Powerful Results Amongst Adversity

How can we achieve powerful results even amongst adversity? Over the past couple of days I have been reflecting on the personal strength that comes when we confront life's challenges and adversities with courage and determination. At a very young age I was taught a very simple truth, "Life is 10% that happens to me and 90% how I react to it."

They Succeeded Through Adversity, So Will You

The lessons of history serve to remind us that people of courage and determination have found success and become influences for good even amongst adversity. The following quote from Ted Engstrom explains this point perfectly:

"Cripple him, and you have Sir Walter Scott. Lock him in a prison cell, and you have John Bunyan. Bury him in the snows of Valley Forge and you have a George Washington. Land him in poverty, and you have an Abraham Lincoln. Subject him to bitter religious strife, and you have a Disraeli. Strike him with Infantile Paralysis, and you have a Franklin D. Roosevelt, the only President of the United States to be elected to four terms of office. Burn him so severely in a schoolhouse fire that the doctors say he will never walk, and you have a Glenn Cunningham, who set a world record in 1934 for running the mile in 4 minutes 6.7 seconds.

Deafen a genius composer who continues to compose some of the world's most beautiful music, and you have a Beethoven. Drag him more dead than alive out of a rice paddy in Vietnam, and you have a Rocky Bleier, that beautiful runningback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Have him or her born black in a society filled with racial determination, and you have a Booker T. Washington, Harriet Tubman or Martin Luther King Jr. Have him born of parents who survived a Nazi concentration camp, paralyze him from the waist down at the age of four, and you have an Itzhak Perlman, the incomparable violinst. Call him "retarded" and write him off as "uneducated," and you have an Albert Einstein.

After losing both his legs in an airplane crash, let an RAF fighter pilot fly, and you have World War II ace Douglas Bader, who was captured by the Germans three times and escaped three times on two artificial limbs. Label him too stupid to learn, and you have a Thomas Edison. Label him a hopeless alcoholic, and you have a Bill Wilson, the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous . Tell her she is too old to start painting at 80, and you have a Grandma Moses. Blind him at age 44, and you have a John Milton, who 10 years later wrote Paradise Lost. Call him dull and hopeless and flunk him in the 6th grade and you have a Winston Churchhill.

Tell a young boy who loved to draw and sketch that he had no talent, and you have a Walt Disney. Rate him mediocre in chemistry, and you have a Louis Pasteur. Take a crippled child whose only home was an orphanage, and you have a James West, who became the first chief executive of the Boy Scouts of America."

Life is 10% what happens to us and 90% of we react. That is the secret to powerful results amongst adversity. We must not give up, but move forward with courage and determination to overcome.

Branding: Compare and Contrast

As a marketer, I enjoy comparing and contrasting different brands. The video below is one of my favorites on branding. The video walks you through the stark contrast between Apple and Microsoft branding. It answers the question, "What if Microsoft developed the iPod packaging?"

What It Takes To Be a Strong Leader - 3 Proven Techniques

What does it take to be a strong leader? When you first hear this question, you might quickly answer, "It takes smarts, It takes courage, It takes the the ability to jump in and lead." Of course these answers are true, but during lunch today I witnessed the true essence of what it takes to be a strong leader.

Everyone Can Be A Strong Leader

Today I went to Chick-fil-A at the mall with a group of colleagues from work. Like every time we go, there was a line and we were greeted with smiles and great service. We ordered our food and took our seat at a food court table. After we were almost done eating, someone from Chick-fil-A dressed in a white shirt and tie stopped by our table and asked if he could refill our drinks and take away our trash. He even asked, "How was the food?" For a second, we looked at each other puzzled, we were at the food court in a mall, not at a sit down restaurant.

Once he left, we watched him go around and refill drinks and take trash away from every Chick-fil-A customer in the food court. Each of us at the table were marketers, so we began to discuss this experience form a marketing perspective. Come to find out that the young man dressed in the white shirt and tie was the manager of the Chick-fil-A store in the food court. After a few minutes of discussing the power of this brand experience, we turned our discussion to leadership. This young manager demonstrated the essence of what it takes to be a strong leader. Below are the three areas of leadership we discussed:

3 Proven Techniques to be a Strong Leader

1. Roll Up Your Sleeves: To be a strong leader, you must not ask anyone on your team to do anything that you are not willing to do yourself. Roll up your sleeves, there will be specific times when you will need to stop being a manager and just work along side your team, helping them accomplish their work and objectives. When you do this simple act, you will gain the respect of your team(s) and they will follow you.

2. Lead by Example: The young Chick-fil-A manager demonstrated this by walking around the food court and helping each customer. A team meeting discussing the new policy of helping customers at the food court will only get you so far. You will need to lead by example, which is the most powerful leadership technique you can use daily.

3. Show You Care: The last of the 3 proven leadership techniques is to show you care. Show you care by getting to know each team member on a personal level. When you talk to them, make sure you listen (obey the 70/30 rule), if you do, you will learn important insights into what motivates them at work and in life. Showing you care will take time, but a with this daily focus you will become a strong leader in the lives of your team members.

Thanks to Chick-fil-A for not forgetting the most important principle in business, "Always take care of your customer!"

Inc. 500 Class of 2010

Today I was reading the Inc.com story entitled, "Editor's Letter: Meet the Inc. 500 Class of 2010" by Jane Berentson. Each year I anxiously await the announcement of Inc. 500. It is very inspirational to see who is on the list of the fastest growing private companies and read their success stories. Of the 500 companies honored, eighty-four companies returned for the second time and 17 for the third time.

As I was reading the article, my excitement grew even more when Jane Berentson highlighted our company (AtTask, Inc.) as one of the 17 companies returning for the third straight year. It is a privilege to be part of a great company and work with such talented people. To be recognized among the fastest growing private companies is a great honor.

Click here to read the full Inc.com article, "Editor's Letter: Meet the Inc. 500 Class of 2010"

Click here to read the full article entitled, "Editor's Letter: Meet the Inc. 500 Class of 2010"

Business News Daily Interview

I few weeks ago I was interviewed by businessnewsdaily.com. The interviewer, Michelle Bryner was working on a story around how small businesses can benefit from project management software. Like most stories you have to be able to respond quickly with information and assets that are that relevant to the developing story. On August 26, 2010, the interview was published. (Click here to read the published online story)

Click here to read the full article