Three Strategies to Enhance Company Culture in a Virtual World by Meridith Elliott Powell

Photo by LinkedIn Sales Solutions on Unsplash

One of my favorite clients works in the manufacturing space, and lucky for them, 2020 was a great year. Despite the pandemic, they grew, added more staff, and increased profits by 32%. 

Working together, we spent most of the early months of the pandemic navigating the consistent increase in demand. We spent our time helping over three-quarters of their staff learn to work remotely and the other one-third adjust to the new regulations and protocols to ensure a safe working environment. 

For the first few months, company culture was the last thing on anyone’s mind. The team was engaged. Most of their employees were grateful to have a job, others driven by the urgent need to help their customers and team members. Pretty much everyone was willing to do whatever it took to keep the company growing. 

Now we find ourselves over a year into this crisis, and the tide is shifting. Team members are getting burned out and starting to disengage. They suffer from “Zoom fatigue.” They struggle to achieve work-life balance, and they are getting frustrated. 

For the first time since this pandemic began, the leadership team is wrestling with how long will this go on? How do we keep our team engaged? And how do we maintain and enhance our company culture in a virtual world? 

Those are great questions that many leaders are challenged with today because building a culture and leading a team in a remote environment is different. It requires new strategies and a new set of ideas. 

Before we jump in and start discussing the strategies you need to build and maintain your company culture, let’s talk about what culture is and why it matters, even more so in a virtual world. 

Culture is the set of values and beliefs a company has. When your culture is strong, your employees not only understand those values and beliefs; they use them to drive their attitude, their behavior, and the experience they create for team members and customers. With a strong culture, you get a more engaged team, a more productive work environment, and more satisfied customers. 

Now culture matters because employees are more engaged, more productive, and tend to stay longer when they work for a company whose values and beliefs are aligned with theirs. Let’s look at the facts: companies with winning organizational cultures have 72% higher employee engagement ratings. 65% of employees say their company culture is a deciding factor in whether they stay long-term or not, and 77% of employees believe a strong culture enables them to produce higher levels of work. 

So, culture matters, and in a world where employees can work from anywhere and for anyone, giving them something to believe in, be a part of, and contribute to is one of the best tools you have to keep top talent. 

There is so much value in investing in your company culture, so how do you get it right in a virtual world and working with a remote team? 

1. Overly Communicate 

Very few leaders communicate enough and far fewer communicate enough in a virtual world. You have to realize the moment your team started working from their homes, they felt disconnected, shut off, and isolated. They are unsure of how your company is doing, what challenges you’re facing, what you are focused on for 2021, and how they can best contribute. 

You need to be answering their questions, and much more. You need to ensure that you communicate with your team often and provide opportunities for them to communicate with you. Communication is a two-way street, and if you want to drive culture, you need to ensure your team is talking to you as much as you are talking to them. 

BEST PRACTICES: Here are some of the best ideas we see successful leaders today putting into place. 

Weekly kick-off video – the CEO starts each week with a video that lets the team know where the focus needs to be, what she expects of them, and then rewards and recognizes individual contributions. 

Town Halls – monthly or quarterly, town halls with the CEO and/or leadership team allow employees to get relevant updates and, more importantly, ask questions, get first-hand information, and heard on significant challenges. 

Monthly Financial Updates – humanizing the business model by allowing employees to learn from the CFO how the company makes money, what they can impact, and how their contribution directly connects to the bottom line. This does more than any other strategy we have seen to decrease expenses and drive revenue. 

2. Create Connection 

Gone are the opportunities to grab lunch with a co-worker, tell a joke before the meeting starts, or participate in the monthly birthday celebration. What remote work has given us in productivity and efficiency has cost us in the areas of communication and relationship building. 

People spend so much time at work, even if that work is remote. To be successful; they want to feel like they are connected to their co-workers, know their boss, and feel heard and understood by the people they work with. In a virtual world, you have to be more innovative to create that, and you have to build on those opportunities proactively. 

BEST PRACTICES: Here are some of the best ideas we see successful leaders putting into place 

TECH MATTERS – just like you invested in your office space, you need to invest in technology. If you want people to feel connected, they need to have the tools. Video is critical, strong audio is a requirement, and the right software and tools make it so much easier to engage. 

CREATE SPACE – allow people to connect just like you did at work. Instead of the monthly pot luck dinner, create personal channels on your SLACK, TRELLO, or intranet accounts. Start rooms where team members can talk about their pets, taking care of aging parents, or what it is like to homeschool your kids in the age of COVID. 

DONUT MEETINGS – beak the silos and communication issues by building relationships between departments and leaders you need to work together. Donut meetings are meetings set up between two and three team members who don’t interact regularly but need a better connection to work more effectively together. 

3. Bind with Purpose 

At the end of the day, in a traditional or remote work environment, people want to do work that matters, and they want to be a part of something bigger than themselves. 

If you want your team to engage, then you need to give them something to engage in. That something is a purpose, who you are, what you stand for, and the impact you are making. 

BEST PRACTICES: Here are some of the best ideas we see successful leaders putting into place 

BEGIN EVERY MEETING – and end every meeting reminding your team members of your purpose, and how what they are doing matters, the impact they are making. 

REWARD/RECOGNIZE – team members and situations that underscore the importance of your purpose. Tell stories and develop case studies that detail how the company’s purpose is to create change and help people.  

NORTH STAR – use your purpose and core values as your litmus test, your north star in deciding whom to promote, whom to hire, and what new initiatives to implement in your company. You show your team just how important the core values and purpose are and why they matter to the company’s success. 

Your Culture Is Your Best Investment 

Yes, investing in building culture in a work environment can be challenging, but it’s not impossible. It is also one of the best investments you can make. One of the few advantages you have left in this constantly shifting and highly competitive marketplace is your team’s engagement level. Invest in your culture, and your team will invest in you. 

Meridith Elliott Powell, CSP, is a business growth expert, keynote speaker, and award-winning author. Her new book, THRIVE: Strategies to Turn Uncertainty into Competitive Advantage, shares nine proven principles for leveraging uncertainty to grow your business and drive sales. It is available from Sound Wisdom on June 22, 2021—preorder your copy today! This blog originally appeared here on meridithelliottpowell.com and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog. Subscribe now for weekly inspiration and business insight delivered straight to your inbox (we won’t spam you—we promise!).

The Miraculous Mirror by Jim Stovall

Photo by Alex Lopez on Unsplash

Here in the 21st century, we take it for granted each morning when we look in the bathroom mirror as we shave or apply make-up, consult the full-length mirror when we check our wardrobe before we leave the house, or glance in the rearview mirror as we back out of our garage. That which we take for granted would have been an absolute miracle to most of our ancestors throughout recorded history.  

As I walk on stage in arenas around the world to share my story with thousands of people, I generally begin by saying, “Please don’t miss the power of this message due to the weakness of the messenger. I have not arrived at the mountaintop I seek, but instead, I am a fellow traveler like you seeking my destiny and higher calling. I do not stand before you today with the answers you are seeking, but instead, I am here with questions. These questions will be as if I were holding up a mirror in front of you. If you will be honest with your assessment, you will discover that you already have been given the answers to the questions that are confronting you.” 

We spend far too much time in our lives worrying about what everyone thinks of us when in reality, it is far more important what we think of ourselves. While a mirror can only give us a basic reflection of ourselves as we are viewed by the world, it can be the beginning of a deeper assessment of who we are and who we can become. As a blind person, I’ve always been troubled to hear people say, “I’ll believe it when I can see it.” Then one day, I realized the fallacy of that statement, and I discovered the divine paradox that, “We have to believe it first, then we will see it later.” Therefore, seeing is not believing, but believing is the first step in seeing on a far deeper level.    

I learned this by living the first half of my life with sight and the second half of my life with vision. Sight is a powerful gift. It tells you where you are and what’s around you. But vision is an infinitely more valuable gift as it tells you where you could be and what’s possible. Without sight, we can adapt and function quite well in the real world, but without vision, we perish. A mirror can be a mere convenience or a powerful tool that allows us to begin to assess who we are and all that we were created to be. 

As you go through your day today, use the mirror’s reflection of your outward image to begin exploring the depths of your heart, mind, and soul. Today’s the day! 

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including The Gift of Giving, co-authored with Don Green, the executive director of the Napoleon Hill Foundation. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).

Know Your Purpose; Know Your Mission by Sam Silverstein

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What is your Purpose in life? What is your Mission? They are not the same. It is quite common for people (and teams and even entire organizations) to get a little confused about what a Purpose is and how it differs from a Mission. This confusion does not exist for accountable leaders and the team members who report to them. 

Truly accountable leaders know that their Purpose is the reason they are here, phrased in the form of service that they render to others. Their purpose is their big WHY. 

Their Mission, by contrast, is their Purpose IN ACTION. It is what turns the Purpose into a tangible reality for someone else. The Mission is WHAT you do to take action on your Purpose. 

For the sake of example, in distinguishing these two ideas, let me share my own Purpose with you. It is: 

To help people be better, discover their potential, and be the best they can possibly be. 

This Declaration of Purpose is the north point on my personal compass. Notice that it is concise. That one sentence is what I use to determine whether any direction, any idea, any proposed course of action, any attitude, supports who I really am. But my Declaration of Purpose is not, technically speaking, a destination. In order for me to have a destination, I need a Mission that aligns with my Purpose. I must identify that Mission by asking myself, What actions support and fulfill my Purpose? 

As a general but reliable rule, the personal statement of Mission you create and pursue needs to have more depth and be more detailed than your Declaration of Purpose. I believe the words you use to craft the Mission can and should be built around three action words of your choice. These words give a deeper understanding of your Mission. They are unique to you. It is important to notice, though, that your mission is never about just having a list of three words that you can tack up on a wall. Your words must connect to a longer Mission Narrative. 

Dig deep with those three words so you clarify everything of consequence that connects to the actions you are taking in support of your Purpose. That way you—and others—can see and buy into the story of your purpose in action. Your Mission Narrative, in other words, must clarify the ACTIONS of your Mission in a compelling way for you and for other people. The narrative tells you, and anyone else the mission attracts, exactly what it means to step out and go about achieving the Mission. 

The Mission Narrative is all about action, all about doing. It is not abstract or theoretical. It is dynamic and totally in sync with your deepest personal reason for being.  

If you do not have clarity about the Actions you are taking in support of your purpose, how can you possibly expect to share your Mission with others? 

You will know you have found the right Mission when you find that writing or talking about it gives you instant calmness. This calmness is addictive, and it is capable of existing side by side with profound excitement about you Mission. It comes from the very center of your being, and it only appears when there is total certainty about both your Purpose and the action steps you are taking—the Mission to which you have committed yourself—in order to fulfill that Purpose. 

By way of example, here is my personal Mission Narrative. Notice that it supports and fulfills my Purpose. Notice, too, that I use three powerful action words to create a Mission Narrative about WHAT I DO that supports my Declaration of Purpose—and that the Mission Narrative defines exactly what those three words mean to me. 

My mission is to build a more accountable world. I serve my mission through three specific activities: 

Teach 

I am a teacher. I educate people on ways to improve and be their best. I share new insights and ways of looking at issues, challenges, and opportunities. I share different ways of believing and thinking. 

Inspire 

Through the use of events, experience, and evidence I support the beliefs that I teach. This breathes life into the beliefs and helps people take action. I come alongside and help people take the “first step” in their new adventure. 

Support 

I provide ongoing encouragement and resources to help people stay on course. Change is difficult. We all face challenges throughout our journey. I stay ready to help others overcome those challenges and achieve the goals they aspire to. 

This Mission Narrative has resulted in people all over the world buying into my Mission—very often, people I do not even know and have never before spoken to! 

I’ve shared my Purpose and my Mission with you so you can easily see the difference between the two. But these things are unique to each of us. My Purpose is not yours, and my Mission isn’t yours. 

What is the north point on your personal compass? What is the reason you are here, phrased concisely in the form of service you deliver to others? Once you find it, you will have your own Purpose. 

What is your Mission? What is your Purpose IN ACTION? What turns your Purpose into a tangible reality for someone else? What three action words describe WHAT you do to take action on your Purpose? How do you unpack those words, so that it is obvious what they mean to you? 

Accountable Leaders invest the time and effort necessary to fully understand their Purpose and Mission. You can, too. Once you know the answers to these questions, you will be in a position to move forward on your Purpose, and inspire others to join your Mission. 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, Pivot!: Three Big Questions That Reframe Your Perspective, Maximize Your Potential, and Improve Your Life, is now available from Sound Wisdom. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog.

Our Changing World by Earl Nightingale

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If a man empties his purse into his head, no one can take it away from him. An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest. —Benjamin Franklin 

Machines become obsolete because they are unable to change. Times change—they must and will, with ever-accelerating momentum. As they do, the machines of today will be outdated. But human beings are not machines, however fond they are of acting like them; they can change. 

Never before in the history of humankind has it been so necessary as it is today for us to develop a new awareness of ourselves with respect to our changing world. We need to face the fact that in the world of tomorrow, jobs will be radically different; many will be eliminated entirely. What can we do about it? We can take the advice of the former president of the University of Chicago, Robert M. Hutchins: “We can learn!” If we refuse to learn, if we insist on acting like machines, we may find ourselves idle tomorrow. 

Every job is part of a much larger organization. Organizations and industries don’t die; they  just change. The industry that once manufactured covered wagons is still here, but today it is making engines, tractors, and automobiles. 

The minute a person stops learning, our world will begin to pass them by. 

Let us say that through a set of circumstances a young man finds himself working as an attendant in a service station. He might wish he had done things differently, but it does no good to brood over the past. These are the facts: he is working in a service station. He wants to get married and have a home and children. And to do this, he decides that he must earn more money. His first inclination is to look around for a job that pays more. But before he moves to a different job, he should be aware that the move entails not only earning more, but also learning a good deal more than he now knows. Otherwise, the chances are he will be no better off than he is pumping gas. 

I think that instead of just looking at his job, he should look at the whole industry of which it is a part. In our example, this is the petroleum industry, one of the world’s largest and most profitable. Without leaving his job for the present, he could spend his free time studying the industry he is already in. Now, instead of being a service station attendant, he is a trainee in a major industry. He no longer has just a job; he has his foot on the first rung of what can be a fine and extremely rewarding career. By sticking with his studies and doing an outstanding job when he is working, he will soon be able to marry and have that home and, in time, anything else he wants. Learning is the answer. 

The same thing applies to the person working in the supermarket, the local factory, or as a salesperson. Naturally, it is best to stay in school, for school is the best place to learn. But for those who have dropped out, the answer is the same: Learn! Learn all you can and keep learning, whether you are 16 or 60, and you will find your way—a way infinitely more interesting and substantially more rewarding—in this changing world of ours. 

The minute a person stops learning, our world will begin to pass them by. They will be left a lonely and disconsolate figure in its wake. To learn or not to learn is a decision each of us must make. 

This is an exclusive excerpt from Earl Nightingale’s Successful Living in a Changing World, an official Nightingale-Conant publication recently released by Sound Wisdom. Known as the “Dean of Personal Development,” Earl Nightingale grew up in California during the Great Depression. Because his family was very poor, Nightingale educated himself in his local library. His main focus: what makes people turn out the way they do in terms of their wealth, their career achievements, and their happiness. After beginning his career in the US Marines during World War II, he was hired as a radio announcer. He eventually became a popular daily broadcaster for CBS. Through his interest in both personal development and audio, he partnered with Lloyd Conant to form the Nightingale-Conant Corporation, the world’s largest producer of audio programs.

Here’s How to Get Customers to Say, “I’ll Be Back!” by Shep Hyken

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Many companies think they have to compare themselves to their competition. They want to know what the competition is doing that they are not. And when they figure it out, you know what they do? They copy them.  

It’s not a bad idea to do that, but it’s not the best idea either. If all you do is compare yourself to your competitors, you may be missing your best opportunities to create the best experience for your customers. 

In my newest book, I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again, I cover a six-step process to getting your customers to say, “I’ll be back.” I’m going to summarize the process here. It’s not complicated. It’s actually pretty simple, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. So let’s jump right into it. 

 Start by calling a meeting. In all, it will probably take at least two or three meetings. Leadership should be there, along with other employees with varied responsibilities, from sales, support, finance, and more. 

Step One: Ask yourself and the team, “Why should people do business with us?” Answers like, “We have great customer service” are too vague and also something the competition is likely to say. Get specific and think of what you offer that makes you unique. 

Step Two: Check out the competition. What do they do that you don’t? Is this something you could be doing? Look for ways they differentiate themselves from what you do. 

Step Three: Keep pace. If you discover things that the competition is doing that you’re not, and you decide you want to do something similar, don’t just copy their ideas. Give them a twist and make them your own. If you copy them, you’ll be just like them. And if all you are is a copy of the competition, you are a commodity. 

If all you are is a copy of the competition, you are a commodity. 

Step Four: Move beyond your industry. Ask the team, “What companies, not including the competitors, do you like doing business with the most, and why?” Any type of company counts small, big, recognizable brands, and more. List reasons you like them and get ready for the next step. 

Step Five: Borrow from the best. Looking at the reasons you like the companies listed in Step Four, make note of what these companies do that you don’t, but could. This is a powerful way to create even more distance from your competition. 

Step Six: Revisit your value proposition. After you’ve built the ideas in Step Five into your customer experience, go back to the question you started with in Step One: “Why should people do business with us?” You should have some new answers. Even better answers will help you create a better customer experience. 

Repeat customers are gold. Loyal customers are sacred. Do it right and your customers will come back again and again. Put this six-step process into action, along with other ideas, strategies, and tactics from the book. This is exactly what it takes to get your customers to say, I’ll Be Back!

Shep Hyken is a customer service expert, keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling business author. His latest book, I’ll Be Back: How to Get Customers to Come Back Again and Again is available for preorder at www.IllBeBackBook.com. For information, contact 314-692-2200 or www.hyken.com. For information on The Customer Focus™ customer service training programs, go to www.thecustomerfocus.com. Follow on Twitter: @Hyken. This post originally appeared here on Shep Hyken’s Customer Service Blog.

Pre-crastination by Jim Stovall

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One of my treasured friends and mentors, Dr. Denis Waitley, is among the greatest success authors and speakers of our time. He often describes a mythical, magical place he calls Someday Isle (Someday I’ll). Denis describes Someday Isle as a tropical paradise where the gentle waves lap up onto the golden sand and the palm trees sway in the warm breeze. Someday Isle would be a paradise on earth except for one thing: nothing ever happens. Someday Isle is the place unsuccessful people go in their minds when they tell themselves and other people, “Someday, I’ll do…” Just like the island, someday never comes. 

Our lives are the accumulated total of the things we do, not the things we thought about doing, meant to do, wanted to do, or were going to do when we got time. Procrastination kills dreams, success, and goals. For years, I thought the ideal would be to do everything on time and when I had it scheduled. Then, I discovered pre-crastination. Expert sources tell me that there are over 300,000 words in the English language. Regular readers of these columns in newspapers, magazines, and online publications around the world know that there are occasions when the supply of words in the English language is not sufficient for me, so I create a new word. 

Our lives are the accumulated total of the things we do, not the things we thought about doing, meant to do, wanted to do, or were going to do when we got time.   

Pre-crastination is the act of taking something we were going to do at a point in the future and doing it now. This column you are reading will be sent out to thousands of sources around the world in the normal weekly rotation we established when this Winners’ Wisdom column became syndicated. Even though my column goes out each week, I decided years ago to pre-crastinate. Therefore, these words were written approximately six months before you are reading them.  

Pre-crastination is a way to pay it forward to ourselves. When today’s schedule permits, I often pre-crastinate and do something I had slated to do days, weeks, or even months in the future. Pre-crastination will allow you to rarely, if ever, have to deal with deadlines. If you’ve ever been invited to attend a once-in-a-lifetime event in your personal or professional life but found that you didn’t have time, you are not a victim of your current calendar as much as you have failed to pre-crastinate.    

Calendars and “to-do” lists exist to serve us. When we do not follow the minimal schedule we have set for ourselves, we have set ourselves up for failure. When we follow our own schedule, we are doing what is expected and can anticipate average or mediocre results. But, when we pre-crastinate, we are doing what the great author and thought leader Napoleon Hill described as going the extra mile. If you will invest the best of your efforts in every minute, hour, and day of your life, your investment will pay off far beyond your wildest dreams.   

As you go through your day today, do everything you have scheduled, then pre-crastinate. 

Today’s the day! 

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including the Wisdom for Winners series. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).

The State of Uncertainty and the Impact on American Business Today by Meridith Elliott Powell

Photo by Charles Forerunner on Unsplash

Groundbreaking research report on turning uncertainty to strategic advantage 

What if I told you that uncertainty doesn’t have to be a bad thing? That we discovered, based on research from our new report, that uncertainty was something that could actually transform your business and take it to the next level? That our extensive qualitative and quantitative study revealed that uncertainty creates new opportunities, stimulates innovation, and can be your greatest competitive advantage? 

We are excited to announce the release of our groundbreaking research “The State of Uncertainty and the Impact on American Business Today.” Click this link to get your copy of the free report: https://meridithelliottpowell.com/state-of-uncertainty-report/. 

Utilizing research and data commissioned from The Center For Generational Kinetics, we have prepared this report in which you will uncover:  

1. The influence of uncertainty in business and new challenges that are emerging as a result 

2. How business leaders think about and navigate uncertainty 

3. The differences between leaders who are proactive about uncertainty and those who are reactive 

4. A 9-step formula that allows you and your team to leverage uncertainty to create immediate opportunities and long-term sustainable growth 

This report guides you through how to leverage uncertainty to your advantage and provides you with current data gathered from personal interviews, surveys, and focus groups with business leaders from a broad spectrum of industries, tenures, ages, genders, and experience levels. The results were profound and proved how vital it is for businesses and leaders to shift their beliefs and actions as they relate to uncertainty.  

Let me share a little background of why I commissioned the study and why I believe that uncertainty can be your greatest competitive advantage. In 2018, I became obsessed with the word uncertainty. I wanted to know everything about it—what we think about it, how we feel about it, and how we react to it. And let me share: it turns out, we do not like it. 

What if uncertainty was actually something we needed in our businesses, and what if disruption was actually something that could fuel growth and transformation? 

In fact, research proves that we would rather know something bad is going to happen instead of living with the unknown. I found that fascinating, and was intrigued that even in good economic times, CEOs and leaders still worried and stressed about what could or might happen. 

That got me thinking, What if uncertainty was actually something we needed in our businesses, and what if disruption was actually something that could fuel growth and transformation? 

I went on a mission to find companies and leaders who had actually done just that: learned to use uncertainty strategically—and not only to expand their companies, but to gain competitive advantage. 

I was able to identify 9 companies that have been in business since the late 1700s and early 1900s and they are still in business, thriving today. That means they have come through world wars, economic depression, and even survived two pandemics.  

From that research, I created my proven 9-step formula for thriving in an uncertain marketplace.  The formula works no matter the size of your business, the industry you are in, the markets you serve, or the depth of your uncertainty you are experiencing.   

To further prove the formula and the concept of uncertainty creating opportunity, we commissioned this study and published this report.  

Uncertainty can be one of the greatest opportunities for your organization, your clients, and your team. But only if you do the work to more deeply understand it, get your team engaged in driving it, and have a strong strategy in place to capitalize on it. Enjoy this report, and please feel free to share, as we want everyone to benefit and capitalize on the opportunity that uncertainty brings.  

Register now for a FREE webinar on May 6 at 12:00 pm EST on “The State of Uncertainty and YOU.” You’ll take a deep dive into the state of uncertainty, its impact on business, how leaders are reacting, the solutions they are discovering, and the 9-step proven formula for turning uncertainty into competitive advantage. Register now at https://meridithelliottpowell.com/webinar-thrive-and-you/. 

Meridith Elliott Powell, CSP, is a business growth expert, keynote speaker, and award-winning author. In her recently released report on “The State of Uncertainty and the Impact on American Business Today,” she shares the results of groundbreaking research on the state of uncertainty and its impact on American business—both small and large organizations. You’ll also learn cutting-edge techniques for turning uncertainty into your competitive advantage. This research informs her latest book, THRIVE: Strategies to Turn Uncertainty into Competitive Advantage, which you can preorder now.

Accountable Leaders Learn to Spot Cultural Drift by Sam Silverstein

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What if the culture you designed for your company isn’t the culture your people are actually living? 

A client of mine recently told me, “I know in my heart that fundamentally we have a great culture at our company…but lately, I feel like something is off, and I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.” 

I said, “Does it feel like you’re not quite hitting the bull’s-eye that you used to hit routinely as a company, each and every day? Like your people’s standards are slowly dropping? Like things somehow slipped just a little bit while you weren’t looking, or you were focused on an acquisition?  

He nodded. 

What you’re dealing with,” I explained, “is called cultural drift.” 

He said, “Exactly!” 

Then he asked the big question that I’ve noticed truly accountable leaders always make a point of asking me when I use this term in a conversation for the first time. He said: “How do you define cultural drift…and how do I deal with it?” 

I realize you may be asking yourself the same questions now, so I’ll give you the same answers I gave my client. 

Let’s begin by defining what we mean by culture. A culture is what’s accepted and what’s repeated in your organization. And here’s the most important thing to understand about your workplace culture: You’re going to have one, whether you realize it or not, and it will always come in one of two possible varieties. You will either have a culture by design or a culture by default. That means your culture either drives accountability in the workplace…or your culture does not drive accountability in the workplace. 

“Culture by design” means you’ve actually stopped and thought about what kind of culture you want in your company, and you’ve built the workplace accordingly. You’ve asked yourself what you want your culture to be, you’ve identified and closely examined your values, you’ve found the best ways to model those values in the workplace, and you’re teaching and protecting and celebrating those values…consciously. 

“Culture by default,” on the other hand, hasn’t done any of that. This is the workplace culture that just kind of happens. Nobody designs it with intention. It’s defined through the lowest common denominator. Inevitably, a lowest common denominator culture means a lack of accountability to people; it probably also means a lack of responsibility when it comes to fulfilling specific assignments. (Remember: we are responsible for things, but accountable to people.) 

Here’s the point. Nobody ever stood up and said, “Okay. We hereby launch a culture where you don’t have to be prepared for meetings or show up on time, where you don’t have to treat people with respect, and where you don’t have to communicate effectively when it looks like something unexpected it going to keep you from getting the work done that you said you were going to get done. From today on, that’s what we’re going to notice and celebrate around here.” 

Nobody designs that kind of culture. But if those behaviors are tolerated and repeated, they become part of the workplace culture…by default. People come in for meetings late and unprepared, and they treat their colleagues and customers with disrespect, and they miss deadlines and think nothing of it. It’s just what happens, because that’s the kind of culture leadership has allowed to take root. 

Culture by default usually incorporates some cultural elements (like the ones I’ve identified above) that no one would consciously choose, but that end up being toxic daily workplace realities. All too often, a culture by default can lead an organization into a major downward spiral. This is not an issue of accountability vs. responsibility…because this organization will be lacking in both! 

As you have probably already guessed, the most successful organizations are the ones that have created, and live, a culture by design. There are five steps to creating this type of culture: 

• Define the culture 

• Model it 

• Teach it 

• Protect it 

• Celebrate it 

However, even if you do all five of those things, and do them right, something interesting can happen over time to change the culture. 

Maybe you have acquisitions, and you acquire other companies. Maybe you grow organically, perhaps by adding new branches or new divisions that aren’t directly exposed to the cultural experience that people in your main facility have. Or maybe some key people leave and are replaced by other people. When those kinds of changes take place, what often happens is that the culture that you designed starts to drift. 

What do I mean by that? I mean the culture starts to be not exactly the bull’s-eye of what you initially defined it and designed it to be. It’s not that your company has suddenly become a bad place to work…but it’s also not in the ideal place that you once had it. It’s drifting. 

Now—how do you correct that drift? 

Well, the first thing you have to do is you have to recognize that the culture is drifting. The sooner you recognize that (like my client did), the better off you are going to be. 

The next thing is to identify what part of your organization is affected. It could be the entire organization…or it could be some subset of it. The drift could be taking place at a certain level of leadership. It could be between the first and second levels of leadership, or between the second and third levels of leadership, or anywhere down the line. By the same token, the drift could be in a regional area. You could discover the drift is centered in a regional office someplace. Some of that drift might be contagious; it might be affecting other areas of your business. The point is, you have to be able to identify where the drift is (and isn’t), so you can make the corrections necessary to get your culture right back where you want it. 

Once you recognize where the drift is, you can take steps to correct it. We’ve designed a tool called The Accountability Index™ that helps you to do exactly this. This assessment allows you to identify the specific strengths and weaknesses of the current culture and helps you to identify the specific changes you need to make within the organization to get your team back to the routine of living the culture you actually designed…day in and day out. 

Accountable leaders notice, assess, and take action to compensate for the cultural drift they experience in their organization. They know that, if left unattended, cultural drift can turn an empowering, productive culture by design into a downward-spiraling culture by default. 

To learn more about The Accountability Index™…check it out here! 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, Pivot!: Three Big Questions That Reframe Your Perspective, Maximize Your Potential, and Improve Your Life, is now available from Sound Wisdom. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog.

How to Thrive in Unprecedented Times: An exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Freedom from Your Fears

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Bearing the subtitle “For men and women who resent poverty,” the original 1937 edition of Think and Grow Rich discloses its motives: Napoleon Hill wrote it to help men and women succeed in the face of difficult circumstances, particularly those brought on by the Great Depression. By sharing the achievement principles that had built the fortunes of America’s self-made millionaires, he believed that any person—regardless of their level of education or experience—could identify their definite major purpose and use it to attain great wealth. He writes: 

“This message is going out to the world at the end of the longest, and perhaps, the most devastating depression America has ever known. It is reasonable to presume that the message may come to the attention of many who have been wounded by the depression, those who have lost their fortunes, others who have lost their positions, and great numbers who must reorganize their plans and stage a comeback. To all these I wish to convey the thought that all achievement, no matter what may be its nature, or its purpose, must begin with an intense, BURNING DESIRE for something definite.” 

If you are experiencing a difficult time, it might seem impossible to bring yourself to a place of hope. And to that Hill would say—you shouldn’t. Hoping and wishing are indicative of a lack of faith and inaction. Instead, you should refocus your thoughts on the certainty that you will rebound and achieve your definite chief aim. All you need are new plans, which you can conceive by visualizing the fruition of your desires and instructing your subconscious to find a means for claiming what has already been made available to you. Understand that everything you want most in life is yours for the taking; you are being held back only by your fears, indecision, and lack of proper plans for obtaining what you desire.  

There are amazing opportunities found within challenging times—you simply have to open your mind and enlarge your perspective so that you can recognize them. Circumstances that have caused the common person to retreat have launched the world’s greatest individuals to the heights of prominence. Hill asserts that “when a great crisis comes over the world, there always comes out some unknown with a formula for dissolving that crisis—like Abraham Lincoln, for instance, in a time of need, when this country was about to be split asunder by internal strife; by George Washington, preceding Lincoln; by Franklin D. Roosevelt, at a time when the people were stampeded with fear and they were standing in great lines to draw their money out of the bank.” 

We remember these individuals because they did not let fear sway them from their definite major purpose. In fact, they recognized that the trials they faced were really opportunities in disguise. Rather than giving in to feelings of helplessness, uncertainty, overwhelm, and fear, they changed the channel to which their thoughts were tuned and, by so doing, changed their perspective. 

You, too, can change the trajectory of your life by learning to control your thoughts and rid your mind of the fears and doubts that are holding you back. Get your copy now of Napoleon Hill’s Freedom from Your Fears, an official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation available from Sound Wisdom on April 20, 2021. Preorder your copy today.

Reaching a Goal Does Not Require Perfection by Eliz Greene

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Are you having one of those days? Or maybe one of those weeks? Me too… 

Sometimes it seems that I get everything set up and I’m ready to take on the world—and then an unexpected challenge appears to knock me off my path. 

Sound familiar? 

When we set a goal—for our wellness, productivity, or sanity—it is easy to be derailed when things don’t go as we planned. Too often, a setback becomes a derailment—and our goal fizzles away. 

What do we do? How do we keep working toward a goal when we’ve stepped off the path to success? 

Here is something I say to myself most days: Life is not about perfection. It’s about moving in the right direction! 

Give yourself grace if you stepped off the past yesterday (or this morning)! Take a breath. Readjust your expectations. Celebrate something (any move toward your goal). And GET BACK ON!!  

• Take a breath. 

• Readjust your expectations. 

• Celebrate something (any move toward your goal). 

• GET BACK ON!! 

My new book, Stress-Proof Your Life, has strategies to treat stress management as a hard skill and make small changes that can make a big difference in your ability to perform under pressure, feel better, and enjoy life. 

Are you getting back on the path? What are you celebrating today? Please share it in a comment below. 

Engaging in person and virtually, Eliz Greene delivers data-driven insights on stress and leadership. Whether it is a webinar on coping with uncertainty or a day-long workshop to delve into stress caused by overwhelm, Eliz's humorous stories, energetic style, and implementable solutions deliver memorable content and motivation for change. Her most recent book, Stress-Proof Your Life: High Performance Under Pressure, is now available from Sound Wisdom. This article was originally published on ElizGreene.com.

Ideas, Improvements, and Innovations by Jim Stovall

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You may have heard the old saying, “There’s nothing new under the sun.” Whether or not this is true, I would at least have to agree that there is very little new under the sun. Most of what we think of as brand-new or cutting-edge is little more than something that has been remolded or reworked. In the world of breakthrough ideas, concepts, or technologies, virtually everything will fall into one of three categories. There are the rare and precious original ideas. These are few and far between, and should be celebrated for the genius they represent. The vast majority of new things are either innovations or improvements on old things. 

Picasso said, “Good artists copy, and great artists steal.” You are undoubtably as appalled as I was initially when I thought I understood that Pablo Picasso was advocating stealing. But when I read further regarding his thoughts and ideas, I discovered Picasso was telling us that virtually all of us, including great artists, build upon the work of others.  

When you consider true cutting-edge thinkers or creators of original ideas, you might think of people such as Galileo, Alexander Graham Bell, or Einstein, but in each case, they borrowed or built on the work of others. Galileo found an early prototype of a telescope that didn’t work very well. He broadened the lens and extended the device and will forever be remembered as the inventor of the telescope. Alexander Graham Bell found some existing technology and reworked it slightly into what you and I think of as a telephone. Albert Einstein studied the work of at least two other scientists and synthesized their thoughts into his own theory of relativity.  

Here in America, we justifiably think of Thomas Jefferson as the divinely inspired genius who gave us our Declaration of Independence. In reality, phrases and whole sections of what Jefferson wrote were paraphrased or simply copied from John Locke. There are only 26 letters in the alphabet and seven musical notes, so it stands to reason that great art seems familiar as the artists are all working with the same material. 

As the author of over 40 titles who puts my contact info in each of my books, I am contacted by countless people who want to be writers. My best advice to them or you is simply, if you want to be a writer, become a reader. In order to perfect any craft, we must become a student of the top people in the field. In doing so, we can become inspired by their work, build on it, and bring our own art to the world. 

Someone wrote the first song, built the first building, or cooked the first hamburger. Ever since then, creative people have worked hard to innovate and improve the state of the art.  

As you go through your day today, explore what others have done, and then consider what you can do.  

Today’s the day!  

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including the Wisdom for Winners series. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).  

The Accountability PhD by Sam Silverstein

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How do you earn a PhD in accountability? What sets you at the peak of the mountaintop when it comes to being accountable individually and building an accountable organizational culture? I believe there are seven core requirements. 

1. You have identified your non-negotiable values. These are unique to you and take time to unearth. Reading someone else’s poster and saying, “Those are my values!” does not count. 

2. You are living those values individually. Those values are showing up consistently throughout your area of responsibility within your organization. They drive your decision-making. 

3. You do not confuse relational commitments with tactical commitments. Tactical commitments sound like this: “I will do the dishes tonight.” They can be crossed off a to-do list. Relational commitments, by contrast, are enduring. They are about making connections with other people stronger. They have no expiration date. They are the work of a lifetime. 

4. You have studied, internalized, and now live all ten of the relational commitments that comprise accountability. These are ten critical commitments that strengthen human bonds and empower human relationships. They are: 
   • Commitment to the Truth 
   • Commitment to What You Value 
   • Commitment to “It’s All of Us” 
   • Commitment to Stand With You When All Hell Breaks Loose 
   • Commitment to the Faults and Failures as Well as the Opportunities and Successes 
   • Commitment to Sound Financial Principles 
   • Commitment to Helping Individuals Achieve Their Potential and Be Their Best 
   • Commitment to a Safe Place to Work 
   • Commitment to Your Word Is Your Bond 
   • Commitment to a Good Reputation 

5. You are actively working to inspire accountability in the people around you. The key word here is inspire. Notice that inspiring accountability is not the same as demanding accountability.  

6. You have taken on the challenge to build a more accountable world. In other words, you do not pretend that accountability stops at your family, your team, or your organization. It connects to everyone.  

7. You are consciously building a legacy designed to outlive you. Sometimes people ask me: “When does a relational commitment end?” The best answer is: never. If you want to make a real difference…if you want to leave a legacy…you make these commitments, not just to your family, not just to your colleagues and team members, not just to your organization, but to the entire human family, including those people who will benefit from them long after you are gone.  

Those individuals who meet all seven of these criteria have earned what I call the Accountability PhD, meaning they have attained the very highest level of accountability. 

Learn more about how to Pivot! and be more accountable by visiting: https://mypivotlife.com/. 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. His latest book, Pivot!: Three Big Questions That Reframe Your Perspective, Maximize Your Potential, and Improve Your Life, is now available from Sound Wisdom. This article originally appeared here on The Accountability Blog and has been edited for inclusion on The Sound Wisdom Blog.

“The Art of Concentration” by Napoleon Hill

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First: When you wish to be sure of your ability to recall a sense impression, such as a name, date, or place, be sure to make the impression vivid by concentrating your attention upon it to the finest detail. An effective way to do this is to repeat, several times, that which you wish to remember. Just as a photographer must give an “exposure” proper time to record itself on the sensitized plate of the camera, so must we give the subconscious mind time to record properly and clearly any sense impression that we wish to be able to recall with readiness. 

Second: Associate that which you wish to remember with some other object, name, place, or date with which you are quite familiar, and which you can easily recall when you wish,—for example, the name of your home town, your close friend, the date of your birth, etc.—for your mind will then file away the sense impression that you wish to be able to recall with the one that you can easily recall, so that when bringing forth one into the conscious mind, it brings also the other one with it. 

 Third: Repeat that which you wish to remember a number of times, at the same time concentrating your mind upon it, just as you would fix your mind on a certain hour at which you wished to arise in the morning, which, as you know, insures your awakening at that precise hour. 

The law of association is the most important feature of a well-trained memory, yet it is a very simple law. All you have to do to make use of it is to record the name of that which you wish to remember with the name of that which you can readily remember, and the recalling of one brings with it the other. 

Your ability to train your memory, or to develop a desired habit, is a matter solely of being able to fix your attention on a given subject until the outline of that subject has been thoroughly impressed upon the “sensitized plate” of your mind. 

Concentration itself is nothing but a matter of control of the attention! 

Learn to fix your attention on a given subject, at will, for whatever length of time you choose, and you will have learned the secret passageway to power and plenty! 

This is concentration! 

This is an exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s The Law of Success. This official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation offers a condensed version of Hill’s original 8-volume work that established his Law of Success philosophy. Curated by the executive board of the Napoleon Hill Foundation, it is the best distillation of Hill’s seminal work. It is available from Sound Wisdom on March 23, 2021. Preorder your copy now!

The Most Crucial Trait for Success Is Also the Most Underdeveloped One: An exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Self-Confidence Formula

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What is the most crucial trait for determining an individual’s success in life? 

• Desire? 

• Definiteness of purpose? 

• Faith? 

• A positive mental attitude? 

What if there were a quality whose presence energized all these other success requisites—and whose absence rendered them innocuous?  

According to Napoleon Hill, there is such a foundational attribute, one that both contributes to and results from all principles of individual achievement that came to form his Law of Success philosophy. As he exclaims: 

Try as hard as you wish and you cannot be happy unless you BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! Work with all the strength at your command and you cannot accumulate more than barely enough to live on unless you BELIEVE IN YOURSELF! 

The one and only person in all this world through whose efforts you can be supremely happy UNDER ALL CIRCUMSTANCES, and through whose labor you can accumulate all the material wealth that you can use legitimately, is YOURSELF! 

Self-confidence might rightly be understood as the backbone of Hill’s success system. But despite how crucial it is for prosperity and happiness, this characteristic is significantly underdeveloped in most individuals. 

The majority of human beings in today’s world move through life aimlessly and dejectedly, casting their eyes on the ground rather than up and ahead to the financial, spiritual, and emotional riches they could claim. They allow external opinions to dictate how they see themselves and how they see the world. Their passivity permits negative thoughts to infiltrate their subconscious mind, which then undermines them by working to translate those dominating ideas into reality. As a result, people without self-confidence drift through life, endlessly dissatisfied with their circumstances and using this unrest as an alibi for their poor self-regard. 

The time for self-doubt and self-criticism is over. Your faith in yourself and your ability to attain your chief desire make the difference between your success and failure. Hanging in the balance are your emotional and financial security. It’s time to begin a journey of discovering, acknowledging, and sharing your strengths so that you can regain the energy and motivation you need to achieve your goals. 

This is an exclusive excerpt from Napoleon Hill’s Self-Confidence Formula. This official publication of the Napoleon Hill Foundation equips you with the strategies recommended by Hill for controlling your thoughts in order to boost self-confidence. It is available from Sound Wisdom on March 16, 2021. Preorder your copy now.

“3 Stories Leaders Need to Know about Their Employees” by Alyson Van Hooser

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Stories unlock answers to challenges leaders must overcome. To hire the right people, get them to stay, and continue to perform above expectations, start by learning these three stories leaders need to know about employees. 

Strategies you’ve heard that promise to help you recruit, retain, and lead great employees—but allow no room for individual customization—likely won’t work for leading the current and future workforce. Why? Our economy and diversity. The workforce is more diverse than ever—education, experiences, expectations, and more. In our economy, people have access to hundreds of thousands of jobs just a click away on their phones. Empirical evidence suggests that leaders who take an individualistic approach to lead their team will ultimately be much more successful than those who don’t.  

How do leaders know how to lead whom? Storytelling and story seeking. When it comes to understanding how to lead people, stories tell you what statistics can’t. Stories capture attention, are memorable, and are personal. Stories break down barriers and build bonds. 

Storytelling and story seeking shouldn’t be random. Instead, it must be intentional. Here are 3 stories every leader needs to know about employees. 

Defining Memories  

Unless something extremely significant happens, most of how we show up in the workplace is shaped by what we experienced growing up. As a child and young adult, we learned how to build relationships, respond to rejection, achieve success, deal with conflict, work as a team, and more. 

One story you might share and seek would be the story about how you/they learned their work ethic. 

Think about this…  

• My husband learned from his dad that showing up and working hard—even when it’s not convenient—will end up earning you experience, success, and respect for decades to come. From a leadership perspective, if an employee grew up learning a strong work ethic and realizing the benefits, it’s a safe assumption that they’ll show up with a strong work ethic throughout their time in the workforce, too. 

• On the other hand, I grew up with parents who did not work. I saw, felt, and lived the negative effects of that. I never want that for myself or my family. As a leader, if you have an employee that was dealt a tough hand and they overcame it, it’s likely they’ll continue that same positive trajectory going forward. 

• It could be that you are interviewing a potential candidate. If you ask them where/how they learned their work ethic and they have no response, this could potentially be a red flag or sign of challenges to come from a dependability or performance perspective.  

A leader who understands an employee’s past can predict and prepare for how the employee will act in the future. 

 Today’s Heartbeat 

Many organizations do exit interviews. Fewer organizations have implemented “stay interviews.” It’s important for leaders to know what keeps an employee showing up and giving their best so you can make sure you don’t stop doing what they’re liking…whether it’s the way you give feedback, the flexibility their position offers, etc. 

A story you might share and seek would be the story about what a perfect day in their work-life would look like. 

One employee may be quick to tell you that they would come in, keep their head down, do their job, not hear from anyone, and get to leave on time. Another employee might tell you that they’d want to be involved in many different projects, interacting with lots of different people, and wrap the day up with a one-on-one meeting with you to discuss progress. Ultimately, you may hear little nuggets from the employee about when, how, or what they need from you. 

A leader who understands why their employees stay is more likely to never have to watch them leave. 

American Dreams 

Do you know where you and your employees want to be in one, five, ten years? If you haven’t had a personal conversation about this in the past year or two, now would be a great time. 

To get them to tell you a story, ask them to tell you a story about what success will look like to them after ten more years. 

Someone may surprise you and tell you that they picture themselves being an entrepreneur. As a leader, you need to know if someone is not in it for the long haul. Another employee may tell you that they want to be a leader in a different department in the organization. There’s your sign as their leader that you should start giving them opportunities to grow, as well as making time to develop their replacement when they get promoted.  

When a leader understands the destination, they can make plans to take roads to get their team there faster, better, stronger. 

The One Time Leaders Should Talk Before They Listen 

If you’ve ever been in our comprehensive leadership development program, you know how critical it is for leaders to listen first. However, this may be the one time that I suggest that leaders should actually talk first. 

People are more willing to share personal, insightful stories with people they trust. Before you jump straight into asking employees about their stories, start by sharing yours. When you intentionally open up to people about your life, they’ll feel you trust them more. In turn, they’ll be more likely to feel they can trust you, too. 

Alyson Van Hooser is a leadership keynote speaker and trainer on millennials, Gen Z, and women in business. With the grit that only comes from tough experiences, Alyson has learned a thing or two about personal and professional success. From her management experience with Walmart, as an elected city council member, bank manager—all before the age of 30—Alyson has wisdom well beyond her years! Her book Level Up: Elevate Your Game & Crush Your Goals is now available from Sound Wisdom. Connect with Alyson on LinkedIn and Instagram. This article originally appeared here on the Van Hooser Associates Leadership Blog and has been edited for inclusion on the Sound Wisdom Blog.

Responsible for Your Response by Jim Stovall

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We live in a world that is growing more contentious every day. There are huge social and political divides between people, and social media highlights and magnifies these glaring conflicts. I believe that we should all be responsible for our own rhetoric and demeanor. While I understand it is difficult to respond with kindness, logic, or reason when you feel as if you’re being attacked, in the final analysis, we all have to be responsible for our response. 

People can make you mad, but they can’t make you respond with anger. When you attack another person—even after they’ve attacked you—you give up the moral, emotional, and social high ground. In many of these heated debates, the demeanor, tone, and anger behind the statements made carry more weight than the issue being discussed. 

If we’re going to make any progress in the world today, we’re going to have to have the benefit of everyone’s best ideas and diverse thought process. In order to diffuse heated debates or arguments, it is helpful to take the personalities out of the discussion. It is far more productive to debate an individual’s position and confront the logic of the stance they are taking as opposed to confronting them personally and attacking them as an individual.  

One of the most valid concepts I took away from my academic training in psychology is the fact that all feelings are legitimate whether you or I feel they are warranted or not. Everyone deserves to be heard and understood, even if you may disagree with their position. It is virtually impossible to achieve consensus when both parties are talking, and even more so when both parties are yelling. Behavioral scientists have proven that people will judge your intelligence in inverse proportion to how much you talk. Among the many nuggets of wisdom left to us by President Harry Truman was his admonition, “Never miss a good opportunity to just shut up.” 

We must pick our battles and choose our debates. Every differing opinion does not warrant our debate. Some of the greatest statesmen, corporate heads, and religious leaders are known more for bringing people together than anything else they may have done during their lifetime. It’s easier to agree on anything if you don’t feel you have to agree on everything. Some of the greatest breakthroughs in human endeavor have come about when people set aside petty differences and chose to move ahead within areas where they could find common ground. 

As you go through your day today, take responsibility for how you respond.   

Today’s the day!  

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including the Wisdom for Winners series. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).

Accountability—“It’s All of Us”—in the Pandemic Era by Sam Silverstein

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Accountability is all about commitment, and commitment is all about relationships. Values connect us and strengthen us in deeper and deeper relationships, relationships that keep us moving forward when times are good—and also when times are not so good. Through relationships, we can accomplish a wondrous multitude of things. Never has this been more obvious than now, when our nation and the world is struggling with a global pandemic that has left so many feeling disoriented, alone, and unsupported. 

There are ten core commitments that support accountability, and the one that seems worth discussing today, given where our world is now and what we are all struggling with, is the commitment I call “It’s All of Us.” This is the point of entry, the commitment that truly accountable leaders (and followers) are adopting and sharing at this critical moment. 

When someone commits to “It’s All of Us,” they have an attitude of “We succeed together. We fail together. We are all on this journey together.” When someone who is fully committed to “It’s All of Us” connects with you, they have got your back. You are on the same team. They know that if you look good, everybody looks good. If you look bad, everybody looks bad. They are willing to connect with and support you, in the process of building something that is bigger than either of you are on your own. 

Often, I talk about “It’s All of Us” in the context of team leadership or company leadership, which are vitally important subjects. But equally important now is the commitment of “It’s All of Us” on a global scale. Now, more than ever, it is obvious that we really are all in this together, and we really do need to support each other as human beings, every chance we get. There is no winning team or losing team when it comes to dealing with a crisis like the one we face. We are all in it together. And the best among us will make that commitment and find every possible opportunity to follow through on it—in ways large and small. 

I believe that the small ways to follow through on this critical commitment “It’s All of Us” are just as important as the big ones, and perhaps even more important. Do not wait for the opportunity to do something newsworthy. Everyone has the ability to make a difference in someone else’s life. Everyone has the opportunity to have a positive impact on someone’s day. Everyone has the chance to send the all-important message “We are all in this together; I’ve got your back.” 

Not long ago, a friend told me a story about “We are all in this together” during the age of isolation and social distancing. He was out early one morning walking his dog, who was (and is) a little skittish sometimes. Across the street, a woman wearing a face mask was walking her dog in the other direction. My friend’s dog started barking loudly, which is not an unusual occurrence with this dog. The woman across the street started talking animatedly. She was eager to connect. 

She told my friend that for weeks, she had had a similar problem with her dog. She then explained, at length, what she had done to help the dog calm down on their walks together. She made a number of recommendations about the resources my friend could use to help his dog learn to stop barking at other dogs. 

“Within just a few seconds, I could tell she really needed to talk,” my friend said. “It seemed like it must have been a while since she’d had the chance to talk to someone. Even though my dog was still barking, I decided to stay there as long as I could.” 

With the dog straining against the leash, my friend stood there shouting across a street about dogs to a total stranger, and being shouted at in turn (pleasantly!) for ten minutes. Eventually, the woman across the street wished him and his dog a good day and went her way. As she was leaving, my friend said, “Stay safe.” And meant it. The woman replied, “You too.” 

That was an “It’s All of Us” moment. You do not have to be a team leader or a company leader to have one. And what you do does not have to be something extraordinary. All it has to do is let someone who needs to know that you are both on the same team. 

Today, why not find an opportunity to share an “It’s All of Us” moment with someone who needs it? Help them smile. Help them connect. Help them feel part of something larger than themselves. Help them spread the word: we really are all in this together. 

Sam Silverstein is dedicated to empowering people to live accountable lives, transform the way they do business, and create a more accountable world. He helps companies create an organizational culture that prioritizes and inspires accountability. He is the author of numerous books on accountability, including I Am Accountable: Ten Choices That Create Deeper Meaning in Your Life, Your Organization, and Your World. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.

The Wonders of Praise by Earl Nightingale

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

One day a few years back, I stopped my car for gas at a service station in Hollywood, California. While the middle-aged owner of the station cheerfully went about taking care of my car’s needs, I noticed the station, although not new, was spotlessly clean. I was particularly surprised at the driveway—it was as clean as if my car was the first to use it.

I asked the owner how in the world he managed to keep the driveway spotless with dozens of cars dropping oil and tracking the dirt of the highways on it. He told me how a common product, sold in every supermarket, was in his estimation the best driveway cleaner in the world. He beamed in response to my comment on the way he kept his place of business. It was a valuable moment for both of us: I learned something of value, and he experienced the pleasure of honest praise. 

The need for praise is basic to everyone. With it, a person blooms and grows. Without it, he tends to shrink and withdraw into himself. 

Praise to a human being represents what sunlight, water, and soil are to a plant—the climate in which he grows best. 

We all know children need constant praise and encouragement. When a child brings home a piece of artwork that looks for all the world like an unfortunate accident, he still expects an encouraging word. But his need for encouragement is no less than his mother’s or father’s. Far too many parents are not getting any praise, or at least not nearly enough. 

Understanding the importance of self-esteem and seeing the never-ending need for reaffirmation of a person’s worth, we should make it our business to watch for honest opportunities to give praise—especially to the members of our families and those with whom we work. 

There is a subtle but enormously valuable byproduct or backfire to this sort of thing: In order to praise others, we need to look for the good. It forces us to concentrate on what’s right with people and the things they do rather than on what’s wrong. It focuses our attention on the positive side of the ledger and, as a result, makes us happier, more productive, and more pleasant to be around. Then, too, people like those who praise them and recognize their value. When we give praise, we attract a larger circle of friends. And finally, giving praise is the best known way to receive it. It’s hard for anyone to compliment a chronic grouch. 

 Whenever you hear someone say, “Nobody appreciates me; nobody gives me credit for all I do,” the chances are he is so wrapped up in himself and in getting happiness from others, he has completely forgotten how to give. 

We should try to find some way to commend those we love every day. Praise to a human being represents what sunlight, water, and soil are to a plant—the climate in which he grows best. He does not just want it; he needs it as he needs the air he breathes. 

Molière said, “The most agreeable recompense which we can receive for things which we have done is to see them known, to have them applauded with praises which honor us.” 

This is an excerpt from Earl Nightingale’s Transformational Living: Positivity, Mindset, and Persistence, an official Nightingale-Conant publication. Known as the “Dean of Personal Development,” Earl Nightingale grew up in California during the Great Depression. Because his family was very poor, Nightingale educated himself in his local library. His main focus: what makes people turn out the way they do in terms of their wealth, their career achievements, and their happiness. After beginning his career in the US Marines during World War II, he was hired as a radio announcer. He eventually became a popular daily broadcaster for CBS. Through his interest in both personal development and audio, he partnered with Lloyd Conant to form the Nightingale-Conant Corporation, the world’s largest producer of audio programs. Sign up to receive free samples from Sound Wisdom’s Nightingale-Conant Collection here.

A Cup of Retirement by Jim Stovall

Photo by Senior Living from StockSnap

There are many factors in 21st-century life that we must plan for. We should have car insurance to cover us while we’re on the road as well as homeowners or renters insurance to cover our possessions at home. Everyone should have a will whether they are wealthy or not. Many people who do not have significant assets believe there is no need for them to have a will. However, if you have children and die without a will, your state government is going to decide who raises your children. If you’re incapacitated, the state government will decide who handles your money and health care needs. While each of these eventualities can be covered, and may or may not occur, all of us will eventually retire if we live long enough.  

When most pensions, retirement plans, and Social Security were established here in America, the average retiree only lived a few months past age 65. Today, the average worker reaching retirement age can look forward to 18 years of life in retirement. This is an amazing change and a wonderful development as it offers people many years to enjoy the fruits of their labor. However, we must all be prepared.    

To paraphrase one of my heroes, Charles Dickens, retirement will either be the best of times or the worst of times based upon our planning and persistence. Our parents and grandparents could depend on company retirement plans or pensions, but we are going to have to do it ourselves. If you plan ahead, you will have a much more luxurious retirement than any of your ancestors. But if you don’t plan ahead, it can be devastating without the pension or corporate retirement plan safety net.  

As I review the current statistics regarding retirement balances, it seems to be a tale of two scenarios including the best of times and the worst of times. Some Americans started saving early and have remained consistent. They have invested in prudent growth funds and can look forward to living as literal multi-millionaires in their golden years. On the other hand, many Americans have no savings and no retirement. Their golden years are sadly going to be made of fool’s gold.  

Fully one-third of Americans spend more money on coffee than they put into their retirement savings. These are not poor people but, instead, are people who have poorly managed their assets. It’s easy to put it off to some unspecified time in the future, but all you need to do to receive an abrupt wake-up call is realize that, for most people, a 40-year work-life is what they can expect. If you’ve been working 20 years, you should be halfway to your retirement goals. This should either make you feel satisfied and relaxed as you look at your retirement balance or should give you a wake-up call jolt like a very large cup of strong coffee.  

As you go through your day today, realize that a little planning and preparation now will make a huge difference later. 

Today’s the day!  

Jim Stovall is the president of Narrative Television Network as well as a published author of many books, including The Millionaire Map: The Ultimate Guide to Creating, Enjoying and Sharing Wealth. He is also a columnist and motivational speaker. Follow him on Twitter (@stovallauthor) or Facebook (@jimstovallauthor).

Why Is Stress a Problem for Your Health and Productivity? by Eliz Greene

Some stress in natural; too much is a problem.  

We can’t alleviate all stress, and we wouldn’t want to even if we could. Some stress is natural and necessary; it is what gives us the zing of energy to get things done. The zing is the result of the hormone cortisol flooding the system when the body detects danger or stress. Cortisol quickens reactions, increases pulse and blood pressure, and even thickens the blood (to prevent bleeding to death in case of injury). 

Trouble comes when that zing becomes a constant thrum, continually triggering the cortisol response rather than allowing it to ebb and flow as we need it. Thicker blood, higher blood pressure, and increased pulse all make the heart work harder, which is why prolonged high stress doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke. 

Cortisol isn’t the enemy. 

Keeping my heart healthy and protecting it from stress aren’t abstract ideas for me—they’re literally life-or-death skills. When I had a massive heart attack at the young age of 35 while 7 months pregnant with twins, I underwent five hours of open-heart surgery after delivering my daughters prematurely via emergency C-section. The surgeon repaired my heart, but a small part of it doesn’t beat anymore. Even though my pregnancy caused the heart attack, I am at a higher risk of having another, so controlling my risk factors is essential. I can manage my diet and be physically active, but stress is an exponential multiplier of risk I simply can’t afford. To reduce my heightened risk of having another heart attack, I’ve spent the 17 years since then honing practical and implementable strategies to manage stress for myself and the thousands of audience members and readers I reach each year. 

High cortisol levels caused by stress reduce productivity and limit critical thought. 

Our hardwired reaction to feeling unsafe is to protect ourselves and avoid pain. One of the most disastrous effects of chronic high stress is that it blocks critical and creative thought. In other words, the part of the brain responsible for critical thinking is busy dealing with the perceived risk of an unpredictable situation. Our brains don’t multitask; they focus on only one thing at a time and then have to switch to the next task. This task-switching not only impedes productivity, but it also creates a paralyzing loop of anxiety. 

All of that is bad. But there is good news: 

Your body is naturally equipped to process cortisol out of your system if you let it. 

Effectively processes cortisol, reducing it to normal levels, which in turn protects the heart, helps you feel better, and even allows your brain to function better. 

Stress isn’t good or bad. It just is. 

Engaging in person and virtually, Eliz Greene delivers data-driven insights on stress and leadership. Whether it is a webinar on coping with uncertainty or a day-long workshop to delve into stress caused by overwhelm, Eliz's humorous stories, energetic style, and implementable solutions deliver memorable content and motivation for change. Her most recent book, Stress-Proof Your Life: High Performance Under Pressure, will be released by Sound Wisdom on February 2, 2021. Preorder now on Amazon, Bookshop.org, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Porchlight Book Company, or other fine retailers. This article was originally published on ElizGreene.com.