Tammy shares tools that empower you to design your own fresh perspective, an action plan for today that will change your tomorrow.  "It's all in how you look at it."

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Monday, November 17, 2008

Success Principles

Hello, (In case you would rather not listen to the audio, please read content below.)

Tammy Redmon here your Coach for Transformation with a tip and strategy from my new favorite book by the former president of Starbucks Coffee, Howard Behar – It’s Not About the Coffee.

In this hot little red book by one of the leaders from the great coffee giant, Starbucks you will gain greater insight into you as a leader and into your own personal success. Over the coming weeks, we will be covering the 10 principles of Personal Leadership that Mr. Behar has highlighted in his book.

Today we are covering Principle #1

1) Know who you are: Wear One Hat
Our success is directly related to our clarity and honesty about who we are, who we’re not, where we want to go and how we’re going to get there. When organizations are clear about their values, purpose, and goals they find the energy and passion to do great things.

When individuals have that same clarity, they are setting the stage to hit a home run. I liken it to driving to a destination. There are many road maps that you can read or take with you as you prepare for your journey. You can choose to use the map that has the straightest route or the road that takes you the longest route toward your final destination. Either way, you get to where you are going. Why? Because you know where you are going to and you pick the route that best fits for the driving conditions. You have clarity around where you are going to and then you get to the how. Which is the goal.

In business we use the same sense of direction for optimal success. What is my intended outcome – what does your business plan tell you? What strategy will you use? When you know these key elements, have them written down and clearly defined – you become singularly focused toward achieving your intended outcome. When you try to do too many different things that don’t align with the plan or intended outcome, you get off track and lose sight of the goal – ultimately you will self-sabotage your efforts for lack of focus.

I have noticed people today seem to be totally and completely over the Values/Purpose/Vision conversation in business. Why? I think in part because they have heard so much of it in recent years. It has been all the rage in organizations, business and personal life that they are tired or bored of it. I also believe it is in part because it takes significant effort to put a solid purpose/vision/values plan in place and to know what it is so well for your business that nothing gets in the way. Nothing alters you from the roadmap. Some people (I have found) think that it takes away from the creativity and spontaneity in business. I say, no way! To have that clarity of direction, to know that you know that you know you are heading due north on the roadway to success is key to achieving your goals and objectives in business. When we aren’t clear and honest with ourselves, we can mistakenly substitute passion for spontaneity and the energy to sustain our directed actions with chaos, which can bring us to a U, turn on our road to success.

Having a clear purpose, and being utterly clear on vision and values keeps you on the right side of the road, traveling in the direction of your purpose and your dreams. Why would you want to travel any other direction?

I loved what Mr. Behar said in his #1 principle for leading our own successful life – Our success is directly related to how Honest we are with who we are, where we are going and how we are going to get there (that’s my paraphrase.) To be honest with ourselves, is the truest form of acknowledgment and greatest transformative success strategy for our business and our life. Putting any other strategy first may only put a roadblock in our pathway to where our life wants to take us.

Being clear about your vision, identifying your passion and aligning both with your values is a success strategy that will take you safely on the proverbial road to success. If you are in need of a guided tour or roadside assistance to identifying your values/passion and vision, contact a successful coach today – they are a great tool for any road trip in life, business and beyond.

This is Tammy Redmon your coach for transformation with another success strategy. Check back in a few days when we cover Personal Leadership Principle #2 from my new favorite book by Howard Behar, (former President, Starbucks Coffee) - It’s Not About the Coffee.

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