So How Do YOU Define Success? The Answer Might Surprise You!
October 25th, 2011 by Jeremy Lurey
I recently had the pleasure of attending a Vistage presentation led by Bill Hawkins on success. As with many a Vistage presentation, I started this one off a little arrogant and close-minded (as I can be from time to time) thinking, “Oh great! Another leadership guy telling me – a successful leadership coach – what I need to know about being a successful leader…” Well, I guess I was right because boy did I have a lot to learn!
The presentation was actually much less of a presentation than individual activity with group sharing. Bill gave us a deck of custom cards – he actually calls it the CEO Personal Success DeckTM – that had various words defining potential areas we might use to define our life’s success. If I would have completed this task even a few years ago, I’m confident I would have responded with the not-too-uncommon American dream of “stuff” – including money, fame, fortune, great professional accomplishments, etc. While all of that may still be on my list somewhere, I was amazed that it was much further down than I ever would have expected. Instead, my final 7 were a complete surprise.
Putting Fun Back into Your Work and Life à la Tony Hsieh
September 2nd, 2011 by Jeremy Lurey
Life is too short to take it all so seriously. And last I checked, you only get to live this life once. There are no second chances or do-overs in life, so you need to create fun in all aspects of your life now, not later – and that means at work too!
Recently, I realized that I was getting really stressed at work and that I simply wasn’t having any fun anymore. It was giving me the worst knee pain I have felt in more than 20 years since I had orthoscopic surgery on both of my knees in high school because that’s where my body tends to manifest stress. Beyond that, I started falling into a horrible pattern of hitting the snooze button 2-3x every morning instead of getting up to do my morning exercises. Now if you’ve ever seen Tony Hsieh, founder and CEO of Zappos.com, talk about why he sold his first company LinkExchange to Microsoft, then you know that’s a really bad sign!
My guess is that if I’m not having fun, it’s much harder for me to be successful in achieving my goals. And when I don’t achieve my goals, I get stressed out and have even less fun in life. Read the rest of this entry »
From Fringe to Mainstream: Self Development & Technology for Extraordinary Performance
March 2nd, 2010 by Michael Liskin
Current science has legitimized the power of thoughts, words, breath, meditation, and world-view to have direct and lasting effects on our performance, happiness, and well-being. As studies in neurobiology, behavioral genetics, and quantum theory begin to confirm what has long been known by practitioners of—sometimes ancient—wisdom, we may see a new acceptance of ideas embraced by those who were once chided as “touchy-feely” types. Below I’ll provide a “top 7” list of areas to consider and specific solutions that may make a difference in your life—but I would be doing you a disservice if I were to rank-order these solutions or tell you what works “best,” rather than provide you with a call-to-action to reflect on your life, explore these options, and find what resonates for you as initial steps. Read the rest of this entry »
The Power of the Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
February 1st, 2010 by Jeremy Lurey
Stuck in a rut? Still worried about the recession? Well, I hate to say it, but you know you’re doing it to yourself, right?
Self-fulfilling prophecies are very powerful. Now I’m not saying that the skies are always filled with warm sunshine and pretty rainbows. I am, however, saying that you can choose to see them that way if you want.
Does this all sound easy to say for a guy who was born and raised in Los Angeles where it’s “shorts weather” most of the time? Well it is, but not because of the physical weather around me. It all has to do with my perspective on how I choose to view the world. I’m not ignorant to the global financial crisis we all experienced in 2009. I’m not even in denial about how much hard work it’s going to take to dig ourselves out of the mess we’re all in. I just believe in myself and know at the bottom of my heart that I can achieve anything I set my mind to.
Two years ago, I decided I was on the downhill slide of being overweight and physically unfit. No argument about how I got that way – too much holiday cheer, not enough time at the gym, too many late nights working and definitely not enough sleep! For the better part of a year, I told myself, “It’s OK. It’s just a busy time at work.” But then I said, “This is ridiculous! I’m not even 40, and I refuse to spend the rest of my life like this…” Read the rest of this entry »
Lessons from an Organization Development Professional: Staying Centered and Clear on Values at Work & in Life
January 25th, 2010 by Cris Hagen
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Entertainment. It’s all around us. The late night talk show wars between Jay, Conan, and Dave. The new TV season is starting with American Idol and 24, and SuperBowl Weekend is just on the perceivable horizon. I don’t know about you, but we live in exciting times!
Really? Really? What have we become? Does Hollywood really dominate our attention so much as to dull our senses about what is going on in the world around us? Have we become so numb to our world that we let “The Tonight Show” shenanigans take precedence over what happened in Haiti these past weeks? Or to take precedence over what’s going on in our own homes with our spouse and children?
We are deluged daily, not only with entertainment, world news of disasters, war, and economic turmoil, but we are “attacked” with e-mails (let’s start a contest to see who gets more than 500 e-mails a day!), and overwhelmed with requests for our time to attend meetings and teleconferences. Where do we draw the line? When do we start to get control over our lives and our time? How do we start to manage our commitments and keep a focus on the important relationships in our lives to make a statement about what is important to us? How do we dig out of everything that gets piled on top of us so that we can breathe fresh air and regain a sense of balance that will both sustain us and energize our efforts to lead more productive and fulfilling lives? Is this all too much to ask? Is it pure fantasy that we can actually achieve this? Read the rest of this entry »
5 Steps to Improved Performance As You Kickoff the New Year
January 13th, 2010 by Jeremy Lurey
All of us at Plus Delta Consulting have been reflecting on what we will do as we enter the New Year to improve performance in our organization – and with our client organizations. 2009 was a rocky year for many, and I for one am very glad to put it behind me. With that said, I’d be remiss if I simply said, “Thank God it’s over!” without doing any planning for 2010.
As we enter the New Year then, we’d like to recommend 5 simple steps for you to drastically improve performance in your organization. What steps have you taken or do you plan to take as you begin the New Year to produce better results? Please take a moment to comment below and share your own actions and ideas with us and all of our readers. Until then, here’s our list!
1. Plan your future from the future:
If anything was possible for you and your organization in one year from now (or even 10), how would you have the future be? Suspend reality for just a moment, and don’t worry about being practical or even reasonable. Focus on defining your ideal future based on your most important values and longer-term business objectives. And don’t frame this as “fixing” something that already exists or working within your current constraints. Read the rest of this entry »
12 Ways to Give Back This Holiday Season
December 14th, 2009 by Samantha Lurey
The holidays are a fun but often stressful time. And for many it is a practically hard year. So whether you are doing well or struggling, why not take some time to give back? Not sure what to do? Here are twelve things to get you started. And don’t do it just this time of year – make giving back part of your New Year’s Resolution too!
Donate money to a charitable cause – so many good organizations have seen a huge drop in donations this year, so help them out.
If you can’t donate money, donate your time. Volunteer to stuff envelops or answer phones – any little bit counts.
Giving back doesn’t have to be outside the home. Our loved ones sometimes may feel neglected while you’re out shopping or planning. So give your kids a hug and tell them how much you love them.
Along that same line, tell your spouse how much you appreciate them this holiday season and throughout the year.
Donate your professional services. If you’re in OD – give pro-bono services to your local charity. The work you do will be very helpful long-term.
Serve food at your local soup kitchen – more people are homeless now than ever, so help to make their lives a bit easier.
Another group suffering during these hard times are pets. Many pets are now also homeless and living in shelters because their owners couldn’t care for them anymore. This is very hard on a pet. So donate your time to some good homeless pet organizations like the ASPCA or Best Friends. And remember – pets are more than dogs and cats. There are many homeless horses and farm animals too.
Help a friend in need – this can take the form of running errands for a stressed friend to offering to buy Christmas presents for a friend’s children if your friend is cash-strapped.
Give back by bringing joy to a hospital or retirement home. Bring a good joke book or funny movie and spread some holiday laughter.
Thank your parents!
Send an overseas greeting card to our troops. You can do this by going to Any Soldier and following the instructions. Your kind words would mean a lot to someone in harm’s way.
Clean out your closets! Your ‘old’ clothes, games, and household accessories are very helpful to people that don’t have much. If you are a working professional than really clean out your used business attire. Those items are in high demand.
There are many other things that you can do to show your family, friends, and community you care. So get creative and start giving back!
6 Suggestions on How to Work From Home and Stay Productive
December 10th, 2009 by Cris Hagen
More and more I see companies embracing “work-at-home” policies, not only as a way to be more “green” by keeping cars off the road, but as a way to reduce the real estate “footprint” in the office. Some companies estimate the cost of maintaining office space for an employee at around $9,000/year. These same companies are offering as much as $1,000 for work-at-home employees to purchase the necessary office equipment to set up and maintain a home office.
So as the economic drivers for working at home seem to be well established and as companies define the appropriate policies and procedures for determining which jobs lend themselves to “working-at-home” (not to mention the question of how managers will measure the productivity of employees working at home), the question is, how does the “work-at-home” employee stay productive?
Speaking from experience, I would like to offer the following suggestions, and then invite the reader to contribute their own ideas. Read the rest of this entry »
Six Ways to a Passionate Soul: An Interview with Steve Cady
November 30th, 2009 by Jeremy Lurey
Dr. Steven H. Cady is a Graduate Faculty member in the Organization Development Program at Bowling Green State University. He also researches, writes about, and consults to individuals and organizations about passion. Beyond that, Steve is an inspiration to me because he lives a life of passion and in doing so brings out the best in me whenever we are together – and more often than not, when we are thousands of miles apart! Read the rest of this entry »
Meet our office pets!
November 6th, 2009 by Samantha Lurey
We practice what we preach here at Plus Delta Consulting and work hard to create a fun place to work. One of the things we promote is a pet friendly atmosphere. Yes, we bring our dogs with us to work (almost) every day. There are a few exceptions when there are clients or other VIP guests coming into the office, but generally the pets get to come to work. Who are these furry friends? Read below to meet our office pets and see the cutest 25-second video clip! Read the rest of this entry »
