clay Shirky writes, It’s not information overload, it’s filter failure. And successful people adjust every day, honing in on the important, the strategic.

Before I go to a search box, I need a concept, a desire. Still I look to find a reason to believe.

If I can create that initial impetus, an initial value, my audience will respond.

Jack wrote a wonderful post explaining our Hot Sheets. That’s somewhere in the middle of the process. First they see us doing something additive, then they can get a piece of paper that offers some good information. This is the Information Age. Information is a store of value.

The impetus for Jack’s post was being approached at a recent meeting by an executive who said he already knew Jack, but couldn’t place him. Jack gave him a current hot sheet, and the man realized how he knew his, and accused, “But this handout is different!”

Did you ever ask ask a four-year old, “What’s new?” The answer, “EVERYTHING!”

What new with you?

The Connector – A Precious Resource

When I grew up, Gaithersburg was the last outpost before entering the Maryland farm belt; and boasted the county fair as well as a State Roads Equipment Depot. It was a close community where people knew each other (if I got into minor mischief, my mother knew about it and would be waiting when I got home to interrogate me about the particulars).

Although terms like 'connector' and 'matchmaker' (business, not love) were not used then, the storekeeper at Southern States (similar to a general store) or the barber could tell you who to see to get various projects done – or who may have a need for such projects. The response would be along the lines “if I needed that done, I'd go see Jack, and if he's busy then I'd ask Dick.”

It wasn't from a directory or the yellow pages (this was long before Angie's List and on-line vender sites) – the referral was from personal knowledge and conveyed a recommendation by the individual. As the community and business environment has changed over time, we have almost lost those knowledgeable and trusted personal referrals / recommendations. Almost.

Dick and I met just such an individual this week - Jacob Shoval. He knows the Rockville and Montgomery County, MD communities intimately – we think of him as the unofficial mayor of Rockville – as well as what's happening in the close-in region of MD-DC-VA.

During our meeting with Jacob, he offered a half dozen referrals of individuals wrestling with business issues, discussed new innovative ways to use social media and the internet to inform and educate, and spoke about the emergence of local professional development presentations taking place in national technology retail stores. Wow – it's like he builds a hillside while we watch, and now invites us to hop on the skateboard to enjoy it!

He is a matchmaker reminiscent of the old storekeeper tradition – all the more impressive because of its uniqueness today.

An interesting thing about connectors – they invest time to meet and get to know others, they give their knowledge freely, and they are superstars in their 'day job' – they are successful personally, but are a valuable resource contributing to the success of the community as well. A connector personifies Zig Zigular's famous quote: “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”

Do you know any connectors in your community or agency? If not, how would you find this precious resource?