Can Marshmallows Predict Success?

Courtesy of www.sybervision.com, this study shows an amazing link between children's ability to delay gratification and their future success in the adult world.

Stanford University psychology researcher Michael Mischel demonstrated how important self-discipline (the ability to delay immediate gratification in exchange for long term goal achievement) is to lifelong success? In a longitudinal study which began in the 1960s, he offered hungry 4-year-olds a marshmallow, but told them that if they could wait for the experimenter to return after running an errand, they could have two marshmallows.

Those who could wait the fifteen or twenty minutes for the experimenter to return would be demonstrating the ability to delay gratification and control impulse.

About one-third of of the children grabbed the single marshmallow right away while some waited a little longer, and about one-third were able to wait 15 or 20 minutes for the researcher to return.

Years later when the children graduated from high school, the differences between the two groups were dramatic: the resisters were more positive, self-motivating, persistent in the face of difficulties, and able to delay gratification in pursuit of their goals. They had the habits of successful people which resulted in more successful marriages, higher incomes, greater career satisfaction, better health, and more fulfilling lives than most of the population.

Those having grabbed the marshmallow were more troubled, stubborn and indecisive, mistrustful, less self-confident, and still could not put off gratification. They had trouble subordinating immediate impulses to achieve long-range goals. When it was time to study for the big test, they tended to get distracted into doing activities that brought instant gratification This impulse followed them throughout their lives and resulted in unsuccessful marriages, low job satisfaction and income, bad health, and frustrating lives.

Create a Leadership & Accountability Culture

Eventually a growing company will expand beyond your ability to reach personally into every corner and crevice. In order to grow a business you have to build systems and mentor leaders, so that you can maintain your focus on the bigger picture. This article will help you create an organizational culture that raises up great leaders, rewards results, and makes it easy for people to do their jobs.

A one person company requires little management beyond self-discipline. A 5 person company is obviously much more complicated. And the need for leadership and accountability increases as the numbers rise.

A 10 person company is less complex to manage than a 25 person company, and a 25 person organization is less complex than a 50 person firm. With growth comes the demand for additional structure and an expanding ability to cope with people issues. At the same time, too much complexity will stifle growth unless it is effectively introduced and embraced.

Strong leadership and building a culture of accountability are both crucial elements to increasing your company’s capacity for growth.

“Leadership,” writes expert Peter Drucker, “is helping organization members see a bright and exciting future and collectively work toward it. It is the role of visionary, coach, cheerleader, pilot and listener all rolled into one.”

Bottom line… you have to champion the values, attitudes and behaviors you want to see in your team. People will do what you do – not what you tell them to do. Learn to act as the guiding star that motivates them to keep moving forward, accept more responsibility and improve their skills. And don’t be afraid to take on the role of advisor and ‘great encourager’ for everyone below you.

Once you’ve anchored yourself as a great leader and earned the respect and following of your staff, you can systematically implement a clear accountability structure that will sustain itself.

It is estimated that lack of accountability costs U.S. companies billions of dollars each year. The research also says that the majority of employees (85%) come to work each day wanting to be accountable. But only 45% continue to feel that way throughout the entire day.

So why the disconnect between employees intentions and the reality of the workplace? Building accountability in any work environment is a systems effort. It requires a clear definition of accountability that everyone agrees on, adherence to high performance, and a team mentality.

Five Critical Building Blocks of Accountability

1. Establish clear direction. Without a carefully crafted business strategy, you are essentially flying blind. A well thought out strategy enables you to properly allocate resources and clearly communicate your plans to employees, customers and other stakeholders.
2. Align people, process, and systems. Strategic alignment provides the ability to focus - through common processes, procedures and operating principles - toward the fulfillment of group objectives. It sounds complicated, but it really involves careful planning and coordination. Just think if each member of a precision marching band had a different idea of how to move across the field, or a different tune they wanted to play. You would have chaos and noise. Aligned, with everyone marching in the same direction and playing together, a precision marching band is a joy to watch.
3. Engage your staff. A study by ISR found that companies with high employee engagement improved 19.2% whiles companies with low engagement levels declined 32.7% over a one year period. People want to be involved in something bigger than themselves. You must allow group participation in decision-making and value staff input. Hire people who fit with your culture, know your vision, and have proven to be high-performers.
4. Lead the way. This one is obvious. Follow through on the demands you make of others. Exhibit the habits and traits you want to see in your employees. And when you make a misstep – admit it and openly return to accountability so that honesty and responsibility become the standard for everyone.
5. Monitor progress and evaluate results. Accountability by its very nature requires people to have ongoing information about their performance. And your initiatives will have no teeth if clear consequences and rewards are not attached to results. Be sure to support your staff and regularly review their results with them. Make life really wonderful for passionate, committed people who are willing to accept responsibility for their work - and make sure that lack of accountability is a bad place to be.

In an accountable workplace an "execution mentality" prevails. Activities, plans and effort are not enough. Instead, there must be an emphasis on measurable results and a ‘get-it-done’ attitude that is endorsed by everyone. People are expected to step up to challenges and they are given the guidance, tools and information to do so effectively.

By following these simple tips, you can enable your company to expand and grow while maintaining teamwork and high standards... as well as your sanity!

The Triumph of Web 2.5

The well-deserved success of Mint.com, and what other Web businesses can learn from it.

Courtesy of Newsweek

By Daniel Gross

Sep 18, 2009 | Updated: 5:20  p.m. ET Sep 18, 2009

Earlier this week, Intuit, the software company that owns the popular personal-finance software programs Quicken and TurboTax, agreed to pay $170 million in cash for Mint.com, a two-year-old startup whose free tools allow chastened customers to manage their personal finances online. Some critics, such as Web entrepreneur Jason Fried, view the deal as a defeat for upstarts: A wounded incumbent that charges hefty fees for its services is taking out a free competitor for a relatively small sum and increasing its market power. (Last year, Slate's "Shopping" column tabbedQuicken.com and Mint.com as the best online tools for keeping track of personal finances.) But the all-cash deal, which will provide a hefty payday for the company's founders and venture capital investors, represents a triumph of a new business model. Indeed, the sale of Mint.com may be the first big payoff for a Web 2.5 company.

The first generation of dot-coms burned through cash rapidly because they had to spend a lot of money building and running their businesses—marketing and advertising to get the word out, not to mention software, consultants, and programmers to run online systems and analyze the results. Thanks to Web 2.0, many of these costs have plummeted. Many of the basics are now essentially free, which means a business built on the infrastructure laid down by the first two generations of Web companies can gain scale on a shoestring budget, all while giving away its products and services for free. Call it Web 2.5.

Yesterday, at a panel I moderated in San Francisco, Donna Wells, Mint.com's chief marketing officer, stunned a room full of digital marketing pros by noting that she really didn't have much of a marketing budget. Mint.com has gone from zero to 1.5 million users in two years with no ad campaign, save a mid-five-figures sum spent on search engine terms. Rather than purchase traffic, it has pursued the same type of strategy that food trucks and online magazines do: Using free social media and piggybacking on popular new communications technology. Mint.com has more than 36,000 Facebook fans and 19,000 Twitter followers, a well-trafficked blog, and a popular iPhone application.

Mint.com, which advises customers on how to pinch pennies, does some penny-pinching of its own. It uses Wordpress (free) to run its Web site and blog. To analyze traffic partners, conversion rates, and other essentials of an online business that generates its revenues through lead generation, it uses Google analytics (free and sufficiently simple that Wells' marketing staff can use it without the help of software experts). Wells referred to a bunch of other services it uses to keep tabs on its site, such as ClickTale and Crazy Egg and Compete, as "virtually free"—costing a few hundred dollars a month. Mint.com's main market research tool is Zoomerang, which helps companies conduct online surveys and collect user feedback. The cost: about $700 per year.

Mint.com has benefitted from a cultural shift as well as a technological one. During the free-spending housing bubble, a Web site that encouraged people to manage spending, comparison-shop, and save was definitely out of step with the prevailing mood. But once the financial and housing markets tanked and the nation went into recession, the zeitgeist shifted. Shrinking top lines have caused people to focus on the bottom line, and the savings rate has spiked. Third homes and luxury goods are out; coupons and growing your own vegetables are in. Saving is the new borrowing. Thus considered, Mint.com, which launched in September 2007, timed the market perfectly. It hit the Web at a time when more Americans suddenly had the time, inclination, and motivation to manage their financial affairs more prudently. And it gave them a way to do it without having to spend a dime.

© 2009

Stand vs. Position

This weekend I attended a fund-raising seminar with Lynne Twist for a non-profit that I serve on the Board of (www.theothersideofeverest.org). One of the most illuminating points she made was the difference between taking a stand and taking a position.  I believe that this principle applies to business every bit as much as to money... so enjoy!  (www.soulofmoney.com)

"Great leaders know the distinction between taking a position and taking a stand.  Taking a stand creates a field where all positions are heard and respected and truth begins to have room to be expressed.  Archimedes said, 'Give me a place to stand and I can move the world.'" Lynne Twist

The very nature of taking a position invites opposition - and who wants that?  That's because a position is an opinion, an item of debate, a battle in the making.  A stand, however, is very different.  It can be nothing but positive - transcending simple arguments or opinions and coming from deep within.  Because it is a reaction to nothing, nothing can react to it.  A true stand based on character and deep belief is so honorable that whether you agree with the stand or not, you have to respect it.  Standtakers derive their power not from authority or influence or logic, but from pure authenticity.

The Democratic and Republican parties have positions on many issues, and those positions invite opposition and create strife and disagreement. Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela... standtakers all.  And because their simple desire to make the world a better place contended with no one - no one could contend with them.

In business, it's easy to get lost in the competition and stress of day-to-day operations and forget about the big picture.  Why are you in business?  What do you stand for as human being?  What impact do you want to make on the world?  What are you committed to for your whole life and beyond? 

Even small companies can stand for something so authentic and powerful that people are compelled to sit up and take notice.  If your personal stand cannot find it's way into your professional life, the contradiction will suck the joy and impact out of everything you do.  Find your common ground and take a stand in your business so that work and mission are beautifully blended into something larger than just you.  By taking a stand for something that matters, a person or an organization can elevate itself above the fray... see everything, be seen and coexist.

I encourage you today to examine your life and decide what you truly stand for.  We live in the greatest age of opportunity and challenge that the world has ever known.  Positions will not guide us successfully into the future; however, if we all take an honest stand for what really matters, we might just have a chance.

Everywhere You Go... There You Are

“Everywhere you go, there you are.”

I say this to clients a lot, because they often want to believe that every problem originates from some source outside of themselves.  It’s human nature to deflect responsibility… basic self-preservation instincts from before the dawn of time. But, that instinct to blame and make excuses doesn’t serve people in leadership positions.

In discovering your true self, the very core energy you project to other people shifts.

Like it or not, there is really no fate for us except the one we create. Churchill very wisely said that ‘you create your own universe as you go along’. Do good things happen to bad people, and bad things happen to good people? Of course. But 99% of the things that come to us in life we manifest based on our behaviors.

The beauty of this simple truth is that we can all change our thoughts and behaviors to reflect our true self. And that alignment of external image to internal reality is incredibly powerful. When you get very comfortable in your own skin and become very clear about your beliefs, character and destiny, people are drawn to you and good things begin to happen naturally.

So where do you begin in getting to know your true self?

Values come first. Values dictate how you relate to other people and the world around you.  They guide your behaviors and decisions.  Every great leader understands how to balance the fine line between adaptability and rock-solid certainty about what really matters.  While you have to be ready to shift and change with the demands of your environment, you also have to know what you believe in so that you never compromise your core values.  If honesty is a principle you live by - you can't lie to get a lucrative business deal finalized.  It destroys your credibility.  If good communication is a something you believe in strongly - you shouldn't withhold bad news from your team to avoid hard questions or dissent.  Know and live your values everyday.

Character.  Horace Mann said that 'reputation is what men and women think of us. Character is what God and angels know of us.'  Character differs from values in that it relates more to our most basic understanding of ourselves than our external relationships and interactions.  Character defines your personality and soul at a very deep level and drives the values, strengths and priorities that exhibit in your day-to-day behaviors. Be sure that you never get caught in the trap of linking your character to public opinion or evolving priorities.  If you are a kind and gentle person at your core, your character doesn't change simply because you've been wrongly convicted of a violent crime.  Although your reputation and even your day-to-day values may change based upon your circumstances, your character always remains constant.

The good, the bad and the ugly.  Taking a long, hard look at your strengths and weaknesses is crucial to good leadership.  No one is excellent at everything, so wise leaders know how to leverage the things they are good at and fill in the gaps of their weaknesses with the talents of people around them.  You can't begin to engage in this process unless you've first conducted a realistic assessment of yourself and built a strong base of self-awareness.  Strengths are obviously the fun part!  Our ego loves to focus on the things we're good at.  But often far more critical to success is our understanding of where we fall short, and our ability to admit our weaknesses to others and elicit their help in making things happen.

Vision. Your life, your work and your goals should all converge around a common vision: a big picture view of the purpose for your life and the primary thing you want to accomplish in your time on this planet. Your vision is your enduring purpose. The fundamental reason for existence beyond just making money or survival. It is a perpetual guiding star on the horizon and does not change over time. In essence, your vision is a mental picture of the future you wish to create through endless pursuit of an ideal. It is love, and passion, and the impetus to pursue that which you truly want most out of life.

I hope that by beginning to view your success or failure ratio as a direct result of your own internal make-up and actions, you will move beyond blaming situations or luck for your present day reality and step into a powerful new recognition of your own key role in determining your outcomes and impact.