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The Attitude is Gratitude

11/5/2013

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We have taken gratitude for granted...

Yes, “thank you” is an essential, everyday part of family dinners, trips to the store, business deals, and political negotiations. That might be why so many people have dismissed gratitude as simple, obvious, and unworthy of serious attention. But that’s starting to change. Recently scientists have begun to chart a course of research aimed at understanding gratitude and the circumstances in which it flourishes or diminishes. They’re finding that people who practice gratitude consistently report a host of benefits:
  • Stronger immune systems and lower blood pressure;
  • Higher levels of positive emotions;
  • More joy, optimism, and happiness;
  • Acting with more generosity and compassion;
  • Feeling less lonely and isolated.
That’s why the Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley—in collaboration with the University of California, Davis— launched a $5.6 million, three-year project, Expanding the Science and Practice of Gratitude. The project is supported with funding from the John Templeton Foundation. 

Gratitude: Film by Louie Schwartzberg

You think this is just another day in your life? It's not just another day. It's the one day that is given to you today. It's given to you. It's a gift. It's the only gift that you have right now, and the only appropriate response is gratefulness. ~ Brother David Steindl-Rast
ABOUT THIS VIDEO: Nature’s beauty can be easily missed -- but not through Louie Schwartzberg’s lens. His stunning time-lapse photography, accompanied by powerful words from Benedictine monk Brother David Steindl-Rast, serves as a meditation on being grateful for every day. [Filmed at TEDxSF in June 2011]
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Why gratitude is good...

Two Components of Gratitude

Robert Emmons, perhaps the world’s leading scientific expert on gratitude, argues that gratitude has two key components, which he describes in a Greater Good essay, “Why Gratitude Is Good.”

“First,” he writes, “it’s an affirmation of goodness. We affirm that there are good things in the world, gifts and benefits we’ve received.”
In the second part of gratitude, he explains, “we recognize that the sources of this goodness are outside of ourselves. … We acknowledge that other people—or even higher powers, if you’re of a spiritual mindset—gave us many gifts, big and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives.”
At times our own light goes out and is rekindled by a spark from another person. Each of us has cause to think with deep gratitude of those who have lighted the flame within us. ~ Albert Schweitzer 

How to Cultivate Gratitude

Are you a natural pessimist? Take heart: The benefits of gratitude aren’t only available to people with a naturally grateful disposition. Instead, feeling grateful is a skill we can develop with practice, reaping its rewards along the way. Here are some of the most effective ways to cultivate gratitude, according to research.
  • Keep a gratitude journal
  • Write a “gratitude letter” to an important person in your life whom you’ve never properly thanked. 
  • Savor the good in your life
  • Focus on intentions
  • Teach gratitude to children
  • Recognize the positive
  • Get metaphysical
Source: Greater Good Science Center
Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero 
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About that gun culture...

6/29/2013

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There's an old saw among law enforcement professionals that goes something like this:
The main difference between the people inside and outside the jailhouse is that the ones on the inside got caught.

While intended to be tongue and cheek, there is a lot of truth to that statement.

My personal opinion is that behind every violent crime in America lies a MATRIX OF FAILURE. Those are the words of (astronaut) Captain Mark Kelly. His point is that people who commit crimes are not born to be criminals. The environment they grow up in, including parents, teachers, coaches and everyone in between, plays a part in shaping how those individuals behave as adults. 
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New England Patriots' Press Release
"We all have the capacity to be quite bad under the right circumstances." ~ Dan Ariely
I am not condoning or defending anything. Frankly, I am disgusted by the amount of money professional athletes get paid especially when compared to teachers, nurses and other people who contribute far more to the greater good of society. The culture narrative that many people are engaged in today is not just about guns, drugs and violent behavior. That same culture includes cheating, gambling and other unethical (criminal) behavior that exists at all levels of sports starting with little league. It increases dramatically in college and comes to a climax in the big leagues. Note the correlation between the amount of money at stake and the severity of the behavior.

The great paradox here is that the glue that holds the matrix of failure together may very well be our own obsession with sports or, to be more precise, our obsession with WINNING. We all get off on those bad ass personalities a little bit, don't we? How many hours are consumed each weekend watching game after game after game? Season after season, decade after decade.

How many people will do whatever it takes to WIN in business, or at their kids' soccer matches or at garage sales for crying out loud? As the late Stephen Covey once said, we live in a WIN-LOSE society. For many, life itself is a zero sum game. Aaron Hernandez was a $40,000,000 athlete. Which begs the question, how many children could be mentored or tutored with $40 million?
"No one graduates from the Harvard Business School planning to screw the world and end up in jail but a scary number of them actually do." ~ Clay Christensen
The BUSINESS WORLD is not any better than the wide wide world of sports. Consider the quote above by Harvard professor and best-selling author, Clay Christensen. Again, I go back to my opening salvo -- the main difference between the men and women behind bars and the rest of us is that they got caught. As Duke professor Dan Ariely asserts, we all have the capacity to be quite bad under the right circumstances. I would only add that you don't need a gun to be "quite bad."

References & Resources

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I'm here on a mission of mercy...
  • Best Cities for Sports Fans
  • Cult of Watching Sports, American Spectator
  • How Will You Measure Your Life? Clay Christensen
  • Do Sports Shape Our Business Ethics? Aspen Institute
  • Don't Let Your Investment Experience Become A Horror Show
  • Governance Gone Wrong, Very Very Wrong
  • Is Sports A Religion? Psychology Today
  • Take A Stand for Teachers
  • The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty by Dan Ariely
  • The Science of Being A Sports Fan, Smithsonian Magazine
  • Why We Get Addicted to Sports
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New York, New York

6/27/2013

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Random reflections about a great city and its people...

My first visit to NYC occurred in 1964, when I was nine years old. I spent that summer in Boston, which is where my father was living at the time. Being an avid explorer, he took us on a road trip to NYC to attend the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows. While I don't remember much from that trip, I do remember that the mere presence of being in New York City made a powerful impression on me. An impression that has stuck with me to this day.
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Site of 1964 World's Fair, Flushing Meadows
Twenty years later, I had the good fortune of spending three weeks in NYC as part of my rookie training with Merrill Lynch. We stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel in midtown and took the subway down to One Liberty Plaza every day for the final three weeks of our four-month training program. It was as close as I would ever get to living in New York City.

At that time (and to this day) Merrill Lynch was a magnet for Ivy League Wall Street Wannabees. I am pretty sure I was one of the poorest members of Class #299-A but we all thought we were hot shit. Suffice to say, we knew we were going to rule to the world some day. Grandiose thinking, along with a larger than life self-image, is hard-wired into the DNA of most young stockbrokers. All hat and no cattle as Dr. Stanley would say just a few years later.
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NYSE
There were many highlights to that trip. One was the day we spent on the floor of the NYSE. This was way before electronic trading so we actually got to see the floor brokers "crying out" their bids around the massive trading posts. The word frenzy comes to mind.  Another was the evening I made it into the Limelight. Somehow, I befriended the best looking woman in my class of 250 brokers. This attractive blonde was the only reason I made it into the Limelight that night. I can still remember the big dude at the door walking down the line carefully assessing the hopeful patrons. When he saw my date, he barked, "you two, come with me." Next thing I knew, I was $100 lighter and standing smack in the middle of that legendary dance floor.
Fast forward ten years. The nature of my business would take me back to NYC many times from 1994 to 2004. For several years, I practically commuted between ATL, LGA, ORD and SFO. Just to give you an idea of how much I was traveling back then, I racked up my first million frequent flyer miles in about five years, all domestic travel. That's a lot of flying. There were many times when I was on two or three flights in one day and I don't mean making connections. We called those elevator rides. Up and down. In and out.

The upshot is I got to stay at Hyatts and Four Seasons. Got to eat at the Mortons, Palms and Del Friscos of the world almost every night. That's why I don't miss red meat or the big bold cabs at all. I spent 40 years eating and drinking without abandon. In February of this year, I decided to take care of my body with the same intensity with which I neglected it for 40 years, but that's another story.

This week, I returned to NYC after a five year hiatus. I was only on the ground for 26 hours but that was long enough to rekindle my deep admiration for this incredible city. 
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Herald Square, June 2013
More importantly, it was enough to reconnect with the amazing people, or rather the spirit of the amazing people of New York City. I won't bore you with the details but suffice to say that New Yorkers of means are intelligent, well-read and well-traveled. They are interesting and engaging. If you only know New York as a casual visitor, this may surprise you. New Yorkers care deeply about other people. The ones I have met are compassionate, caring individuals. They care not only about their own great city but of great cities all over the world. They care about culture; their own as well as those of other nations. That's the New York I know. For the many indescribable experiences I have had in this amazing city I will always be grateful.
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SLOG Turns One: My Favorite Slog Posts

6/19/2013

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In honor of my SLOG's one-year anniversary, I decided to create a slide show featuring some of my favorite posts from the past year...

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Listed below are the links to my all-time favorite SLOG posts. These are my favorites because of the subjects and the amount of work that went into them...
  1. 7 Minutes of Terror: I'll Be Curious to See How This Goes...
  2. Best Band Ever: Led Zeppelin
  3. Blown Away Guy: Iconic Maxell Ad
  4. Charts, Cliffs & Cavemen
  5. Content Marketing: Do You Inspire or Pour Gas on the Fire?
  6. Don't Let Your Investment Experience Become A Horror Show
  7. The (Honest) Truth About Dishonesty
  8. Infrastructure: Mega-trend of the 21st Century
  9. Let's Do Something About This: National Nutrition Month
  10. Self-Renewal: A Personal Tribute to John W. Gardner
  11. Take A Stand for Teachers
  12. You Matter! by Angela Maiers
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Beware of the A to B Syndrome!

6/18/2013

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Copied below is an excerpt of the welcome message I recorded for my business website. I have had a number of positive comments about this so decided to transcribe the presentation so people can read and listen to it. The theme of the message is a very costly and prevalent trap that many people get caught in without realizing it. I call it the "A to B Syndrome."
On the right side of this page, you have the old A to B chart. Everybody talks about A to B. Most consultants will tell you, “Our job is to get you from A to B as quickly and efficiently as possible.” The problem with that is that it sounds good on paper, but if you really have experience as a consultant – and I am talking about hard core, in the trenches, sleeves rolled up, sitting down with the clients, sitting down with their clients, really understanding business – what you are going to find is, when you talk to entrepreneurs or business leaders a lot of times they have no idea where B is. In fact, a lot of times they have no idea where A is. 
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Lack of experience often leads consultants and their clients to succumb to the A to B Syndrome
When you talk to entrepreneurs or business leaders a lot of times they have no idea where "B" is. In fact, a lot of times they have no idea where "A" is. 
If you're really good and if you ask the right questions and start peeling back the layers of the proverbial onion, what you are going to find is that, a lot of times, the client is better off going to another destination – maybe C or D or G. Sometimes, B is really not the best place for them to go. 

What happens, if you have a young (and nothing against young consultants or young creative people) but, if you have someone who lacks experience, it is very easy and very common for them to accept a job. That can be everything from a speaking engagement to a consulting gig or designing social media and web pages for someone. They will accept the job because the client says, “I need to go from A to B” and they will help them get from A to B. But, again, the problem is if the client is better off going to C or D or E, do you see what just happened?  Without anyone knowing it, without anyone intending to do harm, you can spend a lot of time, money and energy getting the client to a place they really don't belong.
If you have someone who lacks experience, it is very easy and very common for them to accept any job. That can be everything from a speaking engagement to a consulting gig or designing social media and web pages for someone. 
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Hopefully, you can use that example of the A to B trap with other clients. If you are a consultant or a coach, please think about that story and use it with your clients. Make sure you are asking the right questions. I have been doing this for a long time – 20 years in the consulting business, hardcore consulting and coaching, head under the hood like the mechanic. Like a friend of mine says, “Hours sitting in a cockpit.” To become an airline pilot, you cannot buy or go to college to get your hours in the cockpit. You just have to sit up there and fly the airplane!
To become an airline pilot, you cannot buy or go to college to get your hours in the cockpit. You just have to sit up there and fly the airplane!
The same is true when it comes to consulting. Sometimes you have to challenge the clients, sometimes you have to push them a little bit. Make sure you are asking deep, penetrating questions that help everybody get to the truth. Frankly, that is what you are looking for.

Common examples of mistaken "B" identity*

  1. My reps need some sales training.
  2. My reps need training on how to sell their "value" better.
  3. My reps need training on how to get more referrals.
  4. My reps needs some time management training.
  5. We need a content marketing strategy.
  6. We need hire a public relations firm.
  7. We need a speaker who can teach our reps how to ask better questions.
  8. We need a Facebook page.
  9. We need a Twitter page.
  10. We need to add some video to our website.
  11. We need to start a blog.
  12. We need to start a vlog.

* While it is plausible that you "need" these things, it is more probable that you need some other things first, like a well-designed client experience process or a clear and compelling story for your business.

Listen to Full Audio Clip
Download Full Transcript
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The Power of Vulnerability

6/17/2013

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Hands down, one of the best presentation I have EVER heard...

Brené Brown studies human connection -- our ability to empathize, belong, love. In a poignant, funny talk, she shares a deep insight from her research, one that sent her on a personal quest to know herself as well as to understand humanity. A talk to share.

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  • BreneBrown.com
  • Download Brene's "Badges"
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Why ARE Financial Advisors’ Fees All Over the Map?

6/3/2013

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This is definitely inside baseball talk so, if you're not in the financial services industry, it probably won't make sense to you. That said, you should probably understand what it means if you work with a financial advisor. This is my response to an article that appeared in Financial Advisor IQ entitled, Why Advisors’ Fees Are All Over the Map...

MY RESPONSE TO THE ARTICLE

In most cases, especially in the investment business, pricing anomalies like this are squeezed out of the system pretty quickly. Not sure if this article really answers the WHY question posed in the headline although Bob touches on it at the end. Lack of information on the part of advisors and clients partially explains it. But, after 30 years of working under the hood of advisor practices, I would offer some additional reasons to consider...
  1. The set of deliverables offered by advisors varies tremendously. This applies to RIAs as well as registered reps. Even within the large brokerage firms, where reps work for a national brand, the mix of product and services sold by advisors is so different that, if it were not for the company logos on the client statements, it would be difficult to know that the advisors worked for the same company.
  2. The only thing that differs more than the product and service mix is the knowledge and experience of the advisors. In other words, the quality of the "advice" itself varies greatly. Knowledge and experience (or lack thereof) is closely related to advisor confidence in their own professional worth. This certainly affects pricing decisions (such as whether to charge for planning or not) which are usually made or adjusted at the advisor level.
  3. A wise man once told me that investments are sold and not bought. If you buy that, you might be led to another plausible explanation which is that, at the end of the day, financial advisors are sales people. Advisors are paid a commission or a fee to SELL investment products and services, period. That's not a good thing or a bad thing. It just is what it is. As Dan Ariely says so eloquently, "Your motivation can't help but influence your behavior."
  4. The most plausible explanation of all (to me) is that most advisors today employ a pricing model that is not available to any other professional services group on the planet -- recurring asset based fees. If advisors charged by the hour, like most other professional service providers, this would be a moot discussion. By its very nature, the fee-based pricing model introduces huge inefficiencies into the system. For years, I have been preaching about the virtues of building a practice based on larger but fewer clients. The leverage that can be gained by doing this is impressive*. Consider the PROFITABILITY of managing as $5 million fee-based relationship versus a $500,000 one. While we may not want to talk about it publicly, this is the golden goose that allows this rare pricing inefficiency to exist. Why more advisors and firms don't capitalize on it is another story for another time.

* To appreciate this leverage please review the Lifetime Value of a Loyal Client chart below...
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Why is this cow crying?

6/3/2013

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If you knew the truth about the "Farm Bill" (or most of what goes on in Washington for that matter) you would be crying too. Click on her nose to get the full story...
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Resilience Thinking

5/24/2013

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I can count on one hand the number of new ideas I have come across that can truly change the trajectory of a person's life. This is one of them. It's called RESILIENCE THINKING and I learned about it by listening to an interview by Krista Tippett with Andrew Zolli. Regardless of who you are or how you found your way to my slog, I urge you to take this one in slowly and carefully. When you're done, take it in again. 
Steve Saenz, Atlanta -- May 2013


Just click on the image below to get started...
We're in a moment now as a species, as societies, as communities, at all different levels, where we are experiencing increasing amounts of volatility. So 10 years ago, we used to marvel — and you could sort of see it entered the culture — that a butterfly could flap its wings on one side of the planet and you could have a hurricane on the other side of the planet. Well, in an era where every butterfly is connected to every hurricane, you start to worry about the flapping of those butterfly wings. Oh my goodness, what can we do to stop that from happening? Because the ecological system, the economic system, the geopolitical system, the climate system, the food security system are all connected to each other in ways that cause very complex highly unpredictable nonlinear outcomes. So all of those systems being connected leads us to a place where increasingly instead of trying to find an equilibrium in a planet that's out of balance, we also have to try and manage with the unbalances, the imbalances. We have to manage in a world that's intrinsically out of order. And that means protecting, especially vulnerable people from the shocks and disruptions that are becoming the hallmark of the age. ~ Andrew Zolli
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When Unconventional Wisdom Becomes Conventional

4/7/2013

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Any management consultant worth his/her salt has used the saying, "think out of the box" a time or two when speaking, working with clients, etc.

For some reason, this image (which I saw on Facebook today) made me wonder -- What happens when everyone adopts a certain perspective that was once considered "unconventional wisdom?"  Does it become conventional wisdom?

Don't get me wrong, I have used this saying myself along with countless others when trying to make a point. After reading the Discipline of Market Leaders, I began using the term "value proposition" the next day. After reading Paradigms: The Business of Discovering the Future, I adopted the term "paradigm shift." After reading Only the Paranoid Survive, I incorporated the term "inflection point" in all my presentations. I could go on and on...
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It occurs to me that most of us adopt sayings like this without taking the time to figure out (or question) what they really mean. For example, WHAT BOX ARE WE REFERRING TO? I am fully aware that "think outside the box" is a harmless suggestion to think creatively but to paraphrase my original question -- What happens when EVERYONE starts looking outside the box for inspiration???

With this in mind, I would like to offer an unconventional view of what now seems like a rather conventional dose of wisdom, which is this...
When everyone is looking outside the box for inspiration, maybe it's time to look INSIDE!
And, with all due respect to Mr. Chopra (whom I admire greatly) I say it depends on your box :-)
If you have a box of rocks, get rid of it.
If you have a box of wisdom, share it.
If you have a box of books, read them.
If you have a box of tools, fix something.
If you have a box of crayons, color something.
If you have a box of recipes, feed someone.
If you have a box of chocolates, eat some.
And, if you are lucky enough to have a box of love, be kind to someone.
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Do you think Tiffany's would really engrave it for us? I mean, you don't think they would feel it was beneath them or anything like that...
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    RAMBLE ON

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    RAMBLE ON, the name of my SLOG was inspired by the Led Zeppelin song with the same name. It also describes the content, which reflects my very random observations about life, work and my endless pursuit of the sublime. See tag list below...

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