Earlier this week I was in Marshalltown, Iowa facilitating two 3.5 hour diversity training sessions.   On my way back from lunch I walked by this open yard and I had to stop, admire, and eventually take this picture. 

What a beautiful site!

I don’t know much about trees, nor do I really care to, but I couldn’t help but pay attention to this one.  If I would have had more time I might have actually walked over there and looked at it closer, but I was happy to see it like I had and get this picture.

This got me thinking about what I am doing with my life and my business everyday.   I am trying to use my natural attributes and impact the world around me . . . like this tree is doing. I know a lot of young professionals, entrepreneurs, small business owners, and executives who are trying to do the exact same thing with their careers and businesses.

The older I get and the more I work with people the more I see that we are going 100 miles per hour in pursuit of . . . something!   I say something because many times we don’t even know what we are going after . . . we are just moving really fast in a direction.   We love living life in the fast lane because if feels like we are productive, but what forget that when we go that fast it’s hard to make corners or even stop.

Sometimes we have to change direction or stop!

What I don’t see people doing very often is preparing.   Have you heard the “6 P’s”

“Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance”

We spend more time in front of a mirror “getting ready for our day” than really looking at ourselves and preparing for our lives.   On my online radio show Realization Nation I talk a lot about “getting ready for our life”.   It is critical to take time to do this.  One challenge is, some people don’t even know where to start.

Here is what I would start to with:

• Who are you?
• Who do you want to be?
• What do you want your life to look like one and two years from now?
• What is your plan to make this happen?
• Who do you know who can support you in being the type of person you want to be and living the life you want to live.

The Personal Leadership Boot Camp is a great way to start this process.  I truly believe if you take the time to answer these five questions your world can significantly change, but it’s up to you to take the first step and make it happen.

Like everything in life . . . what you put in . . . you will get out!

Good Luck!

Jason Kiesau Business Leadership, Careers, Personal Leadership

Do you remember when we were little?

The sky was the limit and we could be ANYTHING we wanted to be. What happened to that dream?  Sure it’s easy to say “I was a kid”.

I talk to many people who are not living the lives they want to live for one reason or another.   MAYBE when we were three we were on to something.   Perhaps we knew so little about the world around us that we could be driven and motivated 100% by our interest and passion.    At what point and time do we forget about this?

Take a moment and think back to your childhood:

• Who did you want to be when you were little?
  
• What did you LOVE?
• What excited you?
• What could you not live with out?

When I was three I wanted to be two people:

• Superman
• Bo Duke

Both made the world around them a better place and protected people from evil.   When I think about my personal mission in life and why I started Full Circle Development Group, I can’t help but see parallels between myself as an adult and who I wanted to be when I was a kid.    Though I’m not driving around a fancy car and beating up bad guys OR flying around saving the world . . . I am trying to do what I can with what I got, BUT . . . and this is most important . . . I am doing what fires me up in life.

With all the disengaged people I see . . . I wonder what would happen if they would have followed their dreams from when they were three.

What would your life be like today?

(the cool thing is . . . it’s NOT TOO late)

Jason Kiesau Careers, Personal Leadership, Youth Leadership

Please forward this along to anyone you know looking for an opportunity or maybe even a little bit of energy in such crazy times as we are experiencing.

When life hands you lemons you need to attend:

Project Lemon-Aid

• When: Monday July 20, 2009 from 8 AM – 12 PM
• Where: Staybridge Suites, West Des Moines, Iowa
• Registration begins at 7:15 and we will start promptly at 8:00 AM

You will be hearing from:

• Jason Kiesau – Full Circle Development Group
• Crystal O’Connor – Fearless Ambition
• Tim Bianchi – Trilogy Solutions

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Each of our speakers are passionate about helping you gain control over your career search and make things happen.

So . . .

Stand Up

Get started on a job search that has purpose and is intentional with specific action. You will be challenged and given information that will energize your job search!

Stand Out

Get noticed in the sea of resumes, market your strengths and talents so they feel like they have to hire you!

Stand Together

You are not alone in this.  Leverage your resources for yourself and to help others.  The reality is things are tough, but you may be one connection away from that new career!

We will be giving the following prizes away:

• 5 – 30 Minute Free Career Coaching Session
• 5 – 1 Hour Personal Leadership Coaching Session
• 5 – Free Video Resumes
• 5 – 30 minute Social Medial Personal Consulting Sessions

To RSVP for Project Lemon-Aid please send an email to:

ProjectLemonaid@yahoo.com

Jason Kiesau Careers, Personal Leadership

Recently I read a book by Marshall Goldsmith titled – “What Got You Here Won’t Get You There!

The book is about 20 habits that can lead to great success, but in the end can prevent us from ultimate success and fulfillment.    When I first read the book I believe I was just relating the information to business.  After reviewing the list again, these are great principals for life.

Enjoy!

20.  An Excessive need to be yourself.

19.  Passing the Buck

18.  Punishing the Messenger

17.  Failure to Express Gratitude

16.  Not Listening

15.  Refusing to Express Regret

14.  Playing Favorites

13.  Clinging to the Past

12.  Making Excuses

11.  Claiming Credit We Don’t Deserve

10.  Failing to Give Proper Recognition

9.  Withholding of Information

8.  Negativity 0r – “Let Me Explain Why That Won’t Work”

7.  Speaking When Angry

6.  Telling the World How Smart We Are

5.  Starting with “No”, “But, or “However”

4.  Making Destructive Comments

3.  Passing Judgement

2.  Adding Too Much Value

1.  Winning Too Much

There you have it.   Don’t do any of these things and chances are you will experience an amazing amount of success!

You can purchase this book right now at Amazon.com by clicking here.

Jason Kiesau Business Leadership, Careers, Personal Leadership, Relationships

This morning I was bouncing around YouTube watching videos of successful speakers.   Earlier this week, social media expert Mike Sansone recommended that I watch videos of Guy Kawasaki as he is a great speaker and has done a great job at branding himself and his business.   So I hop on YouTube, do a search for Guy Kawasaki, and a number of his videos come up.   The first one I clicked on was a 3 minute clip of a session he did at Stanford University.

He was talking about entrepreneurship and his message resonated not only with me and what I am trying to do in my business, but a perspective I am trying to help my clients gain as I work with them.

Guy’s message was:  Make Meaning, than Make Money!

“My naive and romantic belief is that if you make meaning, you’ll probably make money.  But, if you set out to make money, you’ll probably not make meaning AND you won’t make money.”

He says the core reason you should start a company is to Make Meaning.

I say the core reason you should live your life is to make meaning.   Guy continues to give three ways entrepreneurs can make meaning when they are starting a business.  I think the same could be said for each of us living our lives.

1. Increase Quality of Life.
   
   Live to increase the quality of life, for not only yourself, but everyone around you.  Be motivated to change the world!
   -
2. Right a Wrong
   -
   There is so much BS in the world that we don’t need to add to it.   Help change something, help prevent something, or at minimum don’t create more BS.   Understand what is important to you and live accordingly!
   -
3. Prevent the End of Something Good
   -
   Life is so fast paced that great things come and go, as do not so good things, but what if the good things never left.   Look around you and recognize all the good that is happening and do your part to ensure they continue.

If you read the papers, websites, or watch television it doesn’t take very long to see opportunities for change.   But, what are you doing about it?  Average people like to play ‘Monday Morning Quarterback’.  Average people like to piss and moan about things like they know what they are talking about, but they don’t get off their butts to help create change.

What are you doing to make meaning?

Don’t be average. Make Meaning.

Jason Kiesau Business Leadership, Careers, Employee Engagement, Personal Leadership

Two weeks ago I did a lunch presentation for our local chamber on Junior Leadership and Attracting Young Workers.

At the beginning of my presentation I threw out the question:

Why is this such a big deal today?

We briefly talked about two issues:

1. Boomers retiring and leaving the workforce.
2. Personality challenges and differences between older workers and younger workers.  Older workers don’t know why Gen Y does the things they do and Gen Y doesn’t understand their superiors very well either.

I asked them to elaborate on point # 2 and I heard:

• Work starts at 8:00 NOT 8:05
• Work finishes at 5:00 NOT 4:55
• Cell phones need to stay in pockets or not come in to work at all.
• No Social Media . . . Facebook, Twitter, MySpace etc.

There is clearly a gap between both younger and older workers, but who is responsible?   The answer is obviously both, but I think it’s important for younger workers to understand the dynamics of the world they are entering into after college.

• Most people you interview with and work for are going to be older.  So if you want a job, you better be able to adapt.

I heard a story of a kid who interviewed for an IT position who told the person interviewing him that if he can’t check his Facebook at work he is not willing to work for them.

What do you think happened?

SEE YA!

• The fact that you are a college graduate really doesn’t make you that special.   Take a look around and see how many other people are getting college degrees.  You’ve got some competition . . . how are you different the other kids you graduated with?

I was 21 when I got my associates degree.  Up to that point the entire world painted a the picture that my life was going to dramatically change . . . the opportunities would be endless . . . and money was going to come easy.    Wow did I have a rude awakening!

• Unless you are truly amazing . . . which means you aren’t average . . . which means you are doing things different than most other people . . . the real world isn’t terribly interested in your story.   The real world . . . the companies you are sending your resume to really want to know three things:
  • You are focused!
  • You are stable!
    
  • You are profitable!

They don’t care how you grew up, what challenges you have had to over come, what school you went to, or who your parents are.    This stuff might get you in the door, but again if you’re not focused on their business and products . . . if you’re not stable and dependable, this means you do what you are supposed to do and do what you say you’re going to do . . . if you’re not profitable . . . if you don’t know how to make them money . . . you won’t be around very long.

I see and talk to so many young people who have been sold this dream of how life is supposed to be like if you follow the plan only to discover it’s very different than what they were promised.

They feel disrespected, disengaged, and unfulfilled and that’s not doing anyone any good.

If we don’t start preparing younger workers for the realities of the world they’re about to enter how are we ever going to overcome these challenges?   After all . . . these people are going to fill a significant void in years to come.   We need them:

• Focused
• Stable
• Profitable

If we don’t take action things won’t change and everyone (young and old) will be throwing their hands in the air asking . . . WHY?

Jason Kiesau Business Leadership, Careers, Personal Leadership