Summit Consulting Group - The Balancing Act® E-mail Newsletter

Balancing Act #201: Nay 2016

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BALANCING ACT: BLENDING LIFE, WORK, AND RELATIONSHIPS®

A free monthly newsletter about balancing life, work, and relationships based on the books and popular workshops conducted by Alan Weiss, Ph.D. Past copies are archived on our web site: http://www.summitconsulting.com.

ISSN 1934-3116

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Balancing act is in four sections this month:

Techniques for balance
Musings
The human condition: Inattention
ORTIYKMWOYBNT-O Department

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Techniques for balance

You only get one first impression. If you’re not ready to create a great one, hold off on the opportunity.
Ask someone trying to sell you (a private school, a cell phone, a vacation spot) what the biggest weakness is of the offer. If they can’t answer or say “none,” run.
You’re as young as you act, but you’re as old as your fears.
Always define what you mean by “as soon as possible.” I find that contractors and phone salespeople are using vastly different definitions from mine. (A guy told me that ASAP meant three weeks for him. I told him I was taking him off the job ASAP: immediately.)
Riding a motorcycle at speed between two normal traffic lanes of cars and trucks is insane, far more dangerous than downhill skiing, bungee jumping, or skydiving.
As soon as you’ve lost track, stop the speaker. Don’t try to fake it or catch on later, because the odds are that you won’t.
There are some people who prefer to suffer, and nothing you can do will help. Move on.
The only groups it appears you can ridicule and mock without suffering the retribution of political correctness seem to be the overweight and the elderly. And for that, we should all be ashamed.
The next time you’re feeling sorry for yourself, Google Normandy and look at the photos of the cemetery there.
Billy Joel’s prophetic words: “Don’t go changing to try to please me….”

Musings

I’m sitting on a high speed train traveling with my wife from Milan to Venice. A decidedly freelance Indian porter took us from the limo Emirates had provided at the Milan Airport to a waiting area, but assured us someone else would come to take our bags to the train. Sure enough, at the appointed time, an “authorized” porter appeared to take us to our designated coach, bag and baggage.

The Italian immigration agents in a deserted Milan airport were dressed like rear admirals. The train conductor was a dignified looking man dressed like airplane pilot. Our limo driver was one of many who met us in the Emirates lounge where they assigned drivers to passengers. (All first class and business customers receive free limo service at both ends of the trip within certain distances.) He drove a Mercedes hybrid in true Italian fashion: At 80 miles (not kilometers) per hour, pull up to within six feet of the car in front of you until it vacates the left lane.

As the scenery rushes by in fast-forward, we see “old Italy” and new, sleepy farm houses on serene streams and modern businesses on slide-rule-precision streets. There are cows and carillons, MacDonald’s and mechanization.

In Venice, the old architecture evokes the Republic, once a maritime power. Fish schools of boats ply the canal, a matrix of movement. Motorboats pass gondolas. Hotel lobbies are at waterside. You turn a corner and the gondolier casually mentions, “That was where Marco Polo lived.” Looking out from my balcony, most of what I see is older than my country.

We sightsee, I have some business meetings, I easily run my business from here. The Danieli hotel is stately and dignified—with modern wifi, cable TV, and amenities. I am American, but a global citizen. I can run my business from anywhere, and have.

This is the world to come. Rooted in a vivid history, but transforming into a global megalopolis. “Global village” is the wrong metaphor, reeking of farms and squalor. Instead, it is simply “one world,” with diversity, opportunity, and fulfillment.

The human condition: Initiative

I have a mantra: I never argue with success. If someone tells me they have secured all their business through cold calling, I tell them that’s great, even though it’s a bizarre exception. Tell me that you can convince people over the phone without ever meeting them, good for you, though I’d never recommend it.

Some of my coaching clients—usually coaches themselves—want to know what my coaching regimen is, or even try to superimpose their own. I tell them that it differs with each person, and I use my initiative. A few of them are aghast, but realize I’ve already cashed their check.

When I ran global sales forces, I offered all the assistance I knew how to provide, but if someone had a different method that worked and was consistent with our values it was just fine with me. There has been historical criticism about “throwing someone the car keys and a map of the territory,” but for quite a few, that was sufficient.

I think everyone—and especially our kids—should be encouraged to use their creativity, and to fall back on procedure, protocol, and process if that doesn’t work. I’ve experienced doctors prescribing medicines meant for one malady to deal with an entirely different one (which is where Rogaine originated). I’ve told clients to simply paint the walls instead of launching into costly team-building efforts (people were staring at red walls all day). I love car dealers who throw you the keys and say, “Take it for the weekend, see how you like it,” instead of sitting in the back seat giving you directions as if you’re back in school.

An Apple employee at a genius bar in Sydney, failing with my dead laptop holding the slides for my full-day presentation, said, “Let me try something completely different,” and resurrected the machine. Clients have told me, as if informing me for the first time, “That’s highly counterintuitive.”

Yes it is. Yes I am.

Our talent is squelched when we insist on never breaking the rules, never deviating from the path. We become faithful followers but boring people, and underperformers.

Outstanding people tend to be maverick, not mainstream.

Alan Weiss Development Experiences

Periscope Broadcasts

Download the app on your mobile device and follow me @BentleyGTCSpeed for regular, live broadcasts on self-worth and self-esteem.

Alan in Sydney

Park Hyatt Hotel

June 6-7

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/alans-workshops-in-sydney-australia/

Join me for a day on dramatic business growth and another on creating the mindset to sustain it. We already have over 40 people. I only come to Sydney every 2-3 years. There is a third-day bonus session on consulting in high stakes transitions: http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/consulting-in-high-stakes-transitions/

The Mystery Workshop

February 7, Dallas

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/mystery-workshop-experience/

No, I'm not telling you what it's about, but it will be new, novel, and highly productive. Take advantage of $400 off the regular fee if you act before August. We already have 20 people willing to take the chance!

Retreat: Becoming More Productive

June 28-28, Rhode Island

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/alans-2016-retreat-experience/

Change your routines, set valid priorities, adhere to personal metrics, master the art of refusal, increase your speed, recognize synchronicity.

Retreat for Couples: The Non-Silent Partner

May 25-26, East Coast US

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/alans-2016-retreat-experience/

Creating the partner synthesis, resolving inevitable conflict, creating "meta-talk," sharing abundance thinking, self-counseling, understanding motives and feelings.

The Transatlantic Workshops

Featuring Matt Kolbusa from Hamburg

October 24-25, Washington, DC

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/the-transatlantic-workshops/

You’ll hear numerous examples to enter high-fee territory. Taking our own experience as the starting point, we’ll describes how to gradually increase project volumes from $50k to $100K, to $200K, to $300K and, finally, even to $500k. What errors were along the way? What were the profits of these projects and what will they be in future? What erroneous reasoning and attitudes do we have to overcome to achieve this development? Based on hit workshops in Munich and Hamburg.

Million Dollar Consulting® College

Newport, RI

December 13-16

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/million-dollar-consulting-college-december/

My longest sustained offering, enormously popular after more than a decade. Join me and a small group for an intense four days to dramatically build your business, whether beginner or veteran, at a fabulous property.

Thought Leadership 2016

October 5-7

Four Seasons, Palm Beach

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/2016-thought-leadership-seventh-annual-conference/

We sell-out every year and for our next one I've secured Harvard's Dan Gilbert, the expert on happiness, as my special guest for a discussion as well as dinner. His TED talk has been viewed by over 15 million people thus far. Three seats remain.

Million Dollar Consulting® Convention 2017

April 26-28, Chicago

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/million-dollar-consulting-convention/

After smash hits in Atlanta and Los Angeles, our third annual event will be in Chicago. We'll have five general sessions, six concurrent sessions, panel discussions, networking reception, and much more. Save $200 before August 1.

Endorsed Programming

http://www.alanweiss.com/growth-experiences/licensed-and-endorsed-development-experiences/

I offer fabulous resources through global experts in areas such as positioning, wealth building, fitness, social media excellence, coaching, and other areas, all of whom I personally work with and support. Consider this your "galaxy of expertise."

Only Read This If You Know Me Well Or You’ll Be Needlessly Ticked-Off

I arrive at the Hamburg Hyatt Regency at night, and the desk manager showed me to my suite. It was fine, but as in many hotels these days, the lighting was awful. After she left, I was astonished to find that there was no shower, only a bathtub with a hand-held gizmo. I made a mental note to complain the next day.

In the morning, after using the awkward arrangement to bathe and wash my hair, I painfully hit my elbow while drying off—on the shower door across the room.

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Don't ask me what you should do, explain what you're thinking of doing. -- AW

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