You Can't Make This Stuff Up

It drives some people crazy when they walk into the bathroom and find the cap off of the toothpaste tube. I stumbled upon this scene in the children's bathroom at my house recently... a few tubes of toothpaste (why two!) squeezed empty at their midsections and four caps strewn over the bathroom countertop. Sometimes we have to stop taking ourselves so seriously and laugh-out-loud more. Four caps and two toothpaste tubes. What the heck! How does that happen! :-)

More on Thought Leadership

I was speaking to a colleague yesterday and something they said struck me. Thought Leadership is a direction. Thought leaders tend to have a significant body of work (because of the direction they went previously) and continue to be thought leaders because of their progression in an uncharted direction.

There's no such thing as "soft skills"

They're all skills. You measure them the same. What if you wanted to improve your coaching skills? Why? You increase the effectiveness of those who work for you?

What happens now? You give others the answer or do it for them. What if you trained them to do it themselves through your improved coaching?

How much do you make? How much of your time do you feel you spend giving answers or doing something for someone else you are paying to do a job for you?

How much of your time do you want to recapture if you could improve your coaching? 10%?

We have just made improving your coaching skills measurable (tangible, intangible and periphery value).

What was your "finish" time?

I run a half marathon race with my father ever year (father/son activity) and I'm often asked what my "finish" time was. My reply everytime is that I don't know. I'm not interested in my finish time.

It takes a few seconds, but eventually they recognize their is more value to competing aside from winning. For example, when you visit a client, isn't there more value you can derive besides a sale? If your answer is no, you're leaving a lot of value on the table.

Here are 3 of 10 ways to derive value from a client visit that I can think of:

1. gain their perspective on you and your firm
2. practice an aspect of your questioning skills
3. interview them on a topic you are researching for an article, speech or industry event you are producing

I wasn't interested in my "finish" time. I was interested in quality time with my dad, bouncing some ideas off of him and keeping him company while he did something he liked to do.