Your Passengers, Your Influence, Your Committment

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this email finds you all having a great day and a very successful week coming to a close for you!

This morning I want to share two excerpts from books I have been reading and then one quick thought from me.

From "The Energy Bus: 10 Rules to Fuel Your Life, Work, and Team with Positive Energy" by Jon Gordon
Five Ways To Love Your Passengers [passengers are ANYONE and EVERYONE who is on YOUR bus...the people you are doing life with. While most references in this excerpt will be business oriented you will see how they apply to our families, friends, etc., if we listen with our hearts.]

1. Make Time for Them - When you love someone or something, you spend time with them. You nurture your relationship with them. Get to know your team. Spend time with them. Meet with them individually. Get to know them as people, not numbers. While you are with them it is important to be present with them. Be engaged in the present moment. Really be with the person and focus your energy on them. They will feel the difference.

2. Listen to Them - One of the most important factors that determines a high management approval rating is whether the manager listens to the employees. Your employees and customers just want to be heard, so listen to them and hear them. We're talking about really sitting down and listening with your heart and caring about what they have today.

3. Recognize Them - Make it real personal. Honor them for who they are and what they do. Recognize them as a person as much as a business professional. The more you recognize them for doing things right the more they will do things right. Feed the positive dog inside them and watch it grow.

4. Serve Them - A great leader once said, the higher you get in an organization the more it is your duty to serve the people below you rather than having the people below you serve you. The key is to serve their growth, their future, their career, and their spirits so they enjoy work, life, and being on your bus.

5. Bring Out the Best in Them - When you love someone you want the best for them. You want them to be successful and happy. You want to bring out the best in them. The best way any leader can demonstrate their love for their team is to help each person discover their strengths and provide an opportunity for that person to utilize them. If you really want to love your team, help them do what they do best. It's that simple.

A few excerpts from "Becoming A Person of Influence" by John C. Maxwell and Jim Dornan- "Most people are funny; they want to get ahead and succeed, but they are reluctant to change. They are often willing to grow only enough to accommodate their PROBLEMS; instead, they need to grow enough to achieve their POTENTIAL."

- A quote from Helen Schucman and William Thetford, "Every situation, properly perceived, becomes an opportunity."

- A quote from Michel Eyquem de Montaigne, "The value of life lies not in the length of days, but in the use we make of them; a man may live long yet live very little."

- "The first thing you need to do is improve and enlarge yourself because only when you are growing and enlarging yourself are you able to help others do the same. Just as people will not follow a person whose leadership skills are weaker than their own, they will not learn to grow from someone who is not growing. Not only must you be on a higher level in your personal growth, but you must continue to grow on an ongoing basis."

My Thought/Challenge:
The only benefit we get from the things we learn is when we are truly willing to apply them, commit them, to our daily lives.

Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you and/or your family. I will always be willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and cherish, value and adore your precious families.

Kev

Three No Complaining Tools

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust you are all having a great day!

I wanted to share with all of you this morning a few things from "The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work" by Jon Gordon.

Three No Complaining Tools
1. The But - Positive Technique. This simple strategy helps you turn complaints into positive thoughts, solutions, and actions. When you realize you are complaining, you simply add the word "but" and then add a positive thought or action plan.

2. Focus on "Get To" instead of "Have To." Too often we complain and focus on what we have to do. We say things like "I have to go to work." "I have to drive here." "I have to do this or that." Instead, shift your perspective and realize it's not about having to do anything. You get to do things. You get to live this life. Focus on what you get to do. Focus on feeling blessed instead of stressed. Focus on gratitude.

3. Turn Complaints into Solutions. The goal is not to eliminate all complaining. The intent is to eliminate the kind of mindless complaining that doesn't serve a greater purpose and allow complaining that is justified and worthwhile. The opposite of mindless complaining is justified complaining. The former is negative and the latter is positive. The difference is intent. With mindless complaining, you are mindlessly focusing on problems; however, with justified complaining you identify a problem and the complaint moves you toward a solution. Every complaint represents an opportunity to turn a negative into a positive.

Here are a couple of other quick thoughts, observations for you on Day 3 of the Haslam Family Vacation:

• The happiest place on earth is found in the condition of your heart, not a physical location.
• Watching the eyes of a 6-year old dance at the sights and sounds of Disneyland reminds you of the pure-hearted innocence and wonder - the dreams - we are all intended to live with daily.
• Watching an 11-year old help others, not worry about someone cutting in front of them or being rude, reminds you of how you are supposed to live daily.
• Watching a15-year old deal with the confusion of "I am too cool for this" but "this makes my heart feel really good" reminds you of how silly it is that we get so wrapped up in what others think.
• Having your Beautiful Bride gently lay her head on your chest as you stand in yet another long line or slip her hand into yours as you listen to 3 boys -simultaneously - tell you their story from the latest adventure or softly kiss your cheek as you are deep in thought about your dreams reminds you that God truly gave you the greatest gift on earth when He gave you her.
• I am WAY more blessed than I could ever deserve!!!

Please let me know if there is anything I can ever do for any of you. I will always be willing to help you any way I can!

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, enjoy your families and Go USA Women's Soccer!!!

Kev

Just Do It!!!

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day and a very successful week coming to a close for you.

I want to share a quick story and a quick thought with you all today.

The Story

So on Tuesday evening a massive dust storm – 15 miles wide and over 1 mile high – traveled from Tucson through Phoenix (just another example of not much good coming out of the Town to the South!! J…love ya Kitty fans!!). Driving through the back end of the storm and getting home after Gehrig’s (my 11-year old) baseball game I went out to check on my pool…could call it a swamp, lake, etc. Landry (my 6-year old) always wants to be with Dad and always wants to work with me. I walk over to the edge of the pool and look into mud, tumbleweeds and other unidentifiable stuff. Then in a sweet little voice that could only come from a 6-year old, Landry says, “Are there any fish in there Dad?” Suddenly my self-pity of having to clean all of this up turns to thoughts of how sweet and innocent the thoughts of our kids. Before I can say anything however there is a little deeper voice of a boy becoming a man as Payton (my 15-year old son) says, “No, but there could be snakes in there.” Suddenly my thoughts of how sweet and innocent the thoughts of our kids are turn to thoughts of “your Mom and I brought you into this world, we can take you out.” J Oh the joys of parenthood. I truly love being a Dad!!!

Thought

I am reading “The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work” by Jon Gordon. Earlier this week I was reading Chapter 3 which is titled “Morale”. The following excerpt struck me; “everything was always more urgent than their employees’ concerns, so negativity kept spreading and morale kept getting worse.” For me it was not just about the brief sentence. My mind instantly raised back to conversations at literally every place I have ever worked that ultimately ended in something similar…yes, the people, the morale, caring, etc. is very important however we don’t have time to focus on these things because we have to recruit, win, hit numbers, etc. I also thought of the conversations Kath and I have had over the years. Times when we discussed the need to really invest in our family, each other, etc. and we would as soon as recruiting, the fiscal year…fill in the blank…was over. Then the Nike slogan popped into my mind; “Just Do It.” What if we just did it? What if we really took the time to care about our husbands/wives and showed them now, today and not whenever that thing that does not have eternal ramifications is done? What if instead of waiting until that project is done or the weekend comes we just sat down and really talked to our kids, eyeball to eyeball about stuff that really matters…to them? What if, instead of worrying about the strategic plan, numbers, contacts, etc. we first and foremost genuinely cared about those with whom we are privileged to call co-workers, colleagues, etc. and lived it out? AND, this one really drives me crazy, how come we find it so easy to put off people – truly the most important thing – in order to chase goals, numbers, strategies, etc. and then, when we are broken beyond repair, we sheepishly return to what matters most and will enable the success we are pursuing – the people? It really is crazy isn’t it?

You see, I have read countless books on leadership, customer service, personal development, etc. In reality none of them really say anything different…it might be packaged differently, there may be different words used however it is usually the same thoughts, ideas, etc. that we have always known. The key I truly believe is in just doing it. We are really, really good at searching for answers…we are not always so good at acting on what we know to be true. Here are two quick-hitters for you:

1.     Insanity or stupidity has been defined as, “doing the same thing over and over again expecting to get a  

     different result.”

2.     John C. Maxwell in one of his books said, “What is the difference between those who do great things and

     those who don’t? Those who do great things turn off the water, dry off and then go do it.”

Can we please stop talking about things we should do and “Just Do It”? Each and every one of us knows what those things are in our lives – PLEASE let’s not look out the window on this one…it is not about our husbands, wives, sons, daughters, co-workers, etc…it is about YOU and ME. Let’s make the decision to do them TODAY! Tomorrow let’s make the same decision again. I know in my heart of hearts that when we do this our families will flourish, our businesses will flourish and we will completely set ourselves apart from the rest of society…simply because we just did it.

Please let me know if there is anything I can do for any of you. Please know that you are truly a blessing in my life and that I am always willing to help you any way I can.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please, “JUST DO IT!”

Kev

Following Our Hearts

Happy Friday Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day, you and your families all doing great and a very successful week coming to a close for you.

There are a few quotes/thoughts I want to share on the front end.

• "What is in the well always comes up in the bucket." - Pastor Ken Whitten
• "To find yourself you must face the truth." - James Crenshaw
• "We judge others by their actions and we judge ourselves by our intentions." - Unknown
• "In judging others hearts we reveal our own." - Me! :)
• Time and time again the Bible talks about our hearts and specifically makes reference to how man looks at the outward appearance/actions however God looks at the heart.

In the last few weeks I have had conversations with several people who have said something to the effect of, "I knew in my heart...but I did something different". In all instances they weren't able to follow through on the "something different" and they were now back to the point of doing what their heart told them to do in the first place. You see, no matter how hard we may try, at the end of the day, we are not going to be able to violate our own hearts, our own Spirits. This is why God looks at our hearts, the intentions with which things are done, and not what is actually done. While we can fake actions for awhile - here is another quote for you..."It takes an hour to establish your reputation; it takes a year to reveal your character." - ultimately our actions will be driven by what is TRULY in our hearts...not what we want people to think is in our hearts.

So, a few more thoughts (I have an awful lot of thoughts for so early in the morning!):

1. We need to be very careful about what we allow into our hearts. The seeds of words spoken and read
     into our hearts will shape and mold our hearts and from here will flow our actions. Whether they are
     positive or negative, they are eventually going to come out.

2. We need to focus on who we are going to be and not what we are going to do...this is actually a principle
    from customer care. Instead of thinking of ways I can show people I really care about them I need to
    really care about them and then the actions will follow.

3. We need to be aware that in times of stress, however we want to define that, what is truly in our heart will
    be revealed. If I am only trying to show I care and don't really care, I am fine as long as everything goes
    along as I expect. However when a trial, a tribulation or adversity strikes, if I don't really care about the
    people, my actions will reveal this truth. This often leaves others hurt and broken...sometimes beyond
    repair.

4. Finally, we need to truly listen to our hearts...at all times...even when it is not the most comfortable thing to
    do. If we don't like what our heart is telling us then we need to consider what is being poured into our
    hearts. Do you think if I sit around and gossip about someone I am going to have good thoughts about
    them? It is impossible to do so. If we will all consider what is poured into our hearts and act upon the
    overflow from the them, we will be who we want to be and not who we pretend to be.

Wow, I apologize for this being so long! I guess there was a lot there...explains why God has been waking me up since 3:00 a.m.!!!

My hope for all of us is that we would truly consider carefully, weigh the costs...and there is always a cost, what is poured into our hearts and that we would have the strength and courage to act on what are hearts tell us to do.

Please let me know if there is ever anything I can do for any of you.

Have a great day, treasure & enjoy your friend and families and Happy 4th of July!

Kev