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 This past weekend I participated in an activity that I love. A close group of my friends floated down the Peshtigo River on inner tubes. The ritual is simple. The three couples tie their tubes together and place a cooler, also in a tube, in the middle. It’s a lazy river ride for three hours. I love it because the only thing you can do is talk about things. Some people feel uncomfortable with this kind of entertainment but I love it.

I have taken trips like this almost every year for the past 10 years. This trip I decided not to wear my Keen sandals … bad idea! As the day began to get warmer, I decided to jump off my tube to cool down. The water appeared deep. I couldn’t see the bottom so I jumped out. I found out quick that the riverbed was five feet below and something very sharp was on the bottom that shot up into my foot. I am now working at home this week. I can’t walk on it for at least a week. I usually wear my Keens when tubing so why not this trip?

I think I became too comfortable with the routine. I wanted to feel the water between my toes unencumbered by sandals. This reminds me of life in business as well. We assume our relationships with clients and vendors are “all good.” We get lazy which leads to complacency. You need to be on your game every day. Decisions need to be made that are smart. Services need to get better not decline. Bottom line: When working with your clients, don’t forget to wear your sandals!

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: Challenge your team. What else can be done to enhance your customer experience factor? This exercise will empower your team and wow your customers.

We spent the afternoon cruising around this clean, clear lake. Kathy pointed out a few mansion-like homes around the lake. She told us some of the stories that went with a few of them. Many of the stories went like this: “… that guy invented ‘X,’ sold the company and retired at 45.” Every story had a relatively young person inventing something and landing into a pile of money. I love hearing these stories. I love stories of an idea going big. It fires me up because I love entrepreneurship and everything that goes with it. However, I especially love the buildup to the sale. These stories when told by others typically leave out the part about entrepreneurs mortgaging everything they owned because of the dream. They don’t tell you about the years of sweat and tears … the immense amount of time talking to thousands of people until the idea gained momentum.

I love these “crawling stories.” You know, the stories of the early years. Where are you in your story? Are you patient in your pursuits? A person is like a fine wine. You can produce cheap wine pretty quick, or you can allow it to ferment and build your own flavor. Make sure you keep your eyes on the big picture. Have patience, be diligent and make a difference in whatever you do.

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: Practice patience. Write down three initiatives or relationships where you are going to practice patience.

I know it seems impossible for some to be patient. I had to learn to be when it comes to others embracing a new concept or change. I’ve learned that the first meeting when presenting a new idea has the same weight as the last meeting, as this is when people decide to accept your idea because they fully understand it. If there were 100 meetings between them, they would all carry equal weight. People need to be reminded. You must not steal that process from them. Or more accurately, you can’t take it from them. It is what it is.

We all must learn on our own terms and for the “new idea person” that means patience and perseverance … That’s all! Hang in there long enough and you’ll be a star!

Joe Kiedinger

Action Plan:  Practice patience this week. Perhaps with just one person or one project. It’s necessary for success!

He also shares two rules:

1. Do more than you are told, do more than is expected.
2. Discipline yourself to keep keeping on.

It’s important, he states, to discipline yourself to excellence so others don’t need to. Think about it for a moment. Look at the people you’ve promoted—haven’t they delivered to you more than you expected? They are self-driven and confident in finding their own solutions to challenges. This week begin your journey of being excellent.

REMINDER: For our La Crosse area fans, you’re invited to attend the About Me Card World Premiere in La Crosse tomorrow! It’s free! Come and see the debut of this new Servant Leadership software that creates understanding between people in minutes! Click on aboutmecard.com to find out more.

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: Find two things you are working on this week that you can do more with than what’s expected.

1. Energy: Look for energetic and enthusiastic people. Enthusiasm is contagious and is an important ingredient in influencing others.

2. Energize Others: This goes with number one. When you have energy you have the ability to energize others. He looks for people who have displayed an excitement that affects others in a positive way.

3. Edge: Courage to make tough yes and no decisions. Do you’re people have that ability?

4. Execute: The ability to get the job done.

He then closes with the big “P” which stands for passion. He points out that these are people who care about winning. Not just at their job but in their life. These people are very involved outside of work. They have hobbies and adventures that they challenge themselves with outside of work and can juggle many things at one time. Don’t be intimidated by their schedule, embrace it.

A great tool when looking to hire or promote individuals within your organization. Live with passion and WIN!

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: Make a form with these attributes and test it against all of your team members. You may be surprised at what you find.

She focuses me in a way she will never know. Danica is very humble and she doesn’t realize the effect she has on me. I tease her (but it’s true) by saying. “Do you want to see your influence on my personal success? Leave me. Then you’ll see how I would fall apart.” When you find the right one, it’s the spice of life. Hopefully, I received a few positive points by writing about Danica today. I appreciate her so much.

Do you show the special person in your life appreciation? Do you realize how much this person is tied to your success? Some of our greatest business leaders—both men and women—have had supportive and nurturing spouses, who contribute so much to their success. I hope you’re as blessed as I am. Life’s a blast!

Joe Kiedinger

Danica became upset as I told the story. I thought she would be excited at how inspiring my story was. For several hours she gave me the cold shoulder. I could not figure out why she was responding this way. Once the kids went to bed we talked about it. It turned out that I violated one of her driving forces on her About Me Card. One of her key motivations for happiness is “enjoying things together.” Sue was not the first Prophiteer I had a special one-on-one showing with and Danica was feeling disappointed that she wasn’t there to share it with me. She loves enjoying things together so I should have waited until she could join us. That way, Sue feels special and important, Danica’s motivations are met and my need to inspire would also be satisfied.

I love these little cards. My relationship with my wife has grown so much stronger. I still make mistakes and so does she, but now we have a way of communicating disappointments that happen from time to time by using our cards. I hope you can join us April 27th at the Meyer Theater in Green Bay at 3:00 p.m. for the World Premiere of this amazing new communication tool! Click here (WWW.ABOUTMECARD.COM) to learn more. When someone becomes short with you, it’s not because of what you did—it’s because of how you did it and how you made them feel. As we go through life, we all have certain expectations that we would like people to respect. This tool connects you to another person in 60 seconds!

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: R.S.V.P. For the World Premiere at INFO@ABOUTMECARD.COM! You’ll be entertained and you’ll learn a few things, too!

This month’s issue has the following leadership experts: John Maxwell, Mel Robbins, Jim Cathcart and Tony Hseih (Zappos) to name a few. Tony was named SUCCESS 2009 Achiever of the Year. A great choice. Tony started the online shoe sensation Zappos and sold it to Amazon.com for $1.2 billion. Not bad for a few years work! He’s still acting president. His philosophy: Create Fun, Deliver WOW!

Currently Tony is on a quest to better understand the art of happiness. I love it! He says in the article, “The thing we realized this year that sort of ties everything together is that customer service is about making customers happy, and the culture is about making employees happy. So, really, we’re about trying to deliver happiness, whether it’s to customers or employees, and we apply that same philosophy to vendors as well.”

Tony has a culture of Servant Leadership (how I label it). If you like this message, go to the website: www.mondaymm.com  There you’ll find my interview with Servant Leader guru, Jim Hunter. Jim has written books that have sold more than 3 million copies worldwide. He is all about creating a Servant Leadership culture based on leadership and accountability.

Are you out to be a manager or an exceptional leader? If you subscribe to Wisdom On Wednesday, I’m guessing you’re the latter. If that’s true, keep learning and keep improving!

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: Get that SUCCESS subscription!

We began developing all the tools needed and implemented the strategy. A couple of new clients were brought into their fold and then about a year and a couple of months later a very large client came knocking with a very large order that has since developed into a fruitful long-term partnership. I asked my Process Manager, “So, what was it that led to the sale? Was it the new website, the magazine ads, the trade shows… What?” He responded, “Their focus.”

He reminded me. There is no one thing that determines success. It’s the overall focus of the leadership team and associates who are focused on a particular strategy and doing small things everyday that led to the big hit. It’s so true. Have you ever had business come to you out of the blue that happened to be the perfect client? Almost always that is no accident. It’s because you focused on it.

Ah yes, the great power of focus!

Joe Kiedinger

ACTION PLAN: What’s your focus? Write it down and share it with others. Don’t have one? Open it up to your associates and get ready for an interesting discussion.