The Greatness Guide: One of the World's Most Successful Coaches Shares His Secrets for Personal and Business Mastery by Robin Sharma Page B
Authors: Robin Sharma
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30 years to build a great reputation—and 30 seconds to lose it, with one act of poor judgment.)
Everyone’s into brand-building these days. Law firms. Accounting enterprises. Retail organizations. Paris Hilton recently said: “I’m a brand.”
This raises the question: “How can we get our brand from where it now is to where we want it to be?” My answer is simple: Model Diddy.
Sure you can read the books out there (lots of excellent ones, such as Seth Godin’s
Purple Cow
and
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
by Al Ries and his daughter Laura Ries). And sure you can invest in getting your brand managers to world class (every company should have brand managers). But I’ll save you some money with a simple suggestion: Study hip hop artists like Diddy and 50 Cent and Jay-Z (whom
Fortune
recently called “America’s Hippest CEO”). You’ll learn all you need to learn about taking a brand to the top of the mountain. These guys are amazing. Constantly reinventing. Relentlessly innovating. Endlessly improving. They have one hit record that drives their name—their brand, sorry—into the public consciousness and then extend their line into clothes, books, movies, colognes, etc. Study the way they build community, cement loyalty and tattoo what they stand for onto people’s brain cells.
I’ll leave you with an unforgettable quote from Jay-Z: “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.”
61
Get Big into Blessings
“I cursed the fact I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” Comes from a Persian proverb. That line sends shivers down my spine. Whoever wrote that really gets it. It’s easy to fall into the very human trap of focusing on what we don’t have rather than being grateful for what we do have. I’ll bet you have more blessings in your life than you are noticing.
A billion children went to sleep hungry last night. People in the world lost family members yesterday whom they adored. There are people in your own community dying of cancer and AIDS. I just read about a little girl who was born without a face. Just two eyes and a mouth. And we worry about traffic being heavy on the way to work.
I just read about a little girl who was born without a face. Just two eyes and a mouth. And we worry about traffic being heavy on the way into work.
Here’s a word to think about: perspective. Travel to more countries and you’ll get greater perspective on our world. Talk to people you’ve never talked to and you’ll get a new perspective on what life can be. And celebrate the blessings in your life and you’ll reconnect with how fortunate you are. It’s human nature not to appreciate all we have until it’s lost. Fight that urge.
62
Be Wise, Early Rise
I gave the keynote address at a conference for the leadership team of the telephone banking division of CIBC yesterday. Great group. CIBC is one of Canada’s leading banks and the audience was full of energy, passion and intelligence. I shared my ideas on building a high-performance culture, developing deeper relationships and the power of leading without title. Then I offered some insights on personal leadership—beginning with the imperative of getting up early if one wants to get to world class as a human being. The room fell silent. Thought I’d lost them.
I love connecting personally with audience members and happily stayed after my presentation to answer questions. Amazing how many people asked me what they needed to do to build the early rising habit. “I want to get a lot more from life,” one manager said. “I loved your point about taking a ‘holy hour’ each morning—60 minutes to feed my mind, care for my body and develop my character,” said another. “Life is passing by so quickly,” noted yet another, “I really need to start getting up earlier to get more from my days.”
It’s so easy to forget that our outer lives reflect our inner lives and that by getting up earlier each day to do
Everyone’s into brand-building these days. Law firms. Accounting enterprises. Retail organizations. Paris Hilton recently said: “I’m a brand.”
This raises the question: “How can we get our brand from where it now is to where we want it to be?” My answer is simple: Model Diddy.
Sure you can read the books out there (lots of excellent ones, such as Seth Godin’s
Purple Cow
and
The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
by Al Ries and his daughter Laura Ries). And sure you can invest in getting your brand managers to world class (every company should have brand managers). But I’ll save you some money with a simple suggestion: Study hip hop artists like Diddy and 50 Cent and Jay-Z (whom
Fortune
recently called “America’s Hippest CEO”). You’ll learn all you need to learn about taking a brand to the top of the mountain. These guys are amazing. Constantly reinventing. Relentlessly innovating. Endlessly improving. They have one hit record that drives their name—their brand, sorry—into the public consciousness and then extend their line into clothes, books, movies, colognes, etc. Study the way they build community, cement loyalty and tattoo what they stand for onto people’s brain cells.
I’ll leave you with an unforgettable quote from Jay-Z: “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.”
61
Get Big into Blessings
“I cursed the fact I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.” Comes from a Persian proverb. That line sends shivers down my spine. Whoever wrote that really gets it. It’s easy to fall into the very human trap of focusing on what we don’t have rather than being grateful for what we do have. I’ll bet you have more blessings in your life than you are noticing.
A billion children went to sleep hungry last night. People in the world lost family members yesterday whom they adored. There are people in your own community dying of cancer and AIDS. I just read about a little girl who was born without a face. Just two eyes and a mouth. And we worry about traffic being heavy on the way to work.
I just read about a little girl who was born without a face. Just two eyes and a mouth. And we worry about traffic being heavy on the way into work.
Here’s a word to think about: perspective. Travel to more countries and you’ll get greater perspective on our world. Talk to people you’ve never talked to and you’ll get a new perspective on what life can be. And celebrate the blessings in your life and you’ll reconnect with how fortunate you are. It’s human nature not to appreciate all we have until it’s lost. Fight that urge.
62
Be Wise, Early Rise
I gave the keynote address at a conference for the leadership team of the telephone banking division of CIBC yesterday. Great group. CIBC is one of Canada’s leading banks and the audience was full of energy, passion and intelligence. I shared my ideas on building a high-performance culture, developing deeper relationships and the power of leading without title. Then I offered some insights on personal leadership—beginning with the imperative of getting up early if one wants to get to world class as a human being. The room fell silent. Thought I’d lost them.
I love connecting personally with audience members and happily stayed after my presentation to answer questions. Amazing how many people asked me what they needed to do to build the early rising habit. “I want to get a lot more from life,” one manager said. “I loved your point about taking a ‘holy hour’ each morning—60 minutes to feed my mind, care for my body and develop my character,” said another. “Life is passing by so quickly,” noted yet another, “I really need to start getting up earlier to get more from my days.”
It’s so easy to forget that our outer lives reflect our inner lives and that by getting up earlier each day to do
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