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Letter From The Editor

Dear Friends,

If you are over 10 years old and have discovered hair gel, you are a teacher! You have something to contribute to the world! So how do you want to do that? What do you want to contribute? Are you even present to what you are teaching… the things you teach simply through your actions?

Think about it. All of us teach something to another everyday, either by showing others how to do something, through our words, or our actions!

And teaching what you know is really a culmination of:

• Your having asked for help,
• Your stepping through fear,
• The experiences you’ve had as you dance in this dance we call life. (i.e. the babies you’ve raised, the battles you’ve lost and the battles you’ve won, running a successful business, balancing your checkbook, building a snow fort, mowing the lawn, and the list goes on and on!)

These everyday activities are all experiences that you can teach from!

What does it mean to teach what you know?

You give to another your knowledge of something – either through words or actions. It’s that simple. There are all sorts of teaching methods, but the point I want you to be clear about is that when you take the time to teach what you know, you gain so much yourself!

When you teach:

• You learn what you don’t know about what you are teaching;
• You reinforce what you do know;
• You keep your own edge sharp;
• You not only grow the people up around you, but you grow yourself up too!

So I ask you, what are you teaching and better yet, who are you teaching it to?

Best Regards,

Clay S. Nelson

Accountability – The Key to Reaching Your Goals

On some level we all know that we need greater accountability if we are going to reach our goals. However, where do we start? How do we determine what it is we want to be held accountable for?

ACCOUNTABILITY STEP ONE:

You have to get clear about what you want, and don’t want, for yourself and your business. You’d be surprised by the number of people who don’t know what they do and do not want! The problem with that is if we don’t know what we want and don’t want, how do we know what to ask for? How do we know what we are going to ask to be held accountable for doing or not doing?

ACCOUNTABILITY STEP TWO:

Articulate your goals for your future and move on to writing the plan for what you REALLY want to have and by-when you want to have it!

Ask yourself and write down:

• What do I want in terms of my career… my profession… the business I own?
• What do I want in terms of my physical fitness?
• What do I want in terms of my personal finances?
• What do I want in terms of my education… or my personal growth?
• What do I want in terms of my relationships?
• What do I want in general for my future?
• What do I want with my free time?

Remember: If you can’t put in writing what you want, you can’t language what you want, and if you can’t write down and then language what you want, you can’t ask anybody to hold you accountable for getting it! No one can read your mind and therefore you cannot be held accountable for a plan that is in your head!

ACCOUNTABILITY STEP THREE:

Once you know what you want, you have to write down the various steps for getting there. “I am going to start here… I end there… and this is what I have to do in between to get from where I am to where I want to be!” It is called a plan, and in your plan you should include not only the tasks and actions you are going to take on in order to get what you want, but by-when you are going to do them!

ACCOUNTABILITY STEP FOUR:

Ask for help! If any of us could get to where we are going by ourselves, we would be there already. So ask for the help you need… give your team permission to hold you accountable for doing what you say you are going to do, and then do it!

ACCOUNTABILITY STEP FIVE:

Keep what you want, and don’t have, in front of you! By keeping in front of you what you wrote down, the plan of how to get there, and the folks that you are going to ask to hold you accountable, it makes it much easier to not be stopped by your circumstances!

Negative Employment Reference – Sour Grapes or Legit?

In today’s litigious society it can often be very difficult to get the full story on a potential new hire from their previous employers. And because feelings can be hurt from either side, it is also very difficult to know if a negative employment reference is sour grapes or legit. However, there is certainly something to be said for the gut instincts of the person who is doing the hiring.

What I advise and even do in my own business when hiring and checking references is:

1. If an ex-employer is bold enough to say something negative, given our litigious society – you need to pay attention to it. Most employers today won’t say anything except to verify employment dates because they can get sued for saying anything else! So if they speak up and take the risk, there more than likely is something to it.
2. Let the person you are interviewing know that you are checking their references, or already have. Ask them if they have ever had something happen with a former employer that caused them to leave their job; ask if there is anything you need to know about, and if the interviewee is smart they will tell you! Otherwise, if you find out solely from a third party of any questionable incidences it looks as though they have something to hide, and maybe they do.
3. If after all the conversation and gut checks, you decide to hire this person, the best thing you can do to protect yourself is to have a “no questions asked” uncontestable agreement that says after 30, 60, or 90 days of employment there will be a review and either party can terminate the employment agreement, no questions asked.

In the end you have to weigh your needs and the person’s experience and talents against your own instincts and what others have to say. Negative employment references or not, there are few guarantees when you are bringing a new person on to your team. So be true to the needs of your company… be true to the needs of the current team… and be in full and complete communication with any new hire and communicate your expectation of them to do the same!

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