Carol Sanford has risen to prominence as a consultant in the world of business development and is also well known for speaking to potential business owners in a number ofRead More
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]]>Carol Sanford has risen to prominence as a consultant in the world of business development and is also well known for speaking to potential business owners in a number of different settings. She has authored a book, The Responsible Entrepreneur, where she discusses the importance of responsibility and accountability in the entrepreneurial field and her insights continue to be shared in the business community time after time.
“Entrepreneurism isn’t born within a rare few; it’s a fire waiting to be lit inside us.” – Carol Sanford (highlight to share)
There are a number of lessons that every entrepreneur can learn from Carol Sanford and the following list focuses on the five that I find to be the most crucial for you to learn more about how you can emulate Sanford’s tactics.
An entrepreneur does not fail or succeed based exclusively on his or her own merits, a lesson that Sanford teaches in all of her works. Success is achieved within a team context, while failures are typically achieved alone. The entrepreneur who tries to do it all by themselves or ignore the needs of those underneath is setting themselves up for continued disappointment.
One of the most common pitfalls that a budding entrepreneur falls victim to is the perception that they need to take on each of the most important tasks by themselves and minimize the amount of help they need from partners and staff members. However, a truly successful entrepreneur knows how to hold themselves accountable and delegate duties to those who are more talented than themselves. No one ever rises to the top alone, but there are certainly more than a few would-be entrepreneurs who have sunk to the bottom all by themselves.
Carol Sanford speaks about the importance of self-awareness and talks about what it takes for a person to leave their mark on the world. She communicates her thoughts and ideas about the traits needed for a person to reach their full potential. One of the ideas that she regularly touches on is that a successful person does not take any event that takes place in their life too personally. In order to achieve success, an entrepreneur must be able to look at the bigger picture.
Instead of allowing the outcome of certain situation to affect how they feel about themselves, Sanford talks about recognizing the impact of their actions and remaining focused on the task at hand. No one rises to the top without experiencing a few setbacks along the way and none of these issues should ever be taken personally. Your higher aim is what matters most.
When Sanford speaks to her audiences, whether in person or through her writings, she consistently focuses on the responsibilities that come with along with responsible entrepreneurial work. No one starts off their entrepreneurial journey knowing it all or being able to predict the future. Problems lie ahead and while there is no way to control them, you can control the manner in which you react to them.
Rather than being waylaid by every single challenge that comes along, Sanford shows her acolytes how to use them as learning experiences, as a method for enriching themselves intellectually. Thanks to her years of experience, she knows about how rewarding it can be to face a challenge head on and learn from it. There is going to be resistance along the way as you climb the ladder to your ultimate goal, so embrace these challenges and use them as a tool for self-improvement.
We often have moments in life where we feel a certain magnetic pull that encourages us to shoot for a certain goal or to pursue a particular endeavor. Carol Sanford encourages her audiences to stop ignoring those feelings and start pursuing the goals that will truly make them happy. When you pursue the goals that are most important to you, your capabilities will be stretched to the limit, which is the best way for a person to shake off their current comfort zone and grow into a successful entrepreneur.
Your capacity to grow is as limitless as your imagination. If you are someone who is constantly doubting themselves and refusing to see the bigger picture, then you are going to struggle to pursue your true calling. We all have that magnetic tug inside of us, that little voice in our heads that encourages us to stop working at jobs that we hate and to go after our dreams. Sanford ensures that her audiences do not continue to ignore that voice.
Another area of emphasis for Sanford is the importance of self-reflection. She urges her audiences and readers to take a moment to really reflect on what is important to them. What is your goal and even more importantly, what are you going to do in order to reach it? Goals are great, but without a definitive plan, a goal is merely a dream.
Until you can look deep within and decide on what your true goal entails and what you are willing to do in order to achieve it, you will remain in your current state. An entrepreneur is someone who is not afraid to challenge themselves and a person who thrives when they are pushed out of their preferred comfort zone. Thanks to Carol Sanford’s lessons, what once seemed like a dream can become a reality, when you are ready, willing and able to put in the work necessary.
Preview The Responsible Entrepreneur with Carol Sanford herself
Buy The Responsible Business by Carol Sanford on Amazon today
Buy The Responsible Entrepreneur by Carol Sanford on Amazon today
Visit CarolSanford.com for the free workbook deal and more info on the book
Follow Carol Sanford on Twitter and Facebook
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Earning Freedom according to Michael Santos: Introduction In this episode Michael Santos takes a deep dive into his book, Earning Freedom, whereRead More
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]]>In this episode Michael Santos takes a deep dive into his book, Earning Freedom, where he shares his incredible journey from a 25 year prison inmate to super successful business man.
In his book Santos discusses the day he was arrested to the day he left prison and highlights the lessons he learned along the way that allowed him to build his bank account to $100,000 behind bars. The goal of the book is to help you build yourself upon the influences Michael Santos embarked upon, find your inner motivation to start increasing your value, and learn how to use your resources effectively.
This book is perfect for aspiring entrepreneurs who have a desire to become very successful in a niche but lack the motivation or inspiration to start making moves towards a goal.
The difference is it’s the very personal nature. This is truly a memoir in the sense that I am expressing and helping the reader see what was going through my mind when I was in my early twenties and facing this monstrous sentence. What’s different about this book is that it shows how I was able to sustain a high level of energy and discipline as those days turned into weeks, those weeks turned into months, the months turned into years, and the years turned into decades.
This is a personal memoir that is divided into three sections the first being I Came, second is I Saw, and lastly I conquered. The book would not make sense if the reader jumped around so I suggest reading it straight through.
It’s that hope is what unites us all as human beings. It’s that as long as we have hope of something better we can make it through anything.
In the beginning of the book I define what it was that made it different for me. The first thing I had to do is define my values and if I don’t define that then the world is going to define me by the bad decisions I made when I was 20. For me those value categories began with making a commitment to education because I was projecting myself into the future of connecting with law-abiding leaders. These leaders became my avatar and role models and would expect me to educate myself.
Second these leaders would expect me to contribute to society because if I was contributing to society I would demonstrate that I don’t want to be a criminal but rather a good citizen.
And thirdly these leaders would expect me to build a support network because if I could get strong leaders to believe in me it might be easier for them to believe in me. Once I had my values it was about setting these clear goals that would define what it meant to educate myself, contribute to society, and to build a support network. To me educating myself meant I needed to get a degree. Contributing to society was to live a life of meaning and the reader will see that and be able to transfer those concepts to his or her own life. And building a support network was about finding 10 people that I didn’t know and who don’t know who I am and persuade them to believe in me.
The end result that the reader will get out of the book is that regardless of what challenges you face in life, there is always a path through. And that path begins by professing the values which you choose to live.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 09:01
“Be the change you want to see in the world.” – Gandhi
I made some really bad decisions as a young man when I was 22 years old. I saw the movie Scar Face and thought that that would be a fun way to live. I moved to Miami began trafficking and using cocaine and for the next eighteen months I was living that very fast and reckless life. I was arrested on August 11, 1987 when I was 23 years old and I proceeded to spend the next 9,500 days in federal prison which is a total of 26 years and one day. While I was incarcerated I spend every day working to reconcile with society, to build a support network, and to come back as a law-abiding contributing citizen. I have now been back in society for about 18 months and currently working really hard to inspire other people in showing them that we are all on a journey and we should look at the challenges that come our way and figure out strategies to overcome them.
The story is about going through a 45 year prison sentence but the inspiration is that we all as human beings face struggle and challenges. The context of my story may be about prison and overcoming it but the reality is that I’ve met many people in society who live in a much bigger prison than I ever did. I felt that if I could just share the strategies that empowered me through the time I served in prison people would be able to see those same strategies to could help them in their personal struggles. All of these strategies are none that I’ve created, they are strategies that I’ve learn from leaders and masterminds and I wanted to share those lessons with other people through the context of my own journey.
What Got You Here Won’t Get Your There by Marshall Goldsmith
Buy Earning Freedom by Michael Santos on Amazon today
Visit MichaelSantos.com to learn more about Michael and his books
Follow Michael Santos on Facebook and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
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]]>A summary of things you should know about Make It Matter according to Scott Mautz: Introduction In the episode Scott Mautz takes a deep dive into his book, Make ItRead More
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]]>In the episode Scott Mautz takes a deep dive into his book, Make It Matter, where he shows you how managers can motivate by creating meaning and personal significance.
In his book Mautz shares years of research, case studies, and techniques in an all-in-one how to guide for energizing, motivating, and encouraging employees to put in the most effort. The goal of the book is to help you add meaning to any organizational mission, find the internal significance of every employee, eliminate negativity from the workplace, and create unique opportunities of personal growth.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who run an organization of 5 or more employees and are looking for the best ways to create a work environment that mimic the best places to work.
I am pretty certain that I am the first author to ever put data to the concept that creating meaning at work is a great way to motivate. I also include dozens and dozens of practical tools that you can apply the very minute after you finish reading the book.
I suggest reading it once through and then go back and use it as a reference guide.
If I had to pinpoint one thing it’d be the concept of what I talk about in that book of what I call profound performance. I’ve learned that when you facilitate meaning it not only drives the employees to engage, it takes them beyond engagement to elevate a performance in true fulfillment. There are so many things that can capture an employee’s time and attention very temporarily but meaning holds the engagement of the employees at the deepest and most fulfilling level that sustains over the long haul.
The book is divided into ten chapters.
In the first chapter, Why Meaning Matters, I really paint the case for just that. The truth is that way too many of us feel a lack of true significance and meaning in how we spend our precious hours at work. In this chapter I lay the case out and put hard data to how the creation of meaning can serve as a competitive advantage in what I call compassionate advantage.
I dive into chapter two, The Markers of Meaning, and things get really interesting here because I have found through my research that there are seven distinct markers of meaning that when you intentionally meet them you can drive meaning and fulfillment. The markers are divided into three sections, when you yield a calming and clarifying sense of interdiction, when you create conditions that lead to a satisfying sense of self-discovery and growth, and when you create conditions that engender devotion to ones work at a deeper connection between the employer and employees in a greater good. And I get really specific within that.
In chapter three I start to dig deeply into each marker meaning. This chapter, The potency of Purpose, I walk through very specifically how as a manager you can carve for yourself or carve out for your people a six step path to purpose. If you follow these six steps I can promise you that by the time you’re done you will have identified what you want your purpose at work to be.
I move on to the fourth chapter where I talk about how to leave your legacy behind. This chapter is broken into two pieces and the first part is called the five footprints of legacy. Then I round out this chapter with what I call The Five Step Footpath to Leaving Legacy Worthy Results at Work.
In chapter five I talk about the power of learning and personal growth at work. I spell out seven very specific ways you can craft an environment that’s rich with learning and personal growth.
In Chapter six I talk about the next core marker of meaning and way to create a sense of Significance at work which is to create a meaningful decision making and influence based culture as well. When people feel like they are a part of making decisions it is incredibly motivating and I spell it out as well as eight things you can do to create autonomy as a manager.
Chapter seven moves on to teach you how to create cultures of consequence and those are cultures that are built on a core of caring, authenticity, and teamwork.
In chapter eight we talk about meaning making leadership very specifically. I talk about how as a leader you can create meaning more so than any of your competitors and I go over four traits of meaning making leadership.
In chapter nine I go the other way and talk about cutting off corrosive behaviors or behaviors that can destroy a sense of certainty, confidence, or community.
I round off the book in chapter ten on how to weave all of the concepts together into a meaning making plan and I provide a couple of options for how to do that.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 05:29
“We are all at a pivotal moment in life; we just may not know it and you have to live as if you did.” – Scott Mautz
I am an author as of March 4th, when Make It Matter hit the streets. I am also a keynotes speaker and have a fulltime job as a director at Procter & Gamble where I run the company’s largest business. And over my 20 plus years at Procter & Gamble I have run a number of different businesses all multimillion dollars in size.
I have been studying the field of motivation for almost a decade and about seven years ago I discovered a stunning statistic that has been proven over and over again. Which is that almost 70% of us may actually be coated as disengaged at work and even if you’ve heard that statistic before, what’s stunning is that is doesn’t get any better. Year after year the data will show you it keeps declining so whatever we are doing to motivate clearly cannot be working. That has been haunting me for the last half dozen years and I really started working hard at trying to find a way to crack this code. I came across this concept that it’s not pay, it’s not perks, and it’s not promotion, it’s really meaning where you can bring significance into your work and make it matter more. That’s what kept me going and was the inspiration behind this book.
Good to Great by Jim Collins
Buy Make It Matter by Scott Mautz on Amazon today
Visit ScottMautz.com to learn more about Scott and his book
Follow Scott Mautz on Facebook and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
Everybody Paddles by Charles Archer
The Hidden Leader by Scott Edinger
The Best Place to Work by Ron Friedman
What did you like and not like about this episode? Fill out this one minute survey here.
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