Jon Gordon's Blog, page 2

Ways to Build Trust

In my book Soup I discussed how trust is one of the essential ingredients to build a great relationship, winning team and culture of greatness. Without trust you can’t have engaged relationships and without engaged relationships you won’t be a successful leader, manager, sales person, team member, principal, teacher, nurse, coach, etc.

In this spirit I wanted to share some thoughts about how we can build the trust that is essential for great relationships. Many of the suggestions you are already know. Many ideas I share are common sense. However, I’ve found that so often amidst the chaos of life and work we forget the simple and powerful truths that matter most. So here are 11 thoughts about trust. Feel free to share these simple reminders with your leaders, colleagues and team.

1. Say what you are going to do and then do what you say!

2. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Frequent, honest communication builds trust. Poor communication is one of the key reasons marriages and work relationships fall apart.

3. Trust is built one day, one interaction at a time, and yet it can be lost in a moment because of one poor decision. Make the right decision.

4. Value long term relationships more than short term success.

5. Sell without selling out. Focus more on your core principles and customer loyalty than short term commissions and profits.

6. Trust generates commitment; commitment fosters teamwork; and teamwork delivers results. When people trust their team members they not only work harder, but they work harder for the good of the team.

7. Be honest! My mother always told me to tell the truth. She would say, “If you lie to me then we can’t be a strong family. So don’t ever lie to me even if the news isn’t good.”

8. Become a coach. Coach your customers. Coach your team at work. Guide people, help them be better and you will earn their trust.

9. Show people you care about them. When people know you care about their interests as much as your own they will trust you. If they know you are out for yourself, their internal alarm sounds and they will say to themselves “watch out for that person.”

10. Always do the right thing. We trust those who live, walk and work with integrity.

11. When you don’t do the right thing, admit it. Be transparent, authentic and willing to share your mistakes and faults. When you are vulnerable and have nothing to hide you radiate trust.

What did I miss? Join the conversation and share your thoughts about trust below or on my Facebook page.

Win or Lose

Only one team wins the Super Bowl.

For each player on the New England Patriots going to Disney World after the game there is a player on the Seattle Seahawks going home disappointed without the joy of victory.

It’s a lot like life.

Sometimes we win, sometimes we lose.

Sometimes we win the account, the game, the job promotion, the award and sometimes we lose the very thing we want most.

Winning matters. Losing matters. But in life what matters most is what we do with our wins and losses.

When we win do we become complacent or stay humble and hungry?

People often say that success breeds success but often it breeds complacency. After a win people think they can just show up and achieve the same result, forgetting the effort, determination and mindset it took to achieve the win.

To continue winning it’s essential to turn the euphoria of winning into a fire of burning desire that fuels your continuous improvement, passion, and quest for excellence.

Even more important than what we do after our wins is how we respond to our losses. Do we give up or come back stronger? Do we allow the loss to act like a cancer that eats away at us for the rest of our life or do we turn it into a learning opportunity that leads to our healthy growth?

I certainly know what it feels like to lose. I’ve lost many arguments with my wife. : ) The Energy Bus was rejected by the first 30 publishers. As a sales person years ago I lost as many accounts as I won. I lost too many games as a Lacrosse player at Cornell and now I watch my children lose tennis matches and lacrosse games.

Everyone loses but the key is to make the loss stand for something and in my family LOSS now stands for:

LOSS (Learning Opportunity, Stay Strong)

When we lose we ask what we can learn from this loss and how we can improve because of it. Then we stay strong and work harder to get better.

This leads to more wins in the future…and also eventually more loses…and more learning opportunities and opportunities to stay strong and develop our character.

Through this process of winning and losing we learn the greatest lesson of all:

No matter how hard we work and how much we improve there will be times when we experience the worst of defeats instead of the greatest of victories. But ultimately life is about more than winning or losing. It’s about the lessons we learn, the character and strength we build and the people we become along the way.

Whether we win the Super Bowl or not, when we realize this we will surely be a winner in the game of life!

What are your thoughts about winning and losing? Join the conversation by leaving a comment below, on Facebook or Twitter.

-Jon

Choose Your Attitude

So I shared this Facebook message:

“Each morning you wake up you choose your attitude and the kind of day it’s going to be!”

A man sends me this message:

“Must be nice to be rich so you can get up in the morning and say that. Not for us who are suffering.”

I responded with this:

“Oh, I have suffered in my life. I was almost bankrupt. I had no insurance for my kids, no money and lost my job. But I started saying positive statements like this and focusing on the positive, praying a lot and gave my life to God and things eventually turned around. Challenges are a part of life. Don’t be a victim. Decide to be a victor. If I can help lets get on a call and hopefully I can encourage you.”

This man has it all backwards. I don’t say these positive statements because I am rich. I am rich because I choose my attitude. And by rich I mean in blessings and family and love. I use to blame everyone for why my life wasn’t how I wanted it to be. Now I thank God for how far I have come and am excited about who I’m becoming.

9 Tips to Help You Get Your Team on the Bus

Here are some best practices that I’ve learned working with various teams. These are strategies to overcome adversity, build positive teams, create a positive culture and more.

1. First it’s essential to have your team read the book and really make sure they read it. Mark Richt, the head coach of the University of Georgia even tested his players to make sure they read the book. Truth is I’ve had coaches give the book to their players but the players don’t read it so it doesn’t do any good. But I’ve found when the players read it and internalize the story, the book becomes a part of them and their attitude and approach. This makes a huge difference and it’s much more powerful than just a speech. The best time to have them read the book is before the season starts and even before training camp.

2. Create a vision with your coaches for your team this year. It could be a goal. It could be a mindset of how you want to approach each day. It could be a symbol of a big goal you want the team to achieve. For example, the Jaguars goal was to be the most explosive team in the NFL. Mark Richt’s goal was to get to the George Dome twice which meant if they played there a second time they were playing for the SEC championship. He even made t-shirts with a picture of his goal and gave them to the players. A picture is a powerful tool to visual success.

3. Print and hand out bus tickets available at www.theenergybus.com at the start of training camp, share the vision with your team and invite your team on the bus. If they read the book they will know why you are doing this. Let the players know they have to hand in their bus ticket to let you know they are on the bus and committed to you and the team. This creates buy-in from your team.

4. Have them sign the Positive Team Pledge, available at www.trainingcamp11.com and commit to a no complaining training camp. Mike Smith head coach of the Atlanta Falcons created a no complaining training camp and made it clear that the team would not allow negativity and complaining to hold them back.

5. Also have each player submit and post their One Word vision for the year. This is the one word they will put on the front of their bus to drive them to be their best.

6. In the weeks that follow make sure you and your fellow coaches reinforce the importance of staying positive, sharing positive energy and not being an energy vampire. For High schools it’s important to also convey this message to parents as well. Print and post the free posters available at www.theenergybus.com to reinforce your positive messages.

7. Celebrate those who bring positive energy, passion and enthusiasm to the locker-room, practice and games and confront those who are being an energy vampire. Make it clear that you will not allow negativity to sabotage the locker room and team.

8. During the season, if the team loses, help them stay focused on the vision, united as a team and positive through adversity and challenges. I’ve found that the ability and willingness to stay positive in the face of negativity and adversity is the biggest benefit of The Energy Bus.

9. Finally, keep reinforcing the principles and ingrain them into your team culture throughout the year. Having worked with so many teams I’ve realized that it’s not the book that makes the teams successful. The book is just a tool. You can give a team a bus but if you don’t have a driver of the bus the bus doesn’t move. So coach, remember you are the driver. And the leaders on your team are drivers. And no matter what happen during the season, keep driving your team with positive energy, faith and belief.

The No Complaining Rule

One Simple Rule is Having a Big Impact.

I didn’t invent the rule. I discovered it. One day I was having lunch with Dwight Cooper, a tall, thin, mild-mannered former basketball player and coach who had spent the last 15 years building and growing a company he co-founded into one of the leading nurse staffing companies in the world. Dwight’s company, PPR, was named one of Inc. Magazines Fastest Growing Companies several times but on this day it was named one of the best companies to work for in the country and Dwight was sharing a few reasons why.

Dwight told me about The No Complaining Rule. He said he had read The Energy Bus and realized that while energy vampires can sabotage your business and team so can subtle negativity in the form of complaining.

Dwight compared energy vampires to a kind of topical skin cancer. They don’t hide. They stand right in front of you and say, "Here I am." As a result you can easily and quickly remove them. Far more dangerous is the kind of cancer that is subtle and inside your body. It grows hidden beneath the surface, sometimes slow, sometimes fast, but either way if not caught, it eventually spreads to the point where it can and will destroy the body.

Complaining is this kind of cancer to an organization and Dwight had seen it ruin far too many. He was determined not to become another statistic and The No Complaining Rule was born. The rule is simple: You are not allowed to complain unless you also offer one or two possible solutions.

Dwight said, "We introduced the rule to everyone in the company and now share it during interviews with people who want to join our team. We let them know that if you are a complainer this isn’t the right place for you. If you want to focus on solving problems then we would love to have you and will surely listen to you."

I knew Dwight’s idea was brilliant. Every team and organization not only needs to feed the positive but must also weed the negative and the No Complaining Rule is a simple, positive way to turn negative energy into positive solutions.

The goal of the No Complaining Rule is not to eliminate all complaining; just mindless, chronic complaining that doesn’t help anyone. And the bigger goal is to turn justified complaints into positive solutions. After all, every complaint represents an opportunity to turn something negative into a positive. We can utilize customer complaints to improve our service. Employee complaints can serve as a catalyst for innovation and new processes. Our own complaints can serve as a signal letting us know what we don’t want so we can focus on what we do want. And we can use The No Complaining Rule to develop a positive culture at work.

Does it work? You bet. With one simple rule you prevent the spread of toxic negative energy and empower your team to improve, innovate and grow. Ever since learning about the rule and writing the book I’ve heard from hundreds of companies, schools and teams that have transformed their culture and team dynamic with it.

To begin the process simply:

1. Read the book.

2. Watch and share these No Complaining Videos with your team.

3. Utilize the individual and team No Complaining Action Plans in the back of the book.

4. Take the Are you a Complainer Assessment in the back of the book.

5. Discuss the cost of complaining and negativity with your team.

6. Post a few of these posters as reminders.

Are you going to adopt a No Complaining Rule? Share by leaving a comment below, on Facebook or Twitter.

14 Martin Luther King Jr. Quotes

In the spirit of MLK Day, here are 14 of my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quotes. On this special day let’s remember they were spoken by a man who changed the world with his words and actions. As we read them let’s think about ways we can live them.

LOVE

"I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.’

"Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend."

"I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. That is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant."

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that."

"Hatred paralyzes life; love releases it. Hatred confuses life; love harmonizes it. Hatred darkens life; love illuminates it."

"Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase."

"If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward."

HOPE

"We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope."

SERVICE

"Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’"

"Everybody can be great because everybody can serve."

UNITY and EQUALITY

"Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

"We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools."

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."

EXCELLENCE

"If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well."

What’s your favorite MLK Jr. quote and why? Leave a comment below.

-Jon

*Martin Luther King, Jr. photo by Marion S. Trikosko, 1964. Source: Library of Congress.

Photo believed to be public domain.

20 Tips for a Positive New Year 2015

Updated for 2015

1. Stay Positive. You can listen to the cynics and doubters and believe that success is impossible or you can trust that with faith and an optimistic attitude all things are possible.

2. Take a morning walk of gratitude. I call it a "Thank You Walk." It will create a fertile mind ready for success.

3. Make your first meal the biggest and your last meal the smallest. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a college kid with a maxed out charge card.

4. Zoom Focus. Each day when you wake up in the morning ask: "What are the three most important things I need to do today that will help me create the success I desire?" Then tune out all the distractions and focus on these actions.

5. Talk to yourself instead of listen to yourself. Instead of listening to your complaints, fears and doubts, talk to yourself and feed your mind with the words and encouragement you need to keep moving forward.

6. Choose faith instead of fear. Faith turns adversities and dead-ends into detours to a better outcome than you thought possible. {Tweet This}

7. Don’t chase dollars or success. Decide to make a difference and build meaningful relationships and success will find you. {Tweet This}

8. Get more sleep. You can’t replace sleep with a double latte.

9. Don’t waste your precious energy on gossip, energy vampires, issues of the past, negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in your purpose, people and the positive present moment.

10. Build your life and career with the 3 greatest success strategies of all. Love, Serve and Care.

11. Every day focus on your purpose. Remember why you do what you do. We don’t get burned out because of what we do. We get burned out because we forget why we do it.

12. Remember there’s no such thing as an overnight success. There’s no substitute for hard work.

13. Believe that everything happens for a reason and expect good things to come out of challenging experiences.

14. Implement the No Complaining Rule. If you are complaining, you’re not leading.

15. Read more books than you did in 2014. I happen to know of a few good ones. : )

16. Don’t seek happiness. Instead decide to live with passion and purpose and happiness will find you.

17. Focus on "Get to" vs "Have to." Each day focus on what you get to do, not what you have to do. Life is a gift not an obligation.

18. Each night before you go to bed complete the following statements:

I am thankful for __________.

Today I accomplished____________.

19. Smile and laugh more. They are natural anti-depressants.

20. Enjoy the ride. You only have one ride through life so make the most of it and enjoy it.

Download these tips as a Printable PDF Here >

How will you make 2015 more positive? Share by leaving a comment below, on Facebook, or Twitter.

-Jon

Top 11 Newsletters from 2014

Here is a listing of my Top 11 Newsletters from 2014 to help you kick-start 2015.

Culture, Leadership & Caring

Care More!

The Law of Generosity

Unbeatable

9 Ways to Show You Care

Make Your Life into a Masterpiece

Belief

Feeling is More Powerful than Hearing

Hall of Fame Integrity

9 Ways to be a Positive Communicator

Love All of It

3 Habits to Help Create Your Best Year Ever

1. Create a BFG. A Big Fun Goal. A BFG could be anything you want to experience or accomplish in 2015. It should be a BIG goal because it’s important to dream and think big. And it should also be FUN in that you have fun going after it and enjoy the process of trying to make it happen. I have found that we too often get so serious about our goals that we don’t have fun pursuing them. But this year can be different. Whether your BFG is to get a promotion, climb Mount Everest, write a book, visit Europe, move to America, learn to play the guitar, start a new business, win a championship, go on a mission trip to Haiti, start a charity, win a big account, learn to paint with water colors, or something else, you can have FUN while you make your BIG goal come alive! So over the next few weeks think about the possibilities for your BFG. Ask your team (work team and family team) to do the same.

2. Choose One Word. Instead of creating a New Year’s resolution that 87 percent of adults fail to keep choose one word to be your inspiration and focus for the year. I have been doing this for the past four years with my family and clients and it’s one of the most significant activities I have ever done. Once you choose a word, or it chooses you, make a painting or visit www.getoneword.com to make a poster and put it somewhere as a reminder to live your word for the year. You can watch my segment on The Today Show last year for more ideas and to understand how it works or read One Word that will Change Your Life for tons of ideas on how schools, businesses and sports teams have benefited from this habit. My words (Purpose, Surrender, Serve, Pray) have shaped me in many ways the past 4 years and I’m excited about my word for 2015: RISE. What will your one word be in 2015? I love hearing people’s words and hope you will share it with me. Just post it on our blog, Facebook page, or tag me on Twitter.

3. Do This One Thing. I’ve been doing it for 11 years and it’s changed my life. Each day I take a walk of gratitude I call a "Thank you walk". While walking I practice gratitude and pray. The research shows you can’t be stressed and thankful at the same time. So when I’m feeling blessed I’m not stressed. Each walk also fills my body and brain with positive emotions and endorphins that uplift me rather than the stress hormones that drain and slowly kill me. By the end of my walk I have created a fertile mind that appreciates what I have and is ready for great things to happen. If you do this walk just one day you won’t experience a huge benefit. But if you do it daily you’ll notice incredible benefits and major life change. Think of your mind as a garden. One day of weeding and feeding the garden doesn’t make a huge difference. But if you weed and feed each day, each week, each year the garden of your mind will become magnificent.

What is the most important thing you do to create your best year ever? Let us know on our blog or Facebook page.

-Jon

Hall of Fame Integrity

A few weeks ago I attended the Cornell University Athletic Hall of Fame dinner where 11 new people were being inducted and honored. For the record, I was not one of them. : )

As I sat in the audience and listened to the honorees give their speeches, the stories they told contained lessons that went far beyond sports and I knew I had to share a few of these gems with you.

Kate Varde, a record setting softball player who graduated in 2004 didn’t talk about herself. She talked about her teammate Joanne Keck instead. Kate said, "As I look out at a room full of accomplished athletes, I’m aware that we all understand the sacrifices we make in pursuit of a common goal, but when that sacrifice threatens our personal success it is often much harder to act with the dignity and poise expected of us. An example of this is when I came to Cornell as a freshman and was chosen to start over a three year starter, Joanne Keck. I earned this spot because of my success with a bat, not a glove. It would have been natural for Joanne to treat me with anger and resentment, but instead she was the first person on the field to celebrate with me when things went well and the first person to pick me up when I was down. She showed the strength, selflessness, and grit that exemplify what true class looks like. Even when it was clear that we were competing for the same playing time, Joanne was a mentor to me. She advised me about the intricacies of the position despite how it might impact her personally. If I hit an important home run, she would be the first person lined up to congratulate me and celebrate the victory. When I made an error, she would be there to pat me on the back and tell me to keep my head up. She was a true leader that put the team first and reveled in our team"s success."

David Eckel, a cross country track and field champion, shared a story from the fall of 1955 that took place during the Heptagonal Championship in Van Cortlandt Park in New York City. David said he led most of the race with his Cornell teammate Michael Midler right behind him in second place and Doug Brew from Dartmouth about 60 yards behind them. With about a mile left in the race David and Michael took a wrong turn and headed on a path away from the finish line. Doug Brew saw them going the wrong way and shouted to them, "You are off course! You are off course! You are going the wrong way!" David and Michael quickly got back on the right path and finished in first and second place while Doug Brew finished third. That year Cornell won the individual and team championship and if it wasn’t for the integrity of Doug Brew it never would have happened. Years later David and Doug still keep in touch and Doug said he never regretted it. He felt it was the right thing to do and that the Cornell guys would have done the same thing for him.

When I asked Kate Varde why she talked about Joanne Keck she said, "I have always felt that the true team leaders are the people who exert the same effort without the glory; the players who are enthusiastic and engaged in the success of their team regardless of whether they set foot on the playing field. Teammates like Joanne are a big reason why I am here."

David told me he spoke about Doug Brew because he knew his induction to the Hall of Fame might not have happened if it wasn’t for the integrity and help of his competitor. Doug Brew could have easily let his competition go the wrong way and become a champion. Instead he became a champion of integrity.

Ironically on a night that was all about honoring the achievement of the individual it was clear that making it into the Hall of Fame requires the Hall of Fame Integrity and selflessness of others. And while very few of us will get elected to a Hall of Fame, we can all choose to live with Hall of Fame Integrity and receive the greatest prize of all – the gift of knowing we did things the right way and made a positive difference.

-Jon