“I work at a Fortune 500 company. Each year we have layoffs so more work is given to each of us; no pay increase. This additional work adds 5-10 hours per week. Last year I averaged 60-70 per week and am working more this year.”

“I have worked in Manufacturing for nearly 30 years. Our plant had 4000 employees when I started. Today we have 187 people left, 72 of them are on the executive team. We are expected to come to work an hour early, work through lunch and stay two hours late everyday.”

“I work as a Web Producer for a publishing company. Over the past 6mo. they’ve laid off 50% of our staff. . . . So, now we’re stuck with a limited staff, each one doing 2-3 times as much work, most of which we’re not qualified or experienced in.”

These actual postings from www.cnn.money  illustrate one of the key hazards of these unpredictable times: Trying to do more with less. Of course, the concept is a virtuous one—everyone wants to get more return from fewer resources. That’s what productivity is all about.

But real people are paying a real price for unintelligent application of this principle.

The problem is too many companies lay people off and then expect the survivors to pick up the slack, doing two or three jobs at once. The obvious downside is spikes in stress, burnout, quality problems, and disengagement. You can’t expect overwhelmed people to do quality work or to get engaged in what they’re doing.

Everyone wants to do more with less. But the real question is “more of what”? More of the same? Or more of the kind of work that your customers really value?

In our recent book  we focus hard on this question. The turmoil we live in is displacing workers in unprecedented ways, and companies are paying a heavy price for mindlessly shedding numbers without re-thinking the business model. Service levels drop, quality plummets, and revenues slide.

On an airliner, serving peanuts to everyone might be in the flight attendant’s job description. But in turbulent air, you really don’t care if the flight attendant does that job. It’s not as important as caring for the safety and well-being of the passengers. Maybe you can do without serving peanuts for a while.

Isn’t it time to stop asking people to do the impossible by trying to work two or three jobs at once? Isn’t it time to push the re-set button and ask what work really adds value and forget the rest?

We’d like to hear from you. Are you trying to do “more with less”? Are you like the people we’ve quoted above? Or are you doing more of what really matters and less of what doesn’t?

HOW do you create a great career for yourself? Can you have a great career and still have a great life at the same time, keeping the things you love – family, friends, work, and play – all in balance? 

The answer is YES – look forward to Stephen R. Covey’s new book Great Work Great Career scheduled for release on November 15, 2009. More info coming soon.

The Leader in Me process is based upon Stephen Covey’s bestselling book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s recent book, The Leader in Me: How Schools and Parents Around the World are Inspiring Greatness, One Child at a Time, chronicles the process – how extraordinary elementary schools are teaching the same 7 Habits leadership principles which have guided corporate and government boardroom decisions for years.

“The world has entered an era of the most profound and challenging change in human history,” said Stephen Covey. “Studies have identified a significant ‘skills gap’ between what students are currently being taught and the skills employers are seeking in today’s global economy. Our children must be better prepared than they are now to meet the future challenges of our ever-changing world.”

Click here to read entire press release

Click here to watch videos of Elementary school principals, teachers and students talk on The Leader in Me process.

Most organizations consider customer service as a value. They’ll tell you it’s important to them to treat their customers well. But how do they know what their customers are thinking, how do they accurately and reliably measure how they are doing?

Typically when asked how companies measure customer service we hear one of three things:

1. They have no measure
2. They have an unreliable one (but they don’t know it)
3. They have an unreliable one (and they do know it, but that’s what you have to put up with in customer service)

One of the most common ways we see unreliable customer service surveys is in the use of email or “back of receipt” surveys for data gathering. You’ve probably experienced this before – you go to a store and at the bottom of the receipt there is a website where you can take an online survey on your experience in that store. If you take the survey, (and I do now, since I’m fascinated with how others get their customer service metrics – but my guess is most of you probably do not) you may be asked to answer anywhere from 10—50 questions on your experience. This survey data is used to rank the stores and to get feedback on all the elements of the customer service experience.

While this customer service data may be useful in understanding individual customer experiences, there is a significant flaw in gathering customer service data this way: The data is gathered from a skewed sample and is not representative of the population of your customers.

Think about it, who takes these surveys? At FranklinCovey we have learned that the majority of people who take these surveys are rarely representative of the whole customer base. Too often, organizations confuse the sheer number of surveys with the quality of the surveys. This is where random sampling with high response rates is so important – a random sample of your customer base will more accurately predict the experience of all of your customers, than just those people who took the time to go online and take your survey. Why? Because you don’t know if those people who went online have the same opinions as those who did not. And this is particularly true when you offer an incentive to take the survey. Not only do you get a skewed sample, but you usually get higher scores because sub-consciously people hope that saying nice things will make it more likely that they’ll win.

Good sampling technique is critical to get an accurate, reliable customer service metric, otherwise you’ll end up only hearing from those who love you, who hate you, or who wanted to win a prize. This is the first part of FranklinCovey’s Customer Loyalty Practice value proposition, that we provide an accurate, reliable metric at every client store/location, every month.

Next post…Perception verses Reality

Authors: Catherine Nelson, Director, Customer Loyalty Practice and Sandy Rogers, Practice Leader and Managing Director, Customer Loyalty Practice

Who would have thought a couple of years ago that giant corporations would be toppling overnight? That gas prices would rise sky high and then collapse again within a few days?  That the economic boom would implode into the worst recession in 50 years?

But even in unpredictable times like these, some companies still perform with excellence. How do they do it? What principles do they follow? This blog is a place where we will discuss exactly that. It is a place where we can share insights and successes.

The book Predictable Results in Unpredictable Times, a new book by Stephen R. Covey and Bob Whitman, chairman of FranklinCovey, captures four key principles for getting great performance in good times and bad.

First, winning companies slim down to a few key simple goals with clear targets and careful follow-through. Everybody in the firm knows the goals and what to do about them.

Second, winning companies maintain high levels of trust with their customers, employees, and suppliers. They are totally transparent about their commitments, what they can and can’t deliver. Only the most trustworthy companies survive the kind of turbulence we’re in now.

Third, winning companies do more of what matters. The mantra in tough times is “do more with less,” but the real question is “more of what?”  Winning companies focus on giving more value-not just cutting back.

Finally, winning companies recognize that everyone gets scared when things get uncertain. Instead of allowing themselves to be paralyzed by fear, they channel their anxiety into results. They unleash people’s best ideas and energies instead of suppressing them or micromanaging them.

Over the next few weeks we will talk more in-depth about these each of these principles, principles that we believe can help any company win, no matter how rough the ride gets. What principles have you found that are helping you win in these wild times?

 Today’s reality has forced us to question how we lead ourselves and our families:

• Do we need that next purchase or would we feel better with the security of a savings account?
• Should we be constantly going somewhere or are our best times in the backyard?
• Are we eating healthier by eating at home more often?
• Could our children benefit by playing with other children rather than attending another activity?
• Would there be less stress if we drove less?

What positive outcomes have you experienced? 

We  may have been forced to change the way we live but, by shifting our paradigm, we can focus on the positive outcomes. We can determine what is important and meaningful and lead in that direction. Leaders make changes, and by doing so, influence the people around them to also make changes. A leader is not necessarily a CEO of a corporation. A leader is anyone who leads by example. Just look at the “green” movement-many individual leaders making small steps that are leading to change.

Imagine if we taught our children to become leaders. What if we taught children to stop and think about choices, understand and value differences, have balance in their lives, and work together for better ideas?

We feel that their leadership skills would help them become responsible citizens and influence other children! It wouldn’t take long before we would start to see a change. What do you think?

 Leadership is not a new concept. Teaching children to be leaders is. Imagine the possibilities.

 Click Here to learn more about The Leader In Me Process.

 Authors: Sarah Noble and Judy Yauch, FranklinCovey Education Solutions

• Secure their job.
• Advance in their career.
• Become a highly-valued and respected employee.

“The current economic downturn has affected so many people who have found themselves unemployed or nervous about keeping their job and are in need of career and professional development to find and protect their job. And, many are finding they must recreate themselves to start a new career.  But, even in this difficult time, everyone can be proactive, and I look forward to sharing my knowledge to help them secure their future.”  — Stephen R. Covey

Are you concerned about your job and your role at work? Does there seem to be a major road block on your career path? Have you lost your job and are not sure which direction to go next? Post a comment and tell us your current situation and how and why these webinars would benefit you and on Aug 3 we will choose 50 people to attend for free. So tell us your story…

Click Here for contest details.

More about the webinar series:

These webinars will give you the mindset and skill-set to not only survive these tough times, but to personally thrive in them-and help others to do the same. This is a profound learning opportunity that may just help you to make breakthrough improvements or become the person you’ve always wanted to be. Each webinar stands alone, so you can attend one, two, or all three webinars for maximized learning. Learn more.

Contest ended Aug. 25, 2009.

I felt like I really needed to freshen up my mission statement before I could teach and advise others to write theirs. It was several years ago when I first attended a 7 Habits workshop (and trust me, it was several years ago). It was at Sundance in the summer and a beautiful place to enjoy nature and discover my passion through writing my first personal mission statement. Since that time, I’ve had another child, put two daughters through college, celebrated many more wedding anniversaries, and advanced my career to my dream job. A lot has happened since that first mission statement was written and my paradigm on life has matured.

So, in a hurry I thought I’d try out the Mission Statement Builder tool on the FranklinCovey website. I thought I’ll get this done in a hurry, it can’t be that difficult, I’ll do it while I’m listening in to this conference call-you know how we multi-task while the phone’s on mute, admit it you do it too. 

But surprisingly I really got into the process. The tool is easy to use, asks the right questions in the right order, and pulls it together in a final format. When you’re done you say “Wow! That was cool and look at what I can do!”

I thoroughly enjoyed going through the process again. I loved getting in touch with my voice, my passion, and recognizing some of my achievements thus far in life.

Next step is to decide which of the products I want to put my mission statement on-do I want a poster? What picture should I put on it? I’m not really good at journaling so maybe my mission statement on a journal would encourage me to do more. Decisions, decisions.

But now I’m ready to go out and inspire others and I’ll definitely encourage these teens to go home and do their own mission statement builder after camp.

I’ll keep you posted on which product I choose-I’ll blog about it when I get back (if I survive!).

You can build your mission statement or revamp your current mission statement at: www.franklincovey.com/msb

Author:  Annie Oswald

 Here is a sample of one from The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Signature Program. Mike Bechtel, one of FranklinCovey’s senior delivery consultants, has provided some great ways to use the video Circle of Influence.

Best Practice: Set-up

Before showing this video, ask participants to take notes as they watch. They’ll learn the difference between the Circle of Concern and the Circle of Influence. Then, they’ll hear the story of Ben, a worker at a university who worked his way up through the ranks simply by putting his energy into the things he could influence. Ask them to list the things that were in each of Ben’s circles.

Best Practice: Debrief

Use two flip charts to gather conclusions from the group. “What was in Ben’s Circle of Concern? What was in his Circle of Influence? How did those choices impact those around him?” Ask for volunteers to share a situation that causes concern that most of the group could identify with-traffic, financial issues, relationships, etc. Then draw two circles on a flip chart, and have the group decide what things are in each circle.

Additional Thoughts

How do we use these two circles to become more proactive? Once we’ve decided what items are in each circle, we have to make two choices:

 1. Put energy into the things that are in the Circle of Influence.

2. Don’t put energy into the things that are in the Circle of Concern.

The result? Whichever circle you put your energy in will grow. It’s that simple! Some people might feel that their Circle of Influence is just a tiny speck in the center of a huge Circle of Concern. But the principles still hold: no matter how small the circle is, that’s where we want to focus our energy. When we do, growth is inevitable and the Circle of Concern will shrink.

Click Here to access the 232 other video tip sheets.

Stephen M.R. Covey, the New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything, is sharing the power of trust in a 13 city North American speaking tour.

In a recent interview with The Orange County Register Covey addressed the economic worldwide crisis of confidence and how he sees trust as the remedy.

• When leaders ignore or forget their principles, they behave in ways that cause others to lose trust and they loose moral authority, causing social and economic impact. Trust is not a soft social virtue but is a hard-edged economic driver. Financial markets work because of capital and liquidity, but these two elements are not enough. Currently, the government has stepped in to help out with liquidity, but trust cannot be artificially created.
• As the recession continues, the lack of trust feeds on itself, creating a perpetuating downward cycle where distrust and suspicion create more distrust. Scandals and gross trust violations cause suspicion and people are cautious, trying to protect themselves. Distrust produces more distrust in relationships, teams, companies, markets and economies. Transversely, trust can create a virtuous, upward cycle and become the standard. Then, when one behaves outside the norm, the individual must either reform or leave, while the organization continues to become a high-trust culture.
• Recently, a Fortune 500 company who has truly embraced trust experienced a massive reorganization and significant layoffs. However, these layoffs were approached quite differently. They said, “If there ever could be such a thing as a healthy reduction of force, we just experienced it.” They confronted the economic reality, were very transparent, worked out solutions with employees, talked straight, avoided manipulation and treated everyone with such respect that the survivors were more proud of their organization than ever before.
• Covey doesn’t advocate blind trust and indiscriminately trusting anybody and everybody as that is being gullible. He’s not a Pollyanna, but he also doesn’t believe that just because you’ve been disappointed you can’t trust anyone. Some managers don’t trust others because it’s risky. But, there’s a risk in trusting as well as in not trusting. When there’s distrust, it creates more bureaucracy, politics, disengagement, turnover and fraud. In the past, trust may have been seen as a soft, cuddly idea. Today, people see it more clearly.

 Click here to read more articles by Stephen R. Covey 

Author: Debra Lund, Public Relations Director, FranklinCovey

For me, this has been really hard. When I get to work I tend to be heads-down and not resurface for a long time. I would eat at my desk, or not eat at all. But what I’ve found, over time, is that the harder I work, the greater my stress becomes. It’s a vicious circle that you can’t escape.

But when I take five or ten minutes to read an interesting news story completely unrelated to work, run an errand at lunch, or call a family member or friend for a few minutes, my mind clears and I find that I have even more energy to get my projects done. Once I even went to a nearby Costco, grabbed a hot dog for lunch and walked the aisles for 20 minutes. It opened my mind and kept me fresh for the remainder of the day.

Regardless of what you do, find some time every day just for you. Whether alone or with others, find something other than work, to experience for a few moments.

Hopefully these five tips will keep your stress levels low, increase your productivity, and improve your life-no matter how crazy it becomes.

Author: Matt Murdoch, FranklinCovey

According to Dr. Stephen R. Covey a mission statement is like a constitution by which you make all decisions for your life. Highly effective people shape their own future instead of letting other people, their culture, or their circumstance determine it. A mission statement provides direction and clarity for your life, your family, your team and your organization.

Such clarity is critically important in today’s turbulent climate. You may work within an organization with fewer people, fewer resources, more confusion, and more noise-you may be expected to do as much or more with far fewer resources. In order to survive in such an environment, you need a compass to help stay focused and on course in order to make critical decisions and accomplish key priorities.

Benefits of a Mission Statement:

• Gives you a greater sense of meaning and purpose.
• Guides your day-to-day decisions.
• Helps you design your life, your family, your team or your organization instead of having it designed for you.
• Provides focus.
• Clarifies what is most important.

If you don’t have a mission statement or are ready to revamp, we can help you get started today. FranklinCovey’s mission statement builder provides an introspective path to creating your mission statement as you answer thought-provoking questions you will uncover your core values and highest goals.

Click here to use FranklinCovey’s Mission Statement Builder to get started today.

Once you write your mission statement come back and tell us about your experience or share your mission with us. We would love to hear from you.

Tip #4: “No” is not a four-letter word

When times are tough, people will ask you to do more. In fact if you haven’t had someone come into your office today and ask for help with a project completely unrelated to your week’s priorities, you probably will. So here’s the rub. Unless you’re in a sole-proprietorship, you’re probably working with other people. And those other people will need your help, just like you will need theirs.

In most cases I believe it’s important to help people when they ask for it, especially if you have some expertise they could benefit from. It’s good karma and they’ll be more willing to help you in the future. However, there are times when you just can’t do it all. You’ll know when these times are. And if you can sense that the request isn’t “mission critical” just say no. The other person will survive and, if they have any sort of morals, they won’t be offended. Plus it will keep you from getting distracted on your week’s plan. 

If you have to say no, you should provide the requestor with some ideas of how they could accomplish their task. Refer them to someone who might have more time and the skills needed. You may also try and schedule their task later in your week when you have more time to spend on it. But don’t make “no” a regular part of your vocabulary. It could damage relationships over time and damage your reputation in the organization. 

Saying no is a very liberating feeling. Try it today and you’ll find out what I mean.

Next time we’ll cover the final tip: Find Time for Yourself Each Day

Author: Matt Murdoch, FranklinCovey

Hidden agendas undermine authentic communication. Listening to the opposing opinions with the intent to understand and empathize builds trust. Remember empathy is not sympathy or agreement-simply understanding their perspective. Test this from you own experience. You trust people that authentically express their true opinions more than those that hide them and tell you what they think you want to hear.

Your greatest high trust relationships are based on open communication.  It’s good to work with those that see things differently as that fuels innovation and invention.

Author: Greg Link, The Global Speed of Trust Practice Leader at FranklinCovey

 Tip #3: Plan or Perish

If you’re like me, you have multiple projects. Each with dozens of sub-tasks that need to be done “right now.” Right? To get through this jumble of projects you must do one simple thing: plan. It’s as easy as that. It’s no secret. It’s pure and simple common sense. Try out this process and you’ll see for yourself.

• 1. This coming Sunday night, before your work week begins, review your list of tasks.
• 2. Prioritize the ones that are most critical to your team’s goals.
• 3. Identify those tasks that you can easily delegate to others (see my previous post).
• 4. Identify what meetings you have during the week and find tasks that can be accomplished during those time periods.
• 5. Then, every morning, before anyone else comes into the office, take five minutes and review your list. Check off things you’ve done, review the day’s appointments, and adjust your tasks as necessary.

If you’re a user of Microsoft® Outlook® or IBM® Lotus® Notes® you might consider checking out some quick and simple Time Management webinars we offer. They’re only about 1 ½ hours long and will provide some amazing techniques to help teach you how to use these tools while you plan your days.

In my next post, I’ll cover tip #4: “No” is not a four-letter word.

Author: Matt Murdoch, FranklinCovey

 At FranklinCovey we are passionate and serious about preparing future leaders. For the last 18 months FranklinCovey has been working on an exciting new offering for elementary schools. It is called The Leader in Me, and it is designed to prepare children to be leaders in our changing society.

 The process is based upon the experience of educators and students at A.B. Combs Elementary School in Raleigh, North Carolina. In 1999, this school was struggling with low academic performance and lack of engagement among faculty and parents. After searching for a solution, the administrators and teachers began learning principle-based leadership skills, including The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People®, and then began teaching them to their students. In a short amount of time, end-of-grade tests improved dramatically. At the same time, the school saw significant and sustained increases in students’ self-confidence, dramatic drops in discipline problems, and impressive increases in teacher and administrator job satisfaction. 

 Following the success of A.B. Combs, other schools began implementing similar programs with very similar results. English Estates, an elementary school in Florida, was named the most academically improved school in its district after only one year of implementation.  Internationally, an elementary school in Canada reports that parent satisfaction with what is being taught has leaped from 67 to 98 percent.  The success stories continue to come to us.  Schools across the United States-along with schools in Guatemala, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and Europe are beginning to excitedly report comparable outcomes.

 This process of teaching students principles was the start of The Leader in Me. Currently we are seeing schools around the globe who are interested in using The Leader in Me process to prepare the next generation for the future by emphasizing personal leadership in every student. The Leader in Me offers this solution to all schools by providing the tools and necessary support through trainings, a web community that includes lesson plans and forums, videos, student activity guides, teachers’ resource books, and much more.

 FranklinCovey is eager for this opportunity to help children around the world prepare for the future.  To learn more, visit www.theleaderinme.org. 

Author: Sarah Noble, The Leader In Me Project Leader, FranklinCovey

You’re not alone.

I mean, there are still other people in your organization, right?

Tip#2: Embrace Others

Odds are, when you’re working fast and furious, there is probably someone, somewhere in your organization that may have some downtime, or they’re worried about not being aligned with strategic projects. Find them. Grab them. Capitalize on their skills. And have them chip in. People are generally happier when they’re engaged and contributing. Sure, quality might slip a bit and it might take longer for you to get that project done. But there is a huge feeling of relief when you delegate a task to someone and you go back to your office and are able to tackle something else. And there is an even better feeling when they come back to you and the project is finished and better than if you did it yourself.

 In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey outlines the principle of abundance. What this means is that there is always enough work for me and you, and the person in the office down the hall. Don’t be afraid to relinquish a bit of control over your projects. It will only benefit you and the people you bring into your circle. Your projects will get done better than before and you’ll be helping other people become engaged.

In my next post I’ll cover Tip #3: Plan or Perish.

Author: Matt Murdoch, FranklinCovey

 Tip #1: Eliminate Chaos

When everything around you is moving fast it’s hard to get organized. Does this sound like your typical day? You return from one meeting only to go to another and yet another throughout the day; you don’t have time to focus strategically on one project because your time is spread so thin over a dozen; you have three people at your door waiting for a decisions on three different projects.

Unless you gain control over the madness of your days, it will control you. You need to do whatever it takes to prepare yourself for these tornadic days – because they’re not going to stop. You need time management. You need to get organized.

• Come in 30 minutes early and straighten your desk and reply to urgent e-mails: It’s amazing how much quality work you can do when nobody else is in the office.
• Organize your files so you know where everything is: It’s a great feeling to be called into a last minute meeting and be able to grab the appropriate file.
• Block out chunks of your days to ensure you have time to get your work done: I find that I’m most productive on Monday-my brain is fresh and I’m still thinking clearly. After my morning meetings I’ve blocked out a few hours in the afternoon to actually work.
• Take time to help others: You’ll find that when you’re organized, you’ll be better able to help others and help them with things they need.

I’ve learned that when my life is chaotic, I work minute-by-minute. I can’t see the horizon and I start to feel overwhelmed and stressed. So, take some time and eliminate the chaos by getting organized.

 In my next post I’ll talk about Tip #2: Embrace Others

Author: Matt Murdoch, FranklinCovey

 A very wise and wonderful woman once told me that we become a reflection of our life experience. There are about 6.8 billion people in this world and they all have very different experiences. They all think though things differently, do things differently, and get the results that their behavior produces. Today more than ever we live in a very complex environment, technology breakthroughs, massive noise, complexities with factors and forces that interact, it’s chaos out there, the speed of information is overwhelming. The pressure to perform at work is harder today more than ever. What worked in the past may not work in the future because of the changing climate that we have.

 The one thing we know at FranklinCovey that remains constant is that change will happen and continue to happen. So the need to learn, adapt and grow is more important today then ever before. So how do you approach this?  How do you even start to make sense of this concept? We know the way you think dramatically impacts what you do  and your behavior. And your behavior typically produces the results in your life, right? The way you feel influences your thinking, which impacts what you do and, what you do gives you your results. If you feel positive or negative, based on your feelings, it can really impact things. A lot of people think they can’t necessarily change the way they think or what they do to get the results that they want. But we are here to tell you that you can be the author of your own future. If you want small incremental change, focus on your behavior. But if you want big change, focus on your thinking. The purpose of this blog is to help you make lasting transformational change and unlock the passion in yourself to reach all your goals and dreams.

 Please feel share with me you thoughts, insights and experiences on change.

 Check out this post as a video blog post:

 Author: Sam Bracken, Global Director of Product Management Marketing, FranklinCovey

I liked everything I heard, but some habits and ideas resonated with me more than others. Habit 2, Begin With the End in Mind was a habit that made theoretical sense to me, but it’s application (writing a personal mission statement) just seemed a little too ‘touchy-feely’ to me. It wasn’t that I was against the idea. I mean, ‘if you’re the kind of person that is in to that self-exploratory stuff, that’s great, but that kind of thing just isn’t my style.’ I will be honest, I kind of glossed over Habit 2.

Big mistake.

You see, I loved Habit 3, Put First Things First. After learning all about getting organized and putting the big rocks in the jar first, I went out and got a planning system, filled it with stuff (including a color-coded class-schedule) and proceeded to become dangerously efficient. It wasn’t too long however, before I learned that you can’t put first things first without knowing what your first things are! A planning system without the groundwork of a personal mission statement does lead to greater efficiency, but also greater ineffectiveness. As educator Neal Maxwell said, it’s like ’straightening deck chairs on the Titanic’

So, I began the process of hammering out a first draft of my mission. It has been through several revisions in the last 20 years or so, but has served as an invaluable tool in helping me stay focused on what matters most. It has given me the confidence and power to comfortably say “no” to really good, but unimportant things that would lead me to places I really don’t want to go. I have found Stephen Covey’s statement to be correct, ‘It’s easy to say no when you have a deeper yes burning within’.

Such clarity is critically important in today’s turbulent climate. We frequently work with organizations that have less people, less resources, more confusion, and more noise-they are simply expected to do as much or more with far fewer resources. In order to survive such an environment, we need a compass to help us stay focused and on course in order to make critical decisions and accomplish key priorities. A mission statement is that compass.

So, pay the price. Build your mission. Start now. One day, many years from now, when you are precisely where you want to be, you will be very glad you did.”

You can get started by using FranklinCovey’s Mission Statement Builder tool at: http://franklincovey.com/msb

This tool will help you discover your mission and values but will help you find the right words to put your mission down on paper. Once you build your mission statement please come back and tell us about your experience and share thoughts and insights.

Click here to register for a free webcast I will be conducting on discovering your purpose and writing your mission statement. Your source code is B5W.

Author: James Cathcart, FranklinCovey Consultant

Click here to read more from James Cathcart.

Test this for yourself. Think of the person you trust the most. What is it like to work with or be with that person? Do they have influence on you because you trust them? Does it speed up business to work with them? What IF? What if, everyone on your team had that level of trust? At worst it would be a lot more energizing to work together. At best trust makes the playing field really fast and becomes a performance multiplier that has a ripple effect on the results of your team and your organization.

Author: Greg Link, The Global Speed of Trust Practice Leader at FranklinCovey

I’ve been lucky in that I’ve had great female and male mentors and it seems my skill set and capabilities have been, to this point anyway, valued.  So I’ve got luck.  I also believe, “Luck favors the prepared.”  And the prepared don’t whine. Given the historical, societal, environmental challenge and opportunities you uniquely face, you have immense choice regarding what to say and how to behave right now. According to Victor Frankl, a Nazi war camp survivor highlighted in the Signature course The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, the greatest human freedom is the ability to choose our reaction in the face of any circumstances. Imagine that instead of Susan B. Anthony saying, “Suffrage is the pivotal right,” and working her entire life to obtain voting rights for women in the United States, she had simply invested her time in complaining to the women in her knitting circle! Executive Mamas focus on what they can do, not on what they cannot.

Blame or finger-pointing and lack of personal responsibility

Keep the gloomy game going.

They keep stealing your hidden genius and potential wealth-

Giving them to a dimwit on the sidelines with

No leadership, heart, or financial skills.

Dear one,

Wise Up.

- Hafiz, fourteenth-century Sufi poet

Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Vice President of Sales and Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey

I got up on today, April 1,  and unscrewed all of the canister lights in my kitchen, woke up my daughter and told her ‘no school today! too much snow and wind’, came to work and taped down a few mouse balls, and just generally wreaked some havoc and all because of my personal mission statement, after all it is April Fools’ Day.

FranklinCovey has a new “old” audio product just released called “How to Develop Your Personal Mission Statement.”  I picked it up, listened, and tried again. I have written mission statements a couple of times and I always ended up feeling like I didn’t quite have it right yet. Sometimes I felt like it was more driven from fear-what if I write this down and I can’t really make it happen? Will that make me a loser in life?

A personal mission statement is based on Habit 2, Begin With The End In Mind.  In  life, the most effective way to begin with the end in mind is to develop a mission statement, one that focuses on what you want to be in terms of character, and what you want to do in reference to life contributions and achievements.  Maybe it’s because it’s Spring, or because of where I am in life, but this time it really stuck. Maybe it’s just as Victor Hugo once said, “There is nothing as powerful as an idea whose time has come.” And the time had come for my mission statement to become a powerful force in my life.

What really helped me out was the CD full of tools that is included in this audio package. It has all kinds of FranklinCovey tools and resources but most importantly it has a personal mission statement builder. I personally needed a sense of destination and the mission statement builder gave me that and created the energy to get me started and the inspiration to finish. In fact, Stephen says that at the beginning of this process there is enormous hope and encouragement as well as fun and happiness. And that for me was the clincher. My mission statement should be fun.

That tool, combined with Stephen’s coaching, got me to a place where I feel like I’m back on course and I can make a difference in this world and I will make a contribution.

So, what does all of this have to do with April Fools’ Day and the pranks I played? My mission is all about living a life of fun and good cheer, learning to have and share fun, showing and sharing love through joyful fun, and leaving a legacy of fun.

So, when it’s all said and done, I want people to come to my funeral and have a rip roarin’ fun party!

Author:  Annie Oswald

 That’s what this blog category is about:  Being an Executive Mama. Choosing to be an executive mama.

 Women have more choices as to how to mix career and family than any previous generation.  And yet, some don’t aspire to leadership roles, particularly executive roles, because of the perception that the only acceptable executive style is paternalistic command and control.  Others want executive status and a rich family life, possibly including children, but don’t see a path to doing both AND living to tell about it.  This blog will encourage realistic optimists to make conscious choices about their leadership style, strive for executive influence in influential organizations including business and government, and to provide a map as to the decisions to be made in order to earn the right to be called both “executive” and “mama” in the same lifetime.

 Next week:  No whining.

 Author: Jennifer Colosimo, Vice President of Sales and Delivery Effectiveness at FranklinCovey

Hi! I’m Annie Oswald and I’m the Director of Alternate Distribution Channels at FranklinCovey Co. Alternate Distribution Channels is just a fancy name for getting FranklinCovey audio, book, and video products into the hands of people all over the world.

 Today I’m excited to announce a great new audio from FranklinCovey that we are creating. This is like an Advance Reader’s review but for audio. The audio is Dr. Stephen R. Covey and Stephen M. R. Covey Present A Conversation.

 This audio program features two generations, a unique combination of father and son bestselling authors, discussing and sharing some humorous and always profound professional and personal experiences.

I think that as a listener you will be transported. You may even  feel like a fly on the wall listening in to this personal meeting between two great business leaders, authors, speakers, and intellectual minds, I know I did. I listened as they made the case that there is one thing that is common to every individual, relationship, team, family, organization, nation, economy, and civilization throughout the world.

From their insights I learned more about the importance of trust in creating building and maintaining effective relationships in all aspects of life: our homes, our families, each other, our companies and ourselves.

Trust is the one thing which, if removed will destroy the most powerful government, the most successful business, the most thriving economy, the most influential leadership, the greatest friendship, the strongest character, the deepest love.

 On the other hand, if nurtured, trust has the potential to create unparalleled success and prosperity in every dimension of life. Yet it is the least understood, the most neglected, and most underestimated possibility of our time.

Trust impacts us 24/7, 365 days a year.

I have to admit I’m not an avid business audio listener (I shouldn’t admit that publicly-business audios are my business) but I loved this.

 Check our store in a few weeks for more details.

 Author: Annie Oswald