In June of 1991, at age 33, I made a sales call on Munsingwear, a Minneapolis-based clothier. During our discussion of his team’s training needs, the fifty-something executive made a comment I’ve since quoted often:
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I lunched with David, a representative of an outstanding organization. He is one of thousands of field reps with the title of “coach” and he’s quite high up—in the field.
He had read the QBQ! book and told me its message of PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY is perfect for their world.
This fast-growth and dynamic company sells products like Shakeology meal-replacement drink and Insanity, P90X, and TurboJam workout DVDs.
Excellent stuff!
Coaches such as David help customers lead healthier lives through those products, as well as Facebook exercise “challenge groups” and personal consultation. They also support their “downline” recruits in achieving financial freedom.
In our time together, David said, “We need to get some QBQ! books to the execs at the headquarters!”
So I shipped ‘em out.
Meanwhile, I talked with three other field coaches. Their comments:
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I make one statement in my “How to Be An Outstanding Organization!” speaking engagements that generates spontaneous applause—and it’s this:
“Outstanding organizations hire and promote character over credentials and college degrees.”
I suspect those who clap have been passed over for a pay increase and bigger title—or didn’t get hired somewhere—because they skipped college or didn’t attend the “right” school. Sadly, they’ve felt the pain of watching someone else win the opportunity they sought. Also sadly, the employer possibly missed out on the person of character desperately needed.
You know, the person who does crazy, unusual, and abnormal stuff like this:
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Amanda – Tony’s bride – thumbing for a ride!
Tony, a QBQ! training distributor for ten years, just retired. We were proud to have him on our team for many reasons. One of those reasons is … he gets it.
Enjoy his “lousy customer service” story!
Continue ReadingJohn, on my son, Tony’s, big day, the wedding party of 11 was picked up in a stretch limo for the hour ride to the ceremony location. Right away we noticed the vehicle’s air conditioning wasn’t working well and within minutes the driver pulled over to the shoulder of the busy 4-lane highway because …
I’m a supply and demand, “free market,” capitalistic sort of guy.
I know, I know—for some people, words like “capitalism” drip of stratospheric CEO pay and “Wall Street greed” images.
I get that.
However, I don’t quite get this:
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Pruning: “to remove unneeded branches or limbs; to trim; to clear the undesirable”
It might be the most common metaphor of all time, but it works. In the collage above:
Image One: Our upside down Mulberry tree, appearing dead.
Image Two: Two days after intense pruning.
Image Three: One month later, we have the healthiest Mulberry tree evah!
Pruning trees works. It also works for people—if we let it.
So often, though, the “undesirable” in us doesn’t get trimmed away because when someone tells us, “You really need to change!” we respond with …
Continue ReadingGrab the new QBQ! Workbook here. Personal, powerful, and practical!
If you know what we do here at QBQ, Inc., it’s no surprise to you that we think about PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY—a lot.
What does personal accountability mean? How is it manifested in a person’s life? What does practicing it do for us? What is the “why” behind living accountably? How do we make it a core value in our organizations?
All good questions, along with this one: What would an “Accountable Person’s Bill of Rights” look like?
So began the creation of the following list. As you peruse them, if you believe any are worth incorporating into your life, go right ahead!
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I used a sharp-beyond-belief CutCo brand pearl-handle serrated knife to bang on and loosen the top of a jar of canned peaches. I removed the lid, thinking Mmm … delicious! That’s when I made a really big mistake.
Not because I’m dumb. I’m actually an Ivy League grad, though I admit to having majored in low B’s.
Not because I’m lazy. I may be slowing down at 57, but I’m no sloth.
Not because I historically have made a ton of mistakes. My life “track record” isn’t all that bad.
Actually, I committed this grievous error because I fell into an all-too-human trap:
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Way back in the 1990s, someone said to me, “If your home office printer isn’t working, just throw it out and go buy another. Nobody fixes them anymore.”
Ain’t that the truth? I buy a “4-in-1” printer for about $100 and when it stops working, into the dumpster (or recycling) it goes!
Too bad, actually, to waste all those plastic parts and metal pieces. But, it’s the “way of the world.”
Sadly, the world seems to view marriages as home office printers.
Not working? Get a new one! Too hard to deal with? Dump it! Not running smoothly? Upgrade!
Recently, our oldest offspring, Kristin, my co-speaker at QBQ, Inc. and a mom of three—posted a 2005 wedding photo on her 10th wedding anniversary.
I immediately left this comment:
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So often people say, “There’s plenty of blame to go around!”—a favorite phrase of the media. It seems to be our human nature to immediately ask Whodunnit?! when something happens that was unplanned, disappointing, or embarrassing.
When it all goes wrong—even if we know in our heart that what we did was stupid—it’s tempting to spread the blame around saying, “Well, yeah, I did do that, but, you see, that person over there made me do it!”
Or this: “I accept 65% of the blame, but he/she is 35% responsible, too!”
In the ’70s, a common phrase that adorned car bumpers was this:
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