never eat alone blog

Tip 114 Go Green, Live Rich

There are seven aspects to my personal success wheel: health & wellness, spirituality, job & career, intellectual & cultural pursuits, finances, deep relationships and, very importantly, giving back.

That’s why I’m so pleased to share that financial guru David Bach is making a major contribution to the earth – and encouraging you to do the same – with his new book Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth (and Get Rich Trying). It is his passion project. His personal transformation to environmentalist began when he moved into a “green building.” He stopped needing prescription drugs for his allergies, his son’s asthma disappeared and they both slept better. He started educating himself on the environment and felt compelled to write this book.

Here’s an insightful business tip from the “Go Green At Work” chapter:

“By telecommuting just two days per week, over the course of a year an employee will drive 3,000 fewer miles, save approximately $430 in gas and eliminate 3,120 pounds of CO2 emissions. The benefits to an employee include more flexibility, commuting money saved, less stress and overall increased satisfaction in his or her job. Employers can reduce office space, have less furniture, reduce operating expenses, and benefit from lower employee absenteeism, lower turnover and increased employee productivity.”

The book is in stores April 8th, but you will get over $2,000 in free bonuses when you buy the book online at www.greengreen.com between April 1st and 11th. For each and every copy purchased online through his special offer, David will donate $1 to Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization dedicated to preserving and protecting our waterways from pollution. So, 100,000 books purchased = $100,000 donated to keep our water clean! Plus for each of the first 1,000 books sold, a tree will be planted by Gaiam to help fight climate change.

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The Law of Gravity

There's a new customer focused marketing book out by a few really savvy guys out of Florida who have spent the last several years refining a message that seeks to expand upon how we maximize relationships and the law of attraction in our businesses. The book is called "Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers." Check it out at http://www.gravitybook.com/gifts/.

Tip 113 Slash Your Marketing Budget

As CMO at Deloitte and then Starwood, I hated it when other marketers measured themselves by the size of their budgets. When you're running a business, take your marketing budget and push that money back where it belongs – in operations, into the hands of anyone who can make a difference to the customer... 

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Powerful Talks from TED2008

Recently got back from TED, an event with great thinkers and doers, and wanted you to be able to experience what I did. Here is a note from the TED Team with video highlights:

Dear Global TED community,

"Since coming home I don't know where to sit or what to think.... "

It's now a couple weeks since TED2008, but the event is still reverberating. If you weren't there, I'm pleased to tell you that for the first time, we've been able to rush online some of the highlights... and more are coming soon.

Before watching them, do quickly check out:

- feedback from attendees

- some of the press coverage

- a small sample of posts from the blogosphere

- a mini picture gallery

And now, when you're ready, take 18 minutes to watch this astonishing talk from Harvard-trained brain scientist Jill Bolte Taylor. It drew a huge standing ovation in the first session of the conference and, by general consensus, counts as one of the most memorable TED talks of all time.

We also had a chance to hear details from Craig Venter of just how close he now is to creating synthetic life -- for example, bacteria designed from scratch to gobble CO2 and generate advanced fuels. This could be one of the biggest scientific stories of our lifetimes. It will either thrill you or scare you -- or both.

The astronomer Roy Gould ended weeks of blogosphere speculation by unveiling a beaut beautiful new product created by Microsoft's Curtis Wong: the WorldWide Telescope. Here's the hi-res version of this talk. It's spectacular.

More talks are coming soon. There are more than SEVENTY that we want to release before the year's out. An amazing, amazing TED.

We're eager for as many as possible to enjoy the remarkable people and powerful ideas of TED2008. Please feel free to join the conversation around these talks at our website. Do blog about them, or share them with family, colleagues and friends.

In our minds you, the global audience of TED, are just as much part of the TED community as those who are able to attend live. We truly appreciate your interest, participation and support.

Very best wishes,

Chris Anderson and the TED Team

Tip 112 Understand How Work Stress Can Affect Your Body

If you are repressing your emotions, it may be affecting your physical wellness, which is an important area of life success. Several years ago, I was traveling a ton for my new business, which was a fairly stressful start-up. I was trying to find ways to get the company on solid footing while being out of the office most of the time. I swallowed my feelings. I didn’t even realize the level of stress I was under. Sure my blood pressure was high, but I told myself I just ran hot. Then I threw my back out. For a year, I was waking up 15 degrees bent to the left and it took me until about noon to be able to straighten up. Then someone sent me the book Healing Back Pain: The Mind-Body Connection…

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Pushing the Intimacy Envelope

This email below from Kirk at Accenture truly made my day.  I mean it. I am trying to make big changes in the corporate world and it only happens one success at a time.

Keith,

Thanks so much for being a part of the CLS and for providing the influence and direction to make it a different kind of event.  We don’t often let others into our organization in this way.

Thank you specifically for three things:

1.       For being generous

2.       For giving us new ways of thinking about how we build and sustain meaningful relationships

3.       For giving us permission to get personal, a simple act with amazing impact (I stopped counting the number of times I heard “let’s get intimate”, sometimes accompanied by a nervous laugh followed by a genuine exchange of deeply personal experiences.)

I can also confess that the person I saw change the most was myself.  Spending three 20 hour days with colleagues and clients, in several cases people I had never spoken to before, who I now see in a completely different light will do that to a person.  I still collected their business cards but only because I can’t remember all the phone numbers and addresses.  I’ll easily remember the people and their stories.

Please keep pushing the envelope with Accenture, your other clients and, I’m sure, just about everybody you meet.  You are making a difference.

Sincerely,

Kirk L. Coleman

Accenture – Dallas

Banking Front Office Transformation

Tip 111 How to Challenge the Status Quo

If you want to go against the way things have always been done, think about how your wish for change is of service to the shared mission. It doesn’t matter if you’re at a high-tech company, an elementary school, or even your home. If you want to make a change that doesn’t seem like it will be well-received, get clarity about what you want and what the ultimate results will be if the change occurs. Who will benefit? Just you? If it’s about you or your turf battles, you’re going to be pushing a wet noodle up a big hill...

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Tip 110 What To Do When You Feel Insecure

All great people have some level of insecurity that drives us to be successful. Take that insecurity question – “What do others think of me?” – and come up with a new question in your mind such as “How can I help others?” or “How can I make a difference?”...

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From DC to NYC, From Politics to Private: This Is How It's Done

From a friend of mine:

One of the best observations on life that I've learned from Keith is his credo regarding one's network of relationships, or "build it before you need it."  After leaving my last political job, I was amazed at how many folks whom I'd gotten to know over the past few years were willing to help me land my next gig.  But, when I first met many of these people two, three or four years ago, they were not in a position to help me.  I was not far enough along professionally and they were/are still the titans of their prospective businesses or fields.  While there was no immediate payoff for me, I carefully tended to these relationships and many of these folks became close friends and mentors.  When the time came for me to take a look at the professional world outside of politics, they invited me to interview at their firms and (sometimes without prompting) wrote letters of recommendation on my behalf.  Keith's motto also applies to moving to a new city/place to live.

I've since decided to move to New York, and any trepidation I had about moving to a new city has receeded.  I now realize that with my constant pinging and cultivation of loose ties, I've (inadvertantly) created a network in NYC before I needed it.  From job contacts to joining clubs and organizations and just making new friends here, it's been much easier with this help from others.  More often than not, the network you've nurtured for years (and you have to start early) should work seamlessly once you need it.

Get Out of Your Own Way

Dr. Mark Goulston, a thought leader with me at Ferrazzi Greenlight, believes that potential is a terrible thing to waste, which is what you do when you don't get out of your own way. In this compelling webinar, he and Cathy Greenberg will show you how to get out of your own way and help others do the same. Dr. Mark is an executive coach, best selling author of four books and writes "The Leading Edge" column for Fast Company and the syndicated Tribune column, "Solve Anything with Dr. Mark." He has worked with senior management and executives of Fortune 500 companies including Deutsch Bank, Goldman Sachs, Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Hyatt, Accenture, Astra Zenica, and Kaiser. Practical, actionable insights are the focus of "What Happy Coaches Know", a new webinar series the second Tuesday each month at noon EST/9AM Pacific. Co-hosted by Cathy Greenberg and Marilyn McLeod.

Title: Succeed in Your Career: Step 1 - Get Out of Your Own Way and Help Others Do the Same Date: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 Time: 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM PDT

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/434221968

Integrity and Accountability in Business

Accountability. Integrity. Effectiveness. These are big buzz words in the business and personal effectiveness world these days. If you lack accountability, you probably lack success (and you're probably pretty stressed out). You certainly aren't on your way from "Good" to "Great."
 
But how do you actually "do" integrity? How can you teach others to be accountable? Coaches Tom and Brigit Hanson are on a mission to help people create more integrity and accountability in the business world. They have written a great book that teaches these integrity fundamentals in a fun, clever way.

Have you ever been in a two hour meeting that ended and you knew no one was actually going to DO anything as a result of the meeting?   If that strikes a chord in you, check out their book: "Who Will Do What By When? How to Improve Performance, Accountability and Trust with Integrity.”

http://www.headsupperformance.com/