While it is very easy to put on blinders and run through life, the rhino realizes that survival depends on constant observation and planning. A Rhinos vision can be likened to a mother’s vision-no matter what species she hails from. A mother’s main objective is to lead by example and protect herself and her herd of baby Rhinos.

While growing up you probably thought that your mother had eyes in the back of her head. You now know that she didn’t. However, what she did possess was an all-encompassing vision as she realized that she constantly had to be aware of her surroundings and protecting her herd, much like the Rhino’s lifelong vision.

What your mother envisioned was not just children running and playing. She crystallized her vision and saw dangers and pitfalls that may be lurking around any corner. Her visions, much like the Rhinos, gave clarity to her vision of her herd obtaining heights and depths that they were yet to realize.

That is not just blind faith; it is a very carefully calculated vision of what she wants for the future of her baby Rhinos, or herd. Now that is a leader that is not focusing on leadership or being in charge. That is a leader without blinders whom creates, shifts, and refines her vision based on circumstances, opponents of her herd, and activity in the herd.

Your mother, like the Rhino, believes without proof, that her herd will be a powerful force to be reckoned with. Part of that vision requires a little blind faith mixed with organizing, planning, and a 360° vision of what the world has to offer.

A Rhino, much like a mother, has eyes on the side of it’s head, allowing it to keep a 360-degree watch on everything that is going on around them, at all times. A Rhino’s babies run around with blinders on due to immaturity, lack of vision, and the blind faith that they innately posses for their mother. Her job is to instill her visions into her herd with skill and precise calculation.

The reality is that Rhino’s can only see approximately a 50 feet parameter around them. But that is insignificant to the mighty Rhino. What they envision is a world past the 50 feet and unexplored territory to be reckoned with.

The Rhino forms pictures in their mind of what they believe is out “there.” They become so steadfast in their vision that when they charge, they do so with their eyes closed. They are not interested in leading; they are interested in their target and exude so much power and bravery that they expect the herd to follow, much like a mother of any herd.

It all starts with the competitive arena which has actually made it more difficult for leaders and individuals alike to admit they have failed at something they attempted to do. Competition really starts in the womb and continues on with siblings, school, work, and personal relationships. Are we as individuals so pompous that we actually believe that we will succeed at everything we touch?

The truth is that it’s not necessarily the actual “act” of failure that hits us in the gut, knocking us to our knees; it’s the exercise of having to admit that we actually failed in the first place. That’s where the majority of our “failure” pain comes from. We are hard-wired for failure; we are just not hard-wired to admit it. What we are really craving is positive validation; and we can’t get that from failure… Unless we are able to turn the tables on the dreaded monster.

How do we come back afterward and ensure that we will do a better job the next time? The current crisis on Wall Street and within the technology sector stems from leaders’ avoiding the simple lesson of failure. We’ve all become so busy at not taking responsibility for anything that we’ve lost the opportunity inherent in failure. Historically speaking, there are many who failed before they succeeded. Abe Lincoln was defeated for state legislature and Speaker of the House for Illinois, lost the nomination to Congress and the Vice Presidency, was twice defeated for a seat in the US Senate, lost a job, failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown, ALL before becoming the 16th President of the United States. “The fact that millions have achieved great success after a ridiculous amount of failure should clearly prove to all that you can fail all the way to success.” Did I mention that Lincoln publicly acknowledged his failures? That’s the key to harnessing the power of failure. Admitting it and charging right through it. Success is about leveraging failure after failure without losing your ability to admit it.

A leader must understand that in order to achieve any measurable level of success, failure is necessary. Albert Einstein said, “Insanity consists of doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results.” One of the most valuable traits one can have as a leader is the ability to closely observe his or her mistakes and learn the lessons that create positive changes so that the next set of challenges presented will result in different outcomes.

Failure should not be seen as an unsuccessful attempt; rather, it can be viewed as a yet-unattained goal or as simply one more step toward eventual success. Leaders can truly embrace their fullest potential by actively embracing failure as the most important ingredient in the recipe for success.

The past can be a validated, comfortable place to hide, but it can also serve as a roadblock to innovation and growth instead of a bridge to a brighter, more prosperous future. Failure is temporary; success is long term. Great Leaders should not shut the door on their failures nor obsess over them endlessly. Instead, they need to use them as a tool with formidable force, as failures are the greatest teaching tool in existence. Observe their failures and analyze them, understanding they are not identified by their mistakes. One can overcome a great deal of fear-based thinking by understanding that we all fail and we all can go on to achieve great success from that failure.

Jack Welch, in his extraordinary book “Winning” notes resilience as one of the most important characteristics a leader can have: “The fourth characteristic [of senior leadership] is heavy-duty resilience. Every leader makes mistakes, every leader stumbles and falls. The question with a senior-level leader is, does she learn from her mistakes, regroup, and then get going again with renewed speed, conviction and confidence? The name for this trait is resilience, and it is important that a leader must have it going into a job because if she doesn’t, in a time of crisis time, is too late to learn it.”

Leaders encourage resilience in their teams by nurturing them through the recognition of failures and by encouraging them to build new and more successful habits in terms of failure. The magnitude of your achievements in life are directly proportional to your triviality of failure. If you don’t believe me, simply stand in the center of a busy airport and consider how many times the Wright Brothers did not get the plane off the ground! Yet they continued to try until they prevailed.

The greater your failure, the greater your potential in life is. Period! Failure is the price we pay to achieve the success, progress and validation that we enjoy in life. It is important as a leader to know that no matter how many times you fail, you are not a failure. Failure does not define you. What you do with failure creates those defining moments that enrich you as a leader.

Altering our failure mind-set assures us that while we cannot avoid failure, we can build on it, as it is the strongest foundation of great success. Reflecting on our experience from a new vantage point allows us to break down failure into specific bite size pieces, which can then be dissected and analyzed, helping us to determine the specific root cause of the failure.

Failure is not reserved for special people–nor is success. The only definitive difference between achievers and those who cease trying is how they approach, handle, and perceive their failures. Once success is achieved, the failures experienced are suddenly recognized as hard work and determination; thus we have achieved that very much sought-after validation.

In 1946 one of the founders of 20th Century Fox, Darryl Zanuck, said, “Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” 20th Century Fox Television was founded in 1949. Mr. Zanuck clearly admitted failure and was obviously validated after the immense amount of success that the company soon garnered from the addition.

As leaders, our job is to keep our goals rooted in reality, but we must also embrace the understanding and opportunities that failure brings. That will indeed make our teams and our missions soar.
As leaders, our mission is to maintain our reality-driven goals, while realizing that without failure, our recipe for success will be missing the main ingredient. Validation is just the icing on the cake.

Keep Charging Hard!

Christian

The best chess players in the world will tell you that they are not just merely interested in the board game; they will tell you that they are strategists whom enjoy an intellectual cat and mouse where they are not anticipating their own next move, but rather their worthy opponents. They not only plan their next five or six moves in advance, they base their moves on those anticipated moves made by their opponent. This is much easier said than done, but it can be done; just ask Mikhail Botvinnik, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov and the current World Chess Champion Viswanathan Anand.

I hope that I have made that last passage very clear. Very simply, in order to plan your next moves you will have to study your opponent. While that is not a science, and may be risky at times, you will have to learn how your opponent thinks and try and anticipate the advantageous options that your opponent has. This is not a guessing game. Understanding your opponent will give you a clear idea of what he or she is trying to accomplish.

Studying your opponent in the business world has really become quite easy with the advent of the internet. Most every company has a website that provides pertinent information regarding their company. I am not suggesting that you spy on your opponent; I am merely suggesting that you be as prepared as you can for the time that you will come face to face or go head to head with them.

• Go to their company website and read about the company. Companies usually provide their history, their current workforce and their mission and goals statement. Read it. Now, some of the information may be superficial and probably will not give you private information, but it will give you enough information to at least understand their approach, motivation and goals. Besides, nothing impresses a business person more than when you know about their company and their company history.
• Ask for a business meeting or lunch. An opponent does not generally anticipate a move of this nature. Just let them know that while you understand that you might be opponents or adversaries in the work force, that you can also be allies.

There is another lesson from the Rhino in this. While A Rhino might appear as if he is just standing in place, this is not the case. He is developing his foresight and his plan at every moment. His 360° vision capabilities aide him in anticipating his opponents next move, thus being able to plan his. Forewarned is forearmed.

Now before you charge ahead with a business move, keep in mind that not all of these businesses or people are opponents or foes. They are you and your company’s peers. A lot can be learned from them, not just about them.

A successful businessman once shared with me his secret: “Don’t worry about their next move just figure it out. The best position to be in is when your opponent is worrying about your next move.” I have learned to live by this credo.

Foresight can be achieved only if it is activated. Become an active member of your business community. Enlist yourself and your staff in trade shows, business seminars and join professional organizations. As stated earlier, do your homework and read about successful businesses and business leaders. The mighty Rhino knows his community and other members of the animal kingdom. He knows the way they live and how they approach their targets. Take a lesson and practice using foresight by being proactive not reactive and get a jump on your opponents and competition.

Keep Charging Hard!

Christian

You’ve probably heard the question before, either asked aloud or whispered by that little voice inside your head. Or perhaps you’ve heard it another way: “Do you control how you Spend Your Time?”

You already know that time is precious; however many of us fall into the ratrace of society’s expectations and become victims of living on other people’s time, rather than our own. Think for a minute about why we use the verbs spend and own in relation to time. It makes sense when you consider how valuable your time is. In fact, it is arguably the single most important asset you possess. And, if YOU don’t own it, then someone or something else does.

To determine exactly who or what owns your time, take a few minutes to calculate everything you do in a 24-hour day, and subtract the hours spent sleeping, commuting, working – the everyday things that cannibalize most people’s time – you might have less than a few hours a day to call your own.

Even if you did have more time, would you have the financial resources to do the things you wanted to? Would you be able to afford a nice vacation or even a day at the spa? It wouldn’t matter if you had more time, if you lacked the income necessary to do those things you would love to spend your time doing. That old verbatim, “Time is money” truly does have a double entendre.

So, how can you buy back your time and make your hours worth more? The answer may lie in simply knowing the difference between acquiring riches and establishing true wealth. If you have these things, then you can buy yourself more time to do all of the coveted activities you’ve been missing out on. Think of all the clichés like, “Time is precious” that might apply here!

Do You Own Your Time®?

Have you lost sight of your dream? Have life’s circumstances made it seem implausible for you to pursue those long-lost goals? Complacency will rob you of your time – day by day – minute by second. Time is something you can never recover. Therefore, it is even more precious than any riches. So, to get more of your time, you must develop the Rhino mindset of leadership mentality. You must grasp your dream and do whatever it takes to see it through. Do you really want to be an old person one day who looks back on your life, only to wish you had seen, done or had more than you did? For many, it will be too late. For you, it is not.

You see, there is a correlation between – yet a distinctive difference – between being rich and being wealthy. Many people think those are one in the same. Based on the definition above, this simple phrase represents a monumental shift in perception, purpose and process, and it is the key to success in both your business and personal life. Please take note: “own” is a verb, an action, a step you actively decide to make. Taking ownership of every minute of your day is not only a critical step in leadership but also a philosophy of life that can move you from the rat-race of “income accrual” to a lifetime of “true wealth.”

This difference between acquiring riches and establishing true wealth is something that many people have lost sight of.

Riches = directly tied to a dollar figure. Everyone has their own imaginary figure that they would consider as rich. For some, that may be a six-figure number. Others may not consider rich to be anything less than a $mill. You could say that lottery winners become rich. They are not wealthy. This represents material possessions, monetary income, anything that projects the appearance of success. However, without due caution, it’s easy to become enslaved to these things, to the point where they own you instead of the other way around! Most people today spend their time simply earning an income, which is certainly a noble effort but, consider this. By nature, income is designed to “come in” and then “go out”. When you look at it that way, the process seems a bit futile.

True wealth = directly tied to owning your time. By contrast, when you own your time, the world looks different and each day feels different. True wealth is a holistic state of existence: a combination of focused mind-set, the ability to value what’s truly important in life, and the means by which to enjoy your life. You’ll still meet obstacles along the way, but you’ll be free to overcome those obstacles any way you choose – even if it requires walking away for a break from the action to reassess your approach. When you own your time, you alone dictate your life’s course!

So how can you own your time and create true wealth in your life? Start with three steps:

1. A leader understands to create wealth you must have the right dream.
   To create wealth, you must have a clear vision of your target and apply the right amount of action to achieve it. I’ve said for your years that, “Vision without Action is just a Dream; Action without Vision is a Nightmare!” Not only must you have the right dream, but the actions that you put forth to acquire that dream must match. Do you clearly know what the right dream is for you and do your daily actions support it? Have you taken inventory of your passions and skills? This critical step will help guide you toward a more fulfilling and balanced life, a more satisfying place where you can thrive and create true wealth while exceeding all your financial needs and goals.
2. A leader understands to create wealth you must have the right team.
   Who you spend your time with is equally important as how you spend it. We’ve all heard the saying, “Two heads really are better than one”. When you combine resources and ideas, it strengthens an organization. When you share the workload, everyone is more efficient and able to enjoy more personal time. But a chain is only as strong as its weakest link, so ensure that all hands are on deck. Find team members with skills and interests that complement each other and you’ll find yourself in a brewing pot of creative genius. The team might even be temporary, but with the right mix of people, everyone will part with more skills and knowledge than before, better equipped to own their time and create true wealth. Learn from great leaders who’ve gone before you and surround yourself with people who share your principles and support your dream.
3. A leader understands to create wealth you must have the right theme.
   Without a doubt, the theme – the underlying belief system – is your commitment to owning your time. The art of taking ownership of every moment of life is shared by the world’s greatest leaders. Working toward a goal is a journey, but what is the theme of your journey? Sometimes your theme is defined along the way, but you can identify your own theme in the beginning as a guideline. This will keep you both motivated and on track. One solid theme throughout a lot of success stories is “small steps toward big goals.” In other words, create an action plan of smaller, achievable goals to act as building blocks toward your end goal. It’s important to remember that the wealth you seek lies not only in the end goal, but in the journey. So celebrate small victories and enjoy the journey – and that sounds like another good theme!

Do You Need a New Dream, Team and/or Theme?

If you’ve come to the conclusion that you’re in need of some serious change in terms of who or what owns your time, I’ve got great news for you. While financial recessions – the current one included – are economic seasons none of us wish to encounter, they carry a silver lining and are historically known to create dynamic opportunities for entrepreneurial success stories. If you’re stuck in a cycle of chasing after income with little or no time left over, today may be a turning point.

If you surround yourself with successful people, guess what will happen? You too, will become successful. If you surround yourself with broke people who have very little to offer, aside from complaining or asking for more of your time, then you will never be able to get your time back, nor become wealthy. You will stay stuck right where you are, wishing you had more time and more money. You are the Rhino! Get back your time!

Once you take charge, your lifestyle will change dramatically and so will your financial riches. As a suggestion, rather than focusing on the monetary aspect; focus on the dream. The means and resources will fall into place once you take action towards your goals and find the right partners for success. This is not to say that you should let your responsibilities fall by the wayside. Of course, that would just create chaos and hinder your imminent success. Instead, allow those precious few moments that you do have (for now) to become more valuable and use them to take action towards fulfillment of your dreams.

Whether you’re the Assistant Manager of XYZ, Inc. or the CEO of your own entrepreneurial endeavor, the practice of owning your time holds the key to a lifetime of true wealth. It’s your time… OWN IT!

Keep Charging Hard!
Christian

Copyright 2009 © Christian Warren ● All Rights Reserved

Do You Own Your Time® Is A Registered Trademark of Christian D. Warren ● All Rights Reserved

In a downturn, it’s easy for companies to say, “Times are tough. Of course we expect slower sales.” But companies with a rhino-like mind-set never take that attitude. Strategically minded companies with aggressive marketing thrive during recessionary periods. That’s because their competitors, who had been free riders when the economy was strong, tend to fold their tents when the economy sours, leaving the field wide open. Is your business charging intently and fearlessly with its marketing? Or is it pacing inside a cage, waiting for times to get better?

Let’s look at three qualities that comprise Rhino Marketing—and three companies that have leveraged these qualities to their advantage.

1. The rhino knows that when it comes to marketing, he must have a take-no-prisoners, no-holds-barred approach. He ignores the doomsayers and creates products and services unique and attractive enough to turn them from “What’s that?” to “Must have!”

Apple launched its revised and updated iPhone 3G at a time when gas prices were nudging toward $5 a gallon, the housing market was in its biggest slump in decades and the general mood in the country was getting grim. Apple could have said, “Let’s hold off. This economy will never support a new, expensive phone.” But Apple didn’t; it charged like a rhino. Apple eschews traditional marketing approaches like focus groups and consumer studies. Instead, it invents a category, like the iPhone, the iPod or iTunes, and then it turns just about everybody into people who either are possessors of these things or wish they were. Like a rhino, Apple gets what it wants pretty much every time.

2. The rhino has a need for speed. When his competitors are slowing down and cutting back, the rhino charges forward, taking risks and accelerating growth.

• These days the shortest distance between two points is Southwest Airlines. According to Forbes, Southwest last year posted its 35th consecutive year of profitability, was the most punctual, lost the fewest bags and garnered the least complaints from its passengers. What made the difference? Southwest communicated the fact that while other airlines were cutting back on amenities and charging for services like checking bags, Southwest was actually offering more services, like Wi-Fi on its flights. In an era of zero consumer loyalty and enormous amounts of information available to all thanks to the Internet, can you possibly afford to give your customers less?

3. Practically no animal in the jungle has a tougher skin than the rhino. Rhinos are sometimes called living tanks because the bumps and grooves in their skin create the illusion that they are armor-plated. If you’re going to survive and thrive in tough times, you’d better be just as thick-skinned as the rhino.

• The Trump Network has just begun making its impact felt in the home-based arena with a commitment to providing those looking for financial change with a real chance to opt of the recession. With the current criticism surrounding the state of our economy today, the Trump Network has stepped away from the masses creating a company that is setting the pace for all future companies of its type to follow. Go to Facebook, the social networking Web site, and you can see the tremendous impact that the Trump Network is making on average, everyday individuals. Go to YouTube and you’ll find video clips of Donald J. Trump talking about his commitment to deliver the finest opportunity to the masses. While most companies are feeling the economic crunch, the Trump Network understands the big difference between opportunity and success and that tough times never last but tough people do.

Put it all together and you’ve got three top companies—Apple, Southwest and the Trump Network—all emulating various aspects of the rhino. They’re communicating their messages loudly and boldly, they’re offering speed and more services, and they’re taking a tough-skinned approach to criticism. Who knew that the ultimate marketing symbol of the age was a great big animal with one horn in the middle of his forehead? It’s time to put the power of the rhino to work in your marketing.

Think about it. With the simple push of a finger, a thermostat creates huge changes in our environment. It dictates how comfortable or uncomfortable we’ll be in our surroundings—and in some seasons, it even determines whether or not we can continue to function. If your home is too hot, you simply push a lever to the left, initiating electrical currents that signal the air conditioner to power up a compressor. The compressor begins to chill the air, which is systematically blown throughout your entire house by a fan. When the house is cooled to your desired temperature, the thermostat intelligently shuts off the fan and compressor. And, of course, the exact reverse happens when your house is too cold and you turn on the heater.

In either case, the thermostat repeats the cycle when the air temperature once again needs an adjustment. In other words, when you’re happy with your environment, you can leave the thermostat alone. When you’re unhappy with your environment . . . you adjust your thermostat. And, perhaps most miraculous of all, the thermostat will make your desires a reality to the exact degree you choose. You set a temperature, and without your having to give it another thought, your entire environment adjusts to that temperature.

Now here’s the good news. This amazing function of the thermostat isn’t just something reserved for the realm of technology. Most of us have a thermostat that adjusts the temperature of our home environment, but we also all carry with us a thermostat that adjusts the direction of our lives: our vision. If you’re happy with your life, your vision leads you forward as if automatically. If, however, you’re not happy with your life . . . or you feel you can do much better . . . then you need to adjust your thermostat. It’s time to fine-tune your vision.

1. There are countless benefits to having a clear, stated vision. Your vision . . .

• Identifies direction and purpose.
• Provides continuity, so that you can avoid the stutter effect of planning fits and starts.
• Promotes interest and commitment.
• Promotes laser-like focus.
• Results in efficiency and productivity.
• Alerts you and your stakeholders to problems and the need for change.
• Encourages openness to unique and creative solutions.
• Breaks you out of boundary thinking.
• Builds confidence.
• Builds loyalty through involvement.
• Promotes a sense of accountability and ownership.

2. Your vision must incorporate and promote your core beliefs. Your beliefs . . .

• Are a statement of your values.
• Are a public/visible declaration of your expected outcomes.
• Guide the actions of all involved.
• Reflect the knowledge, philosophy, and actions of all involved.
• Must meet your organizational goals as well as your community goals.
• Must be precise and practical.
• Are a foundation for strategic planning.

3. A leader understands—and avoids—the things that kill vision.

• Tradition
• Fear of ridicule
• Short-term thinking
• Stereotypes of people, conditions, roles, and governing councils
• Complacency of stakeholders
• Fatigued leaders
• Naysayers

If you walked into your house and discovered that it was too sweltering hot to move, you wouldn’t just plop down on the couch and live with it. You’d adjust your thermostat. So why do we so often accept less-than-optimal outcomes in our lives? We do have the power to alter the course of our lives. All we have to do is adjust our vision.

When you begin to incorporate the above action steps into your life and business, by first understanding how powerful a vision can be to your future, then beginning to think about what your vision must include and what negative influences it must exclude . . . you’ll find yourself moving forward free of all the old straining and confusion. With a vision, you’ll naturally leave behind ineffective and unsupported behaviors and start leveraging the daily practices that drive you toward success.

But there’s another kind of cancer that is talked about less often, but that is just as insidious. I’m talking about financial cancer. In today’s social and economic climate, financial cancer is spreading rampantly, and its effects are no less devastating than a health-related cancer’s. Like any other cancer, financial cancer starts with one cell—one ill-considered investment, one haphazard financial decision—and spreads quickly, undermining the health of the rest of the body, weakening all of your assets, your entire livelihood.

Creating financial health, wellbeing, and resilience is no different from maintaining physical health. If we want to reduce our risk of succumbing to the plague of financial cancer, we have to be prepared to follow the same path to robust financial health as the Rhino. The Rhino has immunity to financial cancer—and so can you. It’s about choosing consistently, on a daily basis, to incorporate the leadership actions that can act as changing agents in your financial body. Just as you care for your physical body by eating beneficial nutrients and exercising regularly, you can create financial fortitude by incorporating financial nutrients and leadership action that will lead you into an exciting, balanced, healthy life.

• The Rhino is healthy because his net worth is tied to his network. He leverages People Equity. In the health sphere, it’s been proven that people who don’t have a strong support network of family, friends, or colleagues succumb to illness more often than people who have a network to rely on. The same holds true in maintaining the health of your financial body. Our real value does not lie in the objects or assets we own, it lies in the people we connect with. You can’t stand up to financial cancer if you go it alone. Build contacts, mentor your team, ask questions of those who have forged the path ahead of you. Create an indestructible army to help you combat the threat of financial cancer.

• The Rhino never gives up. He knows he is never out of options. Imagine for a moment, those of you who are parents, that your child has been stricken with a deadly cancer. It’s a nightmare that no parent wants to think about—but indulge me for a moment. You know that your child will die if you don’t find a cure for this cancer. Suddenly, you hear of a doctor who practices somewhere on the other side of the country who has a failsafe cure. If you can just find her, she will cure your child. The catch is that you don’t know her name, and your child has a limited amount of time left. You know this doctor exists, she has the cure that will save your child, all you have to do is find her. But how? I guarantee you that you wouldn’t be sitting around in that situation saying, “I don’t have the resources,” or “I don’t know where to start.” You would try everything in your power—you would never run out of options. When you deeply believe there is no limit to your options, that’s when you can truly open your mind to finding a solution. That’s Rhino vision.

• The Rhino knows that it’s up to him to opt out. It’s that easy. You can opt out of the recession; the power is entirely yours. As tough as it is to own up to, we all choose to be affected by the recession—or not to be. It is in your power to say, “I choose to opt out. I choose to find other ways to create income. I choose to connect to new people who can lead me to new resources.” Understand that the future is in your hands, that you can choose to fall prey to the spread of financial cancer, or instead, choose to make healthy decisions and build a robust immune system. That’s the first step in recovering from the blow of the recession . . . and building indestructible Rhino immunity.

It’s true that health-related cancers are a terrifying fact of life in our world. There are some clear steps we can take to avoid them—not smoking, wearing sunscreen—but the reality is that health-related cancers can strike without warning or apparent reason. This is not true of financial cancer. Building Rhino immunity is your choice, and it’s in your power. It’s only a matter of deciding to incorporate, every day, the leadership action steps that will act as changing and reinvigorating agents in your financial body.

Three Ways You Can Re-Engage Your Leadership Communication Today:

1. Mean what you say and do what you say you will do.

2. Stop and listen to your team before you speak.

3. Everyone matters.Throw out old communication habits and using email as the primary form of communication. Work to communicate on a personal inspired level – holding weekly meetings with staff sans the email!

Failure is the main ingredient in the recipe for success; its 10 parts education, 20 parts effort and 70 parts failure. So why do we hang our heads, lower our eyelids, and cover our mouths, drenched in shame and disgrace, when admitting our failures?

It all starts with the competitive arena which has actually made it more difficult for leaders and individuals alike to admit they have failed at something they attempted to do. Competition really starts in the womb and continues on with siblings, school, work, and personal relationships. Are we as individuals so pompous that we actually believe that we will succeed at everything we touch?

The truth is that it’s not necessarily the actual “act” of failure that hits us in the gut, knocking us to our knees; it’s the exercise of having to admit that we actually failed in the first place. That’s where the majority of our “failure” pain comes from. We are hard-wired for failure; we are just not hard-wired to admit it. What we are really craving is positive validation; and we can’t get that from failure… Unless we are able to turn the tables on the dreaded monster.

How do we come back afterward and ensure that we will do a better job the next time? The current crisis on Wall Street and within the technology sector stems from leaders’ avoiding the simple lesson of failure. We’ve all become so busy at not taking responsibility for anything that we’ve lost the opportunity inherent in failure. Historically speaking, there are many who failed before they succeeded. Abe Lincoln was defeated for state legislature and Speaker of the House for Illinois, lost the nomination to Congress and the Vice Presidency, was twice defeated for a seat in the US Senate, lost a job, failed in business and suffered a nervous breakdown, ALL before becoming the 16th President of the United States. “The fact that millions have achieved great success after a ridiculous amount of failure should clearly prove to all that you can achieve success through failure as well.” Did I mention that Lincoln publicly acknowledged his failures? That’s the key to harnessing the power of failure. Admitting it and charging right through it. Success is about leveraging failure after failure without losing your ability to admit it.

A leader must understand that in order to achieve any measurable level of success, failure is necessary. Albert Einstein said, “Insanity consists of doing the same thing over and over and hoping for different results.” One of the most valuable traits one can have as a leader is the ability to closely observe his or her mistakes and learn the lessons that create positive changes so that the next set of challenges presented will result in different outcomes.

Failure should not be seen as an unsuccessful attempt; rather, it can be viewed as a yet-unattained goal or as simply one more step toward eventual success. Leaders can truly embrace their fullest potential by actively embracing failure as the most important ingredient in the recipe for success.
The past can be a validated, comfortable place to hide, but it can also serve as a roadblock to innovation and growth instead of a bridge to a brighter, more prosperous future. Failure is temporary; success is long term. Great Leaders should not shut the door on their failures nor obsess over them endlessly. Instead, they need to use them as a tool with formidable force, as failures are the greatest teaching tool in existence. Observe their failures and analyze them, understanding they are not identified by their mistakes. One can overcome a great deal of fear-based thinking by understanding that we all fail and we all can go on to achieve great success from that failure.

Jack Welch, in his extraordinary book “Winning” notes resilience as one of the most important characteristics a leader can have: “The fourth characteristic [of senior leadership] is heavy-duty resilience. Every leader makes mistakes, every leader stumbles and falls. The question with a senior-level leader is, does she learn from her mistakes, regroup, and then get going again with renewed speed, conviction and confidence? The name for this trait is resilience, and it is important that a leader must have it going into a job because if she doesn’t, in a time of crisis time, is too late to learn it.”

Leaders encourage resilience in their teams by nurturing them through the recognition of failures and by encouraging them to build new and more successful habits in terms of failure. The magnitude of your achievements in life are directly proportional to your triviality of failure. If you don’t believe me, simply stand in the center of a busy airport and consider how many times the Wright Brothers did not get the plane off the ground! Yet they continued to try until they prevailed.

The greater your failure, the greater your potential in life is. Period! Failure is the price we pay to achieve the success, progress and validation that we enjoy in life. It is important as a leader to know that no matter how many times you fail, you are not a failure. Failure does not define you. What you do with failure creates those defining moments that enrich you as a leader.

Altering our failure mind-set assures us that while we cannot avoid failure, we can build on it, as it is the strongest foundation of great success. Reflecting on our experience from a new vantage point allows us to break down failure into specific bite size pieces, which can then be dissected and analyzed, helping us to determine the specific root cause of the failure.

Failure is not reserved for special people–nor is success. The only definitive difference between achievers and those who cease trying is how they approach, handle, and perceive their failures. Once success is achieved, the failures experienced are suddenly recognized as hard work and determination; thus we have achieved that very much sought-after validation.

In 1946 one of the founders of 20th Century Fox, Darryl Zanuck, said, “Television won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.” 20th Century Fox Television was founded in 1949. Mr. Zanuck clearly admitted failure and was obviously validated after the immense amount of success that the company soon garnered from the addition.

As leaders, our job is to keep our goals rooted in reality, but we must also embrace the understanding and opportunities that failure brings. That will indeed make our teams and our missions soar.
As leaders, our mission is to maintain our reality-driven goals, while realizing that without failure, our recipe for success will be missing the main ingredient. Validation is just the icing on the cake.

About.com’s Susan Heathfield on “Curing Employee Negativity” – I really identified with Susan Heathfield’s post on curing employee negativity on her blog. Particularly where Heathfield notes, “When employers understand the causes of employee negativity and put in place measures to prevent employee negativity, negativity fails to gain a foothold in the work environment.”

Negativity is a contagious virus that spreads from one mouth to the next, disempowering everyone and everything in its wake. As a leader you must be vigilant and pro-active in keeping your organization healthy and vital by nurturing a positive, can-do attitude.

This holds true as well for being vigilant about who you keep in your organization. It doesn’t matter how good a person’s work product is if that person is infecting the general atmosphere with an endless stream of negative comments.

And keep in mind being sarcastic can often be a form of negativity as well. The Greek root for the word “sarcasm” is sarkazein, meaning “to tear flesh.” There’s nothing funny about that!