The link below is to the MP3 of an Internet radio interview in which I was interviewed by host, John Klotz, about the five skills and how they can be used to triple results - actually a relatively easy target to meet unless you are already unbelievably successful (in which case, I’m glad you want to listen, but you probably don’t need to because you’re already using this. It will confirm that and perhaps make it clearer which specific skills make you so successful).
It’s about 50 minutes in length, downloadable HERE or click the play button immediately below to listen right away.
Please note if you require download via the link, it is a large file - 11.9 MB - so it may take a while unless you have high speed. That will give you time to read the following, which helps as background. Either way, you will be able to skip ahead once the downloading is well underway or if you’re returning later.
My objective as always is to illustrate with examples how the five skills work and what sorts of results are obtainable.
John and his radio engineer, Randy (from the newly started “ThatRadio.com” in Toronto), kept after me on the breaks, questioning two things. First, why I would use examples of how individuals can apply the skills versus how you would in an organization? This puzzles a lot of people and the answer is incredibly straight forward - because they work in every sort of situation and when you’re first trying to get an understanding of them it helps to hear examples of both types.
Second, they wanted to know why I would say you could triple your results because it sounds a bit over-blown and therefore less believable. This is actually a very good question and although I had no hesitation saying triple is easy, I spent some time afterward figuring out why I feel not only confident about it, but that it’s important to say. The fact is we often don’t set specific result goals when we talk about people skills and leadership. We talk about how important they are, but often leave people feeling that we believe in them because they’re nice to have on moral grounds not because they also are the best way to get results. The story is more than that.
In fact, it’s very important to put a big goal out there to shoot at and it can’t be an “incremental” or small goal like, “I’d like to earn (or sell, if you are targeting sales, for instance) 3% or 5% more.” Those may seem reasonable targets for short term business planning, but as a leader or goal-oriented individual you’ll do far better to set what seems like an astronomical goal like “I’d like to do three times better - triple or 300% more.”
There are several related reasons. First, the low goals are not powerful enough incentive to do what is needed. This might seem minor, but it isn’t. How we feel when we set off on a project is incredibly important. If you feel it’s humdrum, you don’t pay enough attention.
Second, when you set a low goal, you basically approach it by “doing more of the same” when what you really want is to think more creatively, which you automatically begin to do once you start thinking in terms of tripling results. Doing the same old stuff won’t get you there and you know it, so you immediately start brainstorming inside your head about quite radically different approaches and you start to search much more widely for examples of who’s doing that well and how.
Third, a big goal keeps you more focused. You realize deep inside that you can’t achieve it in a few days, so you get into a mind-set of looking longer term. The most surprising thing is that you end up getting there a lot faster than you ever thought possible. You just can’t be certain exactly when and you can’t imagine it will be so soon that you can get there without persistence over time, which is an essential ingredient. Without building persistence at your strategy, you cannot get such outstanding results. When you do take the time to build, you will be surprised at how easy and how quickly you got there. But that only happens when you “settle down for the long haul.” It sounds paradoxical, but that’s the way it works.