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Name of author Rick Baker, P.Eng.

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Barry’s Corner - Long-term sustainable relationships

by Rick Baker
On Feb 10, 2011
Barry talked about long-term sustainable relationships the other day.
 
Here are a few excerpts from Barry’s comments…
 
“This defines our company.”
 
“Sometimes you have to give 90% or 95%.”
 
“You can not expect it to be 50%-50% all the time.”
 
I know from our earlier discussions, Barry meant his comments should apply broadly: not just to Client interactions, not just to workplace interactions, but to interactions between people – to personal relationships in general.
 
Barry provided pieces of advice around the extremes of this interpersonal topic:
 
“let the little stuff go by”
 
&
 
“never burn a bridge”
 
I took these to mean:
  • Recognize little upsets are a part of daily life. Being ‘petty’ is a route to interpersonal disaster. Pettiness annoys others. And it injects stress where stress does not need to be. If stress must exist then it should not be around the little things.
  • From time to time disagreements will happen. Forceful personalities will collide from time to time. When that happens, even if it means ‘departure’ that ‘departure’ does not have to be done in a way that is stressed or permanent. Instead, it can be done in a let’s-agree-to-disagree way.
“You can choose the person you want to be.”
 
The bottom line:
 
Choose how you will handle day-to-day glitches and act in ways that bring you closer to your long-term goals…and one of those goals must be sustainable relationships.

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts

Sales Tweet #149

by Rick Baker
On Feb 10, 2011
Sales Tweet #149 More ancient sales advice: when not able to move ahead, kick self in behind.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
If [like me] you have less-than-perfect knees then you may have to ask a friend to do the kicking for you…wouldn’t want you to self-injure while you are self-starting.

Tags:

Humour | Sales | Thought Tweets

Mini-Message - About Communicating

by Rick Baker
On Feb 9, 2011

Tags:

Leaders' Thoughts

Sales Tweet #148

by Rick Baker
On Feb 9, 2011
Sales Tweet #148 Ernest Seller is a self-made man...some say “That's why his head is so big”.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
To be clear: there's nothing wrong with having an extra-big head…as long as it is used properly…for example, consider the Woodpecker.

Tags:

Thought Tweets | Ernest Seller

Leaders & Vivid Vision – #3

by Rick Baker
On Feb 8, 2011
"Success is Clearly in View" - The Leader's vision must be vivid and shared*.
 
How often do you stop what you are doing, sit back, and quietly ask yourself - “Why am I working?”
 
I don’t mean, ask yourself - “Why am I doing this piece of work right now?”
 
I mean, some day you will no longer be working. When that day arrives, what do you hope you will have accomplished?
 
I mean, asking yourself questions like…“When I stop working
  • how do I want to be remembered?”
  • what will my memoirs say?”
  • what legacy will I leave?
  • who will replace me?
I mean, asking yourself – When will my career end?”
 
And, asking yourself – How will my career end?”
 
***
 
Obviously, none of us has a crystal ball. None of us can predict the future.
 
And, for some people the credo is ‘Live For Today’. Those people stopped reading this Thought Post many lines ago.
 
Leaders have the ability to choose. [That perk comes with the territory.]
 
Leaders have the ability to choose…and none of us can predict the future.
 
However, leaders can ‘approach the future’ with intent.
 
Leaders do that by ‘living the present’ with intent.
 
Intent opens the door to many powerful things:
  • high self-motivation
  • high self-confidence
  • high self-esteem
  • better ability to attract and connect with other talented people
  • better ability to lead other people
The Power of Intent nurtures Good Habits when the leader (1) has clear Vision of the end point and (2) shares that clear Vision repeatedly with those who follow.
 
The Power of Intent can only be maximized when the leader has a clear Vision of the end point.
 
 
Footnote:
  1. "Success is Clearly in View" - The Leader's vision must be vivid and shared. That’s the title of the 2nd workshop in our 6-workshop Leaders’ Academy series.

Tags:

Spirited Leaders | Vision: The Leader's Vivid Vision

Sales Tweet #147

by Rick Baker
On Feb 8, 2011
Sales Tweet #147 Ancient sales advice: salesperson better to wear out soles of shoes than seat of pants.
 
The Thinking Behind the Sales Tweet
This has been paraphrased. The original version, I believe translated from Greek around the time of Plato, was: “When a man desires to succeed at the noble profession of sales that man must wear out the soles of his sandals before he wears out the backside of his toga”.

Tags:

Humour | Sales | Thought Tweets

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