making decisions Archives - Connect the Dots

How To Make Your Team Hate You In One Easy Step

A friend of mine has a cat that she affectionately refers to as her “barnacle,” because he’s always there. Wherever she goes, there he is. The kitchen, the living room, the office, on the stairs—he is constantly underfoot. Sometimes literally.

That’s kind of endearing in a cat. Not so much in a boss.

Nobody wants to have the boss constantly hovering around, looking over their shoulders, meowing for food (or the boss equivalent). In fact, here’s how to make your team hate ...

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26
APR
2017

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Communication, Leadership, Producing Results, Teams, Work Ethic

attitude, award winning performance, Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business communication, business integrity, business speaker, change, communication, communication skills, competition, creative ideas, creativity, customer service, diversity, exceeding expectations, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, inspirational speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, leading through change, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

How to Be a Great Little-Known Leader

Posted by: Bill Stainton

John Wooden. Nelson Mandela. Richard Branson. Abraham Lincoln.

Great leaders, all of them. Their words and actions inspired and motivated thousands upon thousands of people.

But probably not you. At least, not directly.

You never met Abraham Lincoln. (And, if you did, you need to contact the Guiness Book of World Records people immediately.) And, although I may not know you personally, I’m guessing that you’ve never had any of the other three on your speed dial either.

Sure, you’ve read their words and ...

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19
APR
2017

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Leadership, Producing Results, Work Ethic

attitude, award winning performance, Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business communication, business integrity, business speaker, change, communication, communication skills, competition, creative ideas, creativity, customer service, diversity, exceeding expectations, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, inspirational speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, leading through change, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

Breakthrough Ideas Are Not Created In a Vacuum

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Your next great idea will not come to you out of thin air.

I can say this with near 100% certainty because that’s not how ideas work. That breakthrough idea—the one that will make you rich and famous by Thursday—will not be created in a vacuum. More likely, it’ll be the result of a collision. A collision of dots.

Huh?

Let me explain. Creativity (which is simply the process of coming up with ideas) is all about connecting dots. These dots can be ...

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12
APR
2017

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Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results, Videos

attitude, award winning performance, Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business communication, business integrity, business speaker, change, communication, communication skills, competition, creative ideas, creativity, customer service, diversity, exceeding expectations, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, inspirational speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, leading through change, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

Are You Missing Out On the Most Important Business Tool?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Quick Quiz: What do the following have in common?

The iPhone
The Tesla Model S
Spanx
The self-cleaning litter box
The Sputnik 1 satellite

Answer: They were all the product of a creative idea. As was every single other breakthrough that made a million dollars, cured a disease, or changed the world.

They all came from a creative idea.

Every company that exists—or that ever existed—originated with a creative idea.

Every billionaire on the Forbes 400 list is there because of a creative idea. (Sometimes that creative ...

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5
APR
2017

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Creativity, Leadership, Producing Results

attitude, Bill Stainton, business communication, change, communication, communication skills, creative ideas, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, keynote speaker, leadership speaker, leadership training, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teams, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

How a Different Perspective Can Make You a Better Leader

Posted by: Bill Stainton

I spent several hours yesterday helping a colleague (whom I’ll call Poppy, because it’s fun) rewrite her website. She was concerned—rightly so—that her site was too wordy, didn’t really capture who she was, and just plain didn’t pop. (This is especially important when you’re named Poppy. Which she is not. But, for the purposes of this article, she is. So there.) So we spent several hours rewriting, revamping, and revising—after which we had a delightful Italian dinner.

Now, I’m not a ...

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29
MAR
2017

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Leadership, Producing Results

attitude, Bill Stainton, business communication, change, communication, communication skills, creative ideas, goal setting, goals, innovation, innovative thinking, keynote speaker, leadership speaker, leadership training, making decisions, motivational speaker, producing results, productivity, professional speaker, running a business, running your business, sales, small business, small business success, success, team building, teambuilding, teams, teamwork, thought leader, work ethic

Are You Planning for the Future or for the Present?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

[Tweet “#TheBeatles made a decision to hire for the future, not for the present. And that decision paid off “]John, Paul, George, and Ringo. The Beatles. Four names as familiar to a generation of fans as any on the planet. But there was a time when it wasn’t John, Paul, George, and Ringo. It was John, Paul, George, and Pete.

Pete Best. The Beatles’ original drummer. The one they fired and replaced with Ringo Starr just when they were on the ...

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12
NOV
2014

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Change, Producing Results, The Beatles

award winning performance, Beatles, Beatles expert, Bill Stainton, business speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, making decisions, motivational speaker, Pete Best, Ringo Starr, team building, teambuilding

How to Make Better Decisions

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Do you want to make better decisions? Of course you do! So here’s a very simple tip that will help you make better decisions, faster decisions, and decisions based more on long-term results than immediate gratification!

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10
NOV
2014

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Leadership, Producing Results

award winning performance, Bill Stainton, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, making decisions, motivational speaker, running a business, success

The Leader’s Dilemma: “A” Decision, or “The Right” Decision?

Posted by: Bill Stainton

“As a leader, it’s more important to make a decision than to make the right decision.”

You’ve probably heard that adage before, or some version of it, but is it true?

In a word…yes.

(Those of you crunched for time may leave now.)

Okay, let’s be clear. Making the right decision is Plan A. It’s what you’re shooting for. It’s the perfect world.

But the world isn’t perfect. Sometimes…

…you don’t have all the information you need.
…you don’t have all the time you need.
…there is no ...

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24
SEP
2014

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Leadership, Producing Results

award winning performance, Bill Stainton, business speaker, decision making, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, making decisions, motivational speaker, professional speaker

4 Traits of Great Leaders

Posted by: Bill Stainton

The cover story in the current issue of Fortune magazine is “The World’s 50 Greatest Leaders.” Once again, I didn’t make the cut. I suppose it’s possible that I’m number 51, but my guess is that I’m further down the list.

But the story got me thinking: what makes a great leader? What are the skills that the truly effective leaders ...

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16
APR
2014

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Leadership, Producing Results

award winning performance, Bill Stainton, business integrity, business speaker, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, making decisions, professional speaker, running a business, running your business

Stop Aiming and Fire the Arrow!

Posted by: Bill Stainton

Lorne Michaels—the creator and producer of Saturday Night Live—and I have several things in common:

We’ve both produced a multiple Emmy Award winning sketch comedy TV show.
We’ve both spawned national talent (in my case, Joel McHale and Bill Nye the Science Guy; in Lorne’s case, everybody else that you’ve ever heard of).
We’re both multi-gazillionaires (measured, in Lorne’s case, in U.S. dollars; ...

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18
SEP
2013

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Leadership, Producing Results, Sales

Bill Stainton, keynote speaker, leadership, leadership speaker, leadership training, making decisions, motivational speaker