Xerox and The Power of The Start

Sitting in my hotel room here in Singapore. Here for a workshop on Leading Witho
ut a Title and winning in hard times. Listening to Dave Matthews Band as I have
my daily cup of coffee. And reading Success magazine online.
Loved the piece I just read on Chester Carlson. He graduated in The Great Depres
sion. Applied for work with 82 companies. Finally got a basic job as a patent re
searcher and had to reproduce copies by hand. He thought there had to be a bette
r way. Even better, he acted on his big idea.
Through hard work and innovation he eventually came up with a process called elec
trography . Carlson tried to sell it to 20 companies. Lots of No s . Few people can see
genius until the big idea gets traction. Then it seems so very obvious (think i
Pod. Think Twitter. Think Google.).
Finally he met Joe Wilson, the president of Haloid, a company that produced phot
o paper. Wilson bought the dream. The company was renamed. And Xerox was born
Don t let anyone turn you around. -Amelia Earhart
Coco Chanel never vied for the spotlight. Before her formidable fame she wasn t a fa
shion aristocrat nor was she a socialite. She was impoverished. Orphaned. She wa
s penniless and without any formal authority for leadership. Yet it was leadership
that made her a legend. Coco revolutionized fashion and built an empire. What m
ade this unlikely empress an enormous success (net worth $4.5 billion)? Her unsh
akeable integrity.
When the market called for something other than Coco s genius, she didn t trade-off.
She stayed 100% loyal to her ingenuity. At a time when women were socially appl
auded for wearing brimmed hats and trailing skirts, Coco dressed like a man. At
a time when fashionable hairstyle and clothing made you relevant, Coco shameless
ly revealed a boyish figure and cropped hair. Maintaining her integrity, meant s
tanding out and apart. Not easy for anyone. Coco was a diamond in the rough when
the rough was clearly favored. Yet this genius innovator refused to allow criti
cs, peers, and onlookers to form her character and define her success. Coco main
tained absolute integrity. She audaciously refused to betray her voice and visio
n.
Obviously falling in line would have provided necessities for Coco, but she main
tained the fortitude to stand by her personal convictions. Coco began to design
on her own terms. Innovation with bravura. She engineered with integrity and the
fortune followed. Over the next few decades the brand name Chanel became and ha
s remained one of the most powerful in fashion. 100 years after opening her firs
t boutique, Chanel is not only a global business, it s an empire. Coco didn t allow
anyone or anything to turn her around.
The Daily Forgetting
Thursday, September 18th, 2008
Each day I forget. You know I m no guru just an ordinary person raising two kids,
working hard and trying to make each day better than yesterday. I sure don t know
all of the answers. And just when I think I have it all figured out and life is
smooth sailing another opportunity for growth and learning shows up in the disguis
e of a problem to keep me humble. To help me elevate. To keep me in balance. To te
ach me compassion.
I need to share with you that I go back to the well every day. Every morning, du
ring my 60 minute Holy Hour, I read from books of inspiration. Or I journal on g
ratitude or my hopes and my fears (stepping outside your fears to witness them i
s how you unchain yourself from them). On some days I ll simply sit in silence and
envision who I dream of becoming (as a man and as a Leader Without Title) as we
ll as the life I aim to create. On other days I ll listen to audiobooks to remind
me of what s most important.
The idea I m encouraging you to celebrate is this one: each day, as we walk out in
to the world, the world begins to do it s job on us. Negative people shout their n
egative beliefs at us. People in fear try to invite us into shared misery. Troub
ling news stories and horrible images are placed front and center on newspapers
to get our attention. Angry commuters and stress-filled workers find their way i
nto our orbit. And so we forget.
We forget The Fundamentals. Fundamentals like every one of us is meant to be gre
at in our own unique way. Fundamentals like that stranger walking down the stree
t is just like you: he was someone s child. He hopes for some happiness. He once h
ad dreams. He needs to be loved. Fundamentals like no matter who you are and wha
t you do, if you choose, you can make a positive difference at work and in life
today. Fundamentals like life is good. And we can find joy in the simplest of th
ings over these coming hours. If we have the good sense to focus on them.
I guess what I m sharing is that each day is sort of a struggle for me. I wake up,
set my course, fill my well with inspiration, wisdom and good ideas. I reconnec
t with who I truly am and all I want to do/be. And then I walk into another real
ity of sorts. One that entices me to forget. One that pulls me to get off course
. One that suggests that other things are far more important.
Just maybe, this is life. A daily challenge between doing what s right and doing w
hat s easy. All I know is that the more I stand for what matters, the less I forge
t. The more I remember. The easier it gets.
Start Strong
Monday, September 22nd, 2008
Listening to the audiobook called "50/50" by Dean Karnazes a man who ran fifty m
iles a day for fifty days straight. Remarkable feat of human endurance. I want t
o learn how he did it. So I can share his secrets with you.
One of the lessons I ve learned from him so far is this one: you can t control how t
he race will unfold but you can control how you start it. Great point. Applying
it to what we re all about as we achieve great things/leadership in business and i
n life/personal development, here s my spin: Start Strong which means start your day
doing all the things that will set you up to win the "race" that unfolds over t
he 23 hours that follow.
If you ve read The Greatness Guide and The Greatness Guide Book 2, you know I fier
cely believe in the importance of having a Holy Hour each morning a sixty minute
space where you regenerate and renew so that the way you show up through the re
st of the day is first-class.
Here are some of the Best Practices I encourage my coaching clients and leadersh
ip training seminar participants to integrate into Holy Hours:
- Morning Reading. Reading inspirational books makes a difference. Whether it s "5
0/50" or "It s Not About The Bike" by Lance Armstrong or something motivational li
ke anything by Og Mandino, putting excellent mental fuel into your mind at the f
ront end of your day fuels superb results. This practice just helps you remember
what s most important in a world that is flooded with tech/things to distract you
.
- Journal writing. Write about what your hopes and dreams are. Recreate the stor
y you want your life to be. Do a gratitude list to get you off to a great start.
Writing in a journal helps you to live with greater clarity and more deliberate
ly.
- Exercising in the morning is a brilliant move. Boosts creativity/stamina and j
oy.
- Use affirmations to lock your focus into who you want to become and what activ
ities are most important
- Be grateful. Quickly review the good things in your life. I recently listened
to an audio program where Dr. John Demartini was interviewed. He said he never b
egins his day without thinking about the blessings in his life to the point wher
e tears fill his eyes. Then and only then does he feel set to walk out into the
world and play at his best. Love it.