The Advisor’s Corner

The Golden Sword & The Silver Sword

June 21, 2021/in Ideas to help you build a solid team/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

I recently re-read The Hidden Value of a Man, written by Gary Smalley and John T. Trent in 1992. I plan to recommend it to a buddy of mine. This was not and is not a business book, but it hit a nerve (related to both men and women owners/executives) when I read it again almost 30 years after first reading it. The premise of the book is that in communication there are two swords: 1) The Silver Sword has positional power, which is the clout, control, prestige, and authority that comes from where you work, what you do, your job title, and your resume; 2) The Golden Sword has personal power, which is the ability to develop meaningful, fulfilling relationships. The authors were speaking to husbands and fathers, but I believe they inadvertently implied that while the Silver Sword is acceptable in the workplace, it shouldn’t be brought home.

As of 2021, I believe there’s no place for the Silver Sword — including the workplace — and it should be buried forever. Sadly, there are owners/executives who still wield the Silver Sword daily. I may have used it myself occasionally. Paraphrasing from the book, “When the foundation of a team member’s life or career is shaking, they suddenly remember a master of the Golden Sword, a leader of seamless integrity and a warm, encouraging, accepting manner who has earned their admiration” versus an owner wielding a Silver Sword (paraphrasing from the book), “Who makes one razor-edged remark, left unattended, perhaps simply unnoticed by many, and the biting pain can still sting after 40 years.” To make matters worse, we know that John Gottman’s research confirms that it takes at least five positive comments to offset one negative comment or criticism.

My blog subscribers, who have followed my writing for almost a decade, are aware of my disdain for the Silver Sword — and for that reason, I won’t list the damage inflicted by the Silver Sword. Instead, I’ll take some liberties with the authors’ advice and apply it to a business setting.

Owners/Executives/Supervisors/Team Leaders wield the Golden Sword when they:

Understand and appreciate a team member’s natural strengths. My partner, Barbara, and I have discussed focusing on team members’ strengths in several previous blog posts. We like to say, “Determine the highest and best use of a team member and find a role where they fit.”
Develop meaningful communication. We need to increase meaningful communication in the workplace. It has almost become a cliché, but in my experience the root cause of most business problems is poor or no communication. The authors use the phrase “Quick Listening,” which they define as a method of carefully hearing what your coworker is saying, then clarifying what they said in an attempt to better understand the meaning behind the words.
Deal with anger in a timely, healthy way. Again, I’ve covered this subject before and I would refer you to my November 13, 2017, blog or page 28 of my book, Reboot Your Mind for a Healthier Workplace.

Hopefully these three tips will be great reminders of actions that are important to building a strong, successful team.

p.s. BTW, The Hidden Value of a Man has many wonderful warnings and suggestions, and as I already stated, the authors were giving advice to husbands and fathers, not business advice. If you’re looking for that type of input, I would recommend reading the book.

Winning The War In Your Mind

June 7, 2021/in Sharpening Your Personal Leadership Skills/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

is a new book by Craig Groeschel. As I read the story of his personal struggles, I thought of my recently published book, Reboot Your Mind for a Healthier Workplace. Groeschel is the successful pastor of a megachurch, a husband and father of six, an accomplished tennis player, and a highly-sought-out conference speaker who just finished his 19th book. How could he possibly be dealing with the same issues as me? Well, according to his book, he is.

As I read his story, I made the following list of books/topics that he covers, with a cross-reference to the similar chapters in Reboot:

The growth mindset, a concept developed by Professor Carol Dweck. Her life’s work supports the notion that we can improve if we want to. (Chapter 1)
Talent is Overrated, by Geoff Colvin. He built on Dweck’s work and emphasizes changing for the better with “deliberate practice.” (Chapter 1)
Switch on Your Brain, by Dr. Caroline Leaf. She provides a specific process for implementing Dweck’s and Colvin’s concepts. (Chapter 1)
Unworried: A Life Without Anxiety, by Dr. Gregory Popcak, teaches us how to cope with anxiety. (Chapter 7)
Michael Lewis addresses heuristics, including confirmation bias, in his famous book Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. (Chapter 11)
In The Magic, author Rhonda Byrne reminds us about the importance of gratitude. (Chapter 16)
Finally, in The Final Quest, Rick Joyner describes a very believable picture of demonic activity in our world. (Chapter 17)

As a rookie author, it was exciting to read another leader’s account of his life that touched on several points from my book. No, I am not taking credit!

Although you may struggle relating to a Christian pastor, he’s like many of us who are juggling a lot of balls and dealing with our past when we least expect it.

For that reason, if you want to pick up a few tips and maybe some encouragement, I would recommend you read Groeschel’s book.

Inbound Sales or Content Marketing

May 17, 2021/in Nuggets and Encouragement Regarding Strategy and Focus/by Tom Doescher

Tom Doescher

If you’re under 30, you probably know what these terms mean. After reading They Ask, You Answer by Marcus Sheridan, I learned them, too. Sheridan, the owner of a swimming pool company, utilized this technique and his business exploded — and then he decided to teach the rest of us “how to.” I actually have two clients right now who are in the beginning stages of adding Content Marketing to their businesses.

For those of you who are new to this concept, you may ask, “What is it?” My explanation of Content Marketing would be that it means you establish yourself and your business as experts in your product or service niche. You can accomplish this by writing articles/blogs that you post on your website. For example, Sheridan has written extensively about the advantages and disadvantages of fiberglass (he sells only fiberglass pools) versus cement pools. Yes, that’s correct — he spells out the disadvantages of fiberglass and the advantages of cement pools. By doing so, he strives to provide an objective analysis to help guide future buyers.

This may sound very foreign to you, but Sheridan would say that prospective buyers are going to find out all the facts anyway, so why not establish yourself as the expert? As I reflect upon his advice, I would highly recommend the book as a good primer for Hunters. It offers lots of great suggestions.

We’ve all read about SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and maybe have hired an outside consultant to help us increase our website traffic. Today, the Google search algorithms are really sophisticated, so by posting content-rich articles/blogs on your website, you’ll pull in (Inbound Sales) traffic.

All that being said, I think my mentors, without the benefit of the internet and a website, practiced Content Marketing. They really listened to their clients, they taught their clients what was important related to their business, and they were amazing at solving difficult problems.

As I was reading the book, I remembered an idea my partner came up with in our governmental practice. Now, especially if you’re a younger reader, please bear with me, since the idea predated personal computers, spreadsheets, email, smartphones, etc. This was his very successful Content Marketing strategy:

All local governments in Michigan receive revenues from the State. The State uses a well-published formula to distribute these monies. Periodically, the State publishes updated, estimated actual dollar units that will be paid to each local government. So my partner prepared a form (on a typewriter) that local finance directors could use to estimate their State-shared revenues for budget purposes. This form became a famous and sought-after document. I know it sounds crazy, because all the information he provided was available to the local governments, but over the years, many of them used my partner’s form for their budgets. This “Old School” Content Marketing concept established my partner as a local government expert who reeled in prospective clients who came to him by foot — not by the internet.

If you’re looking for ways to increase your lead generation, I would highly recommend They Ask, You Answer.

The Golden Sword & The Silver Sword

Tom Doescher

Winning The War In Your Mind

Tom Doescher

Inbound Sales or Content Marketing

Tom Doescher

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