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| Volume 6, Issue 4 - April, 2007
You are reading this because you are striving to achieve success, so you may think that I am rationalizing in my old age, but short of winning the lottery, “Success is no Big Deal.” Way back in 1969 when I graduated from college, I was so hungry for success that nothing was going to stand in my way. I couldn’t be bothered with the small stuff, I had big dreams and only concerned myself with big ideas, big opportunities …and big risks. Get Rich Quick! I moved to New York City to find fame and fortune. Unfortunately, my fortune ran out before fame found me. In the 1970’s I started a business manufacturing the “See-More.” This handy device was really a mirror on a stick and could be used by car dealers to view the underside of a car to determine whether or not the frame was rusted. I thought once car dealers saw this device that the orders would come rolling in. As it turns out, dealers just weren’t that interested in the underbelly of a Pinto. I still have “See-Mores” in my attic. In the 1980’s, I was going to build a publishing empire. I bought two magazine franchises in Nashville and promptly reduced my IRA savings by more than $100,000 in an effort to get rich quick. I might have had more success as a Country Western Singer. Not! Any Barret-Jackson fans? In the early 90’s I was going to cash in on the Collector Car Phenomenon, I invested 100’s of hours and spent $30,000 to build what turned out to be the most incredible, extraordinary … $7000 street rod. My efforts at big, quick successes have been ah…….... big….fat….failures! Say it with me, Big….Fat…. Failures! Okay, that’s enough, you folks are enjoying that too much and this is starting to get depressing so let’s jump ahead to what I have learned. Several years ago, I participated in a three day Summit that Roadway conducted in Columbus, Ohio. This company is a player in the highly competitive freight business with very narrow profit margins. The company had a history of only making one or two cents on every dollars worth of freight that they hauled. As the result of training, education and improved communications, the company has been able to increase their business and at the same time increase earnings to four cents for every dollars worth of freight hauled. Just a couple of pennies, but it has made a huge difference in the company and job security for the employees, proving once again that Success is No Big Deal. Next, I read an article about Derek Jeter, one of baseball’s premier players. He makes $20.6 million per year while the average major leaguer makes $2.7 million. I did some research to find out just what he was doing to justify his salary. I learned that Jeter has a .317 batting average while the average is between .260 and .270. His performance is only 5% to 6% higher than the average professional player yet he earns over 7 times what the average player makes, proving once again that success is no big dea. A little while later, I learned about 20 years of research at Ohio State that showed “decisions fail half of the time.” With my new understanding that “Success is No Big Deal, I started researching decision-making and ended up writing, “Taking Aim for Better Decision-Making.” I am convinced that if you read my book, you can improve your decision-making by several percentage points and your success could be No Big Deal. (And if you don’t want to read my book, you can always buy a “See-More”. I have plenty of inventory in my attic….) It has taken me a long time, but I am beginning to understand that Success is No Big Deal - rather it is the compounding of many small things. I am now a big believer in the small percentage deal. Do you realize if you could improve what you are doing by just 1% per day that you would be twice as good in just 71 days? Success is really the result of small improvements. Think for a moment about your life and don’t be caught in the mind set of the big deal. What is there that you might improve by just 1% a day because, Success is No Big Deal. • New Book, New Store and New Prices! “Masterpieces in Healthcare Leadership: Cases and Analysis for Best Practices” is scheduled to be published on April 10th (http://healthadmin.jbpub.com/catalog/0763738808/). This is exciting for me as I am one of the chapter authors in this book. Hopefully by the next issue, I will have a link to it on the store. If you have a subject that you would like to see covered in future issues of “Taking Aim,” please send me an email at aim@CannonAdvantage.com.
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Robert E. Cannon "Best Practice" Sales Force Development Change Management Customer Service Assessment for ISO Requirements Smart Thoughts from Smart People “Why not spend some time in determining what is worthwhile for us, and then go after that? William Ross “Idealism increases in direct proportion to one’s distance from the problem.” John Galsworthy “A prudent person profits from personal experience, a wise one from the experience of others.” Joweph Collins “The only time we should look back to yesterday is to look at the positive things that were accomplished to encourage us to do better things today and tomorrow.” Stevie Wonder Taking Aim © 2007 Bob Cannon, The Cannon Advantage Newsletter. All Rights Reserved. The Cannon Advantage visual branding by Zarney Creative. For contact information, click “Resources.” |
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