Improving My Gratitude Attitude

What can I say? It appears that the world is going to hell in a hand basket. None of us need to look very far for disturbing reports of economic meltdowns, unemployment and war. I am no fortune-teller but the writing is on the wall. I AM a prognosticator...but not today.

We are about to celebrate Thanksgiving Day here in The United States of America. It is a day to give thanks, celebrate the gifts we have, even making it up so we can feel good for just one day. It's not how much we have materially, but the people and events that we have been blessed with throughout the year.

I have an amazing amount to be thankful for on the outer; contracts signed, word of mouth marketing is happening, recognition from the AMA, I signed with a speakers bureau last week, finishing up my second book, my keynote work and workshops on Millennials and generational issues is paying off.

 I was even featured in Forbes last month:

How to Sell Your Ideas to Millennials.

Life is good outwardly. Inwardly though, I am grateful, scared, on edge and filled with excitement...all rolled into one big ball of feelings. This is the time on this journey to reflect and prepare for going big, or going home. As Malcolm Gladwell calls it, I am at The Tipping Point for my career; when all the hard work, and effort begin to pay off.

So, when I tell you I am looking forward to a day off with family and good food, that is an understatement. I know deep down inside that my life is about to get intense.

Now I could go on and on with my own gratitude list and bore you. Instead, I'd like to share with you, the great work, and the people I am grateful for.

First up, Todd Cherches

Seven Simple Ways to
Make This Thanksgiving a
“Thinks-Giving” Celebration

Todd has become an astounding advocate of my work. We did a fantastic blog series this summer that covered the generational issues of interviewing and building your career. ALL from a generational perspective.

Here is a recap of our four-part series on generational issues in the workplace: 

1: Five Things Millennials Need to Know When Being Interviewed
    by a Baby Boomer. 

2: Five Myths About Millennials That Boomers and Gen Xers
    Need to Let Go Of. 

3: When the Tables Are Turned: 5 Things Boomers and Gen X Need to Think
    About When Being Interviewed By a Millennial.

4: Is Gen X The Jan Brady of The Generations?

Todd is doing some AMAZING work himself and I can't wait to introduce you to the things he is doing in the coming year.

Todd's company is Big Blue Gumball. They make training entertaining.

Second, is Judy Carter

Author, speech coach, and comedy guru Judy Carter knows the power of personal stories and teaches how to use them to get laughs, connect with clients, promote businesses, and discover the message of you. I suggest you pick up her books and take her workshops. 

Here is her latest TEDxBayArea Talk:
 

Your M-E-S-S is Your Message.

And now a shout out to Susie Miller: The Better Relationship Coach for our Blab Series on Boomers Unederstanding Millennials and Millennials Understanding Boomers.

Here is our introductory episode:

Or you can watch the shows on Blab: 

Episode 1: The Baby Boomer Parents Guide to Millennials & The Next Generation

Epsiode 9: Boomers &Millennials: Understanding Each Other--Millennials as Parents! This second to last episode was so popular —600 attendees— that we did a part 2. Enjoy.

Last but not least, Denise Griffitts & Tony Rubleski.

Denise Griffitts is the host of Your Partners In Success and has interviewed some pretty famous entrepreneurs (including me). Tony Rubleski is the author of the MindCapture book series and marketing, coaching company of the same name. His latest book Trailblazers is the FOURTH in the series and delves DEEPLY into 12 entrepreneurs who beat the odds.

Listen in as my 2 friends discuss some amazing people...

Leadership Lessons from 10 Trailblazers
Who Beat the Odds & Influenced Millions

Now I've been on the show 4 times but this is an EPIC interview...
2 of my favorite people did a great interview. Listen in.

 

Thank you everyone for reading this far, and taking an interest in my work...

Enjoy your day of thanksgiving. And enjoy enjoy the blogs, interviews and videos;-) I find that what I surround myself with, shifts my attitude.


Surround yourself with positivity my friends. A hard thing in this day and age...or perhaps, easier than we may think.

Brad Szollose

Global Business Adviser and Consultant
on Millennials and Workforce Performance Strategies

Brad Szollose is a global business adviser and the foremost authority on Generational Issues and Workforce Engagement Strategies.

Author of the award-winning, bestseller Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia, Brad is a former C-level executive of a publicly traded company that he cofounded that went from entrepreneurial start-up to IPO in three years; the first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His company K2 Design, experienced 425% hyper-growth, due in part to a unique management style that won his company the Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.

Known for his humorous and thought-provoking presentations, Brad’s keynotes and workshops are highly interactive, heart-warming, and filled with high-content information that challenge assumptions and help leaders and managers create a better work environment for innovation to thrive.

Today, Brad helps smart companies like Dell and MasterCard, understand just how much technology has transformed a new generation, and how that impacts corporate culture, management interaction, expectations, productivity and sales in The Information Age. 

* 2011 Axiom Business Book silver medal winner in the leadership

* #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

Liquid Leadership by Brad Szollose is available at all major bookstores and for Kindle, Nook, iPad and Sony ereaders. Internationally published in India and S. Korea.

Are You Preparing Millennials to Lead? Then You Need a New Set of Tools.

Photo Credit: Bigstock #86408645 Millennial Teenage Girls through agreement with Smith Durant

Telling a Millennial that they need to stick to a five to ten year business model will be met with complete skepticism. Here’s why.

The reason the business development cycle is three months out instead of five years is due to several influences: digital devices, email and big data have given us the power to get more work done in less time with more accuracy.

Technology has also given us the ability to work from anywhere we want regardless of location even on a modest budget. Skype for instance gives a small business access to international videoconferencing for pennies. This allows smaller startups to compete for the same low hanging fruit that well-established behemoths used to ignore.

As Olympian Vince Poscente puts it, like it or not, “
we are in the age of speed.”

And with that said, any coach, regardless of generation who is still clinging to the 20^th Century models will not survive the milieu of coaches about to join your ranks.

And besides, Millennial business owners want to move fast.

But here is where Millennial coaches and business advisers will have the hardest time; cracking the generational mindset of older established business professionals. Let me explain, if we go back in time, to the 70s no one was seeking the advice of a 25 year old. Age determined rank in the boomer world, and that ideology of age+experience=trust is present to this day.

Inside EVERY Baby Boomer’s head is something I have labeled the Career Path Paradigm. At 20 a person was to start in the mail room. Know your place in the organization. Sit down. Shut up and listen. Hard work and sweat would get you noticed. No one is interested in what a 20-something has to say. At 30, you might get noticed and move up in rank. Stability starts at 30. You were supposed to get married and buy a house and start a family. By 40 you get a middle management position and 50 gets you the corner office and a title and keys to the executive washroom.

Although this model is over, Millennial Coaches will have to overcome this very real belief still sitting in the nooks and crannies of anyone over 50.

If you are a Millennial Coach selling to a Boomer, I suggest you enter with a diverse team made up of Gen X and Boomers. Even if it is just your advisory team, do it f you want to make the boomer comfortable.

___________________________________________________________________

Learn more about this topic:
Watch an exclusive webinar from Brad Szollose & Nathan Smith on Are Millennials Destroying Business As We Know It?

___________________________________________________________________

 

What about coaching the Millennial-owned startup?

Two close business associates invited me to a breakfast meeting. The topic? Could I groom a Millennial business owner? Although the young man was a genius at 28—his entire business centered around a multi-million dollar app he had developed. His entire business was a digital product. As they filled me in, I realized the young wunderkind was intelligent, but sloppy, said inappropriate things and was inexperienced at business structure.

My job is to groom this young man for the C-Suite. I have one year to get him ready.

Since I have a deep understanding of Millennials, my job will be simple. For the rest of you, here are a few tips;

1) Millennials are friends with their parents.
Use that to your advantage.

What that means is as children they were privy to conversations that previous generations never had with their parents. This included getting career advice and mentorship lessons since they were 5. In other words, Millennials weren’t raised by parents, they were raised by advisers. The hierarchy in the household was flattened in favor of collaboration.

To work with this generation, become a partner in their success. Sounds exhausting but a Millennial will need far more "hands on" than other clients. Why you may ask? Well, although they had deep relationships with their parents and teachers growing up, they may not have the same business polish that was expected of Gen X and Boomers at the same age.

Huge chunks of knowledge is missing from their experience. And you as a consultant, a coach, (or mentor), will need to explain why things need to get done in a certain way in a particular order.

2) Harness their innovation before they get cynical.

Because Millennials are not trained in traditional business methodologies they break the rules. BUT, they don’t know they are breaking the rules. This is a good thing because like any breakthrough entrepreneur, innovation is what wins the day.

But show them that creating cool products can also go hand-in-hand with traditional business structures. A Results Only Work Environment is best for creating an environment that Millennials respect, but at the same time, celebrate the importance of deadlines and systems. In a ROWE environment output is 32% higher than traditional business hierarchies.

Celebrate Innovation and counter intuitive solutions. THAT is what Millennials do best.

The new Holacracy trend is great and all, but unless you have money to burn through before that first product takes root, I suggest sticking to a ROWE model.

3) Build Fast and Sell…BUT, Prepare them for the Long Haul as well.

While you show the Digital Native that you aren’t their grandfather’s business coach, build a rapport that is based on results. Building a start-up into a viable company for acquisition is every entrepreneur’s dream. And it is a hot trend. BUT, teaching valuable business lessons that create a lasting legacy is far more important for the future of your business as well as theirs.

You see, we all work in the One Off environment. But how would you like to be rehired years later when that young entrepreneur is a leader at another company? Or creating a deep dive array of coaching services that grow as the organization grows? For myself I’ve had to add 9 month and one year programs to my consulting simply because I realized one workshop, a keynote or a 6 week engagement weren’t really enough to create a sea change. For a broad transformation that is felt throughout the organization, I needed a team, and my team needs to get inside the organization for 9 months minimum.

Long term, versus short term.
Which do you think is better?

Also, don’t wear a tie. Millennials like to be comfortable at work, and so should you. I wear a Hugo Boss suit with a fitted dress shirt and a silk handkerchief with expensive sunglasses. Even Millennials in flip-flops appreciate casual elegance.

So get in there. There’s money to be made, and companies to help build.

Brad Szollose

Global Business Adviser and Consultant
on Millennials and Workforce Performance Strategies

This Blog Post originally appeared on the Smith Durant Blog: 

Thank you. If you wish to know more about Smith Durant, Nathan Smith, Michael Durant, Lee Constantine and the work we are doing together...click on their logo below:

___________________________________________________________________

Learn more about this topic:
Watch an exclusive webinar from Brad Szollose & Nathan Smith on Are Millennials Destroying Business As We Know It?

Brad Szollose is a global business adviser and the foremost authority on Generational Issues and Workforce Engagement Strategies.

Author of the award-winning, bestseller Liquid Leadership: From Woodstock to Wikipedia, Brad is a former C-level executive of a publicly traded company that he cofounded that went from entrepreneurial start-up to IPO in three years; the first Dot Com Agency to go public on NASDAQ. His company K2 Design, experienced 425% hyper-growth, due in part to a unique management style that won his company the Arthur Andersen NY Enterprise Award for Best Practices in Fostering Innovation.

Known for his humorous and thought-provoking presentations, Brad’s keynotes and workshops are highly interactive, heart-warming, and filled with high-content information that challenge assumptions and help leaders and managers create a better work environment for innovation to thrive.

Today, Brad helps smart companies like Dell and MasterCard, understand just how much technology has transformed a new generation, and how that impacts corporate culture, management interaction, expectations, productivity and sales in The Information Age. 

* 2011 Axiom Business Book silver medal winner in the leadership

* #1 Amazon Best-Selling Author

"I just had my mind blown..." - A.S., Vistage, New York

Liquid Leadership by Brad Szollose is available at all major bookstores and for Kindle, Nook, iPad and Sony ereaders. Internationally published in India and S. Korea.