The Sanford Berenberg Experience

502-533-9336

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Friday, September 26, 2008

Message of the Day - It Works!

Good Morning,

In less than a month, I will come up on a milestone in my learning and growth. It was nearly three years ago in October, 2005 that I learned about the ‘Strangest Secret’ from an audio recording by Earl Nightingale. In that recording and in other areas, Earl Nightingale said:

Spending one hour per day of study will put you at the top of your field within three years. Within five years, you'll be a national authority. In seven years, you can be one of the best people in the world at what you do.

Since the learning of this secret, I have completed reading 221 books, spending about an hour a day focusing on books in the Motivational, Self-Help, Business Management, Economics and Finance, Leadership, Religious and Spiritual Self-Help and Leadership, etc. It might night be the single focus Earl Nightingale has suggested, but it has been my focus and really an amazing adventure.

The person I was in October 2005 and the person I am now are night and day. I learned a vast amount of information and have grown my skills and abilities many times beyond where they were. I mentor others and am working to build a network of like-minded professionals to expand our ability to reach and help others. I am also able to say that I earn over 50% more than I did three years ago. While this might not be the success story you see with people who become Millionaires within a year or two, I doubt many of them have built the foundation of knowledge I have and share daily.

I look forward to where I will be in the next two years as I continue to learn and grow. I have started writing my book, and will send a free copy to everyone on this list if they want.

It may be called the Strangest Secret, but it is not that strange. Remain focused and keep learning in your field, at least an hour every day. If I can do it, Mr. I hate to read books and just collected hundreds of books to fill bookshelves but never read them, then you can too. (Yes, I used to never read, now I can’t and don’t want to stop).

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Message of the Day - Thinking To Get What You Want

Good Morning,

My current read is ‘Secrets of The Millionaire Mind’ by T. Harv Eker (http://www.harveker.com/). He talks about how we think affects how wealthy we are and can be. I find the book very straightforward and at the same time it is giving me some surprises which have caused me to think about how I think about money and wealth. The biggest takeaway so far is that we have to think the way we want to be.

This sounds very familiar. How about the Law of Attraction, Creative Visualize, Power of Positive Thinking, the Strangest Secret, to name a few similar concepts. All of these people saying the same thing: Think as if you have what you want, and it will come to you.

This brings us back to Henry Ford’s famous quote: ‘If you think you can or if you think you can’t. Either Way you are right’. Look at this quote again with one of the concepts from above. What you think about is what you become or what you have. The key word is have, not want.

If you keep ‘wanting’ it, you will get what you ask for, which is wanting it. If you have it, in your mind, you visualize having it and using it, etc., you will more likely get that, what you want.

To be what you want, you have to visualize it. A great way to visualize your goals is to use affirmations and declarations which are written notes which state what you want and your goals an dreams. Read them every day, read them every night. Put them around your house to help you focus.

A friend of mine Dr. Todd Arwood told one of his training classes when he worked for his Doctorate, he kept notes to himself to constantly focus him on getting his goal. Whenever he had something that would conflict with his work, he looked at his affirmations around his home and became refocused. It is not surprising he obtained his goal of earning his Doctorate.

I keep mine with my morning readings so that I read it every day, without fail. It seems to be helping as life is opening opportunities for me. Let me know if you want help with crafting your own affirmations or declarations.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Message of the Day - Counting to 10

Good Morning,

Have you ever had those days where your blood is boiling and you face is red and you feel like you’re going to explode? You know, things just don’t seem to go right, you’ve become a klutz dropping everything, your mind is failing you like you walk into a room and forget why you are in there. People are running late, and the computer is acting up again…..

The list can go on and on. Often times the littlest of things at that point will send us over the edge. As powerful people, we also make powerful mistakes. So when we do go over the edge, it usually takes us a long time and a lot of effort to fix when we broke, apologize for who we insulted, and otherwise make up for the damage we caused for crossing that line in angered action.

What can we do when the entire world is just out to get us and nothing we do seems to have any impact? Here are a few thoughts. Some are pretty deep, some pretty silly and some may make you just explode… just kidding.

1. Think of something funny. If you are by a computer, go to You Tube and bring up a funny clip from your favorite show. One of mine is from Saturday Night Live, the classic years with Steve Martin and Bill Murray called ‘What the Hell is that?’ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACB_Dwzkew4

2. Take a moment and crack a joke. Nothing short circuits the raging mind than catching yourself and others off guard with a short joke. Be kind! Mean jokes don’t work the way you think.

3. Think of someone or something that makes you happy. For one person I know, thinking about their children gives them an ear to ear grin and the frustration fades fast.

4. Get yourself out of the location you are in, if possible. Go for a walk, go around the building, or down the road a piece (sounds Southern, right!) If you are in a confined space, like on an airplane, go to the rest room, but don’t try to jump out of the plane, that most likely will make your day worse, as well as those others on the plane with you.

5. Call a friend who loves you. Hearing a familiar voice on the other line can work miracles. My hotline is my best friend, Dr. Howard Salob, DC.

6. Short circuit your mind by watching some cartoons or a sitcom or something that is totally off topic for what is upsetting you. If it is the TV upsetting you, don’t try this step. Go back to number one and try the computer, or try number 7 below.

7. Read a book, a poem, or something inspirational. I highly recommend either ‘Unstoppable’ by Cynthia Kersey or any of the ‘Chick Soup For Your Soul’ books.

8. Yell into a pillow. Hold on tight, and remember to let go, you could smother yourself if you are really angry. Paper bags do not work well, everyone can hear you and some will think you are hyperventilating instead of just venting.

9. Do something silly. Skip around the room. Hop up and down in place. Do some jumping jacks. Practice bizarre facial expressions.

10. If all else fails, and there is many other things you can try, count to ten…slowly.

The world is a great place if you let it be. And remember, every day you wake up is a blessing. Don’t let anger and frustration ruin a potentially great day (and EVERY day can be great!).

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Message of the Day - Who Do You Believe?

Good Morning,

This past week, I was able to get away with Karen to visit beautify Lexington, Kentucky. We went on a Horse Tour where we saw many horse farms, visited one farm, and spent some time at the Keenland Race Track during the third week of Thoroughbred Sales. Karen and I thought about buying horses at the $1,000 mark, but the $25 a day feeding and care kind of made it too expensive for now.

During the weekend I read some books (big surprise there). The first book ‘The Words Can Heal Handbook’ by Hilary Rich, Irwin Katsof and Chaim Feld (www.wordscanheal.org) went into great detail of how gossip and speaking ill of others often causes pain and suffering for others and hurts friends and relationships. When you hear something that someone did or is doing, double-check the information before jumping to conclusions. If you encounter someone saying mean and hurtful things about others, either leave the conversation, change the direction of the conversation or stand up for the person whose character is being assassinated. I have lost many friendships in one organization I was a part of due to people not following the above information, and to be honest, by my own not following it as well at times. Over the last few years I have endeavored to improve myself and as part of this path, I have worked to better help rather than hurt others.

The next book I started reading is ‘Servant Leadership’ by Kenneth Blanchard and Phil Hodges (http://www.amazon.com/Servant-Leader-Ken-Blanchard/dp/0849996597)/. This books shows that leading others with a servant mentality is far superior to being a self-serving leader. We are all self-serving to some level, we have needs on multiple levels, but when we lead, if we think only about our own well being and success over anyone else’s we are truly self serving. The way to tell the difference between someone who is mostly a servant leader and someone is mostly a self-serving leader is how they embrace criticism. The servant leader accepts criticism to find out how to learn to improve themselves. The self-serving leader will often avoid, attack, or defend against criticism as it threatens what they have been doing.

Both books cover one area which hit a chord with me. A quote in ‘The Words Can Heal’ book stated that people tend to distrust the appointed spokesman of an organization and tend to trust a message from an anonymous source. In ‘Servant Leadership’ there is a section about Fear and Pride hurt a person’s ability to lead well. That is, they must identify these fears and sources of pride to reduce or eliminate their impact on your life.

Why would we believe an anonymous source over a known quantity? Maybe because of fear and pride and what we know of this person from personal experience or worse, gossip. If the known spokesman has given cause for not being trusted in the past, they may not be trusted now, no matter how much they changed their lives for the better. Since there is little to fear in the anonymous person, no scary face, no skeletons in the closet, no checkered past, they seem safer to believe, even though we know NOTHING about them.

We must work hard to eliminate gossip from our lives and the damage it causes to friendships and relationships, and work to understand those things we fear or give us false pride so that we can see people and events for what they truly are now, and not tainted by words and deeds of the past.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Friday, September 19, 2008

Message of the Day - The Word 'No' Can Save Your Life

Good Morning,

Yesterday I read a Dilbert comic strip where the boss comes up to an employee and basically says “I know you said that if I asked you to do one more thing your head will explode, but…” and the employee’s head explodes. It was a funny comic, but underlies a big problem we have today.

We have been doing more with less and have not seemed to stop. Less people are doing more and more work. The volume is increasing and quality is suffering. In the end, the business which pushes doing more with less get’s hurt because of the lower quality and growing urge to cut corners to meet the every shortening deadlines and growing volume of to dos.

Back in the 1980’s and 1990’s we used to talk about corporate clones who seemed to become the person the companies wanted them to be so that they could move up in the company and keep a constant stream of future leadership. Corporate clones would buy better cars, bigger houses, and do other things as every other corporate clone did. They worked ungodly hours and did what was expected of them.

In today’s business landscape we have a new type of corporate clone: people who acquiesce and take on more and more work when they know that they will not be able to do the job to the level of performance necessary. They want to impress the boss so they take on more and more. The word NO does not seem to exist in their vocabulary when they take on the jobs. Often, though, it does seem to exist quite often when asked about the quality work and the lost projects that were buried when taking on new work. ‘Did you get this done the way I asked?’ …. ‘No, not quite…..’

To save ourselves and our companies a lot of problems, we need to know our limits. Sure we need to be stretched to help us grow and be ready for our next challenge, but there is a limit on how much stretching we should be doing at any one time. Someone who manages a team of 4 and is asked to take on a team of 4,000 has a lot of stretching to do to be ready for that new infrastructure. It can be done, but at what cost? Doing five projects may be fine, but trying to do 20 may be just a bit beyond the scope of one person.

If you can manage to work in teams and spread out the work, great, but even teams can be overwhelmed.

You are actually doing yourself, your boss and your company a favor when you tell them that you are at your limit of work and cannot take on anything else. Maybe offer to divest yourself of some work or projects in return for taking on the new ones. Be flexible, but be realistic. While your head may not explode, taking on more work may and often does cause other work to suffer or be lost in the shuffle.

Say No, and be more productive!

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Message of the Day - Are you credible enough?

Good Morning,

Welcome New Recipients!

We talk to a lot of people throughout our days, and we interact with others through email and other means. With long standing strong relationships, there is often little doubt of our credibility with those we know. They know us and they believe us for what we are and what we do. When you meet someone for the first time though, that level of credibility starts back at zero with some modifications here and there. Maybe someone gave you a reference, or you have a reputation for your work or maybe even some folks complaining about something you did or said.

When you start those new relationships, how others believe you casts vivid picture of how they will interact with you and communicate about you to others. What they perceive, and thus believe is more often then not, their truths.

So how do we build and convey credibility?

One way is to fulfill their expectations of what an expert is. For example, if someone expects a professional to be dressed in a suit and tie, then showing up in khakis and a polo shirt will hurt your credibility. At that point, their perception of what a professional looks like is not being met.

Looks and dress is not the end of the list. How you sound. A few weeks ago I took a call at work, not something I am known for there. The issue was not something I knew anything about and the caller was somewhat frantic. How am I supposed to be credible as Service Desk Analyst when I don’t do that job? Well, exceptional Service Desk Analysts sound calm and confident. So I spoke in a calm and confident manner during the entire call while I researched the issue and reached out for help into my office. At the end of the call, which was a bit longer than normal, the caller was happy. She said my tone calmed her down and she felt confident her issue was going to be addressed. I had credibility because I presented myself in expected manner.

Look at emails. When you get an email from someone with a lot of typo’s or in all CAPS you question the sender’s credibility. I know I do. So edit and spell check your emails. You do not have to be a Hemmingway, but you certainly can send out clean and crisp communications.

This does cross the line into stereotyping. This is both good and bad. It is good in that you can expect people to believe and behave in certain ways in certain situations and often have them follow through as expected. It is bad in that folks get pigeon-holed into those images as well.

Building credibility can take time, so start smart and find out what is expected and then decide if you want to or can present that image (without losing who you are in the mix, never stop being you!).

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Message of the Day - Doing more in less time!

Good Morning,

My current read is Timothy Ferriss’ “The 4 – Hour Workweek” (http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/). The book talks about how to change the way you work to earn more and work less and reduce the amount of time you spend working while increasing the amount of time you spend living. I am still somewhat skeptical of the overall message, but I am only 100 pages into the book at the moment, and the author expects skepticism at this point.

One point Timothy Ferriss brings up is something called Parkinsons Law. This was something created by Cyril Northcote Parkinson back in the 1950’s. The law basically states that work will fill up whatever volume of time you give it. The longer time you allocate yourself to finish a project will be the amount of time you need to do it. Zig Ziglar also talked about this principal when he related how we tend to do the most amount of work on the days prior to our vacation. It is like we do two to three times as much work on the day before we go away for a week, so why not work at that pace more often?

Parkinson’s Law is somewhat elusive because we truly do not know how much time it will take us to perform a task in the shortest amount of time with acceptable results (until we do it and then we ask could we do it effectively in even less time). If our task is to create a spreadsheet and we give ourselves a week to do it, yet we could do it in an hour if we just turned everything else off, then we see the law in action.

The other caveat of the law is that the longer the time we give ourselves to do a task, the greater the likelihood that it will either be lost in the craziness that is our lives or that we will have to do it in a very short period of time near the deadline. This is ironic, because we could have done it in that shorter period of time in the first place!!!

I saw this law in motion yesterday at the Toastmasters meeting I attended. Due to the recent wind storm (winds from Hurricane Ike, still some quarter a million without power two days later in Louisville) we had few attendees. I did not have my third speech from the basic communicators book ready, and it was on my to-do list for some month or so. Since I arrived early, I read the speech requirements and laid out a format for the speech in about 10 minutes on a small notepad. When the meeting was moving along, we ended up with one speaker. So I volunteered to speak with the outline I put together. It was not my best work, but it helped me learn more on how to improve my speaking.

The point is, I put the task on a to-do list a month ago, and did not get it done in a month, but once I sat down and did it, it took 10 minutes. Why couldn’t of I just did it in the first place and not have that to do hanging over my head? I guess I am still learning to be more productive too! By the way, I did get the ribbon for best speaker!

Enjoy doing more in less with Parkinson’s Law.

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Friday, September 12, 2008

Message of the Day - Sharing Stories

Good Morning,

When we enter a new group or join a new organization we are often bombarded with information about that organization. Information including what are the goals, values, mission of organization as well as what is the expectations for the new people. A lot of this information comes in large volumes of text or what some call word overkill. It seems the technical writing profession thinks that they get paid by the word and not getting the concept across.

What happens with all of this information? Our eyes roll over with overwhelm and mental overload. We pick up a few concepts and words here and there and some of us even start forgetting stuff we knew prior to joining the new group or organization.

The author of my current read, Carl Sewell, ‘Customers For Live: How to Turn That One-Time Buyer into a Lifetime Customer’ (http://www.amazon.com/Customers-Life-Buyer-Lifelong-Customer/dp/067102101X) talks about another way to bring people into the fold without all of the overwhelm.

They share stories.

Stories of the best and brightest who have been with and are still with their organization. They tell what they did, why they did it and the outcome. It paints a picture of the company and its values and missions and what is expected by hearing the tales of those who exemplified the mission.

Better yet, telling tales brings the information to life. Just about everyone I have ever met was more comfortable listening to or reading a story then having volumes full of rules crammed down their throats. Also, people will get more from the stories right off the bat than trying to dissect and digest all of the rules and regulations. The story tells the listen or reader ‘this is what we are looking you to be like’.

I know I would have preferred stories of the ideal Disputes Manager instead of that nice lady dropping 25 pounds of books, nearly a foot thick of text on my desk saying ‘here are the rules’.

While stories cannot replace all the rules and regulations, they can definitely get people on the right page fast, and make them ready for the larger, heavier information that will inevitably follow.

So let’s share some stories.

Enjoy

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Message of the Day - The speed of life

Good Morning,

Last night as I was driving home I was trying to think of a time in the last year that life had slowed down a bit. I was looking for a time when I had ‘breathing room’ and a time to rest and after thinking it through, I could not find any time that was intrinsically slower.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is it evening already, I could not finish the message due to a busy morning.

It is amazing how busy our lives are, and I know that I am a real slacker compared to some of you and others I know.

So how do we cope with this seemingly endless stream of activity that keeps us moving and hopping? We could take a long vacation, some folks take a day and are fine, some need a weekend and others need several weeks to fully decompress from the daily grind.

We could do less, but often when we are busy, we can do more, and when we have little or nothing to do, we tend to not get much done at all. It is kind of ironic, but fits with the concept of ‘if you want something done, give it to a busy person’. It appears that our business is an engine to keep us productive, but keeping that engine running smoothly and not overheating or breaking down becomes a real challenge.

The first step I have found is getting an understanding of what is going on in our lives. Write down everything you are doing. Get it in perspective.

Next, you may be able to find activities you can drop, or find ways to improve how you do things to free up some time. For example: if you had tasks that necessitated driving the car three different times from home to different destinations you could change your habits and start of going to all three places in one trip. Here you have accomplished the same tasks, used less energy and time at the same time.

Another key point is to organize your life so that you can take less time doing mundane activities. If it takes you 10 minutes every day to find your car keys, then setting a place to keep your keys every day AND putting them there every day will save you 10 minutes of your day, every day.

Another way to say is to play smarter. The speed of life is not going to slow down much, so we best learn how to embrace it more efficiently.

Enjoy

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Message of the Day - Attila the Hun and Leadership Principals You Need to Know

Good Morning,

My current read is ‘Leadership Secrets of Attila the Hun’ by Wess Roberts Ph.D. (http://www.amazon.com/Leadership-Secrets-Attila-Wess-Roberts/dp/0446391069 ). This book is not lessons actually give from Attila, but leadership lessons based on history and Attila’s character written as if they were given by Attila to his Chieftains around the council fires back in 5^th Century. Unlike most leadership books, this one gives you the information straight, as if you were hearing it from a friend rather than from a CEO or Professor.

Two of the lessons that caught my attention, and are related are:

1. Never accept an office of leadership for which you are not willing to pay the tribute necessary to successfully fulfill its obligations

2. Wise is the Chieftain who never makes a decision when he doesn’t understand the issue. In decision making, valor is guided by prudence.

Most of the leadership materials I have read talk about how you should face situations, how you should consider situations, and how you should act to be successful. Dr. Roberts and Attila here are covering some of the basic concepts here, ones that are often missed or not understood.

If you are not interested in doing something, then why do it? If you do not want the responsibilities of being a leader, then don’t jump in. My first task as a leader was to fire someone. You know I second guessed my decision to accept a leadership position at that moment. Many positions and jobs are not for the faint of heart. Jumping in for more money or the glory without understanding the full scope of what is expected of you is a recipe for ruin.

It is the job of a leader to make decisions, but that does not mean blindly guessing at what to do. Going with your gut is fine, but if you do not understand the issue, then you could having your people running headfirst into a wall or off a cliff. Getting an understanding is paramount. Get it yourself or see if one of your people have it and then make a decision. More time and money is spent fixing bad decisions than getting information to make the initial decision in the first place.

I enjoyed this book, its fresh perspective helped me get some new insights into leadership.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Friday, September 5, 2008

Message of the Day - I called the Wrong 'Joe'

Good Morning,

Yesterday, during some free time I started going through my contact list and calling some folks I had not spoken to in a while. I came across this one ‘Joe’, and remembered the salty old codger at a former company I worked at. The call went through and ‘Joe’ answered. We started talking and he told me about his day, and something sounded weird. The voice was younger, the daily tasks were not something a grandfather and heart attack survivor would be doing. I asked a few questions and found that I had called the wrong ‘Joe’. I had two people in my contact list with the same exact name: one I had known for about five years and another which I had met about a year ago.

Networking is a great tool to help you grow your connections and reach and help create opportunities for you to grow. One challenge, though, as I found out yesterday, is that the more people you know, the better organized you need to be. I had been thinking about pruning my contacts list as some folks I had not spoken to in nearly 10 years, and it is time they should probably come out of the list. That idea has consistently been back-burnered,

Oddly, at the same time, I am in the process of re-organizing my organizing using material I learned from a recent book (go figure….). The book, by David Allen, is called ‘Get Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity’ (http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Things-Done-Stress-Free-Productivity/dp/0142000280). I am putting all of my information, my projects, my wish list items, my next action steps, calls I need to make, etc., and getting it all put down on appropriately labeled pads. Hopefully this weekend, I will have everything listed out. It idea is to get everything out of my mind and onto paper or electronic storage so I can manage it better. With everything I need and want written out, the chances of me forgetting is greatly reduced. It has so far helped reduce my stress level a bit, and I hope to do this at work as well.

With all the books I read, I fear becoming a flavor of the month person, so I have learned to try ordering from a Chinese Restaurant Menu (Something from column A, something from column B). By picking and choosing I add to my style and remain relatively consistent in my work, with a slow, but noticeably improvement over time (or so I hope).

I will let you know how my reorganizing effort goes, and will add cleaning up my contacts to my projects to do list so I don’t forget it again.

And today, I will try calling the other ‘Joe’.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg