The Sanford Berenberg Experience

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Wednesday, January 14, 2009

Message of the Day - You Don't Have to be a Genius to be Successful

Good Morning,

My current read is ‘Outliers: The Stories of Success’ by Malcolm Gladwell. (http://www.gladwell.com/outliers/index.html). Let me start off by saying that I simply love reading anything by Malcolm Gladwell. His writing style just sucks me in and I understand the concepts he is sharing very quickly. I love his first two books, ‘Tipping Point’ and ‘Blink’ and already love ‘Outliers.’ If you have not read them, please do, I am sure you will get a lot out of them too.

About a third of the way through the book Malcolm Gladwell talks about the correlation of genius to success and that in several long term sociological experiments. Having high IQ’s does not necessarily map to having a successful life. He goes on to show that the difference from having an average IQ to being above average in IQ does have implications in being successful, but once you get into the genius level IQ range, having an IQ of 150 or 190 does not have that much impact on the success of your life.

What does this mean?

Like all things, it is diminishing returns. After a certain point, the value of ‘better’ starts dropping off. Even with genius.

Also, IQ is also not all that it’s cracked up to be. These days we have identified other qualities which can have even more impact on our lives, like EQ, Emotional Quotient (from Emotional Intelligence as covered in Dr. Daniel Goleman’s books on the subject). Being able to operate well in a society of people can have a lot more implications than being smarter than the group of people you work with. Especially if they don’t like or trust you. We have seen the stuck-up prodigy who could care less that another human beings were alive in their presence. Makes me want to get their autograph….

This also means that we should not limit ourselves by what we feel our IQ is. That is, if we are average or slightly above average, the doors that close in our live are often those that we close for ourselves because we feel we are not smart enough. We give up on ourselves and make erroneous conclusions of what we can and cannot do based on what we know about ourselves.

It reminds me of a Garfield comic strip with Odie the dog sitting in a tree next to Garfield. Garfield’s caption reads ‘It’s amazing what you can do when you don’t know what you can’t do.’

This means that we can all be successful the way we are. We are smart enough for most things in life. Ok, not all of us will qualify for MENSA, but does that we really limit our lives? Only if we let it.

We don’t have to be a genius to be successful in life. Studies have shown, and as I am learning from ‘Outliers’ there are many factors that go into success. Intelligence, while being a part of the puzzle is not a large part.

That’s good news!

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Monday, January 12, 2009

Message of the Day: Leaders Learn

Good Morning,

In reviewing nearly 100 sources, there appear several similar threads to what qualities successful leaders possess.

Leaders have different leadership styles, they have different organizational structures, and they have different tools in their leadership tool kits and assets to work with. These factors display the many different natures and features of leaders and why one leader may look and act nothing like another leader. Yet in all of these styles these leaders can be successful.

What then is a quality that each of these leadership types have?

Each of these leaders works toward the goals created for them, or those they created themselves.

How do leaders lead their teams, their peers, their coworkers to their goals?

They learn.

Do they learn how to lead and then go out and lead and stop learning?

Not the successful leaders.

They keep learning. They keep growing their skill and knowledge.

Leaders face challenges and learn from them. When they cannot overcome an obstacle, they learn another way. They learn to ask questions, and learn more skills for their leadership tool kit.

Leaders learn, Leaders keep learning.

If you are a leader, guess what you need to be doing?

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Friday, January 9, 2009

Message of the Day - Even Super Heros Have a Bad Day Once In a While

Good Morning,

With all of the positive messages, coaches, mentors and teachers out there, it would seem that if all we did was think pure and happy thoughts that our lives will simply turn around and all our dreams would come true then and there. Like the Law of Attraction opened a fast-service outlet and ‘bingo’ we have goodness and happiness handed to us the moment we think positively. Wouldn’t that be great?

Unfortunately happy thoughts and positive attitudes can only get us so far in the moment we think them.

And every once in a while, there will be bad days in our lives, even if we do think positive. Even Super Heroes have a bad day once in a while.

So what can we do?

We choose how we face each day, bad, good or otherwise. We can smile in bad times if we want. This can help us, but it may not change the bad day from being a bad day.

So why be positive at all if we know there will be bad days, even if we try to keep a positive attitude?

Because our lives are made up of many days, many thousands of days and one bad day is really only a blip on the radar of our lives. It may be tough now, but if you take a step back and look at it in view of all of the years you have lived so far and all the years you look forward to living in the future, then one bad day will not be more than a small blemish on the sculpture that is our lives.

Have faith that there is tomorrow and the bad day will be history. In tough situations, there may be many bad days back to back, but again, these too shall pass. When we have goals to strive for, people to live for, a God to live for and glorify, we can look past today’s troubles and be positive that the future will be brighter. So bright we may need to wear shades.

Think positive, visualize positive, and tomorrow will be that much better even before it gets here. So yes, be positive, and if we have a bad day, when you get a second to think, stop clear your head, and be positive again.

We can outlast the bad by focusing on the here and now and being positive. There probably is not fast service Law of Attraction, but it does pay for those who may steady and constant payments of positive thoughts, and quickly move past the tough times.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Message of the Day - The Inner Game

Good Morning,

Welcome new recipients!

My current read is ‘The Inner Game of Tennis’ by W. Timothy Gallwey (http://www.theinnergame.com) which is another book covered in the 50 Success Classics series. Don’t be fooled about the title, while the book talks a lot about tennis, it covers achieving optimal performance in whatever we do in life. It is an interesting read. I enjoyed it!

The Inner Game is the balance of our ego and our potential. Our ego wants to control our actions, and be appreciated when we succeed and point a finger of blame when we fail. Our ego wants to dictate how we perform our tasks and this micromanaging of our performance then goes to reduce our efficiency. The challenge we all face is that our ego is deeply woven into our very being and is always looking for ways to be more active in our lives.

When we work to our potential, without the ego to interfere, we often have a feeling that we did something in our sleep, or without thinking about it. This is the optimum level of performance, when we just do. To win the Inner Game, we must find a way to focus ourselves to keep our ego from micromanaging our activities so that our potential is unleashed.

Learning to focus ourselves and keep our mind in the present, we can keep our ego in check while allowing ourselves to unleash our potential. This means not thinking about doing the laundry when you are working on a specific project. Keep your mind on the task at hand, and work to keep your focus on what you are doing.

Like the Precious Present by Spenser Johnson, Timothy Gallwey tells us to put our attention on what is here and now. Holding to the pains and troubles of the past will not help you succeed now. Learn from the past, and then let it go. And don’t fixate on the future, you cannot control the future.

There is a famous saying: "Yesterday is history, the future is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why they call it the present!”

I like that!

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Monday, January 5, 2009

Message of the Day: Four Questions for Success

Good Morning,

My first read for 2009 is The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom by Don Miguel Ruiz (http://www.miguelruiz.com/fouragreements.html).

This book is a very easy and fun read. It also carries a very strong message. It covers four concepts, called ‘Questions’ based on Toltec wisdom that if employed together will bring you personal freedom. It sounds very simple and after looking over these four ‘questions’ below, it indeed can be.

1. Be impeccable with your word.

2. Don’t take anything personally.

3. Don’t make assumptions.

4. Be your best everyday in everything we do.

By being impeccable with your word, Don Miguel Ruiz is saying be honest in what you say, both to others and to yourself. He also means to follow through with what you say you will do.

By not taking anything personally, the author is saying that what negative and hateful things are said about us and done to us should carry no weight in our minds. This is a tough one, but if we look at people’s intentions, we may see that others are attacking not so much us, but what we represent to them. They may try cutting us down because we are successful in their eyes and they are not so they attack that success to make themselves feel better. It is a stretch, but if you can take a step back from yourself, you can see much of what is done to us which upsets us is not truly against us, as the person or being. This will allow us to not take it personally. It will take time to get to this level.

By not making assumptions, we free ourselves from the unknown. We will know what is going on around us and with others. Assumptions cause us to make mistakes and cause us to have disagreements with others based on what we assumed to be true (and what others assumed to be true which do not match up). Ask questions rather than assume and know for sure. Asking questions to find out what you need to know is a great way to dissolve assumptions into a mutual understanding.

By being our best everyday in everything we do is saying to do the best we can under the current circumstances of the day. This means that if we are ill and can only perform at 20% of our full efficiency that day, then that is our best for that day. This is not a cop out, but an understanding that we can reach 100% of our capability at any given time and should strive to do so, but not push it. And on some days, our best, our 100% is not the same as other days. It’s when we try to give more than we can that we often run into trouble. Doing our best every day in everything also means that we can be confident that we do the best we could do on whatever we are working on. It will take weight off our conscience of whether we did enough or not. We will know we did our best.

I really enjoyed this book, and will return to review from time to time. Each of these four questions is totally achievable by everyone, and I definitely see how this will bring us greater personal freedom.

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg

502-533-9336

Friday, January 2, 2009

Message of the Day: The Power of People Working Together

Good Morning,

Happy New Year to all of you!

Yesterday morning, I was at the YMCA walking/jogging on a treadmill. During this time I watched the Rose Parade on one of the TV monitors. I love watching parades, the larger the better, but I find enjoyment in all parades.

What impressed me the most about this parade was seeing large marching bands, with hundreds of members. Sure there are the matching colored uniforms, baton twirlers and dancers as well as all the instruments, but there is something more when they get together and work as a unit. My favorite marching band remains the USC Trojans (I was hooked when they appeared in the music video for Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Tusk’ video).

The sound of one horn or drum is okay, when played well, but joined with dozens or hundreds of other instruments; you get a much richer sound. The sound is stronger due to more instruments, but is also deeper as each of the instrument’s sounds blend together and accent each other. The music really resonates with me. I guess I am just a softy as I often get teary-eyed watching those bands, and if they are Scottish Pipe and Drum bands, the sounds can cause the tears of joy to flow freely.

Seeing those marching bands working together and the beautiful and powerful music they create gives me a sense of awe at what we humans can do when we work together. The beauty and majesty of what we can accomplish is simply amazing.

Marching band members need to practice not only their parts, but also working as a team member within a team of individuals. Why would it be any different for other teams, like those in our workplaces? We can learn what our role in the team is, and at the same time, learn to work within a team environment. What could we accomplish in our teams if we all practiced our roles and performed flawlessly?

People working together for a single purpose also have the ability to rise above what any individual can do. A well rounded and balanced team, like a well oiled machine, is more than the sum of its parts. What that team can accomplish can also be music to our ears and be bigger than life.

If we make it our goal to be a better team member, to know what our role is, and how to work within our team structure (by asking questions and listening), we can produce wonderful music in the form of our accomplishments.

There is a power in people working together, lets work together to unleash it!

Enjoy!

Sanford Berenberg