Keith Ferrazzi Presents Who’s Got Your Back: The breakthrough program to build deep trusting relationships that create success - and won’t let you fail

Disregard the myth of the lone professional “superman” and the rest of our culture’s go-it alone mentality. The real path to success in your work and in your life is through creating an inner circle of “lifeline relationships” - deep, close relationships with a few key trusted individuals who will offer the encouragement, feedback, and generous mutual support every one of us needs to reach our full potential. Whether your dream is to lead your own company, move up the corporate ladder, overcome the self-destructive habits that hold you back, or make a difference in the larger world, Who’s Got Your Back will give you the roadmap you’ve been looking for to achieve the success you deserve.

Keith Ferrazzi, the internationally renowned thought leader, consultant, and bestselling author of Never Eat Alone, shows us that becoming a winner in any field of endeavor requires a trusted team of advisors who can offer guidance and help to hold us accountable to achieving our goals. It is the reason PH.D candidates have advisor teams, top executives have boards, world class athletes have fitness coaches, and presidents have cabinets.

In his Who’s Got Your Back keynote, Keith will introduce you to his 9-step program for building the ultimate team-based success strategy - in fact, he will help start putting the principles and tactics into practice, right in the room.

The keynote is an interactive, transformative experience for sustainable change. In the first part of the 60-minute talk, Keith leads participants through a series of exercises to shift their mindsets from isolation to connection.

This creates the foundation for two powerful tools for personal and professional excellence: candor and accountability, the keys to identifying problems, developing creative solutions, and then sticking to plans for follow through.

Ferrazzi then introduces the Who’s Got Your Back roadmap for building and creating a core group of lifeline relationships, including:

• A process to identify and strengthen bonds with lifeline candidates - those who have the potential to “get it and care”
• A team-based format for refining goals and workplans
• Tools to identify and overcome career-crippling bad habits
• Keys to sustaining a commitment to excellence and growth over time
• A commitment to lower our guards and let others help

None of us can do it alone. We need the perspective and advice of a trusted team. And in Who’s Got Your Back, Keith Ferrazzi shows us how to put our own “dream team” together.

Click here to Register for Workshop | Click here to Purchase Book

Source: thanks to my good buddy Aaron Gray (Harvard Business School ‘09) for the mention

One of the most telling things about this journey called life is The Playoffs. In this part of the season/life, it is what separates those who are serious from those who are just playing / those who are talking from those who are walking / the ideas from the execution.

In life, we must aim high and truly value The Playoffs. Fear itself prevents majority of us from participating in The Playoffs. For all of us, The Playoffs can be different challenges and milestones in life, but all in all we must embrace The Playoffs.

The Playoffs define you, it gives you perspective as to your hard work, your plan, and your execution. I truly live for The Playoffs. I continue to push myself to DO MORE, push the limits, no fear of trying new things and overperforming: it builds character. Although your story will be reflective of your journey, your name will be most determined by how you performed in The Playoffs…were you able to overcome adversity? did you get over the hump? were you able to gel with your teammates (read: co-workers, business partners, husband/wife, etc)? 

I challenge everyone [including myself] to embrace The Playoffs, let’s all aim for the top and continue to raise the bar. I heard a wise man once say, your dreams should exceed your potential.

Moral of the story: Go Lakers!

On Saturday, March 21st, I shall embark on a journey of self-assessment and finding purpose. For starters, I will participate in a day-long workshop engineered by a good friend and business colleague of mine (introduced by JaMaar Everett), Mr. Jullien Gordon: the purpose finder. Jullien has identified his purpose as “helping as many people in the world find their purpose”. (that’s the WHAT) // The HOW? He has developed a new venture and workshop series traveling around the country administering the Driving School for Life: www.drivingschoolforlife.com | Jullien Gordon’s 2009 License To Live Tour

Driving School for Life is a one-day motivational experience designed for anyone who wants to leave their mark on the world, especially career transitioners, students, and entrepreneurs.

The day consists of thought-provoking group activities, discussions, and writing exercises to develop your passions and align them with your life purpose and profession. Participants gain insight about themselves and develop a personal vision and strategy to realize their dreams.

With that said, I’m beyond excited to sit amongst thought-leaders, progressive-thinkers, creatives, and young leaders as we share experiences and help one another in this journey called LIFE. The main thing I am considering is “what do I want to get out of this workshop?”…after drawn out thought, I think the main thing(s) I want to get out of the workshop is identifying the HOW. I’m almost certain about my purpose (connecting the progressive + serving the at-risk community), so I’m more interested/focused on the HOW: how to grow influence in the community? how to encourage potential funders? how to connect all of the dots (leveraging capitals)? etc.

All in all, this shall be an interesting experience and again, I’m anxious to take part in it. Stay tuned…

By Asher Mathew

There is no single book that covers all that we need to know to succeed in Corporate America, but no matter which facet of Corporate America you are involved in there are guidelines to build a career centered on respect and integrity. My favorite set of guidelines was articulated by Kwame Jackson, runner-up on the first and best season of The Apprentice. Following are some lessons from the boardroom by Kwame Jackson slightly modified by my experience:

1. NO FEAR

    - Look people in their eyes when you speak to them. There is no reason to fear someone because of status and/or title. Looking at them sets a tone of mutual respect that will go along way in communicating self-confidence.

2. BE ACCOUNTABLE

   - Don’t twist the truth. If you messed up dont hide the events, talk about them as they happened and explain your judgement, you will be forgiven (maybe not in the way you expect). It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.

3. NEVER FORGET THE TEAM

    - Business, Family, Friends…know who got you here and thank them. 

   - Back people up and spread the credit, not the blame. One of the best ways to build lasting relationships and demostrate true leadership is to make other people shine, there is no greater satisfaction in life than to help someone get to where they want to be.

4. TAKE CALCULATED RISK - “Wait for your pitch!” 

    - Go with your gut, and have the logic train to back it up. I am a firm believer of using logic to understand all possible outomes of a situation but taking the one that your gut feeling drives you to. 

    - Don’t be afraid to go for what you want! You only live once so why not shoot for the stars. 

5. STRAIGHT TALK - “CANDID DIPLOMACY”

    - Call them like you see them! Ofcourse choice of words is important to deliver good/bad news, but never sugarcoat the intensity of the situation.  

6. BE YOURSELF

    - I hate fake people!

    - Do what’s important to you, not anyone else

    - Prove things to yourself, not anyone else

7. LEADERS ARE NOT ALWAYS OUT IN FRONT 

    - Play your position..identify your strengths and weaknesses and act accordingly 

8. KNOW WHEN TO SHUT UP

    - Two ears and one mouth, use them in proportion…definitely from Sales 101

    - Listen, Observe, Process, Act…

9. PLAN YOUR WORK & WORK YOUR PLAN

    - Have a road map..time and again I have planned a generic road map, it is good to have both short term and long term goals but even more important to understand that live will bring your surprises so be prepared and know that hope is not a strategy.

    - Get smart people, smarter than you, put them in the right place, and get the hell out of the way. A simple management technique.

    - Know what you want out of life…this probably is the most important lesson, knowing what you want shapes who you are and what you’ll be…

10. STAY POSITIVE & PERSEVERE

    - Life is not what happens to you but how you react…

    - Where God closes a door, he opens a window, just look for the draft…have faith!

Video Links:

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-6hxgbatnA

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRXA5AnpNAQ

Part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4kyaoLTW_k

I hope this serves as a basic foundation for success not just in Coporate America but Life.

You can learn from other people to make up for your lack of experience in any area of life. Take advantage of the people that have made the journey ahead of you. Be open and receptive to the people around you. They have things to teach you. Try to pick the right role models. Don’t look for people that make you feel good or entertain you. Look for people that can help you. Role models are more than people you like and admire. The key is to look for people that will help you to be more successful. You can learn from the mistakes of others. You can learn different approaches to overcoming challenges. Learning “what not to do”is as important as learning “what to do.”

Whatever you want in life, you must give up something to get it.
The greater the value, the greater the sacrifice required of you.
Everything has a price.

There’s a price to pay if you want to make things better,
and a price to pay for just leaving things as they are.

Nothing worthwhile ever comes easily.
Work, continuous work and hard work, is the only way to accomplish
results that last.
Use your imagination more than your memory to achieve success.

There is no success at bargain basement prices.
The highway to success is a toll road.

Your attitude is not determined  by circumstances,
but by how you respond to your circumstances.
You can respond positively or negatively to any situation.

It’s how you react to events,  not the events themselves,
that determines your attitude.

Any challenge facing you is not as important  as your attitude towards it,
for that will determine your success or failure.

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way
things turn out.

It’s not your position but your disposition that counts.

High expectation always precedes high achievement.
You’re as small as your controlling desires, or as great
as your dominant aspirations.

Once your mind stretches to a new idea it never goes back
to its original dimensions.
Dream of little goals  and you can expect little achievement.
Dream big and you’ll win big success.

The first ingredient of your success is to dream a great dream.

It’s a psychological law that whatever you desire to accomplish
you must first impress upon your subconscious mind.

Your inner thoughts can cause you to be rich or poor,
loved or unloved, happy or unhappy,
attractive or unattractive, powerful or weak.

What you impress upon your mind, you’ll inevitably become.
Relentless, repetitive self talk will change your self image.
You’ll affect your subconscious
mind with verbal repetition.
Constant repetition carries conviction.

When you change your values
you’ll change your behavior.

Start thinking of yourself as becoming
the person you want to be.
Self suggestion will make you
the master of yourself.

You can become whatever you want to be.
When you believe you can, you can.

 Copyright 2008 www.yourdailymotivation.com  

The beginning of a habit is like an invisible thread.
Every time you repeat the act you strengthen the strand.

You add to it another filament with each repetition,
until it becomes a great cable and binds you irrevocably to
each thought and act.

First you make your habits and then they make you.

Your thoughts lead you to your purpose.
 
Your purpose always manifests into action.
 
Your actions form your habits.
 
Your habits determine your character,
and your character fixes your destiny.

Your habits are either the best of servants
or the worst of masters.

Copyright 2008 www.yourdailymotivation.com