I find Lou Holtz to be one of the most inspirational speakers in our country. Even when he is speaking during half-time, or his famous “chalk talk” segments, I stop what I am doing to concentrate on his words. Harvey MacKay reprinted this article today. I found it so worthwhile I am adding Lou’s words to my blog… Enjoy:

Lou Holtz’s 3 rules of life:

“Everybody needs four things in life: Something to do, someone to love, someone to believe in and something to hope for.”

I wish I had said that, but it was my very close friend Lou Holtz. I recently invited Lou to speak to a professional group I am mentoring and he was his usual outstanding self. It’s no wonder that the Washington Speakers Bureau calls Lou one of the best speakers in the world.

I’ve heard Lou speak a hundred times, and he still amazes me with his practical, down-to-earth, plain and simple advice.

For example, we have all kinds of rules and laws. We’ve got federal laws, state laws, corporate laws, bylaws … you name it. Holtz simplifies things by following three simple rules.

Rule #1 - Do right. “Just do the right thing,” Lou says. “We’ve all done dumb things and wish we hadn’t done them, but you can’t go through life with an albatross around your neck saying, ‘I made a mistake.’ Say you’re sorry, make amends and move on.”

He added: “I think it’s wrong to be bitter. We all have a reason to be bitter. We’ve all had injustices done to us by society, by a spouse, by a friend, but you can’t go through life being bitter. We’re always blaming someone else. Wherever we are it’s because of the choices we make.”

Rule #2 - Do everything to the best of your ability with the time allotted. Lou says: “Not everybody will be an All-American. Not everybody will be first team. Not everybody will be great. But everybody can do the best they can with the time allotted.”

Rule #3 - Show people you care. I have seen this rule in action many times. Lou is constantly asking people, “How can I help you? How can I assist you?” And he means it. He has a deep-down burning desire to help people.

Lou Holtz says he can get by with only three rules because the people you meet have three basic questions.

The first question: Can I trust you?

“Without trust, there is no relationship,” Lou said. “Without trust, you don’t have a chance. People have to trust you. They have to trust your product. The only way you can ever get trust is if both sides do the right thing.”

The second question: Are you committed to excellence?

Lou explained that “When you call on a customer, you send a message that you are committed to certain standards. How much do you know about your company and what opportunities your company offers to satisfy people’s needs? The only way that can ever be answered is if you do everything to the best of your ability.”

The third question: Do you care about me?

Holtz said: “Do you care about me and what happens if your product doesn’t do what it’s intended to do? Caring about people is not making their life easy. Caring about people is not being their friend. Caring about people is enabling them to be successful.”

A few years ago I was asked to help raise money for a Lou Holtz statue at Notre Dame. On the pedestal, his players had chosen three words - Trust, Commitment, Love. Those words represent Lou’s core values.

If people follow these three simple rules, their self-confidence grows. They don’t worry when the phone rings. They have no doubt about what they are doing. They lift everyone up in their organization. These three rules help hold organizations together.

Holtz then finished with this exercise. He asked us to pick two people. Pick someone you love, admire and respect. Then take someone you’ve got a problem with. Ask these three questions about both people. Just a simple yes or no.

“I guarantee you, the person you admire and respect, you said yes to all three questions,” Holtz said. “The person you’ve got a problem with, you pinpointed a problem. Either you can’t trust them, they aren’t committed, or they don’t care.”

When you have a problem with someone who falls into these three categories you have to decide if you can change it or live with it. If you can’t do either, your only other choice - and probably the right choice - is to divorce yourself from the problem or the individual.

I never said it was easy.

Many of you have attained a certain level of accomplishment in your personal and professional life. Perhaps you have started and built a successful business, or risen to the top of your field as a scientest, teacher, or sales professional. What is next? I suggest that one of the most meaningful actions you can take now is to give the gift of experience and knowledge to a young professional. There are formal programs out there for mentoring or “shadowing.” If you want to know about them, please contact me. But you don’t need a program to make a difference. Perhaps you had a mentor that influenced your career when you were just starting. What an advantage! Take it upon yourself to give that advantage to someone in your field. You won’t be sorry you did.

There is a natural progression among what is considered reactive, proactive, and predictive tactics in technology. In many ways the maturity level of your IT organization and the tools you leverage corresponds to the progression. No matter where your organization lies in terms of maturity, the end goal is the same: to effectively manage an increasingly complex IT infrastructure. To accomplish this objective, IT organizations must be able to predict and solve problems before they affect the customer.

A reactive approach entails addressing an IT problem or incident after it has already occurred. Clearly, this approach poses the most risk of prolonged business service disruptions, as the identification and resolution of each incident are only initiated after a service disruption is reported. This risk alone has justified the fact that most IT organizations take gradual, if not immediate, action to adopt a more refined approach.

A proactive approach involves setting pre-defined boundaries for key performance measurements, and commencing a specified course of action each time these thresholds are crossed. For example, if a disk’s utilization exceeds a predefined percentage of the total capacity available, an alert is raised before service delivery is impacted. Static thresholds, as utilized in a proactive IT management model, are typically set arbitrarily through a time-consuming manual process. Measurements of even a single threshold can vary widely over time as the environment changes and your infrastructure evolves. Adjusting the thresholds regularly is tedious and time consuming. The approach is much less effective than the predictive model.

Predictive intelligence, as its name implies, does far more. By some accounts, the predictive approach can cost 4X less than either of the previous approaches. Through understanding and determining what is normal baseline or abnormal based on usage patterns, predictive intelligence technology lowers the level of event “noise” and often eliminates duplicate and excessive alerts that account for as much as 80% of total alerts. Similar to “accidental” calls to 911, duplicate alerts consume valuable personnel resources that are better utilized by attending to more critical issues.GOAL of IT360 Predictive Intelligence Technology:To minimize service disruption of mission critical applications through collection, correlation and analysis of data to identify, isolate, and resolve threats in advance
There is a natural progression among what is considered reactive, proactive, and predictive tactics in technology. In many ways the maturity level of your IT organization and the tools you leverage corresponds to the progression. No matter where your organization lies in terms of maturity, the end goal is the same: to effectively manage an increasingly complex IT infrastructure. To accomplish this objective, IT organizations must be able to predict and solve problems before they affect the customer.

A reactive approach entails addressing an IT problem or incident after it has already occurred. Clearly, this approach poses the most risk of prolonged business service disruptions, as the identification and resolution of each incident are only initiated after a service disruption is reported. This risk alone has justified the fact that most IT organizations take gradual, if not immediate, action to adopt a more refined approach.
A proactive approach involves setting pre-defined boundaries for key performance measurements, and commencing a specified course of action each time these thresholds are crossed. For example, if a disk’s utilization exceeds a predefined percentage of the total capacity available, an alert is raised before service delivery is impacted. Static thresholds, as utilized in a proactive IT management model, are typically set arbitrarily through a time-consuming manual process. Measurements of even a single threshold can vary widely over time as the environment changes and your infrastructure evolves. Adjusting the thresholds regularly is tedious and time consuming. The approach is much less effective than the predictive model.
Predictive intelligence, as its name implies, does far more. By some accounts, the predictive approach can cost 4X less than either of the previous approaches. Through understanding and determining what is normal baseline or abnormal based on usage patterns, predictive intelligence technology lowers the level of event “noise” and often eliminates duplicate and excessive alerts that account for as much as 80% of total alerts. Similar to “accidental” calls to 911, duplicate alerts consume valuable personnel resources that are better utilized by attending to more critical issues.

GOAL of IT360 Predictive Intelligence Technology:To minimize service disruption of mission critical applications through collection, correlation and analysis of data to identify, isolate, and resolve threats in advance

I was having lunch with a college and friend recently.  We were reflecting on the fact that everyone we have talked with in the last year has a story about how the “great recession” has changed their life.  We here in Arizona tend to think we were hit the hardest, but I suspect that many parts of the country are suffering equally.  Much of the misery is tied to real estate and the credit markets.  The cascading effect touches business, personal fortunes and relationships alike.
We started talking about how to get through such a tough period.  How does one remain mentally strong when things are collapsing?  There are two principles that are important to keep in mind this is great advice for entrepreneurs and leaders to remember when everything is not going your way:
1)      You can control everything, and that’s ok.  Do not try to take on issues, problems, etc. that are beyond your control. You can’t change the economy, credit rules, or what a client is going to do.  Don’t worry about it.  Learn how to work with the situation at hand.  Sounds like common sense, right?  Take an inventory of the things you are worried about right now.  Which of them are within your control, and which are not?
2)      Positive mental attitude.   Again, a no brainer right?  So simple.  Yet how many times have you started your day, or a meeting, or some interaction with the thought in your head that “this will not go well, today is not going to be a good day, what if I am not smart enough, lack the will, etc.”  Defeat starts between your ears and nowhere else.   Get in the habit of starting and ending your day with a positive thought.  Continue those positive thoughts throughout the day.  A magical thing will happen, I guarantee it.  Call me if that one simple exercise does not change your life.
As we finished our lunch, I could tell that discussion of those two simple principles had made an impression.  I have shared that advice many times now with struggling business leaders.  In these economic times I am sure that this discussion will continue.   You can change the outcome.

I am fond of saying there are three things any entrepreneur/company/big business can do to be successful, no matter what their business. As a leader it is important to instill these habits, and they are habits, in every one of your employees. These habits should be practiced tirelessly.

Number one: Answer your phone. By that I mean be responsive. How many times do you leave a message that is not promptly returned? What does that say to the client/customer/stakeholder? Customers want to connect, by various methods for sure (twitter, text, Facebook, mobile phone, email, etc.) Those connections are extremely valuable. Do not miss a chance to connect with a customer or prospect.

Number two: Provide the best service or product possible. If you can’t make a commitment to quality, you are probably in the wrong business.

Number three: Demonstrate flexibility. There is no one-size-fits-all. As consumers, clients, customers, we want two things: 1) some control over the buying process and 2) to know that the vendor, partner, conglomerate is listening to us and cares about our wants and needs.

These are three simple habits that will make your business successful. How often do we see them not in use? How well does your business grade on these simple practices?

Paul Gorrell wrote an excellent piece this week on the Jeremy Lin phenomenon. In case you have been locked in a cave the last month this story is awesome. Jeremy Lin is a Harvard graduate (one of only three to make the NBA), and was passed over by several teams and not NBA material. He has proven himself to be nothing less than a superstar. What can business learn from this story:

Here are some important messages for business leaders when considering the Jeremy Lin story:

Know Who You Have on Your Bench: It is highly important to spend time identifying the capabilities of the talent you already have in your company. This is the old philosophical axiom lived out: Knowledge is power. When you have an accurate assessment of the capabilities of your people, you can do a much better job of realizing their potential by exploiting their talent for the good of the company and for the benefit of their own career advancement.

Don’t Just Focus on Your High Potential Talent: I am saying this as a consultant who has run many “High Potential” programs for companies. High Potential employees are individuals who currently perform extremely well but also show potential for higher level leadership positions within the organization. These are very important folks to focus on and retain within your organization. Interestingly, Jeremy Lin would not have been placed in this group a month ago. There are plenty of people who may have a ton of potential but, for one reason or another, they are not performing up to the standards which have been set for their role. There may be very specific reasons for this including lack of rewards, wrong job assignment against a skill set, or lack of organizational resource to support success. These individuals are an organization’s hidden resource. It is incumbent upon the business to develop a strategy for moving this talent from the back of the bench to the starting lineup.

Give Your People Opportunity: Despite an excellent career in high school and college basketball, no one seemed willing to give Lin a chance at the professional level. For one thing, he was an excellent team player and the tryouts for the draft were more focused on individual performance. Business leaders need to be more willing to take risks with their people. Often, this is the best way to develop employees’ capability and get them ready for promotion. Stretch assignments not only teach new skills and enable the development of new positive behaviors; they provide motivation to the workforce writ large.

Connect What People Do to the Global Strategy: Lin’s remarkable situation is more meaningful because of the larger stories of the Knicks struggling season and this past autumn’s NBA lockout. In companies, we too often fail to tell the big story to our people. This leads to a big disconnect between the overall strategy of the business and the jobs that individuals do. The more employees understand how their roles align to the strategy of the organization, the more motivated they are to outperform expectations. We want our story to be part of a bigger story.

Success is Infectious: It is so much fun to watch the other Knick players take so much delight in the success of their new teammate. It has created a team synergy that has raised the game of all involved. I am tempted to call it team “Linergy.” A season that appeared lost (there was a good chance that the Knicks would not make the playoffs) has become a season of opportunity. In business, we need to celebrate successes in a way that draws teams together and builds more potential for breakthrough results.

Diversity Rules: Lin’s race is an underlining story of this phenomenon. Yesterday, when getting an acupuncture session, I heard the all-Chinese staff laughing enthusiastically. They were speaking Chinese so I didn’t know what they were so excited about. Then, I heard Jeremy Lin’s name and I could only imagine the pride and excitement they felt. For many reasons, diversity has become a key strategy for talent management and business success. For one thing, non-traditional pools of talent (meaning, non-white men) provide additional openings to find stars who can raise the game of an organization.

Besides helping his team win games, Lin is good for the business of basketball. Learning from his story could be good for business in general.

Many companies traditionally rely on intuition and the way they have always done it.  However, the game has changed significantly in the last 10-20 years. Consumers are accustomed to a new way of interacting with the companies that make the products or provide the services they use.  Employees expect more, even under the tremendous pressures of the “great recession.”  And vendors move quickly if they think that there are richer pastures somewhere else.

Consider, 20 years ago you listened to music on a “Walkman”, took pictures with a Polaroid, read the paper in the morning, watched the evening news, and listened to local radio (the list goes on).  Your employees worked at a desk, had a fax machine, and relied on voicemail or an assistant for communications outside the office.  They may have carried a pager.  Travel was important for face-to-face meetings.  Trade shows provided access to new product and markets.  

Only a few years ago if you were in business, a blackberry was a must….

How has your enterprise adapted to these changes?  How do you recognize trends and change to take advantage of new opportunities?  I will bet it is not the same way you did only a few years ago.  How “agile” is your organization?  Does your culture promote innovation?  Do you have mechanisms in place to capture new ideas and put them in to operation?  More than ever it is evident that the culture of the organization determines the level of success.  What to know more?  Want to build a culture of performance and success?

I was driving in traffic for lunch today. The truck in front of me had a large New England Patriots logo in the back window. The license plate also reflected the loyalty to the team. What if we could apply NFL marketing to our business? Instead of Ford vs. GM, it is Tom the head manufacturing supervisor from Ford against Eli the quality manager from GM. Business statistics alone could create an incredible fantasy league potential.
Now what if we could apply that concept locally? George, our head grocer at Safeway, Mary from our local Frys, Arlene from Alberstons, and so on, in competition, and we can now “cheer” for them (via social media) when they do something great (did you see that lobster buy on Friday?). Putting a face and personality to a company induces loyalty. It also creates accountability. If the recent shipment of strawberries is rotten, we can boo Mary, but we will give her another chance for glory next week.
Think about it, you want to establish the expertise of your company? Who is on your team? In a competition, would you be the underdog or the favorite? Is the crowd cheering for you, or are they hoping you just make a good showing.

What if you could go to the bank and deposit your facebook friends or twitter followers? But you can’t.  So why are you so concerned about the numbers of friends, likes, or followers?  Your social media, and advertising strategy depends on well thought out and integrated campaigns that attract and retain your customers.  Quality over quantity (unless you have mass appeal, like Coke) allways.

There is a lot of discussion about the value of social media.  There are penty of companies that will execute a social media strategy.  Be careful, you first need to create a social media strategy for your company.  If you do not have a strategy in place you run the risk of being lumped in with everyone else.  A well designed and executed strategy should result in quality prospects, leads and conversions for sales dollars.  The kind you can deposit at the bank.

Next time you are feeling good about the numbers of followers, try and deposit them.