.Don't BE Great, DO Great

It’s said that Abraham Lincoln often slipped out of the White House on Wednesday evenings to listen to the sermons of Dr. Finnes Gurley at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. He generally preferred to come and go unnoticed. So when Dr. Gurley knew the president was coming, he left his study door open.
On one of those occasions, the president slipped through a side door in the church and took a seat in the minister’s study, located just to the side of the sanctuary. There he propped the door open, just wide enough to hear Dr. Gurley.
During the walk home, an aide asked Mr. Lincoln his appraisal of the sermon. The president thoughtfully replied, “The content was excellent; he delivered with elegance; he obviously put work into the message.”
“Then you thought it was an excellent sermon?” questioned the aide.
“No,” Lincoln answered.
“But you said that the content was excellent. It was delivered with eloquence, and it showed how hard he worked,” the aide pressed.
“That’s true,” Lincoln said, “But Dr. Gurley forgot the most important ingredient. He forgot to ask us to do something great.”
Great Action Is the Source of Greatness
Abraham Lincoln didn’t expect people to BE great. He expected them to DO something great –to take great action.
Although we won’t all be recognized by history as being great, we are all capable of striving for greatness in our actions. Greatness can lie in the small everyday actions we take. If a friend of colleague needs our attention, it is an act of greatness when we put what we are doing aside and listen with our full, undivided attention. The small, specific things we do can become a platform for greatness.
Most of the good of the world builds on the accumulated efforts of everyday people doing small things in a great way. A life should strive for greatness, as Mr. Lincoln seemed to know.
Great and Perfect Are Not the Same
You don’t have to do something perfectly for it to be great. Focus on what is most important about your action and ensure you do that well; the other trappings are not as important. Conversely, the pieces can be excellent, like the content and the delivery of Dr. Gurley’s sermon, and it can still fall short if what is essential is missing.
The Five Keys to Making An Action Great
Be clear about what is essential: Understand what higher purpose your action serves.
Know what greatness looks like: Have a clear sense of what an excellent job looks like. Start with the end in mind.
Bring a serving heart: Ensure your action provides value, and is not simply self-serving.
Give it your all: Make a full effort, with your full attention.
Learn as you go: Be willing to make mistakes; treat them as learning opportunities.

You Should Reconsider Before You Ask Someone for Free Help

I’ve been utterly floored this past month by the volume of requests I’ve received for FREE help from complete strangers, and by the nature and content of these requests.
The bulk of these requests have come in from readers of my article LinkedIn: Busting 8 Damaging Myths About What It Can Do For Your Career, that ran on Forbes.com on September 13th. It surprised all of us (the Forbes editors and me) as it blew up on the front page and was viewed by over 60,000 people.
That week, I literally heard from over 150 folks asking for all sorts of free help and I continue to get requests, including my review and recommendations on: their LinkedIn profiles, resumes, job or career options, potential career changes, interview approaches, how to get testimonials, and on and on.
What I’m stunned about is that in all of these requests for free help, not ONE person offered to pay for my time, or suggested bartering with something of value. They simply wanted help without offering anything in return. Perhaps I’m crazy, but I would never ask a stranger for help in this way.
Further, a good number of these requests for free help were:
1) Urgent – “I have an urgent career decision to make. Can you respond asap?”
REALLY?
2) Disrespectful – These folks didn’t care or consider for a second that I make my living offering career counsel. I’m not a non-profit or a charity; I’m a business owner. And I’m really good at what I do, after years of training and experience. It takes a significant amount of time and energy to review someone’s information/situation and offer tailored recommendations. I deserve to be paid for my time and effort.
(For the record, I do offer my time for free, but on a very selective basis to organizations and non-profits that have a broad reach and help hundreds of people through their services.)
3) Narcissistic – It’s all about them, and what they need and how soon. Never a second thought about what I might need in order to be of service to them.
4) Clueless – It’s clear that these folks hadn’t a clue that theirs was one of hundreds of similar requests, and as such, impossible to accommodate without their becoming a client of mine, and having time scheduled in my calendar.
Please don’t get me wrong. I’m truly honored and excited that my writing touched a chord and resonated with so many people, and I certainly hope that trend continues. And I do LOVE to be of service to people, helping them make positive change. And I love hearing from folks about how my writing impacted them.
That being said, I’m tired and fed up with free help requests. It remains shocking to me that so many people all across the globe who want help forget to be considerate and respectful of those they’re asking support from. Come on people! Let’s reverse that trend.
My hope is that going forward, anyone who asks another individual for free help will be more considerate and thoughtful prior to making the request. Think about what the helping party deserves for his/her support, what it will take from them to give you the help you want, and what you can offer in return. If you can’t offer money, think about what you can provide that would be meaningful. NEVER ask without considering these issues beforehand.
One more thing – for every request you make for FREE help, offer someone else free help instead.

How To contact Into a Professional Intimate Business Relationship

It used to be that you met someone at a meeting or a mixer, had a real conversation with them, perhaps saw them again at a luncheon, exchanged an email or phone conversation, and eventually, developed those initial interactions into a long-term business relationship.
If you really worked at it, nurtured a friendship beyond the workplace, that connection turned into what I call a Professional Intimate Relationship (PIR) – a relationship that flourishes beyond office walls. A PIR is a mutually beneficial connection that is fueled by your sense of urgency and a shared purpose. A Professional Intimate Relationship is one in which both parties feel understood and appreciated, thereby reducing negative stress and boosting mutual respect. The PIRs in your life fully engage in your passion and work with you because they are as invested in you as you are in them.
Today, many business relationships actually start online: a tweet here, a Facebook “like” there, maybe even leading to exchanged blogs or video posts. With all this modern technology changing how we do business, it’s easy to lose the skills of developing “real-world” relationships — interpersonal connections can’t evolve into PIRs unless you give them the nourishment they need to grow and flourish.
Here are 5 tips to help turn a business contact into a Professional Intimate Relationship:
Agenda-less Listening: Listen without thinking about what you will get out of the conversation. Instead of thinking about how you can make a sale/close a deal, really listen, with your whole self, to what the other person is saying. What are their concerns in work, in life, and how can you help?
Beyond the Boardroom: Make connections beyond the work place. Talk to your business contact about life beyond the office. Do you both love to swim? Do you have kids the same age? Did you both grow up in small towns? Spending time bonding over similarities helps solidify long-term bonds.
Team-Up: Instead of asking for their business, put together a mutually agreed upon plan that will accomplish goals for a shared purpose. If you both are passionate about the vision, you will both work equally hard to make it a reality.
Move Forward: If you do work with the business contact on a project, be sure to think about how you can work together again. Are there other areas of your life in which you can partner? Is he or she involved in charity work that could use our talents? Do you have a sports group that could use a new member? Part of developing a Professional Intimate Relationship is extending the boundaries of your partnership beyond a single job, or a single facet of life.
Constant Contact: When you click with someone, either online or in person, it’s important to stay in constant contact and think about all the ways you can work, and play, together if you want the relationship to last a lifetime.

PERFECT WAY TO CELEBRATE BUSINESS FRIENDSHIP

　　With friendship day just round the corner we are all busy in gathering ideas to make this a special day for both of us. But do we really know the meaning & importance of friends in our life & if we don’t posses a best friend then what? This friendship day let your friend realize that you care for him/her & let us discuss some of the best ways to celebrate friendship day.
　　All of us would know a lot of people however not everybody is our friend. Some of us have many friends and some of us have only a few friends, however, how many of us really have such friends who we can count on in the time of need?! Some on whom we can rely on and share our secrets with, without any hesitations or fear, some body who is not jealous and can motivate us.
　　Well a true friend is the one who care about us without even uttering a word. A real and honest friend is a person who can even understand our silence and support us through thick and thin. Who never discourages us; however, help us keep our feet grounded. A true friend is our real support system on whom we can rely on anytime we need.
　　However, we should be grateful to such friends and should not take them for granted. We must thank them for their unconditional support and be there for them as well in their time of need. One of the best ways and occasion to let your friends know such a heartfelt feeling is friendship day. There are many ways of celebrating this special day and here are some ideas just for you and your friend. You can choose from a wide range of friendship day gifts available in the markets. You can buy flowers for friendship. You can even arrange a party and celebrate your bond with friendship day cake. Friendship day cakes can be ordered as per your choice as well. You can get some of the unique ideas for friendship day celebrations from one of the websites named Ferns and Petals (FnP). It can really guide you in a nice way to celebrate it in a unique way. Ferns and Petals (FnP) can not only give you some good ideas but also make you aware about the ways to celebrate the occasion.
　　You can also buy gift hampers for friendship day such as friendship day flowers with cards. You can personalize your friendship day cards with friendship quotations. Another gift for best friend can be friendship bands, which are available in wide range of colors, shapes and sizes.
　　In case you or your friend can not meet each other for some reasons, you can still send your heartfelt message to him/her. You can send online gift almost anywhere in the world. You can send gift to India and/or send gift to US. You can choose online friendship day cards with friendship day quotes or you can send flowers to India and/or send flowers to USA.

Opportunities For Business Friendship

　　to Met By Chance, where opportunities for business, friendship, and romance meet unforgettable, even life changing, experiences.
　　At Met By Chance, we believe the best connections are those that happen organically.
　　But in today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, creating meaningful connections isn’t always easy. Sustaining them can be even harder.
　　That's why we make it our business to organize opportunities in which our members can focus on what’s truly important: time together well spent. Here, intimate environments, exciting activities, and diverse groups of people are bridged together with a splash of technology to connect potential business partners, lifelong friends, even soul mates.
　　Simply put, Met By Chance makes the experience of meeting others fun, effortless and, most importantly, memorable. The rest is up to you ...
　　Join us for experiences of a lifetime ~

Open The Door Of Business Friendship

　　Our door is open
　　We are constantly looking for upgrading our distribution network in India and worldwide.
　　If you are associated with construction, building material, project supply and if you have good contacts with construction industry's Owners, Developers, Architects, Contractors, we welcome you to be become our authorized Distributor partners.Being a business partner with us is maintaining a
　　long lasting friendship with us. Partnering with us
　　You can choose one of the following options and become our business partner
　　Become an Agent or distributor to promote our products
　　Be our representative in your country
　　Be a retailer for our products

Keep Your Business Friendship Close

　　First: Hold your friends close. My approach has been to bond closely and at a level of true friendship with our client contacts. I want them to know I value their friendship—and I truly do. As a firm, we continually offer our support, encouragement, and professional and career counseling to these individuals.
     If they run afoul of politics in their organizations, we offer advice. If they find they need to look for opportunities elsewhere, we help in anyway possible.As a result, these client contacts offer support to us, slash through bureaucratic and organizational obstacles, do internal "marketing" on our behalf, and, should they move on to other pastures, they take us with them if at all possible.But we don’t do this out of tit-for-tat. We do it out of a sincere and genuine interest in these people as people and as friends. The quid pro quo approach that many take in business relationships is, in my opinion, beneath contempt. And it doesn’t even work.Whether you work inside an organization or as an external consultant or adviser, there’s much wisdom in all three of those maxims.
   They have guided me as an external consultant in building strong relationships within client organizations; being brought by client contacts to their new organizations when, for whatever reason, they sever their relationship with the original consulting client; and in navigating the often treacherous waters of the politics within a client organization.I’d say, from the standpoint of business relationships, LBJ was right on both scores.
    But there’s a piece I think LBJ missed that is key in business relationships today: Hold your friends’ enemies close, too.