Billy Arcement’s
News From the Swamp
Issue # 32 April 2004
Bringing you ideas from The Results
Group Office
on
“Working with business leaders to produce a culture of
teamwork, productivity and profits.”
Please recommend this newsletter to a friend or associate.
We each have some degree of ambition. On a scale of 1-10, some of us are 1’s while others are a 10+. Where do you fit? Think about what effect your personal ambition plays in your progress or lack of progress with your career.
From my viewpoint, I appreciate someone with ambition. If I were looking to hire an employee, I would look for one who is ambitious with certain limitations. Those limits include maintaining integrity, legality, morality and reality. I want someone who will not engage in illegal or immoral actions. I want someone who understands their limitations yet strives to move beyond them. I want someone who will want progression up the ladder but will not do it on the backs of fellow workers. I want someone who tempers ambition with balance. Placing work as # 1 with little or no emphasis on a second selection is a lethal position and reflects no balance. Progressive ambition considers the needs of family before career. Regressive ambition places family a distant second. The reality we must all remember is that we’ve probably never seen someone on their death bed begging for just one more day at the office. And, I don’t suppose you will be the first to do so!
In your quest for growth on the job, access your ambition quotient. Maintain that internal motivation to achieve but pay attention to the price you are paying. Forgetting to balance our actions is clearly regressive ambition. Get your priorities straight and then give the portion devoted to your career growth as much ambition and effort as you can muster. Just don’t let yourself be overtaken. Forgetting the proper approach to our ambitions can carry a deadly price.
No man or women is an island. We all need others to be successful in this life. As you seek growth, try surrounding yourself with people who compliment your weaknesses. By doing so, you make yourself stronger. Surround yourself with people of similar vision and commitment to the organization. You want people who will challenge your ideas by offering their own, not just complaining that your idea is not sound. Expect solutions, not complaints from your associates.
Loyalty and strong communication are key ingredients for good team chemistry. Loyalty to the organization and loyalty to the leader are critical for good teamwork to develop. There must also be free dialog without fear of reprisal otherwise stagnation results.
Another form of teamwork involves the use of a mentor. We all take clues regarding our behavior from others. Those clues can come from actual observation or possibly from reading about behaviors. Once we come upon such information, we either choose to imitate or avoid the behavior. Thus, we form our character.
Mentors serve as our conscious. They point out deficiencies and strengths. They have our best interest at heart and only comment on what they feel will produce growth within their mentee.
As you move through your personal ambitions, consider who you will surround yourself with and how you will use these individuals to build a better you. Strong associates and a wise mentor can be a real winning combination.
“Wisdom is the ability to apply knowledge.”
I often
tell audiences that knowledge is only potential power. Possessing knowledge is important but to make
knowledge truly powerful, we must know how to best apply it. Successfully applying knowledge builds
experience and when we become sufficiently experienced, we graduate to the
beginnings of wisdom. Wisdom is not
automatically achieved. It is earned
through a vast array of information gathered in a focused area that can be
applied to resolve voids in the knowledge base of others.
It’s important to maximize the contributions of employees. Here are a few ideas to help you tap the potential of those you lead.
The Professional Speaker:
Billy blends thought provoking ideas with his “Cajun Stories”
to bring audiences a winning combination guaranteed to make your event a
success.
Executive Coaching / Management Consulting: Billy is the choice of corporate and education leaders who seek help with their own management style or who wish to provide coaching for their management team or executives on an individual or group basis by phone or on site.
The School Board Strategist: Billy is one of the premier consultants to work with troubled school boards or to help with strategic planning initiatives. He is also a seasoned presenter at school board association conventions.
The Author: Billy’s
book, Searching for Success, is
making a difference in the life of people around the world. His published articles impact the way
business leaders think. Contact us to
purchase your personally signed copy of Searching
for Success.
Call us. We’d love to help! Go to http://www.searchingforsuccess.com to learn more about Billy’s programs and services. Our results are guaranteed!
Please notify us if your email address changes. Send your new address to barcement@eatel.net and we’ll update our distribution list. If you enjoyed what you’ve read, please forward this newsletter to a friend who might get a pointer or two from these messages. Send us their email address, to add them to our distribution list.
Children First! Spread the Word
Children First, my newsletter offering parenting tips, is growing
nicely. If you know of an organization
or group of parents who might be interested in reading this newsletter email me
at barcement@eatel.net and place
“children” in the subject line. The next
issue goes out May 3
Value Added
Ideas
You may reprint content from
this newsletter or from past issues.
We’re also happy to provide you with articles from our archive of
previously published articles to add value to your publications. Before you do, please send an email request
to barcement@eatel.net and specify
your needs.
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