Leave a Positive Legacy

Do everything you can including moving heaven and earth to ensure that your legacy is something positive and not something that would be best kept swept under a rug.

Personal or Professional, it does not matter because in the end your legacy will be clumped into one. Who hasn’t heard this before: “He was a great philanthropist but a lousy husband”?

It was not too long ago, that I was listening to a fellow author speak of her work and how it affected her family. She said that in one of her works she included a story about a family member that had a not-so pleasant truth. When her family read it, they were not too pleased about the content. They rather it be kept swept under the rug.

That’s OK; after all, it was the truth. Good or bad, the truth is the truth.

The family felt that the legacy of a family elder would be tarnished because of what the author wrote.

The author wrote what the author felt was the truth. She was not about to create a falsehood that would completely change the family member’s legacy. Then what would be worthy of sweeping under the rug?

Remember, we are all dead longer than we are alive. Future generations will want to know about the members of their family tree. Everyone is curious about those that came before us. I know that when I look up my family tree, I hope to find some great explorer, a world-renowned doctor, or at least, a wonderful teacher. I did find several members of the Greatest Generation.

However, that has all changed now.

Readers, I ask that you do something now before it is too late. Challenge your family (both at home and work) to do what they can now to change their legacy and ultimately their family tree.

Thank you,
David Guerra

I invite you to follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra • visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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MIDDAY NUGGET: GROUPTHINK (Only You Can Prevent It)

Earlier this week, I was invited to visit a blog.  It is not a business blog, not a food blog but a mommy blog.

It is the local blog geared towards new mothers and mothers for young kids. The blog is really nice and loaded with plenty of real world examples of how to raise young children, be a mom, be a lady, be a crafty individual. However, there are a few things that disturb me about the blog and its contributors:

• None of them report having a child over 12 years of age. No Mom on staff that is a Mother of a Teenager?

• None of them appears to be a day over 29. No mother the same age or older than their mothers?

• None of have a child who left home only to come back. What?

• None of them report being the parent of a special needs child? Do Special Needs children NOT exist in their world?

Do you see where I am going with this?  I sure hope you do!

This blog and its contributors much like many organizations out there develop something worse than mediocrity.  They develop, foster, and encourage "Groupthink".

If you are not familiar with the term here is what Groupthink means: "practice of thinking or making decisions as a group in a way that discourages creativity or individual responsibility."

In the case of the blog, there are no outside individuals that bring more to the cornucopia that is already in place. No Older Moms. Empty-nesters, Mothers of Teenagers, and so on.

Organizations get so caught up in their own hype that they fail to look beyond the break room. They fail to recruit outsiders. Quite simply, they fail.

Do not let your organization fail!  Always think outside the box.  Always look outside the break room for ideas and suggestions.  Recruit the craziest and weirdest people you can find.  Whatever you do, do not fail! 

It may be too late for this blog.  As it, looks like all the friends and family that are part of that blog are in it to stay.  They might believe that they are on to something but with an audience that is constantly reducing in size, (kids tend to get older); their readers will no longer see the value in what the blog is providing and will leave for someone else. Someone that can fill the changing and growing needs.

Just like an organization, that has believed its own hype for too long that if it does not do something now it will be too late. Change must happen now, otherwise it is time to turn out the lights and lock the doors.  Customers, much like readers, want to see a wider variety offered to them than just the same old, same old.

It is up to you to destroy Groupthink in its tracks!  Every organization has a little bit of it if not too much of it.  Only you can prevent Groupthink!

Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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About Giving Out Other People's PERSONAL Cell Phone Number (and a video)

Last week, I published a small video about giving out other people's personal cell phone number.

I know it is all about NETWORKING and making new long lasting contacts and connections. I get that. I also don't get that there are still plenty of individuals that refuse to use a little common courtesy and common sense when it comes to sharing phone numbers, personal phone numbers.

If you are entrusted with someone's phone number then do NOT do anything that will compromise that trust.

How do you not compromise that trust?
You ask for permission to give out the number. If you cannot get an immediate answer then ask the person you are giving the number to for their number. Ask them if you can give their number to the person you want them to talk to. Then leave a message with the name, phone number, and why you think they will make a good connection.

Is that all?
No. You follow up to ensure that the person with the phone number, that was entrusted to you, got the message and makes the contact. However, do not cram it down their throat. One follow-up is enough. Remember, they are adults (provided you are dealing with adults) and you cannot make anyone dial the phone. All you can do is initiate the contact.

The next time, you are tempted to share a phone number ask for permission, first!






Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

I invite you to
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visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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ABCs of 2014: Day 12: Always Be LEADING

Today's ABCs of 2014 is: ALWAYS BE LEADING. A for Always, B for Be, and C for Leading (the C is silent).

Are you LEADING? Are you taking the LEAD in what you do? Are you stepping up to the plate each and every time someone calls for a leader to do so?

-or-

Are you just going through the motions? Just faking it? All of us would like to think we are stepping up and taking the leadership bull by the horns. That is a good thing to think and believe.

However, LEADING is an action. You have to be doing it and not just thinking it or believing it. YOU HAVE TO BE LEADING, ALWAYS!

There is no half in or half out with this one. Sure, there are plenty of people that will scam others to believe that they are leaders. If you need a hint as to who those scammers are, think POLITICIANS! OK, maybe 99.999% of all POLITICIANS.

Unless, they have proven themselves as True Leaders in their chosen profession first (Think President Dwight D. Eisenhower, President Theodore Roosevelt, President George Washington) otherwise they are nothing bags of hot air that spew forth nothing but bunkum!

If all the others do is nothing but going around making insincere speeches intended to please local constituents they are NOT leaders. You know, they PROMISE A LOT but deliver VERY LITTLE. Those my friends are NOT LEADERS! They are the opposite of leaders and I do not mean followers.

You are only a True Leader when you step up and PROMISE VERY LITTLE and DELIVER A LOT!!!

Now, get out there and start LEADING! Everyone that matters (and everyone matters) is eagerly awaiting for you to arrive.


Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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ABCs of 2014: Day 11: Always Be KIND

Today's ABCs of 2014 is: ALWAYS BE KIND. A for Always, B for Be, and C for Kind (the C is silent).

Like many of us, when we were growing up our grandmother or mother would tell us to be kind to one another. More often than not, we would pay attention to what they said. However, as we get older and older, we got cynical, more cynical, and still even more cynical. Which in turn, led to picking and choosing who to be kind to and when to be kind.

Believe me when I tell you that as I was growing up I found it easier and easier to choose when to be kind and when not to be kind.

However, parenthood and marriage and seeing how far not been kind actually gets you. You start to change your mind set I know I had to.
Now I find it easier to be kind most of the time (oh I still have my moments). However, there are still those knuckleheads and nitwits that seem to go out of their way to do whatever they can to put themselves in a position that gives them nothing more than a slammed the door in their face. You cannot change them, their attitude or their behavior but you can change yours.

Take for instance, the door-to-door salesman that refuses to take "no" for an answer. You try to be nice and say "No, Thank you" and yet they persist. You give them a second "No!" and this time with a little frustration creeping into your voice, yet they persist. You are now your third "NO!" They do not seem to care and they remain persistent all because they want to make the sale. What do you do? You tried being kind not once, not twice, but three times. Enough is enough!

Kindness goes out the window and in sets frustration, anger, and threats to call the police if they do not leave your property immediately.

Now in your world, it might not be a door-to-door salesman but it may be a co-worker, a client, a boss, a neighbor or whomever what can you do?

You start by being kind, you start being nice, you start being generous but where does that get you? It does not matter where that gets you, it certainly does not matter where he takes you. What does matter is that you decide to be nice, kind, and understanding right from the start. Then you have the upper hand you are on the higher group because you are starting something on a positive note. You are trying to go into any situation with a WIN-WIN attitude. An attitude that says you are going to listen but you are not going to be walked all over.

Now, if the salesman (or whomever) had accepted the first “No” then the entire situation would have ended on a positive note. Who knows maybe next time it will be a “Yes”? Maybe the next time your neighbor would respect the noise levels and turn it down at midnight instead of cranking it up until 1:00 AM and someone has to call the police.

So start with a smile and a little kindness and see where it takes you. Where kindness takes you is all that truly matters.

Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

I invite you to
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visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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ABCs of 2014: Day 4: Always Be Demanding

Today's ABCs of 2014 is: ALWAYS BE DEMANDING. A for Always, B for Be, and C for Demanding (the C is silent).

Every day you are meeting the demands of others. Demanding some of your time, demanding an answer, demanding you pay the bills, demanding you to pay retail, and so on.

What about excellence? Does anyone really demand excellence from you?

NO! They do not. Most people, retailers, large corporations want you to follow the status quo. Unfortunately, 99 times out of 100 the status quo vaguely resembles the status quo. It resembles less, it resembles something close to complacency.  Wait a second, the status quo is complacency! Being complacent is being just another face in the crowd. They don't want your excellence because that means they will be held to a high standard and all they want is to hold themselves to their standard. Their standard is typically far below anything resembling excellence so why would they want your excellence when all they want is for you to pay the bill on time and they will give you service or a product that you will accept (again, far below top-tier excellence).

So how does this change? How does one expect these individuals and organizations to start delivering excellence?

Try this on for size:

How about starting to Demand & Deliver Excellence from yourself? Is it difficult? Probably, not! I may be wrong but I doubt it. Demanding Excellence is EASY! Delivering EXCELLENCE is the hard part, the very hardest part of it all.

Now, ask yourself this: Are those that demand excellence from you delivering excellence to you?

You and I both know the answer. So let this serve as a warning, before you demand Excellence you must start Demanding and Delivering Excellence from yourself.



Until next time, I Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

I invite you to
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visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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ABCs of 2014: Day 2: Always Be Believing

Today's ABCs of 2014 is: ALWAYS BE BELIEVING. A for Always, B for Be, and C for Believing

(the C is silent).

You can go through life not believing in yourself. Not believing you can make a difference. Not believing will only get you so far. Actually, not believing will get your NO WHERE! Trust me on this one I have known so many people that don't believe in themselves. What they do believe in is a lot of blame. Blaming others for not getting a fair shot at something. Let me tell you it is a sad situation they find themselves in. However, it is a needless situation to be in in the first place.

Seriously, all it takes is to look in the mirror and say to yourself at least once day that you believe in yourself. Before you know it you will always be believing in yourself. Then you will always believe that what you are doing will make all the difference. Then somewhere along the way you will start to always believe that Others believe in you. All it takes is to believe in yourself! You can do it.

Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

I invite you to
follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra
visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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ABCs of 2014: Day 1: Always Be Asking

Today, I am starting something new.

Once a day, for the next 26 days, I will post what I call the ABCs of 2014. The purpose of them is provide a little motivation on how to succeed in 2014 and be better than last year.

The first ABCs of 2014 is: ALWAYS BE ASKING. A for Always, B for Be, and C for Asking (the C is silent).

Always ask for something! Ask for an answer! Ask for Help! Ask for someone else! This means that you have to always keep asking otherwise how will you learn something? How will you learn anything? If you are asking for someone else then do so only with the intent to empower them to start asking for themselves. Remember, you won't always be around and who will ask for them? They will have to learn to step up and ask for themselves.

Now, as for you, well you will just have to just continue asking for yourself.

Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

I invite you to
follow me on Twitter: @daveguerra
visit my website: www.daveguerra.com

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Attention Business Owners: About Your Company Vehicles (again)

Attention Business Owners

I said it before and I will say it again: Do you know what happens when your employees take your company vehicle home?

Sure it might be after hours but they are still advertising your company name, phone number, website, and they are most certainly advertising your company's reputation. 

The situation is do you really know what your employees are doing with your company name on the weekends and after hours?  Better still, what are they doing with your company name when they are driving home after work or when they are driving to work first thing in the morning?

Are they really promoting the professional reputation that you worked long and hard to develop, cultivate, and maintain?

Are your employees working hard to maintain that professional reputation? Most of them are.  However, just like at a restaurant all it takes is one bad meal or a rude waiter and that restaurant's reputation goes down the kitchen sink and so will your organization's reputation.

All it takes is for one employee that is in a hurry to start the weekend and run a red light or do rolling stop at a stop sign or worst still shows signs of road rage in your company's van or truck and come Monday morning and almost as if by magic you sit there wondering how your company's reputation just disappeared.

Now, I know there's a need for employees to take company vehicles home after hours and weekends, especially if they are on-call.  However, those employees need to fully understand the severity of how quickly things could escalate and the importance of them to remain highly professional from the moment they drive the company vehicle off the company parking lot to the moment they return the company vehicle to the company parking lot.

So long as they have control of a company vehicle they have control of your company's reputation and fate.  Now, you need to ask yourself: Are you prepared to turn over total and complete control of your company to someone who you know is not prepared?

Of course, you send out your service vehicles and service people. Your employees have to get from point A to point B.  Obviously, you trust them enough to get from one point to another to do the job that they were hired to do.  That’s fine, however, it is their attitude and behavior while they're traveling that is the biggest indicator of how long your business will last.

If you have in the past or if you haven't, get those drivers together and lay down, in no uncertain terms, your exact expectations of those driving the vehicles no matter when they're driving the vehicles.  Also, don't forget to stress the repercussions of violating the expectations that you have just finished giving them.  I understand that there will be people who will push you, that will not take you serious as to what your expectations are and what will happen if they do not follow through.

Therefore, it behooves you, your employees, your company, and your insurance company that every driver signs a form that acknowledges their understanding and expected compliance of the vehicle use policy as you have explained to them.  Don't forget to ask if there any questions.  If there are no questions then verbally acknowledge that no questions were asked otherwise answer the question(s).

Something to remember; when you are talking to your staff please do not pull any punches, do not joke around, or they will most certainly take with them the impression that all of this is just a joke and you were not serious! This impression will be difficult to shake when it comes to following through when someone breaks the driving policy.

Remember, whether you want to admit it or not your customers and potential customers are ALWAYS watching you, your company, your employees and what they do with your reputation. So take my warning or not, that is up to you.

Thank you,
David G. Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join this conversation. I want to know what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

I invite you to
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Be Money Smart, Always!

BELIEVE IT OR NOT but SPENDING does NOT equal INVESTING!

• SPENDING is defined as  the act of paying out (money) in buying or hiring goods or services.

• INVESTING is defined as the act of committing (money) in order to earn a financial return.



Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

As always you can read this blog post in its original location at http://daveguerra.blogspot.com

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Don't Forget The Front of the Boat

A few weeks ago, my daughter and I went on one of those Saltwater Fishing excursions out on the Gulf of Mexico. These fishing trips have become an annual event for her and me. Whether we catch fish or a cold or neither we always have a Great Time! We do some serious Daughter-Daddy bonding and this year was NO EXCEPTION.

However, isn't there always a HOWEVER when it comes to my posts?

I was left a little disappointed by the Customer Service/Business Side of the operation. The issue is that the Boat is a 50foot vessel. It has two decks but no one goes up there as all the fishing happens on first deck. The Wheel House is also on the second deck and it is big enough to hold the Captain and about three adults maximum.

Our first trip of the day was to take four (4) hours and it was going to be bay fishing at the Laguna Madre. Well we set sail at 8AM sharp and by 8:30 the hooks were in the water and the day was on. So Far So Good? Right?

Yes and No.

Yes, in that the day of fishing had begun. No in that there was a group of about eight individuals who were tying up the Captain and his crew at the back of the boat. Over the course of the next four hours, the Captain never once set foot to see how his passengers/customers/guests were doing at the front of the boat or the BOW in nautical terms. Yep, all the action was at the Stern and that's where they stayed. We did get a visit from the First Mate the ship's version of Gilligan or Little Buddy. He could not walk past us fast enough to get to the stern once again.

Seriously, Captain Lou (let's just call him Captain Lou) couldn't take five minutes from his busy schedule to ensure that everyone was SAFE, having a good time, or to do or say what he could to make certain we returned for more fun and fishing. For all we know Isaac the ship's bartender called in sick and Captain Lou was mixing Mai Tais on the Lido Deck while Gopher and Doc baited the hooks.


Aside from driving the boat to our next anchor point this guy must have spent more than 90% of his time and attention at the back of the boat. If memory serves me correct there were ten (10) of us on the Bow and there were about eight (8) fishing off the stern. I can't begin to stress enough just how much this guy was preoccupied with the back of the boat.

The time our Four Hour Tour had come to an end we managed to snag two trout, one catfish, and one complete Rod and Reel set  and that was sweet. My daughter somehow managed to snag it off the bottom of the bay and that was a good thing (see accompanying image).

As we made our way to get off the boat we had to go to the stern, there we finally got to see why Captain Lou and Gilligan were as giddy as little girls that they neglected their duties to their guests and possible paying customers. There was one individual, back there, who had one of those orange home improvement buckets FULL of fish. There were others who had stringers of fish. Well no wonder their experience was AWESOME! They were catching the fish.

I know, I know, some days you catch fish and some days you catch a cold. However, Captain Lou and his "little buddy" could have taken some time to talk to us and share their experiences on their waters and who knows we might not have had to stop, on the way home, for some "McFish."  Don't get me wrong we had a GREAT TIME!!! It was the customer attention that was lacking and that made my business interaction experience as EH....OK?

Let's break this down:

ONE BOAT + ONE CAPTAIN + ONE FIRST MATE + ALL PAID THE SAME AMOUNT OF MONEY FOR THE TRIP = TWO DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES WERE RECEIVED
==========
!!!FOR PETE'S SAKE,  IT SHOULD NEVER EQUAL TWO DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES!!!


Less than half of the passengers got a Stellar Experience and will most certainly be returning for more fun with the Skipper and Little Buddy.

MORE THAN HALF got near bottom of the barrel experience and are most certainly entertaining the idea of finding a different boat and captain for any future fishing excursions. I know I will

Folks, it breaks down to this: When you have a captive audience you have to the your very best to that 100% get the Stellar Experience because short of being stuck up in a Ferris wheel all these people paid GOOD MONEY to spend time out on the water. For the feeling at the end of the morning, over 50% might as well have been stuck up in the Ferris wheel. So don't forget that aside from an engine and wheel house, a boat has a Bow, a Stern, a Port, Starboard side and sometime people have business to conduct on that boat. Take care of everyone and not just the ones that are making you look good.

Thank you,
Dave Guerra

P.S. I do invite you to join the conversation and tell me what you are thinking.

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