my time, and put my energy into growing my business. ‘How long do you think it will take to do that?’ my coach asked. I told her I thought it would take between 18 months and 3 years. This was the same answer I'd come up with when I'd first had the idea, 18 months previously. In fact, that ‘18 months to 3 years’ timeline always seemed to be floating ahead of me, keeping my goal the same elusive distance away, like a juicy carrot dangling from a pole attached to a donkey's head. But it turned out that my estimate was wrong by several orders of magnitude; in the end, it only took six weeks. As is so often the case, it turned out that I had a lot of the pieces in place, but hadn't realized it (it's very likely that this is the case for you too). In the process, I discovered one of the most important things you can realize about creating results:
Your results may be closer than you think. Of course, we live in a material world, and there are certain universal laws or ‘principles’ that cannot be violated (e.g. the principle of gravity). But all too often it is not material laws, but rather our beliefs, concepts and misunderstandings which place artificial limits on the results we produce, on the impact we have and on our enjoyment of life in general.
By early 2008, my business was running on autopilot and I was ready to celebrate with my first ‘mini-retirement’, a three-month holiday at a Canadian ski resort. I was delighted with what my team and I had accomplished, and I believed this trip would yield another satisfying result; a big jump in my skiing ability combined with a sense of peace, completeness and success. But I was wrong. After a brief period of euphoria, I found myself distracted and dissatisfied, with a busy mind and feeling like there was something missing. I felt stuck, so I cut my trip short and flew home without realizing I was at the very beginning of a massive transformation; a transformation that would see me…
• sell the business I'd spent so much time and energy developing,
• walk away from the field I'd become a leader in, and
• start over and move in an entirely new direction.
That was over eight years ago, and they've been some of the most exciting, fulfilling, challenging and joyful years of my life. It's been (and continues to be) a process of transformation, and that, in essence, is the purpose of this book: to guide you in the process of more and more fully embracing your true nature as a results-creator. For reasons of clarity and simplicity, the process is organized around three distinct transformations:
Imagine you're building a skyscraper; the higher you want the building to go, the deeper the foundation has to be. The purpose of Part One is to help you develop your foundations: the key qualities and internal resources of a powerful results-creator. While grounding is the foundation piece, it's often the last place people look when it comes to creating outstanding results. Your grounding is what governs your ability to move forward in the face of uncertainty, and make a real difference in the world. Grounding also determines the impact you're able to have on others, whether as a business leader, a coach, a parent, a partner or a friend. This is the deep understanding of yourself and the human condition that is the basis for all powerful transformation. As you move through your personal transformation, you're going to find yourself experiencing certain automatic and inevitable results. You may notice that you're developing greater confidence, clarity and peace of mind. You're also likely to find yourself experiencing a reduction in stress, worry and anxiety. As you approach the end of Part One, you may start becoming aware of a greater sense of purpose, direction and leadership as you start taking action and moving forward.
As human beings, we have a more highly evolved capacity for connection and relationship than any other species on the planet. It's not only a highly effective survival strategy (it's made us the world's most deadly predators); it's also an extraordinary leverage point when it comes to creating results. The purpose of Part Two is to support you in creating connection and impact in all your relationships. Your interpersonal transformation will give you the confidence and ability to have a greater impact on others, secure in the knowledge that you have something of genuine value and relevance to contribute. Whether as a business leader, a transformation professional, a parent or a colleague, impact means the difference between making a difference and wasting your breath. You're going to be introduced to the Clarity Impact Model, the tried and tested tool used by some of the world's most impactful coaches, consultants and other transformation professionals. In this section you should start to notice certain results emerging easily as the result of your being exposed to the principles in this book. You're going to be discovering the kind of effortless relationship skills that are the essence of powerful communication, whether you're giving a presentation, selling a prospect, coaching a colleague or connecting with your loved ones. You're also going to discover the secrets to dealing with difficult people, and the unexpected keys for motivating others to make changes and take action.
Your commercial transformation is about amplifying your impact, taking control of your livelihood, and moving into a world of abundance through connection, innovation and service. Whether you're an employee in an organization, running your own business or are looking to transition from one to the other, a service-orientation combined with new-economy savvy are essential for taking control of your commercial transformation and creating the livelihood you desire. You're going to be transforming your relationship to prosperity, and taking control of your income as you awaken your inner entrepreneur (whether as a solopreneur, business owner or a star player in a larger organization). You'll be learning how to move with the disruptive forces transforming the business world, and learning how to thrive in the increasing complexity of the commercial landscape.
While this book is divided into three sections for practical purposes, they actually describe three different aspects of one transformation: the process of becoming the person who can create the results you're here to create, and more fully live the life you're here to live. Most approaches for creating results are additive, giving you theories, techniques and concepts to remember, practise and apply. While additive approaches are often compelling, they rarely yield the desired results (for reasons we'll explore later). Fortunately, the understanding you're going to be developing as you read this book is subtractive. Instead of giving you more to remember, the principles you're going to be learning will take things off your mind, giving you less to think about. As a result, you're going to have a clear mind, more of the time, and more space for the endeavours and experiences that matter.
We are in a time of increasing volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity (VUCA). Silicon Valley startups are disrupting entire industries. Airbnb was recently valued at $25 billion (November 2015), making it more valuable than the Hyatt Hotels Corporation or the InterContinental Hotels Group (owner of Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza). This despite the fact that Airbnb has a fraction of the number of employees and owns no hotels. Uber continues to dominate the taxi trade in many of the world's largest cities, and book-lovers are using bookshops as unofficial ‘Amazon showrooms’, browsing the books on display then ordering the ones they want on their smartphones or downloading them to their Kindles. While no-one knows what the future will bring to these companies and these industries, one thing is clear; the world is changing fast and it's unlikely to slow down anytime soon. These turbulent times bring both risk and opportunity. The purpose of this book is to help you mitigate the risks and make the most of the opportunities while enjoying your life to the full.
At the end of each chapter you'll find…
• Bottom line results, a concise summary highlighting how this chapter applies in the business/commercial context.
