Are You a Leading Authority?

Are you a leading authority in what you do? People will pay more if you are a leading authority in what you do.

I first heard the words leading authority about eighteen months ago when I came across the website of a gentleman called Greg Habstritt www.simplewealth.com. Greg has been an entrepreneur for many years and believes that becoming a trusted authority allows you to achieve your version of 'Freedom without Compromise".

If you are called to be an authority in what you are currently doing, it takes persistence and perseverance; one of the key ingredients is to develop the mindset of a learner.

I remember reading one of Malcolm Gladwell's books a few years ago and he reckoned it took 10,000 hours to be an expert. How many hours of your life have you put into becoming a leading authority in your field.



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To book Molly for a keynote speech, seminar or master class
contact Brendan O’Connor at The London Speaker Bureau

on +44 (0) 20 8748 9595

or email Brendan@londonspeakerbureau.co.uk

Are You Engaged or Exhausted?

Right now in the workplace, are you engaged or exhausted?

Too often today when I work within organisations their staff are exhausted and morale is low.

It’s as if a sense of fear has crept into the work place; very often because of the changes that are currently happening all around the world; stock markets crashing, the recent volcanoes erupting in parts of the world and many large organisations crumbling.

I was recently working with a group of CEO’s and one gentleman replied to my question by saying he was engaged and exhausted all in one.  My reply was ‘Do you think that people around you don’t know you’re exhausted?  Do you think you can hide it?’  In that moment the gentleman paused and said ‘it’s time to stop pretending, I need to take a long overdue holiday and relook at my values and the current values of the company’.

For a moment there was a silence in the board room, then a huge round of applause for the gentleman who had the courage to be vulnerable and through his vulnerability he allowed everyone around him to stop pretending and have an honest conversation.

Where right now in your life do you need to stop pretending and have an honest conversation?

Three Questions:
• Ask yourself the hard question, are you engaged or exhausted in work and life?
• Are you clear on who you are and what’s important to you?
• Have you enough down time built into your day?


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To book Molly for a keynote speech, seminar or master class contact

Brendan O’Connor at The London Speaker Bureau

on +44 (0) 20 8748 9595

or email Brendan@londonspeakerbureau.co.uk

Secret to Business Growth

You can have the best business idea in the world, so what if you don’t have the right people around you to help you grow the business.

I have been fascinated with Leadership for over thirteen years and one of the great strengths of an Outstanding Leader is first that they know and understand the top three strengths of each of their team members.

Mother Teresa once said to Bob Geldof “I can’t do what you do and you can’t do what I do, but together we can create something wonderful.”

Leaders know that with a great team behind them they can leave a wake and create lasting impact.

Four Lessons to the Secret of Business Growth:

• Know your top three strengths.
• Delegate everything else.
• Know the top three strengths of each of your immediate team.
• Say no to what you know is not your top strength.



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 To book Molly for a keynote speech, seminar or master class contact

Brendan O’Connor at The London Speaker Bureau

on +44 (0) 20 8748 9595

or email Brendan@londonspeakerbureau.co.uk

Enemy of Greatness is Security

Without realising it, very often our businesses are most vulnerable when things are going really well.  You could be thinking what a mad statement to make but in business we sometimes take it easy when targets are being reached and profits achieved. A sense of complacency can creep in.

I was recently speaking at a conference in Ireland; my opening line was ‘nothing fails like success’. At first I could see the shocked faces in the audience and then I went on to speak about the Celtic Tyre years where business boomed. Recently Ireland has and currently is experiencing some lean times, yet very often the lean times can be the best of times because it makes each of us stop, step back and re-look at everything we currently do.

When leaders step back and simplify, very often the hunger in the belly relights again and it fires up our enthusiasm to move forward and take a risk.

Four Lessons on Why the Enemy of Greatness is Security:

• In 2011 there is no security except the security of knowing that when you fail, learn the lesson and get up again.
• Complacency stunts business and personal growth.
• The hunger in the belly is the key to enthusiasm.
• Step back and take a fresh look at everything you do.

Click HERE to watch Corporate TV

To book Molly for a keynote speech, seminar or master class contact

Brendan O’Connor at The London Speaker Bureau

on +44 (0) 20 8748 9595

or email Brendan@londonspeakerbureau.co.uk

  

Leaders are Born to Climb

One of my favourite authors is Krishnamurti and in one of his books he talks about mountain people and valley people. He explains that we are all born into the valley of life. We grow up in the valley and very often as we grow and develop, we feel that silent voice say ‘climb you were born to climb’ yet we meet many people who tell us to not climb, sit still and play small.

Every now and then as we grow older, we often see people leave the valley and head for the mountains. They have followed their call and when you ask people where they are going, often the response will be ‘forget the mountains, you might never come back’ and yet deep inside the silent voice says climb.

As I write this blog, you might be a leader who left the valley and is now living on the mountain of life.  You listened to the inner voice and took action, went for the mountain and half way up built the lonely house with the picket fence and the chickens pecking in the garden. If you are that person, Krishnamurti’s advice is knock down the house, kill the chickens, listen to the silent voice, it’s calling you to climb again.

You are a leader born to climb.

Four Lessons about the Climb:

• If you are currently in the valley of your life, stop, turn inwards and listen to your inner voice. It is telling you to leave the valley and climb.
• Turn off the outside noise of other’s opinions and trust your own voice.
• If you are half way up the mountain and life has become stagnant, listen to the inner voice and know you were born to climb.
• Do something different and start the climb again.

  

Click HERE to Watch Corporate TV

To book Molly for a Keynote Speech, Seminar or Master Class

contact Brendan O’Connor at The London Speaker Bureau

on +44 (0) 20 8748 9595

or email Brendan@londonspeakerbureau.co.uk

Stop the Inertia

Have you ever had those moments or even days when inertia set in and you could not be bothered about anything?

How did you break it?  The only way to break it is to change your behaviour.

I recently read Marshall Goldsmith’s new book called ‘Mojo’ and he asks two great questions to help you break it. As you go through your day, evaluate every activity you do by asking yourself:

• How much long term benefit and meaning did I experience from this activity?
• How much short term satisfaction and happiness did I experience?

Marshall believes the above two questions will help break inertia.

Too often in life we continue to do what we have always done. If we don’t change our behaviour we don’t become more effective.

To book Molly for a keynote speech, seminar or masterclass contact

Brendan O’Connor at The London Speaker Bureau

on +44 (0) 20 8748 9595

or email Brendan@londonspeakerbureau.co.uk  

Know When to Move On

Recently while on a holiday break to North Devon, my husband and I decided to walk parts of the North Devon Coast each day.

On the third day of walking the rugged woodland path to Clovelly, we stopped to take in the magnificent views of the Bristol Channel when we were joined by a fellow walker. After a few minutes of talking, the gentleman began to tell us about his vision.

For over 20 years he had developed a very profitable printing business which had created a lot of jobs for the local people of Cornwall. At 57 years of age one of his good friends offered to buy the thriving business. He then took some time out to decide what his next vision would be if he said yes to selling his business. He knew it was important for him to have a vision to keep his mojo and drive in life. In his spare time away from the business he loved to walk so he decided to turn his hobby into a future vision and made a decision to sell the business and walk all of the Cornwall and Devon coast line, photographing it along the way. On the morning that we met him, he was two years into that vision and loving it.

Lesson learned from fellow walker:

• Have a vision so big it feeds your mojo.
• As a leader know when to move on.
• Vision is also being aware of future trends and the fellow walker could see a lot of changes ahead in his business. For example, one reliable major client was the local council and that business was beginning to dwindle.
• Have a vision so big it excites you every day.

Going First Class, Travelling in the Wrong Direction

Have you ever been on such a high that you missed the detail?

Recently, I was the Conference Speaker at a large Symposium in London. After I walked off that stage I was buzzing and the feel good factor just continued.  I was in the zone; living my dream and being of service to the corporate clients all around me.

I got into a taxi and headed to Euston Station, my return ticket was off peak so I decided to upgrade to a peak time ticket. I paid an extra £130 and the guy who sold me the ticket began to glow as well, so much so that he told me to go and sit in the First Class coach G.  I followed some other people and found coach G.  I was relaxed and made a phone call, ten minutes later I looked at my watch and it was 5:21pm, Virgin Trains must be running late I thought as we were due to leave at 5:07pm.  Then I looked out the window and saw platform 5 was on the other side, which was the platform I was supposed to be on!

I turned to the gentleman in the seat behind me and asked him if this train was for Liverpool. No was his reply as the train was pulling out of the station, this train was heading for Manchester. How could I have missed the detail when I was in the zone?

What to do when in the zone

1. Stay grounded
2. Pay attention
3. Remember to sweat the detail
4. Be aware of your surroundings

Be First Class – Travel First Class

I live by a simple motto saying ‘Don’t talk about it, be it…’

To be it means we have to be first class, no excuses, no poor me. It takes discipline and courage to be what you came here to be. When you are first class, no one questions you, they just know it.

By the essence and the presence of who you are and everyone who works for you, it’s not about walk the talk; it's about be the talk… be the brand. Be the product or service that you are. Ooze it, radiate it, respect it… the world right now needs presence, energy and positivity.

Change Your Environment

Are you getting the results you want in life and business?

If not, maybe it’s time to look at what’s going on in your environment. When you surround yourself with the right environment, you have a better chance of succeeding. This might mean:

• Rearranging the office.
• Rearranging your home.
• Studying books on people who have succeeded at what you want to do or be.
• Looking at who you currently mix with… maybe it’s time to attract new friends and business associates into your life.

Eight Top Tips for Changing the Environment

1. Write a clear out list.
2. Clear out the clutter.
3. Be ruthless; get rid of anything you don’t love. Example: books, pictures, dead plants.
4. Sort out your files in the office.
5. Add colour to the office with fresh flowers.
6. If you work in a sales environment, put a picture of what you will buy with the money you will earn from new sales.
7. Bring in healthy snacks to the office, ones that will increase your energy levels.
8. Place two litres of water on your desk and drink it before the end of your day.

When there is beauty and order in your environment, you are more likely to succeed.

Why Not?

Why not be world-class?
Why not be the best that only you can be?
Why not work smarter instead of harder?
Why not ask yourself deep thought provoking questions that will take you to the next level every day of your life?
Why not live in the stretch zone every day?
Why not learn a new skill?
Why not think bigger than ever before?
Why not set a great intention today and really go for it?
Why not begin with the end in mind? Feel it, see it and hear it as if it has already happened.
Why not do that difficult thing you have been putting off until today?
Why not pick up the phone and call someone you have never spoken to before?
Why not take action on something in your life that until now you have been putting on hold?
Why not step into fear and move past it?
Why not write a list of what you will no longer tolerate in your life?
Why not be brave and ask?
Why not change your environment today?

When we ask and challenge ourselves with the question why not, we open the inner doors in our minds to boundless possibility. We change how we think and feel and our life changes around us.

Three Biggest Distractions in Business

What takes your time away?  Have you ever gone on facebook for five minutes and lost an hour?

The same can happen when you open your inbox, pick up the phone or get caught up in gossip within the workplace. Time and energy are precious; they are the two things we cannot ever get back again once lost.

I recently had a telephone conversation with a business associate in Minneapolis.  She was stressed and overwhelmed by the fact that there were 3,500 unread emails in her inbox… WOW was my first reaction and then okay how do you deal with it?

Four Top Tips for Handling Emails

1. Stop using your inbox as a storage box.
2. Put chunks of time aside each day when you will focus on your inbox, no more than three times a day.
3. As you open each email, delete, respond or file out of your inbox.
4. Be ruthless and delete anything that has been lying in your inbox for months.

How to Handle Phone Distractions

1. Work as a team.
2. If you have a deadline to meet, work with a colleague next to you and ask him/her to take calls for you for one hour, then you can help them in return.
3. Return all your outgoing calls in one hour chunks. Build it into your diary.

How to Handle People Who Waste Time

1. Be firm and clear. Arrange to speak to them over lunch or at a coffee break.
2. Always when meeting, set a start and finish time.

I encourage you to use your energy wisely because without world class levels of energy, you cannot be or reach world class in business.

Are You Meeting Your Customer’s Needs?

The world in 2011 is transforming like never before and with it customer’s habits and needs have and are changing. We are all caught up on the hamster wheel of global change; however some things will never change, like meeting the customers on their level, asking the right questions and solving the current pain in their market place.

Seven Tips on How to Meet Your Customer’s Needs: 

1. Communicate, ask questions and shut up.
2. Get deep on what your customer really want and need, not what you think they need.
3. Find out what they love.
4. Find out what they are passionate about.
5. Know at least 20 things about your top customers.
6. Send a gift to them, example: books, tickets, flowers, be original.
7. Personalise your gifts.

Why not in 2011 become so brilliant at what you do that you become the number one go to source in your market.

 

What to Do When Your Life Is Delayed

Have you ever had the experience where you were delayed for hours at an airport somewhere in the world?

Last week I checked in at Liverpool Airport to take the short 35 minute flight to Dublin.  I had one and a half hours to spare so I bought myself a black coffee.  As I looked at the board I couldn't believe what I saw, my flight which was due out at 11:05am was now not departing until 3:35pm.  At that moment all around me, the negativity started moaning and whingeing and I had to quickly reframe my thinking.

• What if I used this time to write my blogs in advance?
• What if I used this time to go over the final points of my Master Class for the next day?
• What if I reviewed my goals and vision for 2011?

By just changing my thinking to ‘what if’, my whole mindset changed and I achieved more in the following four and a half hours than I had in the last two days.

Top Tips on What to Do When Your Life is Delayed

1. Ask yourself ‘what if'?
2. Always go prepared to an airport, take a book, laptop, notebook, pens.
3. Move away from negative Nellie’s and Ned’s.
4. Breathe in relaxation, breathe out stress.
5. Find a comfortable chair/table from where you can work, read or just relax.
6. Use your time wisely.
7. Clean up your to do list.

Pause and be grateful that at least you were not sitting on a plane on the runway for four and a half hours and know that sometimes in life delays can be positive.

You just don’t know who you might connect with along the way.

Ghosts of Leaders Past

Have you ever stopped and pondered on what resonance you will leave behind when your work is done?

I was recently completing a Leadership Programme within a large corporate and as the organisation was closing one building down, we were asked to complete the programme within another of its buildings on site.

As we walked to the conference room, we passed room after room of empty furniture, chairs and tables, stacked on top of each other… the ghosts of days gone by.  Some of the desks were very beautiful and expensive and I could not help but wonder what kind of leader used to use each desk.

• I wondered how did they manage their people?
• Did they lead with integrity?
• Did they foresee the changes that were coming?

The Lessons I Learned from the Ghosts of Leaders Past Experience:

• If you had six months to live, would you still do what you are currently doing?
• Make a difference today, don’t wait until tomorrow.
• The price of discipline is much less than the pain of regret.
• Go deep in tough times and evaluate everything you do.
• Look ahead and ask yourself as a leader, how would you perform if everything fell apart and you were told to clear your desk?

Life is too short for long pity parties, learn to embrace, change, get rid of the crap and focus on what is great in your life now.

Reflections & Questions for a New Decade

The christmas celebrations are over and as we head back to the workplace, getting used to the new normal of 2011, I encourage you to pause for a moment and ask yourself these tough questions:

•  What will you no longer tolerate in your life?
•  On a scale of 1-10, what is your level of energy right now?
   You need high levels of energy to fuel your personal greatness.
•  What people, things or habits do you need to let go of?

New Decade Questions

•  What do you want in the new decade?
•  Who do you want to become?
•  What is the number one reason you are on the planet?
•  Who do you want to hang out with in 2011 and beyond?
•  What are you going to personally do to make sure 2011
    will be your best year yet?

Every one of us has an inner vision; we just need to build reflection time into our lives so we can explore it. Build renewal time into your 2011 diary.

A CEO of a large corporate I work with takes one week off a month to spend with his family. He works on the business and not in the business. He knows that his rock is his family, what is your rock for 2011?

I encourage you to reflect, ask yourself tough questions and take massive action.  Build in lots of fun time along the way.