Have you ever thought about the power of the watermelon seed?

This tiny little seed has the power of creating a fruit that is 200,000 times its weight. It draws whatever nutrients it needs from the dirt and sun and colors a unique spherical, almost psychedelic rind by smearing various tones of green, and then creates a white rind inside and within that a crunchy, juicy succulent red center, thickly inlaid with black seeds, each one of which in turn is capable of yet another fruit that’s 200,000 times its weight. If an itsey, bitsey teeney, weeney seed can draw that much power from a handful of dirt, imagine what we can do.

Sometimes we get in the rut of thinking that we need more of something to grow, to be better, to be happier or more successful. We know, from working with people from all over the world, that we have all we need to be 200,000 times more that we are today. We have the power of the watermelon seed to create a magnificently unique and outstanding individual.

Here’s a way to get started. Get a handful of dirt and put it at your desk and know you have everything you need to be truly great!

Be Well & Be Contagious,

Beverly

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It is amazing how much energy we spend in criticizing and whining about our bosses. 

So much so that by judging by the large percentage of posts on the web, one would bet that every boss out there is an idiot, a dysfunctional jerk, an out-of-touch loser, or simply craps.

Of course we understand that the only way to improve someone’s management and behavior is to observe what that person is doing wrong; however, the majority of posts and comments are written in such a way that confirms their only goal is to whine, very much like a child complaining about how mean dad or mom are without actually grasping the point.   

Well, it is about time for all of us to grasp this:

If you behave like a victim, bathed in self-pity, or act as if you deserve better, you are in for something bad, and you may end up getting fired or seriously harming your career.

In order to avoid this creepy scenario, here’s a lousy boss’s reality check:

-      Confront your boss face to face and you will lose

No matter how mistaken your boss is and how bad he may look in a given situation, he can, and probably will, fire you if you challenge him directly.

-      You do have a choice, make it

This is a free country, and if you don’t agree with your boss’s character, you can quit.

“But, I love my job and most importantly, I need it!”… Ahhh!  Then, put your pride aside and exercise your patience.

It is your choice. 

Equally, you can go over your boss to HR, but it may end badly for you.  Remember that your boss may be highly respected in the company.

-      What if the problem is you?

Have you observed your behavior towards your job and boss? 

Maybe your boss has a lot to say about your attitude and performance too, because if something is certain in the business world, it is that lousy employees are out there in the millions.

So, observe yourself and your actions at work before acting emotionally.  Remember that when something about someone else bothers you deeply it is because that something lives inside you as well.

-      There are only so many bridges one can burn

When you’re young, you don’t consider that the choices you make and your behavior will follow you later. 

If you burn all your bridges, at some point you won’t be able to cross anywhere.  Sure, you will have no boss, but also no job!

What’s the point then?  The point is you DON’T go against a lousy boss. 

Of course all of us, even the best leadership speaker and coach, have had crappy bosses, and we understand what an employee who is exposed to such a boss feels like, but this is no excuse for acting without a clear perspective, because it can only get worse for you.

If it gets truly unbearable, exercise your right to choose, and quit.

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Success nowadays requires that you take positive steps every single day to make your dreams a reality, and in this regard, contagious leaders are the experts.

Here are the 6 actions that will make you succeed in tough times, following the example of the best contagious leaders:

Love the ones around you
In the struggle to survive tough times, too many people neglect their employees and current customers, making them feel abandoned, confused, and afraid about their future, when in reality they should love them more than ever.

If you want to bloom in tough times, open the lines of communication with your people like you haven’t done before, because your people may be the only reason you succeed. So, acknowledge them, reward them, and thank them for being loyal, for understanding, and for being committed.

In the same way, many businesses set to find new customers while neglecting their current ones, making them feel like a pebble in their shoe. It is amazing to see how these companies are blind to the fact that when customers feel loved they bring many more customers on board.

Focus
In tough times, you must stop doing what you used to do to succeed, and must start analyzing every strategy and every activity you used in the past.

Thoroughly study everything you do every day and the return it produces, and then focus on the top 20% of activities that create impact and income.

If you need help to focus, consider talking to a good leadership speaker and consultant.

Develop your network and build your net worth
Quality relationships add value and confidence to your company.

It is normal during tough times to crouch, to play it safe, to spend less, to do less, and to be more careful; however, contagious leaders see hard times as an opportunity to expand their network and build their networth; these leaders become a SAGE:

-Seek out people. They go out and meet people, they go online and are active every day in sites like Facebook or LinkedIn, and they interact with people who think alike all over the world.

-Ask questions. They ask quality questions and focus on the other person, not on themselves.

-Get Involved. They are curious about others; they keep the conversation centered on the other person by getting involved in his or her life’s story.

-Enrich lives. People don’t care what you know until they know you care.

Be unforgettable
To be unforgettable you must be distinctive and indispensable in everything you do, this is, you have to stand out and be valuable in everything you do.

When you’re unforgettable, your work and financial security multiplies and your competitive advantage magnifies. When you’re ordinary, you’re destined to fail.

To be unforgettable:

-Analyze what others are doing and do the opposite.

-Become an expert in something.

-Put yourself in a place where you can look at things from a different perspective, forget about what you do and how you do it. Look at how others have become unforgettable.

-Acknowledge the good work and efforts others do. There is no better and more inexpensive way to motivate people.

Surround yourself with optimism
Remember what Oscar Wilde said:

“Some people cause happiness wherever they go; others, whenever they go.”

Each employee chooses if he or she wants to be a giver or a taker; ensure your company has more givers than takers.

Stop feeding fear
Ask yourself: “What am I doing that adds to the fear and confusion caused by this crisis?”

Then:

-Stop doing those things.

-Get clear about your vision for your company and communicate it intensely and frequently.

-Eliminate as much drama as possible from the work place.

-Establish big goals.

-Create an action plan, begin executing, and hold people accountable.

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One of the easiest ways to promote a contagious leadership culture in your company is to be constantly aware of the obstacles that hinder it. 

Intelligent leaders work on eradicating the conducts and actions that discourage the behaviors of contagious leaders in order to make the good arise by itself.

Here are 4 wise and simple strategies to stop energizing the contained and to start turning your company’s ways into contagious leadership ones:

Stop praising erroneous behaviors. 

True contagious leaders are congruent; constantly, in every decision they make. 

Let’s say a director whose style emulates that of a tyrant, who cares only about the bottom line, who is three-times divorced because work is his religion and expects it to be everyone else’s, gets promoted to vice-president.  What do you think is being praised here?        

Make it right to be a contagious leader.

In order to develop contagious leaders you have to commit to doing it.  

Just decide that contagious leadership is the right way to go, decide that it is ok to be a leader instead of just a manager, and embody that decision every single day and in every single thing you do. 

Before you know it, your behavior will become… contagious. 

Get personally involved in the process. 

Developing a contagious leadership culture project cannot be delegated; you have to be deeply involved in the process if success is your goal, even though this may not be your only role. 

In order for such an initiative to work, you must be a contagious leader yourself, you have to honor and reward contagious leadership behaviors and examples, and you should teach others to become such powerful leaders.

This is basic, because the contagious leadership approach implies a big cultural change for the majority of companies, and it doesn’t work hands-off, as management does.

Select a CLO- Contagious Leadership Officer

Give a hand-picked someone¾as advised by in the lines of a leadership speaker and advisor¾ a meaningful title, a big office, a lot of money, and unlimited authority to put into action, measure, and honor success all the way through your organization.

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So many of us long for the “good old days” when the good guys finished first. It seems as though those days have been replaced by all the “bad boys” winning the big games and gaining all the notoriety and huge pay days. Well, we have news for you; the good old days may still be with us.

We recently traveled to Baltimore to visit relatives and participate in a fund raiser for the Baer School, which Bev’s sister Debbie Kastendike, her uisband Graham and their sons Eric and Christopher and his wife Ashley are deeply involved with.  The plan was to have an affair at the Legends of Sport Heroes right near Camden Yards where to Baltimore Orioles still play. A special treat would be an appearance by Joe Flacco, Quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens. With all the controversy about and around “star athletes” these days I wasn’t so sure that the QB’s appearance was anything worth getting all excited over. Boy, was I wrong!

Joe Flacco impressed each of the 200 people there, including the biggest doubting Thomas of all, me.

Joe Flacco and the Kids of The Baer School

Joe and more Kids

Eric Kastendike, Joe Flacco and Christopher Kastendike

Joe Flacco and Ashley kastendike

Joe and another Baer School Charmer

To watch him was to learn about him. He began quietly, appearing a bit shy at first. Then as we entered the room where the kids were he began to be more lively. For the last picture above he actually asked if the little girl would like to have a picture taken. He didn’t presume she wanted the shot, nor did he walk away relieved that he avoided yet another inconvenience. No, he asked if she would like a picture.

Most of these kids had no idea who Joe Flacco is, nor did they care. They only knew that he enjoyed being with them, paying attention to them, talking with them, smiling with them. They loved him for that and so did the delighted people that came to help the Baer School.

That night, we all saw a side of Joe Flacco, and perhaps other “star athletes” that made us revisit our attitudes toward all athletes. Perhaps they are not all thugs and bad boys. Perhaps a few, like Joe Flacco, are really good guys that just dress up like athletes and happen to get paid a lot of money for doing so. This doesn’t make them bad. In fact, it just helped prove a really important point for all of us. Despite what the world may look like from time to time, good guys really do finish first.

Be Well & Be Contagious!

John

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Rarely have Beverly and I been so touched by a book as we have been by The Go-Giver. It took us all of two hours to read and we immediately asked author Bob Burg to join us on a complimentary teleseminar to go deeper on his 5 Laws of Stratospheric Success. It is Wednesday January 13.

Register NOW! Even if you have schedule challenges, register anyways. Only those registered will receive a link to the recoded interview.  Go to:

http://www.johnhersey.com/stratospheric_success.html

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As the bestseller author Melody Beattie states:

“Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life.  It turns what we have into enough, and more.  It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity.  It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend.  Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”

Gratitude is not a Thanksgiving Day or Christmas time ‘thing’.  Although these special times of year are all about consciously counting our blessings, gratitude is a way of life, a habit we must get into so as to get the best out of life and the people around us every single day.

Showing gratitude is the best way to spread positive feelings around you.  Think about it for a minute:

How do you feel when someone expresses a sincere thank you for something you did?  Doesn’t it make you feel great?  Positive feelings lift people up, increase their enthusiasm, and motivate them to achieve more.  Reaching a goal starts with a single positive thought.

Gratitude can have a very positive snowball effect that keeps you and others moving forward towards achieving your goals.  It is a selfless and lasting feeling that will inspire you and others around you for a long time.  When being grateful to others, be open and expressive, so that they truly know how you feel.

No one should be taken for granted.  A good leader shows gratitude for even the smallest things. It could be just a verbal ‘thank you’, a note, or a small gift; the important thing is to recognize the service others give, in order to create a strong and loyal relationship.  It is fundamental to learn how to express gratitude towards others, however it is equally important to learn to accept it from those around you.

Gratitude prompts better communication and interest in helping.  Everyone understands a word of love that comes from the heart.  No matter how constructive criticism is, it may put people in a defensive state, but if you employ a grateful attitude, it can really do wonders.  By highlighting what you appreciate in people, it is easier to talk to them about what they need to improve.

Being grateful is a practice that requires training; this is why it is a great idea to keep a gratitude journal.  You should write on it five things you are grateful for every day.  Maybe today you want to acknowledge how grateful you are for your health, for your family, friends and colleagues, for your finances, for your personal accomplishments, for your intelligence and ingenuity, for the things you love, or for your freedom to dream.  The more you write the more you will start being grateful for the smallest things.  Showing gratitude every day will change the way you think, and will benefit you and others around you.

When you are thankful for what you have, you will get more of it.  If you center on what you lack, you will never have enough.

Gratitude makes you appreciate life and keeps your thoughts positive, so that you cherish everything you have and acknowledge the people around you as valuable human beings with lots of wisdom and valuable ideas to share.

Become the Leader Your Company Needs. Get My 6 FREE Leadership Videos Here: www.JohnHersey.com

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During the past couple of years I have become more serious than usual (and I tend to have a serious nature). In April of this year my life and business had gotten so serious that I decided, much to Beverly’s relief, that it was time to make some changes. Since then I have been on a mission to learn to have fun again. Not only has it made me a better person (at least more tolerable to be around), but it has made me a better leader as well. I have discovered that really great leaders are broad thinkers, not narrow minded. Great thinkers have diverse interests. And, really great leaders enjoy leading.

John and Bev dancing at EuroRhythm

In my pursuit to learn to have fun again I have engaged in as many wonderful and new experiences as possible. We’ll share some of them with you from time to time. Beverly and I have taken up ballroom dancing (this is amazing fun,; check out EuroRythm Studios) and photography while expanding our interests in learning about wine, cooking, travel and Opera.

This weekend we engaged in several of these activitites. A ballroom dancing event Friday evening, Tosca at The Met at the Movies (fabulous and you must try this) on Saturday, and a musical Saturday evening. Sunday was the topper. We took a helicopter to Four Peaks Mountain and toured one of the finest (certainly the hardest to reach ) Amathyst mines in the world. The pictures below say it all.

Boarding Helicopter for Four Peaks Mine

Entering the Mine (From L-R; Doc, John, Garrett, Bev and Donna in front)

John Having Fun, Hard Hat and All

We got to keep the minerals we mined and the people at Sami’s Fine Jewelry will process, cut and polish the best of our stones and give it to us. Bev had some pretty huge rocks so maybe we’ll retire soon.

Finally, Just in case you are thinking this was looking like lots of work and very little fun check out the picture below.

John & Bev

You have no doubt heard the saying about all work and no play making John a dull boy. Learn to have fun again and the work and play will make us all better leaders. Besides, it makes for Unforgettable Weekends filled with Unforgettable Experiences.

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We have had a tremendous response and some frustration to last weeks teleseminar,
HowTo Thrive in Tight Times . It is not surprising to us that most of
your questions, comments and concerns were around Action 1,
Focusing on the top 20% of your income and/or impact producing
activities.

We never said it would be easy. Nor did we say to not do those
“other activities” that were necessary to the running of your
business.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said:

�As the gardener, by severe pruning, forces the sap of the tree
into one or two vigorous limbs, so should you stop off your
miscellaneous activity and concentrate your force on one or a few
points�

We all have necessary and important activities to perform in the
normal course of keeping our businesses going in the desired direction.
However, all too often we do these instead of the critical income and impact
producing activities.

We have heard people say, “I can’t possibly do that top 20%
thing. It is a great idea but won’t work for me. There is just too
much to do around here, and I am the one to do them.”

All true! However, doing many of these activities keeps us from
zeroing in on those that produce big results.

Think of it this way; if you had an emergency that required you
to leave your office and only spend 20% of your time working, what
would you focus on? Who would you delegate those “other important
activities” too? Which of these “important” activities would you
let go off?

We hope you find this deeper dive into the subject helpful. Let
us know by commenting below.

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Our friend Wayne Tall passed away recently. It was sudden and swift, just the way he wanted it. Beverly and I just returned from his memorial service. Actually, it was more of a celebration than a service. It was a party at one of his favorite restaurants.

Several people told amusing stories about Wayne. He would have enjoyed this. It made me think. Wayne was an extraordinary man.

He adored, admired and totally respected his wife, also a �Bev�.

He loved his children and was a devoted grandfather.

He was an engineer in every sense of the word. He was building an airplane in his garage. He applied his engineering background and wood working skills to create and build wondrous presents for his grand daughter.

Wayne 1, Boulder 0

He was a 4-wheeler, always the first to suggest the group take the steep, dangerous climb, despite being 10-20 years older than the others.

He was a connoisseur of food and wine. He didn�t just like to prepare and consume great food, like me, he analyzed it, dissected it and took great joy in discussing flavors and tastes and which side of the hill the grapes were grown for a particular vintage. He could choose the perfect wine or beer to follow a hike, 4-wheel adventure or a five course dinner.

I don�t think Wayne would mind if I suggested that he was also an extraordinary Contagious Leader. He was involved in activities for which he had great passion. Once involved, he took a stand, never being fearful of expressing a strong point of view, making a significant difference, always setting and accomplishing goals, improving his skills and acknowledging others.

At his celebration one of his friends reminisced about a time when he and his wife had hiked one of the truly great mountains in America. Following the hike they sat at the base of this majestic mountain, watching the sunset while enjoying a beer and glass of wine. They thought of Wayne as they turned the bottle of beer on its side and read the label, which said: �Life is short, don�t sip.�

How many of us, leaders and aspiring leaders, are sipping, being careful not to take in too much, being cautious, ever so suspicious, not extending ourselves, not enjoying the full measure of every moment, every opportunity, every challenge?

Not Wayne Tall, not our friend!

John & Bev

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