Tag: Jungle Jeff

Danny and Adam are C-Level potentials

Danny and Adam have passion.

How do you know?

All you have to do is watch and listen. That’s what I did last night with my family. Watched and listened.

What does this have to do with you?

Everything!

Please, let me say it one more time, and this time I’ll shout it, “EVERYTHING!”

Thirteen finalists. One will become the next American Idol and sell millions of “records” (downloads). It’s like winning an Olympic gold medal, sort of.

Two stood out far and away the most passionate. Singing and performing are in their heart and soul! Like an unstoppable force of nature – a tornado, a hurricane, a tsunami. Unstoppable, and all-powerful.

This makes me wonder what it takes to be world-class.

To be a world-class leader, speaker, father, follower, friend, visionary, athlete, singer….

“Dude“, I say to myself, “do you inspire yourself so much that others want to be a part of it”?

I feel good about my progress toward the “yes” answer.

Do you?

Please know, as I always say, there is no judgement here on whether or not someone is good or not good. What’s being played out here, are the challenges I set before myself. And so, I’m inviting you to set these challenges before yourself. But only if you have the desire to be excellent. Okay?

(And you know what else? If you’re not sure where you fall in this environment, then I gently invite you to follow along at a distance comfortable to your situation. And, when and if you’re ready, or not ready, you can decide to be in, or to be out. It’s absolutely your choice.)

Excellent and world-class are the highest levels of difficulty, and I often confront the question, “Why are you concerned about it”? My inner voice says, “You must make great sacrifices to be excellent and world-class”.

Yes!

And, you make great sacrifices when you don’t push yourself to be all you can be, so that you can offer others all you can offer them.

This is called regret. And I believe it is much worse than sacrifice.

That’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

Make it a GREAT, PASSIONATE day, because if you don’t, who will? Carpe diem, jungle jeff 🙂

Walt Disney was “crazy”

Inspiration can come from the most unlikely source.

Do you ever find this to be true?

It’s like a gift, right under our nose, waiting to be unwrapped.

Except for one thing.

We rarely take notice.

Walt Disney spent a lifetime teaching his associates to pay attention to the smallest of details.  Details so “insignificant” that some would say, “Walt, that’s too much perfection.  The audience won’t see that kind of perfection“. Many people thought Walt Disney was crazy because of his obsession with small details.

Walt would shoot back, “They may not see perfection, but they can feel it“.

Little details.  Little gifts, so to speak.

Insignificant details that become redundant, and most would avoid the effort, because it would cost too much or take too long.

And the payoff?  Nothing. The Guests will never notice.

That was the genius of Disney’s founder, Walt Disney.

It’s every Leader’s duty to keep that genius alive at The Walt Disney Company.

This past Sunday, my wife, son, and I enjoyed a few late afternoon hours at Disney’s Blizzard Beach Water park.  It was 85 degrees and sunny.  Palm trees and tropical flowers everywhere.

We had a wonderful afternoon.

Later that night, as I was cleaning off the countertop, putting away my wallet, keys, and receipts, I noticed something.

A small detail.

On our admission pass was Minnie Mouse, smiling like she always does.  That wasn’t actually the small detail.

What really caught my attention were the two words on either side of Minnie.

“CELEBRATE EVERYDAY!”

So, that’s exactly what I did today.

And you know what else?

Can’t wait to do it all over again tomorrow.

Disney Parks ARE the Happiest places on Earth.  How cool is that?

Do I practice what I preach?

Do I practice what I preach? Do you?

This is a follow-up post to yesterday’s interesting challenge about “mistakes” smart people make.

Funny thing is, I’m often tempted to judge myself based entirely on my intentions.

The fundamental change brought about by teaching – and they say to teach is to learn twice – is that I’m much more aware of my blind spots.

So, I rewrote my 463-word vision/mission statement, created in 1995 after reading Stephen Covey’s classic, “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”.

It went from 463 words to two words!

So easy even a caveman can remember it.

Make it a GREAT day, because if you don’t, who will. Carpe diem jungle jeff 🙂

Know the mistake smart people make?

Wanna know one of the biggest mistakes smart people make?

Sophisticated and intelligent, most organizations wordsmith their vision, mission and brand statements for the benefit of looking good to Wall Street and their Board of Directors.

Here’s the paradox, in a quote from someone really smart.

“Complexity holds people back from acting because they don’t know which action will have impact”.

What smart person said that?

It was Bill Gates, in a Rolling Stone article I read in October 2007.

Next question.

Do you agree with Bill? Why or why not?

Wanna know my opinion?  It sounds bloody brilliant to me.

Many organizations are tempted to put together various “decks” with really cool, lofty, even inspirational stuff. That’s what great organizations do, right?

They capture the essence of the vision, mission, brand, etc. on “paper”, so that new and existing employees will be fully engaged, and committed.

Here’s the paradox: People are too busy to remember what you’re really trying to say.

My mission is to help people take it from the paper to the floor.

I have many ways in which to do this. For the sake of a shorter post, I’ll stop here.

Carpe diem, make it a GREAT day for your employees, customers and shareholders. If you don’t, who will. jungle jeff 🙂

Am I boring?

Am I boring?

Scary thought.  Sometimes I’m convinced I am. Know how I can tell?

Soon after I became a professional speaker a decade ago, a wise person told me, “Jeff, if you look out at your audience, and they looked bored, you’re boring them”. I’ve never forgotten that wisdom.

At risk every single day – failing them and boring them.  The two mortal sins public speakers commit most often.

Want the good news?

I don’t do it nearly as frequently as I used to.  Plus, I’ve also learned to recognize and react more effectively.

So, may I please ask you a question?  Are you boring?

Want to test yourself?

Read your LinkedIn profile and ask yourself, “Is this something that captures attention and motivates the reader to read.  Or, is it like so many others that people don’t even bother”?

At the core of this is your intent for using LinkedIn, in my opinion.

It’s tough out there.  If you don’t figure it out, who will?  Carpe diem, jungle jeff