Robert Dickie CEO Newswire

Risk vs Reward

This is a great post by Seth Godin. We are taught at an early age of the risk/reward equation. Some people have no concept of the risk and fly by the seat of their pants in everything they do daring fate to punish them. Others are so risk adverse they aren't willing to push the limit on anything. I think finding a healthy middle ground like everything in life is important. Yes, the greater the risk the greater the reward.

In Jr. High if you ask the most popular girl out you run the risk of getting rejected and being laughed at or you could end up being the coolest kid in school because you had the guts to do what no other guy would do. On Wall Street the biggest risk investments are the ones that if they go right have the biggest rewards. There isn't a big risk in T-Bills (back in the day) and therefore the gains were next to nothing. It was the safe bet with little risk and little reward. Everything in life in some way has a risk/reward equation. The key is to make sure you have some good advisors to help you weigh the cost, understand the risk, and even coach you through.

For example, there is high risk if I try to climb Mt. Rainier by myself but if I hire the best guide service in the world (IMG) run by the best climbers in the world then the risk is greatly reduced. The reward is the same but by being smart and surronding myself with the right people I can manage and reduce the risk. Nothing in life worth doing is without risks. The challenge is to fully understand the risk, manage the risk, and don't blindly walk of the edge becuase you didn't have all the right information.

Execution vs. Vision

This is a great post by author Sarah Lacy. I've read a number of her books and for anyone interested in the tech industry she is the insider who has done an incredbile job writing about it. This article I felt was very insightful. See what Sarah has to say about all this.

Seth Godin...Do you deserve it?

The below excerpt was written and posted by Seth Godin today on his blog. You can read his daily updates at this link. I highly encourage you to do this. I love the thought behind his comment today? Do we deserve what we have? What are we doing each day to maximize our potential for ourselves and our families? Maybe you are in a situation and you know you can do better...better job, better relationship, or better physical fitness. What is stopping you from starting today and moving on in the direction of your dreams to that better life? Scared? Join the club. Change is scary no matter what you are doing...starting a new fitness program or exiting a bad relationship. Guess what, the worse part is sitting there thinking about it and not making a decision. Once you act it is amazing how easy it is and you always look back and say, "Wow, I am glad I made that decision!"

As Seth says, what if you are in a situation where you are truly blessed but aren't really doing anything with it. You have a great job, great relationship, wonderful children, physically fit and healthy. What then? A life of fulfillment does not come with the accumulation of material things for your personal use. True happiness and fulfillment comes from being able to help others and make a difference in the world around you. The funny thing is the more you do this the more the material wealth comes your way. If you haven't tried doing this, start today. Make it your mission to give value to those around you in your life. Help others, practice random acts of kindness, and do what you can to make the world a better place around you. Your true value is measured by how many people's lives you touch and have impact on. The book "The Go-Giver" highlights this principle and says your value and worth rises in direction proportion with more people you influence and help. That is an amazing thought. Do you want to raise your value...start helping others and see where it leads you.

Do you deserve it?

By: Seth Godin

Do you deserve the luck you've been handed? The place you were born, the education you were given, the job you've got? Do you deserve your tribe, your customer base, your brand? Not at all. “Deserve” is such a loaded word. Most of us don’t deserve the great opportunities we have, or the lucky breaks that got us here. The question shouldn’t be, “do you deserve it.” I think it should be, “what are you going to do with it now that you've got it?"

Consistency is more important than 4%

Seth Godin’s blog post from a few days ago talking about the 4% difference maker really had me thinking. I know what he was trying to say but I really don’t think he is on point here. I can only surmise he was trying to let his readers know that the small things really matter....that the small little details can add up to the big gains that can make the difference between winning and losing no matter what type of competition you may find yourself in.

Here is why I think he is wrong. I spent the better part of 16 years of my live as a very competitive athlete in high school, college, and post collegiately. I had the opportunity to train with a number of athletes who went on to make olympic teams in their respective sports. Reviewing their training and comparing it to mine here is what I found. I don't think if I had trained 4% harder over those years I would be an olympian today. Let me use my good friend, Tony Cosey, as an example. Tony was a multiple time All-American at the University of Tennessee in cross country and track and made the 2000 olympic team in the steeple chase. I too was a runner at the University of Tennessee and ran the steeple chase. There were many weeks that in my training log I ran as many miles as Tony and did exactly what he did however, I never made an olympic team. If I use Seth’s analogy too literally I might mistakenly assume that if I had done 4% more maybe I would have made it to the olympics. I know this not to be the case. Let's take pure talent out of the equation. I believe the biggest difference maker is consistency. Tony followed the same routine and worked hard day in and day out for years and consistently was able to do this better than anyone I knew and thus over time the results speak for themselves.

There are hundreds of athletes around the country today that can run the same workouts and run the same miles that Tony ran and they will never be an olympian. The difference is because Tony had the drive and work ethic to have a dream and consistently work to achieve that goal every day until he did while others got side tracked, tired, and quit. I don’t say this to take away from his great talent or his God given ability. I just think his tenacious consistency to his goal was far more important that him doing 4% more work than me or his competitors.

My dad always taught me growing up that champions consistently do what non-champions are not willing to do. I think many times it is the little details, the small things, that add up to be the big difference maker. I think this is what Seth Godin was trying to say. To me, if you are on the right track in sports or in your career it is the ability to consistently stay there and do those things that will in the long run make you a champion. Everyone wants to win on the day of the race but it is the person who puts in the hard work and preparation months in advance that will eventually come out victorious. Maybe this is just semantics and we are saying the same thing or my thesis could be entirely wrong. What is your opinion?

Here is an article that I think you all will enjoy. It was forwarded to me by our Chief Legal Counsel Kevin Thompson who was an All-American decathlete at the University of Tennessee. This was written by author Malcolm Gladwell and this really hits the point home. This comes from his new book Outliners and I think you all will enjoy it. He comes to the conclusion that "outliners" are made through consistency over time which equates to 10,000 hours of work. This is really interesting to see how he put this all together using people like Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mozart.

Robert Dickie: The Value of a Team

"Even the sharpest thinkers need teams of sharp people around them. And these high-performing teams develop over time. It is one of the basic laws of attracting talent: the more talented people you have, the more talented people you can attract. You get the highest level of input in decision-making and the best critique of things you should or should not undertake when you are surrounded by such individuals. Once you reach that critical mass of talent, there's literally nothing you can't undertake."

Robert Johnson, founder, Chairman, and CEO of BET (Black Entertainment Television)

Orrin Woodward has espoused this ideal since day one when creating his team. The results he has obtained are due to his leadership and his ability to attract and develop key leaders from various industry backgrounds to compliment that team. Those who have earned a spot on the Round Table or Policy Council boards bring their varied backgrounds and skill sets to the table allowing the critical mass of talent to be assembled and brought to bear on a variety of tasks and issues. Success is not something that happens by chance. When you study leadership characteristics from different leaders in a variety of different industries many of the principals of their success are the same. Orrin Woodward knows what Robert Johnson knows…that great teams can tackle great issues and there is nothing you can’t accomplish once that critical mass has been focused on the task at hand.

By: Robert Dickie

Why Leadership Matters!

I had an interesting conversation yesterday with someone who asked the question, “Why does leadership matter in building a business?” To be honest, I was taken aback with the pointed question and even more so when I realized they were seriously questioning whether leadership was relevant at all and they were a so called “industry expert” qualified in business matters.

Orrin Woodward’s famous quote is that “Everything rises and falls on leadership!” It is the quintessential building block for success in any organization, business, or endeavor. If you have goal and a leader helping you get there then you have a shot at achieving success. If you have a goal but no leader you are destined for failure. Warren Buffet has proven this point over the years as his investment strategies have always been to invest in companies that have strong leadership and stay away from any company that have poor leadership, no matter how good the opportunity might look.

I can only speculate that this individual I mentioned earlier probably thought that in business one should focus all energies on issues like product offerings, distribution, market saturation, profit margin, inventory control, and a litany of other related areas. These are all important and must be studied but in the proper order. Just as you have to lay the foundation before you can build the house, you must start with leadership and then move into the other areas if you really want to build a successful business or organization. The Orrin Woodwards and Warren Buffets of the world focus first and foremost on leadership and then worry about the rest. Why? Because leadership dictates success!

Leaders provide the vision, the dream, the goal, and the motivation to achieve against all odds. A leader with a goal and a vision is what makes a world class restaurant different from an average restaurant. Good leaders spawn new industries that are successful while poor leaders run old industries into bankruptcy and failure. A leader can take a great sports team and win a championship while teams full of talented players with no true leader get left behind. Business is no different!

Orrin Woodward has an example of the difference between a business with a leader and one without. A business or organization without a leader is like a stagnate pool of water. Slowly over time it gets dirtier and filled with filth. It stinks, there is no movement of the water and bacterial starts to grow. So to, an organization without a leader providing a vision, goal, and direction and the motivation to achieve it will start to stagnate and problems will eventually arise. Standards will slack, people will have problems, quality will drop, and performance will suffer. The business is doomed to suffer until a leader comes in to fix the problem.

The opposite is true as well. An organization with great leadership is like a flowing stream or river. There is a current that keeps the water fresh and moving in the right direction. The leader is that current. They provide the direction that everyone else follows. They provide a vision, goal, and the motivation to get there. If you are following along you get swept away by the current. Achieving success is easier because the leader is helping by being the current and pulling and pushing everyone along and keeping everyone focused on the end result.

Is leadership important in business? Absolutely! Orrin Woodward and Warren Buffet have proven this and have the results to back up their analysis. Leadership is the core building block of success no matter what occupation, business, or industry you find yourself in. Those who think otherwise are destined for failure or at best mediocrity and everyone knows if you are not moving forward you are getting stagnate!

By: Robert Dickie

Mentorship

As I have transitioned from military to civilian life, one fascinating aspect that I have witnessed is the important role of mentorship in both sectors.  This critical element of leadership development crossed boundaries and divides in such a remarkable way thus prompting me to investigate it further. 

As a second lieutenant in the Air Force, I often heard of the importance of having a mentor.  For all the talk and fanfare both in the military and corporate America regarding this topic, there are many who have no clue what it is really all about.  I was fortunate in my first assignment as a young second lieutenant to have an incredible boss teach me what a true mentor was. Lt Col Springer modeled not only what a mentor should be but also taught me that those who wish to be mentored have responsibilities as well.

I learned more from Lt Col Springer over lunches and late afternoon office calls than I did from any other officer I served under in the military.  It was evident that he took mentorship seriously and truly cared for all the second lieutenants in his command.  He did everything he could to teach, coach, instruct, and chide us to be the best we could be.  He set high standards and would not lower the bar for anyone, yet stood side by side with us as we developed, learned, failed, and succeeded as new officers in the military.  It was truly an exciting chapter of my life and the lessons he taught me were invaluable.

I have been equally as fortunate in my transition to corporate America to be under the tutelage of Orrin Woodward.  He has shown me once again what it means to be a mentor and as I have written in previous posts, I have learned more from him over our many lunch meetings or office calls than I did in all my years of college education. You can not place a price tag on that kind of real world experience.  Both Lt. Col. Springer and Orrin Woodward imparted to me incredible knowledge in two drastically different fields but their approach to mentorship was very similar. 

Whether in the military or in business, I have learned that accomplishing any amount of success depends on the leadership that is present on a project or task.  Failure is a sure sign that a leadership void was present.  Orrin often says that “Everything rises and falls on leadership” and he truly believes this as I have seen him spend more time in mentoring and developing other leaders than in any other aspect of his business.  It is obvious that he values and understands the importance of mentoring leaders around him.

In the military, the best performing organizations I witnessed were the ones that had strong leaders at the top who understood the meaning of mentorship and thus mentored leaders down the chain of command to be able to handle their various tasks.  Organizations that had a leadership void anywhere in that chain of command flat out failed.  You see this in the business world as well.  Jack Welch, the CEO of General Electric is renowned for being one of the toughest CEO’s in American history but he also knew how to develop and mentor leaders and to this day General Electric’s leadership training programs are some of the best in the nation.  Leaders who emerge from that company have gone on to become CEO’s of many other companies around the country. General Electric flat out knows how to train, develop, and mentor leaders and companies around the country recognize this by trying to hire them into their companies.

Orrin Woodward has done the very same thing with the mentorship and training of leaders within his team.  Records have been set, goals achieved, and industry standards and benchmarks made every year based on his devotion to developing and mentoring world class leaders around him and through out his company.  As a former military officer, I participated in many leadership seminars and sat in on numerous closed door sessions for the generals and other senior leaders within the military.  I honestly think that many of the bench marks Orrin Woodward has developed should be implemented within those vaulted corridors of military leadership development.

No matter what organization you work for there is always room for improvement.  I think the role of mentorship is often misunderstood both in the military and in the private sector and since this is a critical aspect of the success of organizations the proper roles within mentorship need to be taught. Mentorship is a two way street. You have to be willing to be mentored and then you have to find a willing mentor.  You can not have one without the other.

First, you must be an eager student and place yourself under the teaching, tutelage, and guidance of someone wiser than you.  As the old adage goes, “When the student is ready, the teacher will arrive.”  Far too often people resist mentorship because they refuse to admit they need help.  Some are so arrogant to think they know everything and thus will not take advice from anyone.  Some may not want to take advice from someone younger.  Some can not admit they need help and thus miss out on the great opportunity for advancement and learning. 

Once the student is ready to learn and willing to submit to the mentor, the teacher will begin their part. The student must be humble and admit that they do not know everything.  Quite honestly, everyone should be able to acknowledge areas in their life where they could use expert teaching and guidance.  However, in our self-centered society many people are too arrogant to admit this and thus miss out on the valuable lessons they could learn from a mentor.

Once you are ready to be mentored it does you no good to listen to the advice but not implement it into your life.  It is the student’s responsibility to be willing to institute and practice what is being taught.  If they fail to follow through with the advice given, they are wasting the mentor’s time and effort along with their own.

The second part of the equation is the mentor.  He or she must be willing to mentor the student.  This a sacrifice that must be a conscious decision made by the leader.  It is truly an unselfish act for someone to take their own time to help coach another person to success.  If you are a supervisor in any capacity it is a wise investment to spend time mentoring those under you.  It is by this mentorship that you help develop your organization to achieve their goals and accomplish greater tasks.  If you study the greatest leaders in the military or in business, each and everyone had a mentor who helped coach, teach, and instruct them to their greatness.  Show me someone who refused to receive instruction in their life, who never took the advice from those who had success in their field of study who had gone before them, and I will show you a person who did not accomplished anything of noteworthiness.  Success is gained by those who seek out mentorship and advice from people in life who as Orrin Woodward says “have fruit on the tree” or the results to prove they should be a mentor.

For those who wish to be mentored and want to seek out someone who can teach and coach them I would offer a word of caution, we become like the people we associate with the most.  You will take on the work ethic, character, personality, and behavioral traits of those you spend the most time with.  Make sure you choose a mentor who is an individual that you would be proud to be associated with and more importantly, someone that you would be proud to be like!  In essence, the mentor must choose wisely the person they want to invest their time with as the student will one day be a reflection of the teacher.  So too, the student must choose wisely the mentor they submit to as they will most certainly take on many of the traits and characteristics of that person.

Mentorship requires a very close and personal relationship between mentor and protégé.  It requires time and effort from both parties.  The teacher must patiently instruct and the student must be willing to submit and learn.  In the movie Karate Kid, Mr. Miyagi makes a very poignant comment about commitment when he says to his student, “Daniel-san, must talk. Man walk on road. Walk left side, safe. Walk right side, safe. Walk down middle, sooner or later, get squished just like grape!”  Mentorship takes full commitment from both parties.  To achieve success, you need a dedicated mentor and student working together.  A half hearted attempt on either party or worse yet, an unwilling participant will yield poor results.  However, with two fully committed individuals, the mentor and protégé will both learn a great deal, strengthen their relationship, develop greater skills in the field they are studying, and the time invested on both parties will be rewarding for both.