Message of the Day - Good News for Us Hotheads

Good Morning,

 

This past Saturday evening was the 19^th Annual Burns Night Supper hosted by the Scottish Society of Louisville. It is a formal get together where Scots and Scots enthusiasts celebrate the life and legacy of Robert Burns, Scotland’s Immortal Bard. At the end, the event was a success and pretty much everyone had a great time.

 

Behind the scenes, there were the many miscues, like sending out tickets with the wrong date and location on them. Or like finding out that a reservation for a table of eight was missed less than 24 hours prior to the event. Or several of the key program participants had to cancel due to illness or injury, after the program books had been printed.

 

Years ago, these issues would have sent my blood boiling, my nostrils flaring and steam coming out of them. I have often tried to control each aspect of the different events I worked at or led. And when something came up, or someone dropped the ball, I would get all sorts of angry and usually try to fix the problem myself. All the time muttering of how upset I was.

 

In these last few weeks as everything was coming together, and the miscues happened, I was able to grin and bear it. In some cases I even chuckled over the challenge which reared its ugly head. It was times like these that I am happy to have calmed down, and matured in how I face adversity.

 

The transition from being a hothead took place as I reflected on many of the times that things went wrong and I went off. I realized that often I tried to go it alone and do it all. Nowadays I am a delegating fool, eagerly handing out tasks to others. Giving each of them what they can handle and helping groom others to take on more and more with improved accuracy and quality.

 

If  you are a hot head and get bent out of shape by the smallest hair being out of place, please know there is hope for you too.

 

First remember that you are never alone. There is always someone around who can help, often if you just ask. Lone Rangers tend to have more challenges than teams ever do.

 

Next, when something goes awry stop and think what will be the impact in a few days, months or years from now. Like my Burns Night, I knew that even if we had to change our speakers, the attendees would still have a good time. The impact of the error or challenge we face now may seem a lot greater than it really will be, and there is where our anger gets the better of us. We need to put it into perspective.

 

Another key is to learn and grow daily. Expand your capabilities, experiences and knowledge, and you will find that less and less will throw you for a loop when it happens.

 

Even though we may still be hotheads at times, those times are diminishing every day for those working to improve themselves. And that is good news!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - Arm Chair Quarterbacks

Good Morning,

 

Last week as I drove to the Scottish Society of Louisville’s board meeting, I listened to a local radio station. The DJ was a knowledgeable sportscaster about both the local teams and sports in general. One caller asked a question about why coaches were not more aggressive in sending their team out to win.  The DJ had a great response. He said that just about all of the coaches of all college and professional teams generally do not look at winning games the same way as fans and the average arm chair quarterback does.

 

That most coaches are actually very conservative. They look for the worst case scenarios and plan on overcoming them. Even if they are facing a much weaker opponent the coach will often find the most positive aspect of that team and plan how to confront it conservatively. Even if they are 50 point favorites.

 

Many coaches use this conservative approach. It is also very different from what we often hear from fans who tell us what they would have done differently. Knowledgeable fans share detailed plans of offense, defense and use of resources which seem very feasible, often making us wonder what was the coach thinking.

 

Why is there such a gap between the coaches and the fans? The fans seem to make more sense, with the go all-out approach, versus the playing not to lose approach of the coaches.

 

One of the reasons is that coaches’ own hide is on the line. They are paid to or, at least expected to, win. If they make too many mistakes, they can’t put food on the table. If the fan is wrong, there is little to no repercussions other than maybe losing a bet or two. So why should they hold back? There is little to no repercussions.  

 

This concept also applies to everyday life.

 

Those who have their ‘skin’ in the game, who, if they make too many mistakes find themselves out of a job, tend to make different decisions than those folks who have nothing on the line.

 

This is a key factor when asking for advice and doing research in order to make decisions. Following the advice of those who have nothing on the line could be risky. Are those giving advice knowledgeable in that area. Also, do they know the risks to you if their advice is wrong? Do they have any ‘skin’ in the game?

 

Having your ‘skin’ in the game is often going to change how you feel about something, and how you go about accomplishing a task or activity.

 

Arm Chair Quarterbacks may seem to have all the right answers after the game is over, but don’t let that confuse you. Stick to what you know to be right, and learn from your mistakes and make improvements. If the advice seems sound, then run with it, if not, toss it.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

 

Message of the Day - Warning Signs Are Worthless

Good Morning,

 

In a recent read, “Storm Warning” by Billy Graham, Billy said that warning signs often have no value.

 

How can a warning sign have no value?

 

First, let’s consider what actually is a warning sign?

 

·         It could be a street sign warning of an upcoming change in road conditions like construction or a bump in the road.

·         It could be that cryptic message given to us by someone who is normally more forthcoming.

·         It could be an email hinting at some rough times ahead from management.

 

A warning sign then could be anything which gives us advance notice of something we should be aware of, that is something that sets off our ‘Spidey Sense’.

 

The warning also could also ultimately be of good tidings. If something bad is to happen, and you catch the warning sign, there is a chance you can turn it around to good. In the end the warning brought something good. 

 

Billy shared three factors when encountering a warning sign so that it can be of value. With a warning, we need to:

 

1.  See it.

2.  Understand it.

3.  Heed it.

 

1. Seeing a warning sign may seem intuitive, but if we don’t know what to look for, we can miss them. For example, when I was working from home for the Dot.Com after they closed my office the year before, and business was struggling, I should have seen the warning signs, but I did not recognize them. Then came a large bonus, and I did not see that warning sign either, and then a month later I was let go.

 

2. Understanding warning signs are similar to seeing them, but once we see them, can we understand what they mean. Is a bonus a good sign or a bad sign. In some cases, it is good and in others it can be bad. Understanding the environment which the event is taking place will help. With the Dot.Com these large bonuses came after what was a ‘poor’ year. It made no sense, but then half the company was let go within a month of the bonus payout.

 

Some warning signs are near impossible to read, and then to those with experience in those areas, they are as plain as day. Financial experts knew our company had to significantly downsize, so the bonuses just made the belt tightening easier.

 

3. Heeding warning signs can be the toughest of all. Knowing we know something is up is the easy part. Knowing we need to make an adjustment or what we are being warned of will happen is a bit harder. The hardest part is making that adjustment or change. Some folks will judge the impact of doing nothing and embracing what is coming compared to making the necessary changes. This may be considered laziness, or shrewd decision making. In any case, when we know that something has to be done, or else, we must make a decision.

 

Seeing warning signs, and even knowing what the mean is then worthless if we fail to act when we know what could happen can open the door to more troubles.

 

This may be rudimentary knowledge, then again, we tend to ignore many warning signs.

 

Hmmmm.

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

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Message of the Day - Where Never Begins

Good Morning,

 

I’ve become a fan of Singer/Performer, ShonLock (www.shonlock.com). He has a wide range of talent as seen in his music. He is also an amazing dancer. I had the opportunity to see him perform last December in Louisville. It was there I picked up his new CD “Where Never Begins”.

 

The last song on the CD is an affirmation speech.  I found it very inspirational and wanted to share it with you:

 

“This is just a glimpse into a future, a long awaited look into my journey of faith.

We have all experienced doubts, doubters, naysayers that challenge our dreams and aspirations.

Those that say there’s no way, it’s not possible, you will never make it.

That can never happen for you because of who you are or where you come from.

Some say never say never.

I say…this is where Never Begins.”

 

This resonates with me because I have lived this; having been told I am not good enough, or cannot accomplish something. Have you experienced anything like this? I believe we all have.

 

While I am not where I want to be, I do know that I have come a long way with strong belief in myself and pushing to continually re-invest in myself. Each of us are a work in progress, but unless we continue working on ourselves, that progress kind of stagnates.

 

Having faith in ourselves and holding onto our dreams, in the face of the ever-present opposition, be it from nay-sayers, stiff competition or whatever, is a key to success. Keep the faith and keep improving yourself.

 

Never begins when we keep the faith in the face of opposition, in the face of doubt.

 

Never begins when we do what we are told could not be done.

 

Stick with it. Learn and Grow Daily!

 

Keep our dreams alive.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336

 

 

 

Message of the Day - Increasing Options Ahead

Good Morning,

 

As we look forward to a new year, we can look forward to a greater number of opportunities and options ahead of us than offered to us in the years before. I am not suggesting that our economy is now simply better than 2010 or that our problems facing us last year stayed behind, rather the increasing rate of change in our society opens the doors for us.

 

91 Years ago, the first radio news broadcast was sent.

83 Years ago, the first regularly scheduled Television show was broadcast from Wheaton Maryland.

65 Years ago, the first computer was unveiled in America, the ENIAC.

53 Years ago, the first fully tested microchip was presented.

34 Years ago, the Atari 2600 was released, one of the earliest game consoles.

31 Years ago, Word Perfect was released as a word processing software.

26 Years ago, the first version of Windows Operating system was released.

23 Years ago, Sony introduced one of the first Digital Cameras, the ProMAVICA MVC 5000.

19 Years ago, the first MPEG format was standardized.

17 Years ago, www.Yahoo.com received 1,000,000 hits on the internet in its first year.

14 Years ago, Red Bull energy drink was first introduced to the market.

12 Years ago, WIFI was first used commercially.

10 Years ago, Playstation and X-Box entered the game world.  

9 Years ago, the first wireless headset hit the market.

8 Years ago, Simon, the first smartphone by IBM was introduced.

7 Years ago, Google went public.

6 Years ago, Facebook was launched.

5 Years ago, Twitter was launched.

4 Years ago, the iPhone was released.

3 Years ago, Android Phones were released.

2 Years ago, the Kindle DX was released, usable in 100 countries.

1 Year ago, the iPad and Microsoft Phone were introduced.

 

The rate of new technology, and the doorways that these offerings open is coming at an ever-increasing rate.

 

This means, even if the economy continues to struggle, which it may do for several more years, there will still be opportunity out there if we just have the heart and strength to look. This means that even though things are tough, we are not stopping, but moving forward.

 

It then becomes our decision if we want to batten-down the hatches and hide as things get bad, or find a wave and catch it into the future.

 

It’s your choice.

 

Enjoy 2011, which will be the best year EVER!

 

Sanford

Sanford Berenberg
Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336