RIGHT NOW

I just had to share some of the best advice in a song I have ever heard.

"Don't want to wait 'til tomorrow. So why put it off another day?"

I share this line and this video with you as a means to call you out. What are you putting off in your life RIGHT NOW? Why wait 'til tomorrow? Why put it off another day?

What if tomorrow never comes.

What if today is the only day you will have the chance to make it happen?

What does waiting really get you?

What will you feel like if you simply go for it now?

Don't put whatever "it" is off another day.
"Do it right here and now!"

By the way....when you see me getting ready to speak in front of thousands of people some day soon, this will be my introductory theme song. I am doing what I need to do right now to make it happen!!!

Ripple On My Friends!!!

Steve

Mental Mind Check To Not Miss Opportunities

Sometimes we end up having to do certain things in our lives that at the time we really don't want to do. Maybe it's a trip to the in-laws, that holiday mixer or having to attend a PTA meeting after a long day at the office. It always seems to be something that no matter how we slice it we simply don't get excited about having to do it.

When these opportunities present themselves and you have the nagging urge to whine and complain about having to "do it," don't. Instead turn that urge into a chance to explore inwardly as to why these feelings are occurring and do a little mental mind check. Maybe these overly sensitive feelings are actually a warning sign of some sort that despite what you want to do, someone else has something else in mind for you. One thing is for sure, when you focus only on complaining about whatever it is you don't want to do, you might actually miss the reason you were supposed to be there in the first place.

I speak from experience and recently this has happened to me with more frequency.

There was the coffee I didn't want to have with a colleague because I was teetering on burnout at the time. Despite my strong urge to call and cancel, I didn't and it turned out that the colleague wanted to talk to me about a lucrative speaking opportunity that turned into a substantial payday for me. It also turned out that someone from another table overheard us talking about the opportunity and asked me for my card because she was mesmerized by what I did and how it might work in her corporate environment.

Or there was the dinner I didn't want to go to with a colleague who wanted to introduce me to two friends of hers. They turned out to be two of the neatest people I have met in a long time and both have committed to help me expand my concept to some business areas I would never have be able to get into without help.

And then there was the time I went to a party and met someone while trying to stay low and melt into the scenery and not talk to anyone because I had a headache. One guy noticed me and started a casual conversation and it turned out that we both ended up talking football (sorry ladies, sports is big for me). He ended up purchasing a number of books for his executive team and is now talking about some significant training opportunities for his firm. Somehow that night my headache magically disappeared too.

I could literally bore you with hundreds of examples of these kinds of scenarios and of course not all of the ones that happen to me result in just a business outcome. My point is that sometimes we have to get out of our own way. Rather then look at the feelings of dread for participating in some function or going someplace you don't think you want to go to, change your focus from the negative to the potential positive outcomes that might come from it. Or at least let me say, be open to the possibilities. Use the negative feelings you experience as a wake-up call and get your attitude in check. You might just be surprised what you find when you do.

Besides whatever you think you don't want to do you likely have to "do it" anyway so why not make the best of it?

Ripple On My Friends!!!

Steve

Employee Engagement Means More Financial Success

Hello from Chicago! I will be presenting and Rippling the Women's Franchise Network tonight. Should be a really fun group and I it sounds like they are expecting a record setting attendance. How cool is that? Wish me luck!

So anyway......

Chief Learning Officer Magazine wrote an interesting article about employee engagement and the very direct impact it has on a company's financial success and employee retention. The article reveals some of the truly interesting findings of the Towers Perrin Global Workforce Study. One nugget that specifically caught my attention stated that "The study found that companies with the highest levels of employee engagement achieve better financial results and are more successful in retaining their most valued employees than companies with lower levels of engagement."

Hmm....didn't I say something very similar in some earlier BLOG posts this year on team engagement and connectiveness (this is a Steveism if you are wondering)?

I speak about employee engagement on a regular basis and how having a proactive plan for connecting people within an organization is an executive's secret weapon of success. Engaged employees are far more likely to feel ownership to their roles and responsibilities within the company and that translates into positive Ripples throughout the organization; innovation, creativity, better communication, and yes more contributory attitudes to forwarding the jointly held financial football are just a few.

Recently I spoke with an executive from a Fortune 100 company who before attending a Ripple couldn't just didn't see the power of helping people engage and connect, at least not within his company. Following my presentation and after putting him through an actual 8 Minute Ripple with executives from different companies, he came up to me and said with a big smile that he "got it." The light bulb was actually visibly shinning brightly about his head as we spoke. He now understood just how much we really think we actually connect but that in society and in our own trenches we really don't have a clue. The Ripple philosophy and process made it safe and fun for him to step outside of his box to discover that connecting wasn't difficult or hard, it just needed to be done differently.

Regular readers of my BLOG know that I am passionate about what the Ripple can do for individuals and companies alike. The Towers Perrin study only further supports my need to grow my business and bring more Ripples to corporate teams, departments, partnerships and alliances. It validates my gut instinct as to why so many companies so desperately need a rallying cry that resonates throughout their organizations. The Ripple certainly makes a good rallying cry in my humble opinion.

To read more about the study please click here.

To learn more about what a Ripple-centric program might mean to your organization, please feel free to email me at steve@ripplecentral.com or call me at 512.577.3700.

No matter what you do, if you are in an leadership capacity for your company, do something...anything to get and keep your people engaged. The value so far outweighs the effort. I think the Towers Perrin researchers would agree.

Ripple On!!!

Steve

Shyness

I presented the Ripple to the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers this past weekend in Philadelphia. It was a fun group and despite the early hour on a Saturday morning still managed to have some incredible energy and enthusiasm for what I had to say and show them. They really embraced the concept and despite some initial trepidation in the uniqueness of the format (after all it was a room full of very smart and engineers who are used to being in control), Rippled their way to some fantastic connections. Based on the incredible feedback I received at the end of my presentation it continues to prove the Ripple works in any environment, for any audience and at any hour!

One question that came up as people left the session was worth sharing. A young man from Boeing approached me and asked me how to overcome being really, really shy. It was a great question and one that, believe it or not, I struggle with myself. You see, I am very shy myself and always have been.

Fortunately for me I learned fairly early in my adult life that shyness was a crutch and that crutch could turn into a full blow disability if I didn’t do something about it. I realized that being a shy kid was sort of cute and got me noticed but as I grew up and became an adult my shyness was no longer getting me noticed, it was getting me ignored. Bottom line I knew if I was ever going to achieve anything in life I had to overcome my shyness and get out there and announce to the world “I am here and you want to know me!”

My advice to this young man was simple: do something….anything to get an upper-hand on his shyness. For him to make the right kinds of connections and get himself noticed it is critical for him to take proactive steps to battling this very large but beatable beast. I suggested he force himself to look for opportunities to practice overcoming his shyness by getting to know the people he works with better. Work is a perfect test laboratory for us all to try getting better at engaging and connecting. I told him to start by saying “hi” to people that he wouldn’t ordinarily engage in conversation. Start small and start looking for those connection points by asking good engagement questions. The more he learns about the people he works with the easier it will be to engage them in ongoing future conversation. This simple act of saying something, anything to people he sees but doesn’t know well, will help him gain confidence and become more comfortable and yes….less shy.

I am no pop psychologist and in fact I can honestly say that I write and speak about what I know and what has worked for me; it might not work for everyone. But as I told this young man, shyness could have kept me as a lonely little insignificant worker bee but I refused to let it define me. Because I overcame my shyness I have managed to accomplish so much more in life and actually play in the game rather than watch it from the sidelines.

I hope that young man is walking the halls of Boeing this morning and deciding to get into the game as well.