At first glance…

…these may seem like the same thing.

ATTRACT Opportunities Instead of Pursuing Them…

…Using Counter-Intuitive Thinking

My thanks to Dr. Scott Sheperd, Rekindle Your Heart, for having recommended Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Remen, M.D. She offers another interesting perspective on Step 3, Suspend Judgment, of the 7 Steps to BecominG INVALUABLE.

Dr. Remen says “Judgment does not only take place in the form of criticism. Approval is also a form of judgment. When we approve of people, we sit in judgment of them as surely as when we criticize them.”

Frankly it’s a nuance to which I had not previously given thought. My initial reaction was “Aren’t we encouraging people when we offer approval?” A little more thought led me to the conclusion approval and encouragement are not the same thing.

While my approval might prove encouraging, the reverse isn’t always true. My encouragement need not include approval. I might not approve of a friend’s life goal, but I can encourage him to pursue it if that’s what he really wants from life. Indeed, my approval may cause him to continue to pursue that goal in the future when it no longer interests him. Why? Because I approved of it earlier. Our human nature causes us to look to those whose opinion we value for guidance and if that guidance is approval, we’ll find it difficult to move away from that guidance even though our gut tells us we should.

It’s counter-intuitive, but encouragement offers both the resolve to move forward and the flexibility of changing our minds in the future while approval can cause us to do things that we really don’t want to do – things that we’re doing to get the approval.

If you want to distinguish yourself, become the person in your organization who encourages others without judging – without offering approval or criticism. This ability will make you INVALUABLE to those around you and, in the process, attract opportunities so that you don’t have to pursue them.

Attracting opportunities is only the beginning.  Visit www.pricingforprofitbook.com to discover how to get compensated well for the value you provide or check out my latest book, Pricing for Profit.  Enjoy!

If you’d like more information on Dr. Scott Sheperd visit http://www.rekindleyourheart.com. For more information on Dr. Rachel Remen and her books visit http://www.rachelremen.com/.

Our natural tendency is to grow our operations.

Is it possible that we should be shrinking them?

ATTRACT Opportunities Instead of Pursuing Them…

…Using Counter-Intuitive Thinking

Our natural tendency is to grow our existing operations.  We operate under the notion that what has worked for us in the past is the best approach for the future.  Often what we’ll discover is that while what we’ve been doing may have worked, it may not have worked well.  Here’s an example.

Mr. Eggett cites a candy manufacturer who discovered that his real strength was in creating new candies, not in producing them.  The candy manufacturer outsourced the production, sold his production facilities and aligned himself with a food distributor that needed a candy product.  The result? He grew his regional company to a national brand while shrinking his company’s operations.

It’s counter-intuitive, but when considering growth for the future take a look at:

• What your company does better than anyone else.
• What you have the most fun doing.
• Which aspects of your operation consistently disappoint your customers.
• Which areas of the operation give you the most headaches from an operational standpoint.
• Which companies excel at the things your company struggles with;  Mr. Eggett suggests that it could be a competitor who could become an ally.
• Which companies have a gap in their offerings that you can fill with your expertise.

Bring ideas like this to the table vis-a-vis your eclectic education and you’ll have others regularly seeking your counsel, inviting you onto their teams and involving you in their initiatives.  It’s another way to become INVALUABLE.

Attracting opportunities is only the beginning.  Visit www.pricingforprofitbook.com to discover how to get compensated well for the value you provide.  Enjoy!

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog, please enter your email address and name in the left sidebar.  You’ll also get a free copy of Step 1 of the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE.   If you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

As much as I believe in an eclectic education…

…sometimes gaining one is a challenge.

Over the years my attempts to broaden my education have hit a wall when it comes to poetry.  No matter how often I’ve tried I just can’t seem to get interested.  I expressed my dilemma to the members of my mastermind group, Joe High, 4th Quarter Financial Coach and Dr. Sean Lynch, Zero Balancing Chiropractic Practice,.

Sean said “Why don’t you try it in small increments – 10 to 15 minutes at a time?”  Don’t you hate it when people feed your own advice back to you?

I took his advice, went to the library and chose two poetry books, one on Haiku and one based on the Blues.  While I did get some enjoyment from both, I still wasn’t a raving fan.  Then I say Bill Moyer’s interview of Pulitzer Prize winning poet, W.S. Merwin, on PBS.  I found Merwin’s comments inspiring and suddenly found myself at the computer writing a poem.  Here’s the result.

Reflecting on Time

What a wondrous invention, time
A mirror wrought by the soul

Filled with joy and sadness
Confidence and fear
Anticipation and relief
It’s a reflection of me

Who am I?
Time will tell
Whether slow or fleet
It’s a reflection of me

When time moves as a gentle stream
Slowly to the sea
I know great confidence and joy
It’s a reflection of me

A new rain swells the stream
It’s banks under pressure
So like times of fear
It’s a reflection of me

The mighty river’s plodding style
Like times of sadness and loss
Or childish anticipation of the man of the North
It’s a reflection of me

As the raging flood subsides
So does the passage of time
As relief replaces fear
It’s a reflection of me

Who am I?
Time will tell
Whether slow or fleet
It’s a reflection of me

And if I don’t like it’s tale?
I’ll choose another
For you see
Time is a reflection of me

Why am I sharing this poem with you?  Because I overlooked the fact that, in gaining an eclectic education, doing is just as educational as studying.  We’ve been conditioned to view education as classroom training, reading, studying a new topic or watching Nova and Discovery.

It’s counter-intuitive, but any activity in which we engage has an educational aspect to it. If we don’t enjoy the studying, we always have the option of doing.

You’ll be relieved to know that I do not envision writing a book of poetry any more than I would display my amateur attempts at pencil sketches.  Yet I’ve learned from both of these experiences and will, from time to time, engage in them as a way of continuing my eclectic education.  I encourage you to do the same.  Begin doing things that you’d never imagined or only given a passing thought to.  Do them for the sheer joy of doing.  For the joy lies not in the greatness of the result, but in the experience itself.

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 1, Contributory Negligence, and the advice of some dear friends, to understand why I was struggling to enjoy poetry’s benefits.  Step 4, Seeing Similarities, helped me see that poetry, like some other art forms, afford me greater satisfaction and a better learning experience when I engage in the activity than when I just read about it.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm.

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

How can one individual become a World Champion in both chess and Tai Chi Chuan?

More importantly, how can his insights help you?

Josh Waitzkin, a world-renowned chessmaster and Tai Chi Chuan Push Hands champion, in his book, The Art of Learning, says:

“A key ingredient to my success in those years (his youth) was that my style on the chessboard was a direct expression of my personality.”

Later in the book Josh often references how he adjusts his approach to Push Hands competition to reflect both his personality and his physical capabilities.

What does this have to do with social networking?  Today’s latest craze has spawned a plethora of “experts” who tell us exactly what we need to do to attract opportunities using the overwhelming number of social networks available to us.  Each, of course, has enjoyed great success with his or her model.

Personally, I have wrestled with this advice.  Logically, it has merit.  Emotionally, I find myself resisting the effort.  What’s going on?  The advice I’m resisting doesn’t fit my nature!

As soon as I read Waitzkin’s words, I knew what I had to do.  I had to embrace those bits of advice that felt good to me, adapt them to my nature and run with them.  The other advice, while good, won’t help me because it drains my energy.  It doesn’t feel good so I’m not going to make a worthwhile investment to make it work.  Armed with that knowledge, I know I’ll get much better results with activities that fit my nature.

It’s counter-intuitive, but when you’re getting advice, regardless of what that advice is, if it doesn’t feel right, don’t do it – even though what you’re hearing makes perfect sense.  Instead, examine the advice you’re getting to determine:

1. What makes sense about this advice
2. Why you are resisting it – what is it that you’re not likely to do?
3. How you can adapt the approach to fit your style
4. What alternatives exist, if you can’t adapt the approach to your style

Success is a function of clear, concise and consistent effort.  You can’t achieve any of them if what you’re expected to do goes against your nature.  Be true to yourself and you’ll enjoy greater success.

For more information on Josh Waitzkin, visit www.joshwaitzkin.com

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program I offer is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  

In today’s blog I used Step 6, Eclectic Education, to gather insights from a World Champion chessmaster and Tai Chi Chuan master, and combined it with Step 4, Seeing Similarities, to demonstrate how to overcome the challenges many of us face in dealing with the explosion of social networking tools available to us.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm. 

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

If you’re like me you understand the importance of a niche…

…you’re just not sure what it is or how to find one.

The Nametag guy, Scott Ginsberg, to the rescue!  In his latest book, Stick Yourself OUT There (actually it’s two books in one),  Scott describes two types of niches:

1. Niche expertise
2. Niche market

Here’s how Scott defines these niches:

1. “Niche expertise means you know a LOT about a SPECIFIC TOPIC that applies to a WIDE AUDIENCE.”
2. “Niche market means you know a LOT about a SPECIFIC GROUP OF PEOPLE to whom you apply many topics.”

What’s fascinating to me is that I’ve often been told that I need to find a niche market when I’m really a generalist.  I’ve worked with people in defense contracting, toxic waste disposal, railroad sidings, professional organizations, fast food, automotive suppliers and rubber extruders to name just a few of the industries I’ve served.  

Not only do I enjoy the variety being a generalist affords, I find that I can port ideas from one industry to another for my clients’ benefit.  That’s why I found the idea of a niche market so puzzling.  Thanks to Scott, I realize that I’m employing the “niche expertise” model.  

It’s counter-intuitive, but, whether you are a specialist or a generalist, there are niches available to you.  If you, like me, have been wrestling with the concept of a niche and losing the battle, follow Scott’s sage advice.  For those of you who would like more information about Scott check out his website at www.hellomynameisscott.com/landing.aspx

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program I offer is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 6, Eclectic Education, in the form of Scott’s message and Step 1, Contributory Negligence in exploring my contribution to the problem of identifying a niche to help guide me, and hopefully you, toward even greater success.  For more information on the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE visit www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm. 

If you’d like to receive a weekly email reminder with a link to The Invaluable Leader blog or if you’d like me to address specific topics, please send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.  Please share your experience with our readers by posting a comment.

Each of us has a natural propensity for discovering solutions to problems…

…what’s yours?

In his book, The Cerebral Symphony, William Calvin notes that in the scientific community there are experimenters and synthesizers.  Experimenters are people who exploit new techniques for looking deeper into whatever question they’re investigating. 

Conversely, synthesizers take the vast array of discoveries from a variety of disciplines to piece together a holistic view of the way things work.  Calvin goes on to say that, while both approaches contribute to scientific progress, few scientists employ both.

What does that have to do with you?  First it affords new insights into the way you prefer to work – your natural style.  Here’s a quick question to gauge your preference.  Given a choice of projects would you prefer to tear apart a process to discover ways to improve it or would you rather gather information from someone who has done that analysis and use it to establish new procedures? 

Some people enjoy the investigative intrigue problem-solving affords.  Others prefer to learn from others and use that knowledge to get ahead of the curve by establishing new policies and procedures to avoid the problem in the future.

It’s counter-intuitive, but awareness of your natural style (experimenter or synthesizer) and the style of your colleagues prefer, can help you, your boss and your team enjoy greater success.  Helping guide the delegation of tasks based on natural preferences can increase job enjoyment, reduce cycle times and dramatically improve results now and in the future.

The 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program I offer is designed to help you see more effective ways of doing business – ways that dramatically improve your bottom line while making your life easier.  In today’s blog I used Step 6, Eclectic Education, to demonstrate how to import insights and ideas from other disciplines.  In this case I drew from the field of neurophysiology.  I also employed Step 4, Seeing Similarities, to apply those insights to business.

As you share these insights at work don’t forget Step 2, The Persuasion Myth.  Your natural tendency will be to try to convince your colleagues and boss how valuable this approach is.  The more you try to persuade them the more resistance you’ll get. 

Step 2, The Persuasion Myth, suggests that you share the concept with your colleagues, then ask them how they think this approach could be used in your organization.  You’ll find that they’re more likely to embrace the concept once they’ve had a chance to do their own evaluation of it.

You can learn more about the 7 Steps to Becoming INVALUABLE program and how it can help you deal with the business challenges you face by clicking on http://www.furtwengler.com/7steps.htm

Please share your thoughts, whether you agree or not, by posting a comment.  If there are topics you’d like me to address, send me an email at dale@furtwengler.com.