05 Nov 2019

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller Posted in Preparation, Strategy, Vision Permalink

Why YOU Need a Burled Arch—It’s Not What You Think

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller On November 5, 2019

Pro tools for decreasing burnout and finishing strong

All Iditarod mushers know the words “Burled Arch.” What sounds like a strange landmark to anyone else is excitement—and relief—to their ears.

The Burled Arch means victory. It’s the term mushers use for the long-awaited finish line.

The destination each team hopes to see at the end of their strenuous trek.

The term “Destiny” comes from the same word as Destination. Destiny is not “Fate” (“Well, whatever happens to me, that’s my Destiny.”) No, Destiny is a pre-decided Destination that I am determined to reach!

With “Burled Arch Destiny” all we need is the map, the skill, and the will to get there! Maps are createable. Skill is teachable. There’s only one question left—do you have the WILL?

Finding and honing the will is easier than you think. What I would tell people is this: “Dream big and then learn the steps to get you there.”

It starts with these questions:

Where are you now along this trail?
Why do you want this Destiny?
What will you need to Learn?
What skills will you need to develop?
What role will others play in helping you reach this Burled Arch?
What are measurable steps along the way?
What is the NEXT step? (And then take it!)

If you continue to ask these questions and then take the next step, nothing can stop you from reaching your “Burled Arch Destiny.”

As you prepare for your destination, here are some “pro tips from the trail” that every leader needs if they really want to make it to the finish line.

These mental checks help guard against frustration, burn-out, confusion—and when you’ve wandered, they put you back on the path to success.

It Might Get Messy

No one gets it right the first time. No one reaches their potential in one day, week, or year.

It’s not going to be perfect, but that’s okay. Because anything worth doing is worth doing UGLY!

Ugly is real—and it leads us to continuous improvement!

Remember how bad we all were when we first started learning to play sports as little kids? Eventually, if the will persists, the skill improves—and you make JV and then on to varsity!

It takes talent, but as my mentor John Maxwell says, “Talent is NEVER enough!”

Every Checkpoint is a Victory.

After each Next Step, celebrate small victories like crazy!

Celebrate any progress—yes, any—toward your Burled Arch Destiny. If you learn a new skill, take a new class, spend 30 minutes in dreaming and mapping, whatever it is, mark it down and celebrate the wins!

This is the fuel needed to keep it up! Why keep running if you think you’re not going anywhere?

Mark your progress, even the small steps, and celebrate!

Find the Right Belief

What the roots drink, the fruits think! Our beliefs as leaders, as team members, and as people have a lot of power over what we actually accomplish.

Before 1957, some athletes believed that a sub-4 minute mile was impossible. They kept trying, but after so many failures, it was easier to chalk the record up to fantasy—a goal potentially just too strenuous for the human body.

Then came Roger Bannister. He started his running career at 17 with an already impressive 4:24 mile/minute pace. Eight years into his career, still no one else had broken the 4-minute mile.

But on May 6, 1954, during an Oxford meet and winds of up to twenty-five mph—that just happened to die down right before his race—Roger Bannister completed the mile in a crowd-rousing 3 minutes and 59.6 seconds.

What’s more astounding?

He held the record for only three weeks.

And within three years of Roger’s ground-breaking physical feat, 16 other runners also cracked it.

Once they could visualize the path to victory, it seemed like anyone could achieve the “impossible.”

Check yourself: where could beliefs be limiting you and where are they advancing you?

Partner up with Inspiring Individuals

Lastly, make sure to find an encouraging friend, accountability partner, or coach. When you start to doubt (which we all do!), when you want to quit, you’ll need them to cheer you on!

Fight the self-defeating voices with everything you have! Saturate yourself in can-do positivity! Find a voice, someone that lifts you up, and listen to their positive beliefs.

I listen (almost daily) to speakers that are highly positive and motivational. Why? Because I need it too!

Read, listen, watch anything you can to make sure your tank stays full of the belief in possibilities!

Keep dreaming. Keep moving. Keep growing. Keep doing!

The Burled Arch is ahead.

22 Oct 2019

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller Posted in Process, Strategy, Success, Vision Permalink

Do These 4 Things to Establish a Winner’s Mindset

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller On October 22, 2019

You may have heard that no one can affect your thoughts on a situation or event…unless you let them.

But that’s only empowering so far as you know how to secure a positive mindset, one that sees clearly, evaluate honestly, and can problem solve for success.

If a proper mindset helps separate the tenacious competitors from the casual competitors, how do we plot the right path to victory?

Here are 4 mental disciplines to practice every day that will keep you focused and moving forward with a Winner’s Mindset.

1. Check Your Pack

If a dog on the Iditarod trail is getting sick, tired, or injured, the musher has to catch the problem early or risk losing the dog—as well as the race.

It might look tough to push through.

It might look tenacious to pass the rest-stop.

But they risk losing more than time if they don’t check their pack when problems arise.

Your thoughts are like your dog pack. They pull the sled. (They can also derail it.)

Check them early; check them consistently!

When you are in the middle of an obstacle, pause and ask yourself “What am I thinking about this situation?”

It may seem silly—to think about what you’re thinking about. But the purpose of the exercise is to give you momentary pause to “check your pack.”

It will interrupt your anxieties or opinions about the situation and allow you to evaluate more clearly: Are they the right thoughts? Are they true thoughts?

You’ll be surprised at how many misconceptions slip in to throw off your whole day.

2. Keep a Light Sled

Keeping the sled light means I don’t over-pile it with negative self-talk—otherwise that weighty sled will start slipping down the slope.

I have the most trouble with my mental game whenever I find myself connecting unrelated events of the past to my present mom. Faced with an obstacle or failure, I immediately start to fight thoughts tying every other failure in my life to this situation.

If the thoughts are spiraling you into rehearsing all previous failures and short-comings—STOP THE RUN-AWAY SLED.

IF (and it’s a big if) you discover some bad patterns or choices that do connect some repetitive obstacles—then work to identify the pattern. Lighten the load by choosing an opportunity to grow instead of dooming yourself to repetition.

Identify the pattern and work to correct that pattern.

Your “lot in life” is not to ALWAYS be the losing sled.

Start owning the mindset that you can win—even if you’ve never won before—there is always a first!

3. Evolve the Trail

If you remember, the Evolve stage is where we look at the lessons learned, understand the needed course corrections, and immediately work to implement the changes into our daily running.

John C. Maxwell has an incredible book called Failing Forward and it one that I recommend to all leaders.

One of the take-aways from this book is that when people fail they usually hold onto the emotional pain of the failure instead of the lesson that they could have learned.

He goes on to counsel that we should forget the emotional hit from the failure and work to remember what the failure will teach us.

This has led to an internal mantra for me that echoes “Learn the lesson; forget the pain.”

Of course, that’s easier said than done. And this doesn’t mean that we don’t remember the hit—we just don’t allow it to become emotional baggage that weighs us down.

(Remember point # 2–keep the sled light!)

I am a firm believer in pain being one of the chief teachers in life. We want to avoid the pain, so we don’t do whatever action caused us the pain last time.

It doesn’t mean we choose not to race again.

It means we improve—we get better and we try not to make the same mistake twice.

4. The Winner’s Mindset

In order to change the outcome we have to change our actions. In order to change our actions – we have to change our thoughts and beliefs.

Identify the best and brightest and don’t be afraid to copy some of their awesome!

Ask: What would the top competitors be thinking in this same situation?

Consistently identifying the best practices of proven success stories can lead you to elevated thinking, action, and outcomes.

But the first step is to take ownership of this area (your thoughts are your thoughts). Remember: a thought cannot be removed—it can only be replaced with another thought.

Whether that thought is good or whether that thought is self-defeating is up to you.

Choose with me to “Own” the winning mindset today!

08 Oct 2019

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller Posted in Leadership essentials, Preparation, Success, Vision Permalink

RightPath Tools: From Failing Student to World-Renowned Astronaut

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller On October 8, 2019

The Keys to Transforming Your Leadership Today

In the inspiring book Endurance: A Year in Space, A Lifetime of Discovery, Scott Kelly describes his journey to become an astronaut, living for a year and a half in space and commanding both the Space Shuttle and the International Space Station.

While the book recounts many fascinating details about living in space and NASA training, I was most intrigued by a key turning point in Kelly’s life.

Kelly was a poor student in high school and during his first year of college. He spent his days in school staring out the window, watching the clock until school was dismissed and he could roam the woods and think up stunts that often landed him in the emergency room.

Unable to focus on school work, his grades suffered. He was so distracted that he ended up applying to the wrong college.

His freshman year of college found him at the bottom of his class, listless and directionless until two things transformed his life: Vision and Grit.

Vision Is Only the Start

He picked up a copy of The Right Stuff which describes the training and adventures of the early NASA test pilots and astronauts. Kelly was hooked.

He instantly knew that he wanted to become a Navy test pilot and eventually an astronaut.

Yet, as a young man with a poor academic record, low motivation and a history of coasting through life, Scott realized that his vision was not enough, he needed grit.

A key moment came during the first weekend at the Merchant Marine Academy. He called his brother and told him that he wanted to visit some friends on another campus for a party.

His brother said, “Are you crazy? If you are going to be a Navy test pilot, you need to spend the entire weekend in your dorm room and do every problem in your textbook until you can do them all PERFECTLY.”

When he started on Friday afternoon, distractions would pop up in his mind.

“I need to sharpen my pencil.”
“I should get a drink of water.”
“I wonder what my friends are doing.”

Yet he resisted these distractions by remembering his vision of becoming a Navy test pilot. After a full weekend of study, he aced his first test and started down the road that would lead him to set the U.S. record for endurance space flight.

Can You Relate?

What is your vision? When you get to the end of the year and look back at the events of this year, what will you have learned? What new skills will you have? How will you have grown?

To accomplish your vision, how will you develop the power of grit?

Let me suggest three steps:

Use a tool. Objective insights from an assessment tool that measures natural, hard-wired behavior like RightPath’s Path4 and Path6 assessments provide valuable understanding of your strengths, struggles, and how to relate to others.
Make a plan. Too often vision only focuses on the final result, not the process to accomplish it. Take time to write down the steps to accomplish your goal. Be specific and describe the commitment of time, energy, and money you will invest in accomplishing your goal.
Get a coach. A coach can be a powerful ally and help make change last. Not only does a good coach hold you accountable, but coaches like Kamau Bobb of Google provide new insights and perspectives that can help you overcome any obstacles and roadblocks you face. Drop me a note if I can be of help.

Start by Getting on the RightPath

Over my career, these steps have been my leadership lifeline. I’ve always had a vision, but these keys to grit-development have become disciplines of success that no leader should lose.

Without third-party insight, I’m running blind. But with the right tools, there is no limit to the places I can lead my team.

In fact, we have been using the insight tools RightPath’s Path4 and Path6 for over a decade, which is why I’m so excited about the “joint adventure” we’ve undertaken.

They are essential parts of my success path.

Influence Leadership wouldn’t have achieved such high levels of performance without equipping our leaders with

High-level understanding of emotional intelligence
Detailed training for building stronger relationships
Enhanced communication between individuals, teams, and companies
Tailor-made team and leadership development solutions

With RightPath, I’ve seen myself and my people increase accuracy, maximize team relationships, and continue to grow bigger and better as a company.

Our vision grows. Our grit increases—and the proof is in the results.

23 Sep 2019

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller Posted in Vision Permalink

RightPath Resources and Influence Leadership Join Forces

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller On September 23, 2019

Jerry Mabe and Chris Fuller are excited to announce that RightPath Resources and Influence Leadership are joining forces to create a combined organization, elevating service and product offerings to existing clients with the ability to provide long-term, sustainable resources and expertise to organizations of all sizes.

“Chris and his team have been passionate champions for the RightPath tools for over a decade.

I’m more confident than ever about the future of RightPath, with Chris bringing 10 years of experience with RightPath tools and over 25 years of experience in business and organizational effectiveness,” says Jerry Mabe, Founder/CEO of RightPath Resources.”

This joint “adventure” combines teams with decades of success in behavioral assessment, personal development, and organizational effectiveness consulting.

Jerry, Chris, and the team members of the combined organization will continue to serve their respective clients without any noticeable change.

“RightPath tools have been an integral part of my business for over a decade,” said Chris Fuller, Founder/CEO of Influence Leadership.

“I wanted an even deeper connection so we could more fully integrate all things RightPath into our growing suite of offerings. We knew it was going to be a great match because one of the first things we did was to study the Path4/Path6 of ourselves and the team; to identify areas of opportunities or threats to successfully integrating a high performing team.”

“Every organization that cares about its clients and its legacy must plan for succession at some point,” said Jerry Mabe.

“I wanted to be proactive and prepare for that eventual transition so our clients would continue to enjoy uninterrupted superior service. But I wasn’t willing to trust just anyone to carry on the RightPath legacy. It needed to be both a values and skillset match.”

RightPath will continue to operate as RightPath Resources and will remain at the company’s headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.

If you have any questions please feel free to contact us at (877) 843-7284.

04 Jun 2019

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller Posted in Customer Service, Leadership essentials, Organizational Effectiveness, Service Permalink

Why 86% of Your Customers Will Stop Doing Business with You

Sticky Post By Chris Fuller On June 4, 2019

How to Improve Service by Leveraging EQ

Over 70% of buying experiences are based on how customers feel they are being treated.

That’s right. Seven out of ten Americans say they are willing to spend more with companies they believe provide excellent service and with whom they feel connected.

One study reported that 86% of consumers in the US said they stopped doing business with a company because of a bad client experience. Of this percentage, 55% cited a company’s failure to resolve their problems in a timely manner.

There’s no getting around it. Service—either good or bad—is an emotional experience.

Your customer contracts with you in the hope that you can fulfill your promise, but hope deferred is problematic.

Anytime you sell something, you create an expectation in somebody’s mind. For that reason, you have to be intentional about the emotional experience that follows. And this emotional management piece is where most people and organizations fall short as they could feel overwhelmed with this and that’s when services like Jason training hypnosis can help boost businesses and improve their service.

They hook the customer with the intention of meeting customer needs but give little thought to the comprehensive customer experience. Yet if 70% of a customer’s decision to purchase (or purchase again) is based on how the customer feels, you’d better have a plan in place to manage their emotional experience. In the world of business, experience cannot be overemphasised, and this is particularly true when one is looking for a business broker. For instance, if you’re looking for businesses in Tampa, Florida, it’s in your best interest to consider a seasoned broker. They can navigate the local market with ease, understand the nuances that can significantly affect your decision, and more importantly, provide you with invaluable advice. Trusting your business dealings to a novice can be a costly mistake, one that may take years to rectify. Therefore, choosing an experienced business broker like Truforte Business Group who offers a variety of Tampa businesses for sale is not just a smart decision, but a necessary one.

Which Comes First—Thinking or Feeling?

If you’re wired to be more rational and find yourself resisting all this talk of emotion, I get it.

But consider this: emotion fires before reason in the human brain, even for logical thinkers.

When you deliver good or bad service, an emotion fires in the customer’s brain before a thought. Often that emotion will trump whatever thoughts may follow. If seven out of ten customers are willing to spend more money with companies and organizations they feel connected to, then InSPIRED leaders must capitalize on that reality.

By the way, this emotional awareness doesn’t only apply to external customers, but to internal customers, as well. Yes, your peers, coworkers, direct reports, and colleagues have the choice to either buy what you’re saying or not.

Seven out of ten of your peers, coworkers, direct reports, and colleagues are willing to buy what you are selling, if—and this is a big if—they feel emotionally connected with you. That means you must give them respect and serve them well, too.

3 Questions to Check Your Service Experience

You can start evaluating your customer service experience with the three questions that follow:

How healthy is service inside your organization right now?

If you find morale is low, it could be that your level of service is the reason. Rather than reflexively blame your team members, consider these tips to serve them well:

Don’t saturate them with change.
Use effective change management.
Provide effective project management.
Plan and communicate those plans.
Be consistent in attitude and action.
Listen to your direct reports who are probably closer to the customer needs.
Care for your team rather than insist they sprint endlessly.

2) How healthy is your team service to those outside your organization?

Of course, your customers will let you know if you aren’t serving them well. But you may need to be intentional about asking them before it’s too late.

Remember, there is a significant gap between the level of service most companies think they deliver and what customers think they receive.

Pay attention to what your customers tell you and use their feedback to architect a better, more intentional experience on an ongoing basis. If you ever face financial challenges while implementing changes or improvements, contact insolvency practitioners from this website for expert advice and support to keep your business on the right track.

3) As an individual leader, where is your level of service to others right now?

It’s one thing to serve well organizationally, but every organization is made up of individuals, and you are one of those individuals.

This means you need to constantly check your own service level and commit to making continual improvements. Integration with existing systems is crucial when working with payment processing companies. How your external customers experience you and how your internal customers react to you will tell the story of your service and define your personal leadership brand.

Take Back Your Influence

Perhaps instead of “The customer is always right” we should say “The customer is always feeling.” Service truly is an emotional experience. And once the emotions have been affected, it’s difficult to change them through reason or explanation.

This key is easy to miss, but so powerfully impacts every part of your leadership relations, including—but not limited to—other members of your team, employees and business partners.

You are always making an emotional impression with your service. And while you can’t control everyone’s feelings, you are responsible for the service that influences them.
Will it be positive or negative? You decide!