A former client and now cherished friend, Melody Harshbarger, sent me a reminder of just such a person. I had the privilege of meeting Melody in the aftermath of the 9-11 tragedy, and our friendship has grown over the years. She’s the owner and President of MMC Studios, an advertising and design firm in Fort Smith, Arkansas. The story Melody sent me has been around for a very long time, but I never tire of hearing it and feel that every business person in the U.S. needs to read it, understand it, and apply it daily. If that were to happen, you’d see the turnaround this country needs right now.

Now, when I revisit this true story, I think of Melody as she is so respected, appreciated, and cherished by everyone who is fortunate enough to make her acquaintance. She personifies the spirit and essence of this simple but very powerful strategy for success.

I’ve lost count of the cab rides I’ve been forced to endure in major cities from coast to coast. I’ve never had the opportunity to meet a Cab Driving Eagle like the one you’re about to meet … but I’m certainly looking forward to the experience. Read, learn, enjoy, and pass it on!

Wally – A Cab Driving Eagle

No one can make you serve customers well … that’s because great service is a choice. Harvey Mackay, tells a wonderful story about a cab driver that proved this point.

He was waiting in line for a ride at the airport. When a cab pulled up, the first thing Harvey noticed was that the taxi was polished to a bright shine. Smartly dressed in a white shirt, black tie, and freshly pressed black slacks, the cab driver jumped out and rounded the car to open the back passenger door for Harvey.

He handed my friend a laminated card and said: “I’m Wally, your driver. While I’m loading your bags in the trunk, I’d like you to read my mission statement.”

Taken aback, Harvey read the card. It said: Wally’s Mission Statement: To get my customers to their destination in the quickest, safest and cheapest way possible in a friendly environment….

This blew Harvey away. Especially when he noticed that the inside of the cab matched the outside. Spotlessly clean!

As he slid behind the wheel, Wally said, “Would you like a cup of coffee? I have a thermos of regular and one of decaf.” My friend said jokingly, “No, I’d prefer a soft drink.” Wally smiled and said,”‘No problem. I have a cooler up front with regular and Diet Coke, water and orange juice.” Almost stuttering, Harvey said, “I’ll take a Diet Coke.”

Handing him his drink, Wally said, “If you’d like something to read, I have The Wall Street Journal, Time, Sports Illustrated and USA Today.”

As they were pulling away, Wally handed my friend another laminated card, “These are the stations I get and the music they play, if you’d like to listen to the radio.”

And as if that weren’t enough, Wally told Harvey that he had the air conditioning on and asked if the temperature was comfortable for him. Then he advised Harvey of the best route to his destination for that time of day. He also let him know that he’d be happy to chat and tell him about some of the sights or, if Harvey preferred, to leave him with his own thoughts …

“Tell me, Wally,” my amazed friend asked the driver, “have you always served customers like this?”

Wally smiled into the rear view mirror. “No, not always. In fact, it’s only been in the last two years. My first five years driving, I spent most of my time complaining like all the rest of the cabbies do. Then I heard the personal growth guru, Wayne Dyer, on the radio one day.”

“He had just written a book called You’ll See It When You Believe It. Dyer said that if you get up in the morning expecting to have a bad day, you’ll rarely disappoint yourself. He said, ‘Stop complaining! Differentiate yourself from your competition. Don’t be a duck. Be an eagle. Ducks quack and complain. Eagles soar above the crowd.’”

“That hit me right between the eyes,” said Wally. “Dyer was really talking about me. I was always quacking and complaining, so I decided to change my attitude and become an eagle. I looked around at the other cabs and their drivers. The cabs were dirty, the drivers were unfriendly, and the customers were unhappy. So I decided to make some changes. I put in a few at a time. When my customers responded well, I did more.”

“I take it that has paid off for you,” Harvey said.

“It sure has,” Wally replied. “My first year as an eagle, I doubled my income from the previous year. This year I’ll probably quadruple it. You were lucky to get me today. I don’t sit at cabstands anymore. My customers call me for appointments on my cell phone or leave a message on my answering machine. If I can’t pick them up myself, I get a reliable cabbie friend to do it and I take a piece of the action.”

Wally was phenomenal. He was running a limo service out of a Yellow Cab. I’ve probably told that story to more than 50 cab drivers over the years, and only two took the idea and ran with it. Whenever I go to their cities, I give them a call. The rest of the drivers quacked like ducks and told me all the reasons they couldn’t do any of what I was suggesting.

Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. Ducks Quack, Eagles Soar. Wally the Cab Driver made a different choice. He decided to stop quacking like ducks and start soaring like eagles. How about you?

The results you’re getting are the results you should be getting. If you want different results, you must change what you’re doing! There is no prize without the price.

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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Secret Hidden in Plain Sight is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

It probably started for me as a Cub Scout and gained momentum as I grew into a Boy Scout. It was emphasized even more as I played high school football, basketball, and baseball. As I entered the military, it was immediately reframed as a critical life and death strategy.

After decades in the business world, I can safely say I’ve heard it mentioned most every week of my life. However, I often wonder if it hasn’t simply become a necessary “buzz word” that we’ve taken for granted and learned to ignore.

We see almost daily examples of the importance of TEAMWORK and the positive consequences which result. And yet, far too many organizations have relegated its importance at a time when it could easily mean the difference between success and failure for everyone involved! I wonder what those organizations are focusing on which is so much more important than developing TEAMWORK.

While I’m encouraged by the increasing number of requests for keynotes and seminars on the subject of TEAMWORK, I feel far too many organizations fail to realize the true need for TEAMWORK as anything more than a “buzz word.”

We even see revealing examples involving simple wildlife and yet fail to benefit from the obvious lessons provided for us. I was recently sitting with a close friend on my deck overlooking the lake as we witnessed a flock of geese flying by in perfect formation.

It immediately brought back memories of an age-old anecdote I’ve heard time and time again. I’m sure you’ve heard it as well. The question is: “Did you learn anything from the narrative? Did you apply the lesson to gain its obvious benefits? Did you close the “Knowing-Doing” Gap?

You might want to revisit this Generational Gem and even share it with those you currently team with. It’s a short video but offers a valuable lesson for us in today’s challenging, rapidly changing, chaotic environment.

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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When Do We Learn the True Value of Teamwork? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

Check out this short video for an interesting adage concerning the true meaning of life. A wise university professor serves coffee to a visiting group of successful alumni as he shares an obvious analogy comparing a cup of coffee to life itself. His point is obvious indeed and very difficult to challenge. And yet few will alter their actions or outlook after hearing it. Life would be so much more rewarding if only we would sometimes pause to recognize the obvious and act accordingly.

Take a moment to share this video with someone you truly care for. You’ll both benefit from the wisdom and appreciate the consequences of your effort.

Are YOU focusing on your coffee or the cup?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3NgzQ9Pcsg

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Are You Focusing on Your Coffee or the Cup? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

There’s a fantastic metaphor that’s been passed on for generations that has always been one of my favorites. It’s indeed simple but shares a hard-hitting philosophy that will benefit anyone who applies its principles.

Brian Tracy, one of America’s leading authorities on human potential and personal effectiveness, transformed this magical metaphor into a book (Eat that Frog! See our book review.) offering tips and tools to support this valuable strategy. If you’ll follow the advice offered in this short and simple story, IT WILL CHANGE YOUR LIFE in so many ways!

This strategy has become an intricate part of our much-requested “Productive Chaos” program, which has been presented to thousands of clients all over North America. While millions have heard it over the years, I have to wonder how many have truly applied it at a personal level. I fear far too few.

Take a look at this short video clip. Listen closely. Apply the advice. Note what an immediate difference it can make in your life. After you see the video, finish this article for two more critical pieces of advice that will add to your experience!

Now that you have been exposed to the theory, the question is: “Will you apply it to your personal life starting tomorrow morning?” If you decide to take advantage of this powerful strategy, here are two more bonus thoughts which will secure your success in overcoming procrastination and enhancing your productivity.

1. If you must eat two frogs … eat the ugliest one first!
2. If you have to eat a live frog … it doesn’t pay to sit and look at it for very long!

Now go out there and close your Knowing-Doing Gap!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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A Frog to the Rescue is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

However, it’s crucial that we maintain a link to our distinguished past. While time and progress marches on, as it should, there is still much to be learned by revisiting those thrilling days of yesteryear! To those of us who lived it, a review of those times are a comforting pause in a hectic existence. To younger generations who didn’t, it can be an educational and enlightening peek into what appears to be a less complicated and often impeccable world.

Revisiting the past also provides insight into experiences that today’s generation would otherwise never experience or even comprehend. Where else would they learn about vinyl records, drive-in theaters, jukeboxes, typewriters, flagpole sitting, Dippity Doo, bell bottoms, family dinner conversations, telephone party lines, lickable postage stamps, a milkman, full-service gas stations, hitch-hiking, bomb shelters, tent revivals, the Iron Curtain, hood ornaments, fuzzy dice, steam locomotives, car fins, iron lung, flash cubes, and dirt roads.

We could add people to that list of phenomenal memories, but the list would never end. However, I feel comfortable in adding one particular name because this man was unsurpassed at reminiscing about so many heart-warming and tear producing moments. Paul Harvey did just that on radio for 76 years until he died in 2009 at the age of 91. His listening audience was estimated, at its peak, at 24 million people a week. Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and 300 newspapers. The most noticeable features of Harvey’s folksy delivery were his dramatic pauses and quirky intonations. You’d swear he was talking directly to you and you alone.

To this day, you can find a large sampling of Paul’s work on YouTube. One of his most touching recitations dealt with a subject that produces vivid memories for millions of Baby Boomers and just might spark the imagination of today’s fast-paced, continually stressed younger generation.

Paul did a very touching rendition of a piece written by Lee Pitts in his book, People Who Live at the End of Dirt Roads. It certainly takes us back to a much gentler time and place … if only for a moment.

“Dirt Roads”

What’s mainly wrong with society today is that too many Dirt Roads have been paved.

There’s not a problem in America today, crime, drugs, education, divorce, delinquency that wouldn’t be remedied, if we just had more Dirt Roads, because Dirt Roads give character.

People that live at the end of Dirt Roads learn early on that life is a bumpy ride.

That it can jar you right down to your teeth sometimes, but it’s worth it, if at the end is home … a loving spouse, happy kids and a dog.

We wouldn’t have near the trouble with our educational system if our kids got their exercise walking a Dirt Road with other kids, from whom they learn how to get along.

There was less crime in our streets before they were paved.

Criminals didn’t walk two dusty miles to rob or rape, if they knew they’d be welcomed by 5 barking dogs and a double barrel shotgun.

And there were no drive by shootings.

Our values were better when our roads were worse!

People did not worship their cars more than their kids, and motorists were more courteous, they didn’t tailgate by riding the bumper or the guy in front would choke you with dust and bust your windshield with rocks.

Dirt Roads taught patience.

Dirt Roads were environmentally friendly, you didn’t hop in your car for a quart of milk you walked to the barn for your milk.

For your mail, you walked to the mail box.

What if it rained and the Dirt Road got washed out? That was the best part, then you stayed home and had some family time, roasted marshmallows and popped popcorn and pony rode on Daddy’s shoulders and learned how to make prettier quilts than anybody.

At the end of Dirt Roads, you soon learned that bad words tasted like soap.

Most paved roads lead to trouble, Dirt Roads more likely lead to a fishing creek or a swimming hole.

At the end of a Dirt Road, the only time we even locked our car was in August, because if we didn’t some neighbor would fill it with too much zucchini.

At the end of a Dirt Road, there was always extra springtime income, from when city dudes would get stuck, you’d have to hitch up a team and pull them out.

Usually you got a dollar … always you got a new friend … at the end of a Dirt Road.

If you enjoyed this brief reflection, take a look at the many other offerings you’ll find in our Generational Gems category of this blog. Share them with your children and/or grandchildren to experience the closest thing you can find to what we enjoyed as a family dinner conversation.

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

A Link to the Past is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

• How many people do you think invest the time and money to consult a doctor, psychologist, psychiatrist or therapist every day?
• How much money is invested daily in having prescriptions filled by the above professionals?
• Once you receive a prescription, do you have it filled and do you follow the instructions as prescribed?

Well, here’s a prescription for reducing stress, increasing productivity, and insuring success. In addition, it will cost you nothing other than a few minutes of your time and a little dedication on your part.

Listen closely to the wisdom and advice in the following short video. The gentlemen conveying this valuable message is Earl Nightingale, famed motivational speaker and author, who passed away in 1989 at the age of 68. If you’d like to learn more about Earl, simple check the article we posted on our blog last year. Nightingale has positively impacted millions of people worldwide over many decades. This is the kind of message we Boomers need to pass on to the younger generations.

Strangely enough, this video was record 40 years ago, but it’s truth and relevance is as powerful today as it was at that time. Earl shares a story told to him years earlier by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, famed author of The Power of Positive Thinking and many other best-sellers.

Listen to the four simple steps of this powerful prescription as described in Gone with the Tide … apply them yourself and feel the immediate positive impact on your outlook on life! Read it, heed it, and seed it to others. You’ll feel much better for doing it!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Would You Ignore a Prescription? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

Some leaders are wise enough to use their authority as just one of the many tools at their beck and call in achieving specific goals for their organization. Others allow authority to go right to their heads, flaunt it openly, alienate everyone involved, and, as a result, suffer profusely.

Here’s an age-old Generational Gem that illustrates the negative consequences of misusing the potent power of authority.

“Show Him Your Badge”

A DEA officer stops at a ranch in Texas and talks with an old rancher. He tells the rancher, “I need to inspect your ranch for illegally grown drugs.” The rancher says, “Okay, but do not go in that field over there,” as he points out the location.

The DEA officer verbally explodes saying, ” Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me.” Reaching into his rear pants pocket, he removes his badge and proudly displays it to the rancher. “See this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go wherever I wish … on any land. No questions asked or answers given. Have I made myself clear? Do you understand?”

The rancher nods politely, apologizes, and goes about his chores.

A short time later, the old rancher hears loud screams and sees the DEA officer running for his life, chased by the rancher’s big Santa Gertrudis bull ….

With every step the bull is gaining ground on the officer, and it seems likely that he’ll get gored before he reaches safety. The officer is clearly terrified. The rancher throws down his tools, runs to the fence and yells at the top of his lungs …

“Your badge. Show him your BADGE! ”

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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Authority Isn’t Everything! is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

Two Wolves.

One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all.

“One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.

“The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”

The wise old Cherokee grandfather simply replied, “The one you feed!”

This tale is as true today as it was when shared with the young Indian brave. Pause to contemplate the actions of those around you. Can you tell who is feeding which wolf? It’s actually pretty easy to detect. If asked, could others easily detect which wolf you’re feeding? Now that’s food for thought! The choice is yours!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

We So Often Create Our Own Destiny is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

Both a strength and a weakness of the ham radio was the fact that operators could and often did listen in on conversations between other operators. I remember my grandfather doing exactly that for hours at a time. What began as a hobby for Gramps soon became a lifestyle that kept him joyfully occupied throughout his later years. He established a network of loyal friends from all over the world.

Reflecting back on the visual of my grandfather sitting at his ham radio with a content smile on his face chatting with friends, I’m reminded of a Generational Gem which we should all strongly consider.

3,900 Marbles

On a typical Saturday morning, a man, balancing a steaming cup of coffee in one hand and several warm chocolate chip cookies in the other, made his way to his home office for his habitual weekend session with his friends on his ham radio.

This particular day he decided to listen to a Saturday morning swapnet. In searching for the program, he came across an older sounding chap, with a tremendous signal and a golden voice. You know the kind; he sounded like he should be in the broadcasting business. He was telling whomever he was talking with something about “a thousand marbles.” He was intrigued and stopped to listen to the conversation.

“Well, Tom, it sure sounds like you’re busy with your job. I’m sure they pay you well, but it’s a shame you have to be away from home and your family so much. Hard to believe a young fellow should have to work 60 or 70 hours a week to make ends meet. It’s too bad you missed your daughter’s dance recital,” he continued; “Let me tell you something that has helped me keep my own priorities.” And that’s when he began to explain his theory of a “thousand marbles.”

“You see, I sat down one day and did a little arithmetic. The average person lives about 75 years. I know, some live more and some live less, but on average, folks live about 75 years.

“Now then, I multiplied 75 times 52, and I came up with 3,900, which is the number of Saturdays that the average person has in their entire lifetime. Now, stick with me, Tom, I’m getting to the important part.

“It took me until I was 55 years old to think about all this in any detail,” he went on, “and by that time I had lived through over 2800 Saturdays. I got to thinking that if I lived to be 75, I only had about a thousand of them left to enjoy. So I went to a toy store and bought every single marble they had. I ended up having to visit three toy stores to round up 1,000 marbles. I took them home and put them inside a large, clear plastic container right here in the shack next to my gear.”

“Every Saturday since then, I have taken one marble out and thrown it away. I found that by watching the marbles diminish, I focused more on the really important things in life.

“There’s nothing like watching your time here on this earth run out to help get your priorities straight.

“Now let me tell you one last thing before I sign off with you and take my lovely wife out for breakfast. This morning, I took the very last marble out of the container. I figure that if I make it until next Saturday then I have been given a little extra time. And the one thing we can all use is a little more time.

“It was nice to meet you Tom. I hope you spend more time with your family, and I hope to meet you again here on the band. This is a 75-year-old man, K9NZQ, clear and going QRT, good morning!”

You could have heard a pin drop on the band when this fellow signed off. Apparently, he gave everyone listening a lot to think about. The elderIy gentleman who had been listening had planned to work on the antenna that morning, and then was going to meet up with a few other “hams” to work on the next club newsletter.

Instead, he went upstairs and woke up his wife up with a kiss. “C’mon honey, I’m taking you and the kids to breakfast.”

“What brought this on?” she asked with a smile.

“Oh, nothing special, it’s just been a long time since we spent a Saturday together with the kids. And hey, I need to stop at a toy store to buy some marbles.”

HOW MANY MARBLES DO YOU HAVE LEFT? IT’S CERTAINLY SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Lost Your Marbles? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

Living in the Same Box

It is 1936. American Jesse Owens seems certain to win the long jump competition in the Olympic games. The previous year he had jumped 26 feet, 8 1/4 inches—a record that will stand for 25 years.

As he walks to the long-jump pit, however, Owens sees a tall, blue-eyed, blond German taking practice jumps in the 26-foot range. Owens feels nervous. He is acutely aware of the Nazis’ desire to prove “Aryan superiority.” And as a black son of a share cropper, he knows what it is like to feel inferior.

On his first jump, Owens inadvertently leaps from several inches beyond the takeoff board. Rattled, he fouls on his second attempt too. One more foul and he will be eliminated.

At this point, the tall German introduces himself as Luz Long. “You should be able to qualify with your eyes closed!” he says to Owens, referring to his upcoming two jumps. For the next few moments, the African American and the white model of Nazi manhood chat together. Then Long makes a suggestion. Since the qualifying distance is only 23 feet, 5 1/2 inches, why not make a mark several inches before the takeoff board and jump from there, just to play it safe? Owens does and qualifies easily.

In the finals, Owens sets an Olympic record and earns the second of four gold medals. But who is the first person to congratulate him? Luz Long—in full view of Adolf Hitler! Owens never again sees Long, who is later killed in World War II. “You could melt down all the medals and cups I have,” Owens later writes, “and they wouldn’t serve as plating on the 24-carat friendship I felt for Luz Long.”

Perhaps unknowingly, Luz Long taught the world a valuable lesson.

Someone else put it like this: “We can learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp … some are pretty … some are dull … some have weird names … and all are different colors … but they all have to learn to live in the same box.”

The same holds true for today’s workplace, and we shouldn’t overlook the importance of this lesson.

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Keep the Ball Rolling is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

The Wizard of Oz, based on the best-selling book by L. Frank Baum, was first released in 1939.

• It is often ranked among the top ten best movies of all-time.
• It is believed by many to be the most-watched film in history.
• Hundreds of millions have seen this movie over the past 70 years.

Of those millions who saw this classic, many would say it was simply an entertaining family movie. Many others would share what they thought was a powerful moral embedded within the storyline. In fact, based on one’s personal philosophy, there were supposedly several morals identified in this time-honored plot.

• Some agree with the folk rock band AMERICA who, in 1974, sang: “Oz never did give nothing to the Tin Man that he didn’t, didn’t already have!” They were, of course, referring to the potential within every individual whether we realize we have it or not.
• Many related this fable to another classic, Acres of Diamonds, when they heard Dorothy say: “The next time I go looking for my heart’s desire, I won’t look any further than my own backyard. If it’s not there, then I never really lost it to begin with.”
• Still others truly believed it to be a classic parable on the silver crusade.
• Others felt it contained an obvious message of populism and national reform.

Although it’s quite obvious that people’s opinions were based much on their personal beliefs and values, one must admit that it’s to discover a “moral to the story” in most everything we see. As proven by The Wizard of Oz, the vehicle containing the moral can be quite simplistic.

For instance, think about the things we can learn from a simple jigsaw puzzle.

1. The creator of the puzzle gave you the picture as a guidebook.
2. Be sure to look at the big picture. Getting hung up on the little pieces only leads to frustration.
3. Establish the border first. Boundaries give a sense of security and order.
4. Don’t force a fit. If something is meant to be, it will come together naturally.
5. When one spot stops working, move to another. But be sure to come back later.
6. Don’t be afraid to try different combinations. Some matches are surprising.
7. When things aren’t going so well, take a break. Everything will look different when you return.
8. Perseverance pays off. Every important puzzle went together bit by bit, piece by piece.
9. Variety is the spice of life. It’s the different colors and patterns that make the puzzle interesting.
10. Working together with friends and family makes any task fun.
11. Take time often to celebrate your successes (even little ones).
12. Anything worth doing takes time and effort. A great puzzle can’t be rushed.

Do yourself a favor and start seeking the many lessons provided for us in the course of your typical daily routine. Many of our greatest discoveries were made in the simplest of circumstances. Seek, discover, develop, share.

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Lessons, Lessons, Everywhere is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

In fact, when you look back over the years, you might be astonished at the number of people who have encouraged and supported you on your challenging journey to success.

Today’s Generational Gem is a true story that originated in 1967 and will hopefully be passed on for decades to come.

It’s the story of Captain J. Charlie Plumb who is a common man with an uncommon story. Raised in America’s heartland, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy and became a jet fighter pilot. After 75 combat missions over North Vietnam, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. He ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent the next six years in a Communist prison undergoing degradation, humiliation, brutality and torture.

Years later, Captain Plumb and his wife were sitting in a restaurant in Kansas City. As they ate, Charlie couldn’t help but notice a man a few tables away that kept looking at him. Charlie realized that he didn’t know the man and was surprised when the stranger stood up and walked over to his table.

Upon arriving, he looked Charlie in the eyes and said, “You’re Captain Plumb, aren’t you?”

Charlie looked up and said, “Yes sir, I’m Captain Plumb.”

He said, “You flew jet fighters in Vietnam. You were on the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down. You parachuted into enemy hands and spent six years as a prisoner of war.”

“Yes, how did you know?” asked Charlie.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied.

Charlie was speechless. He staggered to his feet and held out a very grateful hand of thanks. This guy came up with just the proper words. He grabbed Charlie’s hand, he pumped Charlie’s arm and said, “I guess it worked.”

“Yes sir, indeed it did,” Charlie said, “and I must tell you I’ve said a lot of prayers of thanks for your nimble fingers, but I never thought I’d have the opportunity to express my gratitude in person.”

Today, at 67 years of age, Plumb is a professional speaker sharing his experiences with audiences in every industry. He often speaks of his realization that the anonymous sailors who packed the parachutes held the pilots’ lives in their hands, and yet the pilots never gave these sailors a second thought; never even said hello, let alone said thanks. He often wondered how many times he might have passed his benefactor on board the Kitty Hawk … he wondered how many times he might have seen him and not even said “Good morning,” “How are you,” or anything at all. After all, Charlie was a jet fighter pilot and the parachute packer was just a sailor. How many hours did he spend on that long wooden table in the bowels of that ship weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of those chutes? Charlie could have cared less … until one day his parachute came along and the sailor packed it for him.

We all have someone who provides what we need to make it through the day. Like Captain Plumb when he was shot down over enemy territory, we all need many different kinds of parachutes in dealing with our personal challenges. We need a physical parachute, a mental parachute, an emotional parachute, and a spiritual parachute. Different times, different situations, different challenges … sooner or later we all need each of those parachutes in order to achieve the success we seek.

Sometimes in the daily challenges that life gives us, we miss what is really important. We may fail to say hello, please, or thank you, congratulate someone on something wonderful that has happened to them, give a compliment, or just do something nice for no reason.

As you go through the coming weeks, months, and years, recognize those people who packed, and continue to pack your parachutes. Remember to say thanks. More important, remember the lesson and the message. Remember to pass them along. And most important, don’t forget that you are needed to pack someone else’s parachute. Do a great job!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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Never Too Late for Gratitude is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

You can feel it in the air.

You can hear it in conversations.

You can see it in facial expressions and body language.

You can measure it in productivity.

It can be observed in the way that problems are dealt with and challenges are faced.

Every day, for every employee, there are opportunities to grow, progress, and add value to the organization. The choice is ours. We develop the culture in which we will thrive or fall by the wayside as others prosper. Hopefully, leadership is active in creating the positive culture needed in today’s challenging, competitive, and ever-changing workplace. However, everyone must be involved in making it successful. Every employee must be tuned in to possibilities to grow, prosper, and maintain a thriving culture that will insure future success for everyone involved.

That much needed tuned-in attitude can be better understood through this age-old Generational Gem:

Years ago, an American shoe company sent two salesmen to the Australian outback. They wanted to find out whether there was a market for shoes among the Aborigines. After shedding their parachutes, both went to work evaluating potential market value in this thus far untapped territory.

Corporate headquarters soon received telegrams from both sales people. The first read: “Absolutely no potential here. The natives don’t wear shoes!”

The second telegram proclaimed: “Fantastic opportunity here! No competition and every native needs our product!”

The second sales person understood that a problem may be nothing more than an opportunity in disguise.

Which do you think will be more successful? Which of the two would you rather having working on your team?

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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Perception Is Everything! is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

One of the most obvious, but often ignored, differences between people is their age. Does a person’s age influence how they respond to a message? Absolutely! While hierarchy, ethnic culture and gender have tended to dominate prior discussions on tailoring communication, research by academics and practitioners on so-called “Generation X” and their successors suggests that when communicating, equal attention ought to be paid to age differences.

Research data on this subject is plentiful. However, the following Generational Gem may well simplify the challenge of communicating across generations.

The Little Old Lady

There was once a very nice lady who was a little old-fashioned. She was planning a week’s vacation in Wisconsin at a particular campground she hadn’t visited in decades. She decided to write ahead to make certain of the accommodations in advance.

Utmost in her mind were the toilet facilities. However, due to her sheltered upbringing, she couldn’t bring herself to write the word “toilet” in a letter. After considerable deliberation, she settled on “Bathroom Commode.” However, when she wrote it down, it still sounded too forward to her, so she wrote the letter to the campground and referred to the bathroom commode as the “BC.” She simply asked if the campground had their own “BC.”

Upon receiving the letter, the young campground manager was baffled by the euphemism so he showed the letter around to several other campers, but they couldn’t decipher it either. Finally the campground owner figured the woman must be referring to the location of the local Baptist Church so he sat down and wrote:

“Dear Madam,

I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take pleasure in informing you that a “BC” is located just nine miles north of the campground and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it’s quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along and make a day of it.  They usually arrive early and leave late.

“The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now there is a supper being planned to raise money to buy more seats. They are going to hold the fund raiser in the basement of the “BC.” I would like to say it pains me very much not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely no lack of desire on my part. As we grow older, it seems to be more of an effort, particularly in cold weather. If you decide to come to our campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time, sit with you, and introduce you to all the other folks. Remember, this is a friendly community.”

For some reason, the elderly woman made other plans!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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Why Can’t We Communicate? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

Last month we celebrated Administrative Professionals Day, formerly known as Secretary’s Day. This month we celebrate National Receptionists Day. These special days were set aside to recognize the work and tremendous contributions of secretaries, administrative assistants, receptionists, and other administrative support professionals.

Having worked closely with this particular group of very talented and experienced specialists over the years, I personally feel they should be operating under a new title: “The Secret Service.” More often than not, what these talented professionals do is in the background and not completely noticeable to the rest of us. And yet, we know who really runs the business these days, now don’t we? By the way, most everyone at C-Level (CEO-CFO-COO-CIO, etc.) would agree with that statement.

“The Secret Service” are responsible for a variety of administrative and clerical duties necessary to run an organization efficiently. They serve as information and communication managers for an office; plan and schedule meetings and appointments; organize and maintain paper and electronic files; manage projects; conduct research; and disseminate information by using the telephone, mail services, Web sites, and e-mail. They also may handle travel and guest arrangements. But any administrative assistant worth his or her salt will tell you this barely scratches the surface of everything they do.

The good administrative assistant knows intimately how the office functions. While all offices look the same on the surface, each office is different, often influenced by the industry it serves. Some have a more casual chain of command, some are very formal. In the office, the experienced administrative assistant knows, for instance, which faxes are important and which are trash; what snail mail can be safely discarded; which e-mails must be forwarded to the boss, and which he or she can deal with. The administrative assistant also deals with the public in many offices and is a source of general information. He or she will also probably be responsible, at least in part, in training new office staff. She has to know how to work with a variety of office equipment, and may be experienced enough to do minor repairs.

Overworked, underpaid? Maybe, but one thing is obvious. Many of them are not given enough credit and recognition for their crucial roles in the work place. Despite this they wear smiles on their faces and carry a grim determination in their hearts to make their bosses succeed. “The Secret Service” are the heroes in the work place. Yet they don’t get the credit, thanks, praise, and devotion that they richly deserve as they take initiative to make things happen and always seem to be the “go to” person for everyone in the organization.

Here’s a Generational Gem that will explain everything:

Even Cannibals Know the Difference!

A big corporation hired several cannibals. “You are all part of our team now,” said the HR manager during the welcome briefing. “You get all the usual benefits, and you can go to the cafeteria for something to eat, but please don’t eat any of the other employees.” The cannibals promised they would not.

A few weeks later the cannibals’ boss remarked, “You’re all working very hard, and I’m satisfied with you. However, one of our secretaries has disappeared. Do any of you know what happened to her?” The cannibals all shook their heads, “No,” they said.

After the boss left, the leader of the cannibals said to the others angrily, “Right, which one of you idiots ate the secretary?”

A hand rose hesitantly in admission. “You fool!” said the leader. “For weeks we’ve been eating managers, and no one noticed anything, but nooo, you had to go and eat someone important!”

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Cannibals and Administrative Professionals is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

The following Generational Gem illustrates the critical need for everyone to understand that all members of the organization have something to add and should strive to make certain that they each play their role.

Shared Responsibility

My apologies if this story is well-known to you. It’s an old joke, yet a useful illustration for various themes. A mother repeatedly called upstairs for her son to get up, get dressed and get ready for school. It was a familiar routine, especially at exam time.

“I feel sick,” said the voice from the bedroom.

“You are not sick. Get up and get ready,” called the mother, walking up the stairs and hovering outside the bedroom door.

“I hate school, and I’m not going,” said the voice from the bedroom. “I’m always getting things wrong, making mistakes and getting told off. Nobody likes me, and I’ve got no friends. And we have too many tests, and they’re too confusing. It’s all just pointless, and I’m not going to school ever again.”

“I’m sorry, but you are going to school,” said the mother through the door, continuing encouragingly. “Really, mistakes are how we learn and develop. And please try not to take criticism so personally. And I can’t believe that nobody likes you—you have lots of friends at school. And yes, all those tests can be confusing, but we are all tested in many ways throughout our lives, so all of this experience at school is useful for life in general. Besides, you have to go, you’re the Principal.”

And so it is in the workplace as well. The President of the Board, the CEO, and Vice Presidents throughout the organization must “show up” ready to contribute as readily as every front-line employee on the payroll. The responsibility, successes, failures, and all resulting consequences must be shared by the entire organization. In today’s chaotic world, the presence or lack of shared responsibility can and will make a critical difference.

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Shared Responsibility is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

$86,400 a Day

Imagine you were a member of a very unique bank which:

1. credits your account each morning with $86,400
2. carries over no balance from day to day
3. allows you to keep no cash balance whatsoever
4. and every evening cancels whatever part of the amount you had failed to use during the day

Under those guidelines, I imagine you’d draw out every cent every day, wouldn’t you?

Well, believe it or not, every one of us has just such a bank. The name over the door reads TIME.

Every morning, it credits you with 86,400 seconds!

Every night it writes off, as a loss, whatever of this amount you have failed to invest in a productive purpose.

It carries over no balance.

It allows no overdraft.

Every day it opens a new account for you.

Every night it burns the records of the day.

If you fail to use the day’s deposits, the loss is yours.

There is no going back. There is no drawing against “tomorrow.”

You must live in the present on today’s deposits.

Invest it so as to get from it the utmost in health, happiness, and success!

The clock is running. Make the most of today.

Carpe Diem! Seize the day!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

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Would You Refuse a Priceless Gift? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet have done a pretty good job of allowing us to get some insight into how our “leaders” in Washington, D.C. are dealing with what very well may be the greatest financial crisis in the history of our country. To be honest, it scares me!

Remember our initial exposure to the financial sector bailout? All focus was on the figure of $750 BILLION … yes, $750 BILLION! Say that figure out loud slowly. Isn’t it amazing how mundane it sounds? It’s almost as though that was the amount we spent at the mall over the weekend. And yet, that’s quite a bit of money.

How much is it? Consider this:

• A billion seconds ago it was 1959.
• A billion minutes ago Jesus was alive.
• A billion hours ago our ancestors were living in the Stone Age.
• A billion days ago no-one walked on the earth on two feet.
• A billion dollars ago was only 8 hours and 20 minutes, at the rate our government is spending it.

As I said, a BILLION is a large number. Now consider the fact that Bloomberg TV analyst Mark Faber, author of the “Gloom Boom Doom” report, recently declared that the initial proposal of $750 BILLION for the financial sector bailout will actually cost closer to $5 TRILLION!

How much is a TRILLION?

Short and sweet, a TRILLION ($1,000,000,000,000) is 1,000 billions!

If you counted to a TRILLION out loud, one number per second, it would take you 31,688 years to complete the task! A stack of $100 bills totaling $1 TRILLION would be 789 miles high OR 144 Mt. Everests stacked on top of one another!

Now consider the fact that our political leaders in Washington, D.C., from both parties, are so effortlessly tossing around both terms while never mentioning the fact that this bailout money will come out of OUR pockets. This is complacency.

What really concerns me is the fact that WE have accepted this rhetoric with very little, if any, rebuttal or concern. This too is complacency!

Dictionaries define complacency as: “the feeling you have when you are satisfied, especially when unaware of upcoming trouble.” Does this not describe our current status in light of the financial sector bailout and the auto industry rescue? $5 TRILLION plus!

This entire scenario reminds me of an age-old Generational Gem involving a complacent frog and a kettle of boiling water.

The story’s origins are rooted in nineteenth-century physiological literature. An article co-written by G. Stanley Hall from 1887 indicates that many experiments were performed on frogs in the 1870s and 1880s for the purposes of determining how reactive their nervous systems were to various types of stimuli. Another source lists an experiment done in 1882 at Johns Hopkins which produced similar findings.

The theory was simple. They say that if you put a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will leap out right away to escape the danger.

However, if you put a frog in a kettle that is filled with water that is cool and pleasant, and then you gradually heat the kettle until it starts boiling, the frog will not become aware of the threat until it is too late. The frog will soon pass out and eventually die … unaware of any threat. The frog’s survival instincts are geared towards detecting sudden changes.

This parable is often used to illustrate how humans have to be careful to watch slowly changing trends in the environment, not just the sudden changes. It’s a warning to keep us paying attention not just to obvious threats but to more slowly developing ones.

Remember a tough little Texan businessman, Ross Perot, who ran for President in 1992? He appeared on network television with charts and graphs to warn us of the very financial industry threat we now face. His illustrations were ridiculed by seasoned politicians insuring his defeat.

Threats of the U.S. auto industry demise have been evident since the 60s. However, at the time, the water in our kettle was obviously room temperature. Are you starting to feel the heat?

This same complacency has led to the extinction of tens of thousands of U.S. businesses in the past year. It’s all a matter of leadership.

The next time you hear a politician use the words “billion” or “trillion” in a casual manner, remember our friend the frog. Inform your “leaders” in Washington, D.C. that the water in our kettle is reaching the boiling point!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Have We Become Too Complacent? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

I’ll spare you the details you’ve been hearing daily for months now. However, I can’t help but wonder if someone in authority didn’t see this coming. Wouldn’t it be nice if we had received some advance warning that would have allowed us to prepare for this crisis?

Well, it turns out that we did have that much needed warning, and it came from someone we’re quite certain knew of what he spoke. And he gave us plenty of time to prepare.

In 1802—yes, more than 200 years ago—Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States (1801-1809) and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), said:

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

On a more personal note, I recently received this quote in an e-mail from my son, Chad, who today is a budding businessman and proud father of two young sons of his own. Upon reading the e-mail, I had to reflect back on his high school days when I tried to inspire him to take an interest in business, politics, and what was going on in his world. Of course, at that time, my words were falling on deaf ears. Or so it appeared. He seemed to have other more pressing concerns such as his friends, his car, music and sports. Unbeknownst to me at that time, maybe he was simply practicing the fine art of prioritization. Maybe he just filed away my words of wisdom until a more appropriate time. I must admit that I often hear him advising his boys with words which sound fairly similar to what I shared with him years ago.

And the frosting on the cake … today he’s educating me. We’ve come full circle and he, too, will someday experience that joy with his own boys.

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Twilight Zone Prediction? Do We Ever Learn? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.

We tackle one exercise which is a lot of fun but, at the same time, illustrates the power and importance of tapping our full potential as individuals by simply utilizing the many resources we possess but often overlook or take for granted.

In asking just ten basic, very simple questions, I quickly illustrate that seldom can any one individual in attendance answer all ten queries correctly. In fact, rarely does anyone even come close. However, at the same time, we quickly discover that collectively, by combining the education and experience of everyone in the room, we quickly answer all ten questions correctly in less than 30 seconds!

The point of course is quite obvious. This same truth holds true in the workplace as well. We all bring something different to the table in the areas of education, experience, creativity, enthusiasm, and attitude. By tapping the collective resources of the entire team, there are few, if any, challenges which can’t quickly be transformed into opportunities.

It is only the wisest and most successful organizations that practice this obvious strategy on a regular basis. This simple philosophy leads us to the following Generational Gem. To better understand the true moral of this story, one must be aware of the definition of resource: "a source of supply, support, or aid, especially one that can be readily drawn upon when needed."

A very young boy wanted to play catch with his daddy. However, there was a stone in the middle of the baseball diamond that needed to be moved before they could play. The enthusiastic youngster told his dad, "I’ll move it and then we can play." He struggled very hard but simply couldn’t budge the stone.

His dad asked, "Are you sure you’re using all your strength?"

"Yeah Dad, I am."

He tried again but the stone simply wouldn’t move. His dad then walked over to the youngster and helped his son move the stone. As he did so, he said to his little-leaguer, "Son, until you ask me to help you, you aren’t using ALL your strength!!!"

What a great lesson for all of us. We each have many resources at our disposal at all times that we may very well be overlooking. We need to use ALL our strength, all our resources at all times!

PAUSE, IDENTIFY, UTILIZE, SUCCEED, APPRECIATE, CELEBRATE!

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of motivational speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management.  For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2MAX or fill out our contact form.

Are You Tapping Your Full Potential? is a post from the AchieveMax® Blog, which includes articles on business, change, leadership, motivation, teamwork, time management, and more. Please visit our site for more information on our professional speakers, custom-designed training, and keynote presentations.