One of the habits often practiced by highly successful people is the habit of regular goal setting. There is a reason for that. Goals compel you to work with discipline and concentration rather than going about your job mindlessly and routinely. Goal-setting is a discipline that helps you focus. 
This doesn’t mean that you can’t do your [...]

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I once took a position as a sales manager with a Fortune 100 company, having been told was that my unit had been first in the division the year before. However when I got there, I found that the six person unit had three new, floundering rookies and one opening—where the top salesperson in the [...]

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Arguably, the most important skill in selling is listening. Some of us are better listeners than others, but we all must work on our listening skills if we are going to maximize our success in the business world.
• If you are going to be effective in selling, serving customers or managing others, you will need to [...]

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Several years ago, the coach of the Louisiana State University track team, Boots Garland, conducted a running clinic for some members of my youth baseball team. Coach Garland demonstrated how to increase running skills and quickness. He showed the players the small, detailed things that would improve their performance. Things like hand [...]

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I plan to strengthen habits related to building and deepening relationships.
Included in this area are:

sending more (and more timely) thank you notes.
intentionally connecting more often - with colleagues, clients and other cool people.
making time for friends, creating meaningful memories and conversations.

The key to making these happen is to take action. I have been and will [...]

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I recently heard one of the presidential candidates asked about why their view had changed on an issue. Their response was something like: “I don’t think we want a President who never changes his mind, who doesn’t listen to new arguments, who isn’t open to change.”
This is an incredibly valuable question, because while you have [...]

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I believe this question is extremely powerful because it makes us intentional and conscious as learners. In many ways this is the necessary follow-up question to the
second in this series - What are my goals?
Why?
Because when we set goals by definition identifying gaps in our knowledge.
In my experience most goals require more than just [...]

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The answer for me is clear - I need to get better at execution and implementation. At
The Kevin Eikenberry Group we are excellent at surfacing ideas and opportunities, and while we do get a lot done, we don’t do as well in this area as we could. Let me rephrase that and put the [...]

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My answer to this one is simple. I will use my skills to serve others.
I believe this approach I allows me to not only serve others, but reach my personal and business goals, and ultimately make the world a better place.
I plan to do this by writing, speaking, listening, consulting, and training. I plan to [...]

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From a business perspective this one is pretty easy. I would have focused more on execution. My team and I are pretty good at coming up with new ideas and figuring out how to use and leverage those ideas. We aren’t quite so good at execution.
An outsider might say that we do get a lot [...]

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