“You want me to JUMP?”

 Quick Story: I Jumped

 

Maybe your team.
Maybe a client.
You want us to “jump”. (Metaphorically speaking.)
To try something new. To make a Change.

 

The decision would be easier for us if…
We trust you. We like you. 
And we do it together, hand in hand.

 

 

Otherwise, when you ask us to do something
we are hearing Tom Petty sing:
“Don’t do me like that.”

So you have “a great idea for something new” we could try?
You have “a little feedback” for us?”
A little “constructive criticism”?
Oh, give us a BREAK.

The guy walks up to me during my first break 
in a 3-hour talk in front of 400 people:
“Dean, you open to some feedback?“
(“HELL NO!” I thought.) “SURE.” I said.
“Great, because I just wanted to tell you 
that your fly is open.”
(Yup.)

Sometimes feedback is good, right?
Sometimes: NOT SO MUCH.

You want us to “Change”?
When the change looks too close or too personal we freeze.
There is danger over that cliff.

Day 1:  I meet a Vistage Chair who had won one of the most prestigious awards given by Vistage (the world’s largest CEO Membership Organization)– and he complimented me as being one of the best speakers ever….
Day 2: This same Chair put his hand on my arm and said:
“I want you to try something new today…”
(I thought to myself… “oh no!”)

And he offered a new approach to a delivery component of my Talk.

At first it threw me off…
Change = Danger

And he saw the look on my face.

I had given a talk that morning– my 11th in 8 days.
We were already starting late with this Group because
the Group was processing a Member’s issue when I arrived.
The members were getting antsy.
The meeting is being held in the tasting cave at a Winery.
I still hadn’t set my equipment up for the Talk.
And THIS GUY wants me to TRY SOMETHING DIFFERENT?

Breathe. Relax. Remember.

This is a COPE Award-winning Chair.
One of the best Vistage Chairs in the world.
His Members were exceptional in the other Group I spoke to yesterday. 
“He might just know something.”

Lance saw the look on my face and said:
“Ok…think about it… do your normal talk for the first half and maybe you can try this after the break…we can talk about it on the break.”

My brain kept working at it, the suggestion be made.
The more I thought about the more I could see HOW it might work…
Then I could see WHERE it might work…
And 60 minutes into the Talk I KNEW it would work.
And I tried it.
And it worked.

It made the Talk better.
Better for the Members.
Better for me.

The change was good.
But it scared the hell out of me.

I am a student of YES.
Lance got me to YES.

3 Best Practices for Us to Remember and Apply:
We trust people with Diploma’s. (Tell them about your Awards!)
We like people who like us. (Pay honest Compliments, make that deposit!)
We want to own the decision to change. (Back off, let them decide!) 

 

With your success in mind,
Dino