Seeds, Gardening, and Transformation

I received an email today from my first teacher in the behavioral sciences, Pamela Cole. At the end there was this quote,

“Let us be grateful for the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” Marcel Proust

Seeds, gardening, planting and transformation have been a part of my daily conversation for several months now. Last week my daughter Dana planted seeds in her grandparents’ garden. Both Dana and my parents discussed the process. This last weekend in the Stillpoint ISDS class I was talking about snakes (which have a transformative meaning in Jungian dream work) and I said of my lack of gardening skill, “I don’t touch dirt.”

Yet planting the seeds of growth is what personal development and self-help means to me. Moment by moment we are all planting seeds in our life garden. The impact of what we plant is not the results we get. The impact of our life garden is how well we remember to count the flowers and not the weeds.

Happy gardening and may peace be with you,
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
http://www.dontdiebooks.com/

How Consistent is the DiSC Profile? Part 1

I like unexpected surprises especially when they are happy and remind me of something from my past that I had long forgotten.

During a discussion about horoscopes – yes, horoscopes – and when I was first exposed to them, how valid I found them and such, I got up and went to a file cabinet and pulled a file containing the first – and many, many subsequent astrological reports – I had obviously saved over the years. The first was done by some Hindi priest in India I never met. A business associate of my husband had requested his family ‘advisor’ do charts for us. I could hardly read what they wrote and understood even less, but it was fun to see the detailed diagrams that came with the handwritten reports.

In the same file I found some on DiSC Behavioral Profiles dating back to when I was first trained in 1985 and 1986. They were of family members. Then I found a child’s profile dated 7/31/89…21 years ago taken by my daughter when she was 5 years old.

The report showed her primary behaviors to be i (influencing) and S (steadiness). Twenty four years later she took another version of the Disc Behavioral Profile and it showed her primary style to be i (influencing) with a bit of D (directive). Although not identical, there was a consistency in the reports that transcended the development from a child to an adult. For me, although not statistically proving anything, it lends tremendous support to the applicable nature of the report over time.

If you are interested in completing a report for yourself, please go to www.ServingSuccess.com Contact me if you have any questions.

Now here is the really fun part that goes far beyond just where a dot is placed on a graph at some point in time. The child’s report gave sentences – just as the adult reports do – that explains how the behavior reported might look like in day-to-day life. I sent the list to my daughter and asked her to let me know how many of the statements are true 21 years later. I will let you know what she tells me in my next post. As I write this I don’t even know her response!

Thank you,
Andrea Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success
http://www.servingsuccess.com/
1 866 975 3777 Toll-Free
http://www.youtube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.FaceBook.com/DrSuccessPhD

Darkness and Growth

What grows in darkness?

I was deep in a conversation about how to use the DiSC profile to increase self-awareness and harness ways to communicate when my colleague asked, “What about the shadow side?” Of course, I responded, “What about it?”

Dr. Success Motto: You can spend time exploring your shadow, or you can continually work toward the light, but you can’t do both!

Yet my colleague offered that he was deeply committed to understanding the dark side – or shadow – so that he could help transform it. I offhandedly suggested that nothing worth having grows in the dark. Stay focused on the light as it will help you see where you are going, including making adjustments as you go along.

We then lightened the conversation and playfully attempted to find examples of things that grow in the dark.

Predator birds and animals seem to like the dark. Snakes, rats, even owls seem to like the dark. Mushrooms grow in the dark. There is a funny business joke that when you don’t want the boss to know what you are doing you should treat him or her like a mushroom. That means cover them in crap and keep them in the dark. So much for darkness.

Later that day, however, I thought about the blackness of the deepest parts of our oceans and how important life in the oceans is to our eco-system. Humans can’t live in the depths of the ocean, yet we are dependent on it remaining healthy to survive on earth. That then helped me appreciate the shadow side of the psyche a bit more. I have always wished adversity was not a necessary part of human existence yet accepted the evidence that it was and that adversity actually served to further human growth. I don’t understand why it works that way, but I accept that observation the same way I don’t understand how the organisms in the depths of the ocean help sustain life on earth. Seems my understanding is not necessary for something to be true.

I ended my little thought play by appreciating that when I look at my life objectively I spend far more time in the light than in the dark periods. For me adversity cannot be avoided, but its meaning no longer needs to be understood.

See what can come from a conversation about a self-assessment profile about how you communicate and how to build better relationships!

Thank you,
Andrea Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success
http://www.servingsuccess.com/
1 866 975 3777 Toll-Free
http://www.youtube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.FaceBook.com/DrSuccessPhD

Natural Behaviors Part 3 or 3

A few weeks ago I wrote several pieces on natural behaviors and how the Everything DiSC self-assessment can help you organize your knowledge about yourself for greater success.

Obviously, I am a great advocate of the use and understanding of self-assessment tools. Why else would I invest 25 years learning about them, focusing on a few I like the best for my kind of work, and supporting a web-based marketing business to support their distribution. Well, contrary to internet marketing advise, instead of giving you yet again another testimonial of why and how I use them in my life and work – I will share with you a critique which I received – feedback I asked for [please take note] – so that you can have additional information about the profile. This feedback came from the winner of an offer I put out on my various social networks after completing my bi-annual update of my website. The offer was if someone correctly named just three of the changes I made on my site, I would gift them an Everything DiSC profile.

The person who responded first and correctly is actually a person known to me and has over the last few years expanded his business into the field of coaching. Since I knew that, I gifted him the management version of the profile. This is his review:

“I felt the results were largely affirming and provided few insights. Perhaps, this is a result of doing 30 years of personal development work! The most useful information was regarding working with other styles. This begged the question, "what is the dominant style of X?"

I felt the report was missing a summary and a call/suggestion for further
inquiry/purchases and the corresponding benefits of doing so.


Regarding the assessment itself, I found the ability to inquire about the term's definitions related to the assessment to be very beneficial and also appreciated the % complete bar.


As I am an entrepreneur vs an executive with direct reports, it may have been
helpful for the language to refer to clients or service providers vs managers.”

Why did I share this with you? I wanted to give you an experience of how a iD might function. First I asked for feedback. The ‘I’ (influencing) part of me of course hoped it would be glowing. However, with so much ‘D’ (dominance) I truly believe I am stronger than the environment and can overcome even if it is hostile. No matter what obstacle you put in my way, I would overcome it. Having iD combined, you can usually expect that I will not just roll you over or make an example out of you (as an uninformed ‘D’ might) but sit with the message and put it in a way that it has a greater chance of being positively received (‘I’).

Also I wanted you to experience what I considered grounded optimism. Do I believe instruments like Everything DiSC can be very helpful in your personal development and make your day-to-day job of managing life relationships easier – YES. But I also believe you are the one who really controls what information you learn about yourself, how you use it, and when you are ready to take the next step.

Lastly, I wanted to share with you how an objective outsider experienced the Everything DiSC. Clearly he was satisfied, yet he offered areas that would have made it better for him. That is what feedback is all about. Most of all don’t forget to ask for feedback. It is one of the ways we can continue to grow. And as the famous philosopher and founder of McDonald’s is credited with saying, “When you are green you are growing, when you are ripe you rot.”

Thank you – and I welcome your feedback.

Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success™
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
http://www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.facebook.com/DrSuccessPhD
www.twitter.com/DrSuccess

Commercial: The easiest way for you to follow this conversation is to invest 10 minutes and $46.50 and take the Everything DiSC® Behavioral Profile. If you do not agree with the results, and you talk to me personally about your total disagreement, I will most likely refund your money. That is as close to a 100% refund I will give. If you play with me, you need to take some responsibility or you are just playing in the wrong game of life success.

Cliff Notes on DiSC: The Everything DiSC® behavioral profile is based on a theory that there are four main categories of behavior that people will exhibit. Those categories are: Dominance, Influencing, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Most people are a blend of both the categories of behavior and intensity. Most people exhibit one or two of the styles over the others. All people could choose to adapt to a behavioral style they don’t naturally exhibit, yet that choice should be made knowing that higher degrees of stress maybe experienced. It is harder to be a way that is not natural to you.

Natural Behaviors Part 2 of 3

This post continues a theme started by reading Seth Godin’s blog about jerks and doormats. Being considered a “jerk” may be the opportunity we all share regardless of our natural behavioral style. Yet feeling like a doormat or being referred to as a “doormat”, I will argue, is something only some behaviors experience.

Commercial: The easiest way for you to follow this conversation is to invest 10 minutes and $46.50 and take the Everything DiSC® Behavioral Profile. If you do not agree with the results, and you talk to me personally about your total disagreement, I will most likely refund your money. That is as close to a 100% refund I will give. If you play with me, you need to take some responsibility or you are just playing in the wrong game of life success.

Cliff Notes on DiSC: The Everything DiSC® behavioral profile is based on a theory that there are four main categories of behavior that people will exhibit. Those categories are: Dominance, Influencing, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Most people are a blend of both the categories of behavior and the intensity. Most people exhibit one or two of the styles over the others. All people could choose to adapt to a behavioral style they don’t naturally exhibit, yet that choice should be made knowing that higher degrees of stress maybe experienced. It is harder to be a way that is not natural to you.

So why do I purport that only some behaviors would report feeling or being referred to as a doormat? Think of someone who you have observed as hard-driving, results oriented, direct, and firm and always in control. Think Donald Trump. Eva Peron. Leona Hemsley. Under what circumstances could you imagine The Donald being referred to as a doormat? Each of these individuals exhibits D, or a dominant competitive behavior. If you try to wipe your feet on them, I suspect they will (or would have during their lifetimes) found a way to crush you.

Then there are individuals who are the “rock of Gibraltar” types. These are the people you can depend on to be the go-to person to get things done and not rock the boat while they do it. General Colin Powell may have exhibited this behavior during his involvement in the George W. Bush administration. I cannot say it is his natural style, but his willingness to adapt when involved with others is an example of S or steadiness, patient, adaptive behavior. In my observation, this example is also an example how that behavioral style could become a doormat.

I personally adore Colin Powell and always wanted him to run for president, yet during his tenure as Secretary of State, I learned about how outstanding qualities can be taken to an extreme and become counterproductive. That is what is known in behavioral studies as “an overextension” of a quality. It is something every behavioral style and every character value can become subject to. That is why knowing how you behave naturally and what you value is such an important aspect of your personal development.  Reading and using the information in Seth's newest book, Switch, may also be useful. 

Thank you,
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success™
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
http://www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.facebook.com/DrSuccessPhD

Natural Behavior Part 1 of 3

I always pay attention to what I am asked to explain, or topics that keep reoccurring in client and friend conversations, or behaviors or thoughts that pop up in me that cause me to pause and take notice. Today I read a line from Seth Godin’s about jerks and doormats at work and I knew it was time to start writing about natural behaviors and why they are so natural.

Commercial: The easiest way for you to follow this conversation is to invest 10 minutes and $46.50 and take the Everything DiSC Behavioral Profile. If you do not agree with the results, and you talk to me personally about your total disagreement, I will most likely refund your money. That is as close to a 100% refund I will give. If you play with me, you need to take some responsibility or you are just playing in the wrong game of life success.

Good news about jerks: There is no behavioral style that is not a candidate for title of “jerk”. All behavioral styles: Those who tend to be driven by the need to control a situation, or those who are driven to use influence to get others to cooperate, or those who appear to be willing to adapt and go along to get along, or even those who appear to detach and set really clear boundaries, have the ability to be a jerk. However, how “jerky” someone may appear may say more about what got offended in my behavioral style than how much of “jerk” a person is really being.

Example: Two people with a lot of Conscientiousness (or High C) are working on a project. Both understand the others need to set clear boundaries for tasks and responsibilities and prefer to work alone on those tasks. Both understand the others need to be 100% accurate before moving ahead. Both understand the others need to have adequate time to process the project data and report when they feel completely comfortable. All of this is a complete exaggeration because rarely is someone a “pure” C. But play along with me. To each other, there is nothing “jerky” about wanting and operating in this manner.

Now imagine someone with a lot of Influencing (of High I) was working with that group. The first thing you might notice is that the two High C team members are thinking “jerk, jerk, jerk” and the High I member is starting every conversation with every friend and co-worker they have with the statement: “what jerks I am being asked to work with. They don’t want to get together for lunch and talk about the project, they have all this information but they don’t want to share it with management until they are 100% sure, and they don’t understand that to be successful you have to fire a lot of blanks until you hit a target.”

Now I have used a business example, yet every bit of this translates to your personal life situation. You can see it in your family members, your community involvements and at your kid’s school.

That is why behavior and knowing your behavior is so important. Seth closed his blog by stating, “Linchpins [the name of Seth’s great book and his reference to people who create and nurture networks] might be afraid, but they know precisely what they're afraid of. And then they do something constructive about it.”

Thank you,
Andrea T. Goeglein, PhD
Dr. Success™
DrSuccess@ServingSuccess.com
http://www.YouTube.com/user/ServingSuccess
www.facebook.com/DrSuccessPhD

What Do You Value?

Dr. Success challenge: Review your checkbook and your calendar. What does how you spend your money and where you spend your time say about what you value in your life? Is the picture accurate?

I have been working with the following questions this week: What do you value? Where do you put your priorities?

Within the self-help community there is a saying, “If you want to know what a person values, look at their checkbook and their calendar.” I believe I first heard that from Bob Proctor.

When I was first confronted with these questions, I was deep into the study of behavioral traits. I thought I had found my calling -- learning and teaching others about how to master their behavior and then to teach them how to use the information to softly manipulate others. You did not read that wrong, I wish you did. Anyone who studied behavior in the 1960 – 1980s was being taught to first know themselves, then use the knowledge to manipulate those in their sphere of influence to do what they wished – in business that meant your subordinates and competitors and consumers. In your personal life it meant all the people you supposedly loved. The names of the programs did not even try to hide that fact. There was the Silva Method of Mind Control, Neuro-linguistic programming, and EST to highlight a few.

I have experienced all these programs and actually think they can be used as great development tools. Lucky for all of us, it is no longer respected to use information to manipulate others. The conversation in behavior and development has moved from manipulation to cooperation, from accountability (results) to responsibility (how you achieve results).

I have found an easy way to teach this materail and it with the use of the DiSC Behavorial Profile. This Spring marks the 25th year of my using DiSC. I guess you can say I value the information it has to offer. Find out for yourself.

Shaping Fear or Shaping the Future?

Are you shaping fear or shaping your future?

Dr. Success™ Challenge: At the beginning of each day, for the next 7 days, answer the following question: If I believed I was here to shape the future, what actions would I take today?

I might not have a constructive contribution to make regarding the debate about health care in the United States, but I can contribute to the conversation regarding living a life of less fear and more productive action.

1. Clarify what your future would look like if you shaped a future that was ideal. If you don’t think you know the answer to that, start with making a list of the future you absolutely do not want. From the “don’t want” list, now create a list of “ideals.”
2. Think of one action, no matter how small, that you could take today to move toward any one of the items on your list.

3. Committ to take that action.

4. Take that action. (Just so I am clear.)

5. Throughout the day if your mind wanders into thoughts of fear about anything, past, present or future, stop what you are doing, notice the thought, and say the word, “Stop.” If you are around other people and feel odd doing that, just do it silently. Remember that thought you were just noticing came in while you were with those same people, so you are clearly qualified to silently say the word “stop”.

There, all done. You have now begun the process eliminating fear about the future by taking action to shape it. Simple, yet not easy and the quicker you get over that fact the better off we all will be. And know that if your shaping your fear, you are shaping your future. Doesn't sound like fun to me.

Remember: We are not here to fear the future. We are here to shape it.
President Obama 09/09/09

Thank you to Stew Gibbons for his beautiful photo of the August 2009 Discovery launch.

Andrea T. Goeglein, Ph.D.
Dr. Success™
http://www.servingsuccess.com/
http://www.twitter.com/DrSuccess
http://www.ServingSuccess.blogspot.com

Practicing The Power Of Now

Appreciate (v): to judge with heightened perception or understanding. Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary

Success Challenge: Observe things you take for granted. A warm cup of coffee when you get to the office, your computer operating as it was intended, the phone working or the person who hands you your ticket at the train station. What would it feel like to be so present that you appreciated that person, place or thing today as you encountered them or it?

For anyone who reads my blog or watches my TV segments , you know that the cornerstone of Positive Psychology is the development of the strength, gratitude. From best I can discern, it is the one strength that if it is not in your top five natural strengths, it is suggested you put forth effort to develop the characteristic.

It was in Echart Tolle’s book, that I first took to heart the notion that gratitude starts with noticing at the most minute level the significance of things that I had not even noticed before. One of Tolle’s practice exercises was to consciously look down at your feet, one step at a time, when you walked up and down a flight of stairs. It was a simple exercise yet, of course, not easy.

It has been eight years since I committed to that practice (most of the time) and my ability to appreciate the small things in life has definitely grown.

This week something happened that drove that lesson home. Our trash gets picked up on Friday of each week (you can’t get more mundane a daily activity than that). My husband usually puts the trash out (yes, I know that is a stereotype!) This week he was traveling and the thought of putting the trash out did not even cross my mind – until, of course, I was working on my computer at 7:15 a.m. Friday and I was distracted by the honking of a big truck’s horn. I immediately wondered what that was about. My next thought was, “oh, no…it's trash day”. It then all connected, the honking was intended to get my attention because the trash men had noticed I did not have my pail out. I quickly got down to the garage, got the trash out to a neighbor’s home across the street and waited for the trash men to circle around. When they did, I thanked them for noticing I had not put out my trash. They beamed, and in turn I experienced a feeling of appreciation too.

As I walked back to my house I sarcastically thought, “what does it say about my life that the trash men honking to reminder is enough to make me feel happy?” Then I smiled and thought, it means that for that moment – that NOW – I had reaped the rewards of Practicing the Power of Now.
With appreciation, Dr. Success

http://www.servingsuccess.com/

Resilience is a Noun. To Prosper is a Verb. Get Moving.

Author Thomas Friedman cautions that the world is getting hot, flat and crowded in his current book of the same title, and I postulate that the answer is to love, to learn and to prosper.

They don’t call me Dr. Success for nothing, so let me be direct. Being resilient and developing your resilience is not some optional human characteristic that you can debate about, deciding whether to invest the time to strengthen it. It is a “human operating system” necessity. This is not new information. What is new is that the number of people who are being called to be resilient has increased, and a whole new generation has a need to be informed. The information is old, the need is current, and the demand is great!

So what exactly is resilience? Why not look at your own life to answer that question. Have you ever taken a test, failed, and thought the world would never be the same? Have you ever fallen in love, thought you knew exactly how your life together would play out, and then the relationship ended? Have you ever had the perfect job, or perfect boss, or perfect client – and then lost one or all of them? Well, the fact that you have carried on, after you thought you would not be able to do so, is an example of you being resilient.

Dr. Success Challenge: Now is the time to recall as many “I can’t go on” instances in your life, to embrace both the feeling of not being able to go on, and then completely acknowledge the reality that you obviously did go on.

I also want to offer you a shortcut to getting back on the road of life success. When you believe that things can’t get any worse and you doubt you can go on, take some time and observe all the love that surrounds your life. Look under every rock for it. If you have a pet, start there. The love of a pet is usually the least conditional and the most apparent. Then move on to the humans in your life – don’t stop at just those you might live with either. Look for all the people who spontaneously smile just because you enter a room. If you just said to yourself, “What people spontaneously smile when I walk into a room?,” do this: consciously smile at every single person you see, every day, no matter what. I will lay odds that you’ll start to get a lot of people smiling when you enter a room.

Next, make an effort to learn from any and all current frustrations and disappointments. When you enter into a conversation, instead of leading with what is frustrating or disappointing to you, lead with what you are learning from the situations. You will not only be helping yourself build resilience, you’ll also begin to help others see what is possible in their own lives. And in the end, helping others is what it is all about.

Your resilience will be built stronger and more reliable as you help others be more resilient in their lives. This is not simply about paying it forward, this is about creating true prosperity. Remember to love yourself, remember to learn from your past experiences and remember to prosper really means to be strong and flourish. Get moving.

Thank you Stew Gibbons for the beautiful photograph of an Alaskan mountain scape shown at the top of this blog.

Making The Legal System More Efficient

There are two things that are cornerstones to my work as Dr. Success:

1. Effective and efficient use of language to keep you self-motivated.
2. Expending the least amount of life energy for the greatest amount of result.

Being both an entrepreneur and organizational psychologist, I get to study theory and put it into practice. Over the last few months, we (my business partner and husband, Richard) made the troubling decision to give our Prescott hotel back to the lender. That has allowed a lot of time with attorneys, which is nowhere near my vision of how to spend my life time. And like all experiences, I have chosen to use this one to learn something.

What I have learned is that we can easily and effectively reduce the number of words used in legal agreements by making one change. Generally a business contract using the following terms:

Lessee or lessor
Grantee or grantor
Franchisee or Franchisor

In my experience all those words could be replaced with the following two words:

Screwee or screwor

Not only would that become word efficient, it would become life energy efficient. The sooner you recognize which one you are in any legal situation, the quicker you can get on with your life. You may not like the one you are assigned, but knowing that one small piece of information lets you know where you can efficiently spend your life energy.

Usually I sign off my blogs with “with appreciation”. Today I will sign off…,

With appreciation for understanding I have been the screweed,

Happy Easter and Passover, Andrea T. Goeglein, Ph.D.
866 975 3777
http://www.servingsuccess.com/
Feel free to comment using the "comment" link at the top of the page

Twitter Yourself Into The Now

A few weeks ago a wrote an blog twittering about twitter and how we serious, success minded adults need not preoccupy ourselves with adolesence type behavior. This morning I am having some crow for breakfast. Care to join me!

They don’t call me Dr. Success for nothing! I do persevere even when I can’t figure out why! Let me explain. I will admit that I have been making myself familiar with Facebook and Twitter not to create a social network as much to create a web-based business network.

Those of you who play with me know I have a personal motto when it comes to life: Whatever I am doing has to make me happy or make me money. Facebook and Twitter were bringing some happiness in the way of connection to many I love. The money part, however, eluded me and I am personally annoyed by the unending invitations that are really commercials for someone’s work or product.

Then I noticed that I was several times a day wanting to check in and just write a sentence on what I was doing. As we drove out to the Red Rocks yesterday it came to me: Twitter and Facebook were actually helping me to become aware and present to what I was doing and feeling in the moment – that very moment.

Becoming aware of what you are thinking and feeling in present time – and then taking action to embrace, improve or adjust – is a key to life happiness. I must say I never expected that gift from Twitter or Facebook.

I suggest you do the same. These services are free. You will be in community. And you can develop a habit of being aware of your feelings in present time. When you consider how you use your thoughts and time now, using it to become aware and connected might be the change you need to reach your next level of life success.

Sign up. Use them. And follow and make me a freind. See you on Twitter and Facebook.

Does the word "spiritual" make you uptight?

Would you be willing to explore spirituality if I told you it would make you more resilient?

There is one question that I have been asked more in the last several months than at any other time in my business career. The question is: “How do you survive this economy?”

I know at some level I am being asked the question because those asking know we have forfeited ownership of one of our beloved hotels. Our ownership fell due to the convergence of economic factors. We had gone as far as we could personally to financially sustain the business. That answer is actually too obvious so, I could tell that was not the real question.

My best professional guess is the question they wanted to answer was this: “How do you remain so happy even though you lost one of your beloved hotels and all you had financially invested?”

That answer is actually easy: “When the going gets tough, I rely on my spiritual beliefs and practices twice as much as when things are going well.”

Not the normal business answer, I know. Yet it is my answer and I am sticking to it. Here specifically is what I mean.

Spiritual beliefs are those things I believe in relative to the question of “is there a God” and practices are those things I do to connect with my God in order to bring my own spirit alive.

Here is what I actually do. I sit first thing in the morning and just be still for about 20 minutes. For an extravert who values action, this is no small task. Or I should say, 20 years ago when I began, it was no small task. Today, that one task defines the tone of my day and I look forward to it with the same anticipation as I do my warm cup of coffee. After the stillness, I pray (prayer is my preferred spiritual practice. I also appreciate meditation). And I always write. I write about my dreams -- if there are any from the night before that I can remember. I write about people, places and things I appreciated about the day before. And I usually write about what I intent to create for my day going forward.

· Stillness
· Prayer and/or meditation
· Writing

Three small steps you can take to…Only you will know how far on the crooked road of success these steps will take you.

With appreciation,
Andrea T. Goeglein, Ph.D.
866 975 3777
www.ServingSuccess.com

Stay On The Right Side

I would not be Dr. Success if I did not support and spread the work of others. That is what I do, in part, in sharing the work of great authors. Well, today's entry is two for the price of one. The review that follows was written by Craig Galati, President of Lucchesi Galati Architects, the premiere "green" architectural firm based in Las Vegas. Few have built as many, or have been designing "green" as long, as Lucchesi Galati. When in Las Vegas, visit the Springs Preserve to see an incredible example of their work.

When I come across a business creator who walks his talk, I like to acknowledge and support his work. As you can see from the kind of book Craig recommends, he is such a person. Those in business can learn a lot -- not just from reading A Whole New Mind -- but from how a business owner like Craig applies the thinking to achieving success in business. As always, read and learn -- then apply!

By Craig S. Galati
According to author Daniel H. Pink, “The future belongs to a very different kind of person with a different kind of mind — creators and empathizers, pattern recognizers and meaning makers. These people — artists, inventors, designers, story-tellers, caregivers, consolers, big picture thinkers — will reap society’s richest rewards and share its greatest joys.”

In his book, “A Whole New Mind,” Pink eloquently makes the argument that linear thinking, left-brain businesses are in for a rude awakening in the new economy. Not that they won’t still hold some relevance, but these businesses won’t lead a society that is quickly changing from task-based to systems-based, from narrow scope to big picture, from facts to stories, and from expertise to empathy and collaboration.

I have felt this change for years, but because I am in the design profession, I thought that I was just seeing the world through my right-brain, rose-colored glasses. But Pink’s data supports what I have been seeing in my business relationships for the past several years.
Pink suggests that a business’s future is dependent upon its answers to three fundamental questions:

1. Can someone overseas do it cheaper?
2. Can a computer do it faster?
3. Is the business offering something that satisfies the non-material transcendent desires of an abundant age?

I’ve answered these questions for my business and I suggest that you answer it for yours. Here are my thoughts on how to prepare for the new economy:

Focus on systems and connections. Tasks are always important to getting things done. But perhaps the systems and processes in which business is conducted are more important. Focus on these systems and the connections between the systems. Break-through ideas lie in studying these connections. For instance, how one connects marketing and work processes could lead to better ways of doing things and more successful positioning for future work. Connecting market data to the value proposition that your firm offers not only supports your business’ ability to get work, but also your ability to deliver work that is valuable. Design your work processes around delivering this market value and you have a recipe for success. Process improvements or innovations also will affect the other systems in your firm. Paying attention to these connections will yield dividends to your firm and your clients.

Sell empathy, not just services. Clients get offers for services every day. However, businesses do not often enough take the time to understand what the client needs and if the firm can meet those needs. Developing empathy takes time, but is essential to making the right offer to your clients.

Leverage technology for the routine tasks. If one is able to leverage technology to deliver routine tasks, he will free up valuable time to work closer with his team to understand the needs of his clients. Time is precious. Use it for high-level activities such as collaboration, reflection, idea generation and innovation.

Engage your clients in the solutions. Today’s clients want to be a part of the process of diagnosing and solving their problems. If a client wanted a stock solution to an issue, he could purchase it from many varied sources. Attorneys, think LegalZoom.com. Graphic designers, think StockLayout.com. Accountants, think TurboTax. Clients come to firms to get personal service and they want to be part of the process.

Technically correct is only half way there. There are many ways that clients can get technically correct solutions. In fact, isn’t that what you are being paid for? Technically correct is expected. But a technically correct solution with lousy customer service or follow-through isn’t going to cut it. I’ve found in my career that I’ve rarely failed in the technical delivery, but I’ve made mistakes in communication or misunderstanding. As Stephen Covey says in his book, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People,” it doesn’t matter how precisely one can climb the ladder, if the ladder is placed on the wrong wall.

I’d like to hear from you:

• How do you answer Daniel Pink’s questions?
• Are you poised for leadership in the new economy?
• Is your ladder on the right wall?

Until next time …
Craig
Authors Note: Thanks to my friend Frank Beck who told me about Pink’s book. It is truly a must read.

Craig, Thank you...and may the force be with you, Andrea

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The DiSC Profile – A Self-Contained Toolkit of Success through Self-Knowledge

There are limitless resources for personal development available to us in today’s world. And while many of them come from external sources in the way of books, courses, lectures, meditations, videos, teachers, podcasts … get the picture? Using those tools as the key to success is a tough road if we haven’t figured out what our personal assets, locks and doorways are.

Almost a century ago, Dr. William Marston created a method to examine the behavior of individuals based on their environments or within specific situations. That might sound dry, but imagine if you could understand yourself on a completely different level, start to see how you might react to people or circumstances. And how to use your strengths (and be aware of your weaknesses) to create success in your life.

The DiSC profile grew out of this work and has served millions of people to understand their strengths and behavior, to achieve success in their lives and careers. DiSC helps us to understand what influences communication and positive relationships. Generally, possible human behaviors are grouped in four categories: Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness. Each of these has soaring strengths and what can be flaws if not channeled correctly.

People who take the DiSC Profile learn how to:

* Understand their behavior and how it affects others
* Examine their reactions to others and maximize their personal strengths
* Develop and sustain a positive attitude about themselves and others
* Adapt their behavior to create positive outcomes

This becomes a TOOL toward success for individuals and for corporate teams. Through it, we gain understanding about our behavior, the needs of others and to adapt in order to build positive outcomes and relationships. With these skills people and organizations will:

* Improve communication and increase productivity
* Improve employee morale and Increase management effectiveness
* Minimize conflict and stress and build on personal strengths

Each of us is unique. The circumstances and ingredients that went into you becoming who you are, from early childhood onward, simply can’t be the same as someone else’s. Your personality forms around the infinite amount of situations, people, and emotions that you are exposed to from the first day you get here on planet Earth. Success truly lies in understanding ourselves, understanding others and realizing the impact of our behavior on the world around us.

The DiSC Profile allows you to learn about your best asset – you. An easy, online version is available at www.servingsuccess.com/profile.php. This version allows for immediate delivery of your profile for a minimal investment of your time and money. This online tool includes all of the features and benefits of the paper-based profile, but can be accessed at anytime. Automated scoring and narrative reports will save you time and allow corporate teams to create huge SUCCESS inroads. The Online DiSC Profile is a phenomenal tool at $27.97 (plus $1.50 handling charge). You can access this useful success tool at: www.servingsuccess.com/profile.php. Access codes are e-mailed within 30 minutes during normal business hours.

To your greatest success through self-knowledge!

Andea Goeglein, Ph.D. (aka Dr. Success)
www.ServingSuccess.com
Serving Success!