Something You Should Know about Achieving Success

April 4, 2012

Interview with JoAnn R. Corley, author of the book Organizational Strategies for the Overwhelmed: How to manage your time, space, & priorities to work smart, get results, & be happy

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Mike Carruthers:
As the saying goes all we really have is time.

JoAnn R. Corley:
Time is our life. So how we choose our time, how we let other people use our time are all part of the bigger picture of crafting a life.
 

March 3, 2012

Interview with Bernard T. Ferrari, author of the book Power Listening: Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All

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Mike Carruthers:
What does it take to be a really good listener? Well, a couple of things…

Bernard T. Ferrari:
The first thing you have to display is respect, if you don’t respect the person that you’re talking to and understanding that they have information that will help you make better decisions, then you’re in deep yogurt right off the bat.
 

Bernard Ferrari, author of the book Power Listening...

The second is you have to be quiet; it’s hard to listen when you’re talking. So I always use the ubiquitous rule of 80/20 I try to stay silent 80% of the time in a conversation. And then 20% of the time I am quite purposeful in trying to get further into what that person is telling me.

Why are so many people lousy listeners?

A couple reasons, 1 is it takes a lot of energy – I truly believe you burn more calories listening than you do talking. The second we confuse leadership with giving instruction, follow me here, do this, do that. A true leadership is helping people and helping yourself come to better decisions - and listening is really the front end of doing that.

Of course not everyone you listen to knows what they’re talking about.

But I would recommend that you really question whether you know more than those people do. And what is your mode of listening - to make sure that you haven’t been blunting your ability to be surprised.

To hear the complete unedited interview, click here
 

January 17, 2011

Interview with Stephen M.R.Covey, author of the book Smart Trust: Creating Prosperity, Energy, and Joy in a Low-Trust World

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Mike Carruthers:
We are probably less trusting of other people today than ever before.

Stephen M.R. Covey:
In a low trust world we tend to become more suspicious, more cynical, more distrusting because none of us want to get burned.
 

December 8, 2011

Interview with Jim Collins, author of the book Great By Choice

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Mike Carruthers:
Some companies even in this economy are doing well, why is that?

Jim Collins:
Basically we found that you need 3 behaviors; fanatic discipline, empirical creativity, and productive paranoia.