A warm and heartfelt congratulations go out to one of my first customers, way back when, on her wonderful and continual success, and in recognition of the impact she makes daily on professionals’ lives while motivating them to be the best that they can be!

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news13551.html?Type=search

One of the joys of doing what I do is meeting individuals like Millie, with a true desire to reach out and to help others find their success and build better businesses while keeping a harmonious work/life balance.  I’ve learned a lot from working with Millie and it always thrills me to see her continual successes.

Way to go, Millie! You’re the best!

What’s holding you back from achieving your next level of success? Dr. Marshall Goldsmith’s book, What Got You Here Won’t Get You There, addresses the complexities of the mindset of successful people, and how current and past success could actually become a liability that makes us resistant to change, viewing our own contributions in the workplace in a skewed reality because of past positive reinforcements and validation, which do not contribute to us reaching the next level of success. Dr. Goldsmith discusses the core beliefs of successful people, each of which makes change difficult and self reflection distorted.

Could it be that the behavior that has gotten us to where we are today is not the behavior that will lead us forward to the next level of success, or to the point of being ‘there,’ as perhaps we’ve succeeded in spite of our current behaviors instead of because of them? Dr. Goldsmith shares with us his experiences working directly with individuals in their organizations as they work through the communication issues and messages they are actually sending out, through their words and the twenty habits that hinder them from reaching the next level. While examining these twenty habits that block our way to the next level of success, Dr. Goldsmith provides us with strategies to clear the blockages and remain aware of our actions and the messages we are sending, which will result in constant improvement as we continue to move forward.

What Got You Here Won’t Get You There provides us with the tools we need to understand the invaluable feedback that we receive every day, but often ignore, and how important it is for us to start now and develop practices today that will lead to present and future success. The book is written in a voice that makes you feel as if Dr. Goldsmith is working directly with you; but don’t expect the trip to be an easy one, as he calls it as it is and doesn’t offer a shoulder to cry on but rather, if we engage fully in our self reflection, propels us into directly facing the habits that hold us back and send messages to others that are hindrances to success and developing positive professional relationships and teams.

Once we identify our own habits that are detrimental to our success, we are presented with methods for changing relationships and making those changes permanent as we work daily towards more productive interactions, observing the world around us closely, actively listening and thinking first about the messages we choose to send, because by now it will be a choice and we will have control over our message. Dr. Goldsmith presents a solution to every habit and problem, so we are never left at a loss as to how to work through an issue.

I recommend this book not only to managers but to anyone who works with people, to allow you to more fully understand yourself first and then those around you, not with a judgmental eye towards others but with an eye towards understanding more fully the messages we all send, and so that you can implement the steps necessary to really get control of your messages to individuals of all levels in an organization. I highly recommend this book to people in sales and marketing as well. We are here now, but we can get to that next level, to ‘there,’ if we work at it daily, if we are accountable and willing to not put it off any longer, to start today, and to ask yourself, as Dr. Goldsmith puts it, “What am I willing to change now?”

Thank you for reading my review!

I purchased What Got You Here Won’t Get You There by Dr. Marshall Goldsmith with Rick Reiter years ago, but am reading it again while awaiting his newest book, Mojo, just because I enjoyed it so much. There aren’t many authors who write business books who really make me reflect on a deep and personal level, but Dr. Goldsmith does.

Just one of the lessons that I’ve come to learn is how connected your personal happiness really is with your professional satisfaction and vice versa, and that they really aren’t two separate entities. I’m a much happier and more relaxed, successful person now that I’ve learned this lesson and especially since I’ve learned how to define success within my own life.

Thank you for that, Dr. Goldsmith!

How the Best Leaders Lead, by Brian Tracy, is a roadmap to becoming a successful leader. Mr. Tracy uses language that is clear and understandable, and that imparts a sense of camaraderie, as he shares his experience in leadership with us as well as the tools necessary to achieve excellence in ourselves and others on our team. In today’s economy, it is more important than ever that we take a step back and reexamine ourselves, as well as those on our team, to ensure that we accomplish our goals in achieving sales and growth, which naturally results in increased profitability.

We can use How the Best Leaders Lead as a guide to learning and gaining a greater understanding of the most critical responsibilities of leadership, and to avoid the number one reason for business failure today. The responsibilities of a great leader are timeless, and have been studied throughout the years. Mr. Tracy shows us the reason why businesses fail, who is responsible and how a company can create and keep customers and understand what is standing in our way to success. He gives us the tools to remove the obstacles and push through the barriers, if we are open to really focusing on the tough questions that we need to be asking ourselves and those around us.

The importance of clarity is addressed, as well as keeping things simple and measurable which allows us to achieve goals and chart progress. Do those on your team understand your point of view and your objectives? The importance of communication is highlighted as well as sincerely understanding the motivation of those on your team and why they do what they do.

There really is a wealth of information covered in the book: the responsibilities of leadership; understanding yourself and what is most important to you, as a person as well as a professional; the qualities that will lead to success through practice and repetition; understanding strategies used by the military to gain victory and understand competition; how to cultivate winning teams, set goals and achieve measurable results, and communication issues and problem solving skills that will remove blockages to success.

I recommend Brian Tracy’s book, How the Best Leaders Lead, to anyone who wants to become a better and more productive leader, assemble strong and winning teams, understand themselves and others, learn motivating factors that are more important than earnings, as well as to those who want to achieve better work/life balance that will surely result in managing one’s workday more productively and successfully.

Thanks for reading my review!

Repositioning is about adjusting perceptions about your product in the market and to your customers. I felt it was geared towards larger organizations, who had a lot of staff on board to handle the various marketing strategies involved, but highly recommend it for owners of any company to really get an understanding of differentiating your product or service, examining the competition to find ways to showcase your product’s value and make it stand out from the competitor’s, and how price might not be as critical as you think it is in relation to consumer’s purchasing decisions.

In today’s market, and when dealing with organizations on any level, it is so critical to understand how shifts in the economy might affect your business and the products offered, as well as how it might impact your ability to plan into the future. Repositioning discusses how to keep a product relevant in today’s market, as well as moving forward into the future, and how to handle it if you are unable to plan long term. It is important to understand the competition and remain flexible and and able to recognize opportunities by keeping an open mind and focusing on the ground floor of your business, a place many CEO’s of larger organizations lose sight of.

Adjusting people’s perceptions in the market is not a quick process, nor should it be. Repositioning discusses the importance of public relations, how it affects advertising, and how critical consistency will be in your program, as well as how best to start a campaign to reposition your company all the while keeping it simple and understandable to the consumer.

I recommend Repositioning to any business that is involved with working with larger organizations as well as to owners of any business, to more thoroughly understand the importance of your organization and your service in the minds of customers. It would be even better if you read this book prior to starting your company, to get off on the right foot.

Thank you for reading my review,

All Books by John C. Maxwell

John C. Maxwell’s The 360 Degree Leader was, to me, a motivational exploration of excelling in business leadership no matter what your position or place within an organization. The book was well laid out and covered a myriad of organizational myths that exist to this day within corporate culture in organizations all around the world, which lead to frustration, lack of productivity and resentment if adhered to.

Leadership is not about a title; it is all about influence and earning the right to lead daily through every encounter with every person you meet and having the wisdom and maturity to be sincere in your interest and genuine in your intention to put your leaders, your team, and your shared projects first and foremost above self interest and ego. I realize that this is not an easy task, as I think back to when I worked in a large organization and had to deal with difficult individuals at different levels.

I appreciated when he stated that we choose how we view people within our sphere of influence, and that it is not our job to fix them but rather to find ways in which we can value and appreciate them, and the ways in which they are assets to the team and to the organization. This is not an easy task, but I believe growth will result if we work towards seeing people in that light, as then we can add value to their strengths and build solid professional relationships as we work together. It is my opinion that without strong, focused teams that are coherent and united towards a common goal, creativity and communication are inhibited. I want to be a team member that sees and works with others on my team in this way. I know it won’t always be easy, but it is a goal worth working towards.

He explains the challenges that leaders today face when they feel trapped in their position and/or unrecognized, or frustrated by having an ineffective leader, as well as the challenges of multiple responsibilities that face many in this economy and he goes on to deal with resolutions that can, when we address the issues at large, change our attitudes and enhance our productivity. I want to have the attitudes that John Maxwell describes in The 360 Degree Leader, which can allow me to find satisfaction in enjoying my journey, starting with right where I am here and now without having my personal satisfaction hinging on the realization of a goal that I’ve set for the future. Having attitudes that build solid, foundational relationships within a team or organization, appreciating other’s strengths and committing yourself to adding value to your team can only result in greater overall personal satisfaction.

The 360 Degree Leader is a book that can be enjoyed and used as a tool to foster growth no matter what your position within an organization. I also highly recommend it to consultants and the self employed, as I found a wealth of information that motivated and challenged me as I gained new insights into how to best work within a group successfully and truly identify what should be our shared, common goal.

Thanks for reading my review!

One of the more annoying spam techniques that I’ve seen of late is spammers using your own email address in the “from” field of their spam to target you or others. This is made more difficult by the fact that it really isn’t a good idea to label your own email address as spam, as it will lead to troubles down the line receiving email. The absolute worst thing you can possibly do is respond to it or forward it to someone else, as this gives them even more addresses to use. I’ve had people email me and ask why I was sending them spam. When I first saw this, I panicked and called every technician I could get my hand on to check out my system, running full diagnostics. Come to find out, my computer was clean as a whistle, and it should be as I invest a ton of money to my antivirus company and update constantly, running scans nightly. But it did prove costly at first and still irritates me a great deal.

A few tips when receiving spam emails:

1. Don’t open the email if it looks suspicious. You can always send your contact a separate email asking if they sent you an email recently with subject “XXX or YYY” if the heading looks even remotely suspicious.
2. Do not forward the email to anyone or respond to the spam email. This will only encourage them.
3. Continue to practice good computer hygiene by using the best antivirus program you can afford and running scans constantly.
4. If your email program supports it, create a folder for the address of yours the spammers are using and instruct your email from that address to go directly into that folder. You can review the headers every so often to make sure you are not missing any legitimate emails. This is what I have done and it has helped quite a bit, with no more irritation on my part.

It is a sad fact of life that spammers are here to stay. Let’s make it as hard as we can for them. Remember that reacting with anger is never a good idea, as many of their functions are automated and their programs will start sending you even more spam once you respond to them. Remember that anyone can set their email programs to another person or organization’s email address, so when you see potential spam coming from a business or organization, please don’t automatically jump to the conclusion that they are sending the emails.

Somehow, I managed to delete my old account on Twitter and so recently I set it up again under a new account name. If you have interest, please follow Your_Secretary to receive new tweets!

I found a nice application on the internet today, called “My Live Signature,” which you can use their software to create a nice signature to add to personal correspondence or to emails, as well as the ability to use your mouse or tablet to duplicate your real signature more accurately.  In my opinion, it is much easier to use their software to create a nice, flowing signature that makes you look like a million dollars, but the option is nice for those with a steady hand.

Online Personal Signature Maker – MyLiveSignature – Free Personal Signature Generator, Email Signatures, Blog Signature.”

I am suggesting this program for personal use because there really is a lot involved when you want to actually sign an official document electronically. I’ve got some nice links on Connecticut Secretary’s Resource Page, if you want to look into the legalities of electronic signatures.