THE ACHIEVEMENT DIGEST "TAD"  MARCH 2006
A Unique Publication For Leaders
Gene Griessman, Ph.D. Editor 404-256-5927 www.achievementdigest.com   TAD is scanned with Norton Anti-Virus.
 
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WHAT'S IN THIS ISSUE?
QUOTABLE QUOTES
LEADERSHIP LESSONS—KNOW HOW TO COMPLAIN
LINCOLN'S LOG
FEEDBACK
MACROFORCES
TRAVEL NOTES FROM A ROAD WARRIOR
VALUABLE RESOURCES FOR YOUR PERSONAL GROWTH

QUOTABLE QUOTES
***SUCCESS
"Success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best you are capable of becoming."—John Wooden, legendary coach of the UCLA men’s basketball team

***FINDING YOUR VOICE
“It is wise to write on many subjects, to try many themes, that so you may find the right and inspiring one.  You must try a thousand themes before you find the right one, as nature makes a thousand acorns to get one oak.” --Henry David Thoreau
 
***EXCUSES 
“Excuses are the nails to build a house of failure.”    --Don Wilder
 
***ACTION
“I hear and I forget.  I see and I remember.   I do and I understand.”   --Confucius

 ***ASK NOT, GET NOT
 “I bargained with life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more.
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store….
 
I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life
Life would have paid.  –Jessie B. Rittenhouse

***KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE
“Talk softly with persons who can be impressed with logic or with powerful facts.   They rightly distrust overzealousness and view it as an admission of intellectual weakness.”  --anonymous

***INDIVIDUALITY
I feel ill at ease with that little word “We.”
No man is at one with another, you see.
Behind all agreement lies something amiss.
All seeming accord cloaks a lurking abyss.   –Albert Einstein
 
BUMPER STICKER RECENTLY SEEN IN ATLANTA 
“Dear Jesus, Please Protect Me From Your Followers.” 
 
LEADERSHIP LESSONS
***KNOW HOW TO COMPLAIN
One of the greatest skills any leader can possess is the ability to complain.   I’ve written a section on how to give complaints in Time Tactics of Very Successful People--from which the following paragraphs are excerpted. 

There’s an old but true saying, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease.”  Unfortunately, people who patiently accept slow service and shoddy quality tend to get more of the same. 
 
It’s not difficult to figure out why.  Work for [ADD THE WORD THE] demanding individuals [REMOVE THE S--KEEP IT SINGULAR] gets done first and work for the nice guy slides.
 
But it doesn’t have to be that way.   Being nice doesn’t mean that you have to sit back and let others crowd in front of you while you get the leftovers.  There are ways to be nice and not finish last.  Below are six rules that skillful leaders follow: 
 
One.   Try to deal with people and companies that care about their reputations. 
 
Two.  Be certain you are on solid ground before you make a complaint.
 
Three.  Don’t complain to just anybody. 
 
Four.   Remember that the way you complain is as important as who you complain to.
 
Five.  Keep a firm hand on your temper. 
 
Six.  Don’t complain about everything.  Pick your battles.
 
Complainers don’t always deserve a bad name.  Often they have made the world better.  A skillfully executed, well-timed complaint can do wonders for the one who speaks and often for the one who listens.  Specific information about using these rules can be found on pp. 123, 124 of Time Tactics of Very Successful People.  If you would like to order an autographed copy or any other books or CDs that I have written on leadership and time management, please cl ick here.    
 
LINCOLN'S LOG
TURNING ENEMIES INTO FRIENDS
Unlike many leaders during a war, Lincoln refused to demonize the enemy.  For example, when the city of Washington received news that Robert E. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, a jubilant crowd gathered at the White House and the President was asked to speak. 
 
Here is what Lincoln said that evening:  “I have always thought ‘Dixie’ one of the best tunes I have ever heard.  Our adversaries over the way attempted to appropriate it, but I insisted that we fairly captured it.  I presented it to the Attorney General, and he gave it as his legal opinion that it is our lawful prize.  I now request the band to favor me with its performance.”  The band played “Dixie,” followed by “Yankee Doodle.” 
 
Describing the enemy as “our adversaries over the way” was typical, magnanimous Lincoln.  Here was a man who ended his second inaugural speech “With malice toward none. With charity for all.”  Everyone around Lincoln knew that he meant it.
 
At his last cabinet meeting, Lincoln stated that he hoped there would be no persecution, no bloody work after the war. 
 
Why—how—did Lincoln behave this way when he was surrounded by powerful individuals who thought a rebel leader should swing from every lamp post in Washington? 
 
Perhaps it was because Lincoln realized that revenge is a dangerous, two-sided weapon.  Combatants find it difficult to live together in peace
after they lay down their arms if there is too much to forget.  Demonizing is dreadfully difficult to undo. 
 
Perhaps it was because there simply was no place for revenge in Lincoln’s soul.  He had found a better way.  Lincoln was fond of saying that the best way to destroy an enemy was to make a friend of him.  
 
Thus Tolstoy could write: “Washington was a typical American.  Napoleon was a typical Frenchman, but Lincoln was a humanitarian as broad as the world.  He was bigger than his country—bigger than all the Presidents together.”

For additional information on this aspect of Lincoln’s personality, see The Words Lincoln Lived By, chapter six.
 
FEEDBACK
“You inspired me the first time I saw you in Florida and again this time. You teach, inspire, and entertain simultaneously. And as we both know those are 3 things most people struggle to be able to do simultaneously. Having reviewed our own evaluation forms, I would say you were ranked as high or higher than any other speaker we have ever had. And we have had some pretty impressive ones. Thanks for sharing your expertise and inspiring our staff. Our best to you and your alter-ego.
--Jane Satterfield.  chief executive officer, Care Resources, Inc. Baltimore, Md.

SOME COMMENTS FROM EVALUATIONS IN BUFFALO, NY; BALTIMORE, MD; AND COLUMBUS, OHIO

“To say that you were a ‘big hit’ is an understatement.”

 “Stories woven into presentation.  The concept of living history—Lincoln speaking to us.  Brought to life.”

 “Very rich in content.”

“Practical advice on how to implement the strategies and ideas into our daily routines and relationships.”

“Anecdotes/stories are a very effective method of communicating ideas.”

 “I appreciated the learning theme and the quote from Horace Greeley that relates to it.”  (Horace Greeley quote: “There was probably no year of his life that he was not a wiser, cooler, better man than he had been the year preceding.”

MACROFORCES—SOCIAL TRENDS AND THE FUTURE
“A world that no longer uses typewriters doesn’t need folks to fix them.”
--Comment by Ray Gentry, 71, as he recently closed the door of The House of Typewriters for the last time.

Rich DeMillo, prior to becoming dean of Georgia Tech’s College of Computing, was the chief technology officer at Palo Alto-based Hewlett-Packard Company (which he left in 2002 to take his current position.) 
 
When I read an interview with DeMillo in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about what DeMillo calls “the new face of computing,” I realized that his comments would be useful for many TAD readers who look for trends and macroforces.  [THIS IS A WONDERFUL INTRO. WELL DONE.]
 
DeMillo told the AJC:  “Anything that can be automated or done cheaper or is easily commoditized is going to be at risk from a job standpoint…”  Georgia Tech’s College of Computing now emphasizes entrepreneurship, global awareness and training for more advanced jobs such as digital multimedia distribution, robotics, computer security, and supercomputing.

TRAVEL NOTES FROM A ROAD WARRIOR
***PORTLAND, OREGON
A long-time Oregon resident asked me to tell my readers that Oregon is a dreadful place to live, that it rains all the time, and that my readers should not even think about moving to the state. 
 
Honest Abe could never tell such a lie, because Oregon is magnificent.  I followed an itinerary—which I will share with you—that an attendee at one of my presentations near Portland prepared.  It took me up the slopes of Mt. Hood and down through the Columbia River Gorge that Lewis and Clark had passed through during the fall of 1805 and the spring of 1806.
 
First I drove up Rte 212 to Boring. In Boring I took Rte 26 toward Sandy as far as Government Camp and then up to Timberline Lodge.  Timberline Lodge, which is located 6000 feet above sea level, was created as a Depression-era WPA project and has become an Oregon icon.  I spent a memorable afternoon sipping their special hot chocolate concoction in a rustic bar watching skiers taking the lift toward the higher slopes. 
 
Timberline has a famous chef named Left Benson who is known for his roast venison with wild mushrooms, ale-and-cheese soup, and cranberry-sour cream muffins. But he also has created the signature hot chocolate drink which, understandably, has a following on its own.  It’s served in a large glass mug and topped with bits of toffee and a huge mound of schlag, German for whipped cream. (http://www.timberlinelodge.com/)
 
Afterward I reluctantly left the lodge, headed downhill, turned left on Rte 26 until I reached Rt 35 which I followed north to Hood River where I passed through acres upon acres of farms and orchards.   I then took Rte 84 toward Portland, stopping for a delicious dinner at the Multnomah Falls Lodge.  The Lodge, which was built in 1922, is located at the base of the Multnomah Falls—the second highest year-round waterfall in the nation.    (503-695-2376)
 
Rte 84 passes through the 80-mile-long Columbia River Gorge, a lush world-class outdoor playground which was recognized in 1986 as a national scenic area—the nation’s first.  (http://gorp.away.com/gorp/resource/us_national_forest/or_colum.htm)