Episodes
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Today, we will cover 7 vital steps that leaders often get wrong in leading transformation but when they get them right it accelerates change and makes it far less stressful. For full summary go to: www.chiefmaker.com.au/75 A very trusted friend of our family is the COO of a national law firm. In the first paragraph of his profile he outlines his expertise in professional services firm leadership. He details how, as COO, he led a company from $3M turnover to over $100M in 8 years. Those are some seriously impressive numbers. They demand attention and they give him immediate credibility when he walks in the room.
Few executives ever rise to the top without leaving behind them a clear record of transformation. CEOs are looking for leaders who can demonstrate how theyâve innovated, led significant change and succeeded without leaving a trail of destruction.
Everything up to this point has been preparing you to make a standout impression when your target CEO is reviewing candidates for an executive position. A track record of transformation makes you pop off the page at the resume stage and gives you the real-world stories of transformation you can describe in interviewsâones you can back up with hard numbers.
A track record of success is the rocket fuel of any upward career trajectory. It builds unrivalled credibility and magnetically attracts exciting new opportunities. It shows you can unite people to a cause and smash politicking and bureaucracy. It does much more than make a jump to the executive team achievableâit makes it inevitable.
But in reality if youâre doing it just for your career youâre in it for the wrong reasons. In the words of Jack London,
ââI would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.â âJack London
All great Chiefs are dissatisfied with the status quo. They want to be one turn ahead of their competitors, so they apply a critical lens to everything, even what is currently working tolerably well. They know that present success guarantees nothing. Thereâs no such thing as a future-proof strategy. Standing still is the same thing as lying down and waiting to be buried.
Most managers know that they have to lead transformation to make that next big leap in their careers, but making the change happen in the real world is a complex task riddled with pitfalls.
Whole books have been written on Leading and navigating change and the work of John Kotter and others is a solid base that all leaders should know. Today, we will cover 7 vital steps that leaders often get wrong in leading transformation but when they get them right it accelerates change and makes it far less stressful. Iâve been in the trenches and coached teams from losing to making millions. Iâve done it in multiple industries and continents. Iâve seen first hand where it goes wrong...and how the incredible strain on those leading the change. The teams and chiefs Iâve worked with that got it right are some of the most inspiring people Iâve met. It has been truly a privilege to play a support role to their enormous efforts.
The reason I have picked these is because in the trenches of significant change this is where most leaders really struggle or make a critical mistake that costs them victory or delays it for long periods. They are: Assess the current situation first Set a vision and strategy that unites the leadership team the keep checking in Be courageous and bold Deeply engage stakeholders Raise the bar on standards Set a clear and right sized tactical plan Make it fun and a rich human experience For full summary go to: www.chiefmaker.com.au/75 -
Out guest this week is Sara Chamberlain, who along with her sister Amy created Australiaâs premier property styling company, The Real Estate Stylist, in under 4 years. The business has grown from effectively a one sofa enterprise to now employing 15 staff with a multi million dollar turnover and a list of discerning property owners and A-listers including Rebecca Judd, Zoe Foster Blake and the Australiaâs elite. Launching yet another two businesses under this umbrella since 2013 the group now includes The Artwork Stylist and The Apartment Stylist.
The Real Estate Stylist is considered the property styling experts in Australia regularly called upon for collaborations and comment with Real Estate.com, Domain, and The Collective.
A serial entrepreneur, Sara has being in business for 15 years, launching her first internationally stocked homewares range at just 21. Sara has bought and sold businesses, worked on the worldâs largest advertising accounts in London, (including Coke-a-Cola, Cadbury and Pizza Hut) doubled the turnover of a retail store in under 18 months, launched a business coaching seminar series, published a small business strategy guide and trained as an executive coach.
Full details at www.chiefmaker.com.au/74
We cover:
How the stories we tell us reflect the life we live How she built resilience through brutally tough health issues as a child The importance of knowing your business and not making your hobby your business Knowing your customer and ensuring it is a human to human experience Being curious and not knowing it all Being a thoroughbred and unemployable How she grew her business by knowing the numbers and strategyKey Quotes and Points by Sara
We are always in our own mind, and what we tell ourselves is what we believe, and what we believe is what we manifest
My entire mindset was driven by my mother's resounding, compelling belief that her daughter was absolutely fine, and I'll pick her up and I'll take her back to Wagga, and she will be 100% normal and she will miss all of year three at primary school, and she'll just pick up and walk into year four again. That's exactly what happened.
I've never ever really wanted to follow the doctor's orders anyway. I'm a complete rebel by definition. Doctor's would say come and see us again in 12 months, and I would just delete their number.
Look, I just don't like playing by the rules. I think you really have to be able to listen to your body, listen to your intuition, listen to your instinct, and then go and show them what you're made of. Do whatever you want to do.
Look, I've always felt like I was in a rush to run the world. That's been like a fire within me for a very long time.
I always set it up with the intention of not needing me to run it, that an investor couple could've just come in and sweep it up no matter what the writing on the wall was around the financial economy.
It's not in my makeup, and you can't do that. I mean I think that comes back to that inner child rebel in me that was like if you told me that I couldn't do something, or I wasn't capable of doing something, then it was like a double dare
I am pretty adamant about the fact that I'm a business person first and a stylist at the moment, second.
"Don't go outside of your area of expertise, and don't make your business your hobby." Sorry, "Don't make your hobby your business." Apologies.
"It would be remiss of us to encourage you in any way, shape or form, to consider a career change or an opportunity if we didn't understand what ... and if you didn't understand what your personal definition of happiness and success looks like, what your goals are, what your risk assessment is, how your family will support you, what skills you can draw upon to bring this into fruition. This is not a game guys. This is your actual life. This is your family, this is your mortgage, this is your children's future and your financial security. This is probably one of the most serious conversations you're going to have. If you think you're here to learn about cushion, you've got another thing coming."
"It's not about starting up, it's about staying up."
From a strategy perspective, I think that any business is really only as good as its data. I think you really need to have an understanding of your numbers and what is your important points. So for us we've spent a long time getting a handle on what the figures look like for us. I'm not talking figures in P&L sense. I'm talking figures in if you pull this lever, how does that impact on our overall ability to deliver a product?
I don't think there's really a bum on seat in any job that doesn't necessarily think that technology could maybe come along in some way, shape or form, and improve how they operate.
We spend too much time comparing ourself to others. So the questions that they need to ask themselves is, who are they and what is it that make them happy in their life already?
The way that you overcome boredom is start setting yourself some goals again. Start looking at some of the things that you actually enjoy. When you're not at work, what are some things that get you interested? Are you listening to podcasts around a particular subject? Is there something in a meeting at work that comes up that makes you think, "I'd like to know a little bit more about that?" Is there somebody in another sector in your business that is doing something that you actually end up talking about in the pub?
I think we become complacent that technology is a tool that will replace the human relationships in the sales space, and by sending something through to somebody and making the assumption that that has been received, read and understood, you're doing yourself a really big disservice.
The only way you're really going to make cut through, is committing yourself to an ongoing personal relationship, and driving a sense of understanding around what that consumer needs. So we say in your team often, "People don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care."
The first time you ask them, "What's in this for you? How can we help you meet your target?" Because everyone else has got somebody else on their back, and every single person has a deadline to meet and a budget to hit and a criteria that they have to do, in order for their performance to be what it needs to be for them within their company structure.
So I say to my team, if somebody can't hit that budget, it's not because they don't want to spend the money, it's because they don't have either the authority or we haven't hit the criteria in that proposal. So you need to understand what that is.
Well, when did we foster a culture where everybody believe that they have to pretend they know everything? What happened to asking the question of, "I don't know?" And if you can sit there in a meeting and you can drop that guard and say, "I actually don't know that. Can you explain that to me? Can you give me some more insight, how does that work? I'm curious about that."
Am I looking forward to coming into work, and am I looking forward to going home?
I think we have to appreciate that what you're doing with your time and how many hours you are committing to your work environment, you really want to be enjoying that. You really want to be able to say that you didn't just go through the motions for 40 years. I think we're moving away from the early days where everyone just had to get a job and they stuck to that job.
I mean my poor father would be an example of that, he hates being a liquidator, but he had graciously done that to support his family in the way that he has. There are opportunities these days to create your own journey, and to ask a lot more questions around what makes you happy in order for you to have some fulfilment at work, because it's going to be important in your overall healthiness and health. I think that's really important.
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Life in the chaos of the modern business world can be crushingly difficult. Many of those caught in the machine describe the daily grind as âsoul destroyingâ. They work hard all day, every day on an endless list of tasks at work and home. It might be politics, red tape and antiquated systems frustrating them, or they might just sense that there has to be more to life than this.
Many of them feel like they need to escape, but escape isnât the answer. They know the solution is a purposeful and impactful career and a life of significance that doesnât come at the cost of oneâs soul.
Many of them see Chiefs who are living this life. They want the same thing, so they strive to be Chiefs themselves (or at least their dream role). They drive for that title which will give them the authority to make big change. The life of a Chief can look glamorous. Not only do they have the powerful roles, they are also honoured guests at the best events, they are connected to powerful and influential people, and they have the power to make wide-ranging changes with the stroke of a pen.
Great Chiefs havenât just walked into these roles, though. Their lives have been anything but a walk in the park. The best have embraced a tough journey that has pushed their mental toughness and adaptability to their limits. The best have been forged in the fires of hard-won, tough-fought lessons.
And this is what strikes you when you spend time with the great Chiefs: there is a different essence at their core. They arenât interested in playing political games. Instead, they take a scalpel to bureaucracy and generate profits through purpose. Their ability to get results combines with dignity and humility, which gives them a calming presence. When this presence is united with their vision, wellâŚthat is when the magic happens.
Itâs so easy to think that Chiefs are smarter, better connected or more engaging than you, but their intelligence and relationships, while undeniably important, are only a part of their success. Chiefs become Chiefs not because they are lucky with intelligence or networks, but because they have taken to heart a powerful philosophy: ownership precedes victory. They own the outcomes of every challenge they face, relationship they enter, and business they lead. Whether the outcome is success or failure, they are accountable. They demand responsibility for it and they will not share the blame with others.
The qualities and habits that make one a Chief are not innate. They are learned. The method Iâll share today is a what I covered in my book which is now an Amazon bestseller in careers. It teaches you how to become a Chief. It contains a blueprint for personal and professional mastery in the corporate world. By following the blueprint, youâll learn to make a noticeable impact, and this will help you rise above your competition and earn a seat on the executive team. Youâll rise above the politics and overload rampant in the corporate world. Youâll learn how to become a master of yourself and your profession. It isnât a quick fix, it will take serious hard work and lots of soul searching. But this will make your victory all the sweeter.
The 5-Step Chief Maker GREAT Method drills down on the issues that so many of those in senior management roles are dealing with. These are the issues your peers talk about time and again:
⢠You have no time. Youâre overloaded with commitments at work and home. You donât feel as though youâre controlling your destiny. ⢠Youâre tired of fighting for respect, tired of trying to prove your point. ⢠You donât feel connected. You donât have friends in high places. ⢠Your team is predominantly made up of average performers. You and a small handful of strong performers on your team carry the load and fix othersâ mistakes. ⢠You canât escape the bureaucracy and career-killing politics. ⢠You canât find the time for personal growth. Since youâre not mastering your craft, career growth has stalled. ⢠Your personal and professional lives are out of balance, which is impacting your family and your physical and mental health. ⢠You feel like youâre drifting, as though your career trajectory is entirely out of your hands. ⢠Youâre no longer sure if you even want a C-Level role. It looks like it requires more sacrifice than you can afford. Deep down, youâre only half-heartedly committed to becoming a Chief. If any of these issues resonate with you, this framework is for you.
Over the past 15 years Iâve searched the planet for the most powerful, results-driving performance strategies. Iâve coached CEOs of multi-billion dollar listed companies around the globe. Iâve helped sporting legends like Martina Natratilova to coach top tennis players and Super Rugby teams reach peak performance levels. Iâve taught the worldâs best coaches how to get the absolute best out of their athletes, and Iâve helped doctors and emergency response teams become better lifesavers.
After a decade of coaching at all levels of business and at the top of elite sport, I was able to distil the most effective peak-performance strategies into a small set of repeatable behaviours. These are the behaviours that separate the career middle managers from the Chiefs. In business, in sport and in life, Chiefs do something different, and these behaviours can be learned. That observation is what drove me to write my book and share a 5 step process that I call the GREAT method to help anyone accelerate their career.
Iâve tested these five steps over more than a decade at the top of business and elite sport, and they get the desired results time and again. Whether it was in the world of business or in sport, whenever an elite performer came to me wanting a competitive edge, these were the five steps we went back to just about every time. This is a system that produces game-changing results:
1. Game Plan
2. Routine
3. Entourage
4. Assets
5. Track Record www.chiefmaker.com.au/73 -
In this episode we talk with CEO of SalesITV Dean Mannix on overcoming your limitations to live a bigger life and selling like the best in the world
Full details at www.chiefmaker.com.au/72
ABOUT DEAN
He is the author of Australiaâs largest library of video sales and service training and has delivered sales performance projects in over 25 countries. Dean is recognised as one of Australiaâs leading sales performance coaches with 30 years of legal, finance, sales and management experience. He advises, coaches and trains senior executives from many of the worldâs leading corporations.
He has also been the CEO of a leading property development and childcare management company which he built to a team of 140 employees. He then developed and led a highly successful sales team in the technology space and simultaneously grew his consulting business.
Dean has an Executive MBA from the AGSM and he is also a qualified Yoga teacher.
He is now the CEO of SalesITV.
We cover:
- How we coped with the murder of his father at 15
- How we built a multi-million dollar childcare business and then lost it all by 26
- How we has become the trusted sales coach of the world's biggest companies
- Resilience and living a better life
- The most important steps to sell like the best in the world
Full details at www.chiefmaker.com.au/72
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In this episode we talk about :
⢠why your boss is your #1 customer ⢠What happens when theyâre not ⢠How to make them your biggest ambassador
⢠Youâll grow with them. In other words, if theyâre successful in their role and future roles, not only are they going demand more of you, but when they get a promotion theyâre going to lift you up the corporate ladder with them. ⢠The better you make your boss look, the more likely it is that those in the position to promote you will want to see you in positions that can make them look good. ⢠A happy boss can make the daily grind feel downright pleasant. ⢠If youâre effectively serving your boss and effectively serving the company in perfect alignment
www.chiefmaker.com.au/71
This starts with a simple question:
Who is your customer?
When I asked one of my clients this question, he said, âMy team. My job is to make their jobs as easy as possible.â
âDo they approve your salary and bonuses?â I asked.
âWell, noâ, he said, hesitating. âMy boss approves that.â
âWho is your true customer then?â
The revelation stopped him in his tracks because it runs counter to contemporary management fads to think of your boss as your true customer. Weâve been taught that we should think of our team members as our customers, but this is looking at it the wrong way around. Your team is the vendor. Your boss is your customer.
Turning your thinking around like this will help you see who you need to serve better (i.e., your boss) and who you can expect more from (i.e., your vendors). When we look at our team as though they were our customers (rather than service providers to both you and the company), we accept poor performance from them far too readily. Of course, this doesnât mean you should stop developing them and providing them with a high-performance work environment, but by serving them instead of your boss as your customers, you are doing yourself (and your career) a disservice.
Start viewing your boss as your customer and youâll do everything you can to make sure they are a raving fan. This is what will move you to the top of the list when you are being considered for promotion.
In a career sense, it pays to start approaching your boss as though they were your customer for three main reasons:
⢠What are their biggest day-to-day issues at work and home? ⢠What are their biggest fears about their work and career? ⢠What are the consequences if they don't get the results they're after? ⢠What do you need to change to really get on track in serving them?
Letâs be honest, if your customer isnât happy, how much of an impact are you going to have? If your customer isnât happy, how happy can you possibly be?
One my clients, Rob, was having credibility issues with his boss, the COO. âShe is difficult to connect withâ, he told me one day. âI never know where I stand. I just donât think she sees the value in me.â
The deeper truth that Rob was missing was that he was solving the wrong problems. He was focused on his problems which he thought the COO should be focusing on rather than listening and gaining deeper understanding of what the COO felt the biggest problems in the business were.
The moment he started to look at the COO as though she were his customer, his whole approach to messaging changed. He wrote a detailed profile on the COO. What were her real problems? What was keeping her up at night? What were the CEO, shareholders and the market demanding of her?
Rob worked out that the three biggest pain points for the COO were safety, unstable operations, and difficulty in keeping other team members on track. The last of these was a major issue. Team members were constantly drifting off into non-mission critical activities and not working together.
Rob immediately started framing his messages around solving these problems. Whereas before he would say,
âWeâre implementing a new governance system for our projects to ensure they are kept to scope, time and budget and our new operational standards are being rolled outâ,
now he would say,
âOur new operational standards are being implemented with a focus on their relationship to safety and stabilising production. We have initiated a fortnightly managers meeting to keep everyone focused on the most valuable work. We have also announced that we are pausing or cancelling several non-critical projects.â
Robâs work focus changed only marginally, but by turning his messaging on its head, he was demonstrating to his customer that he understood her problems.
At an executive team meeting less than three weeks later, the COO told Rob (and everybody else in the room) that he was doing a brilliant job and that there were other opportunities they were going to send his way. This was a big change for Rob. He was definitely not being positioned like this previously.
Best of all, by solving his bossâs problems, Rob solved the companyâs problems at an even higher level. The COO and the executive team had their own set of daily challenges, and by addressing one of them, Robâs changes had company-wide impact.
By thinking about the role above his, Rob was able to connect with her boss and solve his problems, and as these positive effects rippled outward, word quickly spread among the executive team. Rob had developed a reputation as a leader worth considering for promotion.
The most effective way to do this is to develop an in-depth understanding of the problems that your boss faces daily.
The more clarity you have in terms of your customersâ wants and needs, the more likely it will become that youâll be able to address these issues. They key elements of this customer profile are as follow:
You donât need to be a psychic to get accurate answers to these questions. You just need to talk to your customer. Buy them lunch, take them for a drink after work, or take them for a coffee early in the day. The more you know about them, the more likely it is that youâll be able to get inside their head (and this is where you have to be if you are going to make the most of this exercise). Ask them about their work, and listen carefully to their answers. What is the subtext of what theyâre saying? Pay particularly close attention to complaints or other signs of frustration.
If your first profile doesnât work, you might have missed a core customer problem, or you might not be making it obvious to them that you are solving or have solved their problem. Like we learned from Rob, a change in messaging can have powerful knock on effects.
The final step here is that once you know what your bossâ biggest challenges are then go the extra mile and exceed their expectations. I mean make them your biggest ambassador. This doesnât mean being a suck-up. No one likes that. It is easy to see. Just do such an incredibly good job they canât help but be impressed by you.
Recently I helped two leaders land their first ever executive team roles. They both came to me with similar problems...they weren't in the hunt for the role. But we turned the tide around by immediately getting inside identifying the key members of the interview panel and then getting inside their heads. We did a detailed profile on the CEO and looked at the way they could pitch for the role. And now they are both in the C-Suite. Huge moves. Talk about fist pumping moments for them.
The most beautiful thing iâve found about this process is that it shifts your whole emotional experience from back foot to front foot. It goes from negative to positive. Now youâre focused on delivering, being great and you get your head in the game. Thatâll flow with a better vitality and energy in your work.
I know that this shift has been huge game changer for countless people Iâve coached. -
In this episode we talk with Know How Group Founder and CEO Bushy Martin on success, playing the long game and living like every day will be your last.
Full details at www.chiefmaker.com.au/70
SPONSOR:
This episode is brought to you by The Build a Better Agency Podcast with Drew McLellan. The podcast has a new episode every week that helps small to mid-sized agency owners and leaders ensure that their agency is future proofed, scalable and more profitable than ever before. Search Build a Better Agency podcast on your podcast player or google
ABOUT BUSHY
Bushy is the founder of the Know How Group. His team helps time poor professionals that don't know who to trust or where to start to replace their income through property. But, much more than that, Bushy is the author of Freedom Formula, a killer book I read cover to cover, the host of Get Invested Podcast, and avid property investor, and just an all around top bloke. In this episode we'll talk about his journey from being completely broke to being financially free in 15 years, how he wrestled crocodiles in Papua New Guinea, how he started and built a successful business, and a life full of interesting stories.
QUESTIONS I ASK BUSHY MARTIN:
Tell us about your time in Papua New Guinea working with crocodile farmers and living wild What did you learn about yourself when your marriage broke up and your father died? What is the freedom formula? How can people build additional wealth without investing or creating new revenue streams?CONNECT WITH BUSHY MARTIN:
www.khgroup.com.au
Call Bushy and his on on +61-8-8383-6990
Email [email protected]
Listen to the Get Invested Podcast here.
Buy Bushyâs book here.
Connect with the KH Group
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In this episode we talk about how to create clarity everyday and how that will help you with confidence, beating imposter syndrome and making smart decisions.
www.chiefmaker.com.au/69 The speed and complexity of the modern world is not a natural environment for our brains. It can too easily lead to overwhelm and feeling like youâre a little lost at sea. Our brains are designed for singular focus and by pouring a constant stream of emails, social media, news onto our normal busy lives it is a recipe for confusion and a scattergun approach to our work. We simply lose focus. There are three important methods for creating clarity in your life and career. Having this clarity in your mind is comforting. Is helps keep you composed and when key decisions or events come along your response is more effective and inspiring. The three methods are: Diagnostics The world is full of diagnostics that help people and teams analyse complex systems. The medical profession, personality models, culture surveys and manufacturing plant diagnostics help us rise above the detail and see how things are performing in relation to each other and a benchmark. Itâs the higher level view this creates which is so important. It helps us understand, have clarity and know what to do next. In every coaching engagement I enter into we start with a diagnostic be it a High Performance Team survey, 360 feedback or Chief Maker Scorecard. All these provide immediate information to help with a better coaching outcome and rapidly reduces the time to understand a situation. It also gives everyone something to talk too, get on the same page and benchmark performance so you can see how the action you take improves the overall outcome. Frameworks and Mental Models The second key elements are the analytical frameworks or mental models you use to understand and respond to the world. When tricky or complex scenarios at work arise having these frameworks at your disposal allows you to quickly and effectively respond using a proven pathway. They foster calm and ask people to consider all the angles of a given issue or initiative. This might be simple models like SWOT or a PESTLE analysis or more details approach like a full Project Management Lifecycle or Six Sigma Analysis. The more of these you have stored away in your mental arsenal the better you are able to respond in the real world. Of course, as you rise up the corporate ladder the types of models you need to apply shift more towards strategy development, vision, values, culture change models, coaching models and financial analysis. The whole game shifts from the technical models that you used early in your career. So you need to re-educate yourself to thrive at the higher levels. Mindmaps & Systems Diagrams The final tool I use religiously are mindmaps and system diagrams. In the words of business guru Edwards Deming, âIf you canât describe what youâre doing as a process, you donât know what youâre doing.â Mindmaps, process maps and more detailed system diagrams allow you to accurately represent a complex system visually so you can stand back and look at the bottlenecks or pain points. Any personal mindmap, business plan-on-a-page or system diagram will immediately allow everyone to have greater clarity and to focus in on the most important pain points for them and the business as a whole. When these three key methods are combined youâll grow in comfort in your own ability and that youâre leading a team along the right path. Without these tools youâll spend valuable time and energy guessing your next move and that can cost you confidence and bring imposter syndrome back to the table. Stay epic Greg -
In this episode, we explore the three powerful techniques to recenter the soul and mind. It is also part 2 of how to overcome imposter syndrome which we discussed in Ep 65 Imposter Syndrome. Full notes here: www.chiefmaker.com.au/67 The soul can easily get lost as sea in the modern business world. With the incredible pace of business and life it is easy to lose connection to yourself. When you lose this it rattles your confidence and belief that you should be in the position youâre in. So it plays a key role in beating imposter syndrome. It is also vital to get right if you want to feel composed, present and have that sense of gravitas so many of us find elusive. There are three major ways to recenter the soul and mind: Regular Focus Session Once or twice per week set aside an hour and give yourself the opportunity to deeply reconnect to your soul, purpose, vision and strategy. This is best done in a few key steps: 20 mins of meditating and calming the mind 20 mins of reviewing your purpose, vision and strategy 20 mins of planning and rehearsing for the week ahead This is much like a shipâs Captain who regulularly takes their bearings, heads down to their quarters and plots their progress. They take time to take stock, review the impact of the weather, tides and performance of their crew. At the end of this session, youâre seeking absolutely clarity on the week ahead and also a sense that youâre reconnected to your purpose and soul. Mini Resets Throughout the day when things get really busy use these three powerful and simle tools to reset the mind. Rhythm Using the speed of your footsteps, slow down and speed up your rhythm as required. Perhaps as you are walking towards a key meeting slow the steps down, demonstrate composure and calmness. Breathing Going hand-in-hand with rhythm is your rate of breathing. Taking small moments throughout the day to reset your breathing resets the mind and your state. Try a perfectly even breathing rate of 2 seconds in, 1 second pause, 2 seconds out, 1 second pause and repeat just 5 ties. Youâll find that in 30 seconds youâre entire state has shifted. Posture The final link in this chain is your posture. Youâll find that by adopting a very well grounded and centred posture youâll experience and associated shift in state. Mindsets and Mantras Put a few of your favourite quotes and mantras into your back pocket so that you can whip them out when appropriate. Some that I love are: Slow is smooth, smooth is fast I keep putting money into the global bank and it keeps paying me back with interest A problem shared is a problem halved Start with why In truth, I have dozens that I use. Would love to hear yours. The key here is to create a regular rhythm. Without the rhythm you lose the fitness and like a captain not checking their bearings will drift right off course far from your destination and purpose.
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In this episode we talk with Ausenco CEO Zimi Meka on resilience, honesty and the importance of good people.
Full details at www.chiefmaker.com.au/66
Zimi Meka is one of the founding directors of Ausenco Limited and was appointed as Chief Executive Officer / Managing Director in 1999. Zimiâs background includes senior roles in engineering and operations companies prior to the formation of Ausenco in 1991.
He has over 25 years' experience in the design, construction and operation of a wide range of processing plants and infrastructure in the minerals industry in Australia and internationally. He is the Queensland University of Technologyâs 2008 Alumnus of the Year, was awarded the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgyâs 2009 Institute Medal and is one of Australiaâs top 100 most influential engineers as awarded by Engineers Australia. He is a Fellow of Engineers Australia, a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.
Other career highlights include:
Listed by Engineers Australia as one of the countryâs Top 100 most influential engineers in 2010, 2011, 2014 and 2015 Awarded Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgyâs Institute Medal 2009 Queensland University of Technology Alumnus of the Year 2008 Fellow of Engineers Australia Fellow of the Australian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy Director, Carube Copper Corp. (May 2018 - )QUESTIONS I ASK ZIMI MEKA:
In the early years of Ausenco, how did you develop resilience? What was the most important thing that you did as a business early to ensure growth? How do you attract good people? How do you keep learning? How do you lead thoroughbreds? What is the most important skill leaders need but donât tend to develop? What advice would you give someone who is stuck in their career?CONNECT WITH ZIMI:
www.ausenco.com
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In this episode, I answer a question from a subscriber. How do I overcome imposter syndrome?
⢠Unrealistic or incongruent vision of the role ⢠No set process of recentering ⢠Lack of clarity
Over the next three minisodes weâll explore some powerful ways to beat imposter syndrome so you feel comfortable in your own skin and clear in your mind.
Assuming you do have most of the skills necessary for the job the three main causes of imposter syndrome are:
⢠Develop a congruent vision of you in the role ⢠Dealing with hidden assumptions
In Part 1 today we cover:
Imposter Syndrome strikes when youâre trying on something that doesnât fit yet. It doesnât fit for a few reasons: 1. What youâre trying to be isnât you. Youâre trying to be like a CEO youâve seen or met. But that is there style. Not yours. Itâll never feel right. Youâll always feel like youâre being someone else. 2. Youâve got unrealistic expectations or beliefs about what itâs like for others in the role For full summary go to www.chiefmaker.com.au/65
In Episode 67 Iâll cover processes for recentering and in episode 69 weâll talk about creating clarity.
The single biggest assumption that people make is that the day their role changes is the day their whole mindset and outlook will change. The two arenât related. To feel like a boss, like a chief, you have to cultivate that feeling. This means you need to be rock solid in your belief in the path youâre on.
I remember the first time I entered a board room for a big meeting with an executive team back when I was a project manager. I was pretty nervous and had put all these people on a pedestal. Over the next few months of reporting to them I realised it was often a facade. Every single person in that room was just trying their best and were far from perfect.
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Today we joined by founder and CEO of the McLellan Marketing Group, Drew McLellan.
He also owns and runs the Agency Management Institute (AMI), which is a consultancy for small to medium sized agencies that has been helping agency owners grow their agencies since the early 90s.
We talk about:
What he learnt about understanding people by creating ads To grow and get promoted you need to let of the reins Being curious Joining masterminds
Drew launched his agencyâs blog in 2006 and it has been on the AdAge Top 150 from the listâs inception. His first book, 99.3 Random Acts of Marketing, was published in 2003 and Drew and Australian marketer Gavin Heaton created the Age of Conversation series of crowdsourced books in 2007. To date, the AOC series has raised over $50,000 for charity. Drew launched the AMI blog in 2012 and hopes it will be a great resource to agency leaders.
Drewâs often interviewed/quoted in Entrepreneur Magazine, New York Times, CNN, BusinessWeek, and many others. The Wall Street Journal calls him âone of 10 bloggers every entrepreneur should read.â
When heâs not hanging out with agency owners/staff or MMG clients, Drew spends time with his family and pondering why the Dodgers canât seem to get back to the World Series.
Drew has a Masterâs Degree from the University of Minnesota but alas, he cannot remember their fight song.
See more at www.chiefmaker.com.au/64
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In this episode I outline a method of turning risk completely on its head that I developed which gets killer outcomes for everyone involved.
When most of us here the word Risk Management Plan we start thinking red tape, no more freedom and a group of expensive auditors at your door to analyse your business inside out.
If youâve ever had the risk auditors turn up and trawl through your business telling you all the things you need to write a report on about youâll stop major events happening youâll know the meaning of paperwork.
Richard Branson. Never made a deal he could lose on.
âAs an adventurer...I try to protect against the downside. I make sure I have covered as many eventualities as I can. In the end, you have to take calculated risks; otherwise you're going to sit in mothballs all day and do nothing.â
Throughout my business life I have always tried to keep on top of costs and protect the downside risk as much possible. The Virgin Group has survived only because we have always kept tight control of our cash. But, likewise, I also know that sometimes it is essential to break these rules and spend lavishly.
Richard Branson
Donât get me wrong, there is always a time and place for risk management plans. But they have a serious problem. Ask yourself a questions, when was the last time you got out your Risk Management Plan and assessed every aspect in detail?
The major problem with risk management plans is that they donât get big buy-in.
In a business sense risk has a bad wrap. It defensive and often negative. And here is the MAJOR reason why.
It is all about stopping things happening. Stopping sucks the energy out of a room. Itâs not motivating. It doesnât draw people up to their best performance.
What I do with clients is flip it on itâs head.
How does risk assessment traditionally work:
Risk is generally assessed against the impact and likelihood of bad event happening. It is at this point that it gets put into a matrix, given a code and then managed through a risk management plan.
This is where the psychology of high performance disagrees with this approach. The process loses focus on the outcome. Instead it sends people into the minute details of defence rather than that key steps to a positive and bigger outcome.
To spin it on itâs head what we do is put a new event up. E.g.
Zero Safety Incidents Successful $100M Business Deal Announced to Market Perfect Implementation of new business systemAt this point we plot, the outcome on the traditional risk matrix. I.e. What is the current likelihood of the outcome happening and what is the size of the impact?
Now we optimise the hell out of it. Drive it up by increasing the likelihood and increasing the impact. What youâll find is that people now are shoring up their plans with positive actions that are energising. Whatâs more youâll note that the likelihood of failure also plummets.
What this means is you start to take calculated risks and have done everything you can to increase the likelihood of success.
YOUR PROCESS OF OPTIMISING RISK
Define the outcome Plot it on a matrix with the likelihood of success and positive impact on the business Record all your assumptions Partnerships Resourcing Budget Relationships with key stakeholders Plan how you can increase likelihood and impact through:Chief, what I recommend you do then is flip it back on its head and do the traditional method to give it a different lens. And then return this method.
Stay epic
Iâve put all the show notes on the website at www.chiefmaker.com.au/63
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In this episode we hear from Super Rugby Club, the Melbourne Rebels CEO, Baden Stephenson.
Baden's path to CEO has been different to most as he transitions from coaching and operations and finally getting his first CEO role in 2017. He was heavily involved as a GM of rugby in the drama of 2017 when the Melbourne Rebels battled to keep their super rugby licence. At the conclusion of, he was selected to lead the club into the future.
Questions I ask Baden:
What did you learn from the elite sport side of rugby that has translated to the business and administration side? What was the most brutal feedback you ever received that you knew to be true? What do people misunderstand about professional sporting clubs? What are the major setbacks youâve had? How do you lead high performers?Key Points from Baden:
On what he learnt from his wifeâs battle with cancer:
I think now when I'm dealing with people, I think it has certainly improved my emotional empathy for players and stuff, when they've got family issues, having gone through that experience myself.
On the Rebels almost being cut and what it was like being in the inner sanctum:
It was really tough. There's no way to sugarcoat it. It was highly emotional and highly stressful, and when you also throw in uncertainty ... It's just a character or a feeling that no one likes, and I found that you had from players, the staff to management ... that everyone deals with uncertainty in different ways, but it's not a nice thing to go through. And sometimes uncertainty might last a day or week, but this was odd going for months. I had players in tears in my office. I had wives and kids of players and staff that they're unstable relationships, and you know, do I enrol in school, do I take out a lease, what are we doing? What's the future hold?
On what he learned from elite sport:
I think what I have learned as a player, as a coach, administrator or management, is that it's not always gonna be a straight line, and you've gotta be flexible, and you're just gonna have to deal with the challenges and get back on the horse, and sometimes you get bucked off real hard, and ... in a position that I'm in, if I don't show resilience, I can't expect everyone else to show resilience
That was something that I really learned and liked about Sydney University ... that it didn't matter what year it was or who was in the team or how the club was going ... but the expectations were very clear and high.
What he learnt from mentors:
when there was issues, he addressed them really quickly. He didn't let them manifest ... He dealt with them, and he did it in a personal way.
On mindsets:
Your emotions are contagious, and it's important that ... if people are up, often people will follow, and likewise if they're down, and I think that we had just gone through such a long period of sort of dark clouds hanging over the club that you almost forget ... And I would've been as guilty as anyone ... you almost forget that you're in a privileged position. You're working in sport. You've got a huge opportunity, and you're around like-minded people, so ...
I think that understanding your mindset and what sort of attitude you bring into the workplace every day is something that, I think we're all working on.
On the importance of making people feel valued:
make sure that people feel valued in your organisation, and I think that, as we talked about before, sporting organisations can be quite brutal, but I think if you're going to get the best of them ... if people feel valued, they'll go over and above for you, and be passionate and be really driven ... if they're feeling valued
See more at www.chiefmaker.com.au/62
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In this episode we explore the incredible power of ritual and tradition in building your tribe and I share 3 magic traditions that will boost any team spirit and most importantly the role of the chief in leading them. Traditions and rituals in a business sense are the stories, language, gatherings, symbols that give a team deeper meaning and a sense of belonging. They reinforce what you stand for, what you believe in, what you have in common and that you share something. Tradition comes from an inner space that is seeking meaning, deep human connection and understanding. All of us long for traditions, they nourish our spirits and when at their best, they ennoble us and those around us. When work feels soulless, like it crushing your spirit, people are sacrificing, people arenât committed to the team or their work. Wonât go the extra mile for each. Bicker and fight. Good people are leaving and average people are staying. Then there is a good chance you havenât got the right rituals and traditions.
In a classic sense think anthems before a big sporting fixture, the All Blacks haka and traditional Australian response of uniting arm and arm and accepting the challenge, think huddles, think catchphrases, stories being told and annual trips, awards and celebrations. These all have an inordinate effect on culture and spirit of a group whatever the size. Team spirit flourishes with positive rituals and traditions and is toxic when theyâre lacking or negative. In the words of The Inner Chiefâs spiritual mentor, Damien Price: âThey express - beyond words, our common bonds, our core values, our reason for wanting to belong and our shared purpose. So often the best traditions are small and simple but speak straight to the heart of the matter.â See more at Chiefmaker.com.au/61 -
In this episodes we hear from CEO and authority guru Steve Brossman on Making on Sales Easy and and Being and Enterprise of One.
Steve is a former National Professional Track Champion and is the Author of two Amazon No.1 Best Sellers âStand Up, Stand Out or Stand Asideâ and âThe Authority Client Attraction Systemâ.
He has created several 6 and 7 figure businesses of his own, including inventing and marketing an environmental product selling 4 million units into 26 Countries.
With over 20 years TV and video experience including hosting and producing his own TV Show on Ch 9 and appearing on TV in 5 Continents he is one of Australiaâs most experienced Video presenter trainers.
Steve has spoken in 15 countries and trained over 32,000 Speakers, Coaches and Business Owners to Stand out in their market.
Recognised as real influencers Pam and Steve were invited to a high-level mastermind with Richard Branson on his own Necker Island.
With a desire to help professionals overcome their fear of selling Steve has created the Blueprint Conversion System. This breakthrough program is changing the way professionals market and sell their services.
Questions I ask Steve:
Why do people fear sales so much?
How do people build authority within their organisation or as a small business?
What is it like working Sir Richard Branson on Necker Island?
What is the difference between an expert and someone with authority
What is the biggest mistake people make in sales?
What separates the top 1% of sales people from every other person?
Key Points from Steve:
One of my mentors once said, "You're not in the job of your profession, your profession is marketing what you do." An expert knows something, an authority is known for something.Now in corporate world, you could be an authority within the corporate world. What most people don't do is go and look at what their strengths are. Not only what their strengths are, but what that means to other people. I do work in the corporate world, and with individuals as well. I try and teach them to be their own what I call a personal enterprise. That they've got to run their own business within the corporate. They've got to be seen as a leader and authority to stand out in that business. That person is the go-to person for something. Work out what is your own uniqueness, what you want to be known for. What are the outcomes that you deliver for the people in your own organisation, or for your clients and customers, if you're a business owner. I love bringing sporting analogies, and you'll appreciate this one, is that once they're known for that, and they're delivering and exceeding the delivery, exceeding the values that they're providing for other people, they need to do it in two ways. They need to do it in their playing field, and that's with and for people that they're interacting on a daily basis. That's providing great service, and it's other people seeing that they're providing great service. So that's down on the playing field, but what they also should be looking at is the perception from the stands. The people that may or may not be interacting, but potentially are going to be responsible for, or actually reporting to those responsible for that person getting a promotion, or getting up the corporate ladder. That's the thing, it's not the fear of selling. If you're selling yourself, if you're a professional, it's the fear of personal rejection. The philosophy is sell the system, not yourself. When you take it away from selling yourself, and I get them to pictorialize their system in a way that it is a graphic blueprint. Because we absorb images, verbal is linear. "This is the system. This is my blueprint for success for you." Then they start saying, "Well, this is the different ways that we could help. This is the different value that we could have." They're collecting value as they're going along, and at the end of it, the perceived value was greater than the investment. Does it make sense we implement this sooner rather than later? So it's a collaboration, people like collaborating. As you're going through, you're collaborating, you're working with that person. They're coming in with some ideas, so you're co-creating a solution. By the time you get to end of it, they've co-created the solution, so the objections are not there. My definition of sales, and I heard it from a mentor many, many years ago, was professionally servicing other people's needs for a mutually beneficial gain. The people that just jump in, and just solve a need, are going to be just solving those needs. They're just order takers, and they're going to make much less sales. So the real good salesmen, elite salespeople, really understand more than just what the problem is. What is that problem causing? What are the emotional effects that that problem is going to cause? How can we solve all of those? They're the elite sales people. They take the time to understand more than just what they need to sell. The purpose is to take the viewer or the prospect along an emotional journey, where in the end, in their mind, they're making a logical decision to do whatever the next step is. If you've done it right, you've given them enough emotion. You've taken them on that emotional journey, but you still have enough facts in there, that in their mind they're making a logical decision. "I've got to do that. I've just got to have that," and that's what it's all about. I love LinkedIn, so they can connect with me directly on LinkedIn. I make it very hard for people to find me on the web. It's stevebrossman.com. If they do actually want to email me personally, I do respond personally. It's even harder, [email protected]. One of the biggest things that most people don't know is the way Richard actually operates. He works in two hour shifts, and the way he works is he just gets paid to think. You access his brain, he has got two assistants beside him. They'll ask a question or outline something, and he will answer and go into that. They'll start reporting that while the other person asks a question, and he just gets paid to think. The other thing that's interesting about him, it's almost embarrassing. When he's talking to you, and particularly when you're just sitting there having breakfast one-on-one, you feel embarrassed, because you feel as if he's trying to pick your brain. You feel as if he's trying to learn from you, and he remembers. That's the big thing, is you learn to be present. That's why he is very successful. He is present, he listens, but all he does is he gets paid to think, not do. -
In this episode we talk about executing your Life Vision as part 2. If you havenât listened to Episode 57 of building your Life Vision Iâd recommend doing that first.
There is an old saying, âVision without execution is just a dreamâ.
And, chief, Iâve got a confession so make this was me. I was a dreamer with all sorts of grand ideas about who or what Iâd become. I always had new ideas and goals that all seemed to flow from my creative mind.
I was the line from poem âGeorge Grayâ by Edgar Lee Masters that I read in Ep 57 on building your life vision...âa boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.â I was stuck in my own sheltered harbour. Not willing to do the hard work break the boundaries, to look inside myself at the things I liked about myself the least or the limiting beliefs I held and grow beyond them.
It was only when I realised that all greatness requires challenge. It will requires a thousand steps one after the other to change my game. One must have a vision and one must execute. Iâve seen too many people with only one part of the pie.
In Life Vision Part 1 we did some dreaming and created your life vision. Now we focus on execution. We take specific planned action towards our goals. -
In this weekâs episode we meet Katrina McCarter the Founder and CEO of Marketing to Mums. She is a Marketing Strategist, Best-selling Author, Speaker and Advisor, who specialises in helping businesses sell more to worldâs most powerful consumer, Mums.
An award-winning businesswoman and mother of three, Katrina founded an award winning online shopping website for mums called Bubbler.com.au which she grew to a community of 150,000.
Katrina is the author of bestselling business book, Marketing to Mums, and is a regular contributor to business media.
See more at www.chiefmaker.com.au/58
QUESTIONS I ASK KATRINA
What is the biggest mistake organisations make in marketing to mums? What are the steps people should follow if theyâre thinking about starting out on their own? How can people be more influential through their own work in large organisations? What is an intrapreneur and how can professionals be one? How have you planned the future of your life? How can people build more confidence in their work and in the early stages of starting their own business? What kind of structures should they put in place to be more effective? -
In this episode we build your own Life & Career Vision.
"George Gray"
I have studied many times
The marble which was chiseled for me--
A boat with a furled sail at rest in a harbor.
In truth it pictures not my destination
But my life.
For love was offered me and I shrank from its disillusionment;
Sorrow knocked at my door, but I was afraid;
Ambition called to me, but I dreaded the chances.
Yet all the while I hungered for meaning in my life.
And now I know that we must lift the sail
And catch the winds of destiny
Wherever they drive the boat.
To put meaning in one's life may end in madness,
But life without meaning is the torture
Of restlessness and vague desire--
It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.
- Edgar Lee Masters, 1868 - 1950
To leave the harbour chief we must start with a destination. One that inspires us and drives us to personal greatness. In this episode we will talk through creating your own Life Vision. The very first time I did a vision board was in 2007. It was a transformative period of my life and I was reading self-help books by the dozen. They ALL said you need a vision. Without it you simply donât know what direction youâre going. They said itâs like when you decide you want to go away for a weekend and what you do first is imagine what the perfect weekend would be like you create a vision in your head. Then you go about finding the right region, accommodation and activities thatâll help you achieve your vision. It all starts with vision. Without the vision you donât even leave your home in the first place. -
In this weekâs episode we meet Mastery of Money Guru Adam Carroll.
Adam is an internationally recognized financial literacy expert, author and speaker. He is a two-time TED talk speaker, with one of his talks surpassing 2 million views. Adam is the founder and curator of www.MasteryOfMoney.com, and creator of the documentary film, Broke Busted & Disgusted.
His passion is helping people build a bigger life, not a bigger lifestyle.
See more at www.chiefmaker.com.au/56
QUESTIONS I ASK ADAM
What did you learn from your $10,000 experiment on your kids?
How do we cultivate Owners Mentality in ourselves and our people?
What is the biggest mindset shift you think we as individuals need to make?
What do you mean by building a bigger life not a bigger lifestyle?
KEY POINTS BY ADAM CARROLL
I think the biggest mistake is we wait. We wait for other people to recognise our greatness instead of claiming our greatness and helping other people see it. I've always in my life held high intention but low attachment. I have really high intention that things are going to happen, but I'm not directly attached to the outcome always. A good friend of mine one time told me he said when something is placed on your heart, that idea that burning desire, that thing that you absolutely must go do, your head will attempt to justify. It will say no Greg you can't do that, youâre not old enough, wise enough, rich enough, famous enough, et cetera. But your heart will never justify. Your heart will always want what the heart wants because thatâs what God put in your heart for you to go do or the universe or whatever being you believe in. So, if there's something on your heart that continues to come up pursue it, go after it, itâs there for a reason and that is your service freedom. If you have re-orient your life to go do it by all means go do it. You said in chief maker be bold and make a difference. Bold is not just offering help but itâs asking for help. Because when we donât ask for help we deny someone the ability to offer help or to give help See yourself as the architect of your own life If youâre going to build a big life, you have to ask yourself really big questions. The questions that people would ask themselves were around, I donât know how to do this but if I did, what would I do first? Or they would say, I really want to live a vacation lifestyle, what would I need to do to live a vacation lifestyle? Then they let those questions simmer in their subconscious. You know as well as I do that your subconscious mind is the most powerful super computer ever designed. Its goal is to answer the question that are posed to it. There are three things required for shared ownership and I think thatâs what youâre talking about is shared ownership. Not just one person owns it but everybody owns it, right. The three things required for shared ownership are information, so telling people all the information necessary to be informed of decisions that are being made. So information, decision making, meaning how many people are involved in the decision of do we do this, do we not, do we spend this money do we not, do we invest this do we not. The last thing is consequences. If there is information and there's decision making and there are consequences understood then we have shared ownership. Zig Ziglar says, money is not everything, itâs not the most important thing, but it certainly ranks right up there with Oxygen on the got to have it scale We will say and I have heard parents say I love my kids, I donât want them to struggle. So as a result I take care of everything for them, I buy them what they need, I pay for their meals. When we go to the store and they want a toy I pay for it. So, what we started doing was saying I love my kids and I want them to struggle. Because people who struggle financially especially when theyâre young and they make solid decisions with small amounts of money they become really successful adults who make solid decisions around large amounts of money. So thatâs the goal is we try and give our kids the ability to make mistakes around money at a very early age so we can correct and change their behaviour down the road. The way I define love, I will greet each day with love in my heart. The whole idea was that love is the greatest weapon and the greatest shield because no one that I encounter when I use love can defend against it differently than lifestyle, is life for me is about financial freedom, itâs about time freedom, itâs about relationship freedom and itâs about service freedom, those four things, money, time, relationships and service. If I have the freedom to do all those four things I have a real big life. Behaviour is multi causal, itâs multi functional and itâs multi dimensional. So, we donât know why people behave the way they behave, nor can we assume to know because there are so many different things that can impact behaviour. -
In this episode we build your own Life Scoreboard.
Like most successful professionals, you probably started your career with clear ideas about what you wanted to do and who you wanted to become. Then, as time progressed, you got caught up in the corporate life. Before you knew it, you were running from one meeting to the next, and what you expected of yourself started to come second to what others expected of you. Add to the equation the responsibilities that come with a family and a mortgage and itâs easy to see why so many of us fall into this trap. We look forward to time away from work, but the four weeks of leave most of us take a year donât ever seem enough.
It just doesnât feel like living.
Years fly by, seemingly at the speed of light, and no matter how hard you try you canât seem to slow it down. You may even have started to feel a little lost, disconnected from our soul, and of control as the year has progressed you donât feel as comfortable in your own skin. Youâre not coming from a place of personal strength and centredness. And worst of all you know youâre not reaching your potential in any area of your life.
One of the many great lessons Iâve learnt from elite sport is their infatuation with analysis and then how they present data as useful information to athletes and coaches. One particular scoreboard really resonated with me. This was the elite athlete scoreboard at the QLD Reds for their academy players. Every player had a set of measures they needed to reach in every part of their game. It was the technical, tactical, mental, physical, social elements of their development. They had benchmarks they had to achieve every year and this was updated regularly in red, amber, green when a particular element was out of sync. Essentially they could identify when players were out of balance and how that was affecting other parts of their game. They wanted well-rounded and growing young men and women in their programs.
This gave them a baseline for taking intentional action to stay in balance. As Michael E Gerber said:
"The difference between great people and everyone else is that great people create their lives actively, while everyone else is created by their lives, passively waiting to see where life takes them next. The difference between the two is the difference between living fully and just existing." âMichael E. Gerber
About 10 years ago I developed my first vision board for my life and then I added to it a Life Scoreboard. This Life Scoreboard is a pictorial representation of how Iâm performing in all the most important elements of my life. Things like my relationship with my wife and kids, wider family, best friends, my career and legacy, finances, health, mastery, travel, spirit and dreams.
I use this scoreboard religiously. It gives me immediate insight into how I can improve an element or two to improve my overall life. And whenever Iâm feeling down, out of whack I return to this. It normally takes about 5 mins and Iâm back on track at least with some actions to take.
The thing is weâve all met the guy or gal that is all about their fitness. They spend all their time thinking that the fitter they get the happier theyâll be while so many other elements are suffering. The same of the social butterfly who has a fear of missing out syndrome out of control but as a result never re-centres, loses their fitness or the spiritual guru who spends all their time in meditation but becomes disconnected from the world. In the end, your Life Scoreboard is about YOUR journey and what is RIGHT FOR YOU. No one elseâs scoreboard is yours. We are all so beautifully unique. So treat it as a process of reconnection to WHO YOU TRULY ARE.
I want to talk you through a Four Step Process now for you to develop your own Life Scoreboard:
Define each of categories The elements of your scoreboard are totally up to you. Weâve provided an example but you need to work out what is most important to you. On each element give yourself a gut-feel score out of 10 Score yourself out of 10 On any item that you scored lower than 7 define anything you can do in the next 48 hours to boost that score Pick low hanging fruit Identify ways you can boost scores by combining pursuits and any other longer activities to get your score higher Kill two birds with one stoneRemember, this is about YOU. Think deeply as to why youâre giving certain scores. What is the root cause? How can you bring your greatest self to the table.
The Life Scoreboard is a vital tool in becoming the CHIEF of your Career and Life. Use it wisely, use it often and I guarantee youâll find yourself coming from a play of personal centredness and power. Then and only then are you a true CHIEF.
For a detailed example and steps Iâve created a page with all those resources at www.chiefmaker.com.au/55.
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