Aviv's Blog

The KEY: At the Top and Empty

Aviv Shahar — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 16:56:23 +0000

Don was a brilliant executive. He was analytical, disciplined and focused, and he rallied his team to achieve great results. In Don’s mind, his fantastic and steady achievements were supposed to lead directly to the corner office…

This KEY is about the crisis at the top. It is also a hopeful message because the beauty of life is that you can make a course correction. Perhaps you know someone who is going through a similar crisis. Perhaps you can help. Read more here.
© Aviv Shahar

Update Your Value Proposition

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:54:06 +0000

“You don’t have to be a Lance Armstrong to get on a bike. You don’t have to be a Michael Phelps to jump in the pool.” I said to Ed earlier today. Ed is 72 years old. He came into the swimming pool as I was finishing my 40 laps. “I have not seen anyone swim like that since the summer tournament…” he said, to which I replied laughing “That’s a huge exaggeration, I would not make any beginners swim team.” Having shared my guiding philosophy above I added, “You don’t have to be a Mozart to compose music.”And so we started talking.

Ed has a nursery business up in New Jersey. It’s a family farm and they have been in business since 1920. His grandfather started the business, then his father ran the business and then Ed took it over. Now Ed’s son and son in law run the business. At this point I am all ears because I am interested in what makes things work. How does a nursery family farm survive and thrive 80 years through four generation. “What’s the secret?” I ask, “It sounds like a true American tale; there must be Hollywood material here, anyone own the rights for your story yet?” Ed laughs and says, “Not yet…”

“In the mid 80’s we started seeing Home Depots popping up all around us. We gathered around the table and looked at the facts. Every Home Depot has a plant nursery. If we didn’t differentiate, we would be out of business in no time. We had to offer our customers something they could not get at Home Depot. We wrote a big TLC on the wall – THINK LIKE CUSTOMERS and decided that would guide us. Our customers continue to come through the door for much more than just plants. Visits to our nursery have become an experience. Customers love coming to us because of the guidance they get and the experience they have when they visit. We designed special rides for the kids around Halloween and made our business a family adventure destination.”

What Ed and his son realized was that they had to change the value proposition. They were no longer in the business of selling plants as a commodity. They provide an outdoor farm experience for city dwellers where the plants are the props and the icing on the cake. The Home Depot chains can’t provide that and Ed’s family business is thriving.

How about what you do? Here is an exercise you can explore. List your key stakeholders, the people you bring value to.
1.   What is the value you provide right now?
2.   What other unmet needs can you identify?
3.   Where can you add more or new value to your offerings?
4.   What opportunities are available for you to reframe your engagement with stakeholders to provide new, differentiated value?
© Aviv Shahar

Will 2010 Be The Most Extraordinary Year of Your Life?

Aviv Shahar — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:55:35 +0000

Eight out of ten people give away their most precious assets and sacrifice their lives. How do you live your life?
If you choose to be among the two out of ten who live purposefully, 2010 will be the most extraordinary year. I invite you to join me in an unprecedented opportunity that will enable you to:

Focus on your most productive and enjoyable activities…
Gain one month a year…
Propel your earnings while decreasing your labor intensity…
Never again say, “I wish I had the time to do that”…
Create fulfilling and caring relationships…
Be the most energetic and confident person you can be…
Enjoy your life and the wonders and blessings of living your purpose…

Yes, tell me how I can take advantage of this opportunity!

Those individuals who overcome great obstacles to create seemingly impossible results have discovered two powerful secrets. You can discover what these secrets are and receive step-by-step guidance to apply them in your life…

The 2010 Personal Mastery series will focus on seven critical aspects of personal transformation. I will share powerful keys that help exceptional entrepreneurs and leaders produce extraordinary results. These strategies and insights are not available through any other source. You will leave each teleconference energized and ready to apply game-changing insights immediately. Whether you turn 2010 into a remarkable year is a choice only you can make. We offer a special value opportunity if you act now. Find out here how you can take advantage of this rare opportunity.
© Aviv Shahar

The KEY: The Leader-Coach – What Coaching Schools Will Not Teach You

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:35:55 +0000

Learning coaching techniques, frameworks and methodologies will make you a better and more versatile leader. As a leader-coach you can bring a wider range of tools to the coaching engagement. But there is an essential capacity and quality you see in truly exceptional coaches that no coaching school will teach you and no institution can give you. Discover this essential quality and unleash your power to apply this capacity with the KEY.

Economy 5.0 – The Age of Transformation

Aviv Shahar — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 15:18:03 +0000

Everywhere you look you see crosscurrents, volatility and rapid change. But what is the big picture? Listen to our Transform2Lead insight to find out. To join our Transform2Lead circle and receive special insights and strategies not available elsewhere email me with subject line – Transform2Lead.

What Are You Here For?

Aviv Shahar — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 13:36:27 +0000

Participants in our seminars tell us that these are the most memorable and empowering experiences they have ever had because of the clear sense of purpose they find during the event. Each manager peels their own onion to find purpose and to discover the words that hold its meaning and essence.

The journey to discover purpose includes a series of steps and explorations. Reflecting on the question of what we are here for is the key. Here are 10 themes to start your exploration into – what are you here for?

1.   To listen, observe and learn.
2.   To serve the needs you meet.
3.   To do what’s most difficult for you to do.
4.   To do what is easiest and most natural for you to do.
5.   To enjoy and create joy.
6.   To first, do no harm and to wait patiently.
7.   To make the higher choices.
8.   To expand your range and develop versatility.
9.   To connect and to make meaning.
10.   To transform and to lead.

The tree knows what it is here for. It’s here to grow. The tiger knows what it is here for. It’s here to get its next meal and to raise its young. The tree and the tiger are locked into their purpose. You have the benefit of choice and of range. What are you here for?

The KEY: This Is Your Decade

Aviv Shahar — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 13:37:13 +0000

In this KEY I share with you my “This Is Your Decade” letter to Edan Shahar. I hope it inspires you to share your thoughts and feelings with your sons and daughters, or with other young people in your circle. Edan edits the KEY letters and he continues to challenge me to clarify and simplify my message.

*****

Dear Edan,

This is your decade. You are 22 and the world is before you. You have grown up and become a nice young man. You make us proud. Your care and maturity, curiosity and drive, leadership and sensitivity, intellect, initiative and social skills are some of your assets. You have many other gifts, some of which you know. Some you will discover in the future. Setbacks and challenges will be part of the journey. It’s what you make of them and how you turn them into growth and development opportunities that will define your path.

Discover The Most Difficult Thing in This World, My 10 Learning Messages and read the full letter here.

Small Business Trends Radio Interview With Aviv Shahar

Aviv Shahar — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 21:13:45 +0000

Anita Campbell and Small Business Trends Radio interviewed Aviv about The Peak Productivity Zone – The Most Important 120 Minutes of Your Day. Aviv shares critical strategies to help you create your Peak Productivity Zone and realize your business and entrepreneurial potential.

Click here to listen to Aviv’s full interview on Small Business Trends Radio (Scroll to the bottom of the page and click the red and yellow player.)

Reframe The Problem: Why I Left The Limo In Copenhagen & The Garden Hose Insight

Aviv Shahar — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:26:53 +0000

Enjoy your Transform-to-Lead Strategy podcast message:
To come up with a new solution and create a breakthrough strategy you must first ask a new question.

To join our Transform2Lead circle and receive special insights and strategies not available elsewhere email me with subject line – Transform2Lead.

The Enlightenment Paradox & The “New Normal”

Aviv Shahar — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 16:44:38 +0000

Utopian Views of enlightenment envisioned an empowered and knowledge-proliferated society that would become problem free. It turned out that the opposite is the case. Whether our post modern society is enlightened or not is arguable but what is clear is that a whole new set of difficult and complex problems have emerged. Problems that quickly mutate and then go viral.

In a globalized inter-dependent and interconnected world, problems are not resolved – they multiply and morph into greater complexity. Like a virus that shape-shifts its form and strategy by the time vaccination is produced – even if the epicenter of its appearance finds a solution and recovery procedures are put into place the resolution strategy must continue to evolve with the changing dynamics.

This is the butterfly ricochet syndrome where every movement reverberates in everything else and every fractal cell is not merely a holographic reflection of the whole but a potential point of issuance and change that can trigger a chain-reaction that transforms the whole. Hence the idea that in an enlightened complex system, progress is measured not by the elimination of problems but by changing the nature of the problems in which you engage.

What is the leadership imperative in this? What competency is needed to handle the behavioral and social ricochet syndrome? There is a shift of focus. Problem solving is no longer sufficient. Leaders are called to be transformational, to help us transform ourselves as we engage in evolving solutions. The strategy imperative is to embrace the unknown and the uncertainties it brings.

Long periods of equilibrium interspersed with short intervals of change are no longer the norm. This has been replaced by “the new normal”: intense volatility and transformation with rare and short periods of equilibrium.

“What’s the good news?”
The “new normal” creates opportunities for transformational leaders and agents. It forces us to constantly develop, learn and be adaptive. Enlightenment is not a “point of arrival” theater. It is a dynamic process of change and evolution. It is the answer to the prayer: “may you live in interesting times.” Enjoy!