The “Next One” Gets It Right

The Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League, for the uninitiated, have a player who is considered to be “The Next One,” a nickname play on the greatest hockey player of all time, Wayne Gretzky’s nickname “The Great One.”

The player’s name is Sidney Crosby and he is both the youngest team captain, at age 20, in NHL History and the youngest player to ever win the scoring title.

He is quickly becoming “The Next One” as an ambassador for the game as well. In his most recent Reebok commercial promoting the NHL he takes the ice while making this statement, “I play for the logo on the front this jersey, and not the name on the back.”

I think that is an outstanding statement and with the million dollar contracts in professional sports I believe more athletes need to acquire that value system.

I also believe that in the world of the small-medium sized business, with which I mostly work, if company employees focus on working for their company and taking pride in the work they do on behalf of their company, they will receive compensation above their industry and community standards and receive the long-term loyalty they seek.

The Most Effective & Most Dread Business Training: Here’s How To Make It Work For Your Business

Last week I found myself in a very uncomfortable position. Leading into the situation I was a nervous wreck and didn’t appreciate the opportunity until after it was over. If you’ve done any sales, customer service or other type of training I’m certain you’ve been in a similar position; involved in role-plays.

Being the consultant, coach and trainer to my clients I’m usually the one facilitating the role playing exercises, or at the very least being on the receiving side of the role-playing situation during which I’m in charge and get to decide how I want to respond to take the experience for the trainee in a particular direction.

Since I am not usually on the other side I found myself butting up against my comfort zone. In the end I found it to be a valuable experience and began thinking about broadening the use of the technique in the work I do. Being able to make the best of my role-playing situation took a conscious decision to step up and take action despite being in an uncomfortable and unfamiliar role.   Click here to read more.

Business Improvement in 2008: The Only New Year’s Resolution Business Leaders Should Make

The Japanese call it “Kaizen.” Peak performance coach Anthony Robbins calls it “CANI.” Alan Weiss, the Million Dollar Consultant calls it the “1% Solution.” Whatever it is called, it is the only New Year’s Resolution business leaders should be making. 

“Kaizen” in Japanese means continuous improvement. Robbins modeled the Japanese with CANI, an acronym for “constant and never-ending improvement,” while Alan Weiss’ “1% Solution” refers to small improvements every day adding up to a doubling of effectiveness in just 70 days. 

Each of these very similar concepts focuses on small incremental improvements on a continual basis, which make the transformations developing from these improvements long lasting and impactful. This is the type of resolutions for which business leaders should strive.

The human psyche does not handle well a lot of change in a short period of time. Click here to read more.