Apply The Lessons From Your Past To Improve Your Future

The greatest value of any past experience is the lesson you learned that you can apply in the present to improve your future. When I serve as a corporate advisor, I frequently ask people to recall past situations, identify what lessons were learned and determine how they can be applied in the present situation to create the future they want.

The first three years of this millennium have provided us with enough lessons to last the next 997 years. Here are some of the lessons I've learned and suggestions on how we could apply them in 2003.

Things Ain't Necessarily What They Appear To Be

In 2000, Gary Hamel wrote a book called "Leading The Revolution". Hamel was considered by many people to be the foremost authority on innovation and creating new business models. In his book, he featured Enron and Cisco as two glowing examples of how new economy business models would create extraordinary shareholder wealth. Unfortunately, things ain't always what they appear to be. I encourage you to think through any situation where people say, "If you do this, you will get extraordinary results." See if it makes sense to do it. See if it is really what you want to do. Do you have the passion, the talent and the values to do what is being proposed to you? Another way of saying this is, "If it looks like a skunk and smells like a skunk and acts like a skunk, then it may very well be a skunk."

Prioritize Your Priorities

When September 11, 2001 happened, all of a sudden it became very cool to say, "God, Country and Family." All of a sudden work and money became lower on life's totem pole. My only question is, "If these were so important after September 11, 2001, then why weren't they just as important before September 11, 2001?" Decide on your priorities regardless of whether or not there is a catastrophe happening. Then decide what to do that will increase your chances of achieving these priority outcomes. Don't run with the masses. Decide on your own what is important to you and then work to make it a reality. Otherwise, we all might shift from one direction to another depending on the crisis of the moment.

New Economy Equals Old Economy

Too many trees were killed to create the paper on which was described this "new economy." Folks, there's one economy. It goes like this: you provide value and in return you are given value (usually in the form of money, but also in terms of experiences and challenges and support and so on). Lesson learned: there ain't no free lunch (and companies that don't make a profit are not worth the stock paper they were written on). Focus on creating value for other people, not on looking for shortcuts to becoming a millionaire.

Your Job Is To Be A Value-Adder

Throw out all of the fancy titles. Get rid of the "power trips" of the executive office. Everybody's job is to be a "value-adder." Value is anything that increases the chances that other people will achieve what they want to achieve.

In A Repressed Market, Attack

Southwest Airlines fired no one after September 11th. United Airlines fired thousands and thousands of people. One attacked and the other retreated. One made a profit this year and the other one lost their shirt. Stick to your core business and keep pressing forward. At the low point in his career, Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse and drove forward. Ralph Lauren almost ran out of money, but he pushed forward again. George Washington was on the verge of being captured, but he pushed forward again. You can't cut costs forever and become successful. At some point, you have to invest in forward movement. Take a chance. Attack the market!!! Do it with honesty and integrity, but do it. Our economy depends on our willingness to try to make a difference. We can't fire every employee and call that progress. It doesn't work that way. Suggestion: take your resources (time, money, energy, connections, assets, etc.) and apply a reasonable amount toward moving your organization and your career in the direction you want it to go.

There's More Than One Way To Make A Buck

Wow, there's a lot of ways to make money these days (and I'm talking about the ethical ones). New careers and new industries spring up all the time. The opportunities are endless. If you can truly help other people increase their chances of achieving what they want, then you have the makings of another career. If you just got fired, then make a list of all the outcomes you can help other people achieve. Then write down how you can help them achieve those outcomes. Then contact those people and let them know that you can help them achieve better results and ask to set up a meeting with them.

Values Matter

Way, way, way too many organizations have "Values" posted on their walls, but their behaviors don't match up. Values are the behaviors that people believe are important in an organization. Apparently, a number of CEOs and CFOs missed the memo on that one because their behaviors clearly did not match up with what they proclaimed were their corporate values. Suggestion: make a list right now of the "values" you want to base your career on. Then everyday on your way home review each of your activities and ask if they fit within the parameters of your values. The more you base your actions on your own carefully selected values, the better your chances are of building a great career.

Trust Your Gut

If it doesn't make sense to you, don't do it. In 1999, my accountant encouraged me to buy technology stocks. I'm not a financial guru (ok, I'm not even close to a financial guru. Ok, ok, Barb balances the checkbook every month). However, I know it's not good when a corporation does not make a profit. So I said, "No, I don't want to invest in companies whose stock price is solely based on potential." Turns out my gut feeling was right. The same is true with your career and your organization. Trust your gut. You don't need a focus group to tell you what feels right for you. Look at the variables in the given situation. Identify what you want to achieve. Trust your gut and make your own decision.

What lessons did you learn in 2002?
How can you apply those lessons now to make 2003 a better year?

Here's my challenge to all of us: let's make 2003 an extraordinary year!!!!

Take care and have a great month!

Dan Coughlin

Accelerate Update This section is always current to the current month

I suppose every book changes an author's life to a certain degree. My first book, which was self-published in 1995, was called Inside Out: A Catalyst for Conscious Living. It's out of print now for a number of good reasons. The layout, which yours truly did, looks like something a first grader could do today. And the ideas are very theoretical, which doesn't fit my approach anymore. However, I read the book a few months ago, and I was pleased by how clearly I had explained my early thoughts on improving performance.

My second book, Corporate Catalysts: How to Make Your Company More Successful, Whatever Your Title, Income, or Authority was published in 2005 by Career Press. That book was a step forward in clarifying my ideas on improving performance and understanding how to write a whole book. It's one thing to dream about getting a book contract and another thing to write a 70,000 word manuscript.

My third book, ACCELERATE: 20 Practical Lessons to Boost Momentum, which was published in May 2007 by Kaplan Publishing, has changed my business dramatically. Up until that book was published, I mostly did projects for four companies: McDonald's, Marriott, GSD&M, and Toyota. In the past 12 months, I've worked with business owners, executives, and managers within dozens of small, medium, and massive organizations in more than 20 industries ranging from boats to banks to software to financial services to trucking to lighting to home healthcare to hospitals to optometrists. It's been an exciting adventure.

If you want to see my speaking calendar for 2008, which we'll try to update every two weeks, please click here.

Currently, I have 66 speeches scheduled for 2008. If you would like for me to speak at one of your events in 2008 or 2009, feel free to contact me at dan@thecoughlincompany.com and I will be glad to see if we can make it work.

If you want to see my speaking topics and a video of footage from some of my keynote speeches, please click here.

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