Life Is Like A Jar Of Rocks

A philosophy professor stood before his class and had some items in front of him.  When the class began, wordlessly he picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with rocks, rocks about 2″ in diameter.

He then asked the students if the jar was full?  They agreed that it was.

So the professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar.  He shook the jar lightly.  The pebbles, of course, rolled into the open areas between the rocks.

He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar.  Of course, the sand filled up everything else.

He then asked once more if the jar was full.  The students responded with a unanimous – “Yes.”

The professor then produced two cans of beer from under the table and proceeded to pour their entire contents into the jar — effectively filling the empty space between the sand.

The students laughed.  ”Now,” said the professor, as the laughter subsided, “I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life.  The rocks are the important things – your family, your spouse, your health, your children — things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.  The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house, your car.  The sand is everything else – the small stuff.”

“If you put the sand into the jar first,” he continued, “there is no room for the pebbles or the rocks.  The same goes for your life.  If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff, you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness.  Play with your children.  Take time to get medical checkups.  Take your husband or wife out dancing.  There will always be time to go to work, clean the house, give a dinner party and fix the disposal.  ”Take care of the rocks first — the things that really matter.  Set your priorities.  The rest is just sand.”

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the beer represented.

The professor smiled.  ”I’m glad you asked.  It just goes to show you that no matter how full your life may seem, there’s always room for a couple of beers.”

Revlon Walk – May, 2012

I am so proud of the people that I work with.

When people walk in to Team TAG, they are empowered to grow personally and professionally.  One of the coolest initiatives that we have is “Spiritual Growth”. In simple terms, that means that we want to give back to our communities with our time, our money, and all available resources.

On May 12, 2012, several of our team members joined the Revlon Walk to raise money and awareness for women’s cancer.

Check out Stefanie’s testimony below.  Great job team!

 

“Team TAG participated in the 19th annual Revlon Run/Walk for Women fundraiser. We are all proud to contribute to this impressive charity event. So many families and friends have been directly affected by women’s cancers. It is a great inspiration knowing we helped toward the cure. The Revlon Run/Walk is one of the largest fundraisers in the country for women’s cancers and the event is backed by the Entertainment Industry Foundation.

We joined more than 30,000 participants on Saturday, May 12th for an awesome day of making a difference in the fight against women’s cancers. Revlon Ambassador Halle Berry, Mario Lopez, Matthew Morrison, and Stacy Keibler came out to support the cancer research event. At the starting line, they kicked off the beautiful morning with welcoming smiles and cheers. With the event being on a big family weekend (Mother’s Day) the office still had a great turn out. Nine walkers represented Team TAG with signs, ribbons and full of team spirit! We skipped, we power walked at times, and walked & talked the 5k race that led us through the amazing USC campus. It was a fun bonding time! The participants included Stefanie Tringham (Team Captain), Manilynn Disuanco, honorable mother, Evelyn Disuanco, Sam Chen, Andrew Barkman, Drew Easton, Sam Yu, Phi Duong, and Yesa Matvelieva. A shiny gold medal was given to each walker at the finish line inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum with thousands united under the common goal of defeating women’s cancers; one step at a time.

This was an inspiring event, and the employees of Team TAG were proud to support it.” – Stefanie Tringham

Meltdown in College Education

I have a couple of concerns regarding college education:

• What will the costs be by the time my children attend college?  The rate of increase seems a little out of control.
• What is the value of the education?  In other words, in the real world of hunting for great opportunities, what will employers, investors, and business partners really look for regarding a person’s education?

Over the years, I have worked with all kinds of college graduates.  It seems like most people are graduating with more realistic expectations:  they will be competing for jobs; they aren’t entitled to jobs.  I’ve heard a few stats as of recent like 85% of college grads move back in with their parents after graduation,and 25% of college grads in Los Angeles are unemployed.  The world is a different place today than it was a generation ago (regarding employment opportunities for college graduates).

I came across this article below written by Mark Cuban.  In it he is comparing our housing crisis to a potential education crises – at least related to the economics and financing of both.  Enjoy the article.

The Coming Meltdown in College Education and Why The Economy Won’t Get  Better Any Time Soon

This is what I see when i think about higher education in this country today:

Remember the housing meltdown? Tough to forget isn’t it. The formula for the housing boom and bust was simple. A lot of easy money being lent to buyers who couldn’t afford the money they were borrowing. That money was then spent on homes with the expectation that the price of the home would go up and it could easily be flipped or refinanced at a profit.  Who cares if you couldn’t afford the loan. As long as prices kept on going up, everyone was happy. And prices kept on going up. And as long as pricing kept on going up real estate agents kept on selling homes and finding money for buyers.

Until the easy money stopped.  When easy money stopped, buyers couldn’t sell. They couldn’t refinance.  First sales slowed, then prices started falling and then the housing bubble burst. Housing prices crashed. We know the rest of the story. We are still mired in the consequences.

Can someone please explain to me how what is happening in higher education is any different?

It’s far too easy to borrow money for college.  Did you know that there is more outstanding debt for student loans than there is for Auto Loans or Credit Card loans? That’s right. The 37mm holders of student loans have more debt than the 175mm or so credit card owners in this country and more than the all of the debt on cars in this country. While the average student loan debt is about 23k. The median is close to $12,500. And growing. Past 1 TRILLION DOLLARS.

We freak out about the Trillions of dollars in debt our country faces. What about the TRILLION DOLLARs plus in debt college kids are facing?

The point of the numbers is that getting a student loan is easy. Too easy.

You know who knows that the money is easy better than anyone ? The schools that are taking that student loan money in tuition. Which is exactly why they have no problems raising costs for tuition each and every year.

Why wouldn’t they act in the same manner as real estate agents acted during the housing bubble? Raise prices and easy money will be there to pay your price. Good business, right? Until it’s not.

The President has introduced programs that try to reward schools that don’t raise tuition and costs. They won’t work.  Right now there is a never ending supply of buyers. Students who can’t get jobs or who think that by going to college they enhance their chances to get a job. It’s the collegiate equivalent of flipping houses. You borrow as much money as you can for the best school you can get into and afford and then you “flip” that education for the great job you are going to get when you graduate.

Except those great jobs aren’t always there. I don’t think any college kid took on tens of thousands of dollars in debt with the expectation they would get a job working for minimum wage against tips.

At some point potential students will realize that they can’t flip their student loans for a job in 4 years. In fact they will realize that college may be the option for fun and entertainment, but not for education. Prices for traditional higher education will skyrocket so high over the next several years that potential students will start to make their way to non accredited institutions.

While colleges and universities are building new buildings for the english , social sciences and business schools, new high end, un-accredited  , BRANDED schools are popping up that will offer better educations for far, far less and create better job opportunities.

As an employer I want the best prepared and qualified employees. I could care less if the source of their education was accredited by a bunch of old men and women who think they know what is best for the world. I want people who can do the job. I want the best and brightest.  Not a piece of paper.

The competition from new forms of education is starting to appear. Particularly in the tech world. Online and physical classrooms are popping up everywhere. They respond to needs in the market. THey work with local businesses to tailor the education to corporate needs. In essence assuring those who excel that they will get a job. All for far far less money than traditional schools.

The number of people being prepared for the work world in these educational environments is exploding.

You would think traditional university educators would take notice. Beyond allowing some of their classes to be offered online, they haven’t. They won’t. Its the ultimate Innovators Dilemma. They don’t believe they should change and they won’t. Until its too late. Just as CEOs push for that one more penny per share in EPS, University Presidents care about nothing but getting their endowments and revenues up. If it means saddling an entire generation with obscene amounts of school debt, they could care less. This is how they get their long term contracts and raises.

It’s just a matter o time until we see the same meltdown in traditional college education. Like the real estate industry, prices will rise until the market revolts. Then it will be too late. STudents will stop taking out the loans traditional Universities expect them to. And when they do tuition will come down. And when prices come down Universities will have to cut costs beyond what they are able to. They will have so many legacy costs, from tenured professors to construction projects to research they will be saddled with legacy costs and debt in much the same way the newspaper industry was. Which will all lead to a de-levering and a de-stabilization of the University system as we know it.

And it can’t happen fast enough.

IMHO, the biggest problem the economy has is the enormous student debt new college grads and those leaving college find themselves with. In the past leaving college meant getting a job and getting a used car and/or an apartment with some friends. Yes there was student debt, but it wasn’t any where near your car payment. You could still afford the car and the apartment. Now its the exact opposite. Today, the minute you graduate college you face the challenge of debt against a college education whose value is immediately “underwater”

As a result spending habits have changed dramatically. Now when you leave school you move back home. You take public transportation or borrow your parents car. The only thing new you buy is the cheap work outfit you need. Savings ? Forgettaboutit. It’s not happening. Your entire focus is on hitting your monthly nut for school debt , credit card and maybe a car or apartment. The crush of college debt has taken an entire generation of graduates, current and future out of the economy. Which is exactly why the economy hasn’t grown and won’t grow beyond microscopic growth rates we have seen so far.

So until we get the meltdown in college education, don’t expect much improvement in the economy. Who gets elected won’t make a dang bit of difference.

Update: Let me add some clarification here based on some of the comments. I include the Online For Profit Mills that live off of the government delivering student loans as part of traditional education.Phoenix, Strayer, etc, they are not the new generation of Branded Education I am referring to. They are a big part of creating the bubble. i should have gone into more depth here. I will save it for another post.

As far as the purpose of college, I am a huge believer that you go to college to learn how to learn. However, if that gaol is subverted because traditional universities, public and private, charge so much to make that happen, I believe that system will collapse and there will be better alternatives created.

Online video classrooms with lively discussions dont need a traditional campus to teach kids how to learn. Discussion groups built aroundKhanAcademylike classes dont require a traditional campus to teach kids how to learn. I’ve seen better discussions and interactions on twitter than in some of the traditional classrooms I have visited. The opportunities for online interactive video classrooms is going to grow quickly and will be far more cost effective than traditional universities.

Leave the for profit online schools that create more employment for debt collectors than their students out of the equation and we still have an enormous bubble in Higher Education that is having a horrible impact not just on the economic life of their students, but on the economy as a whole as well

The Higher Education Industry is very analogous to the Newspaper industry. By the time they realize they need to change their business model it will be too late. Higher Education’s legacy infrastructure, employee costs /structures and debt costs will keep them from being able to re calibrate to a new generation of competitors.

Solar Initiative

As we enter a new era in the world of face-to-face sales and consulting, I thought that it would be fun to keep track of our progress (almost like a journal).  We are creating a very unique business in the solar industry.  No other group has created what I call the perfect “Solar Storm”.  We are blending the best in class with 3 highly specialized businesses:

• Team TAG and Cydcor:  The world’s best face-to-face sales and consulting firms.
• Sunrun:  America’s #1 solar utility company.  (There’s a good chance that they could become the largest power company in the US).  Currently @ 20,000 customers nationally.
• Petersen-Dean:  The biggest and best roofing company in the US.

Enjoy the entries, and please support us on our ambitious journey.

Jaime

4.18.2012

Team,
I thought I’d give you an update after our first 3 days on Solar.
We have been in some pretty intense training.  Our Sunrun partners are great as they’ve never had an opportunity to work with an organization like ours.

Tuesday was our first day in the field to generate interest and leads.
It’s pretty cool to see the high level of interest in the field.  There’s no question, people want to be educated on solar energy and most people have a high level of curiosity to see if they could qualify to lower their utility bills.

Today we learned how to generate proposals and how to walk people through an 11 page contract committing to 20 years of electricity rates (with their solar panels).
This is the real exciting part.  For the first time in my career, this feels like “real sales”.  These are high commissioned deals that require a person to know a great deal and have some serious swag with customers.

Tomorrow we get a chance to close our first deals with our proposals in hand.
Every one of us created proposals our first day on Tuesday.

Wish us luck.  We are entering some deep waters…

4.20.2012

5 days in to the Solar Initiative.  Our enthusiasm is high.  I think our optimism is rooted in the fact that we really feel strongly about the industry and the product.

It’s an interesting industry.  There are several different angles that make this an industry that fuels passion:

• Green energy.  Why would someone pay more for “dirty energy” when they could pay less for clean energy.  Every time a home goes solar, the environment benefits by reducing literally tons of carbon from being released in to the atmosphere.
• Choice.  Up until now, we haven’t had a choice for our electricity.  None of us like a monopoly.  When a vendor does not have to earn your business, they are known to offer a very poor product at a very unattractive price.  How un-American is it to not have choice?
• Education.  This industry is simply educating people.  If everyone knew that they could swap out their utility bill for a solar bill with little or no money down, of course they’d do it.  The only real objection that I can accept is if someone doesn’t want to go solar because of the aesthetics of the home.  Everything else is just a lack of knowledge.

Fun.  Exciting.  Entrepreneurial.  Creative.  Mission.  These are just a few words that come to mind after 5 days of craziness.

And of course – big shout outs to our Sunrun team.  Jeff, Kristen, Emily, Josh, Nora – total studs.   We couldn’t be in better hands with our partners.

4.21.2012

I went to the office this morning at 7am.  My other full time job left a nice pile of work on my desk.  I came in to work a little panicked and stressed considering I’m burning the candle at both ends.  I think everyone on the solar team clocked in a 100 work week.

However, by 3pm I felt a big sigh of relief.  The relief came from putting together the data dump that we received over the last 5 days and we put our first draft of the infrastructure around it.  It was as if we saw our first glimps of what this business model is going to look like.  It was great to brainstorm with the team today without a rush for time or learning.  We weathered the education storm, and now it’s time to figure things out.

This is probably a great time to introduce the Solar Studs in this blog:

We have some very smart people on this initiative.  Mirza is the rabit to chase and the brains behind the operation.  He received his engineering degree in Turkey and continued his education in business at UCLA.  We were lucky enough to sponsor Mirza on an H1-B a few months ago – and thank goodness that we did.  He is helping us blend technology and our sales process in a very genius manner.   Mirza’s background before Solar in our business was being the dominant force on Quill.  Out of 700 reps on that campaign nationally, Mirza is consistently rated in the Top 10 week after week.  I am in awe of Mirza’s performance standards.

Blake is sales and management professional.  I’ve worked with Blake the longest.  Blake is another UCLA graduate where he went to school to be a doctor.  I’d say that Blake is officially a doctor now.  He is brilliant at assessing a person’s needs and providing a solution. Blake is known as the best merchant processing guru in the country.

Jeremy is Mr. Enthusiasm.  His raw energy for serving people is great.  He came in with an awesome resume of building businesses in telecommunications.  He built T-Mobile in the early days of it’s expansion in California, and then he met us developing at&t’s U-Verse customer base.  He was one of the best U-Verse nationally.  It’s a pleasure having this hot shot on our Solar Team.

Ryan was born to be on Solar.  Growing up in Central California and then going to school at Cal Poly SLO, he has had a passion for green energy for years.  He helped his previous employers with implementing healthy environment-conscious habits.  Ryan is the kind of guy that everyone likes and trusts.  Perfect for Solar.

And last but not least there’s “D”.  I met Dienna in Orange County when I first learned at&t B-to-B.  She was the most impressive rep in that office.  She reminded me of Puss-and-Boots from Shrek.  She comes across all innocent and sweet.  Then she’s like a tiger when it came to closing the deal.  Unbelievable.  Great selling style and great person.

There are several other key players like Ken, Keegan, Shawn, Kristen and some big time support from Mani, Camilla, and Kyle.   I’ll talk more about them in future postings.

I’ll close this entry with a little video that talks about our utility companies.  This video will give you and idea of why it is easy to get passionate about Solar.

4.28.2012

We officially have 2 weeks worth of work and training under our belts.  It feels like we’ve been at this for months now.  There are upsides and downsides to being a perfectionist.  One of the upsides is that I push myself pretty hard.  I don’t know if I’ve ever worked harder at anything my entire life.  I’m putting in some pretty long days.  Starting at 7:30am with the Quill Team, working with my team of owners across the country, and then focusing on the Solar Team.  Start to finish – it’s probably a 16 hour work day.  With that said, I love it.  I really believe that anything worth having is not easy to get.  Not to mention, seeing how hard the Solar Team, Quill Team, and the owners are working fuels my motivation to come through for them.

One of the downsides of being a perfectionist is a lack of patience.  I just want to be able to “crack the code” immediately.  Every day, and I mean every day, we are changing our entire systems.  When I lifted my head today out of the trenches, I realized that we’ve created some very cool systems.  We are creating a pipeline and contact system for following up.  It’s very different than anything we’ve ever done.  Trying to figure out the right technology, hardware, software, sales processes, etc:  this is what we’re doing.

I gave our team an analogy today.  It feels like we’re popping popcorn in the microwave.  The first 30 seconds you hear the microwave is on, but you don’t see the bag getting any bigger.  Then all of a sudden, all the corns start to pop at the same time and the bag grows instantaneously.  It feels like we’re going to see a “pop”.

5.06.2012

3 weeks are under our belt.  This last week we got in to a great groove.  It started with “master pace setter” Blake Wilson knocking down our first official application.

He won 2 Lakers Playoff Tix for getting that first app.

Jeremy had a milestone this week as well.  He was the first to knock down 2 applications in the same week.  He won a free iPad 2 for that contribution.

Dienna closed.  Mirza closed.  5 applications total.

We are figuring out what “managing a pipeline” looks like.  We are figuring out how to properly qualify.  We are figuring out how to engineer the right system for customers.  We are figuring out how to best communicate with our customers to follow up.  We are figuring out how to have some serious swag in the field.

Great week, team.  I’m very proud of you!

5.12.2012

4 weeks under our belt (3 weeks in the field).  Everyone on the team has closed accounts now.  Jeremy West has become the official pace setter.  He closed 3 accounts this week putting him at 5 accounts total thus far.  Unbelievable start!

Jeremy has taught us all a very valuable lesson – or maybe I should say “re-taught us”.  He comes in to work every day with a great positive attitude.  He compliments people at the office.  He’s always got a smile on his face.  He is always upbeat.  He takes this with him in the field, and all of a sudden he has proved something that we already knew:  ”People buy you, not necessarily the product.”  Thank you, Jeremy!

Everyone is feeling pretty good right now.  There are still big challenges ahead of us.  We are trying to calculate the exact formula for success.  There is a combination.  How many leads does a rep need to produce weekly?  What should a rep’s closing ratio be?  How does a rep prioritize his/her time between Lead Gen, Follow Up, and Sits?  What degree of follow up is necessary?  What should the commission schedule look like?

These next couple of weeks we’ll be focusing on 3 areas:

• Setting ourselves up with quality leads
• Prioritizing our time and “Solar Customer Management”
• Closing

Tonight, a few of our people are celebrating our initial success at the Lakers Game (game 7 versus Denver).

(That’s Ryan, Ken, and Blake)

I’ll finish this week’s blog with a fun TV Commercial that Sunrun has out there.  Enjoy!

5.19.2012

We are learning how to manage a pipeline.  Similar to popcorn, once our customers are given some time and we continuously feed our pipeline, when things get warm a bunch of these kernels pop.  We are starting to see this happen.  I personally experienced a little shock-and-awe this week.  I met a customer in the field during his initial consultation on Monday.  I went back with his proposal on Wednesday.  He called me Friday afternoon and asked if I could come over that day and sign the paperwork.

It’s really quite interesting.  Some customers need a longer courting process.  Some customers need a short window.  The key is to continuously feed the pipeline and let our good friend, Miss Laura Averages, take over.

 

 

5.26.2012

We have 6 weeks under our belt – with 5 of those weeks being in the field.  There is a mathematical formula for success – and we are close to finding it.  It has taken us a few weeks to discover what we really want to be measuring to begin with.  There is no question, inventing and innovating is exciting.  I could do this stuff all day long.

Jeremy is still the rabbit to chase.  His attitude and enthusiasm are contagious.  We are lucky to have him on the team.  Thanks Jeremy.    More to follow next week.  We feel a “pop” coming.

Derek Fisher: Stud

My boy D-Fish.  For years, Fisher has been one of my favorite basketball players.  I viewed him as the “spiritual leader” of the Lakers.  He was the one that would pray with the team before games.  He was the one that made the clutch shots when they needed him.  If Kobe is Batman, then Derek is Robin.

I was sad to see Fisher traded, but I was disturbed to hear HOW he was traded.  I am a Laker fan.  The Lakers commitment to winning has been awesome.  I’d like to see the organization treat the people that make the organization with a ton of love and respect.

Enjoy the article below that I found on-line.  It sums up the feelings that many of us “Fisher Fans” have.

 

Virtually all my friends and fellow fans of the Los Angeles Lakers were content with this justification in response to my protest of the Lakers’ surprising decision to trade a much-loved 16-year-veteran player who had made a huge contribution to the team’s unity and success over the 13 years he’d been a member.

When I claimed it was unkind, disrespectful and disloyal, some just shrugged, satisfied that if it was a smart financial move to avoid or reduce the “luxury tax,” it was justified on its own.

Others believed (or wanted to believe) that the act was not a “salary dump,” but a justifiable move to improve the team, and that improving the team in a way that increases the chances of winning is the highest ethical obligation of management.

None were particularly concerned about the way the dismissal was done — without even a courtesy “heads up,”* nor thought that the impacts on Fisher, his family, friends, teammates, and fans were legitimate factors to hinder an otherwise smart business decision. After all, everyone knows pro basketball is just a business.

There are two things wrong with this reasoning.

First, the implication of the “it’s just a business” phrase is that business decisions should be judged only in terms of lawfulness and effectiveness. This is nonsense. There may be those who want to take the humanity factor out of business, but they can’t. When as a business action affects the lives of people it can and should be looked at through the lens of ethical and moral principles. Second, even if ordinary businesses have greater leeway to ignore certain ethical values, professional sports teams are not just like any other business; they have special characteristics that impose special moral obligations.

Let’s start with the notion that lawful business decisions are immune from moral judgment because the only thing that matters in business is making a profit. I respectfully suggest that this view — advanced by free market economists like Milton Friedman,** or later by the fictional character Gordon Gekko (who declared in the movie Wall Street, that “greed is good”),” — is a nonstarter.

I know of no prominent business leader asserting this position. In fact, in discussing the financial crises precipitated by legal but irresponsible mortgage practices, one of the most influential bank executives in the world, Stephen Green, chairman of HSBC, said:

Of course you need a profit, but it is a by-product, a hallmark of success. It is not the be all and end all. It is not the raision d’etre of business. What is the purpose of business? Friedman says the social responsibility of business is to make a profit but that will no longer do. Plain common sense will tell you that that cannot do.

An alternative to the Friedman/Gekko position is the view that businesses and business executives should acknowledge and live up to principles of corporate social responsibility, a concept grounded in the premise that business organizations have ethical obligations beyond obeying the law and satisfying the needs of owners and shareholders. These include a moral duty to look out for the welfare of a network of stakeholders: employees, suppliers and vendors, the community in which it operates, and society at large.

If a company terminated employees shortly before their pensions vest as a cost-cutting measure; closed a plant without consideration of its impact on employees, their families and the community; or knowingly polluted ground water, few people would give it the same free ride that basketball fans are giving the Lakers. (It’s no coincidence that the word “fan” is derived from the same root as fanatic).

Of course, each of these situations raise different and distinguishable issues, and my point is not to equate what the Lakers did to these examples, but to say that it is appropriate and important to evaluate business decisions in moral terms.

Derek Fisher was an employee, an exceptionally good employee, and in my view, he deserved, and the Lakers could have treated him with, greater respect, kindness and loyalty. What the Lakers did was lawful but it was also awful.

Sports is not just a business.

It is much more. I believe that team owners and executives have an even higher responsibility to demonstrate honor, fair play, decency, and integrity than regular businesses do.

In 1999, in an effort to articulate a framework of ethical principles and values for youth and amateur sports, a conclave of many of the most important people in sports issued this statement:

At its best, athletic competition can hold intrinsic value for our society. It is a symbol of a great ideal: pursuing victory with honor. The love of sports is deeply embedded in our national consciousness.

The values of millions of participants and spectators are directly and dramatically influenced by the values conveyed by organized sports. Thus, sports are a major social force that shapes the quality and character of the American culture.

Our views as to what is permissible and proper in the competitive pursuit of personal goals are shaped by the dominant values conveyed in in sports and by high profile athletes. 

Those who influence these values have an enormous power to uplift and improve the nature and character of our society.

Yes, these statements were made in the context of amateur sports but, from an ethical perspective, I think they apply with even greater force to professional sports.

There’s no doubt that professional sports are a major social force that shapes the quality and character of the American culture, or that our views as to what is permissible and proper in the competitive pursuit of personal goals are shaped by the dominant values conveyed in in sports.

So, what message does the act of blind-siding Fisher, his teammates, and fans send? It’s just a business; players are commodities, it’s either all about money or all about winning.

If the decision was just about money, it was unnecessary and unjustified.

The Lakers are one of the most successful and profitable franchises in sports. They owed Fisher more than his minimal contractual rights.

Derek Fisher is not just likable like Lamar Odom, or Luke Walton, or any number of other nice guys who were traded – yes, that is part of the business. He was a truly iconic leader who was material in winning championships and holding the team together through rough times.

He deserved to have some choices, some notice, some extra consideration — even to be untouchable from a trading perspective.

He deserved to serve out his term in dignity, even if he sat on the bench or was converted to coaching  while doing it. And you know what? The Lakers could have afforded that.

But what if the decision was it was about winning rather than money? What if the reason the Lakers traded Fisher was to improve their chances of getting another championship? Surely winning is a much more noble goal than increasing the take-home profits of the owners. Isn’t winning all that the City ofLos Angelesand Lakers fans everywhere want? Surely it’s ethical to do whatever you have to do to win.

Really? So winning really is everything?

To be sure, lots of people put winning above all else and, therefore will tolerate, even applaud any action that improves their chances of satisfying their hunger for championships.

Well, I’m a huge Laker fan, a season ticket holder. I go to almost every game, and I feel good when they win and bad when they don’t. But I also have come to care about the players. I care if they get hurt, not only because it is a competitive disadvantage, but because they are people who have inspired and entertained me. I owe them something for that – and so do the Lakers.

No, winning isn’t everything.

Honor is.

 - M Josephson

Leadership By Example

There are 2 kinds of leaders.  There are “William Wallace Leaders” and then there are “Longshanks Leaders”.

We respect and follow leaders that drive their teams from the front.  Leading from a white, ivory tower causes a disconnect between the leader and the team.  We rally behind people that we respect and feel a connection to.  People that set high standards for themselves in turn raise the bars for others around them.  Others are inspired to expect more of themselves.  Look what happened to Roger Bannister in 1954.

The medical field thought that it was impossible for any human being to run a mile in less than 4 minutes.  They said that a person’s heart would explode at that kind of pace.  No one pushed these limits until bannister broke the 4 minute mile.

What happened next?  The new standard was set, and today there are athletes in high schools that pass that mark.

Here is a story that I found on-line that describes what leadership by example really looks like.  Enjoy!

Mark Gibson, a former gymnastics coach who worked with many elite athletes, tells a wonderful story about a 15-year-old girl whose work ethic and attitude brought out the best in everyone. Cindy wasn’t a great gymnast, but when she was in the gym everyone complained less, worked harder, and, not surprisingly, achieved more.

Cindy was such a powerful motivator because she was blind. When it was her turn to do the vault, her mom would run along side her telling her how close she was to the vault. When her mom said, “Vault!” Cindy would reach out and jump – trusting her mother and herself.

Cindy loved the sport and kept improving because she and her mom refused to be defeated by her disability.

Mark called her the most important member of the team, not because of her athletic ability, but because of her heart and because she demonstrated a standard of fortitude and courage that inspired others to get more out of themselves. Everyone who watched her strive to be the best she could be realized how much more they could be.

This is leadership – leadership by example – and we see this sort of leadership not only in sports but in families and in the workplace. Often the most important members of the team are not the smartest, most skilled, or most powerful. Their power is in their attitude and their ability to energize and encourage others with their optimism, enthusiasm, and determination.

People who know how to get the best out of themselves get the best out of others.

Team SWAG and The 2012 Dodgeball Charity Event

 

In 2011, Team TAG started its initiative to raise money for Operation Smile and sponsor a mission trip to Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.  We asked the Boys & Girls Club of Venice if we could set up a dodgeball tournament in their gymnasium, charge teams $100 entry fees to join, come up with some creative prizes, and split the revenues to raise money for 2 great causes (Op Smile and B&G Club).

We received an enthusiastic “Yes”, and we were off to the races.

After raising around $1500 in 2011 for the 2 great charities through a competitive dodgeball tournament, we entered 2012 looking to repeat history.  The coveted Surf Board Trophy was up for grabs this year.

Team SWAG entered the 2012 tournament confidently.  As we made our way to the finals, we noticed that Team Shark Attack looked a little buff.  In a hard fought battle in the finals, Team Shark Attack prevailed.  We felt better after the loss when we learned that they were all fitness trainers from Los Angeles.

At the end of the day, everyone wins when charity events are put together.  Another $1000 was raised for the Club, and everyone had a great time.

Team TAG (or in this tournament we were known as Team SWAG) feels compelled to take our skill set, our great staff, and our creativity to do our part to help our community and people in need from around the world.  We believe that success and significance need to be in the same equation.  One without the other is incomplete in the world of today’s business.

Thank you Team SWAG volunteers for your tireless efforts to serve.  Enjoy the video of one of our newest Team SWAGgers – Richard Turner.

 

Character

Since it’s easier to train a person of good character to do a job well than to develop character in a skilled but unprincipled employee, if you have to choose, hire for character and train for skills.

Below are some thoughts from Michael Josephson regarding character.  I think it’s important to always be “sharpening the saw” regarding character.  At the end of the day, that’s all we really have.

 

What Is Character?

Character is the sum total of our dispositions, attitudes, and habits. Everyone has a character. But not everyone has character.

Good character is ethics in action; it’s the ability to summon the moral strength to do the right thing even when it may cost more than we want to pay.

People of character do the right thing even if no one is looking; they live up to their values even when there is no advantage to do so.

No one is born with good character. It’s something we all have to build and protect day by day, decision by decision.

 

The Nature of Character

Abraham Lincoln was very concerned with character, but he also was aware of the importance of having a good reputation. He explained the difference this way: “Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Put another way, your reputation is what people think of you, and your character is what you actually are.

In a world preoccupied with image, it’s easy to worry too much about our reputation and too little about our character. Building a reputation is largely a public relations project; building character requires us to focus on our values and actions. Noble rhetoric and good intentions aren’t enough.

What we’re looking for is moral strength based on ethical principles. Character is revealed by actions, not words — especially when there’s a gap between what we want to do and what we should do, and when doing the right thing costs more than we want to pay.

Our character is revealed by how we deal with pressures and temptations. But it’s also disclosed by everyday actions, including what we say and do when we think no one is looking and we assume we won’t get caught. The way we treat people we think can’t help or hurt us, like housekeepers, waiters, and secretaries, tells more about our character than how we treat people we think are important. People who are honest, kind, and fair only when there is something to gain shouldn’t be confused with people of real character who demonstrate these qualities habitually, under all circumstances.

Character is not a fancy coat we put on for show; it’s who we really are.

 

Character Is An Essential Competence

If you were hiring a new CEO, what are the most important qualities you’d look for? Surely you’d want a high level of demonstrated competence – knowledge, experience, intelligence, vision, communication, relationship skills, and the ability to motivate, manage, and solve problems. But what about qualities such as honesty, moral courage, accountability, and fairness?

Despite bold rhetoric about the indispensability of good character, many hard-driving organizations are willing to be flexible on character to get an exceptionally competent person.

Thus, many current scandals – in business, the church, and sports – have occurred because organizations compromised their principles by recruiting, retaining, or tolerating leaders with serious character flaws who generated costly accusations of wrongdoing and undermined trust, morale, teamwork, and loyalty.

Long ago, Samuel Johnson said, “Integrity without knowledge is weak and useless, but knowledge without integrity is dangerous and dreadful.”

Warren Buffet updated that notion: “In looking for people to hire, look for three qualities: integrity, intelligence, and energy. But if they don’t have the first, the other two will kill you.”

Are We Ready for the New Year?

Goals … Commitments … Habits

Why should we set goals? Why should we walk in to the new year with a game plan? (Whether it’s a 90 day game plan or a 2012 game plan)
Simply put: Having specific, measurable goals with game plans increases our odds of success. If we had to place a bet on 2 different drivers racing across the country (Driver A has a map; Driver B does not have a map), who would we put your money on? Well defined goals do not guarantee success; they simply increase the probability of success.

Ok – so we buy in to having goals. Now the question is:  What can we do to make sure that our goals become reality?

Here’s my answer:
Turn goals in to commitments. Turn commitments in to habits.

Here’s an interesting way to look at commitments.
I wonder how many more of our Leaders would become Owners if they had to invest $100,000 in to their businesses on their starting dates (as Entry Level Reps)? Imagine if the $100k investment was lost if the Leader did not finish the race and become an Owner.  Most entrepreneurs have to raise capital and/or borrow money before they start. They take risks and are highly committed.
Obviously if people made that level of commitment, the follow through would be there for all of our people.
Success follows committed people. We see this in sports, business, music, parenting, marriages, etc. The big “C” word can be scary – but let it be told:  Commitment is a completely necessary ingredient in the formula for success.
Commit to your goals. Time is too valuable to waste.

Goals become commitments.  Now commitments need to be transformed in to great habits.

A habit is defined as “an acquired behavior pattern regularly followed until it has become almost involuntary.” Making or changing a habit can be a difficult undertaking. There are several key habits that are necessary to be successful.  A few of the non-negotiables are:

• Having a positive attitude regardless of the circumstance
• Having an impeccable work ethic
• Underpromise and overdeliver
• Our word is our bond
• Following through on the things we start

Here are some things to keep in mind about forming a habit:

1. We must earnestly want to do it. We must have purpose in our hearts to make something habitual.
2. Find out how. We must invest time with mentors and people that are in the positions that we are seeking.
3. Surround ourselves with reminders. Put post-it notes on our fridges, mirrors, alarm clocks, cars. Set reminders on our smart phones.
4. Tell others about our intentions. Having our goals out in the open keeps us more accountable and makes our resolve feel more real.
5. Repetition is essential. Twice in a row does not make a habit. Habits are formed slowly, over long periods of time, through constant repetition, so don’t expect change overnight. Take it one day at a time. It has been said that it takes repeating an action 28 times for it to become a habit.
6. A failure is not an excuse to give up. If you fail along the way, you will be tempted to quit. Winston Churchill said it best: “Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

I’ll close this blog with one of my favorite quotes:
“I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. I will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. Half the things you do you might just as well turn over to me, and I will be able to do them quickly, correctly. I am easily managed; you must merely be firm with me. Show me exactly how you want something done, and after a few lessons I will do it automatically. I am the servant of all great people; and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I am not a machine, though I work with all the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a human being. You may run me for a profit or turn me for ruin; it makes no difference to me. Take me, train me, be firm with me, and I will place the world at your feet. Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am habit.” – Anonymous

All the best to our team in 2012!

Things That Make You Go Hmmm

Things That Make You Go Hmmmm….

 

Here are some great questions to ponder!  There are some great ones.  Enjoy!

Can you cry under water? 

How important does a person have to be before they are considered assassinated instead of just murdered? 

Why do you have to ‘put your two cents in’… but it’s only a ‘penny for your thoughts’? Where’s that extra penny going to? 

Once you’re in heaven, do you get stuck wearing the clothes you were buried in for eternity? 

Why does a round pizza come in a square box? 

What disease did cured ham actually have? 

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage? 

Why is it that people say they ‘slept like a baby’ when babies wake up like every two hours? 

If a deaf person has to go to court, is it still called a hearing? 

Why are you IN a movie, but you’re ON TV? 

Why do people pay to go up tall buildings and then put money in binoculars to look at things on the ground? 

Why do doctors leave the room while you change?   They’re going to see you naked anyway. 

Why is ‘bra’ singular and ‘panties’ plural? 

If the professor on Gilligan’s Islandcan make a radio out of a coconut, why can’t he fix a hole in a boat? 

If Wile E. Coyote had enough money to buy all that ACME crap, why didn’t he just buy dinner? 

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, what is baby oil made from? 

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons? 

Do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune? 

Why did you just try singing the two songs above? 

Why do they call it an asteroid when it’s outside the hemisphere, but call it a hemorrhoid when it’s in your butt? 

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog’s face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him for a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?  

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting dead? Yeah, how come?

Why do banks charge a fee on ‘insufficient funds’ when they know there is not enough money? 

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet? 

Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection? 

Why doesn’t Tarzan have a beard? 

Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him? Many of you won’t even know what they are talking about!

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets? 

Whose idea was it to put an ‘S’ in the word ‘lisp’? 

If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes? 

Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white? 

Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale? 

Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized? 

Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance? 

Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end on your first try? 

How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures? 

When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, ‘It’s all right?’ Well, it isn’t all right, so why don’t we say, ‘That really hurt, why don’t you watch where you’re going?’ 

Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that’s falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over? 
In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat? 

How come you never hear father-in-law jokes? 

And…… 
The statistics on sanity is that one out of every four persons are suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends – if they’re okay, then it’s you.