Malcolm O. Munro - The "Career Fitness" Coach

Opportunity Knocks for Everyone...

Opportunity is missed by most because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work. Thomas Edison

This week I'm in Orlando, FL on two different projects.  The one I did today was a workshop on social networking for the National Association of RV Parks & Campgrounds (ARVC).  It turned out great and I had a lot of positive feedback, but the one thing my attendees need to do now is to implement a strategy.  In other words, this opportunity will take some action. 

I'm convinced that everyone has equal access to opportunities and luck.  This is encouraging to me because I've run into a lot of people that complain that the only luck they get is bad luck.  Now keep in mind that some circumstances are bad.  Not a whole lot we can do about that.  The part we can control is the actions  we take in spite of them.  Most of you are familiar with Kentucky Fried Chicken.  You may not know that a set of bad circumstances for its founder, Harland Sanders was the very reason for it's success today.

Sanders had a very successful restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky and achieved a lot of fame and money from it.  However, in the 1950’s a new interstate highway was planned that would bypass Corbin. Recognizing that his business was doomed, Sanders sold off his restaurant operations and after paying his bills, was reduced to living on his $105 a month Social Security checks. Confident in the quality of his fried chicken, at 62 years old, Sanders devoted himself to franchising his famous chicken. He drove all over the country, cooking batches of chicken for restaurant owners and their employees. If the reaction was favorable, he entered into a handshake agreement on a deal that stipulated a payment to him of a nickel for each chicken the restaurant sold. By 1964, Colonel Sanders had more than 600 franchised outlets for his chicken in the United States and Canada.  Ironically, he was turned down 1,099 times before he finally found a buyer.  That's what you call making the most of circumstance and taking advantage of an opportunity.

So what about you?  What are you struggling with that could be turned into a great opportunity?  Another famous person, Thomas Jefferson, was said to have  remarked, "the harder I work, the more luck I seem to find."  We live in a time where, with the leverage of technology, everyone has a fair shot at greatness.  You can publish your own books, create your own record label, run your own virtual radio station, or pretty much anything else you'd like to do.  The future is for each of us to create, not to become victims of.

I'm excited for the opportunities ahead.  I hope you are too!

There is no "Try"

Here's this week's Words of Wisdom:
(to find out who said it, click HERE)

Do or do not...there is no "try"

This past Sunday, we took my son to the open house at Good Counsel High School in Olney, MD.  Now if you're not familiar with GC, it's a pretty high tech school with great academics and also some awesome sports teams.  The entry standards are high with only a small percentage of those applying gaining acceptance.  It's also quite expensive.  There are a limited number of scholarships  available and those are competitive as well.

After touring the school and sizing up the competition, I must admit I felt a little intimidated.  After all, how can we compete with all of those wealthy and well-connected parents with  their perfect, talented children.  Then I thought better of it.

WHY WON'T we get accepted and collect on some of those scholarships? 

Have you ever noticed how easy it is to get intimidated?  We begin looking at what everyone does, and what everyone has and then get discouraged.  It's easy to look for our flaws, shortcomings, and excuses when we feel the slightest bit intimidated.  Then, we give a half-hearted effort to compete.  When that half-hearted effort fails (as any half-hearted effort will) we then shake our heads and tell everyone how unfair the whole thing is.

What a bunch of crap!

That quote above says it all.  When someone gives you a challenge, you don't TRY, you just DO!  Try means you already expect to fail and sure enough, you will.  Years ago, motivational speaker Zig Ziglar spoke of something called a "loser's limp."  It happens when a sprinter is clearly beaten and then pulls up with a limp at the finish line.  If you're going to lose, go down fighting.  Don't limp your way into second or third place!

So this week, start thinking about all the great opportunities out there you're going to go after.  Shift your thinking and you'll shift your position in life.

As for us, we're going full speed on these applications and scholarships.  My son wants to attend this school really bad and if he's willing to do it, we're with him.  I'm excited to see him excel in the music scholarship auditions and can't wait to coach him on his speech for the speech scholarship (will that be an unfair advantage?  ABSOLUTELY!!!! - but we're in it to win it right?)

What will you DO this week?

Accept Overwhelming Change - Then Move On

Last week I wrote about leveraging change.  Maybe one of the most helpful pieces of advice would be to accept change - embrace it and move forward.

I'm always intrigued by men who are bound and determined to prevent hair loss from happening.  I noticed a guy at my son's football game yesterday who was bald, save for the "power donut" on the sides and a little patch of hair transplants right above his forehead.  It reminded me of what it looked like when my daughter cut all of the hair off her Barbie a few years ago.  I'm not sure the look fooled anyone, least of all a guy like me who long ago declared "Mission Accomplished" on hair loss and just shaved it off.

Certainly we all need to push forward to accomplish goals but when all indicators point to a loss, it's time to accept it and move on.

Some of the most popular men in Hollywood are "Bic Heads" while the guys like Donald Trump valiantly but futility try to wage war on thinning hair.  Accept defeat and move on.

I once heard a story about a child who tried as hard as he could to make the school chorus.  He just didn't have the voice.  Fortunately he had a teacher who introduced him to playing a musical instrument instead.  He became the best clarinet player in the school band and went on to become a music major in college and is now a music teacher. 

All of us have talents and gifts.  If you find yourself futilely trying to make something work and just can't make progress, reassess where you're at and find another avenue in another area.  By leveraging what we do have, we'll find the satisfaction we want in an area we may never have considered.  I had an unremarkable career in the Navy and as hard as I tried, I failed to achieve any of my goals or promotions.  My current career is a much different story.  It makes much better use of my talents and I've been able to achieve far more than I imagined and exciting opportunities and challenges come to me almost every week.   It would have never happened if I chose to slog out a full career in the Navy.

Albert Einstein said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.  He was a pretty smart guy.  Maybe we ought to follow that advice.

So this week, do a deep assessment of where you are.  Take an honest hard look at your career direction and see if you're really leveraging your gifts and talents.  If not, why not do a serious course change? 

Use Adversity to Sharpen Your Razor's Edge

Do you ever find yourself confident to the point of near arrogance and then something happens to bring you back to reality?  If it happens, are you appreciative or just frustrated?  What you do from that experience will either make you better or shake you up to the point of paralysis.

This past week I found myself in that very predicament.  Now if you follow my blog postings and Career Fitness Tips, you know I spend a lot of my time on the road teaching management, leadership, and basic skills classes all over the country (and soon internationally by the way).  The sheer volume of this work has, in my opinion, sharpened my presentation and preparation skills down to a razor's edge.  This has boosted my confidence (but not arrogance by any means) so I now march into a workshop with no expectation of problems.

I was teaching a public seminar this week in Northern Virginia, one I do all the time to rave reviews, and found myself dealing with some pretty tough customers.  It wasn't a behavior issue, just one where the group had some very specific learning objectives that didn't mesh with what the canned course offered.  I'm not sure where the disconnect was when they signed up, but Day #1 ended with some very unhappy campers.  I left fairly perplexed at what to do as I faced a very uncertain Day #2.

How you handle tough issues while enjoying a track record of success is pretty crucial.  If a tough day breaks you to the point of fear, you're not looking for the benefit.  If we pad our record with easy wins, we'll never know if we are truly good at what we do.

I was watching the movie Rocky Balboa the other day and thought about what Mason "The Line" Dixon's handlers said when they criticized their fighter for not having had to endure a war in the ring and that a fight with the seasoned, albeit ancient Balboa might be a good experience.  If you watch the movie, you'll find out if that statement holds true.  If you look at occasional adversity as "seasoning" for your track record, you'll certainly see the benefit.

So how did Day #2 turn out?  It was a winner.  I went home that night, rethought my strategy, and then came back the next day with a tailored approach that resulted in great comments from the group and some really high scores on the evaluations (although I take "smile sheet" results with a grain of salt - the real win comes if these folks can implement the material and get great results).  The experience reminded me not to rest on my laurels and be prepared for tough crowds at any time.

What will you do with adversity?  Will you let it break you or will you learn from it?  Are you looking for opportunities to sharpen that razor's edge or are you content to let it go dull from easy projects or inactivity?  Think about it this week...

Success Principle #10: Don't Quit

We're finally at the end of my series of 10 Principles of Success.  I think we saved the best for last, but as a reminder, let's take a look at the previous 9:

1. Define Success
2. Dream Big
3. Set Good Goals
4. Let Go of Assumed Constraints
5. Commit to Continuous Learning
6. Expand Your Network
7. Get Better
8. Create Your Own Luck
9. Go Full Speed

The last principle is for anyone who has found early frustration in life:

• Rod Stewart made a living digging graves in London before switching to a career in music. His early years with traveling through Europe with folk singer Wizz Jones in the early 1960s eventually found him deported from Spain for vagrancy.
• Michael Dell, founder and chairman of Dell Computer Corp., spent time working for $2.30 per hour as a dishwasher in a Chinese restaurant.
• Sylvester Stallone, voted “Most Likely to End Up in the Electric Chair” by his high school      classmates, was once employed by the zoo to clean out the lion cages.
• Abraham Lincoln suffered from a lack of formal education, bouts of depression, and constant early failures, only to emerge as one of the greatest leaders of all time.
• Harland Sanders, the famous cook and entrepreneur, came back from financial ruin at the age      of 66 with just $105.00 in his pocket. He spent two years marketing his recipe and business model and on the 1,099^th time he made his pitch, finally got a taker, which resulted in the KFC that we know and love today.

Each of the people above embody my last principle of success:  Never Quit!

All of us have experienced failure.  It’s inevitable.  Failure is even more likely if we continue to try new things and become more determined to achieve our goals. Failure can eventually paralyze us if we let it.  Soon, we’ll quit trying something new.  Worse, we’ll begin quitting things we’re already doing.  Before you know it, the slippery slope of failure will turn us into wallowing wimps, content only to complain about what we don’t have and become envious of those who seem to have everything.

Don’t let it happen to you! All the celebrities mentioned above worked beyond theirs and society’s expectations of them.  It doesn’t matter where you start, only how you make the best of what you have and finish in a better place.

This week, if you start facing failure, quit doing the "self-fulfilling prophecy" thing and change your mindset.  If you can't possibly figure out that math problem, get help and get it done.  If you think you'll fail if you go in to ask your boss for a raise, get in there and do it anyway.  There are plenty of people who will tell you to quit.  Hang around with those who tell you it can be done.

The 10 Principles to Create Breakthrough in your Personal and Professional Life can now be found in my new book Endeavor to Persevere.  If you found this series helpful, I'd encourage to got right now to my website and pick up a copy!  If you know someone who needs some breakthrough in their life right now, why not get them a resource.

Life is too short to consistently fail.  Take the 10 principles above and put them to work in your life!

5 Steps to Rebuild Lost Trust

This past week I did a keynote speech for an organization in the South on the subject of trust.  In listening to their reasons for bringing me in to speak, I realized how common an issue this is.  Nearly every person, organization, and nation for that matter deals with the dilemma of building, establishing, and re-establishing trust.  It's one of those things that's difficult to establish, challenging to maintain, and nearly impossible to rebuild once lost.  Sadly, we all blow it at times and our actions reduce our trustworthiness.

If you've ever wrestled with the dilemma of reestablishing lost trust, consider the following 5 steps to begin rebuilding:

1. Be Competent. Perform your duties and obligations competently. Individuals should continuously strive to demonstrate proficiency in carrying out their obligations.  As others contemplate how much to trust you, they will assess your qualifications and ability to perform.

2. Be Consistent and Predictable. We can enhance the degree to which others will regard us as trustworthy when we behave in consistent and predictable ways. Every effort should be made to ensure that our words are congruent with our subsequent actions and that we honor pledged commitments. Our integrity is reinforced to the extent that we Do What We Say We Will Do.

3. Be a Great Communicator. We can improve trust by improving our communication.  The message we give should be accurate and understandable – at face value and “between the lines” to all in our department. This helps the other party calculate our trustworthiness accurately, because we are willing to act transparently and to be monitored for compliance. It's not what you say, it's what people hear.

4. Be a Person of Action, Not Just Words. Trust often needs to be given for it to be returned. There is symbolic value in soliciting input and sharing decision control with others Likewise, when such control is hoarded and others feel that they are not trusted (such as with monitoring and surveillance systems), they may be more likely to act out against this with behaviors that reinforce a distrustful image.

5. Be Concerned and Care for Others.  People are emotional beings.  They must be managed on an emotional level too.  The trust others have in you will grow when you show sensitivity to their needs, desires, and interests. Acting in a way that respects and protects other people, and refraining from engaging in self-interested pursuits to the detriment of others will also contribute greatly to the trust others place in you. When you violate someone's trust, they deem that you are acting in your own self-interest. Accordingly, their attention will be diverted to their own self-interest and self-preservation.  Learn to listen and re-frame statements to gather more information.

So that's it, simple, but not simplistic.  If you're facing a situation where trust is lost, don't sit there like a dummy and hope it improves!  Get busy and work to rebuild it!  Not easy, but certainly worth the effort.

Getting Motivated

This past Thursday I (along with about 50 of my friends, colleagues, students, and clients) joined an additional several thousand people at the Verizon Center in Washington, DC for Get Motivated.  This event, put on by Peter Lowe, brings together some of the best motivational speakers around.  The lineup included Steve Forbes, Robert Schuller, Krish Dhanam, Brian Tracy, Zig Ziglar, Sugar Ray Leonard, and Colin Powell. It was a great event with a wealth of knowledge passed along by people who overcame big obstacles to achieve success.  Some of the lessons were:

Steve Forbes: 

• Take a risk - put it on the line if you want to be successful
• Change the rules of the game - don't join the competition, go a different route
• Take something common and do it differently (examples of Starbucks with coffee, bottled water, and denim jeans)

Rober Schuller:

• Believe in what you preach
• You don't need money to achieve your goals, you need passion and integrity - the money will follow
• Success is a process - be open-minded, pliable, subtle, and fresh
• I would rather attempt and fail then to do nothing, we learn from our failures

Krish Dhanam:

• Understand the power of passion
• Have healthy self-talk - self pride is a good thing
• Balance - give all to all areas of your life
• Success is a journey, not an end
• Evidence of completion - when everyone still stands with you, if they've been there with you the entire time
• Let your past greet you, not beat you

Peter Lowe:

• Wholeheartedness is congruence - there needs to be a balance between mind, body, and spirit
• To beat depression, change your physiology.  Look up and breath deep - depression causes shallow breathing - laughter is powerful
• Our words determine our experiences - change your words, change your future
• Speak aloud the outcome you want, not where you are
• Speak as though the dream has already been realized.
• Use the art of simulation - prepare before the sales call with the "what if" questions

Brian Tracy:

• Only 10% of the population value conferences and learning
• 80% of successful people (millionaires) are entrepreneurs
• Top sales people are always described as "nice"
• The law of cause and effect - be clear about what you want and go after it
• Look at what successful people do and copy them

Sugar Ray Leonard:

• Power = over preparing
• Prepare in training to win every round
• Do the roadwork - put in the hours in preparation
• Know your opponent's weaknesses - go after them
• Self esteem is important

Colin Powell:

• Leadership is about followership
• Put followers in the best position to get the job done
• Make people feel like they're important and part of the process
• Passion and optimism is infectious
• Take care of your troops - give them resources and let them get the job done
• Recognize your people
• "Good leaders will get people to follow them even if just out of curiosity"
• Create a foundation of trust

Of course these are just notes, but the substance was very strong.  It makes sense to listen to the words of successful people if you want to be successful, but the most important part is the implementation.  Reflecting on that great day, my goal is to just implement a couple of the principles.  If you don't, then why bother attending? 

The reason motivational speakers get a bad rap is that it sounds great in a keynote, but the actual application doesn't work.  Why?  Because you haven't actually tried to apply the lessons!  This past Friday I actually applied Peter Lowe's lessons on physiology after getting really ticked off at some issues emanating from a board I participate on, a failed attempt to install Sirius radio in my MX5, and a number of other things and it really worked!!

This week, take some time to read a motivational book, statement, article or thought and see where it might apply to your life.  Then, take the time to actually implement it!  My guess is that you'll see immediate results.  Then, continue to apply it while adopting another idea.  Step by step, you'll see incremental differences that can develop outstanding results.  I'm committed - are you?

 

The PowerPoint Dilemma

As beginning or experienced speakers, we all have to face the inevitable question of how to deal with PowerPoint.  Most speakers love it, in fact most won’t speak or teach without it.  When used well, PowerPoint enhances a presentation and gives it a sense of quality and excellence.  But PowerPoint’s use creates a dependence that’s hard to break.

Once of the best things that ever happened to me was getting a job at a company that didn’t have a multimedia projector.  I was so used to teaching classes and giving presentations in the Navy using PowerPoint, that for a moment I didn’t know if I could teach without it.  Thankfully I was forced to break my PowerPoint “addiction!”    

One way to address the PowerPoint question is to think about your own reaction to presentations you sit through that use it.  Does it enhance or detract?  Does the act of dimming the lights in order to see bother you.  Did a presenter who was going to use it become unnerved when tech problems arose?

Think of the most power speeches given in history.  Would Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address have made more of an impact with animated bullet points screeching in from the right side of the slide?  Would I Have A Dream been more inspiring with streaming video and brilliantly choreographed slide transitions?  Absolutely not!

Do yourself (and your audience) a big favor and become adept at presenting WITHOUT PowerPoint!  Let your words, your tone, and your presentation skills communicate to your audience.  I’m confident you can do it and it will really build your speaking credibility!

Can Naked People Help You Speak Better?

While an intriguing thought, the short answer is no. And of course I ought to qualify what I’m talking about here. Most of you have heard something similar to the following:

“If you’re nervous about speaking, picture the audience in their underwear or naked.”

Now I’m guessing the reason here is to get your mind off who the audience is (in terms of status) by reducing them to a common mass – that of people in a vulnerable state.

If that approach works for you, then go with it although I’ll try not to be in your audience when you speak. I’d hate to frighten you off the stage.

A better approach I’ve found is that of visualization. Most of my clients have a tendency to focus on times they’ve crashed and burned on stage. The audience was non-responsive or they were hostile. The client forgot the main points or simply blanked out. This is a very traumatic experience and I’ve had it myself. However dwelling on this bad experience only ensures it will happen again.

Why is that?

The brain is a powerful tool. It has the capacity over time to influence future behavior simply by referring back to past experience. So if you dwell on past failures, you’ll be pretty much guaranteed to have a future failure – if you continue to dwell on it.

So how do we “rewire” the process?

Focus on outstanding experiences! Think about a time you actually succeeded at something. You might even try to envision your upcoming presentation in the best possible light with the most powerful outcome. In my book Podium Paranoia: Transforming Fear Into Knockout Presentations, I retell a story about an Air Force pilot who spent many years in solitary confinement while as a POW in Viet Nam. His daily mental golf ritual had a dramatic impact on his game when he went back out on the links after his release. His experience will work for you!

So get busy visualizing success and excellence. Let them be the driving forces in your mind. Expect success and prepare for excellence. Your presentations will improve and so will your confidence!

Is Professionalism One of Your Hallmarks?

The following posting is from a good friend of mine, VictoriaLynn Johnson of Strayer University.  VictoriaLynn puts out a weekly tip for the faculty of Strayer University and I always enjoy her insights and encouragement.  Even though it refers to Strayer University, I thought I'd pass it along to everyone:

How you look, talk, write, act and work determines whether you are a professional.

"What sort of image do I wish to project?  To my coworkers? To my self? To my family? To my friends?" Very good questions - each and every one. (Just in case you are wondering - I, of course, dressed up.)

What sort of image do you wish to project on a daily basis? To yourself? To your students? To your colleagues?

We project and present an image on a daily basis - in person, on the phone, in writing, and especially via technology.

Ever gone for an in person interview? Do you remember your first one? Everyone kept telling you how important it was that you looked professional, well groomed, and that you cared.

You dress for success everyday in the physical world; the same care needs to be given to the virtual world. We are an online campus where most of us do not meet each other face to face. We do not see the sports coat or business jacket, well-groomedness, facial expressions, or body movements that let us know instantly how professional someone is. Instead we have a different face that we present to our virtual world everyday - our writing and voice.

We are all part of Strayer University - a university dedicated to excellence and professionalism. It therefore becomes critical that we present and emulate the polished, professional, educated image that we want our students to demonstrate in our emails, announcements, discussion postings, syllabi, supplementals, audio recordings/presentations, and phone conversations.

Little things from thinking before you speak or write, using a spell checker, using proper netiquette, to paying attention to how things look make a big difference. We all make mistakes even when we make our best efforts. (Last week I left "to" out of the first sentence; it was even proofed.) The point is small mistakes are easily overlooked especially if we are putting forth the effort to look and be professional where as continual mistakes in grammar, spelling, and netiquette (such as typing in all caps) give an unprofessional and uneducated appearance. Take a little extra time in your writing, posting, and conversation to ensure that you are projecting the image of the professional, educated, outstanding professor that you are so that our students have good role models to emulate.

You are the face of Strayer University to our students and they are our face in their communities and workplaces. We want those faces to emulate and project the professional educated image that those affiliated with a great university should have.

So there it is:  a challenge for all of us.  Professionalism should be the hallmark of whatever we do.  Thanks VictoriaLynn for the tips!