There simply is no mission without purpose. Without purpose you are left with a series of misguided, unfocused, lonely, irrational sets of behavior and action that ultimately leads toward nothingness or worse yet oblivion! This may be familiar to some of you as we all have a friend or two that is consistently hopping from job to job or from one deep meaningful relationship to yet another torrid love affair. We all know people that can’t make tough decisions even if their very life depended on it. Don’t get me started on our general sense of societal malaise and obvious lack of creativity. It seems that today’s fast paced high powered world is simply marred with mediocrity; substandard ideas, from mindless people seeking marginal results. If this describes you or someone close to you, don’t get upset, I’m just the messenger! You see without a clear purpose, all of us fall victim to this kind of thinking and we all participate in our own destruction by bringing forward and institutionalizing ideas that put downward pressure on our very society. In my humble opinion, if you don’t know what you’re doing, you are better off doing nothing. I’d rather have you in my way, than on the way to nothing. Besides, there’s a better than average chances that you are not out there by yourself. There’s probably someone that you work with or care about blindly following you off the cliff!

So if you haven’t already, stop right now and take some wisdom from my grandmother “you’d better get your act together boy!” If you have the ability and the interest to read this, there is no time left for you. You must begin to define your purpose now. Let’s begin this discussion on a high note. I was reading my friend Adrea’s blog (who by the way is a brilliant writer) today and I was reminded of how important mind mapping is to the creative process. It connects your ideas and allows them to be free flowing, while linear at the same time. It helps you to remember and grow mentally. After developing my own mind map about “purpose” I came up with some brilliant ideas to share with you. Purpose, in my mind provides three solid characteristics to your mission; they are passion, reason and clarity. Each of these notions must be explored in depth if you want your mission or vision statements to matter even to you.

Clarity for the Big and the Small

A sense of clarity and focus helps to provide direction and depth. You should be able to see where your organization is going at all times. When family is concerned, nothing beats an absolute well defined set of values or principles to help shape and define tradition and connectedness. We all need guidance, so let your purpose do the hard work for you. The only thing you should worry about is execution. Once you set out on a worthy course that you are sure is right, you can fly along at lightning speed towards your goal with unwavering resolve and committed action. Can you imagine how good it would feel to simply know where your company was going or how it was growing? It would be impossible to widgetize you. You’d never be a drone again. You’ll be far too busy working your plan of relevant ideas and making a meaningful difference in the lives of others.

You’ll understand the big picture! From a birds eye position you’ll be able to see the road ahead and accurately assess how much energy and precious resources will be needed for your journey. Knowing the distance you’ll travel can help tremendously in planning a strategy to reach your destination. You’ll what to bring with you only the needed tools and discard all unnecessary baggage. Yes we all have baggage but some of us have luggage that is just too big to fit on the plane. If it doesn’t fit in your cargo hold of life well then the choice is clear, get rid of it! Don’t even try to bring along your emotional baggage from previous relationships or business connections. You’d be better off with less clutter anyway. Who said that you have to read and respond to every e-mail, phone call or text message right away? A part of our collective problem is the way we define urgencies and how we let them de-rail our process. Imagine your self flying high above your goal. Jot down all the ideas that come to your head in terms of required resources. It will make getting ready much easier.

It’s also critically important to take the worm’s eye view of the path you’ve chosen. Here is where you’ll see the day to day obstacles that require constant diligence to negotiate. Without this type of serious resolve you’ll simply quit on yourself or start making excuses of why this or that is too hard. Quit being such a ninny. You’ve got too much work to do. Getting a detailed perspective helps you feel comfortable with the route. You’ll need to know the features of the terrain. How thick is the brush? How dangerous are those big holes in the mud? Yes, I want you to get caught up in the minutia for a second. It’s important to mention that you can’t stay here. We don’t want you to develop a fatal case of analysis paralysis.

You’ll have to be able to skillfully break your tasks down to the cellular level to truly understand how to make things happen. You’ll need to know exactly what tactical and technical skills to employ. Before you can build a house, you’ll have to understand a thing or two about a hammer and nails. There’s no need to wonder what’s up ahead or how long it will take you. You’ll have all of that figured out in short order. What daily actions do you need to engage in to move you and your team forward with a consistency that helps create team unity and an infectious pride? What do you have to do to sustain your momentum all the way? How do you have to think and speak?

Supreme Reason Trumps Ignorance Everyday

If you want others to see you as competent at what you do, you must get them to acknowledge the sheer brilliance of your thinking along the way. There needs to be a shared sense of reason as you move toward your objectives. Not only that, everyone must agree on these reasons or your project will get sabotaged maybe even taken over by a competitor or another department. No one gets points in the win column when they bring dissention and mutiny to everything. Instead take the time to lay out your plans in simple sequential almost mathematical order so that they make sense to engineers and accountants alike. The analytical types in your organization will be excited to witness your logical well thought out presentation. They’ll respect the radiance of your ideas and the methods by which you choose to express them. Everyone will see the razor sharp clarity of your keen intellect and deliver tremendous respect to you and your team.

Your rational process, to be fully understood and accepted needs to display and bear witness to the truth of your character. Don’t get this confused with charisma. Character is something that you can back up with fact! It’s your proven moral compass that helps you and your family to balance the ideas of right and wrong, fairness and injustice. It keeps you almost spiritually aligned with the right side of destiny and away from the tragic consequences of invisibility. This is the litmus test of the wise and the strong. You won’t fail this test if you keep the right ideas in front of you.

Ask the questions that help you get a grip your organizational efficiencies. What is going to make it easier for you to get to your goal? Can you automate any of your processes? What proven experience do you have on your team and how relevant is that experience today? Will you need to provide new innovation or finally just do it the right way (you know that stuff they put in manuals and books for you)? Can you keep your group aligned with the motives of the greater organization or does something have to change?

Remember the Attraction of Fiery Passion

Nothing generates more heat, more excitement than passion. Passion is in one sense tremendously motivating and attractive in another. If there is no heart energy to your mission it’s just like your body would be without a heart; it’s dead, a virtual “fait accompli”. You need to feel fueled and invigorated by your mission all of the time. If the need to get moving doesn’t wake you up every morning you’re probably not really on mission. My wife would say “you’re out of scope” (not the mouthwash you dope). I know that I get a yearning to coach people everyday. It’s almost as if my very life depended on helping someone achieve their goals. When I’m not on task I feel like I’m not complete; like I’m cheating somehow. Actually I am cheating; I’m cheating on myself and what’s even worse, I can’t divorce myself! I wouldn’t sign the papers anyway.
Admittedly, it’s tough to find this kind of passion but I think you can clearly see why it’s worth a try. So before you start to give up on your talents or attempt to subvert your fate, why not try to get in touch with yourself again. Just humor me and give it one more shot. Try to see yourself as an ongoing project, not a finished product. You are on your way towards become a uniquely special somebody. Don’t you deserve to give your self some acknowledgment and a little attention? My vote is yes!

Try this exercise on. Start with a blank piece of paper and write your name in the middle. Now think of the first word that describes you and write that next to your name. Picture that word, as you think of a word or two that describes the second word, do that again and again until you’ve exhausted all possibilities. Then go back to the center and think of another word that describes you and repeat the process over and over until you can’t go on. Keep going until you are sure that you’ve stretched your knowledge of self to the brink. This exercise should be quick but really powerful.

Congratulations, you’ve just mind mapped yourself. You should be able to take your map and start to see groupings and patterns of thought that define you. You should see perspectives that you’ve never shared, not even with yourself. At the very least you’ll have a lot of fun!

You should have enough ammunition at this time to begin to see why those that are attracted to you are. In any case, show your mind map to those that are close to you. Engage them in discussion about you guessed it, you. See if they have some insight to add. Give them permission to be honest and accept the feedback positively. The best executive coach that I know is Marshal Goldsmith. He says that all you can say in times like this is “thank you”. Please do not attempt to rationalize or explain anything just say it, “thank you”.

The graceful lines of your personal mind-map and it’s accompanied pictures should fuel your desire. It should bring you in-touch with your own inner beauty and help you become even more attracted to your highest ideas and convictions. Maybe you’ll even dig up that happy well adjusted child that you left behind on the playground many years ago. I’d like to meet that kid, wouldn’t you?

At this point, we are half way through the vision quest blog series. Over the next few weeks we’ll be exploring the deeper meaning of goals and share some exciting techniques about how to turn them into real actionable tasks for personal and organizational productivity. Until then,

-Welcome to the revolution

Just a few weeks ago I asked this magical question to all of my contacts on LinkedIn. The answers that I got were absolutely fantastic! I can’t wait to share them with you here. If you would like to see all of the answers in detail check them out here. After I throw my two cents in, I’ll be summarizing some of the best answers. Here we go!

When I think of follow-up, my mind naturally begins to remember methods that pushy self absorbed sales people have used on me in the past. Here are some of the issues I’ve had to face. I’ll bet that you will identify with at least a few:

• They don’t even know my name
• They haven’t gotten my permission to contact me
• They talk to me only about their offer or why I should be interested in them
• They don’t prove any level of competency that even a reasonable person would trust
• They fumble through a canned presentation
• They’re too familiar (I don’t even know you for heavens sake)
• They don’t even tell me how they came to contact me (I really want to know which of my idiot friends put you up to contacting me)
• hey ask stupid questions like “would you like to save money or make money Mr. Powell” (my answer is “NO-click”)
• They follow the same old sales tactics that didn’t work when I actually did answer the phone
• They offer no real value up front (really why should I listen to you or call you back?)
• They pass me on to someone that really knows what they are talking about (Did I say that I hate that? Just in case, I HATE THAT!)
• I know more about their products or services than they do
• They argue with me about what I want (If I don’t know what I want by the way, they tell me that their product is the solution for everything I could want)
• They make outlandish unsubstantiated claims
• They make no promises or interesting claims at all

OK, so what should you do to follow up with a potential client or referral partner after you’ve met them at a networking event or conference? It’s simple, follow my proven system for creating a strategy and you will win so much business and interest that your head will spend. I believe in “the three Be’s concept to follow up.” That is: “Be Purposeful”, “Be Interested” and “Be Worthy”.

Be Purposeful

Remember purpose not only helps you know what you are doing, it helps others to understand and trust you instantly. You need to be as open and forthright as possible in all networking venues. It will help you attract the right people to talk to and motivate others to introduce you to people that you’d want to meet. Purpose always creates inspired action!

Do your homework before you pick up the phone to speak with someone. Let’s face it, there are certain “types” of people that would naturally feel a connection with you. For some reason, you are not the only person that is interested in the same sports; others actually read the same books that you do. I’ll bet that there are even folks that tune into the same radio station that you do. I know that it’s hard to believe but thousands of people enjoy the same stuff that you do! Wouldn’t it be fun to connect to people around your favorite sports team or hobby? Here’s a novel idea, why not ask your networking contacts to tell you what they are in to. I haven’t met an 80′s teenager yet that didn’t get a kick out of talking about the clothes we use to wear or finally acknowledging that we didn’t have a clue what the lyrics in any “Boy George” song meant. Did I just out my age? Oh well, yes I’m old. I’m 42 and proud of the fact that I’m not as stupid as I was just last year.

Anyhow, the point is we spend too much time talking about ideas to people that are absolutely irrelevant to building a connection. If you want to be a Foreign Service officer or something go ahead and talk about the peace problem in Baghdad. I would suggest however that you find a peace rally or something similar to network in. Bringing this kind of talk to a business networking function is probably a sleeper. And stop talking about the weather or the road conditions that you experienced before you entered the room. I don’t need to know about that! I just experienced the same stuff. I’d be so happy if you’d just ask me what I do or how did I ended up here today? That’ll help us both get right to the point and stop wasting time. Develop one or two questions that drive to purpose and let it go.

Be Interested

It’s funny how being interested is absolutely the same as being interesting. I’m a natural introvert and I don’t usually talk much at networking events. I am however a master listener. I am good at asking the right questions and getting down to the nitty-gritty when it comes to being relevant to others. Most people find me interesting and engaging never knowing that I actually said very little or that my responses to their questions where a well planned almost scripted dialogue that highlights the best of my character and competence in just the way I wanted. Now that’s branding!

After you’ve developed some key questions that you want to ask people about themselves; be careful to listen. No, really listen! Try some reflective listening techniques; summarize what you think you heard them say. Congratulate them on their unique perspective or interesting methodology. Resist the temptation to cut them off and begin the “it’s all about me show”; your time will come. If you’ve asked the right questions a fair person will return the favor and give you a chance to share your rivetingly interesting ideas (Was that a hint of sarcasm? Why yes, thank you). Seriously, people will be interested in you, if they know that you are interested in them. You can’t fake it, so I suggest networking in places where you don’t have to (back to the first section on purpose).

Don’t forget that the law of reciprocity is always at work. Try to pay it forward every time. Once you’ve identified someone with whom you feel a connection with, make an offer that will demand a follow-up. Maybe you’ll send them an article that you’ve read on a mutually beneficial topic. Perhaps you’ve agreed to introduce them to someone with in your LinkedIn network or promise to invite them to your personal networking meeting next week. In any case, the point is to make a commitment to do something that keeps the party going. Commitments made and kept increase your level of trust in every relationship as well as improve your own personal self-esteem. That brings us to our last section.

Be Worthy

If you want to be masterful in your networking skills you are going to have to be worthy of the attention and then the energy that you’ll ask others to give to you. Of course you are going to have to pay it forward by giving the kind of attention, respect and patience that you’d like to receive. In his book “Business by Referral“ (which in my view is hands down the best book ever written about networking), Dr. Misner mentions eighteen various strategies that you can use to motivate your sources to assist you in your personal and business endeavors. They are best left for another discussion but check them out and find out which strategies fit your personal style and that of your networks. Developing these skills will shine a spotlight on your ability to be relevant; to deliver the right goods exactly when they are needed most.

Always try to create synergistic relationships starting with what you can do for others. The more you are in touch with your unique talents and skills the more you know what you can do. The more you are in touch with your deepest values and convictions the more you can tap into that which you love. I for one can talk about networking all day every day. It’s a competency that I’ve enjoyed over the years that has helped me forge and solidify relationships both business and personal that have lasted fruitfully with no end in sight.

You’re going to have to create at atmosphere of extreme competence. When people see you as competent at what you do and understand why you do it, their confidence in you increases dramatically. Their willingness to assist you without fear of embarrassment or backlash will make all the difference in the speed of your success. It’s important here to use as much third party influence (TPI) as you can. Remember you can never say about yourself with any credibility that which can be said about you by others; so use this tool well. Have others write testimonials about you and your work. Then let your future network partner’s critic your testimonials for you. They’ll soon become champions for you and help you get to where you need to go. They may even submit testimonials of their own. My testimonials on sites like LinkedIn have done far more for me than I could have done for myself.

There is nothing more relevant to your networks than creating synergistic goals that contribute to the health and growth of all. You have to be willing to make the investment of your time and skills to help each other become mutually accountable. Countless business and personal development books have been written about this and the one true constant remains the same. Commitment and accountability breads superior results!
Here some of the add-ins from my guest coaches on LinkedIn. Again, you can check out all of there answers in detail here. You can also find links to their profiles.

Neil Kossler CPA reminds us that diligence is important to all follow-up strategy. You never know where the next BIG fish is!

From Octavio Ballesta we really key in on the importance of passion in all that we do where people are concerned. I never read such an eloquent response.

My favorite gunslinger Hazel Walker makes sure that we don’t forget to systematize our approach to follow-up and to work with those that fit within our scope.

The great Marc Isikoff reminds us how important it is to think about the needs of others and make the necessary effort to serve those needs.

From my good friend and high school chum Rachael Wright we learn to make sure we keep it personal and don’t forget the details.

Coach Juli Monroe inspires us to stick to our plan with a brilliant story about a realtor and financial planner.
Dr. Smith my favorite mentor says to ask the right questions and be consistent with it. How else will you know what works or in his example what doesn’t.

Vince Golder say’s “don’t forget to eat”! Just kidding, he does remind us though that food relaxes the atmosphere and it helps us to bond over a meal. “Amen” says the choir Vince.

Finally from Eugene Rembor we learn to hold back the pitch until the batter swings out of frustration. No really! We’ve got to do more networking and less selling if we want quality results with people.

Thanks for all of your attention and responses. Stay tuned next week because the Coffee, Tea, You and Me question is a real winner!

Welcome to the revolution!
-Coach Powell

Purpose quite often has two characteristics: it provides meaning and at the same time answers the question “why”. It’s easy to decide on a destination that you want to reach in life. The hard part is providing a sense of contextual meaning or reason to that destination. Without a good compelling reason it’s harder to accomplish anything. Yes, often find ourselves engaging in thoughtless activity simply because someone in whom we have a great amount of respect for asked that we do so. I would submit that keeping up with this course of action, never having a clue as to why your mother for example wanted you to bath five times a day would be difficult. Eventually you’ll have an understanding of how other people behave and begin to question why they can get away with only one or two cleanings a day! You may even begin to resent your mother as you use up more and more body soap in your quest for absolute germ free cleanliness. Anger and disappointment will soon give way to rage and disgust until you simply cease to comply.

But, what if you found out that you carried a highly contagious skin rash that would disappear for exactly four hours after a bathing. You could otherwise lead a very normal life but you simply had to bath every three to four hours to keep everyone around you from grave illness. Well, purpose does put a different spin on things doesn’t it? In fact if you told everyone that you loved that you needed to bath all of the time to keep you from passing on infectious disease your every birthday basket would be filled with”¦”¦”¦you guessed it”¦..soap! They might bring the stuff to you in truck loads. I know this is a far fetched analysis but it does hit quite a few points.

The foundational aspects of purpose and the true reason for any real vision are an absolute thing of beauty. We always know when we are acting from our purpose driven ideas. There is an abiding sense of satisfaction knowing that our deepest convictions and values show up in our everyday behavior. Our sense of destiny is fulfilled and we are aware that every time we experience harmony and balance we are not just “on task” but “on purpose”. We know exactly what we are doing and why we are doing it. This is that absolute perfectly aligned balance between thought and action that leaves no lingering questions, no nagging notion of value. It’s simply good.

Purpose has a concrete nature about it. There’s firmness about conviction that helps others relate to and trust new ideas. Enduring relationships both personal and business are made of this kind of stuff. If you’ve ever had a really good friend that never seems to know what they are doing or why, you may find this idea useful. Ask your friend to engage in a conversation with you around meaning in your friendship. Ask what he or she expects from the relationship and why. Try to create a mutually beneficial system of personal growth that propels you both. If your friends aren’t willing to work with you to help you grow in some way how useful are they really?

It’s true that vision works to direct a company’s efforts and opportunities but with out purpose it’s just meaningless activity that no one really values (see our vision illustration). In fact, without either clear vision or compelling purpose positive change is simply impossible. Imagine moving an entire organization forward on a mission that no one really understands accepts. How hard will people really work? How much creative energy will subordinates actually expend to just blindly follow an organization that seems to be going the wrong way for the wrong reason? Not much. Leaders have to communicate and create purpose along with vision to inspire employees.

The funny thing to me about purpose is that it can actually come from anywhere. The creative mind can look at almost any finished product and assign a purpose to it. Imagine a child’s tricycle in a front yard. From an engineering perspective, it’s clearly a machine that was designed to propel a small child that hasn’t quite yet mastered the subtle art of balance. If you dip this same machine in cement, let it dry and then paint it in vibrant colors it can be a yard ornament or sculpture of some type that reminds the passerby of the fun they had in their own child hood. Add a plant box on the handlebars and you’ve got a wonderful gift for the now adult that use to ride that very tricycle. Pass it down from generation to generation and it becomes a symbolic family heirloom and every two year old in a family can have a picture with it on their b-day. Can you imagine that scrapbook project? See once a project or strategy is actually finished it can and often will take on as many meanings as people will assign it.

Often when a leader designs a new strategy for a group or company, others will attempt to change its purpose even before it’s been implemented. As a leader you then have to ask yourself if your project that clearly can have at least a duel purposes is useful. Will people be able to rally around it with so many different uses or will the message that you want to deliver get so watered down that it loses its power to compel? Will you be able to embrace these multiple purposes and still keep moving forward? If you are the type of person that believes there is only one way to do something or only one reason why it should be done at all then let me know immediately. I’ll create another blog about listening just for you.

Here are a couple of exercises that can help you embrace new initiatives within your teams or committees. Create a list of everything that a new strategy will allow you to do. Who will it affect most positively? How will it move your group forward? When will you experience success? How will you know you’ve arrived? Why is this important to you? What will your group have accomplished as a result of finishing the project? What other groups will feel supported as a result of your success? Add to your list everyday and try to contemplate the questions for fifteen minutes each day for at least two weeks. When you are sure that you’ve exhausted every possible notion that you can think of then take another few days to have some close contacts evaluate your list and have them add their thoughts. Now you are ready to spend about an hour really prioritizing the best ideas. Use your collection of ideas to write brilliant a statement of purpose about your new initiative. I guarantee you will see your vision come to light in a new way. You’ll discover real purpose and drive your own excitement. Finding purpose is the greatest self motivator. Come on in the water is fine!

As a business coach I’m often shocked at how many business leaders and business development specialists take this topic for granted. I mean some people don’t even consider having a well articulated vision and mission statement a priority. What they don’t know is that their lack of a clearly defined vision is just as powerful as having one in the first place. In fact, if you don’t know where you are going, you are likely to get there faster. Where is that you ask? Well nowhere of course! You can’t create something from nothing unless you have an idea.

Vision is the absolute most important creative force in the known universe. It’s the beginning of everything. It clarifies our decision making, helps people to understand where we are going and defines the very purpose of every major initiative. Vision helps us to not only understand the destination of others, of companies and organizations but it aligns people with the motivation needed to be of assistance toward the fulfillment of mission with a sense of purpose and passion.

As I say, most of us take vision for granted and let others define how, why and what we do instead of taking the time to do it for ourselves. Our employers define professionalism for us. Our professional organizations define our existence in the organization with the “code of ethics”. Our parents may have molded us into the “good son or daughter” and helped to cast our sights on the “type” of parents we would be. It’s important to understand that everything that you do and everything you are is driven by and requires vision. Everything from your self-concept to how you will perform within each roles of life is dominated by vision all of the time.

As I pontificate this idea, I realize that the question can only be answered from many different perspectives and there are simply too many ideas to bring out in one setting if hope to do myself or you the reader any kind of justice. So, I’ve decided to share these ideas with you over the next few weeks with several different posts that will highlight the very essence of the vision idea hopefully in an illuminating and refreshing way. We’ll cover the topic in this order:

1. Vision sets and determines destination

2. Vision helps others to buy-in and create true understanding

3. Vision clarifies decision making

4. Vision creates and sustains motivation

5. Vision defines purpose

6. Vision is the essence of creativity

Vision sets and determines destination

Ok, let’s discuss this first topic. One of the greatest characteristics of vision is its unique and distinct advantage of providing a sense of destination or destiny if you will. When you absolutely know where you want to go in life there is a peace that is almost infectious. Imagine not having to ask “what is this all about?” or “why am I doing this?” When your vision is clear not only do you know where you are going but why you are going there. You are in tune and in touched with a deeper sense of self with more meaningful insight into your particular contribution in life.

There is no lack of direction or focus. There’s only increasing clarity as you pursue your idea with passion and complete integrity. I use the word integrity because your vision actually defines the most authentic you that there is. Way before Shakespere asked “to be or not to be” the ancient civilizations posed questions like “who am I?” and “what is?” Vision brings answers to the greatest questions of all time. The answers are yours and they yours personally. When it’s right, it’s whole and complete and that’s exactly how you feel. When your vision is correct, you no longer wander the earth to quote the great Zig Zigler “wandering generality” instead you become a “meaningful specific”.

Yes, vision sets you and your company on solid ground. Corporate and organizational leaders use vision so that both clients and employees alike know where they are going. This helps everyone begin to have solid and firm definitions of their place in the organization. Remember the biblical phrase “without a vision people perish”. This is even true today.

Here are some useful exercises to try.

Write a list of everything that you know that you are good at? Think about the sets of skills that you’ve had to master in order to accomplish all that you’ve achieved in life so far. What did you have to do to get your spouse to say yes? What did you do to get your last promotion or position in the community?

No take a hard look at your skills. What do they tell you about you? Which skills do you enjoy using the most? What could you do all day every day without getting tired or being bored? How can you leverage these skills to propel your future?

Next time we’ll get into topic number two: “Vision helps others to buy-in and create true understanding“

Welcome to the revolution!