Be Different or be dead

August 7, 2023

5 simple things you can do to become an audacious achiever

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5 simple things I did to become an audacious achiever.

The Achievers Mantra:  “Doing it is 10 times better than talking about it!”

These 5 Moves enabled me, as a leader, to achieve superlative performance as our organization marched to A BILLION IN SALES.

#1. Be DiFFERENT. — it’s really difficult to make a positive impression on the career decision makers when you’re indistinguishable in the crowd.

Being part of a larger entity with no unique characteristics makes you invisible and that’s a problem for someone who has greater aspirations for themselves.

My simple process to gain recognition and the chance at personal growth:

▪️Identify the things your organization declares are vital to its success. What does it care about in terms of achieving superior levels of performance? What are the key strategic imperatives in its plan?

▪️Determine how you can contribute to these strategic requirements in a different way that no one else does. Be the ONLY one that does what you do in the way you do it.

Key point: achievers aren’t different for the sake of being different. They’re different in a way that the organization CARES about.

Here are ten of my favourite ‘un’ words that describe the behavior of someone who is on the BE DiFFERENT journey:

              ✔️unforgettable
              ✔️undaunted
              ✔️ uncompromisable
              ✔️ unbelievable
              ✔️ unrelenting
              ✔️ unbeatable
              ✔️ uncommon
              ✔️ unusual
              ✔️ unfazed
              ✔️ unbeaten

#2. Accept imbalance. — Accept an imbalance in your life.

Achievers are usually ‘all in’ to the challenge of standing out and separating themselves from those around them and delivering a consistent high level of performance in terms of meeting and exceeding the organization’s objectives.

And yes, that usually means that their personal life takes a back seat and balance becomes an elusive goal to attain.

#3. Serve people. — The Achieving Leader leads by serving around the workplace, asking “How can I help?”.

Awesome strategy execution depends on employees performing their roles with superb precision and ease, which means the bureaucracy and ‘grunge’ that typically gets in the way must be removed.

Look at the time management plan of any Achiever and you’ll discover that they spend a disproportionate amount of their time with teams who are critical to the execution of the organization’s strategy looking for ways to make their jobs easier.

People notice.

You earn the ‘Achiever’ tag.

#4. Tolerate pain. — The common expression “You’re on the bleeding edge of change.” accurately describes this Achiever prerequisite.

Achievers have learned to absorb and tolerate high levels of pain as they push their envelope of change in the face of opposing forces.

Defenders of the status quo cannot be vanquished with logic and intellectual prowess. They can only be conquered through relentless tenacity and denial of pain.

Without an indifference to pain, a leader becomes an ‘ordinary manager’ who simply cannot move the yardsticks forward enough to achieve extraordinary gains.

#5. Be undeniable. — Achievers won’t be put off their goal.

They move inexorably towards the intended finish line and there’s nothing anyone or anything can do to prevent them from achieving its intended purpose.

Achievers have the ‘undeniability factor’ working for them. When they put their mind to doing something, they simply cannot be denied their intended outcome.

These are the attributes of undeniability ‘masters’:

▪️They are tenacious goal setters with a substantial number of them in the audacious category.
Their goal setting infatuation makes them the antithesis of most people who thrive on activity and business and achieve terribly little.

▪️When they set their sights on a goal, they’re all in. They’re not ‘slightly interested’ in achieving their goal; it’s a drive in their gut that makes them move on relentlessly.

▪️They are brave: they are fearless in pursuit of their end game.
Trepeditiousness knows no part of them.
They understand the risks but nevertheless drive forward often right into the face of adversaries.
Walking into a buzz saw isn’t a pleasant experience for them, but they’re ok with doing it if it’s a requisite to achieving their purpose.

▪️They have a stable of like minded (but different) mentors to draw on for advice and guidance consistent with each unique journey they pursue.
Undeniables hunt for the ‘been there done it’ mentor and they accept nothing less.

These 5 Moves were instrumental in my success in achieving breakthrough results.

They will work for you too!

Cheers,
Roy
My 50+ Podcast Shows that will change your life.

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‘Audacious’ is my latest…

• Posted 8.7.23 at 04:53 am by Roy Osing
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June 23, 2023

“Welcome to the Roy Osing Story” Podcast

Standing Out, Defining the Fox, & Being “The Only One”

EPISODE OVERVIEW:

“Have you heard the one about that guy who built a billion dollar company? You know, the one that talks about becoming “the only one”.

Watch or listen now to learn how you can differentiate yourself in business personally, and as an organization. And according to this man, that’s how you experience billion dollar success.

He’s going to walk us through his life story, explain the key elements of success that you and I can learn from and apply, and then he’s going to share with us the practical steps of how to take the next step in our own journey.

Today’s guest is a gentleman, an entrepreneur, and an expert at growing organizations. He helps people recognize their worth, and is a catalyst for growth in their lives.

He’s written seven books, led multiple organizations, and even though we don’t mention this in the show, he’s balanced it all and been married now for over 56 years!

Ladies & Gentlemen, welcome to the Roy Osing story!”

— David Pasqualone, Host, The Remarkable People Podcast

• Posted 6.23.23 at 06:54 am by Roy Osing
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June 12, 2023

It makes absolutely no sense to seek ‘inclusion’; here’s why

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It makes absolutely no sense to seek ‘inclusion’; here’s why…

Why would you want to fight to be included in the herd with everyone else?

The current raging narratives on the topic of ‘inclusion’ are baffling to me.

To me, inclusion is just another way of saying you want to be a recognized member of the common herd.

You want the same rights as other herd members.

You want the same protection the herd offers to others.

You want to be accepted by others in the herd.

You feel ‘marginalized’ by a crowd so you want to be a part of it.

Be included in the herd and you will be lost.

This incessant drive by some to ‘break into the crowd’ has more potential negative consequences than it does opportunities for the inclusion members.

Being absorbed by copycats, sameness, common thinking, average performance, ‘acceptable’ norms, standard behaviors, and bland personas doesn’t provide the inclusionist any comfort at all.

Rather it creates an environment ripe with personal risk.

My reader won’t be surprised when I say that successful people strive to separate themselves from the crowd NOT be a part of it.

They look to be different from others in a way people CARE about.

So I find it rather ironic that even though the widespread yearning to be included actually has a huge downside for its advocates, there is screaming demand for it.

Rejoice if you’re already outside the box of sameness.

Look for ways to leverage your unique faction position into an opportunity to further distance yourself from the herd and morph yourself into something even more special than you already are.

Longing to be part of the masses may seem to be a desirable endgame.

But be careful what you wish for.

Cheers,
Roy
My 50+ Podcast Shows that will change your life.

Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

‘Audacious’ is my latest…

• Posted 6.12.23 at 04:51 am by Roy Osing
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May 8, 2023

4 exciting breakaway moves to leave ‘the herd of sameness’

4 exciting breakaway moves to leave ‘the herd of sameness’.

The herd of sameness.
The undifferentiated mass where everyone’s the same.
Where compliance rules.
Where conformity reigns supreme.
Where risks are avoided.
Where no one stands out.
Where commonness and average describe its constituents.
Where momentum from the past defines its direction.
Where innovation is missing in action.

What I mean by ‘breakaway’.

▪️divergence.
▪️radical change,
▪️sudden attack or movement,
▪️’violent’ exit away from the herd.

For those of you who have followed my work—books, blogs, podcasts—you know that I advocate choosing a journey that others don’t.

Finding a way forward that serves others in ways that others don’t.
Discovering your ‘sweet spot’ in a world where copying runs rampant and originality is a lost art.

Some might say that’s what ‘pivoting’ is all about.

No it’s not.

A pivot is a change of direction from the past. It’s an incremental move away from past momentum. It’s a shift making use of the competencies that have been developed in the past.

A breakaway move is disruptive.

It reinvents the playing field by virtue of the move you make. It dismisses the past in terms of reliance and usefulness; it isn’t used to inform the future.

I took a startup to A BILLION IN SALES by creating these 4 breakaway moves intended to create something NEW that could drive miraculous performance.

Move #1. BE DiFFERENT!

▪️Don’t COPY.
Copying what others do keeps you in The herd of sameness. Look for ways to CREATE, not copy. Purge ‘best in class’ from your vault of business tools.

▪️Avoid CLAPTRAP.
Stop thinking of yourself as faster, better, best, leader or #1.

“We provide the best customer service.” is pure conjecture offered by the company spewing the words.

Start thinking of how you can become The ONLY One that does what you do in satisfying what is compelling and relevant for people.

▪️Shed ASPIRATIONS.
Ground yourself when it comes to defining what makes you special. A helium-filled 10,000-foot aspirational declaration doesn’t help convince people to do business with you.

“We are in business to save our home planet” may make the organization feel good about itself, but it does little to make it perfectly clear why they, and no one else, should have your business.

The ONLY Statement puts precision to your promise. It’s clear, measurable and understandable. It’s your Ground Zero.

Move #2. EXECUTE!

Academics and other so-called ‘experts’ have convinced us that the strategy is the critical element of high performing organizations.
They preach that the Plan must be elegant—by using their quantitative toolset—and it must be ‘perfect’—by accurately predicting the outcome of the Plan.

As a result, we spend 80% of our time trying to get the Plan absolutely ‘right’ in an imperfect world with stochastic events relentlessly bombarding us.

Stop! My experience in marching to A BILLION is that EXECUTION is the planning element that needs more attention than the Plan itself.

Get the Plan ‘just about right’ and execute it flawlessly is the real prescription for unbelievable performance.

My Strategic Game Plan is based on the view that a perfectly workable Plan is to ‘head west’.

Start executing. Learn from how well you’re executing. Learn from any unpredictable events—‘body blows’—that have rocked you. Adjust the Plan. Keep executing.

Move #3. SERVE!

Actually, the leadership herd of sameness is large and growing.

Most leaders are rote practitioners. They follow the leadership pedagogy promulgated by theorist academics and HR pundits who all espouse the same fundamentals.

Tactics of leadership are encouraged as the things leaders should do in order to transform themselves into ‘great’ leaders.

And so, tactics dealing with communications, delegation, team building, planning and others rain down on the leadership crowd with everyone getting washed with the same soap.

This is a BIG problem in my view.

Tactics should always be informed by strategy; tactics without strategic context serve no productive purpose other than satisfying the ‘expert’ pushing the tactics under their definition of ‘the right thing to do’.

My leadership guide was always to enhance the ability of the organization to EXECUTE! our Strategic Game Plan pristinely and hence improve performance and results ever higher.

My prime focus was to embed myself in the workplace—I call it ‘Leadership by SERVING Around (LBSA)—asking one simple question: “How can I help?”

The ‘gold’ I discovered from my breakaway move for the most part was what had to be done to remove the mud and grunge in the organization that was preventing effective execution: ‘dumb’ rules, policies, processes, systems and procedures that didn’t enable strategy execution, they prevented it.

Drawing a direct Line of Sight for people between their specific job responsibilities and the strategy was another SERVING Leadership role I played. Simple reason why it was important: if people understood exactly what they had to do to effectively execute the strategy, chances are their actions would deliver the strategic outcomes expected.

LBSA didn’t make me a ‘better’ leader, it made me a DiFFerENT leader from everyone else in ways which were required to drive performance through the roof as we marched to A BILLION IN SALES.

Move #4. DO-IT-YOURSELF!

There are certain tasks that should be delegated, but there are also some things the leader should do themselves regardless of what the books say.

’Strategic Micromanagement’ is my way of describing the fact that certain tasks associated with the execution of the organization’s strategic imperatives should be owned by the leader. No delegation. Period!

Audacious breakaway leaders NEVER delegate the stuff relating to the execution of their strategy.

These are some of the actions I took personally.

▪️ I ‘put my fingerprints’ on architecting ‘The Customer Moment’, the customer engagement process required to deliver amazing service experiences. Defining the behaviors required to ‘dazzle’ a customer were led by me. I took on the job of ensuring the organization knew what ‘Moments’ looked like, and trained everyone to deliver them.

▪️ Selling the organization’s Strategic Game Plan to employees was MY responsibility. I didn’t delegate it to anyone. It was my way of hearing first hand what people thought of the journey we decided to take and what they needed to fulfill it.
I had to answer the tough questions about why we chose the path we were on and how we were going to be successful.

▪️ I took on the role of ‘Strategy Hawk’ for my organization. It was my personal responsibility to monitor how effectively our strategy was being implemented and what remedial actions had to be taken to get us back on track when our results strayed from objectives.

▪️ I personally participated in the recruitment process for frontline managers and, on occasion, frontline employees as well. Panel interviews were held with potential candidates and I played an active role asking questions and selecting who got the job.

My objectives were twofold: first, to ensure that people in positions ‘close to customers’—I consider the frontline manager to be one of the most important positions in any organization—had the right Leadership By Serving Around skills and attributes and, second, to model the interview dynamics—questions and probing—for the other managers in the room.

Frontline people are key to executing a strategy; I wanted my fingerprints on the frontline recruitment and selection process.

Conclusion

Inertia plagues the ability of organizations and individuals to achieve superlative levels of performance which can only be achieved by a desire to breakaway from the momentum of the past.

My breakaway roadmap worked for me, and I guarantee it will work for you if you trust it.

✔️ BE DiFFERENT!
✔️ EXECUTE!
✔️ SERVE!
✔️ DO-IT-YOURSELF!

Cheers,
Roy
My 50+ Podcast Shows that will change your life.

Check out my BE DiFFERENT or be dead Book Series

‘Audacious’ is my latest…

• Posted 5.8.23 at 07:00 am by Roy Osing
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