How to Keep Life Simple
By leadership author and keynote speaker Ross Shafer
We should all simplify our lives and my friend Joe Calloway has some great ideas for how to do that. Hi everybody I’m Ross Shafer. Thanks for finding the Relevant Leaders Club where each week I post a new video on how to boost your business and your career and today I’m on location for a speech at the Arizona Biltmore in Phoenix. It’s a very unique resort in that it was inspired by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In fact, the designs you see throughout the compound are still licensed by the Wright family, which means they still get paid. Ok now for this week’s report. If you’ve heard me speak at your company meeting or read any of my books you know, I am a fan of under-thinking pretty much everything, life, family, business… same hair for 3 decades and that’s why I have to tell you about Joe Calloway’s newest book KEEP IT SIMPLE…Unclutter your mind to Un-complicate your life. It’s BRILLIANT.
Joe Calloway is a clever business author, common sense business consultant, and a wonderful keynote speaker. Personally, I’m a big fan of Joe’s mind – how he thinks – because he constantly reminds all of us to crystallize our thoughts into simple actions and missions. If you to peek inside Joe’s brain, read “BE THE BEST AT WHAT MATTERS MOST” and “BECOMING A CATEGORY OF ONE.” Joe has the unique ability to see what we don’t. He recognizes that when we ask ourselves, “WHAT ELSE SHOULD I BE DOING TO BE SUCCESSFUL” that we are squandering our time and talents like a shotgun spray pattern, when we actually don’t need to look for a lot of OTHER THINGS to do to be successful. Instead of the shotgun spray approach we need to create a laser-like focus on our missions that we don’t get distracted. He uses the example of New Zealand America’s Cup sailing team…they won that brutal race from 1995 to 2000. The team’s owner was Sir Peter Blake who reduced their mission to a one-sentence formula. If you want to propose improvements in our system, the only question I will ask is, “Will it make the boat go faster?” What is so elegant about that idea is that the team is unified and efficient? But we all tend to over complicate systems and processes. We write 400 word mission statements and why? Joe explains, “It’s because complex sells better than simple.” He’s right. Keep everything simple and everyone knows the focus. As leaders, tell your people you only want one focus. “Does your idea increase revenue?” or “Does your idea make our customers happier?” Joe urges us to simplify our language to improve clarity and profits. (Smile) When I was hosting game shows for Mark Goodson, he was always being pitched ideas for new shows and he was a nice guy so he’d listen, for a while and if the pitch took too long he’d say, “If it takes longer to explain the game than it does to play the game…it’s a bad game.” Check out Joe Calloway’s KEEP IT SIMPLE…he’ll show you how to refocus your company and your life.
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