Lawrence Fine

The way you leave something will frequently be remembered in greater detail than the entire time you were there.

As an example, if you are renting an apartment and leave the apartment in terrible shape, that will be remembered much more than the fact you paid your rent on time each month. When your landlord is called as a reference, the thing that is going to be remembered is how badly you left the apartment.

The same is true with employment. If you leave a job, keep in mind the way you leave will be remembered long after you are gone. If you are leaving voluntarily, give proper notice (and understand that proper notice doesn’t always mean only 2 weeks, a lot depends upon the type of work you are involved with and many other factors). Not only should you give proper notice but actually do what you say. If you offer to stay for 2 weeks, put in an honest 2 weeks worth of work. Don’t slack off because you figure you wont have to deal with the ramifications long term. Also, understand that your employer might not want you there after you have given notice. The reasons for this could vary but include:

not wanting to risk you doing your job half way
not wanting someone around who doesn’t want to be there
not wanting to risk you “infecting” others and causing others to leave
not wanting you to take anything with you (physical or intellectual)

The thing to remember is that how you leave says a great deal about you. Leave with class, dignity and honor. Try not to burn any bridges, leave on good terms and try to be positive whenever possible.

There is a saying that the people you see on the way up the ladder will be the same people you see on the way back down so make sure you keep things as positive as possible and it will help in the long run.

Even if you don’t think there is any way you would need to work for that company again, remember that a former employer could potentially turn into a future client but only if you leave on good terms.

There is a temptation to want to tell your soon to be former boss off, to tell him where to go and what he can do but remember, while you think you are letting him know about him, you are really letting him know more about YOU.

Have a great day!

Lawrence
PS If you haven’t done so yet, please take a moment to check out my newest book on success at http://www.lawrencefine.com/sales.php

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Learn the lessons that will make you a success on a field, in a boardroom and in LIFE – Risk Free!

The book 11 + 10 = 1: How the Addition of 10 Principles in Life Turned 11 Players into 1 Team by Lawrence G Fine is now available. Regularly priced at $17.95 the book can currently be purchased for $9.95. Better yet, you can order three copies or more for only $5 a copy!

$4.95 shipping and handling, regardless of quantity ordered

Quantity

1 book $9.95 3 books $15.00 4 books $20.00 5 books $25.00 10 books $50.00 20 books $100.00

other quantities, please email me at lawrence@lawrencefine.com

See what others have to say about 11 + 10 = 1:

Walter Bahr – Member US Soccer Hall Of Fame and former captain US Men’s Soccer Team
Lawrence Fine’s 10 principles in life is another way of looking for success in soccer and in life.

I usually evaluate players and teams by their strengths and weaknesses on the field. After reading “11 + 10 = 1″ ,we should consider another approach to judge talent. More importantly this philosophy is a blue-print for life in general and should be the ultimate goal of coaches,players and parents.

I recommend this book because for many the only goal is winning. There is more to success in soccer and in life as illustrated by Lawrence Fine.

Enrique (Rick) Meana – Director of Coaching New Jersey Youth Soccer:
If you have never read anything Lawrence Fine has written you have been missing something quite special; lessons that are applicable to any of life’s circumstances. The book 11+10=1 How the Addition of 10 Principles in Life Turned 11 Players into 1 Team is no different. In my opinion, it is one of his finest works! Once I started in on the first chapter I could not put it down. It was captivating, inspiring, and above all revealing–I could easily identify with its message both as a coach and as a former player. This well crafted story filled with the quotes and factual accounts of famous people both in sports and other arenas, should be on the list of required reading for anyone thinking of becoming a youth coach because at the heart of leadership before addressing the X’s and O’s is integrity, authenticity and vision–at least that is what I am sure Jack Mystery would say…

Russ Rose – Head Women’s Volleyball Coach Penn State University (two time defending national champions):
The lessons taught in 11+10=1 work in soccer, in volleyball and in life. It’s what I try to teach my players as well as my own children. The principles taught by Jack Mystery (and Lawrence Fine) will lead to success on a field, on a court, or in the game of life

Steve Malone – Past President National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA):
Lawrence Fine has used a soccer setting to teach life skills and values. The once-powerful, but now struggling Eagertown 11 has been embarrassed by the Incredibles, a world-class soccer team. An elderly soccer fan, Jack Mystery, showed up used people from all walks of life as examples to teach the Eagertown team what it took to be a winner on the field. Mystery used such diverse people as Roberto Clemente, Chuck Wepner, Jackie Robinson, Thomas Edison, Wilma Rudolph, Mohandas Gandi, Lee Iacocca, and Lance Armstrong to teach the players that soccer skills were the smallest ingredient in building a winning team. He pointed out that the one thing each of these people had in common was that they experienced failure at some point along the way. The way they dealt with failure was what defined their success later in life. The lessons that Fine teaches are for anyone of any age. These principles are applicable in business as well as the sports world. The lessons in “11+10+1″ are for everyone.

See how the following traits and characteristics are used to mold 11 individuals into 1 TEAM.
Success Traits!
Destiny
Desire
Determination
Persistence
Caring
Discipline
Commitment
Dedication
Communication
Courage
Attitude
Character
Balance

Buy the book risk free and if you aren’t happy with your purchase, just return the book within ONE YEAR for a complete refund, no questions asked!

Quantity

1 book $9.95 3 books $15.00 4 books $20.00 5 books $25.00 10 books $50.00 20 books $100.00

other quantities, please email me at lawrence@lawrencefine.com

Read more about what others have to say about 11 + 10 = 1:

Sharon Seidler – Senior Vice President C&R Research:
Lawrence Fine’s “new math” book, 11+10=1, is the real thing. It is “the 1 book” that should be read by both student athletes and their parents. It is filled with life lessons that will inspire students both on and off the field (or court) and provides a wonderful opportunity for parents and children to start an important conversation about the importance of becoming a responsible citizen, in sports and in life. The examples Fine cites of famous people who, when under pressure, redoubled their efforts, are entertaining and illuminating. Like all good books written for young people, it is captivating for adults, as well. A must-read for student-athletes through middle school.

Zac Shaw – Head Women’s Soccer Coach University of Rhode Island:
The 11+10=1 Book is circulating through our team and it has been a smash hit. They LOVE IT. They swear it was written about our team here. Actually a couple of my players have asked if they could buy a copy! That has to be a good sign! Technique, tactics and athletic ability are only a part of what makes a player. I think your book has showed the team how special we can be, with just a slight change in our collective outlook and attitude towards what we are working towards.

Michael Yauch – Kelme North America :
This book by Lawrence Fine reflects Lawrence himself, interesting, inquisitive, always defining what is important, and sharing his thoughts to help or at the least begin discussions. The ten topics “traits” the story explores have value and need to be instilled in all of us and passed to the next generation. The final one to me is the keystone. Balance in our lives is sometimes difficult in the short run but will reap benefits always.

The minutes this book takes to read is a great investment of anyone’s time. I read it and shared it with another father/coach who had the same reaction. It is now being passed between his children. All the best to Lawrence, Jack and everyone who benefits by this book.

John Marklin – Owner, Marklin Financial Services, LLC
11+10=1 is a helpful book for any coach, teacher or leader trying to get the most out of a team. The 10 Learned Behaviors are to the point and backed up with interesting real life stories.

Quantity

1 book $9.95 3 books $15.00 4 books $20.00 5 books $25.00 10 books $50.00 20 books $100.00

other quantities, please email me at lawrence@lawrencefine.com

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If you have spent much time around terminal patients, one thing you hear occasionally is the advice/suggestion of “don’t let the bastard win”. This basically means to keep fighting, don’t give up and don’t let death prevail. The number of patients who have overcome apparently insurmountable odds is staggering and while there is no doubt that medical advances has played some part of it, the willingness to fight and win plays an even bigger part. At the same time, there are many others who, under the same circumstances, give up hope (let the bastard win) and die.

In the work environment, a similar concept applies. There are so many naysayers, so many know it alls, so many negative people and if you aren’t careful, you will allow them to wear you down. If you let this happen, you are letting the bastards win.

Frequently, these negative people aren’t trying to advance the organization. They aren’t trying to make things better. They aren’t trying to improve things

Instead, they are simply intent on wearing people down so that they can control things. In their mind, complete control of a bad thing is better than partial control of a good thing. Or, as is often the case, maintaining the status quo is more important than progress. Anyone trying to push for progress is one of “them” and they don’t want “them” to win!

My advice is, keep fighting, keep pushing and basically, don’t let the bastards win. Many times, they are willing to do almost everything within their power to prevent progress and they know, if they can stall long enough, in time, progress will fail and the status quo will prevail.

If you want to make a difference in your life, and care enough, be willing to fight and do whatever it takes to keep things going forward.

It’s easier to fight against progress than to embrace it because if you fight for progress and things don’t work out, you get blamed. If you fight against progress and things don’t work out you have the built in excuse of “that is the way we always did it”.

When something matters to you, don’t let the bastards win

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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It might seem to be quite obvious that almost everyone would take their customers opinions quite seriously but if you look more closely, many either ignore their customers opinions or just as bad, they make it difficult for their customers to even express their opinions.

An example would be an organization wanting to promote itself using social networking web sites but being terrified if a customer might post a negative comment. Rather than working to make sure their customers don’t have negative comments by working to improve their product, they are more interested in controlling the ability of others to comment.

Another company I am a customer of sends monthly online surveys about their services. Each month I fill out the survey and am quite honest that while their product is good, their support is not adequate. At the end of the survey it asks if I would be willing to be contacted to clarify my answers and each time I have responded positively. After 6 months, I haven’t seen any changes in their support nor have they ever contacted me. Did they really want to hear my opinion?

Compare that to Gaiam. Gaiam.com is an ecommerce site for this Eco friendly company and besides all the basic things you would expect from an ecommerce site, it also has the ability for people to give reviews. This isn’t unusual (amazon.com and many other sites do the same) but what is unusual is that as I was going through the site and read through the reviews, all negative reviews (and most lukewarm ones as well) were responded to by employees. Sometimes the responses were explanations (for example, if someone complained an item didn’t work in a way that was contrary to the way it was intended, this was explained) but frequently, the response was a reminder that they purchased an item with a satisfaction guarantee and it let them know they could return it for a refund. While others avoid ignore negative comments or don’t allow comments at all to avoid negative comments or even worse, argue with negative comments, this company is proactive in responding to all negative comments and offering refunds when applicable. Keep in mind, many of the negative comments were just mildly negative and none of the responses were made in a personal nature at all).

Do you accept and learn from negative responses or do you ignore and avoid them? I know that the way negative comments were addressed on gaiam.com made it much easier for me to place an order with them.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Many managers tell their people what to do, but don’t explain why it should be done. They work on the “need to know basis” and share just enough information to allow the person to perform their job but not enough for them to grow.

The reasons for limiting their employees include the following

Not knowing how to train people properly
This is the way they were taught and it worked for them so…
Fear of looking bad (if the employee can do it on their own, they fear they wont be needed)
Fear of losing the employee (they get trained so well, they get a better job elsewhere)

The only one of these that is acceptable is the first one. If a person doesn’t know how to train their employees properly, this could be corrected with proper training of the manager.

The manager who limits their employees development because that is how they were trained doesn’t realize how much they lost out on. While they might have risen to a certain level, they don’t realize they might have risen much higher and much quicker if they had been trained differently.

The manager who is afraid of looking bad…doesn’t realize this fear is causing them to look bad. In evaluating a manager, one of the things that should be looked at is the development of the people underneath them. By not wanting to look bad, it’s making the manager look bad.

The manager who is afraid of losing employees is actually a selfish manager who will most likely lose employees for many other reasons instead. Some of the ways managers make sure their employees don’t get hired away is to provide poor training, hire weak people, take credit for their employees work. Each of these will inevitably result in high turnover so if turnover is somewhat inevitable you might as well do things that are best for the organization and best for the individual. In this case, it’s the same thing.

A true leader will set as one of their goals the objective of helping each person they touch to become a better employee and a better person. Anything else is shortchanging the people you are leading and the organization.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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If you want to see what a person is really like, observe them during a period of adversity.

The business person who preaches honor and integrity but when a financial crisis occurs lies and steals, is a liar and a thief.

The man who seems to worship the ground his wife walks on until a disagreement occurs at which time he strikes her, is a wife abuser.

The youth group organizer who has helped hundreds of kids but also has sexually abused a few of them is a pedophile.

Frequently we determine someones character when things are going well but the real time to do so is during times of adversity.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Recently, I was reading a discussion on the value of business cards. Some find them to be extremely valuable while others find them obsolete in today’s digital age.

The question that comes to mind is whether we use business cards properly. I might have the worlds most boring business card. It has my name, address, web address, phone number and email address. It has a small border around it and that’s about it. It doesn’t have a tag line, doesn’t describe what I do, just the basic facts. It’s a true provider of contact information and nothing else. It works for me because I don’t use it to drum up business, I don’t go to conferences and conventions to try to make new contacts etc. I use it simply when a current contact needs some additional information, The only thing remarkable about my business card is how unremarkable it is. Frequently, it becomes a topic of conversation as people take a second look to see what they missed.

However, if I were in the sales side of things, my card would be extremely ineffective. I see a lot of cards these days with the persons picture, tag line and other colors. I see different types of surfaces, different background etc. The question is, are you using your business card to market the correct thing?

As an example, if I’m giving a speech on the success pyramid and a person comes up to me afterwards asking for my contact information, rather than giving them my generic business card, would it not make sense to give them a business card that has the cover of my new book on one side and my contact information on the other? Or if a realtor is showing a high end home, wouldn’t it make sense to have a specific business card for that house? On one side of the card would be a picture of the house and on the other side, would be the realtors contact information.

You could even go so far as to customize a card for a specif potential client. With a graphics program, you could put their logo and your logo side by side on the front of the card and your contact information and a tag line on the back. Some might see this as being a bit presumptuous but it’s something that will surely make you standout and remember, when the decision is made between two similar groups, the one that stands out frequently wins.

The key is, that in small quantities, this is much more affordable than one might think. One company that offers this type of printing is www.moo.com. For $22 you can order 50 business cards and each card could have a different graphic on the front. There are probably many other companies that do the same thing but the key is to be able to do short run prints that can be done affordably and quickly.

For a small cost, you can have some truly remarkable marketing materials, customized to specific events, products or opportunities.

Have a great day!

Lawrence
PS I have absolutely no involvement with moo.com, it just seems like a great opportunity

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Too often, I see advertising where the big emphasis is on the deal and not the product? In these ads, you see things like “No Money Down”, “50% off”, “No payments till 2010”, “$2000 rebate” etc

There are two problems when companies place such a big emphasis on selling the deal instead of the product.

The first problem is, once you start, it’s very difficult to stop. Once you start offering these deals, the customers expect them forever and if you take them away, they will wait till the deal is offered again. To see a prime example, look back at car advertising over the years. So many have the big emphasis on the deal and it’s put them in a position where they can’t lower the price because if they lower the price, they lose money due to the deal. So the sticker price becomes a joke and in the long run, there is a credibility issue (how many times have you heard people talk about how they bought their car of $X below sticker as if that meant they got a good deal?)

The second problem is if such a big emphasis is put on the deal, what does that say about the product? When I think of Volvo, I don’t think of rebates or good financing, I think of cars that are safe. They might cost a bit more (I don’t know if they do or not) but if you are concerned about safety, they come to mind.

If you are proud of your product, sell the product not the deal. If you aren’t proud of your product…get a better product

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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