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Four Counter-intuitive Steps To Win Big This Year

January 3, 2018 9:03 pm Published by Curt Fowler

*This column was published in the Valdosta Daily Times on New Year’s Eve. I hope you find it helpful. New Year’s Eve. The end of the holiday season and the beginning of our diets! We all make a little fun of friends and family members that go overboard with their New Year’s resolutions. Why? Mainly because they are setting goals that everyone is pretty sure they will never reach. But, at least they are trying. We all need to take this opportunity to push ourselves and our businesses further this year. If we are not growing, we are dying and I’m not ready to start that process. I know change is hard and we are tired of setting goals and failing. It seems easier to set no goals at all. But, no goals leads to no growth. No growth leads... View Article

A Look Into The Future

November 16, 2017 9:41 am Published by Curt Fowler

Predicting the changes to come will be required to future proof your career. Also read a great book called “Abundance” by P. Diamandis. This was posted as being from a talk by the head of Daimler Benz. I could not find the source, but it does follow a lot of the principles outlined by Diamandis in his book. This may not all come true, but we are certainly in times of unprecedented change. In a recent interview, the Head of Daimler Benz (Mercedes Benz) said their competitors are no longer other car companies, but Tesla (obviously), and now, Google, Apple, Amazon ‘et al’ are. Software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years. Uber is just a software tool, they don’t own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the world. Airbnb is now the biggest hotel... View Article

We are Wasting the Chance of a Lifetime, World Dominion?

October 27, 2017 8:04 am Published by Curt Fowler

Business & Life We are Wasting the Chance of a Lifetime That is the message Seth Godin wants everyone to grasp. I just watched a 30-minute interview of Seth and it was fantastic. If you want to watch the full interview, click here. If you want the quick notes, keep reading… How are we wasting the Chance of a Lifetime? Two ways: Externally – It takes $100 to connect with anyone in the world. Why are we not taking advantage of that? Internally – If not now, when? There has never been a better moment to chase whatever God has placed on your heart to chase. What voices are you listening to that are keeping you from starting? On finding the purpose for your life or the right time or the right opportunity, It is a waste of your time!... View Article

Business is a Game, How to Increase Your Risk of Death by 200%, Dealing with Interruptions

October 12, 2017 8:19 pm Published by Curt Fowler

Business Business is a Game Metaphors abound in business speak. A common one is that business is war! That’s garbage. Business done right is an opportunity to solve people’s problems and make a profit doing it. The better you are at solving your customer’s problem or meeting their need, the more money you make. Same goes for employees. We all love to complain about the inability to find good people. Finding good people is not difficult. Getting them to work for you might be. Just like you need to know why your customer should buy from you, you need to know and tell a compelling story about why a great employee should work for you. Do you pay well? Do you treat everyone with respect? Are there opportunities to grow and learn? Will I get to see my wife and... View Article

4 Steps to Attract The Best Employees Like Chick-fil-A Does, The Friendship That Makes You Happier and Healthier, Fun Dates for Those Married with Kids

September 4, 2017 3:48 pm Published by Curt Fowler

Business 4 Steps to Attracting Great Employees Like Chick-fil-A It would be difficult to miss the fact that Chick-fil-A attracts the best employees in the fast food industry. Go into any CFA store and then visit a neighboring fast food competitor. Same neighbor, same wage rates, very different customer service environment. Why is that? There are a lot of reasons that could be combined into a vague term like culture. But the rest of us need to know how we can get similar results for our business. How can we attract great employees at a reasonable cost like CFA seems to do so easily? Here are four steps to start attracting talent like CFA does: 1 – Create Clarity – CFA leadership knows what they stand for and they are not shy about it. In a job posting on Snagajob... View Article

The List Buffett Says Will Keep You Average, New Health Study Says You Need Fat, Heroes in Texas

August 30, 2017 9:33 pm Published by Curt Fowler

Business Warren Buffett Says This List Will Keep You Average I love hearing Buffett stories. The guy is far from perfect in many areas of life, but when you listen to him you cannot help but know the guy has a lot of wisdom. Just getting to his age certainly helps, but he also surrounds himself with incredibly bright people. So, when I heard this story about a list that Buffett says keeps most people average I had to listen. Most success oriented people keep goal lists. Some of us have exhaustive “bucket lists” detailing every great thing we want to accomplish before we die. According to Buffett, those exhaustive lists are what keep us from being extraordinary. Buffett was coaching his long term pilot, Mike Flint, on his business goals. He asked Flint to carefully think about and write... View Article

The Most Known Billy Graham Rule, 1/3rd of Dementia Cases are Preventable?, Are you the richest person in America?

July 24, 2017 10:19 am Published by Curt Fowler

Business The Most Known Billy Graham Rule If you speak with anyone that thinks they know what the Billy Graham rule is, they are most likely referring to the rule about avoiding even the appearance of sexual immorality. We discussed in a previous post how Vice President Mike Pence follows the rule by never eating alone with a woman other than his wife. Billy Graham needed his rules for the preservation of his ministry. He had seen how other ministries had fallen and was determined not to let the same happen to his. Graham even had someone from his staff enter his hotel rooms before he would. They were concerned that someone might plant a photographer and a naked woman in the room to sully his image. To this day, Graham is a staunch follower of his rules. Though he is 98... View Article

3 Other Billy Graham Rules, Pillar #4 of Alzheimer’s Prevention, It Might Seem Egotistical…

July 13, 2017 9:26 am Published by Curt Fowler

Business The Other 3 Billy Graham Rules As we discussed in our last post, the “Billy Graham Rule” is most known for its rule on avoiding even the appearance of sexual immorality. But, there are three other very important parts of the Billy Graham Rule, also known as the Modesto Manifesto. Let’s look at each of these lesser known rules. Operate with Financial Transparency – At the time all traveling preachers were funded by love offerings taken up at their events. Plenty of those preachers would just pocket the offering. That led to a common belief that all traveling preachers were just in it for the money. Instead, Graham put all of the offerings into the ministry and he drew a salary that was set by a board of directors. Avoid Criticizing Other Pastors and Churches – Graham’s ministry always worked... View Article

The Billy Graham Rule, Pillar #3 in Alzheimer’s Prevention, The Old Man Makes a Comeback

June 29, 2017 9:11 am Published by Curt Fowler

Business The Billy Graham Rule Call me sheltered, but I have never had to think much about adultery. Growing up, almost all of my friends’ parents were still together. It wasn’t until much later in life that I began to notice more divorces with infidelity often suspected if not obviously the cause. We see far too many Christian leaders falling into this trap. How I have no idea! You’d think these guys are so deep in their walk with God that they would never fall into adultery. I have never interviewed any of these fallen leaders but it appears that pride and arrogance are contributing factors. I had never heard a leader talk about adultery until John Maxwell did a Catalyst Conference I was at years ago. Maxwell said that he too had never thought much about adultery. The thought... View Article

Benchmarking in Banking, Pillar #2 in Alzheimer’s Prevention, Blessed…

June 22, 2017 9:26 pm Published by Curt Fowler

Business The Power of Benchmarking I was just reviewing a report on the banking industry by Boston Consulting Group that benchmarked 12 of the top 30 retail banks across North America. These “top” institutions, BCG refers to them as the “premier league” of banks, account for 430 million customers, 51,000 branches and more than $13.5 trillion in assets. These are some huge banks and the top performers in their field. What left me completely awestruck about this report is the massive variation in performance among these huge, top performers in their industry. You’d think that the top performers would have copied each other enough to perform at similar levels. These banks have the best consultants in their offices daily and access to loads of data on their competitors. Why wouldn’t they perform similarly? One reason is that they may have different... View Article

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