Oprah's Empire-Building Strategy

Bet Big on Yourself

You’ve got to believe in yourself because there is no guarantee anyone else will--that is the classic advice for those setting out on any long and difficult road. But how many people take it to fully to heart? Oprah did, buying ownership of her own show from Capitol Cities/ABC in 1988, which meant she took on all the risk if the show went south and all the reward if it soared. We know how that turned out.

Use Your Image for Good (and Protect It)

In 1996, Oprah decided to share her passion for literature with America and introduced the Oprah’s Book Club segment to her show. The effect of her picks might be visible on beaches and trains where nearly everyone was reading her selections, but the place they were truly felt was in the offices of publishing companies who soon realized that whatever Oprah picked would skyrocket up the bestseller lists.
“The Oprah Effect” was born and her power to sway consumer decisions – even to the extent of getting Americans to buy musty classic literature – was revealed.
But this power was double edged for businesses. Oprah may have the power to sell a million extra copies of a book, but she also zealously protects her image as a force for good. James Frey found this out.

Expand Your Brand

Oprah’s interest in the publishing biz doesn’t just cover telling her audience what to read. She’s also produced reading material, launching O magazine in 2000 (and reinforced her public image as a dream boss by handing out $10,000 checks to staff to celebrate the publication’s 10^th anniversary a decade later).
Oprah behaved like empire-builders throughout the ages, using her dominance in her home kingdom of TV as a staging point to invade neighboring territories. Leveraging the Winfrey brand, the magazine started strong, reaching more than 2 million subscribers (though those numbers have fallen along with the rest of the industry following the recession).
Let the march continue to radio then…

Nurture Others' Talent

Oprah isn’t only the "Queen of Talk;" she’s also a kingmaker. Just ask Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, Rachel Ray and the other assorted celebrities that owe their careers to Winfrey.  By incubating talent, Winfrey scored a triple whammy for her career, developing lucrative material for her production company, increasing perceptions of her as a tastemaker and powerbroker, and reinforcing her brand of caring, concern and maternal urging towards our better angels among her audience.
After all, there’s no better way to prove your power than by helping to raise the profile of the future president.

Ever Onwards?

In a long and impressive career, perhaps one of the most amazing attributes displayed by Winfrey is her refusal to coast. Most would be tempted to spend some time kicking back and spending those billions, but Oprah just keeps on trying new things and finding ways to stretch even her impressive abilities.

The latest: her OWN cable network, which is proving that even icons don’t always instantly turn everything they touch to gold. Compared to some of her earlier ventures, OWN is struggling to meet expectations as advertisers remain leery of paying high prices to the fledgling network. But Oprah is no stranger to adversity (even if they’ve been out of touch for awhile), so based on past performance it’s a good bet Oprah’s instincts to push herself won’t end in disaster. Fans will just have to wait and see.

El Acuerdo No. 40 que contempla el régimen impositivo del Municipio de Panamá.

Anteriormente se habían pretendido establecer en el Acuerdo anterior (derogado a partir de esta norma y, que se encontraba suspendido por orden municipal) reglas sobre agentes de retención y el pago de impuestos de conformidad con tarifas porcentuales sin límite.

Este nuevo acuerdo, elimina cualquier referencia a agentes de retención y tarifas porcentuales, estableciendo un tope impositivo límite de USD$2000.00, de conformidad con la tabla correspondiente a cada actividad.

Como elemento innovador se establece la obligatoriedad de presentar una declaración anual de rentas obtenidas dentro del Municipio de Panamá, la cual debe ser presentada dentro de los 90 días calendarios luego de terminado el período fiscal de cada contribuyente, so pena de multa de USD$500.00 y el cierre del establecimiento comercial.

Para aquellos interesados en conocer si el nuevo Acuerdo afecta o no el ejercicio de la abogacía, les confirmamos que el ejercicio de las profesiones liberales sigue exento de impuestos municipales.

Do you have a great place for people to work?

If you hesitate when answering that question, it may be time to give it some thought. Having a high turnover rate means that there are problems with the company culture. The last thing you want to do is spend your time recruiting, hiring, and training, only to see those people walk right out the door.

 

​The Final Whistle​

 

So why is it, exactly, that an employee leaves a company? Some of the top reasons that employees report for leaving a company are:

 

​1.​  They don't have any friends at their office. This is a big one, because nobody wants to spend 40-plus hours per week at a place where they are surrounded by people that don't think like them or that they don't like. Talk about having anxiety on the way to work!

 

​2.​  They don't like the boss for whom they work. Sorry, I know that may bruise some egos, but it is the truth.

 

​3.​  And if you want to know what the distant third reason is, it is because the pay just isn't good enough. This is an issue that may or may not be something you can address, but it can impact the company culture if people feel woefully underpaid or find out the pay of those around them (and feel it is unfair).

 

​Creating Comfort​

 

It goes without saying that if you want to have a great place to work, you need to build a common culture in your company. What this means is that people need to share similar values, energy, and attitude. By doing so, this will automatically engender friendships. Plus, you need to be a great boss – someone who is loyal, trusting and fair to all employees.

 

The Difference Between Good and Great Photographers

I have always said that the difference between a good photographer and a great photographer is in what they choose to show to the world. Cartier-Bresson said that "showing your contact sheet is like taking your pants off in public."

The photographer who is willing to show everything to the public, puts their weaknesses on display and waters down the potency of their vision.

When photographers flood their portfolio with inferior images for the sake of volume, the images become an albatross hung around the neck of the collection and they drag the work down.

On the other hand, when a photographer is a harsh editor and honest with himself when selecting his portfolio, he will reject the simply adequate in favor of the great, resulting in the elevation of the entire portfolio.

The public then sees each photo in the collection as brilliant, and they then assume that everything the photographer shoots is brilliant. When in reality, the number of images the photographer shows is only a fraction of one percent of the number of images taken.

This is not a trick or a marketing ploy to fool the public into thinking you are a better photographer than you are. This is a simple recognition that photography is more than just selecting a subject matter and exposing the image.

It is continued in the act of post-production selection, which is as important to the process as is the act of taking the picture itself. Whether this act is accomplished by one person or a team of people, the act of photography is incomplete without both the capture process and the culling process.

The sooner a photographer realizes this and puts his or her mind to perfecting the skill of selection, the sooner that photographer will be seen as truly great.

Are you the right person to speak?

Think about meetings you lead, presentations you give, or announcements you make:  Are you the right person to speak?  If your answer is based on some version of, “Yes, because I’m the one in charge,” your answer is often wrong — and your audience knows it.
Here’s a better way to decide.

When you deliver good news: Never speak. Okay, maybe you really did do all the work.  Maybe you really did overcome every obstacle.  Maybe you really did lead a diverse, cross-departmental, multi-functional, high-performance team.  Maybe you really were the hero.
Doesn’t matter.  Give someone else the glory.  Pick a key subordinate who played a major role.  Pick a person who could use a confidence boost from a dose of public acclaim.  Everyone already knows you were in charge, so celebrate the accomplishment through others.  Stand back and let your team shine.
And if you don’t run your own business, do your best to keep someone higher in the company food chain from making the announcement, especially if that person had no direct role.  Otherwise your team’s efforts are devalued in the eyes of the eyes of others and, much worse, in their own eyes.

When you deliver bad news: Always speak. I don’t care if ultimately it was not your decision to cut jobs.  I don’t care if you had no input but are still required to enforce a major shift in policy.  When you are in charge, you deliver all bad news.  To your employees, to your team, to customers and clients, you are the company.  Support decisions, even if you privately disagree.  Answer tough questions.  Take responsibility.  Model the behavior you want your employees to display.

When you have no news: No one speaks. Everyone hates a useless meeting — except the person who called the meeting.  We all cringe when a meeting kicks off with, “I know there isn’t much for us to talk about, but I thought it was important we still meet.”
I once worked on a long-term project with four regularly scheduled, hour-long meetings per week.  We met, no matter what, because the team leader felt we needed to “develop the habit” of attending regular meetings.  In the spirit of habit formation, I decided to develop my own: I showed up but was frequently called away mid-meeting.  (To all the people who paged me right on cue — thanks!)
If a meeting will not result in decisions or plans or actions, cancel it.  Let team members do something productive so next time you do have a reason to meet.
No matter the setting, take a moment to choose the right person to speak.  Never assume the right person is you.
What is said is certainly important, but who says it can make a tremendous difference to the impact of the message… and sometimes to your employees.

6 Preceptos para Guiar a los Emprendedores

Una filosofía más antigua que el cristianismo propone 6 preceptos para guiar a los emprendedores en sus carreras. Sorprendente como pueda parecer, contiene la misma información que hoy disponemos a partir del desarrollo de la sicología y la economía modernas.

Esta sabiduría antigua, sin embargo, está maravillosamente presentada en frases simples, contundentes y profundas. Es un verdadero tesoro.
¿Cuál es esa filosofía, dónd
e apareció y qué es lo que propone? Véanlo ustedes mismos.
Hace poco me encontré por casualidad con un artículo del Dr. Randy Borum, un sicólogo forense y profesor de la Universidad de South Florida que presentaba algunas de las ideas más importantes de los estoicos, como principios rectores para los deportistas de combate.

Los estoicos fueron una escuela filosófica de la Antigua Grecia, que floreció en Atenas durante el período helenístico y fue fundada por Zenón de Citio en 301 AC. Fue muy influyente en su tiempo, especialmente entre los guerreros espartanos y más tarde la élite romana. Su búsqueda principal, sin embargo, giraba alrededor de la felicidad, lo que hace felices a las personas.

Conociendo de antemano la información básica sobre los estoicos, comencé a leer el artículo con curiosidad por saber cómo se aplicaba su filosofía a la práctica del boxeo o las artes marciales. Lo que iba a descubrir, sin embargo, era mucho más sorprendente.

A poco de comenzar a analizar el material uno se da cuenta que los mismos principios estoicos pueden ser aplicados tanto para el éxito en el combate, como para el desarrollo exitoso de empresas.
¿Extraño? Puede ser, pero de hecho esos antiguos principios coinciden asombrosamente con lo que pregonan actualmente grandes empresarios, teóricos del management y los últimos desarrollos en neurología y ciencias de la conducta.
Es tan precisa la correspondencia que asusta.

Uno se pregunta cuál es la fuente de esta información para que haya estado disponible tanto para personas que existieron en la época en que se creía que la tierra era plana, como para quiénes cuentan con los beneficios de investigar el cerebro y la conducta utilizando resonadores magnéticos.

Pero esto no es lo más importante. Lo realmente relevante es QUÉ DICEN esos principios y cómo pueden ser aplicados en la vida de un emprendedor.
Estos son los seis principios:

1. Primero dite a ti mismo lo que vas a ser. Luego, haz lo que tengas que hacer. Epícteto.
Definición clara de objetivos y determinación. ¿No es eso lo que nos dicen que hace la diferencia? Definir claramente un objetivo (si es posible por escrito), incrementa dramáticamente las posibilidades de alcanzarlo.
No es autoayuda, es sentido común. Sin claridad de objetivos no sabemos a donde vamos. Nuestra mente no sabe qué queremos de ella o de la vida.
Definir primero qué queremos ser (fíjense que no dice “cuánto queremos ganar”), permite que luego podamos definir qué es lo que tenemos que hacer para alcanzarlo.

2. Tu vida es lo que tus pensamientos hacen de ella. Marco Aurelio.
Lo dice un emperador romano, no Deepak Chopra. ¿Se entiende? Los pensamientos dan el tono de nuestras vidas. Son la guía. Prefiguran lo que luego va a transformarse en la realidad de nuestras vidas.
Por eso es tan importante el punto 1. Decirse a uno mismo qué va a ser, qué quiere ser, equivale a desarrollar eso que otros denominan “la visión”.
Los pensamientos no tienen porqué estar expresados solamente en palabras. De hecho, la mente tiende a pensar en imágenes. Las impresiones sensoriales le dan fuerza y permanencia a los conceptos que manejamos en nuestra mente.
Por lo tanto, pensar qué queremos ser y sostener esos pensamientos de manera dominante (en forma de conceptos, imágenes o la forma que nos sea más natural), por sobre otros, es lo que nos acerca a nuestros objetivos, Lo que va a hacer realidad nuestra visión.
Más aún, visualizar objetivos es una técnica que utilizan hoy los mejores deportistas (Tiger Woods, entre ellos), pero que está avalada por el trabajo y los avances de la sicología deportiva y la neurología.
De todas maneras, lo importante aquí es que recuerdes: tu vida es lo que tus pensamientos hacen de ella. Define lo que quieres ser y piensa de acuerdo a ese ideal o visión. Sostén y clarifica permanentemente esa visión.

3. Lo que nos perturba no son las cosas, sino cómo las vemos nosotros. Lo que importa no es lo que te ocurre, sino cómo reaccionas a eso. Epícteto.
Este principio es fundamental para poder manejar los avatares y problemas que, indefectiblemente, todos encontramos en el camino. Esto es lo que nos da la capacidad de la perseverancia. Lo que nos da serenidad.
Una cosa es la realidad objetiva (lo que nos sucede) y otra lo que nosotros interpretamos de esos hechos. En buena medida lo que percibimos como “realidad” es una interpretación. Es el filtro coloreado con el que observamos las cosas.
Que un fracaso sea algo “malo”, por ejemplo, es sólo una interpretación. No lo sabemos. Puede que sea la semilla de algo mejor.
Grandes inventos (como la penicilina), surgieron por accidentes de laboratorio y hasta el Viagra surgió del intento por crear una droga para el corazón. Muchas de las grandes empresas actuales (Federal Express o Apple, por ejemplo) estuvieron en algún momento al borde de la bancarrota, a veces en las etapas tempranas de su vida.
Un fracaso puede ser un aprendizaje.
Obviamente, no tenemos control sobre todo y quejarnos o lamentarnos por aquello que sucede fuera de nuestro control es una pérdida de energía y de foco. Recuerden: concentren sus pensamientos en lo que buscan, no en lo que los aleja de ello.

4. Tienes poder sobre tu mente, no sobre los eventos externos. Date cuenta de esto y encontrarás fortaleza. Marco Aurelio.
Está muy ligado con lo anterior. Lo que está sin dudas bajo nuestro control es nuestra mente. Aunque controlarla sea uno de los trabajos más duros del mundo.
Controlar lo que pensamos y cómo interpretamos los sucesos que enfrentamos en la vida (en la vida empresaria, por ejemplo), es lo más cerca que estaremos nunca de controlar nuestra experiencia.
Eso afecta nuestras posibilidades de éxito, por supuesto. Pero el camino que nos lleva a él está plagado de incertidumbres y eventos ajenos a nuestra voluntad. El único poder que tenemos está dentro nuestro y es la base de nuestra fortaleza.

5. Estar en todos lados es no estar en ningún lado. Séneca.
Foco. Concentración. Es monotasking más que multitasking. La mente humana tiene la capacidad de procesar unos 110 bits de información por segundo. Solamente escuchar a una persona dando una conferencia consume unos 60 bits por segundo de esa capacidad de procesamiento.
Tenemos un recurso valioso que hay que saber utilizar sabiamente. ¿En qué lo vamos a utilizar?
Enfocarse en una actividad requiere cierto gusto y placer por esa actividad. La concentración deviene así naturalmente.
Esto es lo que los sicólogos denominan estado de flujo o “estar en la zona”. Entrar en un estado en que todo lo demás no importa, el tiempo pasa sin darnos cuenta. Estamos totalmente concentramos en el Ahora, en lo que estamos haciendo en este momento. No estamos ni en el futuro, previendo el resultado de nuestras acciones, ni estamos en el pasado, lamentándonos por algo que hemos hecho mal o por algún error que cometimos.
El trader de acciones (en el sistema de EZ, un Mercader), está enfocado en su pantalla, igual que el programador (un Arquitecto o un Inventor). El vendedor (un Capitán o un Artista), está totalmente entregado a la presentación que está haciendo y el Canciller se halla absorto en la negociación de un deal.
No tienen la mente dividida, están en un sólo lugar y en un solo momento. Aquí y ahora.

6. Controla tus pasiones, no sea que se venguen de ti. Epícteto.
Equilibrio y serenidad. Cualquier empresario de éxito los tiene y los recomienda. ¿Y cómo se obtienen? En parte tomando distancia entre lo que nos sucede y nuestros propios estados de ánimo.
Por supuesto, uno puede reaccionar a una pérdida con dolor y es natural hacerlo. Pero hay una diferencia entre expresar naturalmente el dolor y entregarse a la depresión o la ira porque las cosas no son cómo uno quiere.
Los estoicos decían que hay que distinguir entre lo que podemos controlar y lo que no. Lo primero podemos intentar cambiarlo y lo segundo hay que aceptarlo.

Por otro lado, las emociones son como ondas, mientras más alto es el pico, más profundo viene a ser luego el valle. La serenidad que mantengamos en el fracaso, por ejemplo, está relacionada también con el equilibrio que tengamos en el éxito. Y viceversa. Cuando las cosas salen bien, celebrarlas, pero con equilibrio. De ese modo los fracasos nos encontrarán mejor parados.

En pocas palabras: limitar los extremos de nuestras emociones.

Esto no quiere decir que no tengamos pasiones, entendidas como un llamado, una vocación, un placer por hacer ciertas actividades. Significa que no conviene dar rienda suelta a emociones extremas, porque terminan cobrándose su precio con el tiempo. Odio, miedo o ansiedad intensas, son enemigos del juicio claro para tomar decisiones.

¿Se imaginan a Richard Branson tomando una decisión por miedo? ¿O a Warren Buffett actuando por ansiedad?
Cada gran empresario de la historia ha seguido, a veces por conocerlos intuitivamente, la mayoría de estos principios. Los aplican con naturalidad, sin pensarlo.

Para el resto de nosotros, tener esta lista a mano y repasarla a menudo puede ser una gran ventaja. Es como llevar un tesoro en el bolsillo.

Employers can learn a lot about creating motivating work environments by studying video game design.

Let's take a closer look at each of these factors and how they can be incorporated into today's workplace setting.

In control of the environment.  Better known in business circles as Autonomy, this is a key component to creating a motivating work environment.  People need to be allowed the freedom to choose how and when work tasks are performed.  Once goals are set, managers need to provide direct reports with the tools and resources they need to get the job done.  What people don't want—and what they find demotivating—is a manager who wants to control every detail and use the employee as just a pair of remote hands.  Not much fun in that type of game.Rewards and recognition on a regular basis.  In any good video game, players are constantly achieving objectives and receiving rewards.  Whether it is a new asset, a pot of jelly beans, or a cool new weapon, game programmers build constant opportunities for self-achieved rewards along the way. 

Employers can learn a lot from this approach by building in small opportunities for reward and recognition into the work environment. 

As simple as this sounds, the reality is that most employers do just the opposite.  As long as an employee is succeeding, they rarely get feedback.  In most organizations the only time you hear something about your performance is when you are off-track or not achieving your goals. 

How long would you play a video game like that?  My guess is that it would not be a very popular game.

Growth and mastery.  The final aspect of a motivating environment that we can learn from video games is the importance of growth and mastery.  Both are important to employees.  People need to feel a sense of growth and accomplishment, especially if they are to perceive that their current job is in alignment with their overall career goals.  While achievement at work may never equal the kick you get from achieving the next level in Angry Birds, it can probably get a lot closer.

3 Steps to Choosing what to Delegate

Delegation is both a critical skill that successful managers must demonstrate, and one often neglected by overworked managers.

Here are three steps to decide what can come off your plate:

1. Identify tasks only you can do. Take a look at your workload and identify tasks, projects, or functions that require your specific skills or level of authority.

2. Sort the rest. Take a look at everything else on your list and determine what others can easily do, what requires coaching for others to do, and what needs outsourcing.

3. Keep what makes you happy. Don't give away the things that you most enjoy even if others can do them. Delegation should increase your job satisfaction, not detract from it.

Managing Yourself: Extreme Productivity

Bob Pozen does a lot. He's been a top executive at two mutual fund giants, Fidelity and MFS Investment Management. He's also been an attorney, a government official, a law school professor, a business school professor, and a prolific author. And he has often been several of those things at once. Yet Pozen never comes across as overwhelmed, frazzled, or even all that busy. We know this because he's a frequent contributor to HBR and hbr.org—with a reputation around our offices for writing faster than we can edit. Our experiences with him led us to wonder if he might have something interesting to say about personal productivity. So we asked him about it. The result was a series of blog posts for hbr.org (http://s.hbr.org/eDJ4g4), which Pozen has here distilled into six principles for a more productive work life.

Principle 1: Know Your Comparative Advantage

Many CEOs I've encountered say, "Here are the top five priorities for the company. Who would be the best at carrying out each one?" Then they propose themselves for all five areas. That might be the right answer, but it's the wrong question, because it's based on a self-centered concept of comparative advantage. It focuses on what an executive does best rather than on what the organization most needs from him or her.

The correct question is, "Which functions can only you as the CEO perform?" You may be the only executive who can meet with a top regulator or persuade a key client to stay. You may also be essential to recruiting senior staff. But a CEO has to hold back from taking on other responsibilities even if he or she excels at delivering on them. When CEO Rob Manning recruited me to join MFS as chairman, in 2004, we explicitly divided the high-priority functions. Although I had run the investment management group at Fidelity, Rob is a talented investment guy and a natural leader who wanted to take charge of that group at MFS. We agreed that I wouldn't even show up on the investment floor.

The same applies to midlevel executives. You may be outstanding in finance and solid in marketing, but if your company is stacked with good finance people and very weak on marketing, your highest and best use is probably in the latter. So don't focus just on what you do best. You're more likely to succeed if you look around and gauge how you can be most useful.

Many executives also spend too much time on operational details, such as the best flight to take or the seating plan at a corporate dinner. Such tasks should be delegated, if possible, to an executive assistant. Of course, the boss must be able to rely on this person to get the tasks done correctly, quickly, and politely. Once confidence is established, he or she should go to great lengths to support and retain such an assistant, who is crucial to being productive.

Principle 2: It's Not the Time You Spend but the Results You Produce

Most executives, professionals, and entrepreneurs put a huge amount of time into their jobs. In a crisis it may be necessary to burn the midnight oil, but the ambitious have a tendency to stay late every night. This tendency arises from the implicit assumption that more hours equal more value added. That is too simplistic. Your success should be measured by the results you produce, not the number of hours you log.

When I joined a law firm in Washington, DC, I soon realized that charging clients for the number of hours worked made no sense. That billing method encouraged lawyers to work lots of hours rather than to get good results quickly. After a few years, my clients knew that I was efficient, so I ran an experiment. I sent them a letter explaining that in the future I would bill them for double the time I actually spent on their work—unless they objected. Not one client did.

Focusing on results rather than hours has the added benefit of allowing a better balance between family and work. When I had young children, I came home most weekdays at 7:00 to have dinner and spend some quality time with them. Later in the evening, if necessary, I would work in my home office. On the weekends my children usually slept late, so I would work from 7:00 to 11:00 in the morning and have most of the day left to be with my family.

Robert C. Pozen

The Best Advice for Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking

As a former speechwriter, publisher, and frequent presenter, I understand what drives many people to buy books about public speaking: Fear. I know because I’ve shared it.
I remember times when I walked up on a podium and took my place at the lectern in front of an audience, and suddenly felt dry mouth, sweaty palms, shaking hands, pounding chest, even my voice ringing in my ears. I’d prepared a slick speech, but not my brain for the inevitable shock of taking the stage.
Anxiety about public speaking is most commonly rooted in our past negative memories and experiences, according to Randolph and Kathleen Verderber’s classic text, The Challenge of Effective Speaking. The authors–emeritus management professors and communications scholars–say that  typically people will relive those times in their past when they were criticized, admonished or deemed in some way as unworthy of the center stage.
My book shelf contains a couple of books on overcoming fear of public speaking, and they all recommend these strategies:

• Practice, practice, practice: You need to desensitize yourself to the panic and fear of failure you associate with public speaking, Practice not only to become more comfortable with your material, but to experience the gamut of emotions that come with speaking.  Rehearse in front of friends and family members who will give you constructive feedback. Steve Jobs reportedly has become a world-class presenter through over-practicing.  ”Few speakers rehearse more than Steve Jobs,” Carmine Gallo writes in his excellent book, The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs (McGraw-Hill 2010). ”His preparation time is legendary among those closest to him.” Gallo’s book recounts how Jobs begins preparing weeks in advance, and typically spends two full days rehearsing, asking for feedback, making adjustments, and tightening his flow.
• Memorize and make eye contact.  Familiarize yourself with the stage or space where you will speak, and commit key points to memory so you can make effective eye contact with your audience. By connecting with your audience when you speak, you will benefit from the feedback of their reactions and you will find your voice.   Experts also advise: don’t practice to the point that you are bored or exhausted with the material.
• Visualize a Positive Outcome: In Small Message, Big Impact, author Terri L. Sjodin recommends visualizing how you will feel when you’re done with the speech, “on the other side” in that “space of completion, invigoration, and accomplishment.”  By visualizing a job well-done, you replace negative self-talk and put the speech in its perspective–as one event among many.
• Connect with the Audience: In Harrison Monarth and Larina Kase’s The Confident Speaker, the authors suggest speakers visualize what they have in common with the audience and collect information about your audience–from their jobs to their likely questions. By doing so, you will replace the anxious self-talk in your own mind with a new externally-focused challenge: what are the people like I will be speaking to?  If you are speaking in front of an audience that is unfamiliar to you, get an attendee list, learn about a few of the people on the list, even call a person or two who will be in attendance. or ask your host about the group.  This process is about easing your preparatory anxiety by presenting your brain with a visual and cognitive challenge–put real people and real faces in those chairs, not executioners.
• Rewrite the Negative Script: Write down the negative or fearful thoughts you have about your abilities as a speaker, including criticism you’ve heard in the past.  Then note how you felt after previous presentations were over, and how you’ve addressed or changed certain behaviors so that you are thinking more positively.  I remember being told that I spent too much time leaning away from the audience during a presentation, and I’ve consciously visualized the satisfaction of correcting that in my next speech.
• Remind Yourself, You’re Communicating, Not Performing.  If you see your speech as a chance to communicate with a group of people about something important to you, rather than a performance, the experience will feel more familiar.  In fact, the audience is far more interested in the substance of what you are presenting, than how theatrical you are in your presentation. Remind yourself of that, jotting down what you consider to be the best aspects of your speeches–in content and style. Monarth and Kase call this creating “positive expectancy”: develop a few words “that exemplify the way you want to feel as you’re talking.”

The experts also agree on these basics, which bear repeating:

• Get enough sleep for a few days ahead
• Thoroughly check out the technology you’ll be using a day ahead
• Lightly exercise a few hours before the presentation
• Never, ever drink alcohol before your appearance

Rebuilding Trust, Commitment, and Morale

Years ago, business owners were asked, “If you had to choose between a fire that wiped out your facilities versus having all of your people quit and walk out at the same time, which option would you take?” Almost everyone said they'd rather lose their buildings and equipment because to rebuild their human organization would require a lot more effort and be more difficult to accomplish.
The recession of the past two years put many organizations into a position of having to decide between people and profits in order to stay in business. Some of those decisions were painful, and in some cases, the way decisions were made had an adverse impact on the human side of the organization. As a result, trust, commitment, and morale have all taken a hit. The facilities and the equipment are intact, but the people are not present in the same way as before.
As a result, employees are watching senior leadership more closely than ever before, says Ken Blanchard, best-selling author and cofounder of The Ken Blanchard Companies. “People are looking for clues to see if their organization is only interested in the bottom line or if they are equally concerned with the people side of the business.”
As Blanchard explains, “When you look at the leaders in great organizations like Chick-fil-A in the quick service business, Nordstrom in the retail industry, Wegmans in the grocery business, and Southwest in the airline industry, you'll find leaders who make necessary business decisions yet their people still feel that they have their interests in mind also. In these organizations, the employees trust their leaders.”

Rebuilding Trust Takes Time

Building or rebuilding trust can be a challenge. It isn’t something that can be addressed directly. It is a byproduct of how people perceive your actions and intentions over time. While senior leaders and immediate managers cannot command trust—because trust must be earned—there are things they can do to rebuild a sense of respect and confidence over time.

What Can Senior Leaders Do?

A good place for a senior leader to start is to look at where the organization is headed. What is the strategic direction and how will the organization get there?
Senior leaders need to create a compelling vision that defines or redefines the organization’s business. The key here is to have a clear focus on the customer and make that everyone’s goal. During the past recession, people saw what looked like self-serving behavior on the part of a lot of leaders. In many organizations, it seemed as if top leaders saw the organization only as a way to achieve personal ends.
A variation of poor visioning, while not quite as bad as pure self-serving behavior, is an organizational vision that makes the bottom line the “be all, end all” reason for existing. These leaders start to think that the only reason they are in business is to make money and to watch their bottom line. The unspoken message to rank-and-file workers is that people are a side venture—a means to an end.
Without a clear vision, people do not have anything to serve except themselves. When senior leaders identify a compelling vision of the future and align the organization’s goals and values toward this vision, everyone can move in the right direction and focus their energy on the customer.

Advice for Frontline Managers

Frontline managers are the implementers. They have a responsibility to understand the vision, goals, and values of the company and communicate them effectively to their people. Make sure that each and every employee’s work is connected to an overall department or organizational goal and that the employee can see how their work has an impact. Everyone needs meaningful work; it unleashes energy and raises morale.
To build trust and respect with direct reports, frontline managers should schedule regular one-on-one meetings with their people. Managers should use these sessions to clarify expectations, solicit input, answer questions, and provide feedback. Nothing shows that you care and respect a person—and their work—more than spending time with them, checking on their progress, and providing help when necessary.

What about Individual Contributors?

Individual contributors have a responsibility to make sure they are clear on the goals of the organization and have the authority and resources necessary to serve the customer. If individual contributors are not clear on what the vision is, or don’t feel they have the resources necessary to succeed, they need to ask their immediate manager for help using “I need” statements. They must push for help on behalf of serving the customer better.

Conclusion

Trust and respect are cornerstones in rebuilding the soul of an organization. Immediate managers and senior leaders must include people in the decisions that affect them as much as possible. Inclusion sends a message to employees that leaders really care about what they think. When employees sense this, they are more willing to trust leaders. But when people see their leaders go behind closed doors to make important decisions, they get a feeling that their input doesn’t matter. Organizations that trust and respect their employees include them in the decision-making process.
To rebuild trust, you have to see your people as business partners and respect them for their contributions. Senior leaders need to set a clear vision of something bigger than themselves for people to serve. Frontline managers need to operationalize the vision and goals and bring the values to life. Finally, employees need to ask for the resources they need to serve customers. When everyone in the organization works together to live according to the values and accomplish the goals, then you have a great human organization that is focused on both results and people.

Rebuilding Trust, Commitment, and Morale

Years ago, business owners were asked, “If you had to choose between a fire that wiped out your facilities versus having all of your people quit and walk out at the same time, which option would you take?” Almost everyone said they’d rather lose their buildings and equipment because to rebuild their human organization would require a lot more effort and be more difficult to accomplish.

In the latest issue of The Ken Blanchard Companies’ Ignite newsletter, co-founder Ken Blanchard shares how the recession of the past two years put many organizations into a position of having to decide between people and profits in order to stay in business. Some of those decisions were painful, and in some cases, the way decisions were made had an adverse impact on the human side of the organization. The facilities and the equipment are intact, but the people are not present in the same way as before.

As a result says Blanchard, “People are looking for clues to see if their organization is only interested in the bottom line, or if they are equally concerned with the people side of the business.”
For leaders looking to rebuild trust, commitment, and morale in their organizations, Blanchard recommends senior leaders focus on creating a compelling vision, while immediate managers work to implement plans by connecting individual work to overall goals.
As Blanchard explains, “Senior leaders need to create a compelling vision that defines or redefines the organization’s business. The key here is to have a clear focus on the customer and make that everyone’s goal. During the past recession, people saw what looked like self-serving behavior on the part of a lot of leaders. In many organizations, it seemed as if top leaders saw the organization only as a way to achieve personal ends. In contrast, when senior leaders identify a compelling vision of the future and align the organization’s goals and values toward this vision, everyone can move in the right direction and focus their energy on the customer.
“Frontline managers need to make sure that each and every employee’s work is connected to an overall department or organizational goal and that the employee can see how their work has an impact. To build trust and respect with direct reports, frontline managers should schedule regular one-on-one meetings with their people. Managers should use these sessions to clarify expectations, solicit input, answer questions, and provide feedback. Nothing shows that you care and respect a person—and their work—more than spending time with them, checking on their progress, and providing help when necessary.”

Four Leadership Behaviors That Build or Destroy Trust

When people don’t trust their leaders, they don’t come toward something; they pull back and withdraw instead. They doubt rather than cooperate.
According to Dr. Pat Zigarmi, Founding Associate of The Ken Blanchard Companies, and Randy Conley, the Trust Practice Leader at Blanchard, a self-centered, “What’s in it for me” attitude robs an organization of the best that employees have to offer. When employees perceive that an organization—or its leaders—are less than forthcoming, employees become unwilling to contribute any discretionary energy or make any commitments to their organization’s well-being beyond the absolute minimum.
Conley adds that, “Often, the result is that employees will stay with the organization and do their job because they need a paycheck, but not much more. It becomes purely a transactional relationship with employees asking themselves, “If the organization does not do right by me, why should I do right by them?”
Four Areas to Focus On
For leaders looking to turn things around in their organization, Zigarmi and Conley recommend that leaders take a hard look in the mirror and examine their own behaviors. Here are four key areas that leaders have to be aware of when they are looking at building or restoring trust with the people they lead:
Able is about demonstrating competence. Do the leaders know how to get the job done? Are they able to produce results? Do they have the skills to make things happen—including knowing the organization and equipping people with the resources and information they need to get their job done?
Believable means acting with integrity. Leaders have to be honest in their dealings with people. In practical terms, this means creating and following fair processes. Believability is also about acting in a consistent, values-driven manner that reassures employees that they can rely on their leaders.
Connected is about demonstrating care and concern for other people. It means focusing on people and identifying their needs. It is supported by good communication skills. Leaders need to openly share information about the organization and about themselves. This allows the leader to be seen as more of a real person that a follower can identify with. When people share a little bit of information about themselves, it creates a sense of connection.
Dependable is about reliably following through on what the leaders say that they are going to do. It means being accountable for their actions and being responsive to the needs of others so if leaders promise something they must follow through.

Don't BE Great, DO Great!

It’s said that Abraham Lincoln often slipped out of the White House on Wednesday evenings to listen to the sermons of Dr. Finnes Gurley at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. He generally preferred to come and go unnoticed. So when Dr. Gurley knew the president was coming, he left his study door open.
On one of those occasions, the president slipped through a side door in the church and took a seat in the minister’s study, located just to the side of the sanctuary. There he propped the door open, just wide enough to hear Dr. Gurley.
During the walk home, an aide asked Mr. Lincoln his appraisal of the sermon. The president thoughtfully replied, “The content was excellent; he delivered with elegance; he obviously put work into the message.”
“Then you thought it was an excellent sermon?” questioned the aide.
“No,” Lincoln answered.
“But you said that the content was excellent. It was delivered with eloquence, and it showed how hard he worked,” the aide pressed.
“That’s true,” Lincoln said, “But Dr. Gurley forgot the most important ingredient. He forgot to ask us to do something great.”
Great Action Is the Source of Greatness
Abraham Lincoln didn’t expect people to BE great. He expected them to DO something great –to take great action.
Although we won’t all be recognized by history as being great, we are all capable of striving for greatness in our actions.  Greatness can lie in the small everyday actions we take.  If a friend of colleague needs our attention, it is an act of greatness when we put what we are doing aside and listen with our full, undivided attention.  The small, specific things we do can become a platform for greatness.
Most of the good of the world builds on the accumulated efforts of everyday people doing small things in a great way.  A life should strive for greatness, as Mr. Lincoln seemed to know.
Great and Perfect Are Not the Same
You don’t have to do something perfectly for it to be great.  Focus on what is most important about your action and ensure you do that well; the other trappings are not as important. Conversely, the pieces can be excellent, like the content and the delivery of Dr. Gurley’s sermon, and it can still fall short if what is essential is missing.
The Five Keys to Making An Action Great

1. Be clear about what is essential: Understand what higher purpose your action serves.
2. Know what greatness looks like: Have a clear sense of what an excellent job looks like.  Start with the end in mind.
3. Bring a serving heart:  Ensure your action provides value, and is not simply self-serving.
4. Give it your all: Make a full effort, with your full attention.
5. Learn as you go: Be willing to make mistakes; treat them as learning opportunities.

What does striving for greatness mean to you? What do you do to make your actions great?