Talent Is Never Enough

I'm currently reading 'Talent Is Never Enough' by John C. Maxwell. Here's an interesting excerpt from Chapter 6. It is about change.

Here's what to look for and how to focus your energy to get the kinds of changes that will change you for the better:

Don't change just enough to get away from your problems - change enough to solve them.

Don't change your circumstances to improve your life - change yourself to improve your circumstances.

Don't do the same old thing expecting to get different results - get different results by doing something new.

Don't wait to see the light to change - start changing as soon as you feel the heat.

Don't see changes as something hurtful that must be done - see it as something helpful that can be done.

Don't avoid paying the immediate price of change - if you do, you will pay the ultimate price of never improving.

How To Connect In Business In 90 Seconds Or Less

I managed to quickly browse through this book today. I like the fact that the book is thin but packed with important points. While the points are nothing new really. But sometimes, we human tend to forget the simple rules in building relationship and communication.

Many new sales people would sell to family and friends. However, they can't survive just by relying on the small pool of people they already know. This is where the book can be useful. How do you approach a stranger and make them feel as if you're their long lost friend? How do you approach a stranger and make them feel as if they can trust you? The rules are simple really. Here they are:-

Rule #1 - When you meet someone, look them in the eye and smile
Rule #2 - When you want them to feel like they already know you, be a chameleon
Rule #3 - Capture the imagination and you capture the heart.

How many times have we heard the phrase, "Smile and the world smiles with you!" How many of you feel smiling, especially to strangers, is the most difficult thing to do? Fake it till you have it :) There must be something worth remembering in your life that day before you meet this particular client, so think of that memory and smile.

The power of persuasion is extremely crucial in business relationship. It gets others to want to do what you want them to do. To be able to persuade effectively, you must have these three ingredients:-

1. Have a trusting first impression - can be from your job title, credentials or reputation
2. Use an indisputable logic - something that make sense
3. Tug at the emotions

In the book, the example given to appeal to the emotion is when an advertising manager for the largest-circulating weekly magazine in the UK (this was way back in the sixties) met one of his potential client, he dumped over 2000 envelopes in-front of his client to show how by advertising with his magazine, the client can get similar response his competitor is currently getting. The client's imagination was triggered and the advertising manager walked away with 26 weeks advertising contract.

Make people feel as if, "I can trust you, you make sense and you move me".

In business, the measures of effective communication lies in the response it gets. If the response you get is not what you want, you can try again or change tactics. Futility is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different result. So to get a different response, change what you do. The three aspects of successful communication:-

1. K - Know what you want
2. F - Find out what you're getting
3. C - Change what you do until you get what you want

Notice 3 small concrete things you don't like or don't want to happen at work place. Then, imagine it as positive desire. For example, instead of thinking you don't want a confrontation, focus on you want collaboration. Once you know what you want, be creative, flexible and try out possible solutions.

Tell me if you don't know any one of the points mentioned above. Tell me also if you have been using all those rules and ingredients all your life. From what I know about people, many do not practice these simple rules hoping for a more complex solution that can help them. Probably also expecting to put the blame on the complex solution when they did not succeed in their sales and communication.

The book is a simple read that can be a guide to young sales people and as a refresher for the more veteran sales person. So happy connecting and start practicing all the simple rules to connect in business.

Case Study on Tiger Woods

I found many interesting articles here. One that I like is a case study on Tiger Woods.

If you're considered the best among the best, would you even think of CHANGE to make yourself even better? Tiger Woods illustrated a good example of someone who strives to make himself better by making CHANGES to improve himself.

Here's the summary of the case study.

Tiger Woods turned pro in August of 1996 and in his first attempt as a pro at the famed Master's Tournament in 1997, he walked away with an unprecedented 18 under par victory. This enormous win resulted in new levels of fame for Tiger.

Not long after his world-renowned victory, and amidst the whirlwind of fame, Tiger called a meeting of his team. He had reviewed Golf Digest's swing sequence photography, considering his swing "almost perfect" yet deciding that his game required a major overhaul. People had already called him the best golfer in the world. Yet Tiger knew that his skills were not yet so superior that he was in the best position to win every tournament he teed up in.

In September 1997, with a new coach and team, they worked for more than a year to break down all the mechanics of his swing and completely rebuild it. This process included countless hours of tedious drills and practice shots. They started all over, asking, "What do we need to do to change this?"

During this transition time, Tiger's game suffered. The media and public began to wonder what had happened - the young star's playing seemed to worsen as time went on.

The changes clearly paid off; in 1999, he was voted PGA Player of the Year and AP Male Athlete of the Year. He earned a record $6.6 million in PGA Tour winnings alone, nearly double the second-leading money-winner, David Duval, who earned $3.6 million.

Time will tell just how long Tiger Woods can dominate his sport. Some called him supernatural." But a closer look at his story, especially in the critical years of 1997-1998, reveals many other factors and ingredients beyond god-given gifts that have allowed him to achieve peak performance.

Fish! Philosophy

Most people spend the majority of their time doing work and work-related activities, and yet, not many enjoyed that part of their life. Some endured their working days by focusing on the upcoming weekend and public holidays. I have the opportunity to conduct a series of training to 120 staff recently. 85% said they wanted to retire as early as they can because it is so stressful at work. Wow!!! Every time each one of them said 'retire', I was astounded to know how so many people can live through their life like that. And they're not even looking for another job!

As for me, I do enjoy my work but I love weekend and public holidays too :)

This book tells a story of Mary Jane, a widowed working mother of two who was sent to manage a department described as "toxic energy dump" by all the other departments in the organization. She was asked to turn the department around without much support from the top management. While walking during one of her lunch time to clear her mind, she stopped at a fish market. The lively fish market attracted the attention of so many people. With the help of a helpful fishmonger who gave four easy but valuable lessons, she roped in all her staff to change the place where they spent most of their life to a much better place.

The Fish! Philosophies are:

1. Play


2. Make Their Day


3. Be There


4. Choose Your Attitude

It is about choosing to have fun at work, to get everyone feeling involved, to give full undivided attention to co-workers and customers when you're communicating with them and to serve the customer well. They may not buy now but they might be our customer in future.

If the fish market can do it, why can't our organization? There are no "How To" section in the book but Mary Jane's way of getting everyone in the department to buy the idea of change (won't work without this!) and contribute to the change is imitable. Why not? Everyone is involved and have a finger in the pie. Then coming to work will not be such a chore and retire early will not be every staff ultimate dream.


Here's a video of the real Seattle's Pike Place Market where the author draws his inspiration for the book.

This post was originally published here.

Official Website of Fish!.

Who Moved My Cheese

I have read this book aeons ago. Recently I stumbled upon the summary I created immediately after reading the book. I remembered when I was reading it, the feeling was like reading a simple bedtime story with many powerful lessons. I got so excited to create a summary so I can share with as many people as I can... to those who have read the book and also those who have not... you might want to read more of it after going through my summary.

There are many individuals who felt like the moment they join an organization, that's where they will retire. I feel lucky I never have such notion. I'll be loyal to an organization as long as there's opportunity to learn and grow. If there's none worth staying for, I owe it to myself to find one that satisfies my learning desire and move on.

Of course the cheese meant in the book might refer to a different position or different department instead of a different organization. It depends on how you want to interpret it and what's best for you.

Now you can even watch Who Moved My Cheese short movies on YouTube.

Who Moved My Cheese


View summary of Who Moved My Cheese.

This post was originally published here.

Official Website of Who Moved My Cheese

AWeber Affiliates

I become one of AWeber affiliates because I find the service useful. I will also promote my E-Books using AWeber once they're completed. I have been looking around for affiliate programs that I believe in because I don't believe in pushing products and services that I do not care about.

What AWeber does is it allows you to create email newsletters, provides a reliable email delivery for your email follow up, ad tracking and real-time stats, it even has email templates and autoresponders. Most people who promotes their products and services online would want to have these features without the trouble of finding a web developer do it for you.

I did not discover AWeber via any link or promotion. I love E-Books and newsletters. Whenever I subscribed to newsletters or wanted to download E-Books I found the URL changed to AWeber's. That got me curious. Why did different E-Books and newsletter providers uses the same URL. So I put www.aweber.com at my URL address and the rest is history.

I received a welcome letter from AWeber several days after signing up. I was surprised and pleased at the same time. Normally we receive confirmation or whatever information from websites we signed-up online via email. AWeber has definitely put the service they provide at a notch higher than most online products and service provider. I haven't even promoted my blog yet.

I know it is just a welcome letter for me to make such a big fuss about... not a cheque in the mail. But I'm very pleased and I believe they have shown how serious they are in business. We thought traditional banks will become obsolete about 10 years ago once we have the self-service machines and the internet but it isn't so. People still need the human touch. Banking business has evolved into a more personalized banking experience for their customer. AWeber has given that personalized touch for online business experience.

Pushed To Get Ahead

Have you ever experienced this situation on the road? You turned from a junction to join the main road. You give all the necessary signals so your car can get into the main road but few cars refuse to give way. You did not cut queue. You followed all the rules but for some reason, few cars stubbornly decided not to let you cut in. Feeling very frustrated, you zoomed forward, probably using the emergency lane, with your signal on, you managed to squeeze in and join the main road. All the while, feeling very satisfied the few cars behind who refuse to budge stays way behind and you managed to get ahead of them. You have no intention to do so at the beginning. But you have no choice. You're pushed to get ahead.

Similarly in life, at home, at work, you followed all the rules but you may be pushed away. You are not allowed into the group. You may feel left out. Some will feel depressed with the situation, all the while trying to join the main pack. But some will decide to call it quits and zoomed ahead, took risk and managed to get ahead. They become successful because they are pushed. Instead of wallowing in self pity, they decided to chart their own destiny and become successful. That is the sweetest revenge. Don't you think so?

Sometimes we have to believe in ourselves. Find our own support system and leave those who drain our energy. Believe that our existence are not limited to what we currently have... our family, our colleague, our boss, our job, our friends. We can move ahead, we can use a different route, a riskier route but in the end we may smell the sweet smell of success.

Cooking Fish Story

A little girl was watching her mother prepare a fish for dinner. Her mother cut the head and tail off the fish and then placed it into a baking pan. The little girl asked her mother why she cut the head and tail off the fish. Her mother thought for a while and then said, "I've always done it that way - that's how grandma did it." Not satisfied with the answer, the little girl went to visit her grandma to find out why she cut the head and tail off the fish before baking it.

Grandma thought for a while and replied, "I don't know. My mother always did it that way." So the little girl and the grandma went to visit great grandma to find out if she knew the answer. Great grandma thought for a while and said, "Because my baking pan was too small to fit in the whole fish".

Lessons learnt: Sometimes you have to challenge existing belief system and assumptions to avoid pointless process.

Source: Unknown

About My Training Resources

I hold a Degree in Business Administration and have been involved with Information Technology from the beginning of my career. With more than 10 years of corporate experience, I have held positions as Personal Assistant, Application Specialist, Information Management Consultant and Trainer.

As a consultant, I have worked closely with clients to analyze their business processes; advice, recommend and design system solution to meet their business needs.

As a trainer, I have trained Senior Managers, Managers, Executives and Clerks in Basic Computer Skills; OpenOffice.org ; Microsoft Word, Excel and Powerpoint; Self Mastery for Personal Effectiveness; Clerical and Executive Development Programme; Effective Communication Skills; Customer Service and Sales Training. I have also conducted various system training for new system rollout.

I have my first taste of training experience when I was an Application Specialist for a software company. They were in-house training for my colleagues. Later, I conducted more trainings to clients when I was an Information Management Consultant. Those were the times I enjoyed most among my various job functions. That’s when I decided I wanted to do full time training so I quit my job and change industry as opportunity presents itself. I never regretted that action.

In this blog, I want to put training related materials I have used, found or researched, write book summaries and book reviews of books I have read, all in one place and also exchange ideas on training matters too.

Thanks for visiting this blog.