Representing the leading thinkers in sales, marketing, management, etc. for speaking engagements is, in some ways, like having a life-long pass to the world’s best business school. “Best practices” teaching from the likes of Marcus Buckingham, Pat Lencioni, Kevin and Jackie Freiberg, Keith Ferrazzi, Ken Blanchard, and many more is constantly flowing through our office. Most recently, I’ve learned some brilliantly simple lessons from Pete Luongo, former President and CEO of The Berry Company and author of 10 Truths About Leadership.

Published last summer, 10 Truths is a little book packed with lessons Pete learned during his 33-year career at The Berry Company (and the great teacher called “life”) such as:

“The people who care about us the most are those who stand shoulder to shoulder with us during our most difficult times.”

“Finding and keeping good people must be the number one priority for all organizations!”

“Rules are for the weak. Uncompromised Standards of Excellence are for the strong.”

“Winners do things they don’t like to do. Average people follow their natural likes and preferences.”

“As leaders, we’ve got to give employees a sense of purpose, a set of principles, a vision, a dream, and most importantly, an environment where they can get what they want.”

The message is so simple, yet so desperately needed. There is a flood of new paradigms, new laws, new formulas, etc. coming our way every day. Yet here is a guy who has been at the top, who has achieved great success - he led The Berry Company through a period of record sales growth and established the organization as an industry leader and “a great place to work” - and he’s reminding us that the true key to organizational and personal success is… people.

What about the bottom line? What about marketing strategy? What about meeting quotas? All important, no question. Here’s what Pete says: “My belief is that, beneath the spreadsheets, strategies and psychological tests, the truths really are pretty straightforward. This book is about the ten truths leaders understand will lead to success, time and again.” It’s a focus on people that is key; not a focus on Wall Street.

And for those who still need to see the hard data, Pete wants you to know, “I’m extremely proud to share with you that in every case, the data backs up what my intuition was telling me all along.”

If you’re looking for a good read on management and leadership, I encourage you to check out this book. I can’t recommend it highly enough. And if you do pick it up, come back and share your feedback.

- Shawn Ellis, Founder and President, The Speakers Group

Posted under Book Review, Organizational Excellence

The first line of a post titled “Mastering the Art of Motivation” on BNet.com grabbed my attention: “According to the Harvard Business School, 85 percent of companies report that employee motivation drops after the first six months on the job.” Wow!

I suppose that shouldn’t come as a great surprise. We can all remember back to when we started our job for the first time… It was new! Exciting! Challenging! Invigorating! By the time you’re six months in, it’s familiar. Routine. Mindless. Exhausting. That’s just one side of the story, though. Look at what else happens to new hires within the first six months on the job:

1. They become more familiar with their boss and co-workers… and they realize they are all helplessly flawed!
2. While they love the core responsibilities of their position, they realize there are some necessary activities (TPS reports?) that just aren’t as much fun… and they seem to take more time than the work they love.
3. In the midst of the “routine,” they lose sight of the purpose of the organization and even their position which initially connected with their passion.

The list goes on, but these are all very real issues. As the BNet post indicates, it is largely the responsibility of managers to watch over their employees and make sure their motivation does not reach dangerously low levels - and there are plenty of preventatives and remedies at the managers’ disposal. One “tool in the toolbox” should be a connection to personal and professional development authorities who can help business leaders create and maintain a workplace that fosters motivation for all employees. For each of the toxic issues noted above, there are speakers standing by with the exact antidote. For example:

Rick Brinkman, co-author of Dealing With People You Can’t Stand and a very funny, yet relevant, keynote speaker on “Conscious Communication,” is a great help in addressing situation #1 above. It is inevitable that we will cross paths with people we “can’t stand” in the workplace, but Rick’s message hits home with situations that people find themselves in every day and empowers them with practical solutions.

Marcus Buckingham, author of the bestseller, Go Put Your Strengths to Work, and co-author of bestsellers such as Now, Discover Your Strengths, is in high demand by companies seeking to bring the strengths movement into their organizations. Those employees who find themselves bogged down with activities which are not their strengths within six months will only experience further deterioration of their motivation level as time goes on. Within a few years, they’ll only be a shell of the person they were when hired. Marcus can help leaders and managers create a business that plays to the strengths of its greatest assets - its people. The measurable benefits of creating a “strong company” are amazing.

What about employees who lose sight of their - and their company’s - purpose? It is a sense of purpose that drives each of us. Take it away and we are lost. Kevin Freiberg and Jackie Freiberg, co-authors of books such as Boom! 7 Choices for Blowing the Doors Off Business-As-Usual, can be great resources to leaders, managers AND their employees. Reminding their audience members that they are “designed to choose,” they help individuals reclaim their sense of purpose and as a result, boost performance to levels higher than ever before.

And for a universal solution to keep everyone running at optimum levels, consider Harry Paul, co-author of the book, REVVED! An Incredible Way to Rev Up Your Workplace and Achieve Amazing Results (and also co-author of the popular FISH! book series about the Pike Place Fish Market).

These are just a few examples of speakers who can partner with business leaders to prevent the motivation drop-off of new/recent hires, and maintain peak levels of motivation for everyone in the organization. The investment in a speaker can range from a few thousand dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, but what might the benefit be from having a motivated workforce showing up every day? Or, alternately, what might it cost to have an unmotivated workforce showing up every day?

Posted under Organizational Excellence, Planner Tips, Speaker Recommendations