How do you get to Carnegie Hall?

He's cool! He's hip! He's with it! He's a young man with a trumpet case in one hand while the other snaps out the beat as he sashays down the street. Sporting a beret and shades, he's the embodiment of jazz. Whoa, he stops - comes face to face with an elderly couple (Tourists!): "Excuse me young man, can you tell us the way to Carnegie Hall?" A slow smile of understanding and over his shoulder he replies, as he re-commences the walk, "Practice Man, Practice!"

-Anonymous New York Story

"From fear to familiarity. I move from not knowing the work, to knowing, then loving it. Finally the work and I become one. Practice is both the doorway and the journey."

-J.R. St. John

Almost everyone comes to presentation training under duress. "Mastering something you hate" - is not something one thinks about with longing, but instead, something a superior mandates. "Ah joy! I get to plumb the depths of the art of presentation in front of my colleagues while failing to handle my field clients and follow-up calls. So while I'm embarrassed in the field; I can also be embarrassed in conference!"

Truth is, you may suffer a little, but we haven't lost a participant yet.

Know what? You're not likely to master the art and science of presentation in three days. Not gonna happen. Black belt? Out of the question! But - together, we just might get you to the point where you can practice freely without fear of embarrassment, and you can catch sight of Mastery off in the distance. The lesson; Nobody wins without climbing the hard stairway of Practice. For beginners, we focus on three things: What to practice, Why and How to practice.


What to Practice: "Ready, Set, Go!®" and Focus

"Ready, Set, Go!"

1. Establish the Objective! It's not about you, it's about them! Know what you want them to do. If all else fails, you simply look at them and tell them! An approach both straightforward & genuine - Great Combination!

2. Analyze the Listener! If you've analyzed his motivations, you can leave out what isn't relevant. Shorter is always better. Since he knows you've built it for him, you've earned his respect and attention.

3. Organize Your Remarks! Good structure makes it easy to deliver, easy to follow and easy to recall. Every part of the box diagram is there for a reason. Practice a little; the boxes become second nature, and their usefulness reveals itself more with each iteration.


Silence & Focus

"Your focus needs more focus." (Mr. Han in The Karate Kid)

Mr. Han may have had it right: to silence the mental monkeys and get a clear interior workspace, you simply focus on what's really important - the listener. Focus on their eyes, and before you know it, you're not thinking about mental noise or nerves; you're involved in a conversation. The direct contact you may fear is the very thing that will set you free.


Why Practice: Discovering Mastery

* It's one thing to understand the concepts: Student.
* Another thing entirely to demonstrate the understanding: Practitioner.
* Doing it endlessly, effectively and effortlessly while enjoying it: Master.

Every hour spent in practice yields its own special reward. As the hours increase, the fears decrease. Practice is the reward. Mastery, which resides beyond the horizon - comes a little later.


How to Practice:

Refinement in the absence of Criticism

We often avoid practice knowing that we're going to beat ourselves up... Who would subject themselves to that? Learn to discriminate between bad, good, better and best without becoming critical. OK, the first cut may have been a little rough, but keep going and get ten more versions out there for comparison. Then breathe and refine some more. Practice is about improving on the next run, not giving yourself pain for the last one. Good practice always looks ahead.


Practice in Sequence

1st Run: Structure... Make sure the flow and transitions are correct.
2nd Run: Content... Make sure everything is accurate, correct and reflects your "author's intent."
3rd Run: Delivery... Make sure the hands, voice, body and visual aids function and collaborate.
4th Run: Fun... Let 'er rip! Find the fun and enjoy your own stellar performance.

The guy who practices ten times is always better than the guy who didn't. No exceptions.

Practice Man, Practice!

Applications:

1. Personally:
You don't get known as a dynamite presenter, manager, facilitator or executive without eons of practice. Put aside a place at home as your practice space. There you do your dry runs. No interference, no bosses, no phone calls, no interruptions. Practice! Run through the presentation. Once, Twice, Three Times. Now you're getting a glimpse of how it might look as you make it right. Keep at it. One night, two and a Sunday afternoon - Hey, you're gonna kill 'em on Tuesday!

2. At Home:
The apparency of our microwave popcorn culture is that “anything good can be had in moments," while you're watching a first run movie on satellite. In reality this ancient truth has not changed: "Anything of substance must be mastered one slow step after another - until in the fullness of time Mastery is achieved." Mastery is not a thing, but a moment - evinced by the surrender to endless practice. Teach this to your family and see them rise at school, church and community.

3. At Work:
Find a practice partner: someone who gets it, and will trade their support in exchange for yours as you both practice for the tough meetings, the difficult presentations and the hard confronts. You have to anticipate all the possible outcomes; then prepare the optimum responses and practice each one until you can handle any eventuality as if you had pre-planned the whole thing... Which, in fact, you did! Give your old coach at Fusion a call, just for confirmation.


Practice is the doorway, and the bridge.
Mastery is surrender to endless Practice.

Next stop, Carnegie Hall!

Red or Black?

A British Officer manned an individual post in Africa. A fellow officer came to join him from London. They meet for dinner, the guest in his road khakis and the officer in dinner jacket and starched white shirt.

The guest says, "I daresay no one would know if you don't dress for dinner here in Africa..."

The Reply: "Surely not old man, but I'd know."





Fusion's Signature Colors? or Double Entry Bookkeeping?

For years, bookkeeping was done with a debit column (entered in Red Ink) and an income column (entered in Black). History - such a wonderful teacher...

Today of course, we do our entries on the keyboard, and all in one color. But the power of noticing that you were "in the red" was once enough to send shivers down the spine of a generation taught never - ever to be in debt. (Of course, that too has changed...)

We chose the colors because of their historic symbolic importance, to remind us that every communication interaction is going to leave you in the black; or in the red. You're either going to be better off, with a new or enhanced relationship; or you've lost ground. One almost never communicates without any outcome or result.

Red or Black. Plus or Minus. Each communication - all day long. Every day.

It's a little scary to contemplate the compounding power of excellent communication, presentation, negotiating and sales skills. Factor in the added impact of aligning all the people in the sales force telling the same story(s). Then add the multiplier of the entire sales desk, then marketing, the executive team, and the adjunct sellers in the retail world and you can see why we believe "the story is an asset." Tell it once and the value is small. Tell it three, four, ten times, and deposits begin to accumulate. The value of the stories compounds with the re-telling. Imagine an army aligning the activities of the cavalry, infantry and artillery in a coordinated attack. Imagine a football team realizing the power of alignment with its defense, offense and special teams creating a coherent game strategy. Think of a symphony pulling together the strings, brass, woodwinds and percussion. Music! Rock and Roll: Sales Organizations using communication skills to get "in the black" by selling (or writing) "tickets."

So much for the Black. If we pull ourselves together and deliver a structured memorable and repeatable presentation, we win. If we tell it again, we win. If we ask for the order every time? We win. If our teammates join in, we win. If other departments join in, we win. If we persist over the years, we win by creating a winning culture.

What about the red? Lost opportunities. What if we don't show up for the presentation looking like a consummate pro? We lose. What if we don't structure it for optimum memorability and repeatability? We lose. What if we just have a perfectly pleasant conversation with no particular outcome? We lose. What if we go a few days or a week without sticking to the structure and focusing on the outcome each time? So what? Who's to know? What's the big deal? - it's just this one time... Multiply that by the number of teammates who also didn't take the trouble this time, this week, this month. We don't notice it right away. But every lost opportunity is a failure to gain. (Of course, our teammates might not know how many opportunities we failed to convert in the field; but then again, they might.) Even if we're selling, we're not building an aligned sales effort. We're in the red. We might win a small sales battle, and lose the big battle for brand identity and integrated team communication. We're in the red.

Put yourself, your team and your organization firmly in the black - every time, every day, all the time. Fusion.

Applications:

1. Personally:

Before you sound off next time, ask yourself; "What is my intention with this diatribe? Will it enhance my relationships, or reduce people's respect for me? Is there a way I can preface this, so people will be able to put it in context and make some space for my unfortunate humanity?"

2. At Home:

Too often we turn off the filters and our partners, spouses, children - even the pets get more honesty and heat than they bargained for - or deserve. Opinions, upsets, outrage, rolled eyes (this one's for you teenagers...) and sarcasm are usually better presented in a private room as individual servings. Filtering your communications can be a blessing and preserve that familial tranquility. At the same time, considering the perspective of the audience can often cause you to alter your message and/or delivery in a way that get you the result you're looking for. Imagine the power of a united family front at school, scouts and the neighborhood.

3. At Work:

Red or Black? Your choice. Sticking with the story, the structure, the standard, and the next step can put you and your team in the plus column once, regularly or for the long term. Nobody will know if you don't stick with Fusion every time, but why give away the extra points? Sure it's tough, but then - weren't you hoping to be a champion?


"I daresay no one would know if you don't dress for dinner here in Africa..."

The Reply: "Surely not old man, but I'd know."


(And so goes the Empire...)

Of Course it's Acting

General Patton: "If we're not victorious, let no one come back alive!!"

Lt. Col. Codman: "You know something General? Sometimes they can't tell when you're acting and when you're not."

Patton: "It's not important for them to know. It's only important for me to know!"

- George C. Scott as General George S. Patton
Patton
(1970)

Directed By:
Franklin J. Schnaffner

Production Company:
Twentieth Century Fox

Story and Screenplay By:
Francis Ford Coppola
Edmund H. North

Acting? Of Course it's Acting!
But it's genuine nonetheless.

Acting is the bridge between the spirit and the physical. Acting and Action are required to provoke a result, a reaction, a response. If you don't act, nothing will occur. So you must act. The challenge: Calibrate your actions so as not to underwhelm or overwhelm your listeners. The absence of this skill results in acting badly and bad acting. The presence of this skill connotes acting well and a good performance.


Bad Acting

"You are going to try and turn me into something I'm not!"
-Anonymous Participant Pre-call

Many people resist going to training; fearing that something "false and unnatural" i.e.: "Acting" will be imposed on them. They are uncomfortable thinking that they'll be expected to generate unreal emotions, or turn on the histrionics. So they stay home and avoid the terrible training. Then, to protect themselves from unwelcome interaction in meetings, they sit quietly at the table, hands folded in their laps, looking gravely at their computers. Well, no danger of over-acting there... But if ever there was an example of "bad acting" - this is it.

Who would want to attend that meeting? You delivered the entire presentation in a painful monologue. How do we know which ideas you find interesting and valid? Is there a code? How do we tell what you think we should do? Sure you said something about a recommendation; but the way you said it indicated that you didn't really believe we should act on it - not for a second. The delivery fell flat. Bad acting, in a nutshell.

It's a riddle, isn't it? We protect ourselves from "seeming false" or doing anything bad by not doing anything at all... and we come off in the perception of our listeners as boring, dull, disinterested and listless - over-controlled even.


Good Acting

"Good Acting" is how one makes the self "Known."
An act. A single act; a gesture perhaps - is how you signal an intention or a perspective. We know it's you by checking your actions and your speech patterns against what we already know of you. When we register what you say with how you appear, we get a conclusion: "Hey, it's really you and you're genuine!" OK then, we might just take you seriously and respond in kind.

Action and "acting" are the beginning of course, but a series of aligned actions can demonstrate a continuity of purpose. A year of continuity demonstrates sincerity, honesty and commitment. A lifetime of continuity with thoughts, words and deeds aligned, is integrity.

Acting is how you tell us what you think, what you want and how badly you want it. It can be false (witness the summer of our discontent in Washington D. C.) but it can also be true, honest, and deeply genuine.

Make it so. And make yourself - known.


Training and Practice

"Acting is not being emotional, but being able to express emotion."
-Kate Reid
Canadian Actress
(1930-1993)

Good acting is learned. And practiced, and polished. It doesn't happen "naturally." No, it happens because you think it's worth learning. TRUTH: If you want people to attend to your remarks, you must attend to how you deliver them. Listeners have an internal bull**** detector that reacts to dis-alignment between content and delivery... "I heard what you said, but I didn't get the impression you really meant it."

You have to want people to understand not only the pure content of your message, but the intentions behind it and your degree of desire to be understood. Acting makes the connection.

Take the course. Practice. Rehearse. Then do it some more - until it works and "sings!" Sure the learning is going to be a little edgy and a little weird, that's what learning feels like. After the training, your "acting" will become more and more genuine, until what was "learned behavior" in the beginning becomes and appears as natural and as genuine as breathing.

All professional skills - though they appear eventually to be natural and genuine - first had to be learned.

Applications:

1. Personally
The calibration of manifestation (Telling it Like it Is!) is a requirement for being taken seriously. If someone shouts everything, we think they're annoying. If someone whispers everything, perhaps a basket case. So get some training and get your "act" together.

2. At Home
Think before you speak, before you raise your voice - or lower it. What you say has an impact, but how you say it impacts your believability and the sense that others have of your sincerity. Take it seriously, and you'll be taken seriously.

3. At Work
Of course it's drama. It's just better if you underplay it a little. Be really organized but put it across as if you just got it together in the hallway. People will shake their heads and wonder how you got your columns aligned and presented in such a quiet way. "No Drama" is drama - but really classy drama.

It's all acting. Lousy Acting leaves us sad to be in the room as it goes down. Good Acting makes us take you seriously enough to follow - and even elect you. Decide to leave people moved, proud and inspired when you speak. Then go attain that result. It may take years, but it'll be worth it.

Of course it's acting. But it's genuine - and so are you.

The Eye Cannot See Itself

(Excerpted from THE LAST SAMURAI, wherein the American Soldier, Nathan Algren, discusses swordplay with the young samurai, Nobutada):

Nobutada: "Please forgive; too many mind."
Nathan Algren: "Too many mind?"
Nobutada: "Hai! Mind the sword. Mind the people watch. Mind the enemy. Too many mind. NO MIND!"

The Last Samurai
2003

PROBLEM: Monkeys...

In the wild, you'll find them Screeching, Swinging, Fighting, Eating, Throwing Stuff, Demanding center stage.

Or, in your head - you may find them making it impossible to concentrate for all the self-criticism, passing thoughts, persisting confusion, noise, doubts and fear that seem to comprise the character of the "crazy roommate with whom you share your mind."

For a very long time, there has been an awareness of the fact that there's more than one mind in most heads. Let's get familiar with the players:

1. The Doer/Observer
We suggest that this is you - the Individual - the one who decides to get groceries, and then gets into the car and gets to the store - picking up the goodies for dinner and the other essentials for the week. Responsible for all of the good work; this is the productive, creative, doer of deeds.

2. The Doubter/Critic
The "Other" who criticizes the getting of the ice cream and forgetting the toothpaste. This voice/chorus is engaged (seemingly endlessly) in letting you know that you don't stand up to examination, that the world knows how flawed you are as a human being, and devotes itself to reminding you of your multitude of failures. It may not restrict itself to you, it may actually devote a fair amount of attention to criticizing everyone and everything else in the universe as well - taking up valuable mental real estate in the process. (In some parts of the world, it's called "The Monkey Mind...") The phrase, "I'm of two minds!" doesn't begin to tell the story of this internal state of eternal contradiction - "the stalemated war of equal opposites."

"Most men lead lives of quiet desperation" is Thoreau's famous phrase articulating a uniquely American take on the internal dichotomy. This awareness is not the secret of any continent, historical era or particular school. At the outset of building any presentation, management strategy, new business plan, negotiation, or selling appointment; we once again become aware of the screeching monkeys as every effort at progress comes onto the mental stage complete with its own Greek Chorus of opposition... Imagine both parties and both Houses of Congress and the Chief Executive jousting for advantage inside your mind...

Shakespeare's Hamlet discusses the issue this way:

"To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
or; to take arms against a sea of troubles,
and by opposing - end them?"


SOLUTION: Silence the Monkeys...

By what discipline does one "take arms against the monkeys" and silence the chatter?

Well, it begins by recognizing - as the Hindu Yogi's, Zen Priests in their temples, Taoist Monks in the wilderness, Christian adepts in Qumran and Tennis Captains at Harvard have over thousands of years; it's a riddle.

If you're seeing images in the mind - you are not the images.
If you're hearing monkeys in the mind - you are not the monkeys.
If you're listening to an internal dialogue - you are not the dialogue.

The "I" cannot see itself.

If you're looking at it, it isn't you.

You are the looker, the listener.

So maybe you can be less concerned about all that stuff going on in the mind. It may or may not be valuable...

Find out. Turn it off.

Some schools suggest medication. Some, religious instruction. Others, deep study of meditation. Some employ conscious relaxation. Some suggest Running, Tennis or Tai Chi.

In For Love of the Game, Kevin Costner's character Billy Chapel is a ball player pitching the last game of his career. He stares down the next batter, his final adversary, and uses the phrase "Clear the mechanism" to kill the monkey mind. He pitches the perfect game - and gets the girl!

Each approach has its own set of pros and cons, but we suggest that one simply look beyond the noise.

The natural state of a rational mind is "Silence, looking out."

Look out. Look through the movie in the mind. Look through the internal dialogue that isn't you and look at your audience. Look at your listener. Look at the goal of your new business plan. Look beyond the next five minutes and your chance for re-election. The mind goes where the eye focuses...

EXECUTION: Getting to the Silence

The riddle: the solution to too many minds is not to add more minds - but to make no noise, create no dialogue, allow no interference. Simply look, beyond, over, through and into what is out there. As you increase your confidence and interest, what's going on "in here" naturally subsides. So the answer to "too much going on in here" is to simply focus one's attention "out there."

Do we know this already? Is no Monkey Mind our natural state of being-ness? Haven't you had a moment when you were so thoroughly focused on what you were doing that you lost track of time? When you were so engrossed in doing a thing that you found yourself "in the zone" and "out of your mind"?

The simplest of training, which has been at the center of our work for nearly thirty years, is to stop talking, stop worrying and, instead, focus on your objective and your listener to the exclusion of all else. Don't bring a mind with you - or allow one to show up! No Mind!

Applications:

Personal:
In the words of Baba Ram Dass... "Be Here Now!" Allowing the internal dialogue to go quiet is all about not being anywhere else, but allowing yourself to simply Be. Here. Now. Our day-to-day world is full of noise, distractions and input from electronic communication channels. Turn it off.

At Home:
Be at home when you're home. Be with your partner when you're with your partner. Be completely with your children when you're with your children. Look at your spouse. Look where you intend a connection to appear, then wait quietly for its appearance.

At Work:
Leave the personal issues out, leave the kids at school, leave the spouse on their way to their own destiny, and focus on the single issue at hand. Look at and into your colleagues and clients. Recognize that "Multi-Tasking" is an impossible contradiction in terms. In spite of the 24/7 bombardment of multi-channel communication, we are (at our best at least) single focus creatures.

To make the Monkeys stop, start looking and allow the minds to fade away.

Try it. Silence the Monkeys. The noise isn't you.

The "I" cannot see itself.

Words, Glorious Words

"The beginning of wisdom is the definition of terms."

-Socrates
Greek Philosopher who wrote nothing down
but was immortalized in Plato's dialogues
(470-399 BCE)

"So difficult it is to show the various meanings and imperfections of words when we have nothing else but words to do it with."

-John Locke
Philosopher
(1632-1704)

"Words differently arranged have different meanings, and meanings differently arranged have a different effect."

-Blaise Pascal
Philosopher & Mathematician
(1623-1662)

"It depends on what the meaning of the word "is" is..."

-William Jefferson Clinton
42nd President of the United States
(1946-

"Difficult to speak of tomorrow's ideas with the words of yesterday. Haven't we always migrated to the future on a highway paved with fresh new words?"

-J. R. St John
Executive & Counselor
(1952 -

Words. Fail.

Has our forest of quotations made the point? Words (and language) are slippery. Getting a "grip" on meaning requires nerves of steel and a clear intention. Insight, reflection and careful planning are required to craft a workable Presentation, Conference Call or - Wedding Vow.

In our experience, people both presume and assume too much; believing (erroneously) their own private definitions and perspectives to be completely understood and accepted by everyone else in the wider world. It's only in the silent self-review after the misunderstandings, upsets and arguments that one stops to ask, "I wonder what they thought I meant by the word 'Obey?'"

Applications:

1. Personally
Hit the dictionary every so often, or Google a word and check out its origins and the evolution of its meaning. You'll be surprised, entertained and perhaps expanded as your command of the language grows.

2. At Home
* "What do you mean by that?" may be the most powerful phrase a family member can voice. Allowing kids to define their intentions, interpretations and terms gives them permission to "stake out their territory" in a discussion. Nothing matures a teenager quite so quickly as having to think through their meanings before they denounce everyone over twenty...
* The fatal mistake: assuming that just because you live "together," that you actually share the same universe...
* Be careful with "Obey" - people are touchy...

3. At Work
* Fusion's Law: "Departmental Intelligence is inversely proportional to Interdepartmental Understanding & Co-operation."
* The larger the vocabulary over in IT; the greater the likelihood of being misunderstood. (Do those guys relish leaving mere mortals in the dark?)
* Portfolio Teams are universally ungrasped and therefore, undervalued behind the walls of their analytical jargon.
* Lawyers and Doctors have made a fetish out of their unique language, culture and terminology. But if the PhDs have walls, the JDs and MDs have moats - and alligators. Do they do it on purpose - to create a "Union Shop?"
Be the hero at work! Deploy that magic phrase; "What do you mean by that?" The walls will come tumbling down!


Misunderstood words construct the linguistic and cultural "walls" that enumerate and reinforce the differences between our separate universes. Words fail. Though we grudgingly respect our experts and specialists, love is hard to muster. Yet, it is the "expert who appears ordinary" through the artifice of common language, who restores the gift of our shared humanity. Words fail. But the sharing of our evolving meanings is the beginning of wisdom and the force which creates our combined universe.

Words can separate. Words can integrate.
Words can wound. Words can heal.
Words can bring us together.


Your choice: Define your terms.
"Obey!"

Mission Statements: Missing in Action

"But enough about me, let's talk about you...
What do YOU think of me?"

Bette Midler as CC Bloom
"Beaches"
1988

The term "Mission Statement" originated in military and spy jargon, e.g.:

* Here's the mission, Captain: "Take hill #403 and exploit the advantage to shell the enemy from the heights!"

* "Your mission, Jim - should you decide to accept it..."

These days, everyone from the ballet company to the multi-national corporation and the local plumber proudly displays a "mission statement" and a custom designed logo on their ubiquitous polo shirt. "Branding 101" tells us that a uniform display of marks, statements and perhaps plumage is required to suitably differentiate your enterprise from the one down the street. Of course, there are a plethora of brand consultants out there who will - for a cool million or so - go off and create the entire "Brand Identity Package" for you - complete with a three ring binder of appropriate use examples and guidelines for the "Brand Police."

We know... we're part of the "story industry" too. But, before you dial up a brand consultant, or swear off the entire undertaking forever, allow us to suggest a nuanced middle way of thinking about the subject.

Any group enterprise has an embarrassment of missions: "To survive! To compete! To win! Next quarter break even! To expand! To dominate! To be Cool! To make obscene profits! To Rule the World!" You may have noticed that each of these statements emanates from the company's own point of view. Trouble ahead!

Exhibit A:

While waiting for the elevator in Manhattan, I noticed a Formica plaque by the call buttons: "Mission Statement: To become the biggest financial services provider in the industry!" Someone had scratched a response with a key, "On our backs and out of our pockets!" Mission statements can call forth some powerful responses!

We suggest that a little forethought might be in order. Before ordering the polos, why not assemble the team, marshall your thoughts and define your terms:

* What is a mission statement?

* Why do we want/need one?

* What will it do for us?

* What will we do with it?

* Who will see it?

* How will our promises and practices prove it to be true?

* Shall we tell the market our goal, or help them achieve theirs?

By getting your intentions, ideas and approach clear from the start, you can avoid many of the pitfalls that riddle the brand business. The most significant of which is: "Talking to ourselves, about ourselves." Many of the so called "Missions" we've been seeing lately fall into the trap of being "by us, for us and about us" - with no focus on the connection to a customer base.

Exhibit B:

On a visit to the East Building of the National Gallery, I was awestruck by the scope, simplicity and elegance of the architecture. The art was wonderful, but the building itself was ART of another category altogether - a massive demonstration of its creator's graceful vision.

Making my way out, I came upon the "Credit Wall," where the names of all those involved in the project were memorialized in Roman letters, chiseled deeply into limestone. Names at the top like "Reagan and Mellon", were not surprising but underneath "Architect of Record," the entire stone panel had turned a soft uniform beige - obscuring the ten inch high letters from view. Marveling, I stepped aside and watched. As people came near, one after another, they reached out and reverently touched the deep letter-forms, each hand leaving a small impact on the stone. After years and hundreds of thousands of gritty caresses, the words "I. M. Pei" had become one with the stone - deeply etched but nearly invisible - an obscure but profound testament to the affections of the visitors.

Here's the ultimate test of a mission statement: Do you feel confident enough to chisel it on the cornerstone downstairs? Have you done your homework - gotten out of your own head and focused on the customer, the client, the investor, the constituent? Great! The ultimate test is not whether it pleases you but whether it pleases the customer. You'll discover the response soon enough... Done well, your market will confirm you with more business and warm referrals. On the other hand, you may need to go back to the quarry...

Applications:

1. Personally

It's one thing to have a life dedicated to personal endeavor and accomplishment. But can you enlarge the game by also serving others?

2. At Home

Who do we hold dear in our hearts? The individual who talked about their challenges and victories at work? Or the one who said, "Tell me about your day, dear. How did that double date go?" Hey, maybe it's not about you.

3. At Work

Be careful of the desire to build a Mission Statement. It's dangerous, but potentially rewarding. In our experience, the best advisors won't do it for you, but will assist as you argue and ultimately define and craft your own unique statement of service - your "raison d'etre." Hold out for a counselor, not a polo shirt hawker.

But enough about us! How can we help you?