Enhance the Success of Your New Year’s Goals 2: Overview

This continues our series on setting and achieving New Year’s Goals to improve your life

Just changing your New Year’s Resolutions into New Year’s Goals will not enhance success. You need to do more than change the title. I propose a framework to enhance your success. This framework will not just help you with your career goals. It enhances success of any goal you set. I call it the GoalsWork model. The GoalsWork model uses the word Goals to outline 5 steps to reinforce your success.

GoalsWork to Improve Life

People who set goals achieve more in life. Whether they set goals for careers, businesses, recreation, personal or family life, or mental and spiritual peace—goals work!

Walt Disney, the great dreamer and founder of a magical kingdom, said

• “The era we are living in today is a dream coming true.”
• “Somehow I can’t believe there are many heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true.”

GoalsWork Model

The word Goals forms an acronym to help you remember the model:

• Goals: Set goals that challenge you, that cause you to stretch. Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-sensitive).
• Others: Let others help you achieve your goals, especially people who have already achieved that specific goal or one similar.
• Act: Thinking and talking about your goal to others requires action to achieve it Select 2-4 actions you will perform each month and each week to achieve your goal.
• Limitations: Tackle the established, obstructive, or artificial limitations for your goal. Don’t fear failure, but learn from it.
• Synergy: Build a GoalsWork (or mastermind) team. Meet monthly and share what you have done, results, will do, and ideas to overcome limitations.

I’ve taught this model to thousands of people. Many have used it to improve their career, earn more money, increase family unity, find greater satisfaction in life, and more. I hope you take the time to study it, internalize it, and implement it.

Let GoalsWork for You!

Wednesday we review how setting SMART goals solidifies, in your mind, what to do

Enhance the Success of Your New Year’s Goals 2: Overview

This continues our series on setting and achieving New Year’s Goals to improve your life

Just changing your New Year’s Resolutions into New Year’s Goals will not enhance success. You need to do more than change the title. I propose a framework to enhance your success. This framework will not just help you with your career goals. It enhance success of any goal you set. I call it the GoalsWork model. The GoalsWork model uses the word Goals to outline 5 steps to reinforce your success.

GoalsWork to Improve Life

People who set goals achieve more in life. Whether they set goals for careers, businesses, recreation, personal or family life, or mental and spiritual peace—goals work!

Walt Disney, the great dreamer and founder of a magical kingdom, said

• “The era we are living in today is a dream coming true.”
• “Somehow I can’t believe there are many heights that can’t be scaled by a man who knows the secret of making dreams come true.”

GoalsWork Model

The word Goals forms an acronym to help you remember the model:

• Goals: Set goals that challenge you, that cause you to stretch. Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-sensitive).
• Others: Let others help you achieve your goals, especially people who have already achieved that specific goal or one similar.
• Act: Thinking and talking about your goal to others requires action to achieve it Select 2-4 actions you will perform each month and each week to achieve your goal.
• Limitations: Tackle the established, obstructive, or artificial limitations for your goal. Don’t fear failure, but learn from it.
• Synergy: Build a GoalsWork (or mastermind) team. Meet monthly and share what you have done, results, will do, and ideas to overcome limitations.

I’ve taught this model to thousands of people. Many have used it to improve their career, earn more money, increase family unity, find greater satisfaction in life, and more. I hope you take the time to study it, internalize it, and implement it.

Let GoalsWork for You!

Wednesday we review how setting SMART goals solidifies, in your mind, what to do

Set New Year’s Goals, Not New Year’s Resolutions

Today and Monday we return to one of my favorite topics setting goals to grow

Each year millions of people resolve to change their life in the next twelve months. They resolve to lose weight, stop smoking, reduce debt, and scores of other good ideas. Unfortunately, resolutions seem to fade within a month. Most people cannot remember more than one or two of them by March. That’s why I prefer goals. Eleanor Roosevelt was attributed as saying “Goals are dreams with a deadline.”

Difference Between Goals and Resolutions

Why do we fail to achieve New Year’s Resolutions?  Writers and researchers cite various reasons:

• Making too many resolutions or unrealistic resolutions
• Surrounding yourself with temptation, but not with personal or social support
• Creating resolutions in the midst of emotion, but not planning action to succeed
• Failing to identify the factors that contribute to the behavior you wish to change
• Keeping the resolutions in your head and not writing them down and reading them

I believe the major difference between goals and resolutions involve the depth of our commitment and the action we dedicate to accomplishing the goals. We will discuss how assure success in our next post.

Roles in Which to Set Goals

I like Stephen R. Covey’s framework for looking at your life and setting goals. He provides a simple structure that allows you to identify the areas of your life you wish to improve and what you want to accomplish.

He used the term “Roles and Goals” in describing a method to implement the habit Begin with the End in Mind. 

• Roles:  refer to the our identities like mother, wife, manager, female, and Catholic
• Goals outline what you wish to accomplish for each role like increase my productivity by 10%. You can identify your goals by asking yourself “What is the most important things I can do in this role this year? This month? This week?

Take a few hours in the next few days to identify your roles and set your goals.

Monday we review how the GoalsWork model enhances chance that you achieve your goals

Let Us Praise the Heroic Teachers in All Our Cities

I wanted to applaud public teachers in our country in the aftermath of the tragedy in Newtown

The country responds to innocent lives terminated for unknown reasons by a twenty-year old assassin with no previous concerns or problems. While parents bury children, Congress and politicians debate gun control or freedoms. I would like to focus, instead, on the remarkable and heroic actions of public education teachers.

Teachers Deserve More Respect

Recently, many people have criticized public teachers  and public education. While some teachers may deserve the attacks, most teachers work hard and dedicate their lives to their students, and little pay.

Teachers in Newtown proved heroism when they barricaded doors  to delay the shooter so students could escape, or the principal and another teacher who died lunging to stop him.

One Teacher’s Opinion

My daughter posted the following on Facebook the day after the shooting in Newtown:

"My thoughts, like many others yesterday, were thoughts of sadness. I've been feeling lots of things through this, having lived around that area and knowing loved ones close to where this happened. But as I saw this story, one thought came to mind.... I am grateful to be a public education teacher. To be ranked with so many others, who on a daily basis, put others needs far above their own.

I work with and know many teachers, and know that many of their first thoughts, like mine were...."How would I keep my students safe if this happened?" I am grateful that I can be in a job where you do love those children you teach, and would do anything for them. I know some people would say that not having them in public schools would be the best.

I know that horrible things happen. I can say this for most teachers, our number one priority is ALWAYS our students!! I am grateful for 24 parents, that entrust their children to me everyday. I am grateful for those 24 students in my life. I am grateful to be a public education teacher!!!!!"

Friday we will discuss setting goals—and keeping them—in the new year

Merry Christmas! We Need His Peace More Than Ever

May the peace from the Lord’s atonement comfort and strengthen the families in Newton

I’m writing this the day after innocent children and brave teachers lost their lives in Newton, Connecticut. Ironically, this post will publish on Christmas Eve. I mourn, with the nation, for the lost birthdays, graduations, weddings, and families. I grieve with the spouses, children, and families of the adults. The tragedy hit deeper because my daughter acted as a nanny for a family just 20 miles from Newtown. Their neighbor, a police officer, responded to the call. He said the day started normal and then descended into pandemonium. We need to remember Christ’s promises.

Peach on Earth! Goodwill to Men

We celebrate his birth when angles declared “good tidings of great joy that shall be to all men.” They promised “Peace on earth1 Goodwill toward all men (meaning men and women). He lifted people around him with His love and teachings.

He taught doctrine that was hard to follow then, and still today. He taught us to not only love our neighbor, but to love our enemy, to turn our cheek when smitten, and to forgive those who despitefully use us 7 times 70.

Took Upon Himself Our Pains, Sorrows, Trials & Sins

Isaiah declared that

• “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief:
• “Surely he hath borne our grief's, and carried our sorrows:
• “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities”
• “With His stripes we are healed”
• “The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” 

John, his beloved apostle, quoted the Lamb of God:

• “I will not leave you comfortless”
• “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid”

We receive His peace when we accept his gift. The sacrifices at Gethsemane and Calgary give meaning to the birth in Bethlehem. 

Wednesday we discuss how you can use the time between the holidays to grow your career

Unemployment Benefits Expiring Across the Country

This post analyzes statements in the press about unemployment benefits finally expiring

Unemployment benefits, that congress extended 10 times in the past 4 years, have already begun expiring for people around the country. Prior to the recession, unemployment benefits provided income for 26 weeks. At the height of the recession Congress allowed people to receive a check for up to 99 weeks.

Reductions Already Kicking In Throughout the Country

News stories describe unemployment benefits ending in November, December, and January. Here are links to just a few of the stories:

• Iowa
• Rhode Island
• Washington
• California
• New York
• Michigan

Negative Consequences If Benefits Expire

Unemployment benefits both help out-of-work people and hurt them. On the one hand, they help people with no income to survive. As we heard in the election, 23 million people lost their jobs in the last 4 years. They worked to earn the benefit. Their employers paid into the program. The people needed money to live.

Ending the benefits may make things worse. The Huffington Post published

“The looming expiration of extended unemployment insurance will cost the U.S. nearly half a million jobs, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

A Wednesday report from the progressive D.C. think tank finds dropping the benefits would cost 400,000 jobs next year. That's because no benefits means no "multiplier effect" -- an economic boost from unemployed people spending their checks right away on necessities."

Negative Consequences If Benefits Extend

On the other hand, extending benefits allows people to put off looking for a job (even though hundreds of thousands dropped out of the job market last month). Every time the expiration deadline looms close, our office quadruples traffic of people who suddenly need to have a job because their unemployment benefits are going to expire. One article described how thousands of Californians found work almost immediately when they thought their benefits would expire.

Some unemployed people rely on unemployment checks and take a vacation to take care of the family or fix household problems.

Monday we discuss things you can do during the holidays to gain recognition at work

Lower Unemployment: People Stopped Looking

This time I rant about the deceptive unemployment figures last Friday

On Friday, December 7, 2012 the Department of Labor announced that the economy had created 146,000 jobs. They announced that the unemployment rate dropped to 7.7%, the lowest since 2008.

Unemployment Declined for the “Wrong” Reason

In the midst of headlines and hoopla of lower unemployment rates, a phrase appeared in almost every story. Let me share the phrase from several different sources (You can read the entire article by following the link):

• Bureau of Labor Statistics: “The remaining 1.5 million persons marginally attached to the labor force in November had not searched for work in the 4 weeks preceding the survey”
• CNN Money: “it fell due mainly to workers dropping out of the labor force.”
• NY Times: “a significant number of workers remain discouraged, prompting them to drop out of the job hunt”
• Reuters: “was due to a decrease in the size of the labor force, a suggestion that frustrated Americans were giving up the hunt for work.”
• Christian Science Monitor: “The decline in unemployment, meanwhile, came because of what many economists call the "wrong" reason – people dropping out of the labor force. ”

Reasons for “Discouraged” and “Withdrawn” Job Seekers

The story behind the story, the unemployment rate did not fall because the economy generated so many jobs. Most were surprised that Super storm Sandy did not slow the job market as much as economists predicted. None of the stories, that I read, about the unemployment rate mentioned the 18,000 people laid off by the closure of Hostess Bakery, or the 14,000 laid off by JP Chase Bank, or the other closures that occurred in November,

People gave up and stopped looking for several reasons. They:

• Believe the want ads and employment boards accurately reflect the job market
• Doubt the president and congress can avoid taking us all off the economic cliff
• Focus on family, household, and other activities instead of hunting for a job
• Fail to impress hiring authorities before they need someone

Friday we will discuss predictions about the upcoming elimination unemployment payments

Land the Job You Love 1: Stop Saying Stupid Stuff

I hope this helps you if you are looking for a job, and by the way Merry Christmas

I help thousands of people a year find jobs. Many of them land jobs they love. Over the years, we proved that three actions can accelerate your job search: 1) Call 10 people a day, 2) Schedule 10 meetings/interviews a week, and 3) Say what will make them want to hire you. You have to get the third one right for the first two to work effectively..

“I’m looking for a job” Will Not Get You in Their Office

This story represents multiple similar situations. One of my staff worked with Paul (not his real name) for several months. Paul wants a job in retail management. He contacted 10 companies a day for 9 weeks. Not one person interviewed him. Finally, my staff asked me to meet with Paul.

I asked Paul to tell me what he said to potential employers when he met with them. His entire conversation boiled down to '”I’m looking for a job. I saw that you have a “help wanted” sign out front. May I talk to you?” I asked him “What did you tell me that would make me want to let you into my office?” He said, “I’m looking for a job and you have a help wanted sign.”

Give Them Proof of What You Did

After 8 minutes of saying “That won’t make them want to let them into their office. Try again”; he told me “As a store manager, I achieved my sales goals every month for 2 years and exceeded them by $XX 10 out of 24 months.” Dear reader, would that make you want to learn more about this man?

Business owners and managers want people who can 1) get the job they want done, 2) fit into the organization, and 3) give good return on their investment. Prove you can do that and they will let you in their office, not “I’m looking for a job.”

Wednesday we will examine how many people stopped looking for work without a job

Income Trends 6: Can People Reverse the Income Gap

This concludes our series examining economic trends widening the income gap in America

One of the issues Pulling Apart a State-by-State Analysis on Income Trends asks and answers the question “Do Low-Income Families Move Quickly up the Economic Ladder?”  The question resonates. If you cannot change the direction and reverse the gap, the world looks pretty dismal. If, however, you can move up the economic ladder then hope can stimulate change.

Temporary Low-Income Situations

The study reviews how income gaps have occurred in the last 30 years and increased significantly in the past 10 years. The researchers then give hope:

Short-term Mobility versus Long-term Mobility

• “Some families, however, have low incomes for only a few years and quickly move into the middle class.
  • For example, the parents of a young child may be working part time while finishing college. The family’s income might be very low for a few years,
  • After both parents graduate from college and obtain well paying jobs, the family’s income could increase substantially.”
• “Most low-income families have low incomes for many years.
  • In the short term, workers in the bottom fifth of the income distribution experience very little income mobility.
  • In the early 1990s, 75% of individuals who were in the bottom fifth in year one were still in the bottom fifth the next year.

Mobility Improves Somewhat Longer Period of Time

• During the 1970s-1990s, about half of the individuals who started in the bottom fifth had moved up the income ladder after ten years.
  • However, the rest of the individuals remained in the bottom fifth
  • Half of those who did move up the income ladder only rose to the second-lowest quintile
• Faster movement up the economic ladder could offset the problems of greater income inequality
• Studies show that the income mobility of black families is half that of white families

Concluding Thought

We must reverse income gaps. Paying living wages encourages people to work. Higher wages gives people hope they can improve life. They believe they can achieve the American Dream.

Monday we encourage you to stop saying stupid things when looking for a job

Income Trends 5: Impact of Education and Other Facts

This continues our series reviewing the findings of research on income inequality

In this post we will discuss the correlation between incomes and educational levels. We will also share additional facts found in the studies. The studies highlight so many statistics that you could easily miss their significance. So, let me summarize America is dividing itself from a middle-class based society into one where the richest 5% significantly out earn 80% of all other Americans.

 

Impact of Education on Income Equality

Pulling Apart a State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends says “Several factors contributed to increasing wage inequality, including long periods of high unemployment, globalization, the shrinkage of manufacturing jobs and the expansion of low-wage service jobs and immigration, as well as the lower real value of the minimum wage and fewer and weaker unions.

• Wages plummeted for workers with less than a college education, (lowest-earning 70% of the workforce) .
• More recently, even those with a college education experienced real wage declines”

Pulling Apart continues “fundamental changes in the United States economy contributed to disparities in low- and middle-income workers relative to highly skilled, highly paid workers.

• The shift from manufacturing to services led to an increase in the number of low-paying jobs and a decline in higher-paying jobs for workers with less than a college education.
• 1979-2003 manufacturing  jobs fell 25% and service jobs rose 115% in service industries (46% in retail alone).
  • Services/retail trade industries accounted for 79% of net job growth 1979-2000.
  • In 2002, the retail trades paid just 55% of manufacturing jobs.”

Other Statistics Shared by the Studies

• The U.S. currently has more income inequality than Pakistan or the Ivory Coast
• Emmanuel Saez found the top 1% captured 93% of growth in income during the first year after the recovery
• The bottom 20% lost 6% of real income in 10 years while the highest 5%r increased by 8.6%
• In the late 1970s the top 5% earned 11.7 times what the bottom fifth earned and grew to 14.1 by the mid-2000s

Friday we discuss the ability of low-income families to move quickly up the economic ladder

Income Trends 4: Causes Contributing to Income Gaps

This continues our series describing the causes and consequences of the income gap

Income gaps affect families in upper, middle, & lower incomes. Income in the top 5% rose between the late 1970s and mid-2000s by more than $100,000 (adjusting for inflation). By contrast, the largest increase in the bottom fifth was $5,620. In the 1970s incomes for the top 5% were 2.5 times the middle 20%, by the 2000s they were more than 4 times as much. Pulling Apart a State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends declares “Several factors have contributed to the large and growing income gaps in most states.”

Growth in wage inequality has been the biggest factor 

• “Wages at the bottom and middle have been stagnant or grown modestly for 30 years. 
• Wages of the very highest-paid employees have grown significantly.
• Over the last 30 years, the nation has seen
  • Increasingly long periods of high unemployment
  • More intense competition from foreign firms
  • Shift in the mix of jobs from manufacturing to services
  • Advances in technology that have changed jobs. 
  • Share of workers in unions also fell significantly.
• Today, inequality between low- and high-income households — and between middle- and high-income households — is greater than it was in the late 1970s or the late 1990s.”

Government Policies 

“Government actions — and, in some cases, inaction — have contributed to the increase in wage and income inequality in most states.  Examples include

• Deregulation and trade liberalization
• Weakening of the safety net
• Lack of effective laws concerning the right to collective bargaining
• Declining real value of the minimum wage
• Changes in federal, state, and local tax structures and benefit programs have accelerated the trend toward growing inequality.”

Expansion of investment income. 

• “Forms of income such as dividends, rent, interest, and capital gains, which primarily accrue to those at the top of the income structure, rose substantially as a share of total income during the 1990s.
• Large increase in corporate profits during the economic recovery after the 2001 recession also widened inequality by boosting investors’ incomes.”

Wednesday we review the impact of higher education on income trends and gaps

Income Trends 3: Long-Term & Short-Term 10-30 Years

This continues our review of recent studies about income gaps between rich and poor

The study described how they measured trends, “To assess how households at different income levels have fared, this report measures income inequality at four points in time: the late 1970s, the late 1990s, and the mid- and late 2000s.”

Gap Widened Significantly Since the Late 1970’s

They outlined the following nationwide trends since 1970:

• “Income gaps between the richest households and both the poorest households and middle-income households have widened significantly since the late 1970s.”
• “The incomes of the country’s richest households have climbed substantially over the past three decades”
• “But middle- and lower-income households have seen only modest increases or actual declines after adjusting for inflation.”
• “This trend is in marked contrast to the broadly shared increases in prosperity that prevailed between World War II and the 1970s.”
• “On average across the 50 states, incomes fell by close to 6 percent among the bottom fifth between the late 1990s and the mid-2000s while rising by 8.6 percent among the top fifth.”

Short-term Trends Since 1990s

They continue “In the latter half of the 1990s, a number of factors helped boost the incomes of low- and moderate- income families. Economic growth sped up, and productivity and average real wages grew more quickly.”

• “Low- and moderate-income wage earners did not fare nearly as well in the 2001-2007 expansion.”
• “Even though productivity grew more quickly during this period than in the latter 1990s, slow job creation led to stagnating or declining real wages for these workers.”
• “Even as high-income families recovered from the hit their incomes took as a result of the stock market decline and saw their incomes grow rapidly.”
• “Average household incomes fell among all income classes during the 2007-2009 recession”
• “The large capital losses associated with the stock market crash — which disproportionately affected wealthier households — drove inequality down.”
• “The economy has since begun to grow again, and while incomes at the top have begun to rebound,”
• “Incomes among poor and middle-income households have not.”

Monday we analyze causes and consequences of rising inequality

Income Trends 2: Problems from the Income Gap

This continues our series analyzing the income gap

Studies released in the last month revealed a growing gap between incomes of the average and richest Americans. Too many of the former middle class were pushed into poverty. Yet, too many people, like the frog in the pot of water slowly coming to a boil, do not recognize the major problems with the income gap.

Consequences of the Income Gap

Pulling Apart a State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends cites several challenges:

“It is a basic American belief that hard work should pay off — that individuals who contribute to the nation’s economic growth should reap the benefits of that growth. Over the past three decades, however, the benefits of economic growth have been skewed in favor of the wealthiest members of society. Rising income inequality not only raises basic issues of fairness but also adversely affects our economy and political system.

A widening gulf between the richest Americans and those at the bottom or middle of the income scale can reduce social cohesion, trust in government and other institutions, and participation in the democratic process.:

• “Discrepancies in political influence in federal, state, and local government”
• “Richest Americans have less contact with everyone else—and thus familiarity with their problems”
• “Increased disparity in the quality of schools…makes it harder for children in low-income families to acquire the skills they need to succeed”
• Richer families living in the suburbs—and sending their children to private schools—“lose sight of the need to support public schools”
• “A link between higher levels of inequality and poor schools, substandard housing, and higher levels of crime”
• “A strong connection between income inequality and social problems such as mental health, violence, drug abuse, and poor educational performance”
• “Widens the gap between housing costs and what households particularly renters with very low incomes—can afford to pay”
• “When low-wage jobs do not pay enough to lift a family our of poverty and when the incomes of the poorest families grow only slowly or not at all, policies that encourage work cannot succeed”

Friday we examine long-term and short-term income trends that created gaps

Income Trends 1: Overview

This begins a series examining several studies of income statistics in 2011

Do you feel that your income falls behind your output every month? Are you one of the millions who used to be in the middle class—but now find yourself officially listed in poverty? Recent studies indicate you are right! Income for the average American increased 2.8% to $34,053 while CEOs for S&P companies rose 13.9% to $12.94 million. In other words, income for most Americans increased $953.48. CEO incomes increased $1,790 million.

Recent Studies Confirm Increasing Income Gap

One study, Pulling Apart a State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends released November 15 jointly by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. Their study analyzed data from the U.S. Census' Bureau’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement (formerly called the March Current Population Survey). The other release, Trends in CEO Pay, issued by the AFL-CIO but using data from Salary.com, the U.S. Departments of Labor and the Census. I acknowledge all three sources represent liberal perspectives.

Pulling Apart concludes “Over the three decades since the late 1970s, states have not experienced broadly shared growth. While overall, the economy of the United States has grown over the period, most of the benefits of that growth have accrued to families at the top of the income distribution, lower-income families and families in the middle of the income distribution have seen their income grow only slowly. This has widened the gap in income between high-income families and poor and middle-class families.”

Multiple Findings in the Research

The studies included additional insights:

• Why the income gap is a problem
• Recent trends since the 1990s
• Long-term trend: The Late 1970s to the mid 2000s
• Causes and Consequence of Rising Inequality
• The impact of high school and college education on the income gap
• How easy is it to move up to higher incomes

We will examine these topics in the next few blogs. The findings of this research affects your career and career growth.

Wednesday we explore why the income gap is a problem, not just for you, but for society

Income Trends 1: Overview

This begins a series examining several studies of income statistics in 2011

Do you feel that your income falls behind your output every month? Are you one of the millions who used to be in the middle class—but now find yourself officially listed in poverty? Recent studies indicate you are right! Income for the average American increased 2.8% to $34,053 while CEOs for S&P companies rose 13.9% to $12.94 million. In other words, income for most Americans increased $953.48. CEO incomes increased $1,790 million.

Recent Studies Confirm Increasing Income Gap

One study, Pulling Apart a State-by-State Analysis of Income Trends released November 15 jointly by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Economic Policy Institute. Their study analyzed data from the U.S. Census' Bureau’s Annual Social and Economic Supplement (formerly called the March Current Population Survey). The other release, Trends in CEO Pay, issued by the AFL-CIO but using data from Salary.com, the U.S. Departments of Labor and the Census. I acknowledge all three sources represent liberal perspectives.

Pulling Apart concludes “Over the three decades since the late 1970s, states have not experienced broadly shared growth. While overall, the economy of the United States has grown over the period, most of the benefits of that growth have accrued to families at the top of the income distribution, lower-income families and families in the middle of the income distribution have seen their income grow only slowly. This has widened the gap in income between high-income families and poor and middle-class families.”

Multiple Findings in the Research

The studies included additional insights:

• Why the income gap is a problem
• Recent trends since the 1990s
• Long-term trend: The Late 1970s to the mid 2000s
• Causes and Consequence of Rising Inequality
• The impact of high school and college education on the income gap
• How easy is it to move up to higher incomes

We will examine these topics in the next few blogs. The findings of this research affects your career and career growth.

Wednesday we explore why the income gap is a problem, not just for you, but for society

Christensen, Gregersen & Dyer’s The Innovator’s DNA

Clayton Christensen, Jeff Dyer, & Hal Gregersen wrote The Innovator’s DNA—I loved it

My family used to play a game we called “What is it?”. A family member would hold up on object and ask “What is it?”. Everyone would then call out their answers. The answers varied because the rules prohibited saying what the obvious answer seemed to be. Little did we know that the game developed our innovator’s DNA.

Our family buzzed as we read The Innovator’s DNA. We reminisced, laughed, and appreciated our parents for developing our innovative skills and abilities. I heard Jeff Dyer speak about the research and read the book. I highly recommend you get it and read it.

5 Traits of the Innovator’s DNA

The authors reviewed research on twins that indicated innovative tendencies are not genetic. So, the title of the book does not reflect gene pool DNA. Instead the Innovator’s DNA refers to five character traits and skills common to all innovators. Innovators:

• Associate: Innovators combine seemingly diverse items into something new. The authors share an example how thinking of both a washing machine and a microwave generated a dishwasher that fit in a kitchen sink
• Question: Innovators frequently question the status quo. They ask “What if…?”, “What is…?”, and questions that contain explosive innovation.
• Observe: Innovators observe issues closely. The authors described how what Steve Jobs observed during a visit to Xerox’s PARC generated ideas for both the mouse and graphic based OS10 (which later changed software and inspired MS Windows)
• Network: Innovators network with others to gather more information, observe more, and learn more. They seek out people from different backgrounds or ways of thinking to gain additional insights and changes.
• Experiment: Innovators experiment to try different approaches, different products, or different ideas. Experimentation expands their understanding. Innovators do not fear failure, but use it to increase their learning.

Our family made games to develop these skills. We thought everyone did. The authors highlight that people can learn each of these skills to innovate.

Monday we will begin analyzing a new report highlighting the growing salary gap in America

Increase Your Visibility to the Right People at Work

We share this tip to help you earn the biggest raises and the best promotions

Increasing your visibility at work enhances your consideration for better promotions and higher raises. Managers promote people they know, like, and trust to provide solid return on investments. In other words, they must know you to promote you. Increasing visibility lets more people know you.

Do a Good Job

Increase your visibility at work by doing a good job—and more.

• Find ways to help others and your boss
• Continually improve your skills.
• Share your abilities with others
• Seek out assignments and projects that allow you to contribute to improving the organization
• Network with others in the organization to learn more
• Ask questions to learn more and explore ways to improve
• Observe what others do on the job and imitate their best practices
• Communicate the results of your efforts to your supervisor and others with home run statements. Home Run Statements contain four parts related to a baseball field:
• 1st Base: State the company or division you benefited
• 2nd Base: Briefly explain what action you took to solve the problem
• 3rd Base: Outline the results and benefits of your actions
• Home Plate: Verify that your results met the desired outcome

Seek to Improve the Organization

Avoid self-serving motives to improve your visibility. Self-serving motives taint the good you do. People will label you as a brownnoser, kiss-up, or worse.

Truly seek the improvement of the organization in your efforts. Sincerely seek to make your boss look good and to increase the productivity, effectiveness, efficiency, and quality of the organization. That means you must change your focus from yourself to the organization.

Friday we will review what Clayton Christensen and Jeff Dyer call The Innovator’s DNA

Give Thanks for Your Career, Your Friends, Your Family, & Your Faith

This weekend take time to give thanks for all that you have received.

We thank you for sharing your time with us over the last several months.

Finding Funding for College: Add Social Media Evidence

This adds more information on how to find funding to pay for college

A while ago I shared a series on how to find funding for college. I shared how to find funding, how to prepare reusable materials (including master applications, reusable essays, letters of recommendation and more). Today we shall add some ideas on how to use social media—especially Facebook—to help convince scholarship committees.

Identify Your Themes and Home Run Statements

Scholarship committees seek to reward people for personal qualities, accomplishments, and contributions to the community. You establish themes in life by the activities and interests you repeatedly perform. Most people establish 3-4 themes in their lives. You probably have also.

You need to add breadth and depth to prove that you are not narrow or shallow. You show breadth by sub-dividing each theme into three categories

Possible themes (with categories in parenthesis) include:

• Leadership (in the community, in school, in church)
• Services (to school,  to your church, to your community)
• Academics (top 3 subjects: English, Math, Science)
• Athletics (football, basketball, track)
• Creative Talent (vocal music, instrumental music, dance)
• Civic Activist (environmental, civil rights, battered women and children)
• Ethnic Identity (raised in one culture, schooled in a different culture, blending both)
• Survivor (child of alcoholic parents, abused childhood, coping with both)
• Entrepreneurship (1st business, 2nd business, 3rd business)

You then prepare 3 home run statements for each category.

Add Pictures and Information to Social Media

Scholarship committees began reviewing applicant’s Facebook pages and other social media channels. You can use your social media to reinforce your themes to the scholarship committees:

• Create a photo gallery for each of your themes
• Add pictures of your activities with captions explaining what you did
  • Service: “Gina, Barbara, and I really had fun preparing hygiene kits for survivors of the 2011 tsunami in Japan”
  • Leadership: “I chaired the committee of these high school students that raised $12,000 to provide sub-for-Santa to 255 disadvantaged families”
  • Athletics: “Here I blocked the goal that gave our soccer team the state championships”

Wednesday we will discuss how to increase your visibility at work for more promotions

Covey’s Speed of Trust 24: Examples of 13 Behaviors

This continues examples of Stephen M. R. Covey’s Behaviors that rebuild relationship trust

Stephen M. R. Covey states “The second wave—Relationship Trust—is all about behavior…consistent behavior.” He outlines 13 Behaviors that instill relationship trust or rebuild it. I share another example demonstrating how the behaviors improved trust, increased speed, and decreased costs. I refer to the same conference that I described two posts ago.

Behaviors That Lost Relationship Trust

I attended a conference where attendees had lost trust in their executive management. Three years of uncertainty, mixed messages, and rumors of closing operations drained the trust. The week before the conference the corporation spun the international operations into a different group and stuck the domestic operations into a competing division.

During the conference the attendees would not engage in presentations. They responded to case studies, questions, and discussions with prolonged silence. Repeated requests to respond still met with silence. In addition, the headquarters staff tended to tell rather than listen to the staff.

Benefits of Using the 13 Behaviors

Half way through the second day, one of the corporate managers recognized the lack of trust. He stopped in the middle of his presentation and indicated a willingness to stop, listen, and talk.

He openly discussed the challenges facing the division. He indicated the uncertainty and mixed messages of the previous three years. He openly acknowledged that details of the merger and its consequence to the operations were still evolving. He listened to concerns, questions, and worries of field staff. He explained why they followed the themes of the previous director.

To use Covey’s terms, he talked straight (behavior 1), demonstrated respect (behavior 2), created transparency (behavior 3), righted wrongs (behavior 4), showed loyalty (behavior 5), confronted reality (behavior 8), and listened first (behavior 11).

One participant expressed the feelings of her colleagues when she thanked him for the transparency, trust, and respect that he demonstrated.

The trust in the room increased and the rest of the conference proceeded much faster.

Monday we will describe examples of improving the reputation to improve market trust

Covey’s Speed of Trust 23: Personal Self-Trust Issues

This continues our series exploring The Speed of Trust issues in real life

Stephen M. R. Covey outlined how a loss of credibility lowers self-trust. Credibility depends on your character and competence. Character grows from trust in your integrity and intent. People judge your competence based on your capabilities and results.

Misconstrued Intent Lowers Trust

Covey defines integrity based on congruence, humility, and courage. When our actions are congruent with our principles our integrity increases

Intent also influences how much people trust you. People judge your intent based on your motive, your agenda, and your behavior. Once again, when people doubt or misunderstand any of these three their trust in you goes down.

Let me share a personal example..People frequently misunderstand my motives, my agenda, and, consequently, my behavior. For instance, I tend to ask questions other people have not considered. I consider myself pretty slow to grasp issues. My intent is to find answers to clarify my understanding or to probe future consequences of directives, policies, and procedures.

Unfortunately, I failed to communicate my intent or my motives. My tone of voice also indicated a defensiveness or resistance which were not part of my intent. As a result of both the tone of voice and my failure to communicate my intent, people considered me to be cantankerous and resistant to direction. One person stated they “cringed every time I said something in webinars.”

Clarifying Intent Increases Trust

The lack of trust in my intent and motivation, led to doubt about my character. The lack of trust in my character completely nullified trust in my capabilities or results. My competence counted for nothing because of my flawed character.

Reading Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust highlighted my problems. I implemented several of Covey’s suggestions at a recent conference with my colleagues. I began sentences by defining my intent. I thought about my questions before I asked them. I found that people listened to me. My self-trust increased. Covey’s tips work. You can rebuild trust.

Friday we will analyze real world applications of problems with relationship trust

Covey’s Speed of Trust 22: Low Trust=Low Speed

This continues personal examples related to Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust

Stephen M. R. Covey asserts that when trust is high, speed increases and costs decrease. He also asserts when trust goes down, then speed decreases and costs increase. I concur with Covey. Let me share an example I recently witnessed.

Decreasing Trust

Recently, I attended a conference involving employees of one division of the same corporation. The division director requested the field employees read Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust.  The conference theme dealt with rebuilding trust in the division’s brand.

The corporation spent three years prior to the conference in a strategic transition study.  Executives frequently implied major changes for this division, including rumors they would close all the operations for this division. Employees who retired or left were not replaced.

Five months before the conference the rumors ceased. A new director reassured employees the division survived. He worked to rebuild the brand and restore confidence of the employees. He wanted the conference to restore trust and set a long-term direction. That’s why he asked them to read The Speed of Trust.

The week before the conference, corporate executives spun the international operations off to a completely different group. They merged the US and Canadian operations under a competing division in the company. The director went with the international operations.

Not a Lot of Trust in this Room

The remaining division headquarters staff continued with the conference, including the themes of the previous director. Half the domestic division heard the presentations before the split and half had not. They didn’t want the division to receive different messages. They also could not forecast changes the merger would create.

As the headquarters staff tried to present, the field staff did not engage. They answered questions, case studies, and discussions with stony silence. It was painful. During a break, one of the field employees commented “There’s not a lot of trust in that room.”

The lack of trust slowed the communications to a standstill.

Wednesday we share an example how misunderstood intent lowers trust

Covey’s Speed of Trust 21: Restore Trust When it is Lost

This concludes our review of  Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust

The author writes “The nature of life is such that all of us will undoubtedly have to deal with broken trust at some time—maybe a number of times—during our lives. Sometimes we do something stupid. We make a mistake in a personal or professional relationship, and we’re brought up short by a severely depleted or even overdrawn Trust Account. Suddenly suspicious replaces synergy.”

When You Break Trust

The author counsels “If you’ve broken trust with someone else, it’s an opportunity to get your own act together, to improve your character and competence, to behave in ways that inspire trust. Hopefully this will influence the behavior in ways that inspire trust and will influence the offended party to restore trust in you. But even if it doesn’t your effort may well affect others in positive ways, and it will definitely enable you to create more high-trust relationships in the future.”

“Keep in mind that when you talk about restoring trust, you’re talking about changing someone else’s feeling about you and confidence in you. And that’s not something you can control. You can’t force people to trust you. You can’t make them have confidence in you. They may be dealing with other issues in their own lives that make the challenge more difficult for them.”

“By strengthening your Cores and making habits of the Behaviors, you will increase your ability to establish or restore trust in other situations and relationships throughout your life.”

When Someone Breaks Trust with You

He continues “If someone has broken trust with you, it’s an opportunity for you to grow in your ability to forgive, to learn how to extend Smart Trust, and to maximize whatever dividends are possible in the relationship.”

“For you to restore trust to someone who has broken it is a choice only you can make. I suggest you consider two guidelines:”

• “Don’t be too quick to judge”
• “Do be quick to forgive”

Monday I will share personal stories that I now realize were trust taxes or dividends

Covey’s Speed of Trust 20: Wave 5—Societal Trust

This continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I confess that this chapter may have moved me more than the others—and they really touched me. Once again, please buy The Speed of Trust and put it into action.

Covey shares a quote from a Financial Times editorial “Executives tempted to take shortcuts should remember the dictum of Confucius that good government needs weapons, food, and trust. If the ruler cannot hold onto all three, he should give up weapons first and food next. Trust should be guarded to the end, because ‘without trust, we cannot stand.”

An Example from McDonald’s

Covey shares a story from the riots that followed the Rodney King trial. He pointed out that in all the neighborhoods destroyed by fire, looting, and riot; “Amazingly all the McDonald’s restaurants with in the devastated area were untouched. They stood as unscathed beacons in the midst of the blackened ruins.”

“Obviously the question arose: Why should the McDonald’s buildings be left standing when nearly everything around them was destroyed? The responses of local residents carried a common thread: ‘McDonald’s  cares about our community. They support literacy efforts and sports programs. Young people know they can always get a job at ‘Mickey D’s.’ No one would want  to destroy something that doe so much good for us all.”

“McDonald’s sense of social responsibility created societal trust, and that trust produced clearly observable and measurable results.”

The Principle of Contribution

Covey writes “The overriding principles of societal trust is contribution. It’s the intent to create value instead of destroy it, to give back instead of take. And more and more, people are realizing how important contribution—and the causes it inspires—are to a healthy society.”

Covey talks of personal, global contributions. “We see that trust at the Fifth Wave is a direct result of trustworthiness that begins in the First Wave and flows outward in our relationships, in our organizations, and in the marketplace to fill society as a whole”

“Friday we conclude our review of the book with how to rebuild trust when it’s lost

Covey’s Speed of Trust 19: Wave 4—Market Trust

This continues our series reviewing Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust

Covey says “Market Trust is all about brand or reputation. It’s about the feeling you have that makes you want to buy products or services or invest your money or time—and/or recommend such actions to others. This is the level where most people clearly see the relationship between trust, speed, and cost.” He highlights using trademarks (like the ones at the left) and our reaction and feelings about certain organizations when we see their trademarks. Look at the trademarks and ask how you feel about them. What do you perceive as their reputation or brand?

Branding and Reputations at All Levels

Covey highlights that reputations and brands apply to a variety of entities in various markets:

• “Obviously corporate brand is important to companies with products and services to sell”
• “Cities have reputations which are reflected in published lists of best places to visit or best places to live…which translate into tax dollars, tourist dollars, businesses attracted, and home value appreciation.”
• “On a more micro level, the reputations of a particular team or division within an organization has significant impact on factors such as resource allocation and budget planning”
• “On the most micro level, every individual has his or her own brand or reputation, and that reputation affects trust, speed, and cost…Your personal brand also determines whether or not you are given the benefit of the doubt.”

How to Build Your Brand

Covey continues “So how do you build your brand? And how do you avoid destroying it? By now, I’m sure you won’t be surprised by my answer: ‘The 4 Cores and the 13 Behaviors,’ applied at the organizational levels.”

“But you may be surprised by this: I strongly contend that if your organization (however you define it) strengthens its 4 Cores and demonstrates the 13 Behaviors with its stakeholders, you will be able to measurably increase the value of your organizations brand:”

Read the book to know more. Study the examples he gives about various corporations.

Wednesday we review how contribution affects Wave 5—Societal Trust

Covey’s Speed of Trust 18: Wave 3—Organizational Trust

This continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I seriously urge you to buy it and practice these guidelines for trust.

Covey describes helping companies analyze trust in their organization. He writes “The biggest ‘Aha!’ comes when they realize that it’s happening as a result of violating principles—not only individually, but also organizationally. It’s not just violating the 4 Cores and 13 Behaviors; it’s also violating the principles of organizational design that create alignment with the cores and behaviors.”

The 7 Low-Trust Organizational Taxes

Low organizational trust slows the speed of the organization and increases the cost. Covey calls this a trust tax. He identifies seven taxes generated within low-trust organizations. I have personally witnessed all seven taxes in organizations:

• “Redundancy tax is paid in excessive organizational hierarchy, layers of management and overlapping structures all designed to ensure control”
• “Bureaucracy tax is reflected in excessive paper-work, red tape, controls, multiple approval layers, and government regulations. Rather than focusing on continuous improvement and getting better, bureaucracy merely adds complexity and inefficiency—and costs—to the status quo.”
• “Politics in the office generates behaviors such as withholding information, infighting, trying to ‘read the tea leaves,’ operating with hidden agendas, interdepartmental  rivalries, backbiting, and meetings after meetings.”
• “Disengagement is what happens when people continue to work at a company, but have effectively quit (commonly referred to as ‘quit and stay’…One of the biggest reasons for this is they don’t feel trusted”
• “Turnover represents a huge cost for organizations, and in low-trust cultures, turnover is in excess of the industry or market standard.”
• “Churn is the turnover of stakeholders other than employees. When trust inside an organization is low, it gets perpetuated in interaction in the marketplace, causing greater turnover among customers, suppliers, distributors, and investors.”
• “Fraud is flat-out dishonesty, sabotage, obstruction, deception, and disruption—and the cost is enormous. In fact, most of the first six organizational taxes are actually a result of management’s response to this ‘fraud tax’—particularly the taxes of redundancy and bureaucracy.”

Monday we review the high-trust organizational dividends of the 3rd Wave of Trust

Covey’s Speed of Trust 17: Behavior 13 & Smart Trust

This continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. Read and apply it.

Covey describes the 13th behavior, Extend Trust, “While the other behaviors help you become a more trusted person or manager, this behavior will help you become a more trusting leader. Not only does it build trust, it leverages trust. It creates reciprocity; when you trust people, other people tend to trust you in return.” We will also review Covey’s invitation to extend “Smart Trust”.

Behavior 13: Extend Trust

Covey writes “Extend trust—is different in kind from the rest of the behaviors. It’s about shifting from ‘trust’ as a noun to ‘trust’ as a verb. While the other behaviors help you become a more trusted person or manager, this behavior will help you become a more trusting leader.”

• “Extend trust is based on the principles of empowerment, reciprocity, and a fundamental belief that most people are capable of being trusted, want to be trusted and will run with trust when it is extended to them.”
• “The opposite is to withhold trust, which creates an enormous cost everywhere, especially in organizations.”
• “The counterfeit of Extend Trust takes two forms
  • “The first is extending ‘false trust.’ It’s giving people the responsibility, but not the authority or resources, to get a task done”
  • “The second is extending ‘fake trust’ –acting like you trust someone when you really don’t.”

Smart Trust

Covey warns “Extending trust can bring great dividends. It also creates the possibility of significant risk. So how do you hit the ‘sweet spot’? How do you extend ‘Smart Trust’ in a way that maximizes the dividends and minimizes the risk?”

Study the above graphic:

• “Zone 1 (High Propensity to Trust: Low Analysis) is the ‘Blind Trust’ zone of gullibility”
• “Zone 2 (High Propensity to Trust; High Analysis) is the ‘Smart Trust’ zone of judgment”
• Zone 3 (Low Propensity to Trust; Low analysis) is the ‘No Trust’ zone of indecision”
• Zone 4 (Low Propensity to Trust; High Analysis) is the ‘Distrust’ zone of suspicion”

Friday we discuss Covey’s third wave of trust: Organizational Trust and Alignment

Covey’s Speed of Trust 16: Behaviors 11 & 12 for Wave 2

This continues our series on Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. I highly recommend the book to all my readers.

An old adage applies to Listen First. “There was an old owl who sat on an oak. The more he saw, the less he spoke. The less he spoke, the more he heard. Why can’t we be like this wise old bird?” Covey calls Keep Commitments “the big kahuna” of all behaviors. Roger Merrill said “When you make  a commitment, you build hope. When you keep a commitment, you build trust.”

Behavior 11: Listen First

Covey says “To Listen First means not only really listen (to genuinely seek to understand another person’s thoughts, feelings, experience and point of view), but to do it first (before you try to diagnose, influence, or prescribe).”

• “The principles behind Listen First include understanding, respect, and mutual benefit”
• “The opposite is to speak first and listen last—or not to listen at all”
• “The counterfeit is pretend listening. It’s spending ‘listening’ time thinking about your reply and just waiting for your turn to speak”
• Additional tips include
  • “Don’t assume you know what matters most”
  • “Don’t presume you know everything”

Behavior 12: Keep Commitments

Covey writes ““It’s the quickest way to build trust in any relationship—be it with an employee, a boss, a team member, a customer, a supplier, a spouse, a child, or the public in general.”

• "Keep commitments is based on the principles of integrity, performance, courage, and humility”
• ”The opposite—to break commitments or violate promises—is, without question, the quickest way to destroy trust”
• “The counterfeit of this behavior is to make commitments that are so vague or elusive that nobody can pin you down, or, even worse, to be so afraid of breaking commitments that you don’t even make any in the first place”
• Additional tips include:
  • “Make keeping commitments the symbol of your honor”
  • “Make commitments carefully and keep them”
  • “Don’t break confidence”
  • “Don’t attempt to “PR” your way out of a commitment you’ve broken”

Wednesday we conclude the 13 Behaviors and summarize how to rebuild lost trust

Covey’s Speed of Trust 15: Behavior 9 & 10 for Wave 2

We continue our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. Buy it! Study it!

Behaviors 9 and 10 complement each other. You build trust when you clarify expectations so that others cannot misunderstand them. Covey shares a story of a teenage daughter thinking she had cleaned her room. Her mother did not think so. The mother had not clarified her expectations about clean to her daughter. The author continues“You can practice accountability far better when you’ve clarified expectations first. It’s hard to hold someone accountable if they’re not clear on what the expectations are.”

Behavior 9: Clarify Expectations

Covey writes “Behavior #9—Clarify Expectations—is to create shared vision and agreement about what is to be done up front. This is one of those behaviors that people rarely pay enough attention to”

• “Clarify Expectations is based on the principles of clarity, responsibility, and accountability”
• “The opposite  is to leave expectations undefined—to assume they’re already  known or to fail to disclose them so there is no shared vision of the desired outcomes”
• “The counterfeit is to create ’smoke and mirrors’ –to give lip service to clarifying expectations, but fail to pin down the specifics that facilitate  meaningful accountability”
• Make clarify expectations work
  • “Quantify everything: What results? By whom? By when? At what cost? How will you measure it?”
  • “Look at three variables—quality, speed, and cost—and realize that you can usually pick any two, but not all three”
  • “It is much better to do it up front than to disappoint them later”

Behavior 10: Practice Accountability

Covey describes “There are two key dimensions to the Practice Accountability. The fist is to hold yourself accountable; the second is to hold others accountable. Leaders who generate trust do both.”

• “This behavior is  built on the principles of accountability, responsibility, stewardship, and ownership.”
• “The opposite of this behavior is to not take responsibility, to not own up, but to rather say, ‘It’s not my fault’”
• “Its counterfeit is to point fingers and blame others, to say, ‘It’s their fault”

Friday we analyze the 11th Behavior Listen First and the 12th Behavior Keep Commitments

Covey’s Speed of Trust 14: 7th & 8th Behaviors of Wave 2

This continues our review of Stephen M. R. Covey’s book The Speed of Trust. Please get the book and study it.

Today we discuss two behaviors for building relationship trust: Get Better and Confront Reality. Covey highlights that the older we get, the more our cautious nature wants to prevent mistakes. We get better if we learn from our mistakes. Confronting reality also builds trust in relationships, especially when we demonstrate trust. “Solutions come much faster and better, and are implemented with the understanding, buy-in, and often the excitement of others involved in the problem-solving process.”

Behavior 7: Get Better

“Get better is based on the principles of continuous improvement, learning and change. It is what the Japanese call kaizen, and it builds enormous trust.”

• “When people see you as a learning, growing, renewing person—or your organization as a learning, growing, renewing organization—they develop confidence in your ability to succeed in a rapidly changing environment, enabling you to build high-trust relationships and move with incredible speed”
• “The opposite is entropy, deterioration, resting on your laurels or becoming irrelevant”
• The counterfeits are
  • “The “eternal student” always learning but never producing”
  • “It’s trying to force-fit everything into whatever you’re good at doing”

The author recommends two ways to get better: seek feedback—and listen to it—and learn from mistakes

Behavior 8: Confront Reality

Covey continues ”When you Confront Reality, it affects speed and cost in at least two important ways. First, it builds the kind of relationships that facilitate open interaction and fast achievement. Second, instead of having to wrestle with all the hard issues on your own while trying to paint a rosy picture for everyone else, you actually engage the creativity, capability, and synergy of others in solving those issues.”

• “Confront Reality is based on the principles of courage, responsibility, awareness and respect”
• “The opposite is to ignore it, to act as though it doesn’t exist”
• “The counterfeit is to act as though you’re confronting reality when you’re actually evading it. It’s focusing on busywork while skirting the real issue.”

Saturday we review behaviors 9 Clarify Expectations & 10 Practice Accountability