Yesterday, Promotional Consultant Today introduced you to a very significant person— someone who has single-handedly made a difference in the U.S. Postal Service. His name is Fred, and by following a few simple leadership principles, he’s turned a mundane service into one that is about connections and relationships.
In today’s PCT, we share two more highly critical Fred principles.
Principle 3: You must continually create value for others, and it doesn’t have to cost a penny.
Don’t have enough money, the necessary training or the right opportunities? In other words, do you ever complain that you lack resources? Have you started believing that “more with less” is impossible?
Then consider Fred. What resources did he have at his disposal? A drab blue uniform and a bag. That’s it! He walked up and down streets with that bag full of mail, and his heart and head full of imagination. That imagination enabled him to create value for his customers, and he didn’t spend an extra dollar to do it. He just thought a little bit harder and more creatively than most other postal carriers.
By doing so, Fred mastered what I believe is the most important job skill of the 21st century: the ability to create value for customers without spending more money to do it. You too can replace money with imagination. The object is to outthink your competition rather than outspend them.
Sanborn’s maxim says that the faster you try to solve a problem with money, the less likely it is the best solution. Anyone can buy his or her way out of a problem with enough money. The challenge is to outthink, rather than to outspend, the competition.
For many of us in the world of business, the competition is either inside or outside our organizations— and sometimes both. For example, you may be competing for a better position in your department or company. While professional decorum might prevent you from describing it this way, you hope that the best man or woman for the job will be the one who gets it, and you’re working to prove that you’re that person.
Just what competition did Fred face? Certainly the U.S. Postal Service competes against other service delivery organizations. But for Fred, it could have simply been the threat and monotony of the job itself. At the end of the day, Fred had beaten a silent opponent that threatened his potential, just as it threatens yours and mine. That competitor is mediocrity, a willingness to do just enough— and nothing more than necessary— to get by.
Principle Number 4: You can reinvent yourself regularly.
If Fred could bring such originality to putting mail in a box, how much more could you and I reinvent our work?
There are days when you wake up tired. You’re doing everything you can possibly do but you’re still fatigued and unmotivated. So when life is at low tide and when your professional commitment is wavering, what do you do?
Think of Fred. If he was committed to putting mail in the mailbox in a creative way, there’s no reason you can’t be inventive as well. You can make your business, as well as your life, anything you choose it to be. Get creative. Be enthusiastic. And most importantly, challenge yourself. Fred would be proud.
Source: Mark Sanborn is known internationally as “the high-content speaker who motivates.” He presents 90-100 programs every year on leadership, team building, customer service and mastering change. He is president of Sanborn & Associates, Inc., an idea lab dedicated to developing leaders in business and in life. Sanborn is also the author or coauthor of nine books, including Teambuilt: Making Teamwork Work, Sanborn On Success, Best Practices In Customer Service and Meditations for the Road Warrior. He has created and appeared in 20 videos and numerous audio training programs, and he’s a founding professor of MentorU.com, an internet-based knowledge transfer company.
