Step Up and Play Big with Chris Ruisi

Geez! Another Problem to Solve!

The best leaders know that problem solving comes with the territory. In fact, whenever they solve a problem, they earn the right to solve a more difficult one in the future.

Working our way to solve a problem can be like traveling through a maze – with wrong turns and dead ends. However, when the problem is solved we grow (as a leader), from: what we learned from the experience, new skills we developed, and existing skills we enhanced.

All leaders want to be known as being able to solve problems efficiently and effectively. Earning that reputation is directly related to the process you follow from problem identification right through to its correct solution. Continue reading →

Distractions

Distractions: We all experience them and we all have to deal with them. But did you realize that you are the cause of most – if not all – of them? For example:

You’re busy, but not productive – If you don’t have clear and specific goals for your day, week, month or year, distractions will pull you in different directions and waste your time, and in the end you will have nothing to show for your effort.
You’re an expert at “fire-fighting” – It’s nothing to be proud of. You may actually be the cause of the flare-ups. A big distraction is solving everyone else’s problems. Make sure everyone on your team knows what they must do, why they do it and how to do it.
Nothing gets done, unless you do it – Are you properly training your team to do their jobs as intended? Have you set clear and achievable expectations, and does your team understand them?
There is never enough time for you to have time for you – Do you schedule a 1-hour appointment each week with yourself? Put it on your calendar. You need the time to re-group and re-focus on the right things.
Your open door is a revolving door of constant visitors who all ask, “Hey do you have a minute?” – If you do, say “No!” Saying “no” when you have to is critical for your sanity and ability to properly lead. Fight for and guard your time. Stop giving it away.

“What We’ve Got Here is a Failure to Communicate.”

At the risk of dating myself, “What we’ve got here is a failure to communicate,” is a classic line from the 1967 hit movie “Cool Hand Luke” starring Paul Newman and Jackie Gleason. This line has been used over and over to summarize, at any given time, relationships between spouses, employees, friends and most frequently between parents and their children.

Communication is a critical skill in every aspect of our personal and professional lives. How you communicate plays a major role in how well you do—in anything. Poor communication causes frustration, anger, misunderstandings, mistakes, friction and broken relationships. Nothing good comes from poor communication. Good communication, on the other hand, keeps everything moving forward as smooth as possible. When good communication exists, the right things just happen on a consistent basis.

Continue reading →

Advice for the Graduates

Graduations have come and gone and now it’s time to enjoy summer – so with the pressure of finals, etc. gone maybe that graduate will be open to some advice.

As you begin your life’s journey, you will come across more things that you will not like before you find that one thing that “clicks.” That search is a good thing because you are learning a lot as you go.

You’re at a great time in your life and it’s time to “get in the game”. Here are several points to keep in mind: Continue reading →

Stay Focused…and Get Things Done!

There are always more things that you can possibly do. The biggest challenge we all have is that there’s never enough time to get done everything that we want to do. Staying focused on our priorities, which allows you to get things done, is one of the toughest challenges we all have.

Many mistakenly believe that they can “multi-task” their way through anything. I often describe multi-tasking as multi dumb! Some think it’s a highly developed skill that all should possess The fact is, it stifles any chance of staying focused, and only adds to your stress and lack of meaningful productivity.

Many also think that making a list of “to do’s” (the longer the better) makes them effective planners. They proudly display their filled yellow pad like a shield that they think will protect them. Again, another fallacy because they don’t question whether some of the things on their list should be there at all! To me, the most important thing about planning and making a list is to decide what not to do.

Stop doing things that don’t make any sense. Focus on those things that have the highest reward/payoff. Continue reading →

Intentions or Actions

Intentions are those things you “plan” to do. Depending upon how strong your belief in the intention is, it may be distorting your reality making you believe that you are acting on it. Just knowing what you intend to do it seldom results in action taken or a particular outcome.

All of us either have or can acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be very good at what we do. However, the best intentions will not make that happen by itself. Only the decision to act on those intentions can bring about the desired change.

So how do you go about translating your best intentions into the right actions to achieve the desired result? Sometimes in our effort to create the best intentions we continue to ask more questions and require more information than is necessary which leads to procrastination. Consider the following: Continue reading →

I Feel the Need for Speed

In the classic movie “Top Gun” we all remember the scene where Maverick and Goose, while walking on the tarmac to their plane, offer each other a “Hi-5” and Maverick exclaims, “I feel the need for speed.”

In a recent Wall Street Journal article, Bill Ford, Chairman of the Board for Ford, announced the replacement of their current CEO, Mark Fields, a 26-year Ford veteran, with Ford Board member and well-known “fix it” professional Jim Hackett.

Mr. Ford explained that the reason for the change was related to Ford’s sagging stock price, overall value and poor responses to market circumstances.

Mr. Ford said, “As a company we have to move faster; we have to encourage and trust our people to move faster; we need to empower them to move faster; we need speed and we need to take hard actions and make tough decisions faster than we have been doing.”

Regardless of whatever industry you’re in, Mr. Ford’s comments are applicable to you as well. So, ask yourself: Continue reading →

Innovate or Stagnate

Innovation vs stagnation: legacy thinking – that is, sticking with the status quo – and how it applies to growing your business. What happens if you never innovate? Listen to what Chris has to say…

Freedom Requires Sacrifice

It’s Memorial Day! As a result of the current three day weekend arrangement and activities associated with it, we can become easily distracted from the day’s original meaning and the traditions aligned with it. One such tradition, conceived by poet Morina Michael, was to wear red poppies on Memorial Day “in honor of those who died while serving the nation during war”.

We cherish too, the poppy red
That grows on fields where valor led.
It seems to signal to the skies
That the blood of heroes never dies.

– Morina Michael

Memorial Day is that one day (but there should be more) when we stop and honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in our nation’s service – to protect and preserve the freedoms we enjoy.

Happy Memorial Day!

7 Steps for Your Pre-Game Mantra

I’ve always encouraged clients, readers and audiences to control their daily destiny by owning the first 15 to 20 minutes of each day before they “officially” start – you know, answering e-mails; text messages and responding to missed calls. These first 15 to 20 minutes are really designed to help you get the right mindset in place for the day. I believe that your mindset will determine the type of day you will have. Hence whatever you can do to put in place the right one, you should do. Right? So here are 7 very simple steps you can take. As you will note, they represent positive and specific “self-talk.” Continue reading →

Blog