Odyssey Executive Playbook Blog

Self-Worth and Success

Suzanne Allard — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:02:33 +0000

“Before you can win, you have to believe you are worthy.”

-Mike Ditka

If you look at the best people in any field you will find people who believe they are worthy. If you gave me the choice between high intelligence and average self-worth and adequate intelligence and high self-worth, I would take the later everyday of the week! Many very talented people unknowingly hold themselves back from achieving their full potential because they just can’t see their own self-limiting beliefs. Study biographies of successful people and you will see the same story played out with different people, from different fields over and over. In short, they did not listen to the naysayers and they continued to follow their dreams until they were realized. You are the only one responsible for your success, happiness or failure. Give no quarter to excuses!

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How Do Innovators Behave?

Suzanne Allard — Tue, 01 May 2012 15:37:18 +0000

“Innovators are simply much more likely to question, observe, network, and experiment compared to typical executives.”

-The Innovator’s DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators, Jeff Dyer, Hal Gregersen, Clayton Christensen

Research shows that two-thirds of a person’s capacity to innovate is learned, so there is hope for us mere mortals. All of the innovations we have created have been small but have made a significant difference in our business performance and satisfaction within the business. There is a wide spectrum of innovation from small incremental innovations to existing products and services, to new disruptive technologies or approaches that change economies and societies. Innovators are “learners” more than they are “knowers” because innovation is a function of one’s focus and capacity to observe, question, network, associate and experiment. As Steve Jobs said, “Think different” about your business and have fun as you innovate and self-actualize.

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Persistence Is Essential

Suzanne Allard — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:42:51 +0000

“The three things that are most essential to achievement are common sense, hard work and stick-to-it-iv-ness…..”

-Thomas Edison

Our society values immediate gratification, but sometimes we have to discover some of the wrong paths towards success before we discover the right path. We never really fail unless we give up on our goals before we have secured success. Keep the faith and keep moving forward!

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Building A Great Team

Suzanne Allard — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:38:18 +0000

“The key elements in the art of working together are how to deal with change, how to deal with conflict, and how to reach our potential…the needs of the team are best met when we meet the needs of individuals persons.”

-Max De Pree, founder and CEO, Herman Miller, author of Leadership is an Art

It’s basic human nature that people will always be self-interested when it comes to advancing their professional and economic interests. If you are going to build a great team that works toward common goals you must acknowledge and tap into this simple fact of human motivation. Once you acknowledge this basic truth, you can implement a performance and incentive system that aligns self interest and team interest. Dysfunction occurs when you try to advance one at the expense of the other.

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Commitment Accepts Only Results

Suzanne Allard — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 13:20:01 +0000

“When you are just interested in something, you do it only when it is convenient. When you are committed, you accept only results, not excuses.”

-Ken Blanchard

True commitment is rarely denied, because commitment means that you never give up until you achieve your goal. The key for most people is in understanding what is genuinely important to them, because commitment only works when there is authentic burning motivation. If you don’t know yourself well it is difficult to have that kind of clarity. I struggled for 12 years to figure out what I wanted to do professionally. I looked at all kinds of careers, but none seemed to fit me correctly. It was not until I looked inward to identify how I wanted to add value and contribute that I gained clarity on what I was committed to creating.

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High Performance Teams Are Not An Accident

Suzanne Allard — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:24:14 +0000

“The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.”

-Babe Ruth

Teamwork is one of those terms that every leader agrees is important, but the challenge is in making it happen. High performance teams are not an accident or a product of a mysterious recipe. Building a high performance team requires a leadership team committed to: hiring and developing great talent, respectful and trustworthy behavior, shared goals and incentives, clearly defined roles and performance metrics and the willingness to collaborate with others and subordinate individual success for team success. Leaders who can build high performance teams are worth their weight in gold because they have learned how to collectively focus the energy and unlimited potential of great talent.

Team Building in the Workplace That Actually Builds Teams

Excellence Is A Habit

Suzanne Allard — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 17:22:15 +0000

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”

-Aristotle

Our habits are either taking us toward or away from our goals. How you choose to spend your time, mental focus and resources determines what you create. If you are not creating what you want, choose today to spend your time, focus and resources differently. You are the ONLY one that can determine and create the outcomes you desire and no one can stop you from creating what you want unless you let them. Think big, be bold and act today!

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Opportunity Is Right In Front Of Us

Suzanne Allard — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:27:49 +0000

“When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.”

-Alexander Graham Bell

If you have experienced a career, client or project door closing, let it go without regret and be grateful for the opportunity and all that it brought you. Go confidently forward and know you have become stronger as a result of the experiences, skills and relationships you acquired and apply them to the next door YOU choose to open. It is one chapter of a story, not the whole story. Your job is to listen for the next door of opportunity that is knocking!

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Action Will Delineate And Define You

Suzanne Allard — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:24:58 +0000

“Do you want to know who you are? Don’t ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.”

-Thomas Jefferson

When your intentions are honorable, your words humble, and your actions backed by conviction, you inspire greatness in yourself and others. Don’t remain captive to your words and actions of yesterday, because today and everyday provides a new opportunity to define a bigger and better you!

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Our Attitude Is Always Within Our Control

Suzanne Allard — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 12:21:44 +0000

“Circumstances do not make you what you are…they reveal what you are.”

-John Maxwell, author of The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership

Mental toughness is a characteristic that we all benefit from developing. By now most of us have faced many challenges in our lives. The majority of them don’t last forever, but even for the ones that are permanent we have a choice as to how we respond. There are so many people in history that have endured great hardship, but because of the attitude they chose, they did not let it destroy their lives. Our attitude is always within our control and no circumstance or individual can change that unless we choose to give our power away.

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