The Gift that Keeps on Giving

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I recently enjoyed a very productive kick-off session to another leadership seminar series. Part of our focus dealt with the development of front-line employees. The subject of reading arose, and we discussed various authors and books which should appear on any must-read list.

A few days later I received an e-mail from one of the vice presidents who had attended the session. I must admit his personal note warmed the cockles of my heart. He explained that he had visited our web site to check out our collection of 180 book reviews. He did so for two reasons:

  1. To look for a few books he was personally interested in
  2. In hopes of getting some ideas as to what titles he and his wife might want to consider to include in a personal library they are building for their son.

Their son is in his junior year of college, majoring in business while working on a minor or even another major in marketing. Thus far, he seems to enjoy leadership classes so his parents are considering books in that category as well. What they plan to do is purchase books from time to time that relate to his current and future studies, potential career, personal preferences and spiritual favorites … in hopes of assisting him in his chosen line of study.

At the same time, unbeknownst to him, they want to compile other appropriate titles to build “His Personal Library” which will be presented to him as a gift upon graduation. What a fantastic idea! This is truly a “Gift That Will Keep On Giving” … for decades! Years from now this young man will still be thanking his folks for this exceedingly precious and obviously priceless gift.

This caring and thoughtful father concluded his note with a request for any suggestions I might have to add to this valuable library. Needless to say, I felt honored by the request and replied with a list of authors and titles I felt might be suitable for such a magnificent gift.

Wouldn’t it be nice if more parents thought along these lines? It certainly is an investment not only in their son but in his future as well.

“A book is a gift you can open time and time again.”
~ Garrison Keillor

“The person who does not read good books has no advantage over the person who can’t read them.”
~ Mark Twain

“You will be the same person in five years as you are today except for two things, the people you meet and the books you read.”
~ Charles “Tremendous” Jones

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

One-Two Punch for a Successful 2009!

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With the new year just around the corner, it’s pretty safe to guess that a good many people will be dragging out their New Year’s resolutions from last year, dusting them off, and making preparations to break them all again within the week. Well, this year we’ve decided to help you better prepare for this traditional exposure to stress by providing you with two small, but powerful, tools that may very well impact your outcome in a more positive way.

Procrastination always seems to be a major factor in preventing our attempt to successfully complete our well-intentioned resolutions.

The first half of our one-two punch is truly understanding what procrastination is. You must know it to conquer it. Therefore, let’s take a look at the official definition of procrastination:

There are so many wonderful, fine, lovable and so-called ambitious people in today’s society who are always about to commence to begin pretty soon before very long to getting around to doing something just after they finish something else!

How many times have you procrastinated merely because you simply never got around to doing what you knew you should be doing? We’ve all faced that challenge at one time or another. Never again! The second half of our one-two punch will solve that problem forever. You are now the proud owner of a Round Tuit. READ – HEED – and SUCCEED.

A Round Tuit

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Poor Performers: Improve or Remove

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Chaotic times breed new trends. They always have. They always will. New strategies must be attempted in hopes of reversing negative situations resulting from political, financial, and business influences.

Many of these new trends are very basic in nature while others appear somewhat radical compared to what we have known in the past.

One such trend is emerging from coast to coast across industries. It deals with employees performing below accepted levels. In the past, poor performers were often tolerated for far too long for a wide variety of reasons … seniority, negative image, personal relationships, hope for improvement, legal ramifications, etc.

However, recent local and global pressures have reversed this archaic practice in hopes of increasing productivity and profitability at a time when nothing less can be accepted.

Leadership guru Peter Drucker has long suggested: “If you have a ‘people’ problem, fix it immediately. If you do not have the right person for the right job to begin with, trying to eliminate other job-related barriers is like trying to drain the Atlantic Ocean with a teaspoon.”

Author and CEO Harvey Mackay has learned through many years of experience that “It isn’t the people you fire who make our life miserable, it’s the people you don’t.”

Business consultant, best-selling author (Built to Last and Good to Great ), and lecturer Jim Collins says: “We expected that good-to-great leaders would begin by setting a new vision and strategy. We found instead that they first got the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats—and then they figured out where to drive it. The old adage ‘People are your most important asset’ turns out to be wrong. People are not your most important asset. The right people are.”

Leading authorities agree that the focus of loyalty has changed from the poor performer to those fellow employees who are performing well, customers, and any other stakeholders. The obligation today lies in doing everything possible to improve performance including training, enhancement strategies, expectations, accountability, and consequences. If and when these attempts fail, removal of the poor performer is essential to future success.

Many organizations have avoided having to take such unpleasant actions by perfecting their approach to recruiting, hiring, orientation, and continuous training.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

A True Christmas Gift – A Best Friend

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Oh, to return to those wonderful days of yesteryear when things seemed so much simpler and a real friend was a real friend.

It was Christmas school break back in the 50s, and Bobby and Tommy were riding the bus home, talking and thinking about Santa Claus. Tommy said that he had been a good boy and was hoping Santa would bring him a BB gun. Bobby was old enough and bright enough to know that if he wanted to find his favorite toys under the tree on Christmas morning, he needed to pray very loud so Mommy, Daddy, and Grandma could hear him. He also knew it helped if he turned down the pages in the Sears catalog and left it out where it could be easily found by family members.

However, down deep inside, Bobby wanted to believe in Santa Claus just like his younger friend, Tommy.

Finally, Christmas morning arrived, and there it was … the shiny brand new bicycle just like Bobby wanted. There was a few Matchbox cars, toy soldiers, and a brand new Red Ryder BB gun as well.

Bobby ran next door to show Tommy his new bike and BB gun. When he arrived on Tommy’s porch, he found his young friend sitting on the steps barely able to speak. He heard Tommy’s quivering little voice say: “Bobby, Santa Claus didn’t come. Either I’ve been a bad boy or Santa ran out of toys.”

Bobby could see the pain in Tommy’s eyes and hear the brutal disappointment in his voice. Bobby, without thinking, quickly said: “Tommy, Santa did come. He thought you were spending the night with me, and he left your BB gun at my house. I rode my bike over to bring it to you.”

Tommy grinned from ear to ear and was so excited he could hardly speak as he grabbed the gun and shot an imaginary bear off in the distance. Tommy hugged Bobby, and Bobby hugged him back. At that very moment, at 9 years old, Bobby once again believed there really is a Santa Claus.

On his way home on his new bike, without his new BB gun, Bobby kept thinking, “Please Mama, don’t be mad.” And she wasn’t.

A best friend may very well be the greatest gift of all! And wouldn’t it be nice to see a few of Bobby’s values in today’s chaotic world?

Merry Christmas!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Past Due Tribute to the Stick

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Negativity abounds across this country today. It has for months now. In this complex world, we yearn for simplicity to reduce the ever-growing level of stress.

The holiday season is upon us now, and we’ve been given an early gift. It is simplicity personified. It brings a smile to a frowning face, triggers memories we thought were long forgotten and provides a peace of mind, innocence and serenity of heart that today’s generation may never experience.

Within this veiled “gift” is a critical message for all who seek success. Talk about “back to basics”… listen to this!

On November 6 at 2:52 in the afternoon in Rochester, New York, what might be considered the most versatile and gratifying toy in history was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame. Believe it or not, the lowly stick—a wooden piece of a tree—has joined the coveted ranks of 41 other favorites that meet the demanding criteria of a “toy.”

But allow me to digress for just a moment. Yes, Virginia there IS a Toy Hall of Fame. It’s an organization that recognizes the contributions of toys and games that have sustained their popularity for many years. Criteria for induction include: icon-status (the toy is widely recognized, respected, and remembered); longevity (more than a passing fad); discovery (fosters learning, creativity, or discovery); and innovation (profoundly changed play or toy design). Established in 1998, the National Toy Hall of Fame was originally housed at A. C. Gilbert’s Discovery Village in Salem, Oregon, but was moved to the Strong National Museum of Play in Rochester, New York, in 2002 after it outgrew its original home.

Now—back to the stick!

I was fortunate to grow up in the midst of great riches. My family had little or no money, but I had a lake in my front yard, a dense woods behind my house and my loyal dog, Scout, constantly at my side. What more could a young boy ask for?

That mystical woods kept me supplied with an unlimited supply of sticks … and each individual stick rendered a myriad of magnificent memories to my young mind and imagination.

Every day when I played and allowed my imagination to transport me to other worlds, my stick disappeared. However, it quickly reappeared in a variety of appropriate forms.

When I defended the Alamo in my coonskin cap as Davy Crockett, my stick was transformed into a trusty Flintlock rifle.

As Captain Ahab guiding my raft across my lake in search of Moby Dick, my stick was modified into a powerful and lethal harpoon.

My faithful stick played many other crucial roles throughout my childhood. I remember them all very well—a medieval knight’s sword, a magic wand, a fishing rod, a royal scepter, a witch’s broomstick, a snowman’s arms, a hurdle, a baseball bat, marshmallow toaster, and, by merely adding a rubber band, a slingshot.

I was limited only by my imagination, which meant the sky was the limit! And, compared to today’s toys—no contest. My stick cost nothing, was multipurpose, required no batteries or maintenance, and was easy to replace. It also required no rules, regulations or instructions. The stick was, by far, my favorite toy throughout my childhood.

I’m going to share the list of other Hall of Fame toys but first want to mention my second favorite toy which was also inducted back in 2005. Are you ready for this one? It’s your everyday cardboard box! I’m sure you see the obvious common thread—my creativity and imagination! Boxes of all sizes allowed me to travel anywhere my mind might want to go and do whatever I wanted to do. A simple box would become my race car, space ship, submarine, robot, and, when we were fortunate enough to have a neighbor purchase a new washing machine or refrigerator, we would have the world’s greatest fort until the first rain came.

Some of my warmest childhood memories revolved around a simple stick and an unassuming cardboard box. I often wonder how today’s youth would react if given a stick and a cardboard box and asked to let their imagination run wild.

While I fully understand that things have changed and the toy industry has made great strides over the years, I sometimes fear we’ve lost a real treasure somewhere along the way. I’m sure it’s just me.

The other members of the Toy Hall of Fame include:

  • Alphabet Blocks
  • Atari
  • Baby Doll
  • Barbie Doll
  • Bicycle
  • Candy Land
  • Checkers
  • Crayola Crayons
  • Duncan Yo-Yo
  • Easy Bake Oven
  • Erector Set
  • Etch-A-Sketch
  • Frisbee
  • G.I. Joe
  • Hula Hoop
  • Jack-in-the-Box
  • Jacks
  • Jigsaw Puzzle
  • Jump Rope
  • Kite
  • Lego Blocks
  • Lincoln Logs
  • Lionel Trains
  • Marbles
  • Monopoly
  • Mr. Potato Head
  • Play-Doh
  • Radio Flyer Wagon
  • Raggedy Ann
  • Raggedy Andy
  • Rocking Horse
  • Roller Skates
  • Scrabble
  • Silly Putty
  • Skateboard
  • Slinky
  • Teddy Bear
  • Tinkertoys
  • Tonka Trucks
  • View Master

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Find a Need and Fill It

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This very simplistic phrase, “Find a need and fill it,” has been around for a very long time. I first read about it in Entrepreneur Magazine many decades ago. They explained this strategy was the #1 rule for business start-ups.

I later heard Zig Ziglar, one of the nation’s most highly regarded motivational speakers, share the virtues of this very successful approach to life.

I then read that John Deere, the respected blacksmith who later became the world’s leading producer of farm equipment, claimed the phrase as his personal inspiration and philosophy back in the 1800s.

Regardless of its origin, it continues to produce creative ideas that have enhanced society in many diverse and productive ways.

The interesting thing about this simple battle cry is the modest fact that many people struggle with the challenge of “finding a need” … and yet they exist all around us.

For instance, consider a basic common obstacle confronting football players, firefighters, industrial and hazmat workers, and even racing pit crews—the need for quick heat relief.

It’s an elemental challenge, yet critical to anyone having to deal with it. Well, someone has recognized that need and obviously filled it.

For apparent reasons, they call it the Cool Shirt®. It was designed to maintain or quickly return core body temperatures to normal levels, reducing heat-induced fatigue. It also cools the body and allows it to radiate its heat, thus reducing the risk of heat stroke.

Weighing a mere 4 lbs., this unusual shirt contains more than 50 feet of medical-grade capillary tubing securely stitched on the front and back of the shirt. It is connected to a compact cooling unit via insulated hose with quick, dry disconnects. The cooling unit contains ice, water and an internal pump that supplies cool water to the shirt as it covers up to 40% of the body. The shirt pumps 40 degree water through 50 feet of tubing to keep the wearer cool.

Being made of lightweight cotton, it can be worn comfortably for long periods of time and quickly connected and disconnected to the cooling unit as needed. Cool Shirt® will return the body’s core temperature to normal levels within minutes.

The temperature-controlled cold water provided by the refrigeration unit to the Cool Shirt® is between 50 and 65 degrees. Studies have proven that cool water will transfer body heat 28 times faster than cool air. This allows faster, more efficient maintenance of the body’s optimum core temperature.

The Cool Shirt®, while quite fundamental in its construct, has provided relief and assurance to many employees working under challenging conditions day in and day out.

This is a perfect example of identifying a need and producing a solution to fill that need.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

A Simple Laundry Lesson

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It’s startling how quickly a long-standing tradition can suddenly disappear into the abyss of historic memories.

When I was young, it was not unusual to drive down the street and see laundry hanging outside in most every yard—soaking up the warm rays of sunshine as they dried in the fresh summer breeze. Some folks used a simple, straight clothesline connecting two trees while others chose a fancy, adjustable rotary apparatus. Either way the sun, wind and dozens of clothespins did the job very efficiently.

This fond memory brings to mind a Generational Gem that we should revisit as we face a business environment which, for the first time in history, employs members of four very different generations. How we view one another is critical to our success.

Consider this example:

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood.

One morning, over breakfast, the young wife notices her neighbor hanging the wash outside in a gentle breeze.

“Her laundry’s not very clean,” she said. “She either doesn’t know how to wash correctly or maybe she needs better laundry soap.” Her husband looked on, but remained silent.

Over the next few weeks, every time her neighbor would hang her wash on the clothesline the young woman would make the same critical comments.

About a month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband: “Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her?”

The husband said, “I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.”

And so it is with life. What we see when observing others depends on the purity of the window through which we look! A little patience, empathy, and understanding can certainly go a long way in providing a much clearer view!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Recession Aggression

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Recently, I facilitated the first session of a year-long leadership series for one of the largest financial institutions in the state of Michigan. The program was designed for participation by both senior executive members and the entire supervisory staff … in their quest to establish a cohesive leadership team.

We’ve enjoyed a very productive 16-year relationship with this client and have truly enjoyed watching them grow and thrive over the years. It’s been both a pleasure and a privilege to have contributed to that successful evolution.

The decision to conduct a leadership training series at a time when most organizations would choose to diminish such employee education due to nationwide economic pressures is just one of many reasons why this organization continues to grow and flourish.

And so it is with all of those who set organizational goals, create a strategy to attain those goals, align their staff accordingly, view appropriate training as an investment rather than a cost, maintain focus and consistently re-frame their strategy when necessary.

Regardless of the industry, private sector or public sector, regardless of product, service, location or size, you’ll always discover organizations like this enjoying productivity, growth, and success while competitors with less determination and vision continue to struggle and fail.

I don’t understand why these successful cultures aren’t benchmarked by those less fortunate that are struggling with the significant challenges and uncertainties of today’s chaotic economic environment.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Stuck in a Rut

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Change seems to be the buzzword of the year. You hear it from everyone—politicians, business leaders, and the media at every turn. While everyone does an exceptional job of talking change, it’s going to be interesting to see how they do at walking it. For the first time in many years, outcomes are suddenly critical to success and in many cases, survival.

As a result of that momentous challenge, everyone seems to be running around like a head with their chicken cut off! Everyone appears to be on the move. However, being busy doesn’t exactly insure progress or accomplishment. Activity alone clearly isn’t enough.

John Henry Fabre, a French naturalist, conducted an experiment which certainly proves this fact. He filled a flowerpot with dirt and arranged some processionary caterpillars in a circle around the rim of the flowerpot. These caterpillars blindly follow the one in front of them. Hence, the name. In the center of the flowerpot he put pine needles, which is the favorite food of the processionary caterpillar. The caterpillars walked around the rim of the flowerpot hour after hour, day after day, night after night. No nourishment, no rest! They dropped dead of starvation and exhaustion; and all the food they needed was just inches away! They failed to take care of what was important. And in the process they accomplished nothing meaningful, nothing lasting. The caterpillars mistook activity for accomplishment. They meant well but failed to distinguish between exertion and purpose.

Many people and organizations make the same mistake. As a result, they accomplish only a fraction of what they’re capable of. Many of them do what they do simply because it’s always been down that way. Today’s challenges require more.

True achievers must set daily, productive action goals that are results-oriented. Convince an entire team to do this, and you’ll start seeing positive results very quickly. This focused effort soon becomes a habit—one which leads to the success you seek.

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.

Stop Talking – Take Action!

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Would you like some cheese with that whine?

I’m going to get some flak for this article, but that’s okay. That’s one of the great things about living in this country—we can say what we feel, regardless of what others may think.

Thirty presidential candidates spent months running for office. While telling everyone what they would do if elected President, they were doing absolutely nothing to deal with the many critical challenges facing this country at the moment. While that is indeed sad, there are others, on both sides of the aisle, that could have been addressing some of these issues but have obviously chosen not to.

In the spirit of an old-fashioned high school civics class … were you aware of the fact that we, you and I, elected a total of 535 politicians to go to Washington D.C. for the sole purpose of R-E-P-R-E-S-E-N-T-I-N-G our best interests? That’s right … 100 Senators (2 from each state) in Congress and 435 voting Representatives in the House. They work for us! What have they been doing for the past year? By the way, this is NOT a Republican or Democrat issue. They have proven to be equally worthless. This is a leadership issue … one that had better be dealt with in the near future!

Take a look at the following list. Don’t let me influence you in any way. Browse the list of current issues and see how many have been solved or even improved upon in the past year … keeping in mind that this is what those politicians were sent to Washington to accomplish.

  • Oil prices
  • Food prices
  • Current National Debt
  • Immigration issue
  • Mortgage crisis
  • Military costs
  • Healthcare crisis
  • Civil rights
  • Homeland security
  • Tax credits
  • Crime
  • Drugs
  • Education
  • Environment
  • Trade balance
  • Pork barrel spending
  • Foreign policy
  • Gun control
  • Jobs
  • Social Security
  • Welfare and poverty
  • Tax reform

Happy with the results? Thought not. However, anyone can complain about these things like I’m doing. In fact, everyone does. All of those politicians complain when giving their speeches. They simply do nothing about it. Television commentators from both liberal and conservative stations make a fortune complaining about these issues while pointing out who’s to blame … but they speak little or nothing about what to do about it.

Let me ask you this. If you owned your own business and these non-performing politicians were on your payroll, would you continue to increase their pay? Would you even keep them on your payroll? Well, these politicians DO work for you. They DO continue to vote themselves raises. And you haven’t fired them. But you can! And you should, if things don’t change. Let’s STOP talking about these things and DEMAND the LEADERSHIP this country deserves.

It’s actually very simple.

Go to Congress.org, and you’ll see a box which reads:

My Elected Officials
Find and contact your federal, state, and local officials.
Enter Zip Code _______

Enter your zip code, click on GO and you’ll be taken to a page listing your Senators and Representatives.
Under each name, click on Send them a Message.

You’ll be taken to a page that gives you a list of issues. You can click on any one of them OR click on Compose Your Own Message.

You’ll be taken to a page where you can compose your letter and send it to whomever you choose. Don’t let me influence you as to your area of displeasure. Browse that list above again and speak your own mind.

Do us all a major favor. Send your message informing him/her that if you don’t start seeing action from them in YOUR area of concern that you will definitely vote against them in the next election and urge everyone you know to do the same.

Then actually walk the talk by encouraging others to do the same. Hold these politicians (Republicans, Democrats and Independents) to their many promises while demanding the leadership we deserve. If we don’t demand it, we’ll regret it later. Let us, as voters, demonstrate the leadership we seek by exhibiting leadership ourselves. Make a difference today!

About Harry K. Jones

Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional 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 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.