May 10, 2012

Most Winners Are Losers

Major irony: most winners are good at losing. A big Winner is probably a big Loser.

Ever heard of this guy?

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.”- Michael Jordan, on his 49th Birthday

What’s the scoop? Winners tend to be great LEARNERS. They do stuff and learn from the results they achieve. Then they do more stuff.
And, as a result they tend to fail alot. You can’t help but fail if you are constantly trying new things and there are few Silver Bullets out there.

It turns out that the absolutely best learning experience is FAILURE. Failing at something offers the greatest opportunity to learn (as long as you don’t make the same mistake twice which would indicate you didn’t learn anything!)

The best learners have more failures under their belt. They fail often and they learn. They apply what lessons they learn from failing. And they Win.

Do you have the guts to fail a lot? If so, you have the critical ingredient to win. And win BIG!

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 5.10.12 at 05:40 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

May 7, 2012

10 “Get Dirty” Rules For Success

Success. Achieve your goals. Hit your targets. Nail your objectives. Achieving anything substantial in my experience is an ugly matter. Rarely do things go as originally planned. Stuff happens as they say. The unpredictable rears it’s head. You have to scramble to get back on track. People sometimes don’t cooperate with you or keep their promises to you. It’s messy.

A Dirty Affair, really, this achievement thing. The reality is, though, if you are NOT prepared to get Dirty, chances are you won’t reach your desired destination.

What does “Get Dirty” look like?

1. Make FAST decisions.
2. Have Plan “B” ready-to-go.
3. Embrace Imperfection. Live it.
4. Do it. Try it. Fix it.
5. Work late hours.
6. Work outside your Comfort Zone. If you’re not uncomfortable you are playing it too safe and are likely to be called Mr Clean.
7. Bend the Rules that prevent you from getting it done. Find someone who will protect your back.
8. Do what needs to be done. Forget the Job Description and formal position responsibilities.
9. Eat lots of burgers and fries. Fast food fits your personal And you need all the “Comfy” food you can get.
10. Make mistakes. Lots of ‘em BUT make sure you learn something from each and every one of them.

Clean hands typifies someone who conjures up pristine theoretical solutions but has difficulty delivering.

Dirty hands, on the other hand, describes the practical person who is prepared to dive into the Grunge to deliver.

Want to succeed? Take a look at your hands.

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 5.7.12 at 03:44 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)

April 14, 2012

Momentum Management Can Be Deadly

Cut the Crap
Plan on the Run
Avoid Aspirational Intent

It is very easy to get into the relaxing position of staying the current course of your business. Continuing to manage your organizational affairs with the assumption that what got you here will get you where you need to get to. This is momentum management.

The reality is of course that the marketplace rarely lets us get away with this. It is always changing as a result of demand, competitive and economic factors. The most common case is economic fluctuations which can ravage businesses that continue to do things the way they have always done them assuming that eventually they will pay off.

When things are going well (growing demand for your services, loyal customers and healthy market position) we can disguise certain inefficiencies but when things are not going well we stand raw naked in the marketplace completely exposed and will be punished for our inadequacies.

I particularly like how Steve Gedeon from Ryerson Entrepreneur Institute Ted Rogers School of Business described this situation. He says ‘When the wind is blowing fast enough, even turkeys can fly. But as soon as that wind dies down, the turkeys start dropping.’

The point is that in the face of constant unpredictability you need to be driving change in your organization, you need to be a Change Leader.

You need to be forcing organizational discontinuity to prevent the momentum management dilemma from happening. I appreciate that change, particularly being the forcing agent of it, is uncomfortable. But if you want to be identified with moving your team successfully into the future and avoiding the recessionary road kill you really have no choice.

Th essence of Change Leadership is to BE DiFFERENT. To initiate new creative ways to cause an overwhelming distinction between you and your competitors. To Stand-Out not Fit-In.

And to take responsibility for this change within you organization. To take risks. Yes, to make mistakes but to learn from them. To be the BE DiFFERENT champion to which all Momentum Managers would like to aspire to, but never will due to the inertia they possess and the momentum they wish to promulgate.

Cheers,
Roy

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Posted 4.14.12 at 05:18 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (1)

March 15, 2012

Dream Fierce

I have an issue with Dreams.

A Dream is aspirational. It is nebulous and lacks the precision necessary to execute the specific actions necessary to fulfill it.

It’s I’ll defined. It’s a cloud. A helium filled balloon. A wish. A kluge of possibilities.

Hardly something that will guide you to it’s realization without a ton of work. Translating what it requires you to do on Ground Zero. In the trenches where things get messy.

But if you must dream, DREAM FIERCE.

Dream in excruciating detail so you can SEE what you have to do to achieve it.

Dream with the precision necessary to see an implementation path.

Dream with the passion that you will need to stay your course through set-backs and disappointment.

Dream with the adrenalin rush that will make so tenacious in driving to results you will surprise yourself.

Dream with purpose.

Dream to execute.

Dream to Get it Done.

Dream to Stand-Out NOT Fit-In.

Cheers,
Roy
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Posted 3.15.12 at 05:31 am by Roy Osing | Permalink | Comments (0)