Each company, firm, joint venture, stock-holding company, concern, bank, fund has its own complicated business structure and the stuff which is necessary for the work. But still there are some general principles how to organize the work at the enterprise. We’ll try to give you some information about it.

The Managing Director or the Chief Executive or President is the head of the company. The company is usually run by a Board of Directors - each Director is in charge of a department. The Chairman of the Boards is in overall control and may not be the head of any department.
Vice-President or Vice-Chairman is at the head of the company if the President or the Chairman is absent or ill.

Most companies have Finance, Sales, Marketing, Production, Research and Development, Personnel, Tax, Logistics Departments. These are the most common departments, but some companies have others as well.

Most departments have a Manager, who is in charge of its day-to-day running, and who reports to the Director. The Director is responsible for strategic planning and for making decisions. Various personnel in each Department report to the Manager.

Let’s dwell on some positions in details.

General Manager-supervises and leads the company’s employees, maintains relations with customers, executes sales contracts and provides problem analysis and resolutions. Represents the company at fairs and distributors’ conferences. In some companies maintains a local warehouse. Provides quality audits. Self-motivated, decision maker.

Sales Manager-manages the sales staff of a company, supervises sales activity including a stuff of sales representatives, plans and achieves target sales revenues and maintains a positive relationship between the company and its clients. Must have extensive sales experience, often as many as 5 years in the position of sales representative before moving up to the position of sales manager. Excellent communication and management skills are required. The person must be a proven problem solver and possess management skills necessary to develop a sales team.

Finance and Administration Manager-must have strong accounting experience including maintenance of Internal Controls, costing. Budgeting, forecasting and the development of Logistics and Administration Systems to support a rapidly growing business.

Marketing Manager-manages marketing department. Plans, directs and executes all marketing and related activities. Oversees creative effort and media plans. Must have year commercial experience, strong interpersonal skills, ability to manage a team and lead personnel, excellent communication skills, computer literacy.

Customer Service Manager-finds proper persons, organizes and supervises the job of Customer Service Clerks, Receptionist. Provides the solution for all existing conflict situations. Provides information and orders forms for distributors, directors. Prepares monthly reports regarding performance of distributors.

Product Development Manager-develops branded products for the company. Prepares a brief of the project, a timeline with priorities and options for the successful competition of the project. Researches on potential facilities, provides competitors’ analysis. Realizes market research on product quality and packing. Negotiates with the producer.

Forecast, Supply and Transport Supervisor-makes monthly forecasts of all products. Works with a company software system (Product Forecast). Provides logistics, works with suppliers concerning shipments of product.

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It’s amazing, people we meet and know are all striving for success, in business or their personal lives but they rarely achieve it. Or rarely do they think they have achieved it.
Why is this? They have a mindset that holds them back. We read about this and similar statements and then laugh it off as some mumbo jumbo foo foo stuff.

Why? Well probably because of our education and backgrounds. The more educated we are the more we ask; “How can that #@$bleeping stuff be of any value to me?” Then we realize that in many ways our education was designed to create workers who didn’t challenge the conventions and wisdoms!

One of the powerful mental attitudes we have is our individual paradigm under which we operate. This paradigm for all intents and purposes is created through our learning and our experiences. The good stuff and the bad. Now it’s the bad stuff we are trying to shy away from to move ahead with our lives and careers. Well, we could learn from the bad stuff as well as the successes. Build on the successes for even greater rewards.

The ‘knowing doing gap’. We know what to do but just are not doing it, or enough of it!

We know that our brains are living organs that are programmed by us on a daily basis. What we tell our brain is what our brains allow us to do. The synapses of the brain and associated chemistry are what create our memory.

One of the great things about science is its assumption that what we think we know today will probably be proven wrong tomorrow. Developed theories, by earlier scientists are essentially platforms enabling us to climb higher, as Sir Isaac Newton said, “If I have been privileged to see farther than others, it’s because I stood on the shoulders of giants.”

It’s only by asking questions, challenging the assumptions and the “truths” taken for granted at a point in time, that science progresses. The Pythagorean Brotherhood knew this and tried to keep control of knowledge. They only wanted their brotherhood to succeed. They didn’t succeed and society has developed and thrived as a response!

What if this turned out to be true for our personal lives, our individual growth and progress? What if we could challenge our assumptions and do things we never thought possible? Guess what? You can. It is true. When you break free of your assumptions about yourself, you will grow more than you ever thought possible.

It’s amazing to see how many businesses falter under limiting beliefs. We can’t sell so many! That will never work here… We tried that… are all limiting their success.

In developing strategic plans; do we look at our belief systems, collectively and individually? No. We do SWOT analyses and Porters’ 5 Forces but we don’t look at the factors inhibiting success within the individuals creating the plan. Or the factors affecting the learning disabilities of the organization. So if we can create new paradigms that will take the organization and its staff to new successes, wouldn’t that be powerful?

Including your limiting paradigm and developing a powerful new paradigm going forward is what will lead us to success.

Isn’t this interesting? What is amazing is that this is a core part of the Best Year Yet Process. Test it out for yourself as a free introduction at http://www.bestyearyet.com/Personal/BYYONew1.cfm?lang=US please ut the code283 in so I know how many of my readers looked at this!

By Graeme Nichol of Arcturus Advisors. Please visit their website at http://www.arcturusadvisors.com. Arcturus Advisors works with the Best Year Yet process to help business teams increase their productivity and performance by ensuring that team members are all on the same page and pulling in the same direction.

Accounting is the measuring, and disclosure or provision of assurance about information that helps managers and other decision makers make resource allocation decisions.

How to become an Accountant.

Accountants in the US are called Certified Public Accountants and in the UK and Canada are called Chartered Accountants. Chartered Accountants in Canada are expected to know all US CPA knowledge as well as a Canadian Accounting body of knowledge. In order to become an Accountant an undergraduate degree is required and then a period of articling is required which can take as long as 5 years with gruelling exams and an exhausting series of finals.

In her notes compiled in 1979, Professor Linda Plunkett of the College of Charleston S.C., calls accounting the “oldest profession”; in fact, since prehistoric times families had to account for food and clothing to face the cold seasons. Later, as man began to trade, we established the concept of value and developed a monetary system. Evidence of accounting records can be found in the Babylonian Empire (4500 B.C.), in pharaohs’ Egypt and in the Code of Hammurabi (2250 B.C.). Eventually, with the advent of taxation, record keeping became a necessity for governments to sustain social orders.

Perhaps the most significant benefits to contemporary accounting has been the introduction of computer programs to assist in the accounting function..Computer programs were introduced in business and government organizations in the 1950s, and the most important applications of computers have been in the areas of record keeping, balancing , and transaction recording.

Accounting uses various bases of measurement, mainly the cash basis, the accrual basis (or historical cost) and variations of these; all of these functions are greatly assisted by the use of various accounting software programs.

Accounting is tied to the invention and dissemination of the double entry bookkeeping process.Different Accounting Software Solutions available today:

ACCPAC web-based accounting, launched the ACCPAC Online web site in 1999 which allows end users to run ACCPAC from a simple browser for a small monthly rental fee.

Intuit’s QuickBooks for the Web represents a new product from scratch. Microsoft Small Business Manager is a new player on the block which is a scaled down version of Great Plains Accounting Software. Netledger centralized net computing renamed Oracle Small Business Manager Peachtree. This product was the older Peachtree Office Accounting product and is also a web-based solution. In 2000, Peachtree added a web-based module to its’ flagship Peachtree Complete Accounting product called Peachtree Web Accounting.

SAP mySAP - web-based accounting featuring a limited number of SAP modules.

So it appears that there are 2 different types of Accounting Software:

Web Based Accounting: which is one application on a Web Server running everybody’s application.

There are of course advantages and disadvantages to this type of application, immediately coming to mind is confidentiality and the security of the Servers being used as well as possible breakdowns.

Advantages are of course in being able to use unlimited Server Resources. And then there is PC Based accounting which everybody has tried and is Bill Gates favorite.

Advantages;

In-house control of everything but subject to limited resources.

J Shipper is very interested in Accounting Software.
You can find more Accounting Software information at;
www.accounting-software-now.info

When three leading magazines (Harvard Business Review, Business Week, and Training & Development) all have cover stories about talent management the same month, it is safe to say you are looking at a hot topic.

Talent management (the recruiting, training, and retaining of good workers) has had many names over the years, but it is certainly not new. While the topic is not new, how we think about it has evolved over time.

As early as the late 19th century, business organizations turned to universities for help developing their employees. In 1881, Joseph Wharton (co-founder of Bethlehem Steel) persuaded the University of Pennsylvania to create an undergraduate business education program. Soon after, Dartmouth and Harvard followed Wharton’s lead.

In the mid-twentieth century, universities shifted their focus from factory workers to executives. As the importance of manual labor declined, universities abandoned the “hard issues” for the theoretical.

As university programs became more irrelevant, business organizations responded with corporate universities (CUs). CUs (beginning with GE’s in Crotonville, NY) offered company-specific training that was relevant to their companies’ real-world practice.

Training of managers and executives outside of the university setting has become quite sophisticated. In addition to executive MBA programs, both executive coaching and action learning are now widely available. Executive coaching offers one-on-one guidance on many of the emotional intelligence or “soft” skills. Action learning is designed to allow managers and executives to work on real problems and to learn simultaneously.

So what’s the problem Mike? If organizational learning has become more sophisticated, aren’t companies more profitable? Not necessarily. These sophisticated training programs are expensive. Do we know the ROI (return on investment) for these massive investments of time and money?

Also, many companies neglect the fact that training is only part of effective talent management. Talent management also includes recruiting and retention.

Is your company training the right people? Training the wrong people is a waste of limited organizational resources. After you have trained the right people, can you retain them? If not, you are simply training good people for your competitors.

During my consulting work, I have often suspected that most companies are not handling talent management effectively. A recent Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) study confirmed my suspicions. SHRM found that only 49% of HR professionals believe their organizations effectively identify high-potential employees. That means 51% of companies are wasting a lot of time and money.

Is your organizations part of the 49%, or the 51%?

Dr. Mike Beitler is the author of “Strategic Organizational Learning.” Read 3 free chapters of the book online right now at http://www.strategic-organizational-learning.com/

It’s clear to me that a workplace is a better place when employees truly work in teams, but the most familiar team models we have are those that are created to win wars and games. We have a commander or a coach who gives orders, and the soldiers or the players use those instructions to defeat the opponent. Mediator Bill Ury says, “People are realizing that adversarial, win-lose attitudes in an increasingly interdependent world, where I depend on you and you depend on me, just don’t work anymore. Using those tactics is like asking, ‘Who’s winning this marriage?’”

Who’s winning this company? Wrong question.

Consensus decision-making is a powerful tool for building nonhierarchical teams that can produce the best possible collaborative thinking. I am not suggesting leaderless teams and open-ended processes with no controls. Quite the opposite. I’m suggesting well-led processes that invite, engage, and expand capability and that lead to an effective and just way to make decisions, develop initiatives, and solve problems.

The prevailing method for conducting meetings and making decisions, Robert’s Rules of Order, comes from military beginnings and relies on rigid structure, rules of conduct, and strict adherence to the rule of the majority. Often nearly half the people at a meeting disagree with a decision that has been reached. In many cases, by using a more open process that encourages dialogue and participation, we can arrive at decisions that are supported, at least to some degree, by everyone affected.

Consensus is a process of synthesizing the wisdom of all participants into the best decision possible at the time. It is not unanimous agreement, and in fact, participants may consent to a decision that they disagree with, but that they recognize meets the needs of the group or the situation. The root of consensus is consent, which means to give permission to. When you consent to a decision, you are giving your permission for the group to go ahead with the decision.

Consensus is about accommodation, but, more important, it’s about nobody having to accept that to which they are vehemently opposed.

The cooperative nature of consensus yields a different mind-set from the competitive nature of majority voting. Key attributes of successful participation include humility, willingness to listen to others and see their perspectives, and willingness to share ideas without insisting they are the best ones.

Some describe consensus as a transformational process. When we use the accumulation of several peoples’ ideas and weld them together, the final product is better than what anyone could have devised on his or her own. The idea of consensus is not to eliminate conflict but to transform it.

At South Mountain Company we have used consensus decision making for seventeen years to run our business. At Island Cohousing, where I live, we have used consensus decision making for four years of development and five years of living. As the chair of the Island Affordable Housing Fund, and in many other facilitation situations, I use the consensus process even when it is not explicitly stated that we are doing so.

How Does Consensus Decision Making Work?

Consensus can be divided into five parts or stages:

Expression of an initial idea;
Discussion of the idea;
Synthesis of reactions and creation of a proposal;
Testing of the proposal within the group, and modification if necessary; and
Implementation and evaluation of the decision.

The fundamental difference between consensus and majority vote is that in a consensus process a single person can block a decision. Consensus empowers each individual in a way that majority voting does not. Majority voting can accomplish decision making quickly, but it also can strain relationships and the sense of community. In achieving a majority of votes, expediency can become more important than relationship. What one individual thinks may not matter unless that individual has sufficient power. Consensus often requires more creativity, and it often results in more complete solutions.

Because consensus can become paralyzed by one difficult, powerful, or dysfunctional individual, I advocate a backup voting mechanism to be used when consensus cannot be reached after a specified amount of discussion. In the organizations with which I am most familiar, this mechanism has been essential but rarely used. Aside from its practical utility, its existence assures more adherence to the consensus process when someone is being stubbornly disagreeable, that individual knows that he or she is likely to be outvoted if he or she doesn’t find a way to compromise.

Occasions do arise in which individuals are consistently argumentative for the sake of argument. They often characterize their behavior as “playing the devil’s advocate.” I once heard a facilitator respond to someone who was “just being the devil’s advocate” as follows: “Thanks for your sentiments, but I think the devil has all the help he needs.”

Consensus is a conservative process. Because it takes a new consensus to replace an existing decision, decisions tend to stand once made. Some people are uncomfortable with this conservatism because it can be hard to change a decision. To address this, some consensus proposals include a review period or a sunset clause. Requiring that the decision be renewed after some time has passed can encourage a group to experiment with new ideas without fear of being locked into a risky or unfamiliar path. It also provides an easy mechanism for incorporating new learning, over time.

One way to ensure that group time is not spent reconsidering previously made decisions when only one personor a fewwants to do so is to require that reopening a consensus decision have a minimum number of supporters, say 10 or 20 percent of the group.

There are some issues for which consensus may not be an effective process. A classic example is style issues or color or design choices. Choosing the color scheme for corporate headquarters may not be the best decision to put to a group consensus process, because there is no best choice between blue or green; they are simply personal preferences. In these cases, using a weighted voting system on a number of choices may be a more effective way to get the job done.

Consent does not mean agreement. The goal of consensus is to come to a decision that everyone will give permission to, at least for a while. Supporters of a decision usually include true supporters of that position, those who don’t really care either way, and those who don’t fully support the position but don’t wish to stand in the way.

Blocking is appropriate only if a participant strongly believes that a proposed decision is going to be bad for the whole group or to violate the mission of the group. If a participant blocks a group decision because of his or her personal values, that individual is essentially demanding that the whole group subscribe to his or her values. It is the facilitator’s job to be clear about this and to remind participants of the powerful responsibilities that come with the ability to block decisions.

There are ways of objecting to a proposal without blocking consensus:

NonsupportI don’t agree with this decision but I will go along with it.
ReservationsI think this decision is a mistake because _________, but I’ll live with it.
Call for a later reviewI would like this decision reviewed after ________

I am sometimes asked whether it is perilous for the employees to make the decisions for a business. What do they know? Isn’t it inefficient and potentially paralyzing for decisions to be made by consensus by a diverse group? Shouldn’t we leave the decision making to skilled management?

I speak primarily from my particular experience. South Mountain’s governance system is a democracy with clear divisions of responsibility and authority. Much of the authority to act is delegated to management. This delegation comes easily, because this was the established mode of operation before the ownership of the company was shared. The difference is that there is now a clear mechanism for discussion, debate, and change. The comfortable delegation of authority may be one of the advantages of a company converting to worker ownership and control, and consensus decision making, rather than starting that way. Once the entrepreneurial leap of starting a new business has been achieved, adoption of consensus-based decision making becomes a part of the maturation process. In our case, consensus decision making has only broadened our view; it has not watered down our decisions or derailed our ability to make them in any discernible way.

John Abrams is the president of South Mountain Company, an employee-owned build/design firm on Martha’s Vineyard. This article has been excerpted with permission from his new book, The Company We Keep: Reinventing Small Business for People, Community, and Place, in which he explores the role of small business in promoting community, creating social equity, and maintaining ecological balance.

It was a time of turmoil. In November 1979, supporters of the Ayatollah Khomeini took 71 Americans hostage in Iran. On Christmas Eve that year, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. Gasoline prices, inflation and interest rates were soaring as 1980 began. President Jimmy Carter said America was in a “crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul and spirit of our national will.”

Then on February 22nd - 25 years ago - our American spirit received an unexpected boost. A group of U.S. amateur and college athletes took on the mightiest hockey team in the world in the Winter Olympics. Prior to the game against Russia, coach Herb Brooks told his team: “You were born to be hockey players. You were meant to be here. This moment is yours.” Hand-picked by their coach and having survived a grueling seven-month training regimen, the youngsters absorbed his inspirational words, then went out and did the impossible. As the final seconds counted down, a then unknown Al Michaels made the famous call: “Do you believe in miracles? Yes!”

Herb Brooks crafted what may be the greatest upset in American sports history. He was a visionary leader, and understood how to select players who fit his style and blend each one’s unique skills into a high-performance team focused on winning. As a small business owner, one of your most important roles is to lead your team to achieve incredible results.

Success Handler Action: The first step to making your small business soar is to ensure your team understands their goals - the definition of winning your gold medal. For them to know their goals, you have to know yours. After you finish reading this E-Newsletter, spend some time thinking about two major goals you want to achieve in the next six months. Here are some questions to help you get started:

~ What are the biggest potential opportunities for your small business?

~ Where is your competition focusing its marketing and sales efforts?

~ Why are you better than your competition, and why do customers/clients choose you?

~ When you talk to customers/clients, what are they asking for that you don’t provide, and which of these could you provide?

~ Who among your existing customers/clients could give you referrals and prospect leads?

Team USA beating the Soviet Union was like a bunch of college football players defeating the New England Patriots…and the celebration was incredible. Yet in the locker room after the game, Brooks immediately went to work focusing players on their next goal - the gold medal match-up with Finland. He told them lose and the world would quickly forget their victory over the Russians, and they would have to live with the disappointment the rest of their lives. Players said later he actually scared them into winning.

Success Handler Action: While it’s not necessary to strike such fear into your team, it is important to keep them focused. Meet with them regularly to share information and discuss ways to better serve your customers/clients. Here are five ideas for inspiring the employees in your small business:

1. Ask for their input…and be sure to hear what they have to say.

2. Include them in your goal-setting…and engage them in executing your plan.

3. Lead by example…and help them grow as employees and individuals.

4. Teach them new skills…and encourage them to seek new challenges.

5. Involve them in the game…and reward them for completing key steps along the way.

We may never see another “Miracle on Ice.” The Cold War ended, and the “evil empire” Soviet Union dismantled. Olympic athletes are now professionals. Tiny hamlets like Lake Placid, NY can no longer accommodate the rush of spectators, media and corporate sponsors. However, we may always hope.

In an interview shortly before his death in August 2003, Herb Brooks, referring to one of his favorite movies, is quoted as saying: “You know, Willie Wonka said it best: ‘We are the makers of dreams, the dreamers of dreams.’ We should be dreaming. We grew up as kids having dreams, but now we’re too sophisticated as adults, as a nation. We stopped dreaming. We should always have dreams. I’m a dreamer.”

Listen to the coach. Keep dreaming…and go for the gold!

Copyright © 2005 by Success Handler, LLC. All rights reserved.

The Coach, David Handler, is the founder of Success Handler, (http://www.successhandler.com), and specializes in helping small business leaders find clarity and take action. He understands the challenges of running a business, because he’s been there - as a small business owner, franchisee, franchisor, corporate leader and trainer. Much like sports coaches, his coaching will show you how to compete on a level playing field in your industry.

Creativity can be defined as problem identification and idea generation whilst innovation can be defined as idea selection, development and commercialisation.

There are other useful definitions in this field, for example, creativity can be defined as consisting of a number of ideas, a number of diverse ideas and a number of novel ideas.

There are distinct processes that enhance problem identification and idea generation and, similarly, distinct processes that enhance idea selection, development and commercialisation. Whilst there is no sure fire route to commercial success, these processes improve the probability that good ideas will be generated and selected and that investment in developing and commercialising those ideas will not be wasted.

Short term goal setting

The value of short-term goal setting on creative output should not be underestimated:

a) Short term goals break a task into smaller more manageable parts. What at first seems unfeasible becomes feasible when incremental goals are set. Feasibility is one of the requirements of motivation.

b) Short term goals produce far more output than a “do your best” approach. Write five pages a day and you have a screenplay in a month (first draft only). Do not implement that routing and it will remain unfinished under your bed until your kids grow up. Maybe they can take over the project.

c) Short term goals split the larger task into smaller sets of problems solving exercises. At each stage a problem is identified and the mind begins working on it, usually on various cognitive levels.

d) Awareness of the task is given priority in terms of mind space and actions.

e) Short term goals help build task experience. Task experience is required for making radical leaps or creative leaps.

These and other topics are covered in depth in the MBA dissertation on Managing Creativity & Innovation, which can be purchased (along with a Creativity and Innovation DIY Audit, Good Idea Generator Software and Power Point Presentation) from http://www.managing-creativity.com/

You can also receive a regular, free newsletter by entering your email address at this site.

Kal Bishop, MBA

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You are free to reproduce this article as long as no changes are made and the author’s name and site URL are retained.

Kal Bishop is a management consultant based in London, UK. He has consulted in the visual media and software industries and for clients such as Toshiba and Transport for London. He has led Improv, creativity and innovation workshops, exhibited artwork in San Francisco, Los Angeles and London and written a number of screenplays. He is a passionate traveller. He can be reached on http://www.managing-creativity.com/

Last night, Australia held its breath as John Steffensen lined up for the 400 metre final at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games.

Before the race, I was captivated as I watched a feature story about John and his preparation for this race.

During this story John had proclaimed that he would not only run under the 45-second mark, but he would also win the final. Becoming the first Australian sprinter to win this even since Darren Clark won at Auckland in 1990.

John then stepped the viewer through his strategy as we watched one of his earlier heats. He explained what he would be thinking and what he would be doing during the final.

This story proved to be sensational journalism, but it also got me thinking about this brilliant Australian and how he prepared for this event.

So, let’s take this great athlete, take his preparation and break it down into clearly defined steps that we could use to achieve our own goals.

1. He set a clear goal

John set a very clear goal. He did not say, “Well, I’ll do my best” or “I might win this race”. Instead he said that he would win this race and his time would be under 45 seconds.

He had a very specific goal in mind and he clearly visualized the outcome he would achieve.

This allowed him to not only prepare his body, but also his mind for the challenge ahead.

2. He trained with the best

The next thing John Steffensen did was to seek out the best possible trainers and athletes he could find and train with them.

He realised very early on that he would need to train with the best. John got his opportunity after the Athens Olympics when he teamed up with the American Coach, John Smith.

John Smith is a former 400m world class athlete, but he is also a formidable coach and has trained Olympic 400m champions Marie-Jose Perec and Steve Lewis.

This training allowed him to improve his personal best time by 0.9 of a second, which gave him the confidence that he could achieve his goal.

3. They focussed on a game plan

John Steffensen and John Smith developed a very clear game plan. Their plan was that he would go out strong, stay relaxed and keep his stride. When he hit the 150-metre mark he would put on a burst of speed through the final corner and this extra speed would carry him to victory. They also knew that the key to his victory would be his ability to keep his stride and stay relaxed.

4. He would not be denied

John didn’t want this victory, he needed this victory and every atom of his being craved it.

He knew he could win and he dismissed any criticism. He made sure that there was no turning back, and leading up to the Commonwealth games he went public and proclaimed he would not only win the event, but he would run under 45 seconds.

Most people looked on this as a very cocky young man full of hot air, but he knew he was going to win and he would not be denied.

Leading up to the finals, John Steffensen avoided the press, which allowed him to focus clearly on his goal without the distraction of being in the limelight. This action also ensured that nobody had an opportunity to plant any seeds of doubt in his mind.

5. He took massive action

John knew that he had to take massive action and just before the event he told a reporter that he had talked a lot about this moment and it was now up to him to take action and achieve his goal.

The stadium was buzzing with excitement as the athletes lined up and then the stadium went very quiet as the audience waited in anticipation.

The gun sounded and John shot out of the blocks. He got a great start and led the field through the first corner.

However, the rest of the field closely followed him. But, John looked in control and relaxed.

When he got to the 150 metre mark, John put on a sudden burst of speed through the final corner which carried him down the straight to an impressive win and a lap time of 44.73 second. Making him only the sixth Australian to run under 45 seconds.

6. He celebrated his achievement

Straight after the race John celebrated his achievements in true “Jerry Maguire” style. He did not hold back any emotion; he screamed, he prayed to god, dodged journalists, jumped on fences and had a lot of fun.

After a Journalist finally caught up with him, John said that he worked hard for his goal, he had visualised this victory and he wanted to enjoy every moment of it.

He also added that this was a team effort, and that this would not have been possible without the help of his coach, John Smith.

He then mentioned that most people thought he was over-confident, but his self-confidence was only a reflection of his faith in his preparation.

The Journalist then asked if he could beat the Americans at next year’s world championships in Osaka. Steffensen replied “Me and my coach will go back to the drawing board and set our goals for next year. But when I know I’ll definitely tell you about it.”

So What Did I learn?

This event gave me a glimpse of how extraordinary people succeed in life. I’m going to take the steps outlined in this article and apply them to my goal setting. I hope you will do the same.

Read other great goal setting articles at http://www.articlerich.com.

Don’t you love politics?

Me, neither. But I do like thinking about politics. And wouldn’t you know it? Just when you think you’ve come up with a dazzling opinion, you find out someone else had that same idea hundreds of years ago. So much for being original.

Still, it’s delightful to discover that you share opinions with great thinkers.

Political pundits have a fabulous time skewering politicians and demanding accountability. Talking heads analyze failing policies and discuss alternatives in every form of the media.

Me? I take it all in, and then I go back to my man, Plato. It’s surprising how little has changed in politics. You’d think there would be a little more enlightenment in our leadership after more than 2000 years.

Plato made some observations regarding politics that are amazingly relevant today. Political columnists are simply rehashing the same ideas Plato discussed with his cronies in Athens.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at what Plato had to say back in the second century B.C.

#1 “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.”

The smartest people take one look at political office and run the other way. Well, that may be smart, but it doesn’t do much good when it comes to changing the world. We end up with leaders who have the power and money and ego required to win an election. That’s way too much like running for student body president in high school, if you ask me. The really smart kids laughed at the whole process, rolling their eyes and shaking their heads in disgust. Okay, that’s fun, but it doesn’t help. We need to figure out how to get our best thinkers in leadership positions, and we need to develop a system that rewards integrity.

#2 “The curse of me and my nation is that we always think things can be bettered by immediate action of some sort, any sort rather than no sort.” This is standard fare. In virtually every paper in the world, you’ll find an editorial bashing the “Act now, think later” approach.

I love to see truly thoughtful leaders. You know–those who refrain from knee-jerk reactions. Those who take the time to think. It is thinking–not planetary alignment–that will change the course of mankind and launch us into an era of consciousness.

Oh, wait. Plato thought of that, too. He said:

#3 “There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, until philosophers become kings in this world, or until those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.”

Philosophy needs to become an integral part of our culture–in politics, law, business, art and entertainment. What will it take for us to value thinking? More of it.

#4 “Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws.”

Ah, yes. This one is hauled out every time a new measure is proposed. So much time is spent on legislation aimed at a tiny percentage of people who are bound and determined to get around the system. What if we spent our time and money on building better people? This is a perennial theme, and one worth pondering.

#5 “When the tyrant has disposed of foreign enemies by conquest or treaty, and there is nothing more to fear from them, then he is always stirring up some war or other in order that the people may require a leader.”

Sound familiar? If not, you haven’t seen the movie, “Wag The Dog”. Real, choreographed or simply imagined, conflicts tend to stir up a hornet’s nest of controversy. This idea is the foundation for all conspiracy theorists.

Plato isn’t my only political guru. There are plenty of great thinkers whose opinions are shared by newsmakers and newswatchers today.

“Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind.”

Albert Einstein said that, but you don’t have to be a genius to see that rabid patriotism leads to conflict.

Socrates agreed. He said:

“I am not an Athenian or a Greek, but a citizen of the world.”

We need more of that Big Picture thinking. It’s critical that we develop the ability to think beyond ourselves, our backyards, and our nation’s political borders.

But most of all, we simply need to think. Of all the quotes about politics, here’s the one that really stops me in my tracks:

“What luck for rulers that men do not think.”

Who said it? Adolf Hitler.

Enough said.

About The Author

Maya Talisman Frost is a mind masseuse. Her work has inspired thinkers in over 70 countries around the world. She serves up a satisfying blend of clarity, comfort and comic relief in her free weekly ezine, the Friday Mind Massage. To subscribe, visit http://www.massageyourmind.com.

maya@massageyourmind.com