Business and Finance

The key to life is to be around the people who will empower you to reach the next level in life! In order to exceed your present reach, you need to be around people who will help you stretch a little farther. The secret to a productive mastermind team is for you to surround yourself with people who you can always learn from. A sign of a very intelligent person is to be smart enough to realize that you need to learn from others who can contribute to your WHY in life.

As you know, my ultimate outcome is to develop the #1 personal development company in the world. Each and every day I strive to immerse myself in material and people who will enable me to achieve our corporate mission.

As you look at your own mission in life, you need to ask yourself a very honest/straightforward question ….“Is my personal development engine in Forward, Neutral or Reverse?” The answer is very simple. All that you need to do is to write down the top 10 people you regularly associate with. As you review the list, realize that you will become an exact duplicate of those 10 people –?nancially, spiritually, physically and psychologically. Once again, be honest with yourself. If you are not 110% happy about what you see yourself becoming due to your present relationships, you need to take ACTION immediately! Make a decision to develop a mastermind TEAM! Seek out like-minded individuals, in person or through books CD’s and DVD’s.

Continue reading ‘Mastermind Team: Do You Have One?’ »

I’m not a guru. I hardly know everything about life, or, for that matter, anything BIG. Besides, my education is pretty less because I couldn’t afford to do any MBA as of now. All I know are little, little things learned from my several real life experiences and the only sense I have is commonsense.

I live simple. I think simpler. And I communicate the simplest. I can only listen to my heart and can just talk my mind. Though it doesn’t necessarily mean that whatever I communicate is always right or ultimate; err is human… and I’m no animal either.

In fact, my English is also not up to the mark. Some people always find follies in my lines (and between the lines). I can understand and appreciate their concern for my language, as I know they do care for me.

But again, as you know, the world is full of careless, casual and unconcerned people; they keep reading my stuff – grammatical errors notwithstanding – so I keep writing for them.

Continue reading ‘Team Building Made Easy’ »

The entrepreneur faces a moment of truth when he and his partners have grown the company to a sufficient degree to take it to the next level. At that stage it becomes imperative to hire a professional as a functional head say a CFO. Obviously the top manager needs to fill in the skill set the founders may lack. It must also be recognized by founders that this skill set is absolutely vital to succeed.

The founding partners find it difficult (esp. when founders are friends and family ) to cede control to the CFO designate, since it also means giving up certain powers and also business secrets (which the entrepreneur is paranoid about) .

The Top Six Things to consider while setting up a top management team are outlined below

Try and first source from professionals in your network.

They might not be the best person suited for the job, but ‘trust’ is an important criteria at this stage, esp. for a CFO. In circumstances where you cannot find individuals who match at least 50% of skill set required, then use a professional head hunter and do an extensive reference check.

Continue reading ‘How to Recruit & Build Top Managers : Top Six Things to Do for Companies Wanting to Scale-up Their Business’ »

Team building is a great tool that accelerates organizations in taking the extra mile to reach goals. Although considered to be an extra arm in organization development, it is true that it is indispensable and only those who have a true passion for transforming and motivating individuals can handle this tool efficiently.

Generally, all organizations are composed of an assorted mix of ‘enthusiastic,’ ‘diligent,’ ‘Einstein-like,’ ‘Fun loving,’ ‘Sober, and ‘Hush-hush’ individuals. Bringing together people of such different caliber and getting them to focus on a single goal is quite a challenge. First, it needs the effort of every individual in a team to have an open mind. Secondly, one should respect the views and opinions of another. Thirdly, individuals should make their contributions from a team perspective to achieve the target. Easier said than done, isn’t it? Well, here are a few pointers, which I think are essential for team building:

1. Never be the boss!
Team is a collective word, and should always be considered so to earn the confidence of each team member. A representative of the team must always gel with the team and work “with” them rather than the rest working “for” him/her. Moving with team mates as one among them inspires and motivates, giving a desire to contribute one’s best to the team efforts.

Continue reading ‘Teamwork – Touch the Horizon’ »

The fact is, that to do anything in the world worth doing, we must not stand back shivering and thinking of the cold and danger, but jump in and scramble through as well as we can.
~Robert Cushing

Let us strive to improve ourselves, for we cannot remain stationary; one either progresses or retrogrades.
~Mme. Du Deffand

One of the first things I usually say at the start of a motivational talk is “winners and losers are predetermined but only the winner knows it”! I say this because I believe it with all my heart. A winner jumps into a situation and proceeds to deal with it by any means necessary. While a loser sits back and makes excuses as to why something can’t be done. A winner thinks on his feet and moves forward. While a loser says they need more time to look at the situation. A winner starts with a good plan and makes it better as the situation calls for it. While a loser will always be planning to do something and never start doing anything. A winner makes good “breaks” in business. While a loser hopes for a “break” in business. A winner will congratulate another winner when he is bested by them. While a loser will make excuses and cast blame. Get the picture. I thought you might. Always remember that the easiest thing to do when something goes amiss is to blame or make an excuse. Don’t do it! As my grandmother would say “put on your big girl panties and deal with it”. Have a reputation as a “can do” kind of business professional not a whiner. For years I have been known affectionately as the “trash man” and I love it. I earned this reputation in another career and it carried over into my current businesses. You see I believe that I can sell any property. So properties other Realtors would pass on because of condition or some other oddity, I get sold. You’ve got a house with a tree in the middle of it after a hurricane, call me, I can sell it. I have earned the reputation as the “trash man” and I relish it.

Continue reading ‘Be a Winner!’ »