No Excuses!

It is pretty sad that I haven't updated my blog in several weeks....okay months!  Trust me, the thoughts have gone through my mind, "I'm busy," or "I haven't really had anything interesting to talk about," or "if you were in my shoes, you'd know how nuts it has been around here lately."

The reality is that excuses really don't really matter, do they?  Don't get me wrong, I am probably a pro when it comes to excuses.  I put off exercising because..........okay, I just do.  I find it very ironic that one of my biggest pet peeves is people who make up excuses, yet I catch myself doing the very same thing.  

With that being said, in the business world excuses should not be accepted or encouraged.  How many times do we see politicians, bankers, and athletes (to name a few) make up huge excuses?  It happens daily. No one wants to take ownership and responsibility.  We always try to pass the ball to someone else.  As I sit here and type this, a couple of questions come to mind:  Did you make that call today? Did you send that email you were supposed to send?  Did you do that project that has been on your Microsoft Task list since 2002?  Did you read that lease you were supposed to read?  Did you get to work on time today? I could go on and on. 

The point is that each of us are faced with opportunities to come up with excuses each and every day.  The question is how do YOU deal with them?  Do you face the issue(s) head on?  Are you willing to speak truthfully and admit that you missed the mark?  I have probably mentioned in previous blog posts that bad news doesn't get better with time.  This phrase is probably said at least once a week in our office.  There have been times where we want a deal to happen so badly that things could get missed.  When they do, excuses are not an option.  Someone messed up, plain and simple.  Take ownership and admit the wrongdoing.  Nothing is worse than finger pointing.  It doesn't get you anywhere. 

George Washington Carver once said, "Ninety-nine percent of the failures come from the habit of making excuses."   Don't let excuses become a habit in your life.  Never put off to tomorrow what can be done today. 

Thinking Outside the Box

We've all heard the phrase, "Think outside the box."  It is probably one of the most overused terms in the business world.  I have heard this phrase so many times that now when I hear it, I tend to think, "yeah whatever."  Unfortunately, I actually catch myself saying  to other people, "hey, we need to think outside the box on this one." 

So what exactly does it mean to think outside the box?  The web definition says:

"Thinking outside the box is to think differently, unconventionally or from a new perspective. This phrase often refers to novel, creative and smart thinking."

At our company, we encourage people to think free.  We encourage new, fresh ideas.  So many times we can get bogged down in make-believe walls that we feel we can't get out of or get around.  In an earlier post, I mentioned that sometimes people feel like they can't spread their wings and are too afraid to fail.  Unfortunately, the same goes for thinking outside the box.  

In all of our jobs, we all know that there are things we could be doing better.  At Lockard, we wouldn't be where we are today without team members being creative day in and day out.  When we are creative, we can achieve things we never thought possible.  Some companies have idea jars where people can stick an idea in and if it gets implemented, that person is rewarded.  Check out what Google has to say about their culture:

"At lunchtime, almost everyone eats in the office café, sitting at whatever table has an opening and enjoying conversations with Googlers from different teams. Our commitment to innovation depends on everyone being comfortable sharing ideas and opinions. Every employee is a hands-on contributor, and everyone wears several hats. Because we believe that each Googler is an equally important part of our success, no one hesitates to pose questions directly to Larry or Sergey in our weekly all-hands (“TGIF”) meetings – or spike a volleyball across the net at a corporate officer."  

When creativity flows and we can knock down the barriers of thinking we "can" rather than thinking we "can't," the sky is the limit.  In order to have an effective company, we must continue to think beyond what we feel are constraints.  

In our company, I always want to encourage my team to come up with creative ideas to make our company better.  There are a lot of ways to get to an end result and, as a manager, I can't say that my way is the only way to get to there.  One of my main goals at Lockard is to make sure we are in the black and to make sure we bring revenue into the company.  I don't want to be the guy that says, "this is the way we've always done it" and not look at new, creative ideas from my team members that could really improve the bottom line.  Believe me, I still have a long way to go in this area.    

Continue to be creative and think outside the box.  Who knows what's out there that you or I haven't even tapped into yet.     

 

Business Travel: Is It Scheduling You, Or Are You Scheduling It?

If you know me at all, you know that I travel quite a bit for my job.  I'm on the road a lot meeting with retailers, doctors, hospital administrators, city staff, brokers, etc.  Each trip that I go on is a new adventure and is unique in its own way. 

This past weekend, I received a copy of a book from my cousin, Seth.  We had seen each other recently at my brother-in-law's 40th birthday party in New Hampshire.  We struck up a conversation about business travel, and he knew that I traveled quite a bit for my job.  He asked me if I had ever read the book "Road Warrior: How to Keep Your Faith, Relationships, and Integrity When You're Away From Home."   I told him I had not.  It sounded like a pretty neat book.  I got home from a trip the other day, and was pleased to find an envelope from Seth with the book in it.  I picked it up and read it in one day.  Let me just say that this book has transformed my thinking in so many different ways.   It hit me between the eyes right where - and when - I needed it.  

When you travel, it is a lonely place.  You may not realize how loneliness sets in, but you find yourself in places where you are away from your loved ones.  Look around you!  If you're on the road, you're probably with people you don't know very well - if at all - places like airports, hotels, restaurants, etc.  

Staying connected is key for me while I'm on the road.  How do I stay connected?  Well first and foremost, I have a Blackberry that has the Bible app on it that I can stay connected to God.  I can read it on the plane, in the hotel, in the Admirals Club at the airport, or wherever I have an opportunity.  I have to stay grounded in my faith FIRST before I can function with the rest of my day.  

Connection to my family is absolutely crucial.  It isn't easy as schedules are nuts with meetings, etc., but I MUST make an effort to call or even Skype my family every day to make sure that I know what's going on at home, and they know what is going on with me.  Not being able to be there all of the time isn't easy, so you must be able to make an effort to reach out and touch base with family.  Believe me, I can do a much better job of this, and after reading Road Warrior, it gave me a lot of new ideas to start to implement to be a better husband and father. 

The other one that I recommend is to stay close to your friends.  Friends can keep you accountable when you're on the road.  I reach out to them daily through phone calls, emails, Skype, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.  Keeping connected with friends and family really keep your mind focused and "in control."  Without them, it would make travel very difficult.           

Travel will eat you up, if you let it.  Believe me, I know.  It has eaten me up in a lot of ways.  I made a conscience decision this weekend, that I am not going to let it.  I can't let my travel schedule me rather than scheduling it.  If I continue to let that happen, then everything around me will suffer: God, family, friends. 

I am excited about what lies ahead, and am thankful to Seth who took time to send me the book Road Warrior, and I'm pleased to say that I bought 10 copies to pass out to my close "Road Warrior friends."  Hopefully, it will help them with their travels as I know it has already helped me. 

Work to Live or Live to Work?

Over the years, I have often heard the phrase, "Do you work to live, or do you live to work?"  Thankfully, that question is not a difficult one for me to answer.  I never want to find myself in the "work to live" category.  Obviously, that makes me a minority according to the graphs shown above.  They show two different age categories: 25-34 year olds and 55 & older.  Notice there is only a 12% difference between the two!  Does that surprise you at all?   I'm actually hoping that the 35-54 year old bracket (mine, that isn't shown) has a different outlook, but I highly doubt it.   

You have to understand, I love what I do!  I love my job.  I love the people I work with, and I love the fact that everyday is a new adventure.  The day that I feel like I have to show up to work, is the day that I would need to rethink why I am still working where I am.  I don't just show up at my office to get a paycheck.  I work where I do because I learn each and every day from my peers, and my clients.  

Ken Lockard, our chairman, always says that, "we should never, ever, ever stop learning."  I strongly believe that if we only work to live, then our minds become clouded, and we aren't able to achieve our greatest potential.  How many of us know that one guy, or people for that matter, that constantly complain about their jobs, the people they work with, their paychecks, and so on and so forth.  Sometimes I just want to grab 'em and shake 'em and say, "WAKE UP, there is so much more out there for you!  You have so much more potential!"       

If you're waking up in the morning and just working to live, then you probably need to ask yourself, what can I do to change?  Listen, we all spend countless hours in our jobs every day, and it is so much better when you enjoy what you do rather than just coasting along in a funk.  Believe me, I've been in those jobs prior to going to work at Lockard 11 years ago.  You know what I'm talking about; the jobs where you can barely drag yourself out of bed in the morning to get up and go to work.  It is a terrible feeling.

Don't misunderstand me, if we overdo it with the whole "living to work" thing, it can consume us if we let it.  Trust me, this is a huge fault of mine.  I love what I do so much that work starts to take over and take a higher priority than other things in my life.  I need to constantly put God, family, work in the proper order.     

I am just so thankful that I have a great place to work, have the best team to work with, and have a great family that supports me day in and day out.  All of them combined make me a better person each and every day. 

Until next time...

Business Relationships - Are they worth the time?

In today's day and age, we're all busy, right?  I mean we can use that excuse 'til the cows come home, but the reality is that everyone is, so it's not really an excuse anymore is it?  We live in a technological age, and we rely upon our Blackberries, iPhones, and PCs and Macs to communicate more and more.  Don't get me wrong, I consider myself a huge techie, and I can't live without my Crackberry; I communicate everyday through texts and emails.  However, I have to consciously make an effort to meet with my clients face to face.  An email and text are great, but I am confident that in order to build a solid relationship one must be willing to meet in person.  This also means calling our clients back on the phone which, if you're like me, find extremely difficult sometimes.  

Relationships are what make or break a business.  Our company, Lockard Companies, was founded in 1951, and our growth has been based solely upon business relationships.  If you know me well, you know I like to use the phrase, "it takes a long time to build a reputation, but it only takes a day to screw it up."  Isn't that true?  I mean, the purpose of building relationships doesn't mean to just carve your piece out of a deal and run.  It means to grow the pie, dig deep, and learn from the other person.  People continually ask me, "how in the world are you getting all of these business opportunities?"  My answer always seems to be the same - relationships.  In fact, I believe in relationships so much that I have asked our managment team to think about adding relationships as one of our company core values.      

I had the privilege of serving as chairman of the Networking Advisory Board of the CCIM Institute a couple of years ago, and one of the things that I had to keep hitting home is that people do business with people they know, like, and trust.  Does that happen overnight?  Absolutely not!  We must build upon our relationships.  There are a lot of people that I have been building relationships with for over the past five to ten years, but have yet to do a deal with them.  Should I give up on those relationships?  Not in a million years!  It takes time.  Isn't it true that good things come to those who wait?  If we go into a business relationship expecting to get something out of it immediately, we are sorely mistaken, and you should probably consider the relationship already dead.  Don't go into a business relationship asking what can I get out of it, rather ask yourself what can I give to this relationship to make it better and grow.  If it grows, everyone wins, and future business is usually inevitable. 

Be willing to invest time with someone today - it's definitely worth it!    

Are You A Risk Taker?



Webster's Dictionary defines the word risk as 1) a possibility of loss or injury; and 2) someone or something that creates or suggests a hazard.  

It blows me away that nowhere in the definition of the word do you see anything positive.  Every single version I could find only showed negativity.  Is that how you view risk?  I think most people go through life thinking risk is a negative thing rather than looking at it positively.  

What ever happened to going out on a limb?  When did we lose that willingness to get that big win?  Please understand, I'm not a gambler, so I am not talking about going to the Blackjack table and risking it all to hopefully get a big win.  I'm talking about risk in the business world.  Do you believe enough in what you are doing, that you're willing to take a risk now and again?  Do you think you may have a creative way to solve a problem that is outside of the norm, or is way outside of the box?  

There is a huge difference between what I would call a dumb risk and an intelligent risk.  Hopefully you and I don't take too many dumb risks in our careers, or else all of us would be cleaning out our desks and updating our resumes.  Intelligent risks, however, are totally worth it in my opinion.  The key is to make sure that the downside potential is limited, and the potential upside is basically unlimited.

If you run your own company, or are a manager of a department, do you have an atmosphere where employees are able to take risks?  Do you stymie them from spreading their wings, or do you encourage them and back them up for the risks they take?  If they feel like they will get shot down, written up in their personnel files, or just plain fired, than you need to communicate that you're willing to support them in the risks they take.  That doesn't mean to support them in dumb risks; they must be well thought out and intelligent risks.  What's the downside, right?  In addition, they must be willing to see YOU take risks!  If you don't take risks how is he/she going to feel that it is an accepted practice at your office?

A great leader should not be risk averse, rather he should be willing to take an intelligent risk now and again.  Taking risks is like visiting a big city that you have never been to for the first time. You're going to feel out of your element at first, but hopefully you'll begin to enjoy the challenge of getting around in an unfamiliar place and start to feel comfortable being uncomfortable!

Benefits Of Being A CCIM

Last October, I was in Orlando at the CCIM Business Meetings, and was interviewed by some CCIM staff members for some video promotions they were doing for the Institute.  If you are in the commercial real estate arena, and/or would like to get involved in commercial real estate, then CCIM is a great organization to begin your quest. 

If you are a CCIM Designee, I would love to hear why you chose to become a CCIM.  For me, it was a matter or either pursuing my Master's Degree or obtaining the CCIM Designation.  I chose the CCIM path because I wanted to push myself in my own career, and be one of the few commercial real estate practitioners who have the coveted CCIM Designation.  It was a choice I will never regret.  I would highly encourage you to do the same!   You can visit CCIM's webpage at www.ccim.com.  

Here's the video: