Category Archives: Ethics

Selling is a Contact Sport

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Competitive Advantage, Customer Service, Enduring Principles, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Leadership Development, Networking, Personal Development, Personal Values, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training

People Love to Do Business with People They Like

People love to do business with people they like and trust. How do you get people to trust you? Trust is a by-product of building those all-important relationships. Some people are better at it then others, but you can learn how. First you need to establish rapport. Find out what they like to do outside of the workplace and use that to strike up a conversation. Do they have a hobby? Do they enjoy cooking, tending to the garden or watching sports? Once you have established a rapport comes a relationship. You can’t build a relationship until you have established a rapport. Out of that relationship comes mutual respect. Others will not respect you until you have built a relationship. If they respect you – they will trust you because they believe you have their best interest at heart. Once they trust you – more than likely they will go along with what ever you recommend.

Copyright(c) 2019. Brian Smith-PLD. Not to be reproduced without permission. To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you are your organization visit: https://briansmithpld.com

Don’t Always Believe What You Think

brian smith-pld, Entrepreneurship, Ethics, Leadership Development, Management, Personal Development, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training

IMG_3193Have you ever met someone for the very first time and thought “what a dink”? And I don’t mean Double Income No Kids. There was just something about them that you didn’t like. I thought that when I first met Morris – Laura’s cat. As a kid growing up I never hung around with cats. We were dog people. All of my friends were dog people. So I never had much use for cats. We all have built-in biases based on our own experiences. We are influenced by what we read, hear and see. So it’s no wonder I never got to know cats. After taking the time to get to know someone have you ever changed your opinion about them? Meeting and getting to know Morris helped me change my opinion about cats.

Worth Remembering … There are things known and there are things unknown. And in between are the doors of perception. – Aldous Huxley.

Perception is your reality. It is whatever you think it is. What you know won’t hurt you. However, the elephant in the room are the things you don’t know. Don’t let your preconceived notions get in the way of the decisions you make. Don’t believe everything you think. Question the status quo. Continue to seek out others who have a different point of view. Empathy, trying to see things from someone else’s point of view will never go out of style. Ask the right questions and really listen to the answers before you act. Have you ever made a decision only to find out that you didn’t have all the facts? Had you had all the facts, you would have made a different decision.

Worth Remembering … One of the biggest problems with the world today is that we have large groups of people who will accept whatever they hear on the grapevine, just because it suits their worldview – not because it is actually true or because they have evidence to support it. – Neil deGrasse Tyson

I’m a huge fan of the hit musical TV show “The Voice”. I think there is a lesson here that you could use the next time you hire or promote someone. They pick singers from a blind audition. They don’t pick a singer based on their perception of what they think a singer should look like, they pick a singer based on the quality of their voice. The next time you need to hire or promote someone, hire or promote them based on their qualifications not by the colour of their skin or gender. We like what we like and we are more than likely to hire or promote someone who has the same qualities as the kind of person we like. But we know from experience that they don’t always turn out to be the right person for the job we hired them for. The next time you have to make a decision don’t believe everything you think.

Copyright (c) 2018. Brian Smith-PLD. Not to be reproduced without permission. Are you looking for a keynote speaker or seminar leader who can deliver an informative and entertaining session on a variety of soft skills topics? Give Brian a call. You won’t be disappointed. To find out more about Brian visit https://briansmithpld.com 

Would You Work For You?

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Dealing with Difficult People, Enduring Principles, Ethics, Leadership Development, Management, Personal Development, Personal Values, Personality Types, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training • Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

judge-with-gavel1Would you work for you? Would you work for a Boss who belittles you, and berates you in front of your co-workers, instead of behind closed doors? Would you work for a Boss who always needs to be right – even when they are wrong.? Would you work for a Boss who promises you something one day – and then takes it away from you the next? Does this sound all too familiar? Chances are we’ve all worked for a Boss just like that. I believe great Bosses aren’t born – they’re made. If given the chance, what kind of Boss would you be? Take a moment and think about that. If you had to put a list together of the top ten things a great Boss should be – what would you put on your list?

I think a great Boss should be:

  1. Patient: Able to accept or tolerate delays, problems, or suffering without becoming annoyed or impatient.
  2. Open-minded: Be willing to accept new ideas.
  3. Honest: The quality of being honest.
  4. Empathetic: Show an ability to understand and share the feelings of others.
  5. Flexible: Demonstrate a willingness to change or compromise.
  6. Trustworthy: Have the ability to be relied on, to be honest, or truthful.
  7. Fair: Treat others in a way that is right or reasonable and not allowing personal opinions to influence their judgement.
  8. Consistent: Acting or doing things in the same way over time, especially to be fair or accurate.
  9. Loyal: Give firm and constant support or allegiance to a person or organization.
  10. Compassionate: Feeling or showing sympathy and concern for others regardless of their standing or position.

People don’t quit companies – they quit lousy Bosses. Always remember that you get to decide what kind of Boss you want to be. Culture is created from the top down, never the bottom up. Most people, if given a choice, would rather not be the Boss. But everyone gets to decide what kind of Boss they want to follow. Keep that in mind the next time you’re given the opportunity. Be the kind of Boss you’d like to follow. Ask yourself – would you work for you? If the answer is no – then you need to change.

Copyright (c) 2018. Brian Smith-PLD. Not to be reproduced without permission. Are you looking for a keynote speaker or someone to conduct an in-house training session on soft-skills training or leadership development? To find out more about Brian and what he can do for you and your organization visit https://briansmithpld.com

I’m Guilty As Charged

brian smith-pld, Coaching, Enduring Principles, Ethics, Leadership Development, Management, Mentorship, Personal Development, Personal Values, Reformed Control Freak, Self-Help, Soft-Skills Training, Teacher

judge-with-gavel1I should have known better. I have been in the business of managing and leading others in one capacity or another, as a General Manager, College Professor and Management Consultant, for over forty years. In spite of all those years of experience, I committed the number one cardinal sin. I jumped to a conclusion before I had all the facts.  And worse yet, I posted my comment on LinkedIn. The person, who I  offended shall remain nameless, but T.M. knows who he is.  He may not realize it – but the fact that he called me out – reminded me of a valuable lesson that I had obviously forgotten. It’s time for me to step up and do the walk instead of just doing the talk.

Before I act, either verbally or in writing, I am going to step back, take a deep breath and follow these 3 simple rules.

Rule Number One: I am going to assume nothing. I am going to put my brain into gear before I engage my mouth. How often have you said something that you later regretted? How often have you said something that you wish you could take back?

Rule Number Two: I am going to do some research. I am going to take the time to collect all the facts before I act or speak. How often have you made a decision, only to find out it wasn’t the right one because if you knew then, what you know now, you wouldn’t have done it in the first place? How many times has it come around to bite you?

Rule Number Three: I am going to ask myself, how would I feel if someone posted something about me that wasn’t true? Someone who I’ve never met. Someone who didn’t take the time to find out more about me, and what my motives were?

Leaders will make mistakes. All leaders do, and when they do they should own it, apologize for it, learn from it and don’t repeat it. That’s what separates the not-so-good ones from the great ones.  What kind of leader do you want to be?  You get to make a choice, so choose wisely. Others are watching and deciding who they want to follow. If no one is following you, you aren’t leading.

Copyright (c) 2017. Brian Smith – PLD. Not to be reproduced without permission. Are you looking for a Professional Speaker or Seminar Leader who can deliver a session on a variety of soft-skills topics? Contact Brian today brian@briansmithpld.com – Visit https://briansmithpld.com to find out what Brian can do for you.