QBQ!

Why I’ll Never Go Into the Woods Again!

Got fear?

I do.

Or maybe I should say fears.

Like any parent—and now grandparent—I do fear the danger our children face “out there” in the world, especially on the road. It’s not stifling, but I’ve expressed it often enough to our kids over the years (now ages 31, 29, 26, 24, 19, 17, and 16) as they’ve reached for the car keys, that they have all nicknamed our residence “WSH”:

Warm Safe Home.

Because, more than once, I’ve been known to say, “Don’t go out! Stay home! It’s safe and warm!”

So now they make fun of me.

Kids.

On a much less serious note, but still terrifying to me, is this:

21 Doable Life #CHOICES

Choices. We hear all about them. We’re told motivational “fluff stuff” like, WE MAKE OUR CHOICES AND THEN OUR CHOICES MAKE US! We tell our teens: MAKE GOOD CHOICES!!!

All well and good. Just not very practical. And not specific enough to be doable.

As I began to lose weight—full story here—people would ask me what I was doing to burn calories and I’d say, “Walking.” Many would respond with, “But what are you doing to build muscle?” or “That’s it? Walking!?!”

I’d respond with, “Well, I figure if I’m walking around the block, I’m not on the couch watching ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’ reruns.”

That’s when I realized the whole concept of choices comes down to this:

Engaging in—or selecting—a better action over a not-as-good action.

Said another way, if I am doing X then I cannot be doing Y.

Here are 21 #CHOICES anyone can make:

To Be or Not to Be … Outstanding!

Our veterinarian is featured in the Outstanding! book in Chapter Twenty—“Be Flexible: Put People Before Policies”—as an example of not-so-great customer service. Unnamed, of course.

Unnamed because “Dr. D” is a nice guy and a terrific doctor for our pets. But the good doc needs to wear his other hat, though I fear he’s misplaced it.

SMALL BUSINESS OWNER.

Let me be transparent regarding my veterinarian philosophy:

6 Critical Components of M-O-R-A-L-E

This is a working blog. It’s not funny or cute. It’s just content that we all need to think about, talk about, and act upon.

So let’s get to work!

What level of morale exists in your organization today?

Choose an adjective:

A QBQ! Pro at Bass Pro

Author, Ken Blanchard (and fellow Cornell University grad), speaks to how critical it is to have “raving fans.” Certainly, we all love to have some of those!

So I asked a guy who was raving about the QBQ! book’s message of personal accountability to tell me why he feels the way he does. Just doing research. 🙂

In response, Jerry Rogers, an outstanding leader to anyone who works with and for him at the Stapleton Mall Bass Pro store in Denver, Colorado, shared this:

“QBQ! is exactly what those who sincerely want to be better leaders, parents, and people need. The reason QBQ! fits so well at Bass Pro Shops is we sincerely want to be better at serving others. I cannot be an effective servant leader if I’m not willing to look in the mirror and acknowledge not only what I might be doing wrong, but what I can do to make it better. QBQ! speaks to exactly this and eliminates the victim mentality and blame that our society perpetuates. We all make choices and many of us at Bass Pro Shops have chosen to adopt QBQ! and its personal accountability message to help us improve our service levels every day!”

The #1 Killer of “One Team, One Goal!”

“I can sum up all our problems in a few words: ‘silos and butt-covering.’”

QBQ! The Question Behind the Question

A good author doesn’t date stories or quotes in his books because doing so gives the reader or audience member a built-in objection. They might think, Hmm, old. Must not be relevant anymore.

In this case, though, knowing that an executive made the statement above to me in the mid 1990’s might actually help. You might think, Huh, I see nothing has changed!

That is, you could think that if you work for an organization …

Do You Know the 4th Source of Anger?

Since we all experience the secondary emotion of anger, it’s important for our emotional health and overall well-being to know the primary sources of anger.

There are three sources of anger—plus one.

The #1 Tactic for Less Stress, Greater Joy, and a Happier Life

Having written several books and training guides, I am fascinated—sometimes frustrated—by typos.

I’ve wanted to scream, HOW DID I MISS THAT!?!? I even wrote a piece about one critical typo here.

So, in search of typo knowledge, I found a piece by Marianne Worley titled, The Truth About Typos and Why You Keep Missing Them.

When I read her insight below, I thought … well, I’ll tell you what I thought after you read her comment:

5 Questions About Quitting

I just finished a novel where a rookie cop was the heroine. Throughout the book, as scary people tried to do her harm, she kept herself going by repeating a phrase she’d learned as a child:

No medals for quitters!

Quitter. Ouch. Who wants to be called one of … those!? Doesn’t “quitter” just drip with negativity?

Lazy! Unreliable! Untrustworthy! Bum! Sloth!

Are these people bums and sloths?

Imagine a World Where Everyone …

As lunch ended, the HR executive of a well-known, Denver-based “fast casual” restaurant chain looked me dead in the eye and said, “John, I promise to read QBQ! and call you in two weeks.”

He didn’t.

Didn’t read the book, or make the call.

So I followed up. It’s what salespeople do—and I’ve done it since 1986.