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Is Mediocrity Contagious? Is it spreading faster than the flu?
What is happening to our next generation of leaders? Have we become a nation that inspires mediocrity? Are we going through a metamorphosis and don't realize it? Do we really believe excellence comes without effort? Are we all getting infected with the mediocrity disease?

Are We Entitled?

What exactly are we entitled to in life? Can a sense of entitlement create mediocrity in people? Is entitlement a good thing? Dictionary.com defines "entitle" as... to give (a person or thing) a title, right, or claim to something. As a parent of two boys, I am always examining and learning (as if I were never a child or a teenager) what really motivates positive activities and what promotes the less value-added ways to burn time in our lives. It is amazing how the purity of childhood is such a micro chasm for life as adults.

Incorrectly Assessing A Job Applicant's Motivation

In today's highly competitive and turbulent business environment, hiring average employees can spell "failure". Companies can not afford mediocrity while their competitors are striving to be the best. Hiring impacts profits in more ways than most companies realize. A Harvard Business School study determined that more than 75% of turnover could be traced back to poor hiring practices. The decision to hire -or not to hire- plays a significant role in turnover. The leading contributor to turnover is often not what happens after the employee is hired, but rather the process leading up to it. And turnover is not always bad if it's a bad hire that's leaving. You have to wonder if you really are hiring the best we can.

C-Suite Belief Systems May be Causing Mediocrity
You want your people to give 150% percent effort every day, and you are not seeing it. You brought in motivational speakers and trainers, and told everyone what you want, yet nothing is happening! This is a common theme heard daily.

Lesson #4: Infuse Your Company with a Survival Mentality

“I started The Body Shop in 1976 simply to create a livelihood for myself and my two daughters, while my husband, Gordon, was trekking across the Americas,” recalls Roddick. “I had no training or experience and my only business acumen was Gordon’s advice to take sales of £300 a week. Nobody talks of entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.”

Lesson #2: Personal Power is the Ability to Take Action
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action,” says Robbins. “Your life changes the moment you make a new, congruent, and committed decision…It is in your moments of decision that your destiny is shaped.”

Andrew Carnegie Quotes
Andrew Carnegie Quotes

Hunger Pains

Can mediocrity dull the hunger pains for excellence? Can accepting the status quo doom your team to mediocrity? Staying hungry for that which provides the most benefit is extremely challenging and often illusive to many organizations. There are many factors that contribute to lost hunger. This article will focus on some common reasons we lose the drive toward excellence. Though not exhaustive, your team can certainly reach break-through by addressing these individually and collectively.

The Art of Customer Service
This blog entry is a response to a topic suggestion by Douglas Hanna. It covers the art of customer service, a subject that is near and dear to my heart.

The Art of Innovation
I'm getting tired of writing about lies, so today I'm covering truths. Specifically, the truths of innovation. I hold these truths to not be self-evident; hence we see so little innovation.

The Big Dip: Ten Questions with Seth Godin
Seth Godin provided me with a copy of his new book, The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick), and I think it will definitely get people to think about life. To give you a taste of what’s in the book, here’s an interview with Seth about the topics of perseverance and quitting.

Go For Your Big Dreams!
Remember when you were a kid and felt you could set the world on fire? Millionaire? Sure. Hollywood star? Of course! Astronaut? Easy. Best-selling author? No problem. World traveler? Start packing.

The forces of mediocrity
Maybe it should be, "the forces for mediocrity"...

How to organize the room
One more post about conferences. (Except it's really about any meeting).

The Benefits of Pissing People Off
Right alongside the cash and credit cards, I keep a number of strange things in my wallet.

18 Business Trends for Your Sales Force
My guests were Mark Berezow, Gary Harvey and Rocky LaGrone. Before they handled one caller's sales force challenges (excellent stuff) , they commented on the state of business out there right now. They see:

Living In The Gap Of Possibility And Purpose: Part 1
Creating a GAP in our lives can be one of the most life enhancing processes we ever do. The Olympic athlete does it when he or she 'goes for the gold.' The young teenager does it when he or she commits to the career of their dreams rather than settling for mediocrity. And you and I can do it when we clarify what our life on purpose will look and be like.

Success In Home Based Businesses Defies Logic
Starting home based businesses is like trying to get a jet into the sky. You spend massive amounts of resources (money) to taxi down the runway, and when you’re about to run out of asphalt, the jet amazingly lifts up towards the sky.

3 Ways to Create Elite Sales Cultures

What is the similarity between a fighter pilot, neurosurgeon, navy SEAL, trial lawyer and a marine? The professions are regarded by many people as elite professions that have high barriers for entry and retention. Despite the barriers, these professions continue to attract candidates year after year that want to break through those barriers. Wouldn't it be interesting to apply the same tactics and strategies used in creating elite professions to creating elite sales teams? No need to reinvent the wheel, just use some of the wheels already in existence with these professions.

There may never be a better time than now.
The cold, hard fact is that for most of us, this economy has jacked up the challenge of selling more faster BIG TIME. I'll give 5 to 1 odds there are two things you wish you had already gotten done.

Are you inspiring excellence?
As an excellence advocate, one of your responsibilities is to inspire excellence in other people – especially those who work with you and for you. Excellence in the workplace leads to higher profits, higher job satisfaction ratings, and higher employee morale. Are you inspiring excellence? If not, then this article will show you how to start spreading the excellence around.

Are You Living Your Ideal Life?
The path to unlimited success and satisfaction in all areas of our lives is available to everybody. All you have to do is choose to take it. Very few people do though. Here are three easy to implement action steps to help get you on the path.

How to Get Motivated and Love Your Job Again
Are you motivated to wake up every morning and go to your job with full enthusiasm? Motivate yourself to strive for excellence...love your job again.

Put on Your Helmet - 3 Tips for Selling in this Economy
What a great interview I had with Bill Murray, Founder and CEO of Winning Incorporated, Friday on my Meet the Sales Experts Radio Show! He was awesome. Here are some of the highlights from my conversation with Bill:

Sales are Up and Mediocrity is Up Too
Retail sales for February, excluding auto, were up for clothing, electronics, furniture and gasoline. Overall, excluding auto, sales were up nearly 1%. That's better than it sounds out there. But mediocrity is up too...

How do we get anything done?

After 23+ years of studying people, both inside and outside of companies, I am frankly stunned that we accomplish what we accomplish. Why? Because we live in a world that is governed by a set of rules, that we are mostly unaware of, which are much more set up for us to fail than for us to succeed. I’m going to address some of them with the hope that you will begin to see how you and the people around you set themselves up for frustration, disappointment and even failure.

Achieving Success
So what does it take for you to get your business to the next level, to grow it to where you have reached your definition of success, and/or to leave a legacy or success story that others can tell?

Is Fear Running Your Life? How To Find Your Courage Amidst Adversity
Terrorism, recession, identity theft, melting ice caps, corporate downsizing, and various predators. Every day headlines bombard us with reasons why we should hunker down, play safe, avoid risk and settle for less than what we want out of life. This is why every day we need to be vigilant of fear mongering, mindful of the oppressive impact of fear and discerning of which ones we pay heed to.

Taking Control of the Fear
“Successful salespeople know what to do. And they do what losers refuse to do.” Why is it that in any sales organization, a small number of sales people out sell the rest by a substantial majority? The average sales person does not do what the peak performer is willing to do. It’s all about action!

When should you fire poor performers?

Every business has someone who just doesn't seem to be working out. Whether they were a bad hire, or suffering from personal issues outside the job, it really doesn't matter. Sometimes people just get tired, or bored, and uninspired. When people are not engaged, it is time for them to move on. Sometimes it's clear, more often it's not. And few people like to fire staff. In this article, I talk about when to bite the bullet and do what's right for you and your employee - termination.

How to Know You’ve Got It

How can you know when you are-or are not-tapping into the Conquering Force in your life? When You Don't Have It When you are not tapping into the Conquering Force, you'll feel as if you're drifting like a stick in a river. Life will take you wherever it wants instead of you controlling where your life goes. You will set goals but never reach them, and you'll feel that life is ruling you. Maybe you'll even decide to accept the status quo, thinking you can't do anything about it. You may believe that you don't have any choices and end up accepting that you'll never achieve what you want in your life.

Overcoming Barriers and Obstacles

There will always be barriers and obstacles between where you are right now and where you want to be. If your desire is fairly strong, you will definitely get started on it. You will probably spend a lot of money and time on it, too. You may even get most of the way there. However, the day you encounter a barrier or obstacle that is bigger than your desire, you will be stopped. That's the bad news. The good news is that there are no barriers or obstacles that can stop you when you are pursuing a Core Desire. The obstacles you encounter may be intimidating, they may slow you down, they may be difficult, they may hurt like crazy- but they won't stop you if you focus on your Core Desires. When you are less than wholehearted, you are easily derailed.

The Straight Line to Mediocrity
I came out of Business School believing that all business success was really a straight line. The idea that we can create a straight line to success is 20th century thinking.

PRICE OF LEADERSHIP

We all know that the world is starving for individuals who are prepared to step up and lead us. Men and women who are capable of rising above the mediocrity and narrow mindedness that seems so pervasive in the world, men and women who possess the strength of character, the vision, charisma, passion and energy to take us all to a better place. Much has been written and will be written still about leadership; what it is, where to find it, who can lead, even how to grow it. But you do not often read about or even witness the incredible cost that leaders often have to pay for their willingness to lead.

CANADA IS A COUNTRY OF MEDIOCRITY

Having been closely watching the American presidential race with a great deal of interest, and have to say being fascinated even enthralled by a number of the speeches, I recalled having read an article in the newspaper last year quoting a study or report that concluded Canada was a “country of mediocrity.” It stated that we are not particularly innovative, creative or willing to step up and take risks to move our society forward and become more of a leader in the world. Just what is really being talked about here?

Art in the Corporate Environment

I want to take up the subject of presentations and hope to pass on some of our hard won and often challenged, expertise in this area! This is kicked off with the help of Stuart Price whose article in an old old edition of the MacUser subscribers newsletter, ‘MacUser 2’, took the words right out of our mouths back in 1997 when we first saw it. Well done Mr Price, all these years later your article is still valid! Perhaps that’s not such a good thing, but we’ll take it up now anyway! So with the very kind permission of the wonderful MacUser (leading Mac Magazine), it’s equally wonderful editor, Karen Harvey and the no less wonderful writer himself Stuart Price, we are including here the very same article.

Small Business Tips – It's Never The Perfect Time

Many people wait for things to be “perfect” before they pursue their dreams and goals. They wait for the perfect conditions, the perfect attitude, and the perfect time of year. They really want to achieve their goals … but the time just isn’t right. In business they wait to take action on things they need to do to grow their business until they have their strategic plan in place, until staff turnover settles down, until they stop being so busy, until they get a few more clients. They really want to get around to taking the actions they need to do to grow their business … but the time just isn’t right.

The Science of Differentiation

There is enough evidence in the annals of branding to convince even the most skeptical small business owner that differentiation is a critical component of building a successful brand – yet there are very few that embrace the concept. For those of you that are not convinced, there is another way to look at differentiation - through brain science. The human brain, in its mysterious glory, thrives on differentiation.

Can You Change Your Destiny?
Anyone can make great strides towards advancing in the direction of their destiny – but it takes a definite shift in attitude, a definite shift in action, and a bit of courage…

All ya need is Attitude and Ownership to have selling success
This is what separates the successful from all the others

Excellence vs. Perfection
At some point, we have to settle for "excellence" and go for it! I'm not talking about being sloppy or settling for mediocrity, but in most cases, excellence is good enough.

Passing Up Good for Great

Work/life balance requires surrender of part of one area - whether it's time spent on work or time spent on personal matters - in favor of the other. But we don't generally like giving up anything we want. We want it all, and we want it all now. Maturity requires us to recognize that perhaps we can have it all (though that too is open to question), but we certainly can't have it all at the same time. The single most useful skill for deciding how to arrange this work/life balance is the ability to pass up good for great. Learning that skill requires that we be able to recognize what's good and what's great, to identify appropriate time frames to help with the good/great evaluation, and to guard our decisions zealously.

Leadership – Does your business pass the Colin Powell test?
What is leadership? What identifies a leader within a business?

Mediocrity at Work

Mediocrity can be seen as the decision to produce an inferior to middling performance. Take a moment to reflect on your Company and notice what efforts are made regarding pride in performance and attitude to work in general. If you are noticing that your team seem happy to accept that: • Okay is good enough, or that • Some effort is better than none - or even that; • We’re okay as long as we break even You could be part of a growing number of companies and corporations who are experiencing the ‘Mediocre Phenomenon’.

What Does The Secret Have To Do With Great Leadership?
"The Secret" has the most talked about movie in 2007 -- selling millions of copies across the globe. So much so that Rhonda Byrnes - its producer -- was named one of the most influential people of 2007. What does "The Secret" have to do with great leadership? Read this article and find out how.

Getting There
Zig Ziglar said, ”You can get anything out of life, if you’re prepared to help enough other people to get what thy want.” But you have to know what you want and how you plan to get it, and then take action, before you can create anything.

Action and Speed Creates Results
Taking action with speed sets successful entrepreneurs apart from those that dawdle, and therefore stay in mediocrity. Small business owners and entrepreneurs have the edge in this regard. They can take action with speed, because they, unlike many larger organisations, can decide quickly and then move forward...

Sales Success Tip-Become a Sales Champion
You can be a sales champion by overcoming the obstacles to your success. Often the biggest obstacles you will face originate from the same place...within you.

In Pursuit of Excellence
It is very easy in today’s ‘quick fix’ society to sacrifice quality and give in to mediocrity.

A Shocking Revelation
This is what makes the difference between mediocrity and greatness.

Innovate
How many entrepreneurs have you met who have gone out of business, simply because they failed to keep up with the times and with their competition? Innovation is the key to beating mediocrity.

Sales Success Tip-You Can Have It, But...
I guess it shouldn't surprise me anymore, but I am constantly amazed at those who think success is too hard. Those that don't want to work for it. Those who don't want to know how to achieve greatness, because all they aspire to is mediocrity. YOU can be great, but YOU have to want it!

Lessons on Excellence
The Road to "the Top" comes through constant practice and is paved by the pursuit of excellence. Remember, mediocrity is miles from excellence. Mediocrity is easy, unnoticed, uninspiring, and boring. Excellence is difficult, visible, inspiring and fun.

Can a garden produce top fruit if it is never weeded?
There is an eerie phenomenon going on in our society. It is starting at a tender age and creeping into the business world as well. If left alone, it will eventually lead us to mediocrity.

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