Personal Archives - TODAY INDIA

How To Achieve Your Personal and Professional Success

You might find comfort in their daily routines because you feel you can control what to expect of your day. Is your daily routine becoming an obstacle for a healthier worklife balance?

Life in the 21st century has gotten pretty hectic and you feel you have to be on 24/7. Most families have two parents working because life is expensive. The daily demands of life have you juggling more “balls” than you can keep track. It seems like everyone wants a piece of you. You want to be a good parent and participate as much as possible in your child’s academics and extracurricular activities. Yet you have many work demands and expectations at work and in your personal life. Some days you just want to scream or crawl into a corner.

You are not alone. The average individual, no matter male or female, feels the daily pressures of worklife balance and try to face each day with new hopes of a better day. Your hopes will not help you solve your worklife balance issues. Make today the day you take a stand and make a commitment to balance your life personally and professionally. It is time to prioritize and take a look at your daily routine and see if it is getting you closer to your goals and worklife balance.

Eliminate activities in your day that are not the right pieces for your puzzle for success. Is your life jar too full? What activities need to be added or eliminated? Maslow’s Hierachy of Needs is a great foundation to put the pieces of your life puzzle together. Make sure your physiological needs are met which are required for you to sustain life such as water, air, nourishment and sleep.

Are you eating from the five food groups in the proper portions, are you at a healthy height/weight ratio,do you drink at least 6 eight ounce glasses of water a day, exercise at least 20 minutes a day and sleep at least 6 hours a day,? These needs are necessary for you to have a solid foundation to put the pieces of your life puzzle together. Do you feel secure that you are living in a safe place, have medical insurance, job security, and financial reserves? These are some of the top issues individuals struggle with and can negatively affect your daily focus.

Are you happy with your job and do you feel that it is helping you to build your life puzzle? Are you fulfilling your social needs? You need to have a balance between work and home. Do you have friends you talk to at least a few times a month and meet for a few laughs? Do you give yourself permission to have ” down time”. Do you feel that you belong to a group in which you share common interests? Do you have a support system you can share your achievements and life’s “bump in the road” with? Do you give and receive love? Once you have a sense of belonging now your sense of importance as a person is evident. Self esteem consists of self respect, achievement, attention, recognition and reputation, need for knowledge and aesthetics.

Everyday learn something knew and use it as another piece to build your puzzle. Do what you can to reach your full potential as a person and do not let work define the person you want to be, rather let it be a piece of your puzzle. Always strive to grow psychologically and let new opportunities help you to grow further to contribute to your puzzle. Once you define your life goals, the pieces necessary for your puzzle will come together easier than you expect. Your worklife balance is dependent on you and the personal choices you make everyday. Be your own self motivator and when you feel as though something in your day is an obstacle,trouble shoot,ask for help or speak to someone you respect to help you find a healthy solution at work or in your personal life.

Remember life stressors are what you make of them. Do not view your perceived obstacles as a red light, instead view them as a discovery opportunity to find another piece of your puzzle. It’s your life make it as healthy and happy as you can. You can achieve a healthier worklife balance. Change starts with you. Invest in Yourself everyday for personal and professional success.

Examples of Personal Ethical Dilemmas

Running red lights

The most common ethical dilemma is involved when you are taking someone to hospital for an emergency treatment by car. The law states that speeding and running red lights is illegal. However, this person might die if not treated quickly and they are in your car.

It is noteworthy to hear the amount of people saying they would ignore all traffic rules and rush them to hospital. You are probably saying that to yourself now. But in reality, few people do this.

Why you probably wont break the laws

You have been conditioned so strongly by society that you will be punished if you break laws and then shunned or publicly shamed for doing so. This is a more powerful deterrent than any fine.

So you will start to rationalise why you wont speed or drive through red lights by telling yourself;

I have time and the doctors are really good
I may have an accident myself and not get to the hospital
I may hit and hurt another person
If they die in my car, I did the best I could
I don’t want to panic, and speeding will make me panic

The strange thing about this line of thought is that little of it is about doing the right thing and more about your natural resistance to break laws.

You see a person steal food from a store

While shopping you see a person stealing food right in front of you. Theft is against the law and they should be arrested, yet you will start thinking about whether the arrest is the right thing to do. You will rapidly ask yourself questions to determine your action.

Does the person look like they are starving or homeless
Do the look like a criminal
Have they done this before
Have they sought help from emergency food kitchens
Does it look like they have money to buy the food
How old are they. Children and the aged are often excused for stealing food

See how you are trying to rationalise why they are stealing to find out what course of action to take. Yet the ethical choice is always let them take the food. This is because of the simple fact of: If they need to steal, they need the food.

If you report or arrest them, you are not being ethical and doing the right thing. But hang on a second, what about the right thing about all of us. If we accept stealing as acceptable where does it stop?

If I steal 200kg of meat is that need or desire? What limit is acceptable by society and you in regards to being ethical or breaking the law. If your family needs food, do you only take what you need, or do you take more to get by for longer?

The problem with ethical behaviour

The biggest problem with being ethical is that it often means you are willing or needing to break many laws in the pursuit of doing good. Organisation’s will fire you if you make ethical decisions instead of looking after the organisation. Friends will think you lack responsibility because your actions will not follow society rules of order.

Growing up we are not encouraged or trained to be ethical, we are trained to follow laws so that we can all live safely together. Here are some ethical decisions that we have to make often in our daily lives;

We know that smoking kills, yet we standby and watch our friends kill themselves by smoking
After a night out and some drinks, we let people drive knowing they are intoxicated and likely to kill someone
We know that fake products like brand name handbags are made by slave labour, often children forced to work, and yet we buy them because they are cheap
Many of us walk past someone on that is sleeping on the streets yet we don’t offer them shelter in our place
We walk down the street and mentally, sometimes verbally, insult others we pass by making comments on their size, weight, appearance, sexual preferences, or race
We continue to use petrol to drive our cars because we are too lazy to walk more, and consume our natural resources unnecessarily

We all know what the right thing to do in each of these ethical situations, yet we rationalise why we don’t do it. How many times this week have you made unethical choices?

Income Seldom Exceeds Personal Development

Income seldom exceeds personal development because it takes a lot of change and dedication for any one to become rich. They say “Its not all about the money its about what it makes of you to get that money you desire.” You are going to go through hell and back in order to achieve your goals in life but most people fail after their first obstacle which is about 97% of people in this world. The other 3% are leaders and will not quit no matter what. They go and go to the point of “until”. This means they do not stop or quit “until” they have achieved their goals and dreams in life because they know it takes a lot of development to achieve something so great but they also know you must go through a lot of failure and obstacles before you get that reward. The more failure and obstacles you overcome the bigger of a person you become and the bigger the reward will be awaiting you at the end.

Personal development is what every business owner must work on because when times get hard they need to know that they are still the owners and they must take responsibility and still make it run even in the hard times instead of crying and being afraid to spend a little more money on advertising to get those customers. The ones who always think so much are never successful. The ones who just go out there and take massive action daily and take it to critical mass are the ones who are always successful and get what they want when they want it. I just wanted to share a little tip. Make a schedule for yourself and follow it daily for the next few weeks and I promise you will see results increase dramatically. When you have a schedule in front of you and you see it you will go through it everyday and you will not miss or skip but if you did not have a schedule written sometimes you might skip a day here and there and sometimes you might not do everything you were supposed to.

Last thing I wanted to share which is my favourite quote. Take Massive Action. “Do something for some one today in the knowing that there was no way they could ever pay you back and watch how this world changes for you.”

The Art of Personal Letter Writing: 7 Basic Elements

When was the last time you received a personal letter that was not sent by email, but regular snail mail? What type of attitude did it put you in when you received a nice handwritten letter or note outside of the stack of bills that sometimes become daily accessory items for your mailbox? After retrieving a huge box filled with an array of high school and college items from my mother’s house, I found at the very bottom, a smaller box containing letters previously written to me from some of my old friends. There must have been about fifty letters in this box before I discarded them. I couldn’t resist this last opportunity to read every one of them again. After about an hour of non-stop reading, I made a cup of hot tea and sat down to continue my journey “back down memory lane.” I remember rewriting most of my letters, especially if I made a spelling mistake or if my sentence structure wasn’t as I intended it to be. Judging from the amount of paper I wasted on editing, you would think that I was mailing them to a major book publisher instead of a friend!

Letter writing created a manifestation of memories bridging the distance between the sender and recipient. People were as meticulous about picking out decorative stationary to write their letters on, as much as the letter itself. This connection through written communication promoted the exchange of conversation, creativity and artistic expression.

The standard format that I followed practically every time I wrote a letter to my friends, immediate family who lived out of town, old sweethearts or occasionally some of my favorite teachers, was composed of the following basic elements:

1. The Heading (Name and Address)

2. Date

3. The Greeting (Dear So and So)

4. The Body (The message you are writing to the recipient)

5. The Closing (Sincerely, Yours Truly)

6. Your Signature

7. Post Script (There is the occasional comment that was not mentioned in the Body of your letter, but made after the signature, called the P.S. or P.S.S. The P.S.S. was an additional post script).

Sometimes on the back flap of the envelope, the writer would put a smiley face or an acronym like S.W.A.K. (Sealed With A Kiss) which indicated that a love letter was enclosed.

Penmanship in elementary school was extremely important years ago. It came as a surprise to me and some of my friends who are parents that cursive writing is not taught in most schools anymore. Therefore, the meticulousness and pride taken in one’s penmanship is not as evident today as it was when I was growing up. But a personalized letter or note makes you stop, sit down, read and appreciate the thoughtfulness behind the folded message. Personalized letters displayed a unique voice, taste and style. It showed that a lot of thought, even if it wasn’t especially pleasant, went into the written expression.

So why not do something out of the ordinary and make someone smile today by writing a personalized letter to them instead of an electronic one. The memories will be worth the effort, especially if the person is miles away. You will get a great deal of satisfaction from simply taking a few minutes to write an endearing personal message whether on some nice stationary or not. That would be a special gift and welcomed relief for someone to receive in the mailbox amid the endless bills.

Resignation Letter Format for Personal Reasons

All ready to start a new job or gearing up to take a break? If you have reckoned that you need to move on from your current job then the first step you need to take is to inform your employer that you are parting ways with them. Your resignation letter should be a short letter that formally informs your current employer that you are leaving your job. You may have to serve a notice period of a month or two after submitting your resignation letter.

A resignation letter is mostly sent as an email and must be addressed to the reporting manager and the HR. It’s not just an information for your boss that you intent to leave but it is also an advance intimation to superiors, and human resources so that they can find a replacement for your position.

Resignation letter format for personal reasons

Dear [your reporting manager’s name],

Please accept this letter as a formal notification of my resignation from the position [position title] with [company name]. I will be leaving my position due to unavoidable personal reasons that must be attended to immediately. I would like to thank you for this amazing opportunity that I was given for the past [Add the number of years you have been working in the role]. I greatly appreciate what I have learned here [Add the things you have learned here] and will take it with me throughout my career.

My last working day will be [DD/MM/YY – (one/two months from the date you give notice depending on company policy)]. I promise to wrap up my duties and train my replacement during this time. Please do let me know if there’s anything else I can do to aid during this transition.

I wish the company continued success, and I hope to stay in touch in the future.

Sincerely,

Find more resignation letter formats for specific reasons here.

Post Resignation

After your resignation has been accepted you should make sure to inform your employer about the current status of the projects you are handling so that you can proceed accordingly. It is best to put down the tasks you have in pipeline in an email and send it to all concerned people. It is also a good idea not to accept any long term tasks as this might interfere with your relieving date. If your employer finds a replacement for your role in due time you must train them on the nitty-gritties of your job. In this way, both you and your employer can part ways with a sense of respect and amicability.

Interview with Joe Farcht, Author of "Building Personal Leadership"

Interview with Joe Farcht

author of Building Personal Leadership: Inspirational Tools & Techniques for Work and Life

Genesis Publishing (2007)

ISBN 1600371655

Reviewed by Cherie Fisher for Reader Views (6/07)

Today, Tyler R. Tichelaar of Reader Views is delighted to be joined by Joe Farcht, author of “Building Personal Leadership.” Joe Farcht’s new book focuses on the progressive development of personal productivity, personal leadership, business leadership, and overcoming the barriers to success. Joe Farcht has earned a BSEE degree, MBA, is an Air Force Lt. Col. (Retired) Vietnam veteran and fighter pilot, is certified as a Master Personnel and Executive Coach, is an expert in the Myers-Briggs Personality Typing, and a 13 year successful business owner.

Tyler: Thank you, Joe, for joining me today to discuss your new book. To begin, will you tell us a little bit about the idea of progression in “Building Personal Leadership”—is it a matter of developing the individual leader first so he or she can then develop the employees?

Joe: Tyler, you hit the nail right on the head. First you develop personal leadership and then you can lead other people. Employees observe their supervisor very carefully and judge them by their actions. What they say is largely disregarded. The greatest problems arise when an employee detects discrepancies between what the boss says and what he or she does. 75% of employees quit their jobs because of their immediate supervisor. Getting your act together as a leader of yourself first is the key to becoming a great supervisor of people. Think about it! The success of a leader is totally dependent upon the success of the people who work for them. If you don’t develop and grow your own skills, how can you help your employees grow and develop? Only if you are building your own personal leadership skills can you help others and assure your own continuing success.

Tyler: Joe, I understand your book focuses on many factors affecting the effectiveness and productivity of people including the motivation of employees. Having been a manager myself, I know money is not the only thing that motivates an employee. What other factors do you find are motivators for employees?

Joe: Tyler, that is a great question. I have done tons of study on the subject and teach it at the University. I have found that most motivational theories are in agreement on what motivates employees. Anyone who studies Maslow, Herzberg, Kovach, and others will find some very startling agreement. While motivation for each person is unique to that person, some generalities can be found in the population. The need for achievement is one of those motivators. Achievement can be found in stretch goals, learning through striving for new results, and doing something you have never done before. Closely associated with achievement is the motivation derived from recognition, appreciation, and increased self-esteem (doing great work and being / feeling valuable as a person). Achievement and recognition are powerful for the general population. However, if you are under 30 years of age and making less than $30,000, you will probably be motivated by money or money equivalents like promotion. One last word on motivation, get to know each individual personally. What are their goals, aspirations, hobbies, interests, and motivators? Then integrate what you know about the general population with the specifics of each person and you will become a great motivator of employees. By the way, this works with children, spouses, significant others, and friends.

Tyler: I’d like to go back a minute and comment on the primary reason you mentioned people leave their jobs—their immediate supervisors. Having been in middle-management myself, I know how difficult it can be to motivate your employees when the people higher up the ladder are uninterested in motivating, encouraging or rewarding you, which puts you in a position where you feel powerless to help yourself or reward and motivate your own employees. What suggestions would you have for people in such middle-management situations?

Joe: My whole purpose for living is to help people like you described to understand that they are not powerless to help themselves and that no matter what the work environment, they are able to encourage, coach, and motivate the people who work for them. You see, we have a choice. We can shrink from challenges, become powerless, or we can choose to lead by example, set ourselves apart, and be the leader we were meant to be. Middle managers who develop themselves into leaders are upbeat, guided by inner values, and care for each person who works for them no matter what the work environment. I wrote my book to help middle managers become leaders, model the right attitudes and behaviors, and overcome the shortcomings found in many organizations. I was one of those middle managers at one time. I was positive but found that my values and the organization’s values were too different to remain employed in that company. I was faced with taking a job I could do in my sleep or be downsized. I took downsizing. It was the best decision I ever made. It allowed me to create a wonderful and rewarding life.

Tyler: That’s a fantastic observation, Joe–that you have to make sure your personal values and the organization’s values are similar. But is it really that easy? What advice would you give to the many people who probably feel trapped working in jobs they dislike for companies they dislike simply because they feel they can’t leave if they want to pay the mortgage or feed their families? How can these people become their own leaders out of such quagmires?

Joe: Feeling probably trapped is a choice. It is based on fear and will drain the energy right out of a person. Everything is a choice. We choose to feel trapped. We choose to fear not being able to pay the bills or feed the family. We choose to slog on each and every day without the courage to choose something else. We choose limitations that keep us from using more of our potential and greatness. I’m going to be a little in everyone’s face and say that you can choose change. If you want a better life, well then make that choice and plan how you can accomplish that plan. You see, if you do the things you have always done, then you will get more of what you have always gotten. You must choose to learn, grow, and become something more. Like Oprah Winfrey, you need to hold a larger vision of yourself than you presently have. Ok, so here is what you do. Choose to buy my book. Turn to page one. Read the article called, “Back to the Basics.” Highlight insightful ideas you have. Take the best idea and start practicing it in your work and life. Do that for all 337 pages and your life will be transformed in a year and you will be prepared to make that leap to a better job, better life, and the joy and happiness you deserve. Oh, by the way, Amazon.com has the book used for $8.50. Is that too much to invest in your future?

Tyler: Your book also spends time on time management. What do you think are the biggest obstacles to getting people to manage their time properly?

Joe: The Habit Trap! We grow up amongst role models who have poor time management skills. Business cultures reinforce inefficient methods of working. People don’t know any better because no one is coaching them to improve because no one knows better ways of working. Everyone is trapped in in-effective and in-efficient ways of working and living. If a person is lucky they find a great book or resource that provides exceptional techniques to use your time more effectively and productively. If you are even luckier, your boss discovers and enrolls you in a development program that provides transformational attitude and time management skill development. If you are even luckier, your boss is a master at time management and coaches you to mirror his or her level of success. It is in his or her best interest to do that.

Tyler: Your examples then range from self-motivation to having a very supportive and motivating environment. Can an employee become his or her own personal leader, motivating himself to do a good job even if it seems like no one higher up cares? Can that one person turn that organization around?

Joe: Every person can develop personal leadership attitudes, skills, and competencies leading to self-motivation no matter what their circumstances. There are hundreds of examples of individuals overcoming adversity to achieve great things. Les Brown and Oprah Winfrey come to mind. Developing and exercising effective personal leadership attitudes and skills will set you apart from higher ups, peers, and others. It insulates you from the negative forces that would pull you down to their levels. Great personal leaders understand that their every thought and action is a choice and they choose the higher paths in their work and life. They don’t depend on the approval or caring of others. They recognize the source of their power is from within. They have so much to give and they give abundantly. Can one person turn the organization around? The answer is yes and no. Yes, you can if you are the top executive in the organization and you are smart about organizational and cultural change. No, if you are a middle manager bucking top leaders who have self-serving agendas. Middle managers will try but find their efforts very frustrating, deflating, a huge energy drain, and that they are not making any progress. In some cases there may be value clashes and the only option is to leave the company and find a more compatible place to work.

Tyler: I have heard it said that no one comes to work with the intention to do a bad job, yet we constantly see examples of poor customer service or employees who just don’t seem to care. What can a manager do to turn that situation around?

Joe: Tyler, I like this question. The manager can’t do anything! It is a top leadership problem and the top leader in the organization must make the changes to motivate managers and front line employees to provide the exceptional service that is desired. I recently had a one-on-one conversation with Dan Cathy, President and COO of Chick-fil-A, and what I learned will make you stand up and applaud. Dan Cathy has traveled to the top of his family owned corporate ladder but discovered that the answers to continuing success were not there. They rested with the front line employee serving the customer. Dan Cathy now spends considerable time sculpting, training, and leading front line employees to providing exceptional service to customers. In this way, Dan Cathy will ensure the continuing success of Chick-fil-A. You see, customer service and motivated employees start with the top leadership of an organization.

Tyler: That’s a great example, Joe. In “Building Personal Leadership” you emphasize the importance of setting goals and creating the attitudes and competencies for exercising effective personal leadership. However, I know lots of people have difficulty just figuring out what it is they want out of their personal lives and their jobs. What advice do you have for these people?

Joe: Oh, that is a great question! Let me explore how we get to this point in our lives and then I’ll provide some advice. We grow up in imperfect situations with mostly well meaning but imperfect parents, teachers trying to do their best in crowded classrooms, the influence of friends trying to find themselves, relatives who have their own problems and blemishes, and in neighborhoods that don’t support becoming all that a person can become. We develop limiting beliefs, attitudes, and habits of behaviors that severely limit what we can accomplish. So people know they have more to offer, but they feel lost and unable to contribute like they would like to. Often they become victims and don’t take responsibility for where they are in their lives. That said, now here is the answer. Understand that you had little control of your life until now. Today is the moment of decision. The life you live today is a result of your choices in the past. The life you live tomorrow is a result of the decisions you make and actions you take today. Decide today that you need to let go of old beliefs and ineffective conditioning in the past by learning new things, developing new habits, and changing into a new person. One new step each day. That is all it takes. Little changes each day and over time you will make big leaps in your leadership, success, and the results you enjoy. A great resource to start that journey of change is my book “Building Personal Leadership.”

Tyler: Your book was created from weekly emails and monthly newsletters you send to participants of your leadership development programs. Would you describe for us a little bit of the writing and organizational process that was involved in constructing the book?

Joe: I took hundreds of articles, threw them up into the air, and they magically fell into like piles. Well, ok, it didn’t happen quite like that. I did sort through them at a rather high level of organization and found four major themes of my writing. Then I hired a person to organize them into chapters with similar information. They were all combined into the book, which was then edited. My work then was to dive into the details, content, and all the supporting sections of the book. I learned a lot that will be incorporated into my next book. Just a comment, as I use my book in the leadership development process of my participants, I am always inspired by the content. There is something special about the content. Read it and you will experience the same special feeling.

Tyler: Do you see the book as evolving then into future editions—or you mentioned your next book—what will that be about?

Joe: I really love using my intuition and experiences to write for the several thousand people who receive my weekly messages. I have enough material since my book “Building Personal Leadership” to compile another book of similar organization and content. For sure my next book will be about personal leadership but exactly what form or the title, well, I’m looking to learn from the marketing of this book and to be inspired with the approach that might reach out to even more people. You see, there is nothing more important to me than helping people become more effective leaders in order to create the lives of their dreams. That is my purpose for living. Unleashing more of the unlimited potential and greatness that we all possess is my mission. Personal Leadership is everything!

Tyler: Do you have any thoughts about how email has changed the workplace, both from an employee and a management perspective?

Joe: That is an interesting question. I think a book could be written on the subject. From the employee’s perspective, they now use e-mail to communicate with other colleagues sitting next to each other in separate cubicles. It is also being used to keep historical records for a variety of purposes including their own protection (CYA). I also know employees who are teaching people to communicate with them via e-mail so they can manage their time better and keep focused on the important tasks they need to complete. From the management perspective, some managers work from home and send out literally hundreds of messages asking for information, following up on assignments, and in some cases micromanaging their subordinates. Using e-mail for these purposes can be good but I know some managers who get stressed out and write caustic and damaging e-mails causing great stress and unhealthy emotions among employees. Considering e-mail more globally, I think it is revolutionizing how we communicate and work. There is less personal contact, more computer face time, work done at home and traveling anywhere in the world, whole books are written through e-mail, new markets have emerged, and communication is timelier. The world has changed. What a glorious time to be alive. Our work and lives are filled with opportunity. Those who learn how to use e-mail and other technologies first and who seize the opportunities will win. E-mail is here to stay but like any communication tool, you need to know when to use it and how to use it to be effective.

Tyler: Thanks, Joe, I have to agree with you that because of new technology like the internet and e-mail, communication has improved and consequently, this time is one of the best to be alive. Could you tell us now a little bit about why you felt the need to write “Building Personal Leadership”?

Joe: I had many recipients of my articles and newsletters comment on the value and the inspiration they received when they read my weekly communications. During a networking meeting, a colleague suggested that I form them into a book. It took a couple of weeks for the idea to take hold and so I decided to do it! Now, I’m delighted with the book and I have plans to form an even more powerful book to become a resource to those courageous people who want to build their personal leadership attitudes, skills, and competencies. Change one life, change the world. Change many lives and change the Universe forever.

Tyler: And what do you feel sets “Building Personal Leadership” apart from all the other books out there about leadership and business management?

Joe: “Building Personal Leadership” contains hundreds of “in the trenches” tools and techniques for working smarter and creating the life you dream about. Each one is presented in a short one-minute or less reading with a call to action. Implement the tools and techniques in your work and life and I guarantee you will experience greater material rewards, happiness, and joy. It is uniquely organized and presented to capture and keep your interest. The index provides a complete guide to explore those particular tools and techniques in which you have an interest. If you want to go far in your life, then you must take this book along on your journey.

Tyler: Joe, would you be so kind as to share just one of those tools or techniques, or a success story in the workplace that resulted from using a tool from “Building Personal Leadership”?

Joe: I like stories. I was asked to work with a VP of Procurement of a food manufacturing company. He worked with the company for 17 years and did great work. However, his subordinate wouldn’t talk to him and he was having communication problems with the CFO. The executive team was very concerned with his dysfunctional behaviors and problems. In working together we learned he was an Introvert, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging type personality (ISTJ Myers-Briggs Type) with some really rough attitudes and habits. His emotional intelligence was very low showing the effects of the stress and problems he had but could not understand or manage. I used a leadership development program that lasted about 16 weeks with meetings of two hours each for 12 meetings. He had lessons to complete between meetings, extensive coaching during our meetings, and practiced the new skills and competencies we explored together. All those skills and competencies are recorded in my book.

As a result, his employee started to talk with him again, he initiated reconciliation with the CFO, and made other dramatic work life changes. His wife and family started reporting a new happier husband and father. Everyone could see him smiling more and he was happier. So I thought, I’ll administer the emotional intelligence assessment again and see if there were any changes. His emotional intelligence improved by three sigma (from the lower 5% of the population to the top 15% of the population). The story continues. He has been promoted and I just saw him and he is still smiling. This story is consistently repeated with the people I work with. The tools and techniques found in the book Building Personal Leadership simply work. YES! That’s why I live!

Tyler: That’s wonderful, Joe. I can tell from such an example that you really care about people and that they are the main reason why you wrote your book. Thank you so much for joining me today. Before we go, will you tell our readers your website address and where they can get more information about your book and your email newsletters?

Joe: My web site is [http://www.leadershipadvantageinc.com] and you can learn more about my services, products there. More detailed information about my book can be found at [http://www.leadershipadvantageinc.com/personal_leadership.html]. You may subscribe to the weekly emails and monthly newsletters at [http://www.building-leadership.com] and after subscribing and receiving a confirmation e-mail, just click on the link to activate your subscription. My blog can be found at [http://www.farcht.com/blog] and you may explore leadership articles at my article site found at http://www.leadership-e-article.com. It has been a pleasure to answer your questions and explore the subject of Building Personal Leadership with your audience. I appreciate your great questions and I extend to you a heart felt Thank You.

Tyler: Likewise, Joe. I’ve been very pleased to speak to you and to hear good practical advice that I know from personal experience will be effective in the workplace. Good luck with “Building Personal Relationships” as well as your next book.

Personal Finance Technology Trends For 2012

Hello and here’s wishing all of you the best of health, wealth, peace of mind and success with your financial goals in 2012.

I thought I’d start the year off with some trends; especially in technology, that might help you better meet your personal financial goals, because there are a host of personal finance services and applications, or apps as they’re called, that are going to change the way we Americans invest, bank, track our finances, shop, get coupons and so on.

Some of these apps use the web, but increasingly, many are available on mobile devices because more than a third of all American adults now carry “smartphones” with amazing amounts of display using processors that are as powerful as the ones in your laptop.

In fact, if you’re like many of my clients who’ve been holding out against the invasion of technology you might want to reconsider your decision in 2012. This might just be the year to allow the benefits of these innovations to help you gain better control over your finances.

Maybe now’s just the time to stop using a pen to write checks, paper to track your expenses, and scissors to clip coupons, to let technology streamline this process for you a little, and in so doing, to add to your savings and bottom line. Because, let’s face it, your best coupon deals or hotel and airfare discounts no longer come as inserts or advertisements in your newspaper but go to those who use the Internet.

So here are a few ideas for you to reflect on and consider opening yourself up to, and while I encourage you to listen to these with an open mind, adopt only those that you are 100% comfortable with, knowing full well that you could always revert to paper and pen if this turns out to not be your cup of tea, so here are some new ways to think:

1. Think “Mobile Money” How does that sound? Well, here’s the lowdown. With technology where it’s at today, you can now wave your smartphone in front of an intelligent device to make all sorts of payments, and this trend appears to be really catching on because it helps retailers, mass transit operators and others sell more while cutting down costs. With mobile money, your smartphone is securely linked to your bank or credit card account and saves you the hassle of carrying a card, swiping it, getting a bill, signing it, and so on: and it saves the seller money too. Moreover, I suspect merchants and service providers, such as Google Wallet, are going to make this more attractive by offering promotions and discounts to folks that adopt this mobile payment technology, much like they offered incentives in the early days of the Internet.

2. Think: Person to Person Payments. Remember how, when you’re at a restaurant with friends and it’s time to split the bill, you either ask for separate bills or fumble for cash to pay your share of the bill. Well, how about just clicking your smartphones against each other and you’re done? Companies like American Express, Mastercard, Visa and PayPal now offer a host of services that let you easily transfer money between friends using verified bank or credit card accounts. This makes sending money across the street, neighborhood or country faster, easier and less expensive, and remember, you are ALWAYS the bearer of any expense your bank or credit card company incurs in all the transactions you make, so if this technology reduces costs, chances are, some of these savings will flow through to you too.

3. Think: Money Management. There are new web sites that have also turned into apps on your smart phone, such as Manilla.com which I mentioned a few weeks ago in my interview with Terry Savage, and Pageonce which help you manage bills, payments, subscriptions, coupons and more; for free! So you never have to worry about a missed payment, late fees, trips to the post office, stamps, missed deals where you could’ve used a coupon to save big, and so on. What’s more, many of these services genuinely have an environmentally friendly agenda and want to help replace paper clutter with electronic account statements. Other, more specialized sites such as savvymoney.com help customers manage their debt: credit card payments, mortgages, car loans, and automatically give you tips on when to refinance or make extra payments to reduce your overall interest expenses, and so on. Others like betterment.com are designed to simplify investing and finally there is mint.com, whose CEO I interviewed about a year ago which was the first site like this out of the gate. And it’s a good site to bring all of your financial accounts together. So, with an open mind, check them out and sign up for the ones that make sense to you. And remember, you can always opt out if you don’t like ’em.

Now, before I go further, I want to stress that I am not recommending these specific sites or validating what they offer but merely citing examples of technology advances in personal finance that are worth exploring further.

4. Think: Personalized Deals. We all heard about the promise of personalization, and while this has happened to some extent with the Internet, it hadn’t quite panned out in the personal finance space, until now. In fact, to understand personalization, consider trying this experiment. Take your laptop over to a friend’s house and type in the same search phrase: say, “top 10 deals in Miami” in google.com or any other search engine: your friend on his computer and you on your laptop using your friend’s Internet connection while sitting right next to him, I am almost 100% certain that your search results will differ because search engines personalize search results to your browsing history. The good news is that with smartphones and location-based services, stores can now know when you walk into them, what your purchase history and profiles is, and entice you with special offers just for you: personalized discounts and on the spot deals to customers willing to opt into these programs. And frankly, for the most part, you have little personal information to lose that you haven’t already lost by simply using the Internet, Facebook, email, search engines or smartphones at home!

I know it sounds a little scary: like an Orwellian universe, but it’s not as bad as all that. YOU have the right to opt in or opt out of any of these services.

5. And Finally, Think: Social commerce. The Internet spawns strange terms like this one, but what the heck! Apps now let you borrow or even legally take money from individuals across the world: who might want to give you a loan where they believe in you more than a bank, help you out in a crisis, lend you money to do up a kitchen or bathroom, or simply invest in a brilliant idea: private individuals reaching out to each other and opening their wallets in what’s called social commerce without borders. Check out sites like weemba.com or kickstarter.com if you have an idea you think others may want to fund. It’s actually pretty cool to think that banks will no longer control what you can and cannot do, financially. I love the free markets.

But don’t think large banks and corporations aren’t watching all of this very closely and actively stepping in where they sense success: so in 2012 you will likely see a lot more happening in the space of personal finance technology… and as we kick off the new year, I urge you to try and “get with it” if you like, and explore ways of saving time and money by using technology to your advantage.