Robin Sharma's Blog

Handcrafted Trumps Machine-Made

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 00:43:52 -0600

I was blessed to be able to have a tour of a boutique winery just outside of Barcelona, on a brief rest stop on this recent "Lead Without a Title in Turbulent Times" speaking tour. It's known for Robert Parker's recognition of the winery having the best Cava in the world. The owner is 72 years old. "Wine has been my life," he shared with a smile.

As he proudly walked me though the rustic cellar, filled with aging bottles of wine, he pulled out one and turned it carefully - ensuring the sediment moved throughout the wine for maximum flavor. He explained every single one of the bottles was turned like this. I asked if the other wineries that used machines to turn the bottles delivered the same quality of product. "They don't compare at all," he said candidly.

Here's the leadership lesson I took away: handcrafted always trumps machine-made. We live in an age of high technology and growing efficiency. The pull is towards better, stronger and faster. We long for more machines to do better things. Yet what this 72 year old artisan taught me is that good things often take longer. And things done by hand can offer richer quality than machines.

So as you build your team and grow your life, put relationships first. Focus on the little details. Be like the craftsman - devoting yourself to outright excellence.

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Be Surprising!

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:23:16 -0600

Just went from Terminal A to E at the Zurich airport. As the little train made its way to our destination, I suddenly heard (herd? :)) the mooooing sounds of cows that were being piped in through the public address system. Seems someone with a sense of humor realized that all of us crammed into that tram were like cattle. And so he gave us a reason to smile.

As the mooooing continued, every one of us started laughing. It was all so hilarious - these cow sounds bellowing through the train. It was a fantastic surprise - that lightened the trip and reenergized me on this flight home from Tanzania.

Business is more competitive than ever before. People are so busy these days they have such a short attention span. You need to stand out. By doing the unexpected. By being uber-creative. And by making people smile (when they least expect to).

P.S. Thanks to each of you who showed up at the events on this tour (Gothenburg, Sweden/Moscow/Sofia, Bulgaria/Vilnius, Lithuania and Dar Es Salaam; I'm deeply grateful for your extraordinary support of the Lead Without a Title message).

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5 Strategies to Handle Criticism - vlog

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:06:45 -0600

COMMUNICATE LIKE A GENIUS

Tue, 27 Oct 2009 10:44:41 -0500

I'm just about to land in Barcelona. Just one week left on this European tour that has taken me from Sweden to Moscow, on to Vilnius and into Sofia, Bulgaria last night for a special event for Piraeus Bank's top institutional clients.

On this flight over the Alps from Vienna, I read a fascinating article about Swedish architect Mia Hagg, one of the key visionaries behind the bird's nest stadium featured in the Beijing Olympics. She spoke of her passion for visiting new countries. Her love of design. And the importance of being an excellent communicator to be successful in business.

Getting good at communicating is like getting good at tennis: the more you practice, the better you'll get. In my work developing the leadership abilities of employees at organizations such as NIKE, GE, FedEx and IBM, I've watched many brilliant communicators in action. Here are 6 of the most common things that uncommonly good communicators do:

1. They tell stories and paint pictures through the words they use.

2. They are interesting and entertaining.

3. They are sincere and authentic.

4. They are able to distill complexity into simplicity.

5. They radiate passion.

6. They listen spectacularly well.

There's zero doubt in my mind that you were made to become a masterful communicator. And by making these 6 traits your default, you'll get to genius in the way you connect quicker than you might imagine.

The 8 Things That Billionaires Do ( 22 min segment )

Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:37:44 -0500

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