Strategic Discipline Blog

Built to Last author John Warrillow kicked off Wednesday’s Growth Summit.  His presentation on recurring revenue ideas from his new book The Automatic Customer should be what this blog is on.  That was until Rabbi Stephen Baars presented. Rabbi Baars delivered the shortest of the four Leadership speakers, about 15 minutes in length. There were four outstanding presentations today, I believe he had the greatest impact on the audience.

Rabbi Baars said he was going to give us four numbers. He then proceeded to ask these four questions:

1. On a scale of 0-10 (10 being highest), what would your score be for the best day of your life?
2. Relative to that score: What was your number for yesterday?
3. Again, relative to that initial score: What is your number today?
4. Finally what do you believe tomorrow’s score is going to be?

He then played the following video.

The message is clear, “The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”

The Growth Summit is all about learning, growing and applying these great ideas to your business in order to achieve success.  Yet we often forget that all the great ideas are worthless without the proper attitude to apply them reflecting an outlook of positive expectation. 

Baars asked, “What’s the path to the right attitude?” 

The only number that matters is what your number is for tomorrow.

ATTITUDE = EXPECTATIONS

He shared a picture of a Porsche with the caption, “owning one is good, but expecting one is better.”

The only thing we can control is what we expect for tomorrow.

Baars noted that we don’t succeed because we’re motivated.  We are motivated because we know we will succeed.

Therefore the most powerful thing we have is our expectations for tomorrow.

Numbers are something I’m very familiar with.  In February of 2012 I faced long odds when I entered the hospital with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  The doctors placed me in a group of AML patients that have less than a 10% chance of survival.  That number was further reduced to less than 3% when they discovered I had Monosomy 7.  Through five unsuccessful chemotherapies (My bone marrow was 84% cancer when I entered the hospital and never got lower than 42% through these treatments) I watched my blood cell counts rise and fall through each treatment.  I order to qualify for bone marrow transplant I needed to get to less than 10%.  A clinical trial was a last resort.  Miraculously in late July my doctor called with the news I was cancer free! 

With the loving, unselfish, dedicated support of my wife, family, an overwhelming flood of friends, an amazing group called Warriors for Doug, lots of prayers, meditation, and Trust in God, my Leukemia was rendered impotent.  A major component of this healing was following the Rockefeller Habits disciplines, specifically what Positioning Systems calls Strategic Discipline, the execution disciplines of priorities, meeting rhythms, and metrics. 

Yet without a positive attitude I know I would not be alive today.  I expected each day to be better.  I believed that I was responsible for getting AML.  It would be natural to condemn, criticize and complain that I’d somehow acquired this dreadful disease.  By accepting responsibility I realized that if I’d caused it, then through faith in God I could cure it. 

It was a matter of following a disciplined approached I’d learned through coaching my customers on the Rockefeller Habits that I regimented myself to work with my doctors and nurses to follow these methods and achieve success. 

“If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

-Henry David Thoreau

Can you see the similarity of this quote to Rabbi Baars, “The only number that matters is what your number is for tomorrow.”

What’s your expectation of tomorrow?  What’s your expectation of the people you manage?

As a business coach it’s common to discover the customers I coach with the best attitudes always win. Marshall Goldsmith noted that the reason we as coaches are successful with our customers is often not so much because of us, but because we chose good customers.  A customer who is open, willing to learn, and willing to apply themselves with the proper attitude will always succeed.

Continuous growth and self-improvement is critical to success.  That’s what these Leadership and Growth Summits are all about.  What’s not so difficult to understand is that most if not all the people attending the Summit the last two days share one other quality in common, they have a good attitude.  It’s one reason it’s so much fun to be here.

John Warrillow, Author of The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry, Nick Nanton, Author of Story Selling: Hollywood Secrets Revealed How to Sell Without Selling, and Christine Comaford, author of Smart Tribes delivered powerful messages I will share in my blogs over the next several weeks.

These speakers had that same commonality that the attendees share – a good attitude.  I leave you with Rabbi Baars final thought.  “Make tomorrow a 15!”