Excuses and Professionals

I'm super busy today and haven't the time to do anything, even blog, but I have a few thoughts I wanted to get down today.


First, let me just borrow from Seth Godin on his blog:


Excuses are easy to find (but worthless)

Even good excuses, really good ones, don't help very much.
Explanations, on the other hand, are both scarce and useful.
And accurate forecasts and insightful intuition are priceless.


Seth is great and I get his notices in the email daily. I often think he is talking to me (or is he working in the same office as I do with the same people?) He always has great insight.


There, seems to me, three points here in his latest.


The first point is, when you make a mistake, no one wants to hear your excuses... Pros admit their mistakes and try to learn from them. Try to become professional and become insightful


The second thing is a message about "what is a professional?" I think many people need to seriously consider this question. 


In the past, I have witnessed corporation leaders and top management getting berated for making a mistake by their seniors or major shareholders or company owners. I've also seen, incredibly, these upper management people begin to pout after being reprimanded. Seriously.


No. I do not exaggerate. These people are adults yet they folded their arms in front of their bodies and began to pout like 13-year-old children. 


I was amazed that executives in their late 40's (some in their late 50's) could pout like children, but I have seen many so-called adults in the business world act like little kids in the past.


I remember one particular time when one gentleman began pouting that his senior got angry at him and said,


"You say you are professional? You sure don't act that way. Here's how a professional acts: Take the example of a baseball pitcher in the big game. He makes a mistake and throws up a bad pitch that is hit for a home run. Now, does that professional pitcher go back to the mound and pout? Or does he get back into the game and try to win?"


This guy's boss, who said this, I thought was a real leader. Kind of reminded me of General Patton. 


The third point is how to become a professional?


Let's take something like the Internet and Social Media. It's a new thing and many people are doing it. But how many people are really professional? Not many (in spite of all the Twitter notices you get from so-called experts).


I've been blogging everyday, sometimes more than three times a day, for more than a year. I have written more than 250 articles for Lew Rockwell.com since 2004. Yet, I do not consider myself a professional. I'm still learning.


But, from what I see around me, if I were to use a grading system like Karate,  I'm probably about a Green Belt; or, if my Sensei is kind, I might be the lowest rank of a Brown Belt at blogging. If I keep this up for many more years, maybe someday I will become a Black Belt. It won't be easy.


Becoming a true craftsman is not a simple task. It takes years of consistent effort and training.


That's what becoming a professional is. It is not a name or title on a business card. Just because some finance company hired you to be a financial advisor and just because you get paid to do that and have that written on your card, that doesn't make you a professional.


Black Belts are professionals. They earned their position by hard work. It wasn't given to them.


It takes years of hard work and dedication (physical and mental) to become a Black Belt. Whatever your chosen field is, it will take you at least 10 ~20 years to become a Black Belt. Don't fool yourself into thinking that you can do that in a year or two.


Don't think that, just because you started a Facebook, Twitter or other social media accounts that you are an expert.


The journey of a thousand miles begins with one small step.

Making the Correct Decision

In matters of business or running the affairs of any group of people, always remember the Golden Rule: It's not what is decided that matters the most, it is how things are decided that counts!


This is such an important message that I am so surprised that it seems few people remember or even know it. Whenever dealing with an group of people in a social or business setting, it is always so important to keep this in mind! 


It's not what is decided that matters the most, it is how things are decided that really counts!


When things are decided, without consulting with all the people involved, you take a huge risk of missing the entire picture. You take a huge risk of getting people angry or demotivating them. This is a terrible mistake to make at work. You must get the opinion of everyone involved. You must make everyone feel that they are important and that their opinion counts.


This doesn't mean that everything is a democracy and everyone must agree with every decision, it merely means that, in order to increase the chances of your success, you must make everyone feel a part of the decision making process.


Here's an example that I have heard somewhere:


You are the president of a small company that makes toasters. Sales are down and your company solvency are on the line. To fix this situation and return your company to health and profitablility will take a mighty effort from everyone at your company. 


As president, you must decide the new model that your company will manufacture and sell for the new season starting next year. You look at all the different models that you might manufacture. You check them for production cost per unit and  a profitability and then make a decision on which model to manufacture.


Have you made the right choice? Perhaps. Did you choose wisely? No. You would have greatly increased your chances for success if you had included all your staff in the decision making process.


If this is the best design and the model that your company needs to make it into profitability again, then why didn't you consult with, for example, Sales and Promotion department? After all, these are the people who daily are out on the field and talking with customers, buyers and checking the competition.


Not asking their opinion is the best way to make them think that you don't care about what they think and you do not value their ideas. Employees who think the boss doesn't care what they think are demotivated employees. Demotivated employees - especially in the Sales Department, will not go that extra step to make the sales that the company needs.


If your choice is the best machine, then why wouldn't you involve them in the decision making process? Of curse, not everyone needs to agree on one specific model, but everyone needs to feel that they are being heard, that their opinion counts, and that they are  a valued member of the team.


Regardless of the model that your company choose to make, if you involve everyone in the decisions process, make them feel wanted, heard and respected, then they will feel responsible. If your staff feel responsible towards the success of the project, then they will just go that extra mile to make sure it is a success. And that is what your company needs.


It is often the difference between a successful company and a failure: The successful company has employees who feel valued and feel that their ideas and opinions are heard and respected.


So don't forget the Golden Rule: It's not what is decided that matters the most, it is how things are decided that counts!

Japanese Young People and No Common Sense

I have written about how Japan's economy was being wrecked by many things, especially politicians. Recently, I wrote that Japan upper management is selling their company future down the river in order to preserve their own retirement pensions.

I don't want to seem like a big complainer (my wife says I am) but today I want to complain about Japanese young people.

I guess I'd have to agree with older Japanese people who say that today's young people have no manners or common sense.

Of course, it's not all younger people; but far too many haven't a clue about manners and customs. It can be very embarrassing at personal or family events, but in business situations it is a disaster. If they don't know what to do, why don't they consult an older, respected person?

I always do. If it is a funeral, promotion, business deal, baby, marriage, whatever, I consult my mother in law who is well versed in customs, manners and rules. Doesn't everyone in Japan know an older person who they respect and they can consult with?

I cannot give details about what happened recently, as the person I am talking about might realize it if he saw this story (I will tell him personally next week), but my question to young people is; "If you don't know about manners or customs or traditions, then why don't you ask some elders?"

I have made a huge business deals between two clients where the situation calls for one of the client's to give the partner product for the partner to trial or test... Does the young person send the product to the partner? No.

Isn't it common sense that, say, I was selling cheese and you ran, say, a newspaper and we were going into a partnership into selling the cheese in your newspaper, wouldn't you expect me to deliver some cheese to you to try?

Isn't this just common sense? If I didn't, wouldn't you think it were strange or wouldn't you question my common sense?

I would.

Also, isn't obvious that, if the newspaper people liked, really loved the product, they'd put more effort into it and try harder? And, if they tried harder, wouldn't we all make more money?

Let's say we just sealed the deal. The newspaper gives you a copy of the newest issue every time you go there (hint, hint) wouldn't it enter your mind to have some cheese delivered to the bosses and staff so that they can try it? Isn't that just smart business so that you can build a good relationship?

Or, is this just something that young people today cannot even fathom?

If so, this country IS in big trouble.

Marketing Japan: Write Down Your Goals to Achieve Them!...

By Mike Rogers
 

This may not seem like it from the surface, but this article is a tip on how to "stay cool" in the hot Japanese summer....
 

Today, I'd like to take a moment to highly recommend a book that has helped me greatly since the first time I read it and that is Brian Tracy's Goals!
 

Author of Goals! Brian Tracy (I also recommend another Tracy book, Focal Point)

In Goals! Tracy talks about how, if you are to succeed in life that you need to write down your goals in order to be able to achieve them. "Sure!" Everyone thinks this but I know few who actually do write them down. Trust that writing them down does help your sub-conscious to actually remember and activate your  brain to achieve the goals you set forth for yourself.

 

I write down my goals everyday in the morning when I wake up and, not only does doing so help me to achieve them, it also helps me to relax and stay much more focused. Who doesn't want to stay more focused in this day and age when our "in-box" includes, for most people, several e-mails accounts that are constantly filling up as the day goes by and consistently altering our priorities? Or an Internet world filled with Social Media like Facebook, Mixi (in Japan) and Linkedin accounts (among others) to attend? Twitter and Pick, are no longer for just sending messages to your friends, but they too, have been co-opted into the business world and your boss orders you to use them, or blogs and SNS, to get the company message out...
 

How in the world can anyone get ahead of the pile in the "in-box"?
 

The book promises that you will "Get everything you want, faster than you ever dreamed." Sounds like grandiose claims but let me point out that writing down your goals and purposes is like having a sort of road map to where you want to go. When you write them down, they enter your subconsciousness, they cause your inner brain to focus upon the Law of Attraction. If you do not write down where you want to go - if you do not have a map - then how will you know where you are going?
 

The publishers write:
 

Why do some people achieve all their goals while others simply dream of having a better life? Bestselling author Brian Tracy shows that the path from frustration to fulfillment has already been discovered. Hundreds of thousands--even millions--of men and women have started with nothing and achieved great success. Here Tracy presents the essential principles you need to know to make your dreams come true.
 

Tracy presents a simple, powerful, and effective system for setting and achieving goals--a method that has been used by more than one million people to achieve extraordinary things. In this revised and expanded second edition he has added three new chapters addressing areas in which goals can be most rewarding but also the toughest to set and keep: finances, family, and health.
 

Using the twenty-one strategies Tracy outlines, you'll be able to accomplish any goals you set for yourself--no matter how big. You'll discover how to determine your own strengths, what you truly value in life, and what you really want to accomplish in the years ahead. Tracy shows how to build your self-esteem and self-confidence, approach every problem or obstacle effectively, overcome difficulties, respond to challenges, and continue forward toward your goals, no matter what happens. Most importantly, you'll learn a system for achievement that you will use for the rest of your life.
 

One of my goals are to become a multi-millionaire. Laughable? Maybe. But at least I have a road map and I am consciously working on that everyday...
 

And I really do have proof! I have evidence that Tracy's philosophy and ideas in Goals! work.  I have shown myself that actually writing down goals are critical to achieving them. And my proof stands in something that, for me, is much more important than the Rat Race and making money: it's being the best dad I can be.
 

It used to be my #1 priority was, "To make $15,000 a month..." then, one day, when I got a flash of irritation at something my son did - then thought about that flash later on - I realized that the most important thing for me was not money. By far the most important thing for me was to be a great dad.
 

Now my #1 priority goal that I write everyday is; "I am a kind, loving and patient father and husband today and everyday" (with today's date added).
 

Folks, trust me. This really works! Since starting this habit, I have caught myself several times with a flash of irritation - that  before would have caused me to get angry or upset at my son and maybe raise my voice - but since I started writing down everyday my goal of  being patient and kind, my mind recalls that goal immediately and has killed that flash of anger instantly its tracks.
 

Why ruin what could be a good learning opportunity and great memory with an out burst of irritability? What for? Life is too short to be getting upset at the small stuff all the time.
 

As the great writer C.S. Lewis wrote in Chronicles of Narnia, "Life is difficult as it is so let us be good to each other."
 

Try reading Brian Tracy's Goals! Write down your goals everyday. You'll be glad you did.
 

(This article was inspired by a meeting I had with a most interesting fellow named Roger Marshall. Thank you, Roger!) 
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Read Books. Improve Yourself... You Are the Only Asset You Really Have.

If you want to make it in today's world, then you need to read books. Lot's of them. I especially recommend books on business and Internet marketing. Today I will recommend some of my favorites.


The reason you need to read books is that books help you to improve yourself and to learn.

Are you indispensable?

Many people say that now is the digital age and if you do not have command of IT and the Internet, then you are doomed to failure. I might agree. But I'd also like to point out that today, and as has been the case for a thousand years, the successful, educated, and wealthy read books. The future will be no different; the  people who do not read books are left behind. 


If you do not read books and watch even a little bit of TV, I suggest that you stop the TV immediately and start on books. Watching TV is a displacement of time that could be used for more important, fruitful endeavors. Even reading a novel is better for your brain as, with a novel, your imagination is at allowed to exercise itself.


I work in publicity, advertising and marketing in Japan and I know if I don't keep up on new things, I will fall behind very soon. 


I know one guy at a major Japanese TV station who complained to me that things weren't going so well. I recommended that he start reading books... He looked flabbergasted. Now, here's a guy who is about 40-some years old and in-charge of about 6 people. His business is going really bad. I told him to look for the answers in reading books... he replied, "Mike-san, I hate reading books. I haven't read a book since high school." 


I replied, "There's is no difference between people who can't read books and people who don't read books. Think about that." 


He acted as if it were impossible for him to read books because he has some sort of learning disorder.  

My six-year-old reads more books in a month than a section chief 

at a major Japanese TV station reads in ten years.

  
This is a guy who is a section chief at a company that is losing a quarter of a million US dollars a year. Are you surprised that they are losing money? I'm not. Doesn't he realize that he has a responsibility to his staff to keep up on information? Doesn't he realize that he is being negligent towards his families' future?


No. He doesn't. Why doesn't he? He watches too much TV and hasn't read a book in almost 20 years?


What an idiot. I hate calling him an idiot, but no other words apply.


Reading books helps you to imagine, to grow, and to develop your skills and knowledge. You'll need to do these things and constantly improve yourself to be able to compete in the next 10 - 20 years.

As famous American professional basketball coach Pat Riley once wrote, "If you are not getting better, you are getting worse."


One of my favorite books is Focal Point by Brian Tracy. In Focal Point, Mr. Tracy supports my argument by writing; "To earn more, you must learn more... You are your most valuable asset... You must continually feed your mind to develop more of your potential. You must continually upgrade your abilities to think and perform at higher levels. "


So improve yourself. Get into the habit today of reading at least one book a week... Preferably not novels or comic books... I mean books about business and self-improvement.


Improve yourself... You are the only real asset you have.


Here are my recent favorites:


Brian Tracy; Focal Point and Goals
David Meerman Scott; New Rules of Marketing & PR
Chris Anderson; Free the Future of a Radical Price
Seth Godin; Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable, New Edition and Linchpin
Malcolm Gladwell; Outliers 
Marie Winn; Plug-in Drug




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Keywords: business, internet marketing, books, skills, knowledge, Brian Tracy, Focal Point, upgrade, ability, abilities, self-improvement, publicity, advertising, marketing, Japan, Mike Rogers, Mike in Tokyo, Marketing Japan