Join Trib U emcee and author Jenniffer Weigel and I for a fun evening in Chicago.

Here is what you can expect from the evening.

#1. You will laugh A LOT.

#2. You will laugh even more AND shake your head in amazement when I share my very bizarre path to getting paid to do what I love.

#3. You will look at what is possible for you, in your life, right now, in a whole new way.

It’s going to be a great night. Lots of laughs, lots of insights.

If the winter weather, or just life in general has beaten you down a bit… this event will be especially life changing.

Tickets: $30. Includes light refreshments and seminar.
Come join the party.

When you start the process of growing a thriving group of fruit producing papaya trees, you take hundreds of papaya seeds, and you plant them in a bucket full of fertile ground.  Not the bad soil, but the good stuff, the stuff that’s full of nutrients and vitamins.  And every few days after you’ve planted the seeds, you water the soil, because you know that with nourishment, some of those little seeds will eventually sprout.

You don’t step on the seeds, belittle the seeds, or treat them poorly.  You don’t smash the dirt they’re in.  You give them every opportunity, because you want them to sprout, to grow, to become strong papaya trees that bear fruit.

In a few weeks, low and behold you start to see sprouts.  Your efforts are paying off.  Partly it’s because of what you’ve done, partly it’s because of what you haven’t done that would have been detrimental to the seeds, and partly it’s because of the pure potential that lives within every seed, regardless of what you do.

A few weeks go by and you look at your bucket and realize that the sprouts have actually become plants.  There are lots of them, dozens, maybe even a hundred, all slowly growing into papaya trees.  At this point, they are all still about the same size, just a couple of inches tall.

Over the next couple of weeks, you begin to notice something.  It seems that some of the plants are beginning to grow faster than the others.  When you look closely, you realize that what’s happening is the plants are starting to compete with each other for light and water.  The ones with slightly larger leaves are not only receiving the most sun and nourishment, but they are also keeping those things from the other plants close to them.  And as they do that, it appears that they are growing faster.

Left alone, something interesting happens.  The plants will grow to a certain size, perhaps a foot and a half to two feet tall for the larger ones.  Along the way, about a quarter of the smaller plants, the ones who couldn’t get sun and now can’t compete for water because they don’t have the same lengthy root structure as the others, will die.  And if nothing is done at that point- the remaining plants will stop growing.

See, within the bucket there is limited space to expand, and the plants somehow know this.  So they stop growing taller.  Over time a few will develop larger leaves than the others and dominate the sun, and because of that, most of the other plants will slowly succumb.

So at the end of all your efforts, you have a small group of undersized papaya plants and no fruit to show for it.

But with just a little effort, and a few different decisions along the way, that end result can be dramatically different.  For example, if when the plants are about a foot high and still growing, you don’t leave them all in one bucket, but instead take four or five at a time and put them in new buckets, what you find is that they all keep growing.  Their growth doesn’t stop, like when they are all in one bucket.  Sure it happens that the occasional papaya plant doesn’t make it for one reason or another, but in general, they all keep growing.

Now this takes a little work, doesn’t it?  You have to take the time to provide each of those little groups of plants with a new bucket, and with fresh, nutrient rich soil.  But when you do that, they keep growing, and so you get closer to your goal of fruit producing papaya trees.

After another month has gone by, you look at your twenty or so buckets of papaya plants, and you see that each bucket doesn’t have little plants anymore.  Instead, those plants have become little trees.  They aren’t full grown yet, but they aren’t just little plants anymore either.  Most of them are now about two and a half to three feet high, and you can tell that once again, they are starting to compete with each other.  Left alone, one tree in each bucket will begin to dominate and the others will eventually stop growing, or succumb.

And so you take each of those little trees in the buckets and you plant them in the ground.  They’re outside the security of their little buckets, but they now have access to all that the earth has to offer.  Their roots can grow as deep as they want.  Their leaves can grow big and broad because there is unlimited access to the sun, and they can grow tall.

Now there is an interesting thing that happens when you plant these three foot papaya trees.  If you plant them all by themselves, totally off on their own, they will grow big and tall, and have broad leaves, but they will never produce fruit.  However, if you plant a few of them together, not so close that they block each other, but within a few feet, they will pollinate each other, shade each other depending on the angle of the sun, drop rain from their own leaves on to the leaves of their neighbor when it rains, and because of all of that, they will produce fruit- lots of fruit.

When they are planted that way, they no longer compete.  They exist in a state of synergy.  Their presence is an asset to each other’s success, not a detriment.  And the result of all your efforts is not just a few non-fruit producing stunted papaya trees like it might have been.  But instead, you have a grove of papaya trees.  Dozens upon dozens of them, all producing fruit.  Fruit which eventually will create seeds which will grow into even more papaya trees.

A few years ago, I was asked to host a leadership summit.  Executives from companies all over the world came to share ideas, to learn from each other.  And I recall one session in particular that I was hosting.  In that session, a Senior Vice President from a huge entertainment company, a company that everyone in this room would know if I said their name, shared with the group that what he did as a leader to promote successful results was that he encouraged competition among his people.  He felt that the competition made them grow and made them work harder.  This was a man who had 20 direct reports, all vice presidents and directors, and who in total had probably two thousand people under him.

When we took a break, I introduced myself to one of that Senior V.P.’s direct reports, a V.P. who had been quiet during most of our morning session.  I asked him what he thought of the leadership summit, and then I asked him what he thought of his leader’s comments.  He told me the reality was- the competitive environment created by the Senior V.P. was terrible.

Executives kept critical information from each other so that they could make their individual results better.  Good employees weren’t being promoted, because the promotions would mean they would transfer into another person’s area and the executives saw that as a competitive disadvantage.  Not only would they lose a good employee, but their competitor would gain one- one who had tremendous knowledge that they would share with their new team.  He said that since they were such a dominant player in their industry they had no one to fight, so they fought against themselves.

The Senior V.P. was leaving all his papaya plants in one little bucket.  He was creating competition, not growing a grove of fruit producing papaya trees.

I watched what happened with that company and stayed in contact with the V.P.  Within two years, many of the best people jumped ship and went to a growing competitor across town.  Within two years after that, the market dominance the company had enjoyed was eroding quickly, and the V.P. himself left.  When I talked with him, and asked why he had decided to leave now, he told me that despite all the signs, the culture hadn’t changed.  People were still competing with each other.  Only now, they were competing to see who could blame someone else for the growth of the competitor, or who could capitalize on the fact that one of their peers was taking a hit, and could because of that make themselves appear that much better.

Our people are like papaya seeds.  The question we need to ask ourselves as leaders is- what are we trying to create?  If we want to create a grove of strong, productive leaders that not only produce fruit, but who in the process create new leaders of their own, then we need to nurture them.  We need to give them opportunities rich with potential, not barren dessert.  We need to make sure we create an environment where they are growing, not one that stunts their growth through internal competition.  We need to give them space to expand, not restrict them so that their enthusiasm withers and dies.  And when the time is right, we need to take them out of the bucket where they grew up, and give them the chance to grow on their own.

However, when that time comes, we don’t put them out somewhere in isolation, out in a vacuum.  We do it in the way that best generates fruit- by providing them with an environment where they and other leaders pollinate each other, protect each other, water each other.  We do it in a way where they can work together to fulfill their true full potential.

As leaders, those are the things we need to do for our people.  Because those are the things- that make great leaders great. ]]> http://www.bigfiveforlife.com/book/great-leadership-is-like-growing-a-thriving-group-of-papaya-trees/feed/ 0 http://www.bigfiveforlife.com/book/dale-carnegie-company-picks-big-five-for-life-as-book-of-the-month/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dale-carnegie-company-picks-big-five-for-life-as-book-of-the-month http://www.bigfiveforlife.com/book/dale-carnegie-company-picks-big-five-for-life-as-book-of-the-month/#comments Mon, 09 Jan 2012 17:55:28 +0000 John P Strelecky http://www.bigfiveforlife.com/book/?p=146 The following is an excerpt from the Dale Carnegie Newsletter:

The Dale Carnegie team at Carnegie News has selected The Big Five for Life, by John P. Strelecky as our recommended book of the month.

What goals do you want to achieve in your life? What is truly important to you in your profession? When are you most happy with what you’re doing? As a manager, how do you support your employees to achieve your goals, their goals, and the main objectives of the organization?

Answers to these questions can be found in The Big Five for Life.

In the book, you meet Joe, a disgruntled employee who has a chance meeting with a charismatic businessman named Thomas. Thomas goes on to become Joe’s mentor and shares with him the secrets of his success.

Thomas leads his companies based on two principles. The first is to let his people see where their strengths are, and focus on those. The second is to help them realize their Big Five for Life – the five things most important to them.

Through the interactions of the people in the book, you will find yourself coming to a new realization of what is really important in your life.

In many ways I view this as the highest compliment possible. My goal as an author is to create a story so compelling that readers are drawn into another world for a little while.  A place where they come to know the characters so well, that they actually care about them.  They laugh with them, learn with them, and sometimes, as in the case of Thomas Derale, they come to love them to the point where it hurts when they pass away.

So, if you finished The Big Five for Life and found yourself wondering “Is Thomas Derale real?”- first of all, thank you.  You have validated my efforts.  And second, you are not alone, not by a long shot.

Which brings us back to the original question; is Thomas real?  The answer to that is a bit complex.  If this were a movie, it would say “Inspired by real events.”  Which in this case means, there are parts of the story which are described almost one hundred percent verbatim as they occurred.  There are other parts where a particular section of the book is actually the result of combining multiple real events, or the actions of multiple real leaders into a single event.

There are other parts that when I sat down to write, seemed to come through me as if Thomas Derale were speaking and I was simply taking down what he said.

All of that is a bit complex, although accurate way of saying that no, this is not the life story of an actual man named Thomas Derale.  He, Maggie, Joe, and the rest of the characters you meet in the book are compilations of real people, and they are also the characters they simply came to be as I was writing this story.

As for Thomas specifically, the over 100 leaders from twelve countries on four continents around the world who provided input on the manuscript are part of Thomas Derale.  The many excellent leaders I’ve worked with and advised during my over a quarter-century in business are part of Thomas Derale.  And, yes, I am part of Thomas Derale as well.

I have found in my discussions with leaders who ask about Thomas, that they ask for one of two primary reasons.  In those reasons are some key learnings worth noting.  The first reason is because they want to go work in Thomas’ companies.  They are drawn to what they read because at their core they know it is the way they want to lead, and be led.  This is the leadership book they would write if they were authors.

I relieve the disappointment they feel upon learning Thomas is not real by reminding them that they have everything they need to be Thomas Derale- their own version of him of course.  The book contains all the steps, they have all the desire, all that remains is to put the two together and take action.  I’m pleased to say that many have done just that.  They have chosen to be the leader they would want to work for.  What a powerful place to operate from, and what a gift to give those they lead.

The second reason, which occurs far less frequently, is because the person asking is determined to prove that no-one can lead the way Thomas Derale led.  By confirming that the story is not the actual story of a real person, they can justify why they shouldn’t use the leadership principles and practices explained via the story.  It gives them an excuse for not changing and removes what would otherwise be a living reminder that great leadership produces great results.  My conversations with these folks don’t last too long.

I explain what I shared above, that the story reflects the aggregate knowledge of many great leaders.  I also share that Spencer Johnson and Ken Blanchard’s Who Moved My Cheesebook is not the actual story of two tiny people and two mice caught in a maze.  Yet it is still a great reminder of the importance of dealing with change.

I also share examples of some of the many amazing companies who operate with the same spirit as Thomas Derale companies.

They are small little independent businesses like Sara’s Pancake House in Amsterdam, Netherlands which is run by an amazing and high energy entrepreneur named…Sara. They are large entities like Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom and Ritz Carlton which were built on the belief that if you do right by people, good things will happen. They thrive because of those same principles.

Check out Google. There is a reason they are consistently ranked as the top company to work for in America. It’s because they embody many of the same practices that were described in The Big Five for Life.

Then there are the numerous amazing leaders around the world who have taken the Big Five for Life book and created amazing organizations around it’s spirit.

So yes, people can and DO lead the way it is described in The Big Five for Life.

Once I explain all of that to someone, I leave it at that.  My goal in life is not to convince people to my way of thinking.  If it’s not a good fit, it’s not a good fit.  I move on and encourage them to do the same.

I have often been asked a follow-up question from the first type of inquirers, and that is; Why did I choose to write the story the way I did versus picking specific pieces from the real leaders and sharing their stories?  Quite simply, I did it like this because the ending to the book came to me and I knew instantly it was the story I wanted to write.

I personally have always learned more, and enjoyed the process of learning more, when the lessons and information were in the form of a story.  In school, I would grind my way through the three to four pages of facts and details in textbooks to joyously arrive at that shadow-boxed page with a story or case study that brought to life the principles of the previous pages.  Humans have been learning through stories for as long as there have been humans.  I decided the most powerful way to share the Big Five for Life™, Ascending Life Curve, MMB, and the other techniques in the book, was through a story- the story of Thomas Derale.

A how to non-fiction book which explained these same techniques would not have allowed me to bring readers to the emotional level I wanted to bring them.  It would have dampened the impact of a very important and very real lesson.  Leadership in our careers, and the life we live outside of those careers, are not separate.  They are intertwined and connected, and ultimately, they collectively determine what goes into the personal museum Thomas describes early in the book.  They collectively determine our assessment of our lives.

I hope this clarifies any questions you may have had about Thomas and this story.  If you have anything you’d like to add, or ask, please drop me a message.  I would love to hear from you.

Wishing you a great museum day.

John

The next great adventure is to bring them to life- to DO, SEE, and EXPERIENCE THEM!!!

Are you ready for that? Sure you are. That’s why you are on this page.

So join me for an incredible three days.

This is the only time I will be teaching this course in the United States in 2012. AND, it has a pre-requisite.  To participate in this course, you must be a graduate of the Big Five for Life Discovery Course.

The good news is, if you haven’t taken the Discovery Course yet, you can come down to Orlando, FL and take the Discovery Course March 24-25, and then this course March 26-28.

During this course I will take you step by step through the process of turning your Big Five for Life dreams into your daily reality.

This will include teaching you ways to pay for and even GET PAID to live your Big Five for Life. (one of the most popular sections of the course)

I will work with each attendee individually so that by the time you graduate, you will have the knowledge, the inspiration, and the self-confidence to walk your unique Big Five for Life path. (You can also run along that path if that is more your style.)

Your investment for this course is $1,695. If you enroll in the March 24-25 Discovery Course, AND this course, you can do both for $1995. This will save you $495.

To enroll or if you have any questions, please contact Emily Hardy at

bigfiveforlife1 @ gmail.com

Please DO NOT book travel until you have confirmed your attendance with Emily! There is a six person minimum in order for the course to take place. Once we have confirmed six people, Emily will let you know so you may book your travel plans. If 30 days prior to the course there have not been enough registrants, the course will be re-scheduled for another time

As part of the course, I will be sharing with you the stories of others who have graduated from the course. They are now living their Big Five for Life every day.

Logistics for March 26-28 Big Five for Life – Do It! Course

We will begin at 9:00 a.m. each day and go until at least 5:00. If you are flying in, please plan to depart after 7:00 p.m. on the 28th, or on the 29th.

The best airport to fly into is Orlando International Airport.  (AGAIN, PLEASE DO NOT BOOK TRAVEL UNTIL YOU HAVE CONFIRMED YOUR ATTENDANCE WITH EMILY.)

Once you enroll in the course you will receive a series of emails with all the details you will need.

You will receive specific details about the exact event location approximately 4 weeks before the event.

Then join me for an amazing two day experience.

I teach this course just one time per year in the United States. In 2012 it will take place in Orlando, FL on March 24-25.

During the course I will walk you through a series of discovery exercises. By the time the two days are done, you will know your PFE and Big Five for Life.

I’ve had the pleasure of helping people from around the world, and from all walks of life, go through this Discovery experience. It’s always a thrill as they go from “massively confused” to “massively enthused”.

It’s an incredible experience and I want that for you too.

Life becomes so exhilarating when you know your PFE and Big Five for Life. They are the treasure map to what makes your soul sing. Knowing them opens up the channel to all the resources the universe has to offer.

Your investment for this course is $795. To enroll or if you have any questions, please contact Emily Hardy at  bigfiveforlife1 @ gmail.com

Please DO NOT book travel until you have confirmed your attendance with Emily. There is a ten person minimum in order for the course to take place. Once we have confirmed ten people, Emily will let you know so you may book your travel plans. If 30 days prior to the course there have not been enough registrants, the course will be re-scheduled for another time.

Logistics for March 24-25, 2012 Course:

We will begin at 9:00 a.m. on March 24th and go until 10:00 p.m. On march 25th, we will begin at 9:00 a.m. and finish at 6:00 p.m. If you are flying in, please plan to depart after 8:00 p.m. on the 25th, or on the 26th.

The best airport to fly into is Orlando International Airport. (AGAIN, PLEASE DO NOT BOOK TRAVEL UNTIL YOU HAVE CONFIRMED YOUR ATTENDANCE WITH EMILY.)

Once you enroll in the course, you will receive regular emails with all the details you will need.

You will receive specific details about the exact event location approximately 4 weeks before the event.

In 2002, my wife and I left our careers, our family, our house, and almost everything we owned behind. Then we headed off to backpack around the world. Most people thought we were crazy.

It turned out to be a life changing experience that covered almost seventy thousand miles. It was also the way we spent our first year of marriage.

During those travels, I had a profound experience in Africa.  It proved to be an experience that would transform my life, and in turn, the lives of millions of people around the world who have learned of it through my writing and live presentations. A gratifying and also humbling experience, I assure you.

The discovery includes two main pieces.  The first is something I call Purpose for Existing, or PFE for short.  The second I call the Big Five for Life™.

I explain these discoveries in great detail through my books and CDs.  Let me briefly explain them here.

You were born for a reason.  It was not a mistake, an act of serendipitous luck, and it didn’t occur randomly.  You arrived exactly when you knew you would, into the exact environment you planned on arriving into, with full knowledge of what you were getting yourself into.  Except that in the moment you arrived, you forgot all that.  Which is exactly what was supposed to happen.

Your challenge, is to remember that reason that you chose to have this life experience.  Then if you choose to, to fulfill it.  I call the reason your PFE, or Purpose for Existing.  It’s why you’re here.

In conjunction with your PFE, you have a Big Five for Life™.  You get to choose these too, only for these, you choose them now, while you’re here.  They are the five things you most want to do, see, or experience in your lifetime.  The five things so powerful to you, that if you do, see, or experience them before you die, then you will feel that your life has been a success by your own personal definition of success.

This site, and all my efforts through my writings and teachings, are dedicated toward helping you discover and live your PFE and Big Five for Life™.  As far as I can tell, that’s a big part of why I’m here.

In The Big Five for Life book, part of the story explains the Big Five for Life in the context of being a leader.

If you don’t consider yourself a leader, don’t let this throw you.  In truth, at every moment of our life, we are all called to be leaders.  If for no other purpose, than to lead ourselves. After all, someone inspires you to get out of bed each morning. That someone is you.

I have found in my own life that an awareness of ones PFE and Big Five for Life is the start of something miraculous.  Fulfilling them is even better.  So if the feeling is right, join me on this adventure. We shall see where it takes us.

Your fellow traveler,

John

I have had the great pleasure of seeing the impact the Big Five for Life has had on so many young people, adults, and within a wide variety of organizations.

It is therefore with great enthusiasm and humility that I look forward to teaching you to teach it to others.

The process of becoming a Big Five for Life Coach is made up of three steps.

Step #1 – Complete the Big Five for Life Discovery Course

Step #2 – Complete the Big Five for Life- Do It! Course

Step #3 – Graduate from the 6 month Coach Certification Course

During Step #2, I will help you determine who you want to coach (leaders, single moms, recent retirees…), and the ways in which you want to coach (one-on-one, presentations, workshops…). I will also help you create your own personal Big Five for Life brand.

During Step #3, you will work directly with me, or a current Big Five for Life coach. There will be conference calls or in person meetings every six weeks to help you begin your Big Five for Life coaching practice.

Graduating from Step #3 consists of presenting three cases where you successfully worked as a Big Five for Life coach.

My philosophy behind the training is simple.  It is imperative to me that when you’ve completed Step #3, you are 100% comfortable in your role as a Big Five for Life coach, and you are well on your way to building your Big Five for Life coaching practice.

As part of the training, you will receive almost $2,000 worth of coaching materials.  I do this to help you launch your coaching practice.

During our time together I will explain these materials in more detail including the optimal ways to use them.
The materials you receive for free include the following.
- 1 copy of the Big Five for Life 30 day step by step guide

- 2 year access to the Big Five for Life membership site www.bigfiveforlifeinspiration.com

- 25 english language copies of my book Life Safari

- 25 english languae copies of my book The Big Five for Life

- 1 copy of The Big Five for Life CDs

- 3 toolboxes – The toolbox is a complete kit that certified coaches can immediately put to use with a client.  Contents of each toolbox are listed below.

> The Big Five for Life 30 day step by step guide

> The Why Cafe (book)

> Big Five for Life (book)

> Life Safari (book)

> Big Five for Life CDs (CDs)

> Ninety day trial membership to the Big Five for Life membership site at www.bigfiveforlifeinspiration.com

Again, the total value of these items is more than $2,000.

Your investment in becoming a Big Five for Life coach is composed of tuition for each of the three steps.

Step #1 – Complete the Big Five for Life Discovery Course  $795

Step #2 – Complete the Big Five for Life- Do It! Course  $1,695

Step #3 – Graduate from the 6 month Coach Certification Course $995

You can save $495 by taking Step #1 and Step #2 all within a five day period. The next opportunity for this is March 24-28, 2012. If you do that, the total cost is $2,990.

At the conclusion of each step, you will have the opportunity to continue on, or to opt out of the remaining steps.

Upon completing the three steps, you will be a Certified Big Five for Life Coach. Your license will last for two years. At that point, if you would like to keep coaching, you can renew your certification at a one day recertification training. The cost for the renewal is $2,495.

As a Certified Big Five for Life Coach, you are able to:

- Use the Big Five for Life logo in your marketing materials and web site

- Use the words – Certified Big Five for Life Coach in your marketing materials and on your web site.

- Use the trademarked words “Big Five for Life” in promoting your coaching services

- Attend for free any live public events I do which are less than 3 hours long

- Attend for cost, any all day or multi-day workshops or trainings I do which are open to the public

- Receive up to 25 Free copies of Life Safari AND The Big Five for Life, each year to help you grow your coaching practice

Helping people discover and live their Big Five for Life is truly an incredibly rewarding experience. I am honored you want to be a part of it.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions about the different steps to becoming a coach. You can send me a message HERE.

I look forward to seeing you at a Discovery Course soon.

Your fellow traveler,

John

It’s available in gift edition hardcover ($19.95), paperback ($9.97) and e-book on Amazon ($9.97) and for the Barnes and Noble Nook ($9.97).

If you’ve enjoyed Life Safari, and/or my first book, The Why Cafe, you will love this one. It’s an emotional story with a powerful message. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, and you’ll think about your life in a whole new way. You can read a more detailed description here.