Attitude Training

Less than a year ago, I found myself in beautiful Tampa, Florida.
I had received a call from a CEO there who expressed his neednfor my help. He told me that morale in his company was farnbelow what it needed to be. He asked me to come in and trainnhis upper management in positive thinking.

I had other business in Tampa and didn't see him until my third nday there. I walked into his office suite (and was it ever 'sweet').
This man had started this company 'with his own two hands'
(as he put it). He was very proud to say that he had 'run thisncompany single-handedly for 32 years'.

He started in telling me how his management and employeesnhad a very bad attitude towards him, his company and his industry.
His sales staff was turning over every six months. His VP of sales nhad been with him one year and he felt as if he was about to put in nhis resignation.

To my horror, he offered me the job as his sales manager. I toldnhim 'no thanks' faster than a stroke of lightning in the middle ofna Texas thunderstorm. In fact, he hired me for a month at more nthan the salary he was paying his sales manager on an annual basis.

He let me know that he could 'probably double that for me'. Thisnpoor man was clueless (and I'm about 1000% sure that he won'tnsee this article here :).

The first order of business was for him to pay my full fee upfront.
I knew that what I had to tell him might affect how good myncheck would be if I waited until the end of my services withnhim.

He put me up at very lovely resort 3 blocks from his office.

My first day (after making sure my check had cleared) hensent someone to pick me up. We arrived at his office and
I promptly went into his office suite.

He had a list of all of his 'troubled managers'. He wasn't nwanting to fire any of them but he did want me to 'fix'ntheir attitudes. I told him that we would be spendingnour first week on 'his' outlook and philosophy of his ncompany.

As you can imagine, this poor guy had no clue that the nbasic problem in his company, was him. Much to mynsurprise, after getting over his shock that I would be sondirect in confronting his attitude, he agreed that he knewnthat he had 'allowed his managers and employees'ndrag his attitude down as well. (Clueless again.)

Friend, everything starts and stops with leadership.
This man had a lot of pride. However, secretly I nthink that he knew that the problem in his turnover,nfinancial loses, bitter disputes with customers andnalmost all out war with his competitors are stemmednfrom him.

I spent the first two weeks working with him and hisnupper management. I spent one-on-one time with neach one of them (he had 12 in all). I ate lunch withnthem, watched football games with them and evenndrove a few of them on the golf course (I don't playngolf; well I do but you wouldn't want to see it. Itsnnot a pretty site.)

If everything rises and falls on leadership, thennleadership rises and falls on attitude.

I determined whether his 12 managers were reallynsold out to the company of whether or not they werenirredeemable. I listened to their complaints, gripesnand general unhappiness. We identified why theynwere still with the company and discovered theirnfuture hopes for themselves and their employmentnthere.

You have an amazing power within your controlnat this very moment. It is the power of choice. Youncan choose to have an awesome attitude or you canndefault into negativity. Let me be very direct.

Negativity leads to poverty. Positivity leads tonprosperity. For you. For your company. For yournemployees.

The great motivator and author, Keith Harrell saidnit best. 'Attitude is Everything!'

We developed a training program that is still beingnutilized in that company. We called it 'attitude training'.
Along with all technical aspects of a business enterprisen'attitude training' will determine profits.

Attitude is far beyond 'positive thinking'. It is the perpetual,nconsistent outlook that you choose to have. I believe thatnattitude can be taught. When attitude is taught, then it cannbe caught and have a phenomenal synergistic effect onneverything.

It might seem trite now, but when Zig wrote many yearsnago about, 'stinking thinking', he discovered a key thatnwould make or break an individual or a company.

Do a check up from the neck up right now.

1.Rate your overall attitude regarding life in general.
Give it a 10 for possessing an awesome, powerfulnattitude. Give it a 0 if your attitude stinks.
2.Make a decision now to do something about yourn attitude if you know that it needs improvement.
3.If you are a business owner or manager, take responsibilityn for the morale that exists around you. You can't change whatn you won't acknowledge.
4.If your personal or corporate profits are suffering find out why.
Even though you may have changes in your industry and businessnyou still need to assess you 'umbrella of attitude' that exists in yourncompany and environment.
5.Be honest if you are having trouble with your own attitude.
Also, if it is something that you don't know what to do about,nget some outside help.

Take action to turn your personal attitude to one that seeks, explores andnfinds new opportunities.

If you haven't done so in a while, set some new goals in your life and/or nin your company. If you feel that you or your company has lost its edge,nthen decide now that you are going to do something about it.

Go to the local bookstore and find a book on attitude. Hire a consultantnto come in an assess where the problem is.

Start some 'attitude training' in your company. I guarantee that if you nidentify with this article, your profits can and will go up very quicklynwe you choose to turn attitudes around.

Do something to stir your passion up again for your life and/or business.
Take positive action today.