At the core of every company is a promise to improve its clients’ lifestyles in some way.  Oftentimes, this promise is articulated in a mission statement or story.  It is practiced through corporate values and behaviors.  It is delivered through the employee and client experiences.

In the Microsoft Partner community, this promise is understood to fall somewhere along the lines of improving efficiency and effectiveness for individuals and enterprises by providing the best technology.  Or, in the exact words of Microsoft, “to help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential.”

Assuming that Partners are already wired up with the latest, greatest software programs (created by Microsoft of course), how else can you come to realize your full potential as sales-driven businesspeople aspiring to grow client rosters and revenues?

The reality is that you could come up with hundreds of products and services you have bought into to help improve your job performance.  Let’s see if we can come up with five of them for a quick hit list right now.

1. The chair you’re sitting on – Did it promise to supply more comfort than other chairs, thereby improving your ability to sit longer at your desk and finish more work?
2. The sticky notes placed on top of your papers – Did they promise to help you stay organized, thereby improving your ability to remember what work was the top priority?
3. The local business newspaper in your inbox – Did it promise to keep you in the know of your network, thereby improving your ability to keep your work strategy relevant?
4. The high quality suit you’re wearing – Did it promise to portray your professionalism with style, thereby improving your ability to make good impressions while at work?
5. The energy drink you’re consuming – Did it promise to recharge your body, thereby improving your ability to boost your work output?

Notice that each one of the promises involved the term “work” because practically everything we do and everything around us before the workday and during the workday is part of a self-created process we routinely go through to perform better at work.  Even if it’s watching TV or going to the gym after work to unwind, you’re often doing it to de-stress and refresh before the next day begins and it’s time to get back to work.

At entreQuest, we love all of these activities and accessories.  In fact, our team has invested in hundreds of them combined.  However we are all well aware that there is a shortcut.  We could bypass all of our purchases and programs and get straight to the heart of what drives human progress and organizational optimization.

There is really only one tool that actually has the power to bring in better results.  It cannot be bought, it cannot be consumed, it cannot be checked off.  On the flip side, it can be utilized whenever and it can be developed continually.  It can help you reach your full potential and its full potential is all dependent on you.

It has been the number one weapon in our arsenal here at entreQuest when we gear up to accomplish our corporate goals since the day we opened up our doors.  It is the first principle we have been consulting our clients on and training their sales team with for over ten years.  It is how our network of partners has been surviving the economic recession and how our community will continue to thrive in the future fiscal years to come.

It is MINDSET.

Mindset sits at the foundation of the Access to Achievement – or the module that entreQuest conceived to explain what drives professionals to reach their sales goals.  We use it with our clients in the context of both individual employees and organizations as a whole.

Shaped like a large triangle, at the base sits MINDSET, which takes into account an individual’s beliefs and values as well as a company’s mission and story.  It is the “why” we do what we do and the “why” our business exists.  Mindset is the foundation of all business activity to generate sales, build better relationships, foster good morale, and enhance the greater community.  It is the platform on which sits the next layer of the Access to Achievement triangle – PROCESS.

For an individual, process involves the tasks we must do to generate revenue.  It is the “how” we are going to accomplish what we originally set out to do.  Many of the items we listed in the original hit list including writing reminders on sticky notes, reading through the local business news, and gulping down energy drinks, in addition to making cold calls or following-up with contacts or doing anything extra that will enhance the employee and client experiences, would be placed in the process section.

Finally, sitting at the top of the triangle is RESULTS.  These make up the “what” we define as measurements of our personal goals and our company’s success.  Results are the product of processes and they are only attainable and sustainable if the entire vision and strategy are determined by mindset, inspired by mindset, and maintained by mindset.  Without this all too important foundation, processes and results will not last the long term even if they prove lucrative in the early stages.  The right mindset is how team members and companies effectively and efficiently grow.  It is how everyone can reach their full potential.

Imperatively speaking, Microsoft Partners must make up their mindset to accomplish their goals.  It takes focus, commitment, and effort.  It involves keeping your word, investing your passion, and learning from your mistakes.  It requires delivering excellence and demonstrating exceptionalism.

To control your mindset, you must first understand what it is made of and entreQuest defines this combination as “your recipe for success.”  There are three ingredients: patterns of your physical movement, patterns of your speech, and patterns of your thoughts.  After all, there is a way that you move when you nail a presentation, right?  There is a way that you speak when you’re on during a meeting, isn’t there?  And there is a way that you think when nothing can stop you towards hitting your goal, oh you better believe it!

Successful businesspeople have noted the differences in their movements, their speech, and their thoughts when they achieved results versus when they lost out on opportunities.  They then made a conscious decision to maintain their movements, speech, and thoughts in a positive light so that their recipe for success continually cooks up a mindset that conquers challenges, defies failure, secures satisfaction, and revs up revenue.  You can have this too.  entreQuest teaches its client company teams and seminar trainees to check-in with their mindset as much as they can throughout the workday with a simple six-letter phases: “I move.  I say.  I think.”  Just like a chef has to respect the fact that a master meal can only result from the proper ingredients, so you must remember that a master mindset only brings results with the right recipe for success.

From here, we suggest you go back to your work goals and review them.  You had confidence when you created them so know that you can access the achievement.  It is only a matter of determination and planning accordingly.  In addition to being present at all times to your movement, speech, and thoughts in order to maintain them at the levels required for your special recipe for success, there are other areas you can apply the master mindset.  For instance, where can you make adjustments in your routine to take the extra step with your clients?  How can you hone your explanation of your offering to gain more prospects’ trust?  What are the risks you are not taking or the tasks you are not completing and what is preventing you?  Make up your mindset now to reach your full potential!

Of course the other things come into play too.  Comfortable chairs, sticky notes, local news, business suits, and energy drinks all have their place in assisting us through the challenges of the daily grind.  Microsoft Partners’ products and services obviously add incredible value when it comes to improving business operations so we would never suggest any professional works off mindset alone.  It must be said, however, that if everything on your desk and in your schedule suddenly vanished, a sales-driven professional can still succeed as long as he or she is sourced with a winning mindset.

Mindset is the force behind the saying “always find a way.”  Mindset is the push behind “there’s always room to grow.”  Mindset is even the champion over an excuse like “it’s always something.”

From us at entreQuest to you at every Microsoft Partner around the world, it’s always MINDSET that will access businesspeople to their achievement.  No matter what kind of improvement you need to make in your work, trust us that mindset is the all time greatest hit of the hit list.

With all that has been written in the days following the death of one of America’s greatest corporate leaders, it would not be of the Apple kind of creativity if we just repeated what is already out there.  In honor of Steve Jobs, we’ll try to “think different.”

Though his body proved vulnerable in the end, the mindset of Mr. Jobs was truly an unstoppable force.  Those business professionals out there who have experienced entreQuest trainings know that we often discuss the Pareto Principle – or “the 80/20 rule” – where 20% of the workforce is generally responsible for 80% of the revenue.  With Apple valued at $350 billion at the time of his death, we speculate that the S. Jobs Principle could amount to a “99/1 rule” – where 1% of the visionaries accounted for 99% of the innovation.  Jobs was one leader in technology but he revolutionized almost every corner of its market.

For all of his success however, Steve Jobs met face-to-face with failure over and over and over again.  It could almost be speculated that his secret to winning was losing.  He dropped out of college.  He started-up an office in his parents’ garage.  After making $117 million with his first commercial commuter designed for the masses called Apple II, he missed the mark with the following models named Apple III and Lisa.  His leadership then slumped so much that the board ended up firing him.  He was hired back for an annual salary of $1.00.  He posted a quarterly loss after the cube-shaped Macintosh fell short.  And his body developed cancer.

By our society’s standards, that’s a fair amount of disappointments.  But by Steve’s standards, that’s just fair game.  He was a winner who didn’t dwell upon setbacks but rather constantly reset himself and his team for comebacks.  Not the kind of comebacks that required Apple to alter its story or its ambitions but the simpler kind of comebacks that showed a lesson had been learned and a new approach was being tried.  These were the experiments that resulted more often than not in big peaks of economic glory for Jobs (and everyone holding jobs under him).  For example there was NeXT Inc., Pixar Animation Studios, iMac, iPod, iTunes, iPhone, and iPad.

Steve Jobs had a vision for advancing technology to standards in design, aesthetics, ease, functionality, entertainment, and cool-factor.  Even more, he believed he could make this vision a reality and that made him maintain a mindset that he would wind up a winner.  And he did – even before Apple grew to become the most valuable company in the world as it remains at present.

Though Jobs has died, we now hold the living versions of his longtime vision.  With this technology in our hands, all we who remain here in the marketplace need is to adopt his mindset to turn our own career stories from fantasies to facts. 

For more information on how you yourself can “Choose to Win,” read the entreQuest article published in SmartCEO Magazine at this link:  http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/entrequest_Mindset_12.03.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

(*Information Sources:  “Steven Paul Jobs, 1955 – 2011″ by Yukari Iwatani Kane and Geoffrey A. Fowler.  The Wall Street Journal.  Thursday 6 October 2011.)

Twenty years ago, there was one model that every America could reference for healthy eating – the USDA Food Pyramid.  Taped up to the walls of public school cafeterias or illustrated on the back of cereal boxes, everyone from expert to everyday citizen seemed to agree on the definition of the optimal diet.  Daily, it included:  6 – 11 from the grains group (bread, cereal, rice, pasta), 3 – 5 servings of vegetables, 2 – 4 servings of fruit, 2 – 3 servings of protein (meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs, nuts), 2 – 3 servings of dairy (milk, cheese), and then the triangle topped off with the “use sparingly” foods (fats, oils, sweets).

Looking back now, how did that model work out for us?

Statistically speaking, the answer is not very well. 

As stated by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: “During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and rates remain high.”

Hence why the USDA sent a wrecking ball through the food pyramid and then set a plate in its place.  This new circular model acts as a pie chart for what proportions of what foods constitute an appropriate meal.  It also includes a cup of milk to the side.

While we hope the new icon provides a better strategy in America’s ongoing battle with rising obesity rates, we kind of wish the government had consulted entreQuest first.  We might have been able to save them some of the costs related to overhauling their collateral from pyramid to plate. 

Since our the earliest days of our business, we have guided our clients with a triangle and it has been so successful that we could never dream of even slightly changing it.  It is called the Achievement Model and it contains three simple layers.  The bottom and largest layer is MINDSET.  The middle layer is PROCESS.  And the top layer is RESULTS.

Please read the entreQuest article published in SmartCEO for more information on the Achievement Model at this link:  http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/entrequest_November_11.03pdf.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658.

So if MINDSET is the foundation for the PROCESSES that create RESULTS, and the desired result is a healthy state of being, then a food plan is a process to achieve such.  And it all must rest upon a mindset that is determined and focused. 

Bearing that in mind, what would entreQuest have done with the food pyramid?  Simple.  We would have consolidated every piece of it – grains, vegetables, fruits, proteins, dairy products, and “use sparinglys” into the middle layer because portion control and food choices are just processes.  Then we would have made the very top layer represent a healthy lifestyle since that is the stated goal.  Most importantly though, we would have established mindset as the base because if Americans do not really believe that they can become healthier, how can they ever change their bad habits into good ones and make the right decisions over the wrong ones?  Every single reminder and recommendation in the world for what leads to a healthy lifestyle could be tattooed to their hand but if they’re not bought into their mission, that hand could still reach for a dozen donuts with a side of French fries and a supersized milkshake when the cravings come a calling.  Without mindset, processes cannot result in achievement.

It’s the same with a business.  A leader can hire only Ivy League educated candidates and then equip them with only the fastest technology and present them with a perfect day-to-day strategy for performance improvement.  However these types of processes will do nothing if the team members have not made up their mind to better themselves and better their organization.   If employees are not compelled to be the cause of their own success and the success of their company then how can the company ever survive the uphill battle to achievement?  A bad economy or tough competition or even a bad day will deter even the most competent professional’s productivity if their mindset is not aligned to a greater mission.  For corporate growth to occur, each team member must make up his or her mindset to reach goals and live up to both their own potential as well as their company’s values.

The obvious question here is how do you compel your people to master their mindset?  We suggest to our clients that you help them understand the story they are a part of – the story of your company.  If they are not inspired by their company’s values, empowered by their company’s beliefs, and charged by their company’s mission, how can they ever be expected to be inspired, empowered, and charged enough to go through the proper processes and generate real results? 

Understanding the story is not a one-time deal.  It is an ongoing journey.  The most loyal following must still be constantly reminded of the mission at hand.  There are a lot of negative forces out there that will tempt people towards inaction, indifference, falter, and failure.  Like minds, mindsets tend to wander and therefore people must be refreshed about the WHY they are doing what they are doing.  Leaders, managers, and frontline staff members must remain motivated through consistently themed messaging in all programs and protocol throughout the company.  Growth is a process and it is a result but without mindset, growth will be neither.

That goes for healthy lifestyles too.  When Americans are motivated to believe in themselves and embody their success story, their mindset will drive the processes that deliver results.  Only unlike business, these results won’t be growth in the physical sense… 

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

(*Information Sources: 

“USDA Food Pyramid Out:  Is the New Food Plate Better?” The Huffington Post.  Thursday 2 June 2011.  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/02/food-pyramid-usda_n_870375.html?view=screen.

“U.S. Obesity Trends.”  Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  Thursday 21 July 2011.  http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/trends.html.)

In November, a group of researchers will be publishing a study titled ”Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes” to prove that in the working environment – the higher the power, the less likely the collaboration effort.

To put it more bluntly, individuals in managerial or other leadership roles often dismiss their coworkers’ advice when making decisions.  Inflated confidence is the primary reason cited for this behavior.
 
We at entreQuest, and surely most professionals out there, have known this syndrome to be true for a long time.  When we conduct an assessment of our clients’ companies, quotes surface from employees such as “I don’t feel like my boss listens to me” or “They never ask me for my ideas” or “I know that if we did it another way, it would work.  But they’ll never try it.”
 
Most managers are in their positions because they have earned it through experience so it makes sense that they should trust themselves to make the right decisions and that they should be trusted when doing so.  However the difference that can be made in terms of morale, teamwork, and overall results is dramatic when leaders take the initiative to empower their staff and bring them into the decision making process.  It adds to the employee experience which directly adds to the client experience.  After all, when your employees feel they are experiencing something remarkable, they are much more invested into delivering something remarkable.  What adds up in the end is GROWTH.  That’s both growth of the business and growth of the individuals – especially those managers who will learn for the first time how much they can improve their own performance when they allow their coworkers to share in the decision making process.
 
A collaboration program that entreQuest is proud to implement in many of our clients’ internal operations is called Action Learning Projects (ALPs).  What the ALPs provide is a problem-solving model that can be used to engage teammates, develop leadership skills, and yield effective ideas to build a better business.  Employees are divided into smaller groups where each will work on an important issue – it could be a challenge hindering the employee experience or an unexplored opportunity to enhance the client experience or any type of matter the company deems critical.  After roughly 12 weeks of working together, the groups of employees then present their ideas – as a report, program, or strategy – to the leaders of their company and if they show potential, the ALP will be incorporated into daily operations.

Even if the group’s idea proves too impractical for implementation, the leaders can still take the group’s input into account and they should.  We usually we find that leaders discover important information about their company’s employee experience or client experience that can be extremely helpful if not immediately then later down the road.  As ALP expert and author Michael J. Marquardt says:  “Perhaps action learning’s greatest value is its capacity for equipping individuals, teams and organizations to more effectively respond to change.”
 
And, as a perk, if you happen to be a leader of a group of employees who end up being surveyed for another newsworthy study about whether or not their input is dismissed by their boss, you’ll stand out among the few that actually do value their people’s say on important issues and goals.  You’ll also be all the more likely to solve those issues and accomplish those goals because of your efforts to collaborate.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

(*Information Source: “Some Managers Just Won’t Take Advice” by Rachel Emma Silverman.  The Wall Street Journal.  Monday 19 September 2011.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904103404576560800619224540.html?KEYWORDS=some+managers+just+won%27t+take+advice)

If you’ve ever been to Epcot in Disney World, then you can appreciate the value of culture.  Walk around the pavilions representing the World Showcase and your nostrils alone are in for an exciting ride from the scents of zesty marinara sauces out of Italy to the fresh baked buttery breads coming out of the ovens in France to the sesame oiled sautés simmering up in the woks of China to the poblano peppered plates flavoring up the fiestas in Mexico.  And that’s just food!  The clothing styles, architectural designs, literary themes, social etiquette practices, artistic patterns, and entertainment traditions are all equally important to the culture of each country.  Culture, therefore, is a reflection of the common interests of a community.  And thanks to the continuous efforts to honor what makes each of our communities unique, we humans are able to enjoy an exciting diversity of cultures today.

It is the same for companies.  We all have our own cultures.  Even the companies that provide exactly the same products and services are culturally different.  Look at airlines alone.  A recent survey in the Wall Street Journal showed that the majority of American travelers book their ticket based on price so the culture that airlines invite their customers to partake in only has so much room to fly, per se.  But there is a clear difference between the experience of Delta and the experience of Southwest for instance.  Conceivably they could fly the same Boeing models, bag the same brand of peanuts, and show the same movies.  However by the time of arrival, their passengers can easily compare the two airlines and a true cultural difference will be noted (especially those who listen up during the announcements – Southwest’s flight attendants and pilots crack enough jokes to be the in-flight entertainment themselves).

Go to each airline’s website and you will get a glimpse into their respective cultures right away.  Under “About Delta,” the airline summarizes itself as: “Delta Air Lines serves more than 160 million customers each year.  With its unsurpassed global network, Delta and the Delta Connection® carriers offer service to more than 350 destinations in nearly 70 countries on six continents.”

Under “Why Fly Southwest,” the airline simply answers:  “Great value.  Excellent service.  Our mission.  Fly Southwest because you want to be treated like a person.”

There is no doubt that Delta also aspires to treat each of its passengers like a person and it’s very likely Southwest aspires to lead an unsurpassed network of airways but the difference in their cultures results in different priorities and different tones.

Of course culture is not just about enticing visitors like the pavilions at Epcot or serving customers like the airlines, it’s also about inspiring your community of people to reach their full potential.  Only through creating a remarkable experience for your employees can you create a remarkable experience for your clients and ultimately experience remarkable growth.  To get there, leaders have to put clarity around exactly what their company’s mission, values, beliefs, and behaviors are.  These foundational aspects formulate the mindset of your team and therefore the success of your company so it is vital that the culture be honored consistently within your walls and outside them when facing clients and the community.

Whether the sales momentum is at an all-time high or sales are sinking to new lows, culture gives us a reference point.  It supports our continuous drive toward excellence and it refocuses us when we are not seeing the results we want to see.  If Norway is losing visitor traffic to Morocco at Epcot, the solution is not to dress their employees in Arab accessories and cook up a sandstorm of couscous.  Norway will have to consult its culture and creatively find ways to make itself better without changing what it stands for.  And there are always ways to deliver something better.

The same goes for airlines.  If, hypothetically, Delta is losing business to Southwest, their staff can’t paint their planes purple, orange, and red and try out an improv comedy act over the loudspeaker at takeoff.  Delta must remain true to itself and creatively find ways to better serve its 160 million customers each year.  And for a company that takes pride in carrying to more than 350 destinations, Delta should be completely capable of finding the right way.

Your company’s fuel and your company’s focus come from your company’s culture.  The solution always rests somewhere in your story.  Once you discover it, all you need to do is craft your processes and programs around it for a better operation and for better results.  Put clarity around your culture and your team will maintain all the fuel and focus it needs to succeed.

For more information on how “Clarity Breeds Success,” read the article entreQuest published in SmartCEO Magazine at this link:  http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/07.06.ownersmanual.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

(*Information Sources:

“About Delta.”  Delta Airlines.  http://www.delta.com/about_delta/index.jsp.

“Why Fly Southwest?”  Southwest Airlines.  http://www.southwest.com/html/why-fly-southwest/index.html?int=GFOOTER-DIFFERENCE-WHY-FLY-SWA.

“Carriers Keep Capacity in Check” by Doug Cameron and Jack Nicas.  The Wall Street Journal.  Wednesday 14 September 2011.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903532804576568922672945908.html?KEYWORDS=airlines#articleTabs%3Darticle.)

The American auto industry is unique but in many ways it is no different than every one of our businesses.  Leaders of all types must find the right incentives to drive their teams towards success.  These incentives must be applicable enough to affect the entire organization but meaningful enough to inspire each individual.

Sadly, the Big Three auto makers are a living example of what happens when leaders fail to find the right incentives for their employees.  To put it bluntly, had these top men and women been able to deliver a remarkable employee experience to their people on their own, would there have ever been a need for the rise of the United Auto Workers union?  No, there wouldn’t have been since the UAW began in 1935 with the mission to fairly negotiate wages and benefits between the leaders and the labor.  So regardless of the specific details that mandated a third party to step in and arbitrate, it can be determined that something was clearly missing from the culture, mindset, and workforce processes inside General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler.

That something is what we at entreQuest believe to be the accountability moment.  It is how self-governance creates a winning sales culture.  The accountability moment technically describes the destination point – where the leaders’ corporate-level goals meet the employees’ individual-level goals to create a synergy of success for everyone involved in the business.  It takes a few steps to get there however.

First, the leaders must craft their story to succinctly and eloquently articulate the mission, values, behaviors, and vision that define their company.  Next, the managers must build their working relationships with their employees so that together they can determine what goals each individual should have and how they will align to company’s story.  Whether your employees show up to a corner office in a suit to make sales during elegant lunch meetings or they are wearing much more durable clothing to withstand the mechanical nature of their job, everyone in your organization is a person, not a robot.  Therefore they have their own personal drivers and their own unique desires.  Good managers will be able to help them realize that their own growth goals and their company’s growth goals can masterfully be accomplished together.  Finally, the employee must hold himself or herself accountable to reaching those goals or else the incentives of a monetary bonus or additional vacation time or whatever is being used to reward the employee will not be issued.  Obviously the manager is responsible for this piece too and he or she must provide ongoing support, coaching, and a fair aseessment of the employee’s performance.

Of course, there is a limit here.  Leaders and managers cannot play the roles of morality magicians.  It was Henry Ford who actually already tried to do that with the creation of his “sociological department” for the laborers at Highland Park factory in 1915.  Reverend Samuel Marquis, the sociological department’s head, stated its purpose was to be part of “a plan for the education of the working-men in thrift, honesty, sobriety, better housing, and better living generally.”  It sounded like a nice idea in theory, especially with an incentive like the earth-shattering announcement of “the five dollar workday” for blue collar workers, but in practice Ford Motor Co. actually hired investigators to go into the workers’ homes and survey their personal lives to identify flaws.  It’s no mystery why critics used ideas like “paternalism,” “feudal system,” and “treated like slaves or children” to describe the Ford employee experience back then, right?

We find at entreQuest that employees are generally harder on themselves than leaders might think.  Many of them want to perform well past even their boss’ highest standards.  They also take pride in living up to the values of their organization and contributing towards the team.  Leaders and managers who can leverage these fine qualities in their employees know that they will foster growth both for the business and for the employees themselves.  It’s a win-win situation.

These days both sides of the automobile industry are working hard to grow back to those glory days of the once flourishing Motor City.  Leaders are reassessing their goals, trimming their inefficiencies, and modernizing their offerings.  Unions are trying to find the fairest means for workers to earn and enjoy bonus structures, benefits, and profit share.   America waits and hopes that together these leaders and unions can create the culture, mindset, and workforce processes to result in a win-win situation.

For those of us running businesses that are not structured like those in the auto industry, we leaders still have a chance to be our own third party negotiators with our team members.  Every one of them too because no matter what trade we’re dealing in, our biggest potential salespeople are our indirect salespeople.  They might be answering phone calls at a customer service desk or adjusting heavy machinery on a factory floor but they are as much a business builder as your top account manager is.  It’s time to give them their accountability moment.

More information on the accountability moment can be found in an article published by entreQuest in SmartCEO magazine at this link:  http://www.entrequest.com/wp-content/pdf/0707ownersmanual.pdf?phpMyAdmin=d2c4aa6766ft5760658.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

(*Information Sources:

“Auto Talks Extended” by Matthew Dolan, Jeff Bennett, and Sharon Terlep.  The Wall Street Journal.  Wednesday 14 September 2011.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111904353504576568643214855166.html?KEYWORDS=auto+talks+extended.

“The People’s Tycoon:  Henry Ford and the American Century” by Steven Watts.  New York:  Vintage Books, 2005.

The United Auto Workers website.  www.uaw.org.)

In the official entreQuest story guide, our ultimate goal is defined as: “Behind everything that entreQuest does – from the tiniest task to the most expansive engagement – is a desire to make the world a better place.”

We think that sounds pretty good on paper but we’re positive it looks a lot better in action.  That’s why this coming Friday, September 9th, entreQuest and Game On Events are sponsoring a happy hour event in our mutual hometown of Baltimore to raise money for children who are currently suffering in Africa.

Why?

Because the latest facts reveal a daunting reality:

• 8 million people in the Horn of Africa region are in need of emergency food aid.
• The current drought is expected to last until 2012.
• Effects of the drought are magnified by the sharp rise in food prices.
• Due to ongoing civil strife in Somalia, 5,000 people are entering Ethiopia from Somalia each day.
• The number of malnourished children in Horn of Africa countries has risen by 50%.
• 4.56 million people in Ethiopia are in need of emergency aid.
• 652,500 of those Ethiopian children in need are under 5.
• There are 480,000 severely malnourished children facing death.
• There are another 1,649,000 additional children that are moderately malnourished.
• UNICEF needs $31.8 million over the next 3 months to provide humanitarian support to children and women who are affected by this crisis in Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Djibouti.
• It costs approximately $500 to feed one starving child for one year.
• It costs approximately $10 to feed one starving child for one week.

This crisis might not have been on our radar screens before because we live so far away from it here in the United States but how can we stand by and watch children die even from a distance?  It’s only a hopeless situation if everyone gives up.  Luckily, we have the opportunity to make this world a better place and the time to act is NOW.

Join the teams at entreQuest and Game On Events and you can feed at least one of these starving children this Friday at Field House (located in The Can Company at 2400 Boston Street, Baltimore, MD 21224).

Make a $10 donation at the door and you’re invited to enjoy menu specials from 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm and a limited OPEN BAR.  Imagine how one happy hour for us filled with drinks and appetizers can provide 168 happier hours for the children of Africa filled with just basic nutritional needs.

The fun of this fundraiser will continue all evening with a corn hole tournament and other activities.  All proceeds will go towards UNICEF. 

You can check out the event on Facebook at this link: https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=281925811824821.

If you are not able to attend the event on Friday, you can still make a donation to UNICEF at this link:  http://inside.unicefusa.org/site/TR?pg=fund&fr_id=1090&pxfid=23121.

Thanks for thinking globally about this cause with us today and here’s hoping we’ll all be acting locally for this cause together on Friday.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.

As I think about this year for every client, partner, and friend in the eQ community, I can’t help but think about how this relates to the perilous times for our country as a whole.
 
Ideologies aside, both political parties seem to presently lack the key ingredients necessary to empower, inspire, and rejuvenate America.   Personally, I am disappointed and borderline enraged at the lack of sensitivity and acuity by all federally elected politicians who are not fully immersed in their jobs as public servants - that goes for both those on elaborate vacations and those who are showing up at the office but performing at the bare minimum of their requirements.
 
In my opinion, there is a huge learning opportunity here for those of us in the private sector:  we are in this together but need to go at this alone.
 
What I mean by this is that the private sector needs to provide vision, leadership, and urgency in our world right now.  Hopefully our mindset of “always finding a way” will spill over and contagiously take over the minds of those members of our working population who truly need it now to successfully do their jobs.
 
At the same time, there are a ton of people struggling and challenged in a worse way.  Beyond helping them programmatically and financially, we can lead them by example and live out the core values of our companies.  For example, we at entreQuest would focus on four objectives definied by our core values: keep our word, demonstrate a relentless passion for what we do, deliver remarkable experiences, and grow regardless.
 
Past our baseline philosophy, I also believe there are three practical things we private sector leaders should also take into consideration to help our teams and our clients and our communities through the coming months.

1. HUSTLE
2. HEART
3. HUMILITY

Let me elaborate.
 
Hustle is simple.  It’s not more time, it’s more focused time.  It’s constantly looking for the edge of improvement.  If you want motivation, check out an article published this week about Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens.  He embodies hustle better than anyone:  http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/ravens/bs-sp-ravens-lewis-0821-20110820,0,5714184.story.
 
Heart is harder to think about.  To me, this subject can be defined in many ways but it’s primarily the passion and persistence you live your life with.  Because it’s football season, I have another example from that field.  In the movie “Rudy,” the title character was undersized and outmatched but still, he always found a way: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mZ7ZpLgkVxA.
 
Finally, there is humility.  We leaders must try our best to never believe that we have arrived, to never believe that we are good enough, and to never believe that there is not more to be learned.  Our humility is such a key ingredient to our leadership.  My favorite example of humility is this Steve Jobs speech which he delivered at a graduation:  http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.htm.
 
For America’s financial fate, again I must reiterate that we are all in this together but we need to go at this alone.  Luckily those of us leaders in the private sector have proven to be resourceful up to this point.  So let us now find our core values, the hustle, the heart, and the humility to best serve our country.

Joe Mechlinski is the President of entreQuest and has partnered with countless leaders to effectively improve their team’s performance, their clients’ experience, and their company’s profits.