Have a purposeful new year

As you take stock of last year and face the new year, what do you hope to accomplish? And how do you plan to get there? Because we all need a plan.

If you missed the On-Purpose Leadership Experience last fall, please take the opportunity to join Kevin McCarthy for a free webcast preview of the January edition. This program is sponsored by our chamber.

I attended last fall, and it was a real eye-opener. Kevin's On-Purpose method helped me build a framework to figure out what to do -- and what to stop doing. Articulating my purpose helped me see what parts of my life fit and which don't. it helped me focus on which goals are really important, and which ones I can set aside for awhile.

No matter how good or how challenging your life has been lately, don't go another year without really knowing who you are, who you can become, and how to get there.

Register online for the preview, and prepare to enter the new year with purpose.

Mark & Brodie's Christmas Message

To reach younger consumers, think globally

I had to go to Germany to get the right watchband. What strikes me as odd is not that I paid twenty euros for a watchband, but that I could only find one store that had the size, color, and material I wanted. That the store was in Germany was almost -- but not entirely -- irrelevant. There was the price of shipping and the exchange rate to think about.

Other than that, once I found a website with a product that met my admittedly picky specifications, I placed my order, logged into PayPal, and sent my funds off to Uhrenbandversand in Oranienburg. In a little over a week, I received my package by luftpost.

Pollster John Zogby places me and my contemporaries in an age cohort he calls “Nikes,” because our motto, he says, is “just do it.” This is the group also known as “Generation X,” that hard-to-pin-down bunch that followed the baby boomers. After us comes what Zogby calls the “First Globals,” those born 1979–90. Even more than I, with my euro-spending ways, First Globals see a world without borders.

Understanding First Globals is necessary for marketing to them, and in his book The Way We’ll Be, Zogby details their worldview. Regarding the Kyoto accords, the International Criminal Court and the role of the United Nations, he says, their position is “sharply at odds with the generations just ahead of them.”

To get them to listen to whatever you’re selling, you have to get down to where they are. You have to make yourself equally a citizen of planet Earth, and you need to recognize that, for them, embracing diversity isn’t a matter of political correctness but a habit of mind.

The Way We’ll Be is packed with demographic information not only about different generations but about different mindsets. Zogby describes the major movements in our culture: living with limits, embracing diversity, looking inward, and demanding authenticity. This book is an excellent resource for understanding these movements, which will be key to reaching whatever demographic is your target market.

To reach First Globals, Zogby says you must stretch your borders. Though their worldview may differ from yours, you can successfully reach them by “opening doors, not closing them.”

If you stretch the borders of your business far enough, you might even make customers of First Globals in Germany.

And a little child shall lead the gadget design market

One of my favorite verses is Proverbs 21:5--“The plans of the diligent lead to profit as surely as haste leads to poverty.” It’s a reminder that accomplishing business goals takes time, planning, and hard work.

Photo of dzdock One by dzlabs

This ingenious gadget, designed by an 11-year-old, is evidence of what such diligence can lead to. Dino Zaharakis noticed that many iPad and iPhone holders don’t accommodate devices in a case or with the cord attached. He also noticed that although many products are designed in the USA, few are made here.

Instead of just bemoaning the trade deficit, Zaharakis applied himself to designing a "one for all” gadget stand. His design is a wonder of simplicity. Then his dad helped bring this idea into reality.

The Zaharakis family lives the not-so-fondly named “rust belt.” They chose local companies to manufacture the final product. As the dzdock website says, “American-made. American-designed. Yes, we can still do it!”

In applying diligence to bring his concept to fruition, Dino Zaharakis reminds me of another great verse: 1 Timothy 4:12--“Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example…”

Do you have a product manufactured locally? Tell us your story.

Discerning God's will — the executive summary

We often struggle with decisions, wondering whether what we are preparing to do is God’s will or our own. Making Godly Decisions by Os Hillman is the most concise teaching I have found on the subject.

Hillman’s advice is focused on four main areas:

• Hearing the voice of God
• Decision-making methods
• Confirmation processes
• Timing for implementation

This book is scripturally based and includes real-life anecdotes to illustrate the principles given. Each chapter includes questions for reflection, journaling, or group discussion. It is available as a paperback or as an e-book.

Making Godly Decisions is full of common sense, but also full of Biblical sense, which is sometimes uncommon. For example, Hillman says “the final determining factor on whether we should do something is whether God has directed us to do it, not whether it makes sense.”

I appreciate the conciseness of this book. I have heard of publishers that will not accept very brief books. Presumably they are not worth the effort to print. Nonsense. In just 80 pages, Hillman sums up the subject very well, leaving me feeling, for the first time in -- well, ever -- that I get it. Any more would have been fluff. Don’t we already have too much fluff to deal with?

In reading this book, the most important lesson you learn may be, as was the case for me, that you already know more about godly decision-making that you realize.

Christian HELP assists the unemployed, hurting, and hungry. In its 18 years, it has produced astounding results for job seekers, with over 71,000 people connected with jobs. The need is still great, with unemployment in Florida at 11.9 percent and poverty rising.

Christian HELP has also distributed 6.8 million pounds of food. The center's 2,000-square-foot food pantry prevents people from choosing between paying their bills and feeding their families.

Christian HELP is a safe place for all job seekers regardless of faith. Its volunteers give Bibles to any job seeker who wants one.

Recognized as a model faith-based organization by the White House in 2003, Christian HELP and its Central Florida Employment Council Division help people get jobs in the following ways:

One on one employment counseling
Job skills classes
An online job board
Six major job fairs
Employment seminars

Consider supporting this ministry by volunteering, by donating to its food pantry, or by donating to the Bible fund.

To learn more, contact chamber member Sandi Vidal (407) 497-3329. She can also provide you with a DVD of this video:

Every manager should read this book

How Full is Your Bucket? by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton, is based on the simple metaphor of a bucket and a dipper. Each of us has a bucket that is continually filled or drained by our interactions with other people. Positive encounters fill us up, and negative encounters drain us.

Among the authors' key points:

• The Number One reason people leave their jobs is they don't feel appreciated.
• Praise must be meaningful and specific.
• Recognition is most appreciated and effective when it is individualized, specific, and deserved.
• We are at our best when our buckets are full, and at our worst when they are empty.
• Every interaction is an opportunity to fill someone's bucket — or drain it.
• When we fill other people's buckets, we simultaneously fill our own.

Like parents who focus on the F's on a report card rather than the A's, many managers focus on critiquing weaknesses rather than developing strengths.

Mind you, it's not possible to simply offer groundless praise. As the authors note, "positivity must be grounded in reality." They cite the pointlessness of "Employee of the Month" programs, because inevitably — in the interests of "fairness" — every employee gets one. I've also seen workplaces where the award just moves about between a select few high performers, which may be more honest but doesn't do anything to lift up the mid-level performers.

Every worker has room for improvement. But consider a method used by many writers' groups, including the one I belong to. It's called the "sandwich method," though being a bookish person, I prefer to think of it as bookends.

Start with a genuine compliment, then give constructive feedback on what needs fixing, then end with more praise for strong points. Employees, like students, and writers, need to build on their strengths in addition to improving their weaknesses.

Individualization is important, because while one worker may appreciate a plaque to hang on the wall, another might prefer some extra time off to spend with family. To aid in this, the book includes a "Bucket Filling Interview," which can help managers learn about what really motivates each employee.

How Full is Your Bucket? will not only help managers encourage employees, it will help anyone see where they've been missing opportunities to fill other people's buckets.