Lawrence Fine

Chain reaction

How does your one action affect others? If you cancel a meeting at the last minute, who else does this affect?

Did the people you canceled the meeting with have to rearrange their schedule to fit you in and thus inconvenience all of those others? Were there other people waiting for the results from that one meeting and now not be able to get the results? Were the other people going from your meeting to another one and thus have to make other plans for the next meeting?

When making last minute changes to plans make sure you take into account everyone it might be affecting.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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People change have you?

If you spend time around people you haven’t seen in awhile you will most likely notice major changes.

Some are physical such as change of weight, different hair styles etc.

Some are a change in interests such as they are more materialistic, more down to earth, more active, less active etc.

The question is, while all of these people have made changes, have you? Chances are, if you are honest with yourself the answer is yes.

If the you recognize that you have changed the next question is whether this change is for the better? If the answer is no, you might want to consider further changes.

We all change, just make sure your changes are for the better.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Excuses

Our business is down because of the economy

The marketing agency isn’t doing their job so we get no leads.

The database doesn’t give us the information we wand so we can’t do proper marketing.

Our boss doesn’t provide us with proper support so we can’t get it done.

The budget is to small so we can’t do everything we want.

At what point do you stop making excuses and either put up or shut up?

If people spent more time trying to create results and less time explaining why something doesn’t work, we would all do much better.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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People set goals for themselves and dream of big accomplishments but they don’t always take into consideration the consequences of achieving ones goals

As an example, thousands of high school football players dream of playing in the NFL. few, if any, realize the sacrifices one must make to get there. Even fewer think about the consequences they must deal with after they retire. Arthritis, hip replacement, bad knees, brain damage and shortened life expectancy are just sow of the consequences

If people saw the negatives as well as the positives if their goals are achieved they might reconsider some of these goals in the first place.

Just something to think about

Lawrence

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People talk about the first impression being the lasting one. Let’s not make the mistake to think the last impression isn’t just as important.

Too often we forget to make a positive last impression and in doing so, the last thing anyone remembers is either negative or neutral.

Concentrate on leaving a positive last impression and good things will happen.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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Yesterday I went to a Moes Southwest Grill (if you haven’t been to one, they have wonderful, fresh, simple food served in a friendly and fun manner) and as I’m waiting to pay, an employee asked if I was with someone. It ends up that it was “friend Thursday” which is their version of “buy one, get one free”. Those people who were there by themselves the employees were pairing up at the register so each would only have to pay half price.

This wasn’t a case of them hurting their employer as it was obvious they were told to do this. It also didn’t affect what I ordered as I already had my food. If they hadn’t said anything I would have paid the full price and still been very happy since that is what I was expecting to pay. This means that short term they received less money for the same cost. On the other hand, long term, they made a lot of people very happy and I’m sure doing this made sure they will have a lot of repeat customers.

Do you try to get the best price from your customers or the best price for your customers? One will help with short term profits while the other will help with long term success.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day

Lawrence

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When taking over the managing of people, whether a business, organization or team, it’s sometimes nice to get the background on all of the individuals from the previous management.

On the other hand it’s sometimes best to go into a situation and give everyone a blank slate. This way everyone is on an equal level to start and no prejudgements or biases come into play. By not listening to other peoples views it can let you judge based on what is happening now and in the future as opposed to what might have happened in the past.

There are advantages to learning from previous peoples experiences and other advantages from starting fresh. Both have advantages and disadvantages and as long as you understand each, you can be successful with either approach.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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I’m working at a soccer camp this week and each day we go from the dorms to the fields by chartered school bus. It’s interesting to watch the kids get off the bus. Some don’t say anything while others always say “thank you” to the bus drivers.

Yesterday 4 of the younger players who are sharing a suite in the dorm handed each of the two bus drivers hand made cards thanking them for being such good drivers and for being so nice.

I spoke with each of the drivers and they both said they had never received anything like these cards before. Both were planning on having them framed and put on the wall at home.

This made me start thinking. When was the last time you did something really nice just to say thank you? Think of the mailman, the garbage collector, the server at the local restaurant. If they do a good job, is there something you can do for them to let them know you appreciate them? Is this something you can do not because you have to but rather because you want to?

Some people talk about random acts of kindness. Instead, consider doing a specific act of kindness to someone who deserves it.

Just something to think about.

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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When I think of compromise I think of two ore more sides negotiating in a way so that both sides give up something until they find a way to meet in the middle.

When looking at a compromise consider taking a different approach instead. Think in terms of “walking a mile in their shoes”. Instead of thinking about what you want think in terms of what you would want if you were the other group and then figure out a way to accomplish that. In many cases you can find a way so that instead of compromising, both sides can get more than they originally wanted. Rather than compromising, grow the possibilities so everyone benefits.

It’s easier to compromise but it’s more effective to take the time to grow the opportunities.

Have a great day

Lawrence

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Observing patterns in ones business and life can be invaluable.

Just the other day we noticed that one of our ecommerce clients was having a lot of their customers transactions declined. Rather than assume it was because they are catering to a very young clientelle (which they are) we took a look at the declined transactions to see if we could find a pattern. In a short period of time we were able to find a recurring issue. It wasn’t a problem with the programming. It wasn’t a problem with their credit. It was a problem with people from a certain part of the world not having the same information available to them as others and as a result they were getting declined. By changing the process for these people it meant more of them were being approved which meant happier customers and a happier client.

If a volleyball setter were to always set the ball to the same outside hitter in the same situation it would make it very easy for an opponent to prepare their blocks. When a coach looks for patterns, he can see this tendency and work to keep the opponent off balance by making sure the setter changes things up and varies the attack.

Sometimes you will want to take advantage of patterns and utilize them to your advantage. Other times you will want to break certain patterns. In either case, being aware of patterns will make your decision making much more effective

Have a great day!

Lawrence

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