doug smith training

Customers are human. They may have needs that they don't understand. When we provide unselfish service we just might uncover those customer needs. -- doug smith  

Some days you feel lucky. Some days you don't. I can still hear Albert King singing "if it wasn't for bad luck, I wouldn't have no luck at all..."  As a kid I thought, that's too bad, that really is the blues, but that's how it is... Or is it? The thing about luck is that it doesn't seem to consult you. When we rely on luck, good or bad, we relinquish all control. Why do that? On average, luck just doesn't care, so don't let it determine your destiny. To quote the great voice teacher Dorinda Dercar,  "Luck is for people who think the answer is outside themselves..." You're better than that. Your answer is inside you. -- doug smith

  Do you ever have to talk yourself into doing what you need to do? We might even need to talk ourselves into doing some things we WANT to do...we just get busy and stuck. Working on your goals can feel like work sometimes. Do it anyway. Do the work. Achieve your goals. -- doug smith

  When you were a child what did you want to be when you grew up? Now that you're grown, what did you bring from that dream into your current self? Try this: revisit your former dreams -- from childhood or later -- and without attaching to the exact role you imagined, look for the gems inside that sparked your imagination in the first place.  Revisit your former dreams -- there could be a current goal there waiting for your discovery. -- doug smith

How many you's are in you? You'll go thru many iterations on the way to the next you. New habits, new skills, new dreams, new goals. Like it or not, we live in constant change. We might as well take ownership of as much of that change as we can. Re-invent yourself when the old skin no longer suits you. It may be time for a new you. -- doug smith  

Leadership is service. Service is leadership. Combine the two and anything becomes possible. -- doug smith  

Some conflicts are worth avoiding.  Do you know anyone who always seems to be in an argument? If you think of someone as a difficult person, is it because they're just so...disagreeable? It isn't necessary to disagree with everyone you disagree with. We don't have time to convince every wrong person that they're wrong, so we need to stay strategic on where we manage the conflict and where we walk away. Your time is valuable and irreplaceable. Manage carefully.  -- doug smith

Why do people follow you? Where's the magnet? What's the attraction? What's the draw? People look for leaders who are leading causes they believe in. Start with the cause and then look for commitment. If your cause is real, your team will respond. -- doug smith  

Do you remember your toughest leadership decision? Every day we make many choices. Some days, the choices are tough. As leaders, we need to put our teams in the best possible position to succeed. The nuances are subtle. The stakes are high. Sometimes our best chance is our hardest choice. That's why you're there -- a trusted decision maker able to make the tough choices. Some will work well, and some won't. But the tough choices will keep coming. What's a leader to do? Keep learning, and decide with care. -- doug smith  

Your team members might need more validation than you've been giving them. Many of the artifacts of the past that indicated power and showed success are no longer provided. Flattening the organization has also eliminated promotion opportunities. Career tracks have turned into career plains.  How do you build a career and your self-esteem if money is your only measure of success? That might not be the wrong question, but the implied answer is incomplete. We still have other ways of measuring and celebrating success. We can find ways to show our team members that they are making progress. We can show our team members that we recognition their success and we appreciate their work. Elevate their status. Distinguish those who achieve their team goals and show them respect beyond the basic into esteemed associate admiration. People didn't stop caring about these things just because companies stopped providing them. No matter what your organizational culture declares, as a leader you ...

How far will you go? How much will you work? How important is it to you? Your goals will go as far as you will go... -- doug smith