Stephen Denny: Killing Giants - Author interview

strategist and marketing consultant, and President of Denny Marketing, Stephen Denny, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his thought provoking and insightful book Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry.

Stephen Denny describes how a small player in any industry can topple the giant industry leader through a combination of brains, street smarts, and agility.

Thanks to Stephen Denny for his time, and for his thoughtful and fascinating responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.





What was the background to writing this book Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry?

Stephen Denny: An email. A former direct report sent me a note telling me she was, as she put it, “stuck between 2 giants.” I hit reply and before I knew it, I’d gone 500 words. And I was just getting started. I thought it would be rude at that point to hit “send” – think of that coming over your Blackberry – so I ended up writing the book instead.

I’ve spent a lot of time over the course of my career, both on the brand and consulting sides of the table, fighting these sorts of uphill battles. Capturing the right strategies and putting them on paper was a natural progression.

Many small business people believe that they simply can’t compete, let alone thrive, against the dominant company in their industry. You disagree with that idea. Why do you say that?

Stephen Denny: I spoke to over 70 “giant killers” and profiled 33 different companies across 13 countries – from Silicon Valley to the townships of South Africa - who told their stories in their own words of how they out-maneuvered or just killed the giants they faced. They often spoke with the confidence of retrospect, but clearly their struggles weren’t easy. The good news, though, is that they were ultimately successful. It can be done, in other words. And these “giant killers” can teach us ways to do it.



Stephen Denny (photo left)

Being a small business has many advantages that large companies lack. What are some of these advantages and how can they level or even take over the playing field?

Stephen Denny: When giants become giants, their problems change. Global distribution and consistency become more important that craftsmanship. They started hiring and rewarding different kinds of people. The void left behind is an area many successful “giant killers” end up filling.

Another is the encroaching presence of risk avoidance. Big company executives are paid to say “no” to risky things. The larger the company, the more risk averse they often become. They hire and reward people who fit neatly into their existing pre-conceptions, as a result. Risk is bred out of the company culture. As a result, bold product innovations – Method detergent, Sam Adams beer, Vibram FiveFingers shoes, Schweitzer Engineering digital protective relays – are only possible in cultures where such risk is embraced.

How can the small company find and add new customers right under the giant company's nose?

Stephen Denny: The best – and most counter-intuitive – way is to look forward to the giant’s big spending and capitalize on the flood of highly qualified traffic that ensues. Adobe provided a wonderful example of converting retail shoppers at the point of purchase with in-store demonstrations during a significant competitive merchandising event. This doesn’t just apply to physical stores, either. A story from Oslo University illustrated how leveraging the giant’s keywords drove search and ultimately enrollments for this “giant killer” higher education brand.

So let them spend the big dollars and drive the eyeballs and the foot traffic. That’s the most qualified crowd of potential customers you’ll ever see. Meet them there and convert them one by one.

Many people believe that the giant companies set the ground rules of the game in their industry. How can a small company create their own rules to compete with the big company?

Stephen Denny: Jim Koch told me that he set out to change how Americans thought about beer and is personally responsible for re-writing the rules of how we, in this country, all relate to this 10,000 year old human tradition. He is the proverbial father of the craft brewing movement. Look to Eric Ryan of Method, the original standard bearer for the sustainably formulated detergent industry. Cricket Holdings is re-writing how brand managers allocate advertising budgets with a “pay per lead” fixed cost business model. Lots of disruptive examples in Killing Giants.

Are there some real world success stories of small companies who took on the giants and won?

Stephen Denny: Often it’s a case of maneuvering to find a slipstream where the giant just doesn’t want to go, but there are plenty of examples where the “giant killer” just killed the giant it faced. Look at GoDaddy, now #1 in domain name registration and growing the fastest in its space. Look at Baidu, clearly #1 in search in their home market of China. Read about Searle Canada’s brilliant launch of their arthritis drug, Arthrotec, or Oi Mobile’s emergence in Brazil.

There are many categories where “giant killers” could quickly gain momentum and swamp the former giants in their spaces. Inspirational stuff!

What is the first step a small business person should take toward out-competing the giant in their industry?

Stephen Denny: First things first: create meaningful separation. Getting your messaging – the “arc of your story” – nailed down is the first step. Once you know who you are, all things are possible. Everything you do, from your website to your customer service to your product design, becomes an “eigen value” – a self-defining entity, something that could only come credibly from you. Nothing happens without a clear sense of who you are, who you’re not, and what you’re willing to leave behind and walk away from.

MINI is “an impossibly small car” for most – but for many, its size is the crystallization of how they feel about fun, responsibility, and stewardship in what Jim McDowell would call this ‘post-materialistic’ consumer landscape. Polarize your market. Let them choose you – or actively choose to not choose you.

What is next for Stephen Denny?

Stephen Denny: What’s next is spreading the gospel of Killing Giants. I find that speaking to companies and organizations about these ideas is tremendously powerful. Many businesspeople have unstated fears about competing and delivering the message live helps open them up to new possibilities. Once we cross this threshold, developing the right attack plan is an exciting process for everyone.

We all come from cultures where the archetypal story of the hero emerging and defeating the giant is central to our belief systems. Importantly, the hero then returns to the people and bestows the gift on them. In a life of business, this story resonates. It’s powerful. It’s also very timely. There’s plenty to do! Let’s get to work!

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My book review of Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry by Stephen Denny.

Tags: Killing Giants: 10 Strategies to Topple the Goliath in Your Industry, Stephen Denny, market competitiveness, business author interviews.

Robert Jordan: How They Did It - Author interview

Successful entrepreneur Robert Jordan was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his idea and wisdom filled book How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America.

Robert Jordan shares his interviews with forty-five of the most successful company founders who ever have emerged from the heartland of America.

Thanks to Robert Jordan for his time, and for his informative and fascinating responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.

What was the background to writing the book How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America?

Robert Jordan: I was waiting for a flight in Seattle at the SeaTac airport reading a book of quotes. Then I thought how much more inspiring it would be to learn directly from champion entrepreneurs – how they hit their home runs – in their own words.

You describe America's top company founders as sharing several traits. What are a few of these traits?

Robert Jordan: These founders started just like you and I. But things changed once they made the decision to take a leap – to launch their companies. In the first place, they did not seek to avoid failure, they had to leap forward. Most of us think failure avoidance will lead to big success, but that’s just not true. Second: success is never a solo act. All of these founders developed incredible partnerships and senior management teams. Third: where most folks see or complain about problems in the world, or problems affecting them, these founders were far more curious, and didn’t accept the problem as a given – they saw these problems as huge opportunities, and then acted on them.

One of their secrets is hiring the right people, and firing them if necessary. How can a business person select and hire the right people?

Robert Jordan: There is a big difference between control and equity. Most entrepreneurs have a death grip on control of their companies, so they either don’t hire or never hire people who are truly better than they. Conversely, to see their dream come true, they will sell equity far too cheaply. Successful founders have a variety of strategies for hiring. First is the decision to have a great management team around you. Second, when possible, is to get help in doing the hiring, because we entrepreneurs tend to talk too much and not be great listeners when figuring out best-fit employees. The advanced strategy – to really hit a home run – is to work hard to create your top 5 people, who will in turn hire and train the next 25 people, who in turn will hire and train 125 people.



Robert Jordan (photo left)

How can a business person spot a huge money-making opportunity that others overlook, and do those opportunities have things in common?

Robert Jordan: Be curious. Ask questions, and don’t accept pat answers. These founders saw problems – circumstances and conditions around them that just weren’t as good as they could be. So they dug deeper. They got curious. Then they didn’t stop. They identified the problem, a solution a customer would buy, and launched a company. Jim Dolan, founder of the Dolan Company (DM), bought a legal newspaper publisher, a business over a hundred years old, overlooked by everyone as a stale business going nowhere. He figured out that the biggest asset were the fine-print notices in back. He turned those little notices in the back into a $100 million business delivering real time information to banks and credit card companies. It all started with Jim asking a question of his customers – what do you read, and why? No one else had ever asked them.

How can a businessperson look like a successful CEO when attracting investors?

Robert Jordan: None of these founders were overnight success stories. They all took time. In most cases they didn’t seek investors at first; they started privately and only approached investors with promising early results. In the few cases where investors came onboard early, those founders already had significant job experience from previous corporate careers.

One problem many start-up and expanding business entrepreneurs have is maintaining autonomy when working with investors. How did the businesspeople described in the book maintain control of their companies?

Robert Jordan: Are you more motivated by money, by prestige, or by having control? First, know what moves you. For example the founders of Yahoo correctly gave up control when investors came in, but stayed at the head of the parade in highly visible positions. The founders I interviewed did not all retain control, but in all cases they focused intensely on equity, on the value of ownership. These founders usually waited to bring in investors, and that waiting was a critical point in retaining equity, ownership and control.

What are some classic business mistakes that start-up companies make that the successful business people described in the book either overcame or avoided entirely?

Robert Jordan: A classic start-up mistake is attempting to design the “perfect” product. Time after time founders talked about customers helping in product development, essentially saying don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

How can employees be kept motivated, innovative, and productive even if the company experiences shortages of cash and growing pains?

Robert Jordan: There is a quality that can’t be taught in school, and that is the ability to lead, to act as a role model, and to both encourage and offer loyalty. Most of these founders hit a cash crunch at least once, and beyond the simple notion of persistence, I think their sense of taking on real problems and opportunities – of having a legitimate mission that inspired everyone around them – was the motivation they sought for themselves and their teams.

Very often entrepreneurs get attached to an idea, even if it is a proven failure. If a businessperson discovers an idea isn't working well, how can they make the decision to end that idea, and move on to another?

Robert Jordan: It’s a tough call. Founders face family and friends telling them they’re crazy. And maybe they are. But most businesses fail for lack of sustained effort following through to the best solution or product or service. I am reminded of Scott Jones’ quote, to “fail fast.” He didn’t mean busting companies – he meant that in marketing, product development, and other aspects of business development, you have to work quickly to discard things that aren’t working, keep experimenting, to get to the best solution. Dick Costolo, founder of Feedburner and now CEO of Twitter, likened the process to an eye doctor’s exam, putting lenses in front of the patient: “Is A better than B? Is B better than C?” By making these tactical decisions the founder can get to a better strategic outcome.

Do the ideas and techniques shared in the book work even in a down economy, and is a weak economy a good time to start a company?

Robert Jordan: These founders prove that a down market is just as good as an up market, and also that Mary Engelbreit’s line, “Bloom where you are planted,” is true. The #1 founder in the book, Dane Miller, launched Biomet in tiny Warsaw, Indiana, which is where the company is still located. Biomet stock appreciated 30,000% over 25 years and was taken private for $12 billion. There has never been a better time to start a company.

What is the first step a businessperson should take toward emulating the success of the amazing achievements of the people profiled in the book?

Robert Jordan: Look in the mirror. Assess your own skills and likes/dislikes as rigorously as you can. When you then take on the opportunity that moves you, work to attract partners or employees who have great skills that complement yours. Inevitably there are setbacks, and what successful founders do is to assess themselves and these problems as a further opportunity, not a reason to take the result personally or get down on themselves. Don’t view the setback personally.

What is next for Robert Jordan?

Robert Jordan: Helping How They Did It become widely known, inspiring the next generation of entrepreneurs.

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My book review of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America by Robert Jordan.

Robert Jordan has been launching and growing companies and helping other entrepreneurs do the same for the past 20 years. He is author of How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America (RedFlash Press), a collection of interviews from 45 leading founders who created $41 billion from scratch. His newest endeavors are RedFlash project implementation team, and interimCEOinterimCFO, a worldwide network of interim, contract, and project executives. Find out more at www.HowTheyDidItBook.com.

Tags: How They Did It: Billion Dollar Insights from the Heart of America, Robert Jordan, business philosophy, business author interviews.

Roger Connors & Tom Smith: Change the Culture, Change the Game - Author interview

Co-founders of Partners In Leadership, Inc., Roger Connors and Tom Smith, were kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about their landmark and organization renewing book Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results.

Roger Connors and Tom Smith describe how creating a culture of accountability results in a game-changing transformation of the entire organization.

Thanks to Roger Connors and Tom Smith for their time, and for their very comprehensive and informative responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.

What was the background to writing this book Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results?



Roger Connors and Tom Smith: Change the Culture, Change the Game is totally revised and re-written from our previous bestselling book on culture change, Journey to the Emerald City. Over the last decade, we have learned a great deal about how to speed up the culture change process through integrating the use of the key culture management tools that are used in the everyday work of people throughout the organization. The methodology we present is simple, straight-forward, practical and it works.

Managing organizational culture is a leadership competency every management team must master. To not manage culture is to leave the low-hanging fruit of optimizing organizational performance on the table. We have seen our clients achieve remarkable game-changing “wow” kind of results through managing their culture, like a stock price increase from .31/share to $22.35 in just three years.

One of the main focuses of your work is that of accountability. What do you mean by accountability, and why is it so important?


Roger Connors and Tom Smith: How you do accountability defines the working relationships fundamental to every activity that occurs within your organization. Accountability is the guiding principle that defines how we make commitments to one another, how we measure and report our progress, how we interact when things go wrong, how much ownership we take to get things done… It is, in essence, the nerve center that runs throughout every part of the organization, through every working relationship to every member of every team.

In many organizations, accountability is often done in a way that can actually sabotage your ability to get results. When we start working with a client, we often hear people describe accountability as something that happens to them when things go wrong, rather than something they do to themselves to ensure results and success. How you go about creating accountability matters. Often, it leads to what we call the Accountability Paradox: the harder you try to create accountability, the less accountable people actual become. This happens because people are reacting to the manner in which accountability is approached.

Accountability, done effectively, is a skill you can develop just like any other skill, and while it is not a difficult skill to acquire and hone, it does require a high degree of conscious effort. When you do it right, you’ll also find it the fastest way to improve morale. A Conference Board survey of American workers revealed that over half the American workforce does not feel engaged at all. The results of this survey reported job satisfaction at 45 percent, its lowest level since 1987. In addition, 64 percent of employees under age twenty-five express dissatisfaction with their jobs. Getting people engaged in their work so that they invest in and take personal ownership of the results of the organization can turn these numbers around. That’s what accountability is all about. And that’s why getting people to take personal ownership is the most important cultural shift an organization intent on culture change can make.



Roger Connors (photo left)

Is it possible to create a culture of accountability as a strategy for strengthening an organization?


Roger Connors and Tom Smith: We like to say, “Either you will manage your culture, or it will manage you.” Every company has a culture that is working full time sending cues to people on how to think and act in that organization. Culture never takes a holiday or vacation; never calls in sick. It’s always working, whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not. The question isn’t, do we have a culture? The question is, does our current culture supercharge our efforts to achieve the results we are held accountable to get? Is our culture helping or hindering? Culture produces results. The results you currently get are produced by your current culture. A Culture of Accountability is a workplace culture where people are accountable to think and act in the manner necessary to achieve desired results. If you need to get different results, then you probably need a shift in your culture.

You build your culture around the results you need to achieve. If a key result is growth, then there are certain workplace beliefs you need people to hold about what is important, how to get work done, how to resolve conflicting priorities, etc… Those beliefs are cultural beliefs and should be well defined and fostered. Unfortunately, we often see culture as the last place managers and leaders go to work, usually when everything else is not working. It ought to be the first place we focus on. A recent 50-store pilot of the culture change effort with a large retail client demonstrated an 8-point gain in same-store sales in just 30 days, where 10 other initiatives had failed. Why? You can change the structure of the organization, you can change the processes people use, you can even change the people, but if you don’t change the way they think, then you probably will fall short of the true ownership and individual initiative that is necessary to achieve results.

We think the reason that Change the Culture, Change the Game hit all the bestselling lists as the No. 1 leadership book in the last few weeks (New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, etc…) is that it strikes a chord with leaders. They know their culture is not working for them and they want to fix it. We think they also fundamentally believe that they can fix it with the right approach. They are dead-on correct.

Your work describes the methodology you call the Results Pyramid. Briefly, What is this strategy all about?



Roger Connors and Tom Smith: The Results Pyramid presents how the three essential components of organizational culture—experiences, beliefs, and actions—work in harmony with each other to achieve results. They pyramid not only tells you why the culture is the way it is, but also how you can accelerate a shift in that culture to create competitive advantage. At the top of the pyramid are results. Those results come from the Actions people take, the next level down on the pyramid. Those actions stem from the beliefs people hold. Those beliefs are born from the experiences they have, both in and out of the organization or team. These experiences form the base of the pyramid. In sum: experiences foster beliefs, beliefs influence actions, and actions produce results. The experiences, beliefs, and actions of the people in your organization constitute your culture, and as the Results Pyramid demonstrates, your culture produces your results.

Most leaders work with just the top of the pyramid and focus on the actions they need people to take. This tends to create a tell-me-what-to-do, command-control style of accountability that people resist and, ultimately, resent. How many times have you personally been involved in a restructure that did not work? You can change where people sit, but that does not necessarily change the way they think. Learning to work with the bottom of the pyramid, the beliefs and experiences people have, helps leaders speed up culture change. It also helps leaders create lasting change in a way that has positive impact on morale. You can either tell people what to do or you can help people understand how to think about getting results. The latter approach engages people at every level in the process of asking, “what else can I do?” to overcome obstacles and achieve results.



Tom Smith (photo left)

You begin the process by defining the desired results first. While this would seem obvious to many people, why do so few organizations do that?



Roger Connors and Tom Smith: In our research, surprisingly 9 out of 10 leadership teams cannot give a consistently aligned answer between team members as to the top three key results they need to achieve. They always have a general idea, but are unable to provide the details. Accountability begins by clearly defining results. You build a Culture of Accountability around the results you need to achieve. A clear definition of results, one that everyone throughout the entire organization can understand and repeat, are essential to getting your accountability system to work.

In a leadership workshop, we asked the European management team of a large pharmaceutical company we worked what the top result was that they needed to achieve. They told us it was “BUC,” which stood for Business Unit Contribution. We asked the team, “what’s the number?” Everyone went silent. No one wanted to say. We asked them to write down the number on a piece of paper and pass it to the CFO in the back of the room. There was a $300 million dollar variance between the high number and the low number.

Why don’t leaders get clear about results? We think leaders make a lot of assumptions that people already know, don’t need to know or will come to know at some point what the results should be. They tend to focus on actions, as we said before, and what people need to do, as opposed to focusing on how people should think. Accountability begins by clearly defining results and that always yields alignment, engagement and achievement.

You talk about the leadership competency of working with the bottom of the pyramid, how do you do that?

Roger Connors and Tom Smith: The real power of the Results Pyramid is when leaders learn to work with the bottom of the pyramid. That is, establishing the beliefs you need people to hold so that they think and act in a way that produces the new results you want to achieve and then providing the needed experiences that will foster those beliefs.

Leaders do this by first developing a set of Cultural Beliefs. A Cultural Belief is a needed belief that is prioritized as being essential to how people need to think and act in the desired culture in order to achieve the desired results. For example, a Cultural Belief would sound like this: “Lets Talk: I seek, listen, and share to foster an open and honest exchange.” These Cultural Beliefs become a roadmap for everyone in the organization and act as a guide to the shifts that need to occur in the culture and will be the basis of the leaders efforts to work at the bottom of the pyramid. Now, the focus becomes creating experiences for people that foster the formation and creation of these beliefs in the organization.

You describe three culture management tools. What are they, and why are these so important?



Roger Connors and Tom Smith: We know leaders who have grown quite frustrated over their inability to change the cultures of their organizations. That disappointment stems directly from working with just the top of the pyramid. It is compounded by the fact that they lack the essential tools for working with the bottom of the pyramid and creating the desired change. Without the proper tools, leaders will struggle to accomplish meaningful change. With them, leaders speed up the change process and promote results in game-changing ways. The culture management tools help to shape the right experiences that foster the adoption of the desired Cultural Beliefs. These tools are Focused Feedback, Focused Storytelling and Focused Recognition.

Focused Feedback is feedback focused around the Cultural Beliefs. It is a candid exchange of where you see the person demonstrating the Cultural Belief and where you feel they could do it better. And then they do the same for you. This has to happen everywhere with everyone in the organization. Focused Storytelling is looking for examples of people living the Cultural Beliefs and then telling that story. In every meeting, the first few minutes is devoted to telling stories about where we see people living the Cultural Beliefs. The third tool is Focused Recognition. This is where people, regardless of department, job rank or anything else, publicly recognize others for living the beliefs. One client instituted what they called, “Caught in the ACT,” (The acronym “ACT” stood for the Alaris Cultural Transition), on their manufacturing floor. They took Polaroid’s of people and wrote the Cultural Belief they demonstrated on the bottom of the picture and the story on the reverse side. They taped them on a wall in the plant. In their morning safety meetings, they would tell the stories. These tools, properly applied, accelerate culture change.

With culture change in mind, how can the entire process be accelerated to prevent inertia and the previous culture reasserting itself?



Roger Connors and Tom Smith: Accountability is key to acceleration. When people externalize the need for change, they focus on what everyone else should be doing differently. However, when they internalize the change process, they focus on what they personally can do differently. This improves morale during the change process because people are focused on what they can do. It’s also more effective, as you are engaging the hearts and minds of people everywhere in the organization. Introducing a correct understanding of what it means to be accountable helps to lay this foundation where people are asking, “what else can I do?” to live the Cultural Beliefs and demonstrate that way of thinking and acting in my own daily work. Getting people to buy-in, invest and engage in the cultural transition is key to sustainability. They live it because they want to live it, because they believe it is essential to succeeding, both personally and for the entire organization.

With that foundation, your focus has to be on integration. Integration means integrate. That is, you have to build a focus on the Cultural Beliefs and the use of the Culture Management Tools into everything you currently do. Existing meetings, one-on-ones, performance review systems, etc… all of these activities and processes provide the opportunity to reinforce the culture. More importantly, they are things we are already doing. If the culture change effort becomes an “extra” initiative, it will likely fail. It needs to be integrated into the things we are already doing on a daily basis. Of course, we outline all of this in our book, Change the Culture, Change the Game.

Whether managers and leaders realize it or not, they are creating experiences every day that help shape their organizational culture. From promoting someone or implementing new policies to interacting in meetings or reacting to feedback, these experiences foster beliefs about “how we do things around here,” and those beliefs, in turn, drive the actions people take. Collectively, their actions, with few exceptions, produce their results. It’s really that simple, and it happens every minute of every day. Whether your organization is a robust and healthy one or one that needs to change, learning how to make sure the culture is working for you will result in creating greater competitive advantage and will help you ensure that you achieve your desired results.

Change the Culture, Change the Game®; Cultural Beliefs®; Culture of Accountability®; Focused Feedback®; and Results Pyramid® are trademarks of Partners In Leadership.

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My book review of Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results by Roger Connors and Tom Smith.

Tags: Change the Culture, Change the Game: The Breakthrough Strategy for Energizing Your Organization and Creating Accountability for Results, Roger Connors, Tom Smith, change management, business author interviews.

Wayne Rogers: Make Your Own Rules - Author interview

Actor, former star of the classic TV series M*A*S*H and successful entrepreneur Wayne Rogers, and co-author with journalist and bestselling author Josh Young, took the time to answer a few questions about their inspirational and delightfully unconventional business book Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success.

Wayne Rogers describes how to operate a successful business within an economic system that they consider stacked against the entrepreneur, through a combination of creative thinking, realistic plans, sound business practices, and confidence that one's own abilities will find success.

Thanks to Wayne Rogers for his time, and for his comprehensive and highly informative responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.




While you are widely known for your work as an actor, including your role as Trapper John on the now-classic TV series M*A*S*H, you have had a rewarding career beyond show business. Would you share a few highlights?

Wayne Rogers: Over the past four decades, I have been a founding shareholder in six banks, produced movies and Broadway plays, managed the finances and investments of others, and served on the boards of several companies. I have developed residential, commercial, and office real estate in five states. I have co-owned a convenience store chain, a film distribution company, a vineyard, a restaurant, and a hotel or two.

I have helped turn around numerous distressed businesses, notably Kleinfeld, the largest bridal retailer in the country. Somehow, I even ended up owning a minority interest in a Major League baseball team. And, yes, I have also acted in numerous films, television shows and series, and stage plays. This will surprise you, but the common thread to the various businesses in which I have been involved is that I had never previously been in them.

So that explains the title of your debut as a business author, Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success?

Wayne Rogers: Yes, and as I admit in my book, I have never read a business book; therefore, I did not write a conventional business book.

What can people who are aiming to launch or grow a successful business hope to learn from your defiantly original business book?

Wayne Rogers: I have no step-by-step plan for success or surefire tips to becoming a millionaire. Instead, I tell anyone who is interested in exploring ideas and willing to take risks what has worked for me in business over the past four decades, what has not worked, and why. It may offer some useful lessons and provoke some readers, positively I hope.



Wayne Rogers (photo left)

Would you explain how lack of previous experience has worked for you in business?

Wayne Rogers: Most people would think that the lack of previous experience in a particular business would be a sure formula for failure. However, because I didn’t have a specific educational background—for example, a degree in medicine or law—I was not predisposed to make career choices based on that criterion. In fact, it was an advantage in that I had no rules to follow, no pre-made decisions, no ‘books’ to tell me how to find success. This allowed me to take a creative approach rather than an administrative one.

I have also tried to avoid being part of the system, which is not the same thing as trying to change it. You don’t have to be ‘against the system’ to succeed; you just don’t want the system to systematize you, as it were. The goal is to maintain your individuality while functioning within the system.

In the book, you make a compelling argument for recognizing creativity as a major player in the business world. Why?

Wayne Rogers: My contention is that the business world and the artistic world are not opposites. When they are both functioning at their best, they draw on the same mental process—it is all creative. Business can be like art, and it should be just as creative. So, I make a case for the entrepreneur, the small businessperson—the one who takes a risk to initiate an enterprise, the one who provides much of the economic impetus in the United States, the one who creates most of the jobs in the workforce today. The creative process as applied to business must be unencumbered, and you should approach it by asking not only ‘why?’ but also, and more important, ‘why not?’ This leads to solutions that are not obvious or burdened by policy, tradition, and corporate regulation.

Almost every business depends on at least some established practices and standards. Does being creative in business require questioning, rethinking, and overhauling everything?

Wayne Rogers: In business, creativity is typically exemplified by someone who challenges convention and finds a new way to do something, as opposed to someone who tries to create something from nothing. The creative process begins with research—‘homework,’ if you will. You must start with all the available research, some good, some bad, but gather it all, try to understand it, make your choices, and test them. I put this kind of creativity into practice at a vineyard I developed, Rancho Tierra Rejada.

One of the first things I learned in the wine business was that conventions, like installing a frost protection system, are sometimes necessary, and, to improve on them, you must understand them. In business, being creative requires imagination plus reason. In order to get anything done, you have to maintain a semblance of reality. Often, people will look at a business and think, ‘If I ran this place, I would…’ and imagine ways to improve that business. But you need to find the limit where creativity becomes fantasy and respect that limit.

In your book, you credit show business for your impressive success as a business entrepreneur. Would you explain why?

Wayne Rogers: Everyone must start somewhere, and having a passion for a field is critical to finding your own voice in business. Acting wasn’t my life’s plan when I started out, but it fulfilled a lot of my needs to be creative. It also became the steppingstone for everything else that I have done. Above all, getting into acting was my first major lesson in making my own rules in order to succeed. I started my career as a theater actor in New York, or, rather, as an actor looking for work in the theater.

I worked a variety of odd jobs to pay the rent while searching for acting roles. I waited tables at Schraff’s Restaurant on 42nd Street; I even drove a cab. Every theater actor goes through that, as do others pursuing their business dreams. You do what you have to do to earn enough to pay the rent and eat until you can bring your idea to fruition. My show business experience also taught me much about managing people and gave me the confidence to bet on myself. People often ask me why I continued to act once I had other business interests. The simple answer is that I am fascinated by it. Like any out-of-work actor, if someone offered me a terrific part today, I would take it in a heartbeat.

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My book review of Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success by Wayne Rogers with Josh Young

Tags: Make Your Own Rules: A Renegade Guide to Unconventional Success, Wayne Rogers, Josh Young, business philosophy, business book reviews.

Richard Schroder: From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call - Author interview

Recognized thought leader in win-loss analysis and sales training, and President of Anova Consulting Group, a leading market research, sales training and consulting firm, Richard M. Schroder, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his opportunity creating and game changing book From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best.

Richard M. Schroder describes how to develop and utilize an effective debriefing process to provide detailed analysis about why sales were really closed or lost.

Thanks to Richard M. Schroder for his time, and for his very comprehensive and thoughtful responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.

What was the background to writing this book From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best?

Richard M. Schroder: My company has been performing institutional Win / Loss Analysis programs for large companies for over 13 years. Typically we are hired by a head of sales to conduct independent in-depth phone interviews with prospects after buying decisions have been made on behalf of an entire sales team. However, only 18 percent of companies currently have a formal Win / Loss program in place for their sales teams, with an independent third party conducting in-depth interviews with prospects. This means there are over 20 million salespeople who have no access to an independent post-decision review on their behalf.

This book was written to fill that gap and bring our institutional coaching, expertise and knowledge to the everyday salesperson or small business owner. It shows individual salespeople how to better conduct post-decision debriefs on their own so they can improve their sales effectiveness and win more business.

What is the difference between a good sales call and a great one?

Richard M. Schroder: Our research shows that there are five key themes that prospects typically express when speaking about a winning sales effort vs. a loss:

1) Consultative: The salesperson did research, asked the right questions, listened and then was consultative in their pitch and focused on the prospects’ unique needs.

2) Differentiation: The salesperson was distinctive / stood out in some way by clearly articulating how they were different from the competition.

3) Treated the prospect as important: The salesperson showed enthusiasm and made it clear that they wanted the business.

4) Rapport: The salesperson worked to build chemistry with the prospect and found common ground in a personal way.

5) Cohesiveness (in team selling situations): The most important word a prospect can say about a sales team is that they were cohesive (as opposed to coming across as disjointed or unprepared).

Why do so many salespeople lose the sale that seemed so near to it being closed?

Richard M. Schroder: One of the biggest things we’ve learned in all our research is that the main reason salespeople lose is because they are not actually selling to the decision maker. If a salesperson loses a deal and they never met with the actual decision maker then that alone is the reason they lost.

Most salespeople just look at a lost sale as gone, and then move on to the next prospect. Why do you consider this the wrong approach?

Richard M. Schroder: I’ve always believed that you learn more from your failures than from your successes. The best way to improve your sales effectiveness is to learn why you win and lose, so that you can reinforce your successful behaviors and rectify the selling deficiencies that are holding you back. It is only after you obtain accurate and candid feedback on your sales performance that you can institute meaningful change. By implementing a process for conducting better debrief calls, you will unlock a vast source of prospect information that will allow for continuous sales improvement and ultimately increase your close rate for years to come.



Richard M. Schroder (photo left)

You share seven steps for a successful post-decision debrief process. What are those seven steps?

Richard M. Schroder: There is a lot to be learned from losing a deal, yet most salespeople do not know how to gather accurate and meaningful information from prospects to learn from their losses. Salespeople often ask prospects why they lost a deal, but they typically don’t get a straight answer. In fact, according to proprietary sales research data, prospects tell salespeople the complete truth about why they lost less than half the time. In fact, research has shown that salespeople learn the complete and accurate truth about 40% of the time. In other words, in 60% of new business situations, salespeople do not have a complete and accurate understanding of why they lost. This situation begs the question: If salespeople don’t understand why they lose, how are they expected to improve their performance and ultimately win more business?

Below are seven ways for salespeople to improve their post-sales etiquette and get more candid feedback from prospects post-decision:

1) Give early notification that you will conduct a debrief (regardless of the outcome of the sale): In order to make the prospect comfortable and illicit honest and, more importantly, actionable feedback, you should let the prospect know early in the sales process that regardless of the outcome, you will be conducting a post-decision debrief call at the end of the process.

2) Schedule a separate debrief call: Do not debrief on the same call as when you hear about a loss. When you hear about a loss, prospects have one goal in mind: to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. Therefore, getting good feedback is always challenging. Instead, schedule a separate debrief call after you have accepted the loss and let the prospect know that you will not try to change their decision.

3) Use a debrief guide: Using a questionnaire maximizes feedback and keeps the conversation focused. As a result, research has shown that salespeople who use a debrief questionnaire have a 15% higher close rate than those who do not. Sample debrief guides can be downloaded at www.theanovagroup.com/debriefguide.htm.

4) Take responsibility: Make sure that you really want candid feedback; prospects will be able to tell if you don’t. Don’t get defensive or angry, don’t debate with the prospect and don’t try to resell the prospect.

5) Take notes: Tell the prospect that you’ll be taking notes. This will make them feel important and make them feel compelled to talk more. Your average debrief should last about 10-15 minutes.

6) Probe for specifics: Ask “How do you mean?” or “Say more.” Other great ways of getting candid feedback include asking, “How can I improve on this”, “How can I make it better?” or “Can I get your advice?”

7) Consider having someone else conduct your debriefs: Once you have a debrief guide, you could have someone else within your company conduct the debrief (such as an inside wholesaler or cold caller). You could also find someone outside of your company to do this work for you. If you are running a sales team, consider hiring an outside third party to conduct Win / Loss interviews on behalf of your entire sales team.

There are a number of steps in the program that differ from the usual concept of debriefing prospects. What are those differences and why are they important?

Richard M. Schroder: The big thing I tell salespeople is not to debrief on the same call where the prospect tells you that you have lost the deal. This is a major mistake and in most cases, you will not get any meaningful feedback from prospects during this discussion. Why are prospects not forthcoming when they call to tell you that you lost the business? One reason for this is that when a prospect calls to tell you that you lost the deal, his primary concern is to tell you the decision and get you off the phone as quickly as possible. No one likes to give someone bad news; therefore, prospects feel uncomfortable during these conversations and are looking to get the call over with as quickly as possible.

Another problem with trying to conduct a debrief interview at this time is that as the salesperson, you will typically feel rejected, defeated, deflated and defensive. That’s a lot of emotions to handle all at once, and no one enjoys going through rejection. Whatever emotions you have at this point will prohibit your ability to successfully debrief a prospect. You need time to reflect and allow yourself to gain composure after defeat. It is virtually impossible for you to have all the right questions to ask at this particular moment and to ask them in the right frame of mind.

Here is an example of how to ask for a debrief interview:

“Mr. Prospect, I understand your decision and I respect it. I’m disappointed, because I really wanted to work with you and your company but I’m not going to try to change your mind. I wish you all the best in the future. If you recall, I had mentioned to you that my company conducts debriefs at the end of every sales cycle and you agreed to debrief with me. We do this so that we can continually improve our sales process and product and service offering. Can we set up a time in the next week or so to speak for 15 minutes? It would really be helpful to me. Do you have your calendar handy?”

There are many key points to be aware of in the above example. For one, it is important to let the prospect know that you are not going to try to change his mind. By letting the prospect know that you have accepted the loss and that you will not try to change his decision, you are putting the prospect at ease and as a result, he will be more willing to talk to you. Also, you have let them achieve their main objective for the call and they will be calmed by this. Make sure to let them know that you don’t like to lose but that you do like to learn as much as possible from every loss.

How can a sales representative and a company create a tool to debrief prospects more effectively in the future?

Richard M. Schroder: As I mentioned, sample debrief guides can be downloaded at www.theanovagroup.com/debriefguide.htm. Any salesperson or sales team can start with these tools and customize them for their company’s products and services and their own sales process. If a company wants to take it to the next level, they should consider implementing a formal Win / Loss Analysis Program whereby an independent third party conducts the interviews on behalf of the sales team.

You describe a Win/Loss Analysis program. What is that program and why should sales managers consider adding it to their sales process?

Richard M. Schroder: One proven way to improve a sales team’s close rate is to implement what is popularly known as a Win / Loss Analysis program, whereby an independent third party interviews prospects after buying decisions have been made. Through this type of process sales teams can learn the true, candid reasons why they win and lose.

Below are a few reasons why every sales manager should consider implementing a formal, independent Win / Loss program for their sales team:

1) A third party interviewer can get the complete truth from prospects during post decision debriefs. Prospects are more candid when giving feedback and criticism to an independent third party because they don’t have to worry about hurting the salesperson’s feelings or fearing confrontation, criticism or reselling efforts from sales reps (who often become defensive while receiving feedback). Given the option to remain anonymous, a prospect can feel at ease with a third party interviewer inviting the prospect to share any issues he or she might have had with the salesperson, sales process or a company’s products or services.

2) Tailoring sales training with actual data and feedback from prospects is a huge opportunity for sales teams to improve their selling efforts. Every year, sales managers spend significant time and money training their salespeople. However, most companies do little to verify that salespeople are actually implementing the right tactics in their interactions with prospects. A Win / Loss Analysis program ensures that sales training focuses on the most critical and actionable sales performance issues.

3) Third party Win / Loss feedback can become a comprehensive senior management tool. A Win / Loss program delivers a reliable, objective and consistent tool that can be used by senior management to improve its products and services, as well as provide competitive intelligence. This information transcends the sales process and can become a critical conduit for strategic decisions.

The most important long-term goal and benefit of a Win / Loss Analysis program is to increase a company's new business win rate. This is achieved through an improved understanding of how a company's sales effectiveness, products and services compare with the competition.

There is significant opportunity for many sales managers to improve their sales teams’ close rates by better understanding prospect perceptions. Over time, Win / Loss Analysis can allow a sales team to charge ahead of its competition by continually keeping a pulse on industry trends, the competition, and needed enhancements to the sales process.

What is the first step that an organization should take toward having more great sales calls?

Richard M. Schroder: The first step to be taken is to fully understand why your sales team is winning and losing. This is the basis for winning more business.

What is next for Richard M. Schroder?

Richard M. Schroder: Writing a book while trying to grow a business is like trying to fix a flat tire while your car is still moving! I plan to regroup now and speak as much as possible on the subject to train salespeople on this overlooked final aspect of the sales process. I also plan to spend more time with my family since I spent many Sundays writing over the last year.

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My book review of From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best by Richard M. Schroder.

Richard M. Schroder is president of Anova Consulting Group, a leading market research, sales training and consulting firm. He is a sought-after speaker and a recognized thought leader in win/loss analysis and sales training. He is the author of a new book, From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best (McGraw-Hill, October, 2010). www.theanovagroup.com.

Tags: From a Good Sales Call to a Great Sales Call: Close More by Doing What You Do Best, Richard M. Schroder, enhanced sales techniques, business author interviews.

Kevin Davis: Slow Down, Sell Faster! - Author interview

Acclaimed sales training coach and President of TopLine Leadership, Inc., Kevin Davis, was kind enough to answer a few questions about his groundbreaking and sales transformational book Slow Down, Sell Faster! Understand Your Customer's Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales.

Kevin Davis describes how sales people fail to close sales because they try to sell too fast, fail to understand the buyer, and attempt to put the customer on their own schedule.

Thanks to Kevin Davis for his time, and for his interesting and comprehensive responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.






What was the background to writing this book Slow Down, Sell Faster! Understand Your Customer's Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales?

Kevin Davis: My first book, Getting into Your Customer’s Head was named one of the top 30 business books of the year in 1996. That was back in the days when being customer focused was still a novel idea. Two factors made me decide it was time to update my original book. First, times are much different now than back in 1996. More than ever, salespeople have to differentiate themselves based on how they sell, not just what they sell. Second, I’ve also had the privilege of working closely with clients in the design and delivery of our training program, and have been able to refine my original sales model even further. Slow Down, Sell Faster! is not just a revised edition of my first book, it is completely rewritten and updated, including new stories and examples.

Why do so many otherwise astute sales people so often rush through their sales presentations?

Kevin Davis: Good salespeople are enthusiastic and knowledgeable. It’s very hard to fight the urge to rush in and fix everything with good advice! Another problem is that salespeople been taught how to get through the steps of their sale quickly. What they haven’t been taught is how to slow down and get the customer to do more of the talking. They haven’t been taught that they need to pay attention to signals that tell them where the customer is in their buying process—which may lag far behind the salesperson’s selling process.

Does the prospect have a different internal timetable for buying that is often not matched with the seller's pace?

Kevin Davis: Often prospects have a timetable determined by their own business pressures, but the biggest factor is how long it takes them to get through each step of their buying process. They need time to evaluate just how big their need is—and whether the cost of making a chance is lower than the cost of doing nothing. They need time to determine what factors are most important, and evaluate different competitors.

Why should sales people match their speed to the buyer's pace?

Kevin Davis: A salesperson who is out-of-sync with a customer is a salesperson who will likely lose the sale. If a salesperson rushes through their own steps of selling, they create problems for themselves. For example, the customer may hear about features and benefits that don’t interest them (which will lead them to question the price). Worse, the customer will think they’ve heard everything valuable that the salesperson has to tell them—so the salesperson gets shut out of the picture just when the customer is starting to look around at competitors.



Kevin Davis (photo left)

Will slowing down the sales process work with single buyers and multiple buyers and purchasing teams as well?

Kevin Davis: Slowing down is important when dealing with every prospect. But it can be especially valuable when dealing with multiple buyers or purchasing teams because it means you’re going to take the time to define the needs of everyone involved in the purchasing decision. That will help you define a stronger position when it comes time to describe your solution and differentiators.

You recommend buyer-focused selling. What is that concept and why is it important?

Kevin Davis: Buying-focused selling means looking at the sales process through the eyes of the buyer. A salesperson may have been taught one way to present the functions, features, and “benefits” of the product or service they are selling. When they look at that solution through a customer’s eyes, they realize that benefits are meaningless unless they are tied to specific customer needs.

You describe eight different roles in buyer-focused selling. What are these eight, and is it important for sales people to understand and recognize them all?

Kevin Davis: The eight roles are basically a memory device I came up with to help salespeople match their sales behaviors to where the customer is in the buying process. Six sales roles match the buying process up to the point of sale, and two roles describe the post-sale responsibilities necessary to create customer loyalty.

Each role is named after a profession that captures the types of behaviors that will help a salesperson best serve a customer who is in a particular step of the buying process. The eight roles—listed in the order that matches the steps of customer buying—are Student, Doctor, Architect, Coach, Therapist, Negotiator, Teacher, and Farmer.

For example, the Doctor role is a match to customers who have just recognized they are unhappy with their current situation and begun to think that it may be desirable to make a change. The Doctor steps in and helps the “patient” fully diagnose their needs and the potential impact of action or non-action.

The important part of this model isn’t so much that people memorize these eight roles, but that they understand how to best help customers buy.

How can a sales person move toward being a coach and guide for the eight types?

Kevin Davis: The most effective salespeople are those who coach and guide themselves. There are built-in milestones and other questions I provide in the book and my training courses that not only help salespeople prepare better for calls but also debrief themselves afterwards—essentially becoming their own coach.

The milestones are also great checkpoints for sales managers to review what their sales reps are doing, giving the manager opportunities to coach and guide staff early in the sales process—where I can have the biggest effect.

What is the first step a sales person should take toward slowing down their sales process?

Kevin Davis: Before the next conversation with any customer, the salesperson should take 5 minutes to think about where that customer is in their buying process and what he or she, the salesperson, needs to do to help the customer through that buying step. (It’s unlikely the answer will be “rush through my presentation.”) They also need to think about the go-forward commitments they want from the customer—specific actions they want the customer to take.

What is next for Kevin Davis?

Kevin Davis: My next focus is on improving sales management. I’ve met a lot of sales managers who were once stellar salespeople. But the skills needed to manage a sales team are a lot different from the skills that make someone a great salesperson. Yet few companies I’ve seen invest in training their sales managers—even though that would give them more leverage. Develop an effective sales manager and you can improve the whole team. Someone who is great at coaching, leading, and motivating the sales team is one of the best assets a company can has. I want to encourage companies to invest more in their sales managers.

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Author Bio

Kevin Davis, author of Slow Down, Sell Faster! Understand Your Customer's Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales, is President of TopLine Leadership, Inc., a leading sales and sales management training company serving clients from diverse sectors. He has 30+ years of experience as a salesperson, sales manager, sales trainer, and consultant. His 1996 book Getting Into Your Customer's Head helped redefine how salespeople approach selling.

For more information about the book please visit http://www.slowdownsellfaster.com/ and connect with the author on Facebook and Twitter.

My book review of Slow Down, Sell Faster! Understand Your Customer's Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales by Kevin Davis.

Tags: Slow Down, Sell Faster! Understand Your Customer's Buying Process and Maximize Your Sales, Kevin Davis, enhanced sales techniques, business author interviews.

Al Weatherhead: The Power of Adversity - Author interview

Albert J. Weatherhead, chairman and CEO of Weatherchem, a private manufacturer of plastic closures for food, spice, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products, was kind enough to take the time to answer a few questions about his inspirational and deeply moving book The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better.

Al Weatherhead describes how the serious and life changing, and even life threatening power of adversity can transform a person through the experience of dramatic personal growth.

Thanks to Al Weatherhead for his time, and for his fascinating and comprehensive responses to the questions. They are greatly appreciated.



What was the background to writing this book The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better?

Al Weatherhead: I’ve had my share of major adversity. I have been a drunk. I’ve endured failed business ventures… failed marriages… and I’ve suffered the terrors of clinical depression, crippling arthritis and terrifying heart disease.

I had sunk as low as I thought one could go. Then things turned around for me. Today, for example, I am a recovered alcoholic. I’m deeply in love with my wife. I have conquered both my depression and my arthritis, and my body now shows no physical evidence of heart disease. In addition, I’ve been able to build a multi-million dollar manufacturing company that provided me with the means to be a major philanthropist, endowing hospitals, universities and charities which offer valuable help to thousands of people.

Why was I able to persevere over my adversity? This question tormented and fascinated me. What did I do in my life that I wasn’t doing when adversity was threatening to overwhelm me? How had I changed?

My introspection provided me with a sudden illumination. I came to understand the power of adversity and some of the lessons it can teach us, starting with the all important truth that we are not meant, in the grand scheme of life, to be happy and comfortable. Rather, we are meant to forge our characters on the anvil of adversity.

And so I formulated the premises of this book, which is that most of us experience monumental periods of adversity and it’s these devastating setbacks which propel us in our quest to become fully and creatively human. Sometimes we get stuck, so stuck, in fact, that only great pain will impel us to move. It’s then that the power of adversity is revealed. But to see it requires a new way of looking at the world, a radical shifting of perspective, which share with readers of my book.

What do you mean by adversity, and does it mean different things for different people?

Al Weatherhead: In my book I’m not talking about daily irritations such as traffic jams, computer glitches, and so on. We can usually shrug those off pretty well. I’m referring to tragic, life-changing adversity like cancer, divorce, and getting fired.

Such major adversity can drive any of us to contemplate the unthinkable: committing suicide quickly with a gun, a razor blade or an overdose of pills, or killing ourselves more slowly but just as effectively, by drowning our pain in booze, or obliterating it, along with our minds, with mood-altering addictive drugs.

Of course, a person’s sense of a particular adversity will depend on their circumstances and personalities. For some, a divorce is an adversity to be shrugged off. For others, separating from a spouse can be devastating. But whatever we our particular adversity, when we embrace our problems using my techniques we can empower ourselves to achieve unimagined success.

You recommend embracing adversity while most people would prefer to avoid it. Why is embracing adversity so important?

Al Weatherhead: Alcoholics Anonymous taught me that the easiest (and most useless) response for a drunk is the geographical cure: go somewhere else and hide. Temporarily the problems seem to diminish, but wherever you go, your problems always go with you. Such an escape is a delusion.

Geographical cures –like all forms of problem avoidance – only change the external circumstances of adversity, but the interior roads of negative motivation and emotion remain unexplored. That’s why our adversity would like nothing more than for us to try to avoid it. The more we do so, the stronger its negative influence becomes.

So resist the temptation to avoid your adversity. Instead, embrace it! Temper yourself on the anvil of your adversity using my techniques and you’ll move ever closer to mastering your troubles, and be that much more at peace.



Al Weatherhead (photo left)

You describe adversity as building walls to tear down. What do you mean by that?

Al Weatherhead: When you let adversity build walls around you, you have the safety of those walls. But you can’t see out. And nobody can see in. You may think you’re in a fortress. But you’re really in a prison enduring solitary confinement.

My illnesses gave me the wake-up calls I needed in this regard. Until I got sick with rheumatoid arthritis I thought I could conquer anything and everything. I didn’t need anybody, and booze would get me through. But getting sick the way I did – first with RA and then with heart disease – showed me that I needed help if I was going to make it, and I became willing to ask for it. This was something I had to learn how to do, and I’m glad I did, because it changed my life.

Tearing down the walls of adversity by reaching out to others isn’t the only way to progress. You can also escape adversity’s shadow by finding something – anything –you think you can do to tackle the problem you’re confronting. I present a methodology for doing this in my book.

Suffice to say that the adversity we perceive as an exterior problem is often really the symptom of a problem deep within ourselves. It is only by tearing down the walls of adversity that those deep-rooted issues will at long last be revealed, advancing us on our journey to master adversity.

The economy is going through a difficult period, yet you see opportunity where others see dismay. Why do you consider this time to be an opportunity?

Al Weatherhead: First and foremost, life is nothing but opportunities that may come to us disguised as adversity. Second, as with personal adversity, professional adversity is not a curse, but a gift. When we embrace professional adversity during touch economic times, we receive a tempering of our professional viability that can empower us to achieve unimagined success.

The tips I share in my book on how to be proactive concerning adversity can help any businessperson leverage adversity to reach new heights of professional success in a tough economy. For example, we’ve talked a little bit about tearing down the walls that adversity builds. One can apply that lesson in business by networking with colleagues or collaborating with employees.

If you’re looking for work, proactively reach out to others for help and your options will multiply. If you are a business owner and your business is currently suffering, walk around and talk to all your employees. Ask: How can we improve this place? What’s wrong here?

Tear down the walls and I guarantee you will get more valuable information in just a few hours than you could possibly act upon in a year!

When a businessperson uses my advice, he or she can seize myriad opportunities and become the master of adversity during tough economic times – as well as when financial prosperity once again returns, which I’m confident it will.

You see problem solving as a joy. That view is not shared by everyone. Why do you suggest looking at problem solving in a fresh and positive light?

Al Weatherhead: As I said above, life’s opportunities and adversities are two sides of the same coin, so we certainly can’t avoid problem solving. If that’s the case, why not make it a joy by looking at our problems in a fresh and positive light?

When I have a problem to solve, I don’t say, I have to do it. I say, I have it to do. This helps me take control of my adversity – and my life.

If you think that’s just semantics, please think again. Your adversity is real. It can’t be banished. But it can be transformed by your perspective!

As I explain in my book, this shifting of perspective allows ones to look at life, what happens to us and what we do in a profoundly different way, which is a primary step to mastering adversity.

As the Baby Boom enters to what is considered traditionally to be the retirement years, you suggest an alternative way of looking at life changes. Is traditional retirement the only option?

Al Weatherhead: Of course traditional retirement is not the only option! I believe age is a state of mind. What’s more, if you embrace practicing my approach to dealing with life’s trials and tribulations, you’ll discover a personal fountain of youth that will provide you with the physical, spiritual and emotional energy to experience the world with a child’s wonder and delight.

The number one factor to maintaining your youth is to develop a youthful perspective – by keeping a positive mindset. The mind, overwhelmed by fear, can be like a drop of mercury on a table, slithering and breaking into wildly evasive squirts and pieces. On the other hand, the mind when positively rooted in a deep passion for life, is more certain and powerful than the forces which rotate the earth.

You will go a long way toward overcoming your adversities that do so much to age you when you avail yourself of the power of positive thinking. I know this to be true because it is that same power that enabled me to control my alcoholism, beat arthritis and accomplish what was once considered impossible: total reversal of heart disease.

You see, staying young is all about choice. So choose to be young – or restore your youth – by thinking positively with the right imagery. Decide now to regain the healing optimism we all once had as infants learning to walk, when we took our first albeit wobbly but determined steps into our bright futures!

Many business people, after building a successful company, fail to have a succession plan. Why is this the case and what should they do about it?

Al Weatherhead: Succession planning is difficult to tackle because it forces you to confront your own mortality by changing your mindset to visualize the day when you will no longer be around.

Tension, conflict, fear, emotional hurt – all the hallmarks of adversity – will be with you every step of the way in succession planning. But like it or not, change is coming. Get moving right away to confront it. The sooner you begin to address the complexities of succession planning, the longer you’ll have to be around to help the transition go smoothly for your business.

How can new leaders be groomed the right way to make a seamless transition to a new generation of leaders for the company?

Al Weatherhead: Your business is a living, breathing, growing thing, and so should be your relationship with your new management team. You know best the heartbeat of your company, and if you hire executive talent who share the rhythms of that heartbeat, they will enthusiastically and successfully lead your company – if you allow them do so!

Give your new team free rein to explore (under your benevolent watchfulness) even the seemingly dumbest ideas. One of two things will happen. Either they will surprise and delight you by persuading you that their notions are sound, or your patience will be rewarded as your questioning and prodding guides them to realize for themselves that their proposed course of action is ill-advised.

Bottom line: let your new team have the time and space to take root; to let them realize their own great successes and small failures as they learn for themselves the practical business lessons that you once had to learn. It’s my bet that your new team will take far less time than you took to master those lessons!

What is the first step a person should take toward taking a more positive approach to adversity in these seemingly difficult times?

Al Weatherhead: The most important advice I can give is to take advantage of all the new opportunities presented in your personal unending stream – and infinite bounty – of adversity. Remember:

* Adversity is all powerful – either it creates misery or destroys it.
* Adversity will always hurt – it is up to us to transform that hurt into limitless freedom and positive transformation
* Adversity is the bridge that can carry us to our future – where we can live fully, bravely and meaningfully in the world.

Approach your adversity with enthusiasm and a “can-do” positve spirit and you’ll be buoyed along the river of life with its inevitable daily surprises – good and bad.

What is next for Al Weatherhead?

Al Weatherhead: At my age you would probably forgive me if I chose to spend my time reminiscing about the past... If I lost myself in happy, misty reveries of days spent with old and dear friends... But for me, that could never be. I relish the present moment and planning for the future!

Over 40 years ago I started my company with faith, trust, enthusiasm, energy – and one product for two customers. Today I still revel in going to work each day in the best plastics closure company in America!

On a typical day I may chat with a plant worker and feel the surge of human connection... engage in one of my philanthropic causes and experience the sweetness of knowing that I am making a positive difference in the world...swim laps in a pool, scudding through the water like a cloud through the blue sky as I meditate on the miracle and mantra of my breathing…and end each day talking with my wife, sharing all that has passed between us and anticipating all that is yet to come...

All these great old and new joys I owe to my blessed enemy, adversity. My life is not perfect. No life can be. Adversity still haunts and taunts me. But I will never let it suck me back into the shadows. Instead, I will continue to grow by taking advantage of all the new opportunities presented to me by my own, personal unending stream – and infinite bounty – of adversity.

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My book review of The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better by Al Weatherhead with Fred Feldman.

Albert J. Weatherhead is the author of The Power of Adversity: Tough Times Can Make You Stronger, Wiser, and Better and chairman and CEO of Weatherchem, a private manufacturer of plastic closures for food, spice, pharmaceutical and nutraceutical products. Please visit www.powerofadversity.net or www.weatherchem.com for more information.

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