This is the world’s leading international network of chief executive and business owners who meet regularly to share their experience, learn from expert speakers and address business issues & opportunities.

The are very discerning and very demanding … I’m loving it.  Not only am I getting to influence CEO’s and Key Executives but they’re helping me to become a more effective speaker too.

The 7 Pillars of Tactical Leadership are physical and mental principals plus attitudes that Military Special Forces around the world rely on to give their elite operatives the courage to lead teams into some of the toughest, most mentally and emotionally challenging situations around the world where physical injury or death is a reality they willing accept.

Your challenges don’t have to be as extreme as the Special Forces and yet The 7 Pillars are still as applicable and usable in any commercial office as they are to our elite Forces. Leading your team with the same principals will ensure your staff will go into any challenging situation with the same confidence and courage as a team of Special Forces operatives. It will also ensure they have believe in their own Capacity to achieve the task at hand.

Remember – one of my main aims in all my programs is to build the Confidence, Courage and Capacity of you and your team.

The 7 Pillars are:

• Speed
• Surprise
• Confidence
• Concentration
• Assertive Attitude
• Teamwork
• Empathy

It’s one of my favorite programs.

“Dream, Believe, Achieve”

However, I’m starting to realise that this mantra has it’s subtle limitations. It only addresses ‘thinking’ about making things happen and not actually taking the action required to make it happen.  I’m sure most of us know that there is an implied need to commit to and take action when we want to make things happen.  However, many people live these words only.  The only action they take is to think about things. They think really positively and really hard but only think.  They don’t take any real action because that would require another level of effort.

I recently spoke at a school in Adelaide and a friends daughter was in the audience.  My friend, the girls mother, asked me to sign one of my books and write a small note in the front of it for her daughter. I chatted with mum before I signed the book.  I was really impressed by what mum told me about her daughter … talk about a proud parent telling me about a girl who is doing some amazing things.

This young lady has a very clear picture of what she wants to do and is committing so much effort to making it happen that it is just purely impressive. Listening to mum talk about her daughter reiterated something important to me and was why I wrote what I did in the book.

What I realised, and decided to write in the book opened my own eyes.  It is a variation of that old mantra. I wrote:

“Dream, Believe, Persevere, Achieve …
Your achievements are only limited by your imagination and application.  Don’t let anyone else steal or diminish you dreams.”

We all have a massive potential for other people to derail our dreams and cause any of us to loose focus.  Sometimes we let little things cause us too much concern.  Things such as arguments,  jealousies or someone else’s agenda.

The simple but powerful revelation from the conversation for me was to put one extra word into that old mantra – Perseverance.  It may be something that everyone may say “Yeah of course you need to keep working at it, keep trying until you get it.”  Unfortunately, fewer and fewer people are willing to put in the little extra effort to make their dreams happen. Many people are too prepared to take the easy option and then hope that things happen.  However, if we proactively talk about what is needed in the form of action over and above the thinking … a few more people may actually do it.

Well done ‘E-R.E.’ for doing what you’re doing. Your story has opened my eyes just a little bit more.  I really look forward to hearing more about what you’re doing and achieving from your very proud and highly committed mum.

We all need to take action.  Those of us that are taking action can probably do a little more if we really want to. What is there that you can ‘do’ more of to make things happen in your life?  What can you take from the ‘E-R.E’ story.

You obviously need sound knowledge of products/processes/policies … the ‘how to’ … as a basis for success but it’s only a small part of the winning formula. You need to truly “Get Your Head in the Game” … you need to have the right mental attitude for success if there’s something you really want to achieve.

How many people do you know that have all the ability but lack the confidence to achieve at the highest levels – business/personal/physical? The smallest seed of doubt can undermine a university graduate, a sporting superstar or even a romantic trying to woo a new partner – if left unchecked. The right mental attitude is vital to true achievement and success in every part of life.

“Get Your Head in the Game’ is my new practical program that uses my ‘5 Drivers of Success’ to analyse how confidence, courage and capacity are born and built; and gives participants the tools to shift their mindset from thinking success is possible to believing success is inevitable … and they can’t wait to make it happen.

Last Sunday was a 100km ride from Wistow to Murray Bridge with lots of hills.  I’ve previously competed in B Grade races but this day I was competing in E Grade.  In defence of the handicappers … I thought it was quite acceptable to go down a grade or two seeing as I haven’t ridden for so long and I was coming back from injury.  however, to go down to E Grade was a bit of a shock.  It didn’t stop me and I got in amongst it all … and just quietly, I thought I was a fairly good chance of taking a podium spot at the end.

The first third of the race I was very comfortable and picturing myself finishing the race towards the front of the group if not ‘right at the front’.  Unfortunately that’s where it all went astray .  I started to struggle on a hill and got quickly dropped from the pack.  Anyone who knows anything about riding will know that once you get dropped from the pack it’s almost impossible to get back on the pack again.  Once you are dropped from the pack you just get slower and slower as you do all the work for yourself and the pack continues to pull away.

I watched them disappear into the difference and then crossed the finish line 28 minutes after the winner of my grade and I was … stone cold motherless LAST !  It has got to be the worst result I’ve ever had in my riding career … and I enjoyed every minute of it.

I’m not one who likes to lose but I totally hate being a spectator on the side lines when I could be in the mix and out there having some fun.  It’s not all about winning sometimes it just about being out there and having a go.

Two additional great things that came out of it …
1.    Two more organisations have booked me to speak at their conferences next year
2.   My list of bonus takeaways was massive:
golf balls, golf umbrella, golf towel, 4 x golf caps, 6 x Grant Burge Shiraz, 6 x Cab Sav,
6 x some other wine and slab of Coopers Ale

what more could a guy ask for

RWTA is made of some really great people and all seem to work together quite well to keep their industry moving forward … well done guys.

I was talking to a friend just the other day … Matthew Hill … and he reminded me that I will feel better about myself by not stooping to the low morale ground of my enemies.  We were talking about organisations and people that had disappointed or frustrated us and they had frustrated us to the extreme for no good reason.  I started to talk about one particular fella who has frustrated me (from time to time) for literally decades and even though we haven’t spoken for several years I still hear reports of how he continually tries to undermine me.  Most of the time it doesn’t concern me too much.  I’m comfortable with who I am but I do worry about how other people might view me after listening to him.

However, I do know of this one ‘incident’ this person was involved in that if I brought the subject up it would absolutely infuriate him and he would get massively angry with me. I know this wasn’t his fault, I know he wasn’t to blame but it is still something that other people have ‘accused’ him of and he is extremely sensitive about the mention of it.  It’s one of those issues that would possibly make him need to go back to therapy … it is that sensitive.  I have never and would never bring it up to him because it just wouldn’t be nice and it wouldn’t be fair.  However …. I was speaking to Hilly about it and made the following statement … Hilly’s response brought me back to earth and back to who ‘I really want to be’.

I said … ” xxx really infuriates me, he’s always telling people how stupid I am, always telling people about everything that I’ve stuffed up.  He frustrates me so much that I sometimes feel like bringing up xxxxx and just see how he likes it when we discuss it.  I know that he did nothing wrong, I know it wasn’t his fault but I also know that it I bring it up it’s sensitive enough issue that he will just go right off … he’d get so angry.  Just see how he likes it when people say things that aren’t true! I sometimes feeling like I would like to do it just to get a little pay back for all the bad things he says about me.”

Hilly’s response was instant, off the cuff and absolute GOLD … “Take the high morale ground”.  He didn’t need to say anything more, that was enough.  It reminded me of the things I like about myself and of the things I like about the friends I choose.  I shouldn’t compromise my standards for anyone, no matter what they are doing to me.  There are plenty of other things this guy and I could debate without having to stoop to ‘the low morale ground’.

I also feel comfortable that no matter what this guy says … people who really matter will want to get to know me before making any true judgements.  It’s good to have friends who remind us of who we really want to be and help us to be that person.

Why didn’t you get an answer? Well…I called and they didn’t call me back.
Why is this project behind schedule? We had a problem with our supplier, and then we had some weather delays, and….
Why didn’t you get me that report I asked for? I haven’t had time.
Where’s the data you promised me? Oh, I’m sorry. My computer wasn’t cooperating.

Simply step up and say “I should have made sure it happened and I’ll take responsibility for making it right.” or “I’ll take responsibility for the actions and the consequences.”  99% of the time you will find leaders prefer to be told and ‘should’ assist to correct things quickly.  People get more upset when you try to deny it, blame others, cover it up, pretend it didn’t happen or just leave it and let it get worse and worse.

I don’t often talk politics but this is an a-political observation.  Unfortunately, the leaders of our country are not great examples of the Step UP philosophy and this sets a trend for those who observe and follow them.  We have a current but certainly not isolated situation where, it appears on the face of it at the moment, one of our politicians has been caught out spending money in the wrong places with the corporate credit card.  He’s making excuses, he’s blaming others even suggesting his card was ‘swapped’ and his signature copied.  He’s only making things worse.  If he was to Step Up, he would have to deal with the consequences but then the drama would only be half as bad as what it is now.  ’If’ he gets caught out as a liar as well as doing the wrong thing with his credit card … the consequences will be doubled if not worse.

If you are a leader you need to lead by example.  If you would like your subordinates to tell you immediately when things go wrong … you need to show them that you do that too.  The other thing that’s essential is that when something does go wrong, you as the leader, need to assist your subordinate in finding the solution rather than shouting at them, going off your trolley at them or worse still assisting them to try to cover it up.  It only makes things worse. Help them to rectify not cover up.

If you are a leader and wonder how you respond when things go home you need look no further than your own family/children.  How they deal with you will more than likely be the same way your staff will deal with you too.

As communication devices such as the iPhone and Blackberry continue to advance, work/ life balance becomes blurred. There is more demand on people to respond quickly to the boss or client at 8 pm on a Friday night or 4 pm on a Sunday afternoon.  Unfortunately more people are accepting that this is the ‘norm’. In the struggle to get ahead we go against our instinct as we believe we have to capitulate with the demands of being more readily accessible via the ever growing technology.

However, “I sense a disturbance in The Force” (a quote for STAR WARS fans) … there is a shift in our attitudes. People are starting to resent the intrusion of one arena into the other at inappropriate moments.

Some people I met recently don’t have a mobile phone.  They say that anything they need to do with their business can wait till they get to their work phone or answering machine.  One guy has a mobile but refuses to give the number out to randoms … he has it just for family or ‘very select’ business interactions such as his business manager. He says it’s quite funny when people at a hotel check him in and ask for his mobile number and he replies with … ‘I don’t give out my mobile number”.  He says the responses range from dumb struck silence to straight out argument.

Through my speaking I am fortunate to meet lots of different people from all around Australia.  Some quite eccentric and some quite practical.  The bonus of it all is that I do get to see and hear of lots of different approaches, attitudes and opinions.  There is a disturbance in the force … people are starting to question that seemingly accepted pressure to conform to what everyone else is doing.  The rebellion army that is willing to stand up against what everyone else is just accepting because it’s too hard to fight.

There are no two ways about it … family life and work life and social life will always be integrated to some degree.  When you catch up with friends or go to a party we talk about work.  When we are at work it would be rare to go through a day without discussing your family or social life to some extent.  Family/work/social life will always be integrated but do we have to be connected to everything all the time … I think not.

I think when we first got our first mobile phones we were excited about having this new connectivity.  We wanted to be able to show how well it worked and good it was for business.  But that initial excitement was 30 years ago.  The new excitement is now around being selective as to when to use the technology.  the new excitement should be focussed on getting our control back of our time and our lives.

There are already a few people taking a stand and saying “I have the technology and TODAY I choose not to use it”.  They are showing commitment through actions too.

It is time for us all to make a conscious choice … where do you stand on the issue?
Do you think it’s right to be so connected to business all the time?
Do you think it’s right to be so accessible by family while at work?

Where do you stand?

This has lead me to look at the concept of sleep, how to improve it and it’s role in recovery of injuries.  This in turn lead me to considering how necessary sleep is for maintenance of our day to day lifestyles and productivity at work.

The Encyclopedia Britannica defines sleep as “the natural periodic suspension of consciousness during which the powers of the body are restored”. The all-important word in this definition is restored. Yes – that is the purpose of sleep to allow your body to recharge what you have worn down during the day.

I reflect on this definition because like many other people I sometimes push myself well into the night to try and get more work done.  I sometimes do this for several days in a row in the hope that I can get enough work to make the rest of my time easier.  However, having done the reading I have, I’ve realised that continually working late into the night is actually counter productive.

When I work so long into the night I obviously reduce the number of hours I sleep.  When I don’t get enough sleep I’m tired the next day.  When I’m tired I don’t work as hard and I get distracted a lot easier.  Therefore my productivity is reduced.  This then leads to me ‘having’ to stay up late again the next night to complete work that wasn’t completed during the day. This all equal counter productivity.

My aim now is to focus on getting into a regular sleeping pattern for two reasons:
1.     So that my mind and body get the right amount of rest and recovery so I can be more focussed, productive and effective during my working hours.
2.     So that my body can have the down time it needs to restore itself, heal it’s injuries and get me back on the bike sooner.

Are you sleeping well enough … to be as effective as you can be?