Turning Inside Out -- Dr. Gary Gabel at TEDxDetroit Conference

The thoughts that dominate your mind have gotten you where you are today….

They've also kept you where you are today.

This was one of the messages that Chief Executive Boards International member Gary Gabel shared with attendees at the TEDxDetroit Conference in October.

Click on the link: http://j.mp/2CuZlT to watch Gary's presentation. It is only 15 minutes long, but it packs a wallop in terms of message. Over 700 people have viewed this message since it was posted on YouTube three weeks ago, and hundreds of tweets have gone out with excerpts from his talk.

One of the interesting concepts Gary presents is the idea of "negathoughts," a term he coined that represents thoughts we have that are unproductive or disabling. These negathoughts can be about ourselves, our company or our customers. To the extent your employees hold negathoughts about your company or your customers, their actions are probably working against you.

I have talked with Gary, and he has provided CEBI a worksheet that you can copy and use with employees. There's also a Leader's Guide that will assist you in managing the discussion.

You might simply call a short staff meeting where you show the video of Gary's talk on YouTube, distribute the worksheets and discuss the types of negathoughts circulating around the company and how they impact the company. You can then explore how to come up with more productive alternatives.

Download the Leader Guide: www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/files/TurningInsideOutTrainingSession.doc
Download the Worksheet: http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/Files/IdentifyingYourNegathinkWorksheet1.doc

If you use this video and/or worksheet in your organization, please click "Comments" below and share your experience with others.

Note: Gary is also an author of a book with similar themes, Personal Takeover: Create a Professional Life Full of Optimism, Energy, and Impact

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Terry Weaver


CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

This Recovery is Not a Mirage

While the popular press continues to find reasons for worry, the recovery of the US economy is underway. If you're still hunkered down, it's time to stick your head up out of the foxhole, look around, and step up your new-business acquisition machine. As someone recently said, "I'm gaining market share by keeping my doors open."

Surely, if you're still standing, there are fewer competitors out there. And those who have fallen have left unserved or underserved customers -- there for the taking.

Consider the broad indicators confirming the economy's current direction:

• New claims for unemployment insurance have dropped for each of the past 5 weeks. -


• November job losses were one tenth those in October (11,000 vs. 110,000).


• In revised reports, 159,000 fewer jobs were lost in September and October than first reported


• GDP expanded for the third quarter, and the fourth quarter is expected to follow suit-


• Productivity is up again, for the 3rd quarter, this time by a whopping 8% (2nd quarter was a 6.9% gain). Despite the number of unemployed, those still employed are cranking out goods and services at a record pace.


• Mortgage applications are up, thanks to record low interest rates


• The economy and the stock market shook off the Dubai debt crisis without looking back


• Retailers reported slight improvement of Black Friday sales vs. 2008, along with a strong increase in Cyber Monday sales (expected to be an all-time record for single-day online sales)

Most importantly, the Federal Reserve's monetary policy remains very loose, keeping interest rates low. This single action by a single Government entity will continue to fuel an economic expansion, just as it has in every economic "cycle" in the past. By "cycle", I mean the ups and downs in the US economy driven, by and large, by the monetary policy of the Federal Reserve. The prevalent idea of a "double-dip" recession appears unlikely any time soon, unless the Fed miscalculates as it subsequently tightens up the money supply.

Once the Fed decides the economy is growing again at a sufficient rate, monetary policy will tighten up. Money supply will be reduced and interest rates will climb to something matching the GDP growth rate -- hopefully, not a lot higher.

So, until that happens, the sun is shining on American business. Let's make some hay!

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Terry Weaver


CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

The First Obama Christmas, Per the Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal, Saturday, November 28, 2009:

"In this, the first Obama Christmas, the nation finds itself tentative, apprehensive, uncharacteristically indecisive."

That sentence pretty much sums up the attitude of many business owners this season. The prolonged duration of this recession seems to have worn down even the most resilient of entrepreneurs.

It's time, however, to recalibrate our attitudes. Brian Wesbury, author of It's Not as Bad as You Think: Why Capitalism Trumps Fear and the Economy Will Thrive, calls what we've just been through "The Panic of 2008". He argues that this recession was entirely the result of an artificially-induced undermining of financial assets, created by Government intervention in free markets. Those actions, according to Wesbury, led to the Lehman collapse, the first domino in The Panic of 2008.

Wesbury makes the argument that the Federal Reserve's current "loose money" policy has recently been and will continue to be the primary propulsion for economic growth -- until the Fed throttles back the money supply

While opinions differ on economic theory, I believe Wesbury is right in one respect -- that the economy is indeed growing and it's time to step it up -- to invest in your business, expanding your customer base, and getting back into growth mode. If you get the jump on your competitors, it could take them years to catch up. Those who remain tentative and hunkered down may fulfill their own prophecies.

You may also want to consider hiring some extra help while it's available. Unprecedented gains in productivity (units of output vs. hours of input) suggest that perhaps companies "over-fired" -- trimmed themselves back to unsustainably tight levels of staffing. If that results in a bounce of hiring demand, you may find all the good candidates scooped up by others.

Disturbingly, the National Federation of Independent Business said on Dec. 3 that a monthly survey of its small business members showed that more companies plan to reduce employment in the next three months than plan to add jobs. I say disturbingly, because I'm convinced those respondents are going to find themselves behind the power curve -- perhaps never to recover. I know of few CEBI members still contemplating staff reductions -- most have returned to normal work weeks, recalled some laid off workers, etc. These are, of course, business owners who have the benefit of more "forward radar" through their peers in other CEBI companies.

Now, here's something to think about. The world is continuing a shift from an industrial economy to a knowledge economy, just as Alvin & Heidi Toffler predicted in their book Revolutionary Wealth. Many of the manufacturing jobs lost during this recession will never be back -- those companies will figure out how to replace those hands with mechanization and knowledge (just as they've been doing for 200 years). Since those jobs will never be back, the future for undereducated, technology-challenged workers is worse than ever. So be ready for months of bad news on the jobs front -- I believe we're again going to be raising the ratio of "unemployable" workers in the US economy.

Finally, be careful of how much you buy into unemployment statistics. Perhaps half of those presently out of work lost jobs that will never be back due to permanent changes in the world economy, and the continuing decline of the number of workers needed to produce a unit of output. Those jobs are not coming back, and the re-employability of those people will take time while they come to that realization and re-tool themselves (or decide to settle for a lot less). This process isn't pretty, and, yes, it was accelerated by The Panic of 2008.

So for ourselves as business owners, let's shake off the remaining negative economic indicator -- unemployment. It's time to get out of "tentative, apprehensive and uncharacteristically indecisive" mode. Let's start playing to win vs. playing to decide. If you're looking for more hard data on the subject, see: "This Recovery is not a Mirage".

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Terry Weaver


CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com

Let Your Senator Know What You Think About Health Care Legislation

This blog was never intended to be a political platform. Given the impending passage of a massive piece of legislation (over 2000 pages thick, yet to be bloated by pork projects as necessary to secure hesitant votes in the Senate), I'm making an exception.

If you live in or know anyone in a state with a Democratic Senator, it's time to make your voice heard. Here's a list for easy reference: http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/files/demsenators.xls

In a recent Chief Executive Boards International survey of small and mid-size businesses, 72% of CEOs and owners agreed that the US health care system needs some type of reform. That same audience, however, polled overwhelmingly against most of the provisions in the current legislation (public option, "pay or play", required coverage, etc.). In general, the respondents doubt that Government can, in fact, reduce costs or improve delivery of anything, health care included. And they surely don't want to bet almost a trillion dollars to find out. View Survey Results

What this audience wants is:

• Eliminating or restricting exclusion of pre-existing conditions in private (non-group) plans
• Subsidies for low income people who want coverage
• Portability -- coverage follows the patient
• A "risk pool" for small businesses (Chambers of Commerce, trade groups, etc.)
• Consumerism -- make costs visible to patients and let them benefit from cost containment
• Tort Reform -- reduce "defensive medicine" motivators (and excuses) by physicians and hospitals
• Competition among insurance carriers across state lines

Passage of this legislation in something like its current form has become a party line issue -- Senate Republicans squarely against, almost unanimously, and Senate Democrats inclined to support their party leader, President Obama. The question is, what do the American people want? The fact that this legislation has drawn so much public attention to date might be an indication this isn't what they want.

If Democratic Senators band together, something will get passed. It's not likely to be a scaled-down version. Legislation has a way of taking on baggage. These bills started out at only 1,000 pages! Odds are that what's passed will be even larger, more complex, and more expensive than current estimates.

If, on the other hand, Democratic Senators from more conservative States hear a different message from back home, the impending 2010 elections may provide enough of a motivation to block this behemoth from passing. My own two Republican Senators will vote against this legislation -- I have no more votes to cast personally. Only people represented by Democratic Senators can make a difference in this specific case.

So, if you live in any state with a Democratic Senator, please take a moment to let him or her know where you stand -- either way -- for, or against this legislation. Emails are worth something. Snail Mail is reputedly more impactful. To make this convenient, here's an Excel file with names, mailing addresses and email addresses for all Senate Democrats. If you live in one of these states and make your voice heard, you can perhaps make a difference in the course of this legislation: http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/files/demsenators.xls

If you have a point of view you'd like to share with other CEOs and business owners, please click "Comments" below and let us know what you think.

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Terry Weaver


CEO
Chief Executive Boards International
http://www.chiefexecutiveboards.com/
TerryWeaver@ChiefExecutiveBoards.com