12 Things Successful People Do Before Breakfast

1. They wake up early.

Successful people know that time is a precious commodity. And while theirs is easily eaten up by phone calls, meetings, and sudden crises once they’ve gotten to the office, the morning hours are under their control. That’s why many of them rise before the sun, squeezing out as much time as they can to do with as they please.

In a poll of 20 executives cited by Vanderkam, 90% said they wake up before 6 a.m. on weekdays. PepsiCo CEO Indra Nooyi, for example, wakes at 4 a.m. and is in the office no later than 7 a.m. Meanwhile, Disney CEO Bob Iger gets up at 4:30 to read, and Square CEO Jack Dorsey is up at 5:30 to jog. 

The bottom line: Productive mornings start with early wake-up calls.

2. They exercise before it falls off the to-do list.

The top morning activity of the rich and powerful seems to be exercise, be it lifting weights at home or going to the gym. According to Vanderkam, Xerox CEO Ursula Burns schedules an hour-long personal training session starting at 6 a.m. twice a week; Christies CEO Steve Murphy uses the mornings to do yoga; and Starwood Hotels CEO Frits van Paasschen runs for an hour every morning starting at 5:30.

"These are incredibly busy people," says Vanderkam. “If they make time to exercise, it must be important."

Beyond the fact that exercising in the morning means they can’t later run out of time, Vanderkam says a pre-breakfast workout helps reduce stress later in the day, counteracts the effects of high-fat diet, and improves sleep.

3. They work on a top-priority business project. 

The quiet hours of the morning can be the ideal time to focus on an important work project without being interrupted. What’s more, spending time on it at the beginning of the day ensures that it gets your attention before others (kids, employees, bosses) use it all up.

Vanderkam uses the example of business strategist Debbie Moysychyn, who dealt with so many ad hoc meetings and interruptions throughout the day that she felt she couldn’t get anything done. She started thinking of the early mornings as project time, and chose a top-priority project each day to focus on. Sure enough, not a single colleague dropped in on her at 6:30 a.m. She could finally concentrate.

4. They work on a personal passion project. 

Novel-writing and art-making is easy to skip when you’ve been in meetings all day, are tired and hungry, and have to figure out what’s for dinner. That’s why many successful people put in an hour or so on their personal projects before they officially start their days.

History teacher Charlotte Walker-Said told Vanderkam she spends the hours between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. working on a book about the religious politics of West Africa. She can read journal articles and write several pages before dealing with her teaching responsibilities at the University of Chicago.

Carving out the time in the morning to write, and making it a habit, meant she would actually follow through. Vanderkam cites one study of young professors that showed writing a little bit every day rather than in intense bursts made them more likely to get tenure.

5. They spend quality time with family.

We may exalt the family dinner, but there’s nothing that says you have to have a big family meal at night, says Vanderkam. Some successful people use the mornings to invest in family time, whether reading stories to the kids or cooking a big breakfast together.

Judi Rosenthal, a financial planner in New York, told Vanderkam that unless she’s traveling mornings are her special time with her young daughter. She helps her get dressed, make the bed, and occasionally they work on art projects together. They also make breakfast and sit at around the table and chat about what’s going on. She calls those 45 minutes "the most precious time I have in a day."

6. They connect with their spouses.

In the evening, it’s more likely you’ll be tired from the day’s activities, and time can easily be wasted with dinner preparations and zoning out in front of the TV. That’s why many successful people make connecting with their partners a morning ritual.

Besides, as Vanderkam wonders, what could be better than pre-dawn sex to energize you for the day? After all, regular sex may make you smarter, boost your income, and burn calories. 

Even if they’re not getting frisky every morning, many couples use the early hours to talk. For instance, BlackRock Managing Director Obie McKenzie and his wife commute from the suburbs into New York City every morning. They spend the hour-plus trip discussing their lives, finances, household to-do lists, and plans for the week.

7. They network over coffee.

Especially if you like to make it home for dinner, the mornings can be a great time to meet with people for coffee or breakfast. Plus, networking breakfasts are less disruptive than midday lunches and more work-oriented than boozy cocktail parties, Vanderkam notes.

Christopher Colvin, a New York-based lawyer and entrepreneur, started a networking group for Ivy League alums called IvyLife. Most days he wakes at 5:30 a.m. to walk his dog and read, but every Wednesday he attends an IvyLife networking breakfast. "I feel I’m fresher and more creative in the mornings," he told Vanderkam. "By the end of the day my mind is more cluttered."

8. They meditate to clear their minds.

Type-A personalities typically demand as much from others as they do from themselves, so it can be difficult for them to disconnect from their mental to-do lists and calm their minds. Before they head out the door, many successful people devote themselves to a spiritual practice such as meditation or prayer to center themselves for the rush of the day. 

Manisha Thakor, a former corporate executive who founded and now runs MoneyZen Wealth Management, practices transcendental meditation to clear her mind. She does two 20-minute sessions a day, the first before breakfast and the second in the evening, and focuses on breathing and repeating a mantra in her head. She’s found it to be "one of the most life-enhancing practices" she’s ever experienced, she told Vanderkam.

9. They write down things they're grateful for.

Expressing gratitude is another great way to center yourself and get the proper perspective before heading to the office. Writing down the people, places, and opportunities that you’re grateful for takes just a few minutes but can make a real difference in your outlook.

Pharmaceutical exec Wendy Kay told Vanderkam she spends a good chunk of her morning "expressing gratitude, asking for guidance, and being open to inspiration." When she gets to work, she always has a clear vision for herself and her staff.

10. They plan and strategize while they're fresh. 

Planning the day, week, or month ahead is an important time management tool to keep you on track when you’re in the thick of it. Using the mornings to do big-picture thinking helps you prioritize and set the trajectory of the day. 

Banking exec turned teacher Christine Galib wakes at 5 a.m. on weekdays, exercises, reads a few Bible verses, and reviews her tasks for the day before making breakfast. She told Vanderkam this ritual makes her days more manageable and effective. 

11. They check their email. 

While time management gurus may suggest putting off email as long as possible, many successful people start the day with email. They may quickly scan their inboxes for urgent messages that need an immediate response or craft a few important emails that they can better focus on while their minds are fresh.

For instance, Gretchen Rubin, author of "The Happiness Project," wakes at 6 every morning before her family’s up at 7. She uses the time to clear her inbox, schedule the day, and read social media. Getting these tasks out of the way from the start helps her concentrate better when she moves on to more challenging projects, she told Vanderkam. 

12. They read the news.

Whether it’s sitting in the corner diner and reading the papers or checking the blogs and Twitter from their phones, most successful people have a pre-breakfast ritual for getting the latest headlines. 

For example, GE CEO Jeff Immelt starts his days with a cardio workout and then reads the paper and watches CNBC Meanwhile, Virgin America CEO David Cush uses his mornings to listen to sports radio and read the papers while hitting the stationary bike at the gym.

By the time they get to work, they have a pretty good idea of what’s going on in the world. Then, they can get down to the business of changing it.

 

8 Traits of Great Salespeople

I recently performed an audit for a mid-sized company in which I examinined their sales staff against a standardized assessment test as well as their performance data. The results may confirm some of the things you already know, but there were some surprises. Here is a brief recap of the analysis.

When you look at the qualities of the great sales representatives for non-transactional sales--those sales that are larger and more complex in nature--they tend to share the following traits:

1. They assume parity with their customers--There is an imaginary hierarchy that average and poor-performing sales people place between themselves and their prospects. It includes head-trash like, "The customer is always right," and "You're the customer so you're the boss." The data says that the top sales representatives see themselves as problem-solvers worthy of equal respect with their customers. Respect always, deference rarely.
2. They are comfortable talking about money--This quality often starts back in the home in which they were raised and the beliefs that were held there about money. If there was a belief that money was a rare and precious thing to be horded or feared, then it shows up with a fundamental discomfort in discussing large numbers. Individuals that look at money as a measure of value, not as a number outside of personal grasp, typically do better in sales.
3. They challenge the decision-maker--The best sales representatives have a strong confidence in their understanding of the customer's market and their own solution--enough so that they are comfortable challenging inaccurate statements made by the customer. See my blog, Best Type of Sales Pro to Hire, for the data analysis; it is irrefutable.
4. They are comfortable with silence--Confidence is demonstrated as much in silence as in what you say. Top sales people can allow for measurable periods of silence in conversations with prospects. This creates an opportunity for the prospect to give consideration to what has been said rather than having to process the next piece of data given to them by the sales rep.
5. They show up prepared--This seems so common sense and yet when I administer these types of assessments the statistical fact is that most sales people--greater than 70 percent--are not well prepared for sales calls and meetings. They lack research, pre-call planning, a complete agenda agreed upon by the contact, and a tailored presentation to the prospect. The best have all of these things.
6. They don't rush--A study was done about physical demonstrations of confidence and power some time ago. The external view of two people moving was observed by a cross-section of people and questions were asked about which one had greater confidence, was paid more, and had a position of greater authority. They both wore similar attire, and were of the same body shape and age. The only distinguishing characteristic was the speed in which they performed their actions. The one who looked rushed always scored lower. An appearance of confidence in part comes from an appearance of control.
7. They ask great questions--This has been written about by me and many others. The data confirms that the higher-performing sales representatives ask more questions--often more than twice as many--and their questions are more focused on implications than on data. Put another way, they ask questions about what something means rather than just what it is.
8. They are impeccable in following up--Just like preparedness, this quality seems so simple but is often overlooked by poor performers. The best cover the details.

One more note: Great sales people score over the 50 percent mark on every one of these traits. That means that they are not super-high in one area and failures in the other areas. They are above the halfway mark on everything. That's their foundation. Then they knock the ball out of the park in their areas of personal strength

 

 

8 Powerful Ways to Improve Your Body Language

We're all students of body language. Too bad we're not students of our own body language.

Here are some tips to help ensure your body language works for you and not against you:

1. Prep with a power pose.

It turns out Leo was on to something: According to Harvard professor Amy Cuddy, two minutes of power posing--standing tall, holding your arms out or towards the sky, or standing like Superman with your hands on hips--will dramatically increase your confidence.

Try it before you step into a situation where you know you'll feel nervous, insecure, or intimidated. (Just make sure no one is watching.)

It may sound strange... but it works.

2. Dial up your energy level.

Imagine you've just led a meeting. Now rate your energy level on a scale of 1-10.

Most people will give themselves an 8 or 9. Unfortunately, most of the people in the room will give you a 3 or 4. What feels high energy to us can come across flat and lifeless to others.

Next time, remind yourself to dial up the energy by 20 percent or so. You don't have to go all Matthew Lesko, but you should definitely display more enthusiasm and passion than you would under other circumstances.

3. When the going gets tough, start smiling.

Frowning, grimacing, glowering, and other negative facial expressions send a signal to your brain that whatever you're doing is difficult. That causes your brain to send cortisol into your bloodstream, which raises your stress levels. Soon stress begets more stress--and pretty soon you're a hot mess.

Instead, force yourself to smile. It works.

Plus when you smile, that helps other people feel less stress, too. Most of us mirror the actions of others, so if you smile, other people will smile. If you nod, others will nod.

And if you frown, soon others will be frowning, too.

4. Play supermodel to reduce conflict.

Standing face to face can feel confrontational. One way to reduce the instinctive level of threat you and the other person may feel is to shift your stance slightly so you're standing at an angle--much like models who almost never stand with their bodies square to the camera.

If you're confronted, don't back away; just shift to a slight angle. And if you wish to appear less confrontational, approach the person and stand at a 45-degree angle (while still making direct eye contact, of course.)

Best of all, try to find a way to stand side by side, because that implicitly signals collaboration.

5. Don't gesture above your shoulders.

Unless you're one of these guys. Or this guy. Otherwise it just looks odd.

Watch any Steve Jobs presentation. He never raises his arms above his shoulders.

That should be enough of a reason for you not to, either.

6. Talk more with your hands.

The right gestures add immeasurably to your words. Think about how you talk and act when you're not "on."

Then act the same way when you're in professional situations. You'll feel more confident, think more clearly, naturally punctuate certain words and phrases, and fall into a much better rhythm.

7. Use props to engage.

Body positions affect attitude. People who stand or sit with their arms crossed and heads tilted forward are naturally more resistant and defensive.

So pull them out of their resistant poses. Shake hands. Ask for their business card. Offer a drink. (I have a friend who is the king of, "I'm going to get a water, can I bring you one?" He feels the act of handing someone a bottle of water is not only courteous but also forces them to open up their body position, which also helps overcome resistance.)

Or if you're speaking to a group, ask questions that involve raising hands. Pass around relevant items. Find a way to get people to stand or change seats.

The more people move and open up the more engaged they feel.

8. Think before you speak.

Eye contact is important, but it's hard to maintain eye contact when you have to think. Most of us look up, or down, or away and then we swing back when we've gathered our thoughts.

Here's a better way. If you have to look away to think, do it before you answer. Take a pause, look thoughtful, glance away, and then return to making eye contact when you start speaking.

Then your words are even more powerful because your eyes support them.

 

 

8 Conversational Habits That Kill Credibility

Dressing for success may create a good impression, but people judge your intelligence and credibility based upon what comes out of your mouth. Here are eight verbal habits that immediately mark you as somebody who's either foolish or shifty:

1. Jargon 

Jargon (aka "biz-blab") consists of hijacking normal words and using them in odd ways to make them sound "businessy." Example: "We're reaching out to our customer advocates to leverage a dialogue on...." While others who speak fluent biz-blab might not take notice or care, everyone else cringes and rolls their eyes.

Fix: Use words as they're defined in the dictionary. Example: "We're contacting our customers to discuss...." That way, you'll sound more like a professional and less like a cartoon businessperson.

2. Clichés

These are those metaphors that have been used so frequently that all the juice has been leeched from them. Examples: "out-of-the-box thinking" or "hitting one out of the ballpark." Clichés aren't just unoriginal but also reveal a lack of respect for the listener. If you really cared, you wouldn't trot out these creaky phrases.

Fix: Avoid metaphors completely or use original ones. If that's too hard, tweak the wording of clichés to make them less cliché-ish. Example: my use of "leeched" rather than "squeezed" in the paragraph above. Worst case, adding "proverbial" can refresh a cliché with a pinch of irony. Example: "out of the proverbial ballpark."

3. Prolixity

Using big, impressive sounding words rather than smaller, common ones can leave listeners with the impression that you're pompous and pretentious. Examples: "assess strategic options and tactical approaches" (i.e. "plan") or "implement communications infrastructure" (i.e. "add wireless"). Fancy-schmancy wording adds bulk and extracts clarity.

Fix: The core problem here is the need to feel as if your business and your activities are more important and impressive than they really are. The fix, therefore, is a big dose of humility. Business is neither rocket science nor brain surgery--it is, in fact, a place where plain talk is both valued and appreciated.

4. Hiccups

This is when, uh...you insert a word or sound into a sentence when, like...you're pausing to think, um...exactly what you're going to say. I once heard a guy say "um" over 100 times in a five minute presentation. By the end, the audience was practically tearing their collective hair out in annoyance.

Fix: This one is easy. Simply eliminate the hiccup word and pause instead. When you simply pause in silence, rather than trying to fill the thinking space with the hiccup, you end up sounding wise and like you're choosing your words carefully. You may need to record yourself a few times to break the habit, though.

5. Upticks

An uptick turns a statement into a question. The uptick can be a raise of pitch at the end of the sentence or, worse, can be signaled by an actual phrase, like "[statement], you know?" or "[statement], eh?"  Upticks communicate that you're not confident of your ability to communicate clearly, hence the constant checking.

Fix: If you're unsure whether the other person is following your statements, ask a specific question such as "Are you following me?" or "Does that make sense so far?" In other words, either ask questions or make statements. Don't try to fudge them together, OK?

6. Weasel Words

These are attempts to fool employees by disguising ugly facts as bloodless abstractions. Examples: using "development opportunity" when you mean "drudgery," or saying "rightsizing" when you mean "firing people." Weasel words mark you as a coward who's afraid to face the social stigma of making an unpopular decision.

Fix: Show some courage! You'll get more respect and credibility in the long run for telling unpleasant truths than for pleasant-sounding lies. Because--here's the thing--everyone knows anyway and you're not fooling anybody.

7. Fake Apologies

This is what people do when they feel socially obligated to apologize but they aren't really sorry. Common example: "I'm sorry if anybody was offended." Such "apologies" add the insult of blaming the other person for being offended to the injury of the original offense.

Fix: Real apologies are like: "I apologize for doing Y. I wasn't thinking clearly and I won't do Y again." They come from the heart. If you can't apologize from the heart, don't bother, because you're not really apologizing.

8. Spray and Pray

This consists of blurting out a stream of facts or observations before finding out which ones (if any) might actually be of interest to the listener. Probably 95 percent of all presentations fall into this category but when it happens in conversation it makes you look like a blathering fool.

Fix: Always think "conversation" rather than "sales pitch." Ask questions, respond to comments, figure out what's needed, and only then trot out facts and observations that are immediately relevant.

 

 

9 Things Great Leaders Say Every Day

Your words are among your greatest tools. They're a window into your vision, your values and your abilities. So, whether you're running a giant organization or just trying to herd a group toward a certain outcome, there are messages you need to communicate constantly in order to lead effectively.

Start every day planning to say each of these things to at least one person, and watch the results:

1. This is the situation.

People want to know what's going on. Odds are, they'll find out anyway, or worse, fill in the gaps with conjecture. When you keep important things excessively close, you sap morale, rob yourself of your team's insights, and make people feel undervalued. Sound crazy to let them in on everything? Walmart founder Sam Walton did it for decades, and he did okay.

2. Here is the plan.

A leader is supposed to lead. People will offer great suggestions, especially if you're saying and doing everything else on this list, but you need to be able to make decisions and stand behind them. Your team needs to know where you're trying to take them, and how. Also, don't forget the crucial corollary: You need to be able to say "no," especially to moves that would be inconsistent with your plan.

3. What do you need?

This is crucial for two reasons. First, people need to know that you care about them on personal and professional levels, and that you want them to succeed. Second, if you've put together a great plan, you need to leverage every person's abilities to the maximum extent possible. If they are not able to give it their all, you want to know why.

4. Tell me more.

Let people know you're more interested in finding good answers than hearing yourself speak. Give others implicit permission to share their opinions--or heck, invite them explicitly, if you have to. Staying quiet is an invitation for others to offer ideas and insights.

5. Remember our values.

You can't possibly stare over the shoulder of every person making decisions that affect your organization, but you can remind them to make choices that the rest of their team will be proud of. Reminding people of your values requires, of course, that you can actually articulate shared values.

6. I trust you.

If you can't trust the people on your team, then they shouldn't be on your team. You need to trust their integrity, their judgment, their confidence and their passion--and you need to ensure that they understand how much you depend on them.

7. You can count on me.

The flip side of that last point is true as well. If your team can't trust you, they shouldn't do you the great honor of letting you lead them. So tell them you've got their back, and then work like hell to fulfill the promises you make.

8. We can do better.

One of the toughest, most crucial parts of leadership is to push your team to a higher standard than they might set for themselves. That means congratulating them when they do well, but also not coddling them when they don't live up to their potential. It also means admitting when you fail to live up to those standards, too.

9. Let's celebrate!

Don't create a culture in which the only reward for great work is more work. Instead, make it a practice to celebrate your wins, both large and small. This can mean big parties and bonuses, but it can be just as important to call people out for great work and congratulate them for their milestones--both professional and personal.

 

 

SUCCESS STORIES : Wayne Huizenga : From Doing Several Odd Jobs to Founding 3 Fortune 500 Companies

American entrepreneur Harry Wayne Huizenga is known as the founding father of three Fortune 500 companies, top three professional sports franchises and six New York Stock Exchange listed companies. Behind all his accomplishment, he had a very humble beginning.

He was born in 1937 in Evergreen Park, a suburb of Chicago to Gerrit Harry and Jean Huizenga. At the early age, he moved to Florida along with his parents and a younger sister. From the very childhood he found his father to be very abusive and irresponsible towards the family and he soon realized his father wasn’t the person he aspired to be; therefore, he decided to make his own way. He promised himself that he’d never be like his father and did everything to make his life better.

On completion of his studies from Pine Crest School, Huizenga enrolled at Calvin College in 1956 but dropped out within one year after he got enlisted in the Army reserves. After finishing his Army training, he went back to Florida looking for the opportunity in the waste management industry. He bought a truck and started taking the garbage out of Broward County and gradually his business grew into Waste Management Inc., and expanded across the southern part of Florida. In coming years, Huizenga’s company emerged as the biggest waste management firm in the United States.

His thirst for success did not stop at this stage as he wanted to explore more. He sold out his company and purchased Blockbuster stores, which was another biggest hit, and merged it with Viacom for $8 billion. He kept pursuing his passion of purchasing new ventures and making them huge and successful. According to Forbes, as of September 2013, Wayne Huizenga’s net worth stands at $2.5 Billion.

Life Lesson from Wayne Huizenga:

Negative circumstances or pessimistic people can never make our road rough if we are determined to keep walking on the road we choose for ourselves. From the very childhood, he experienced how his abusive father consistently let his family down but instead of being like him he conditioned himself to be different. He took motivation from his father.

How come a negative or abusive person be a source of motivation?

Opposite motivation, which means preparing yourself differently or turning your life positively from the adversities that you experience in your life. It is difficult but not impossible! We can accomplish it with willpower and perseverance and by making an honest promise none but to yourself.

SUCCESS STORIES : Michelle Mone: From Impoverished Childhood to Becoming Scotland's Renowned Business Ambassador

“I was naïve, I didn’t realize what I was getting into. Just remember that you need to work your socks off, there’s no shortcut.” ~Michelle Mone

Living in impoverished home, rising through underprivileged circumstances, starting out of nothing to reach to the top through hard work, determination and perseverance are the very common but inspiring chapters of a story that almost all great personalities share. Co-founder and CEO of MJM Ltd. Michelle Mone grew up penniless in East End of Glasgow’s most deprived area but never gave in to the negative circumstances and became one of incredibly inspiring rags to riches stories of Europe.

Mone was born in 1971 as Michelle Georgina Allan. She grew up aspiring to be a model and actress. She began earning at the tender age of ten by running a paper round, working at a fruit shop. At the age 15, after her father suffered an illness that caused him paralyzed, she had to leave school to support her family. While struggling for a job, she was approached by a modeling agency where she started working as a model for £20 per day. At the age of 19, she gave birth to her child Rebecca after which she left modeling and started working at a beer company, Labbats where she got the idea of inventing comfortable bras on facing uncomfortable situation herself while dancing at a party with her husband. In 1996 she founded MJM International Ltd. and launched Ultimo bra after three years of rigorous market research and working on the design. In 1999, Ultimo was launched at Selfridges department store, London and it became the biggest hit. In 2011, the Sunday Times Rich List enlisted
her business worth £20 million.

Michelle Mone has received awards and honors for her creativity – she was given the ‘Best Newcomer’ at the British Apparel Export Awards, an honorary Doctorate by Paisley University in 2002 and invited by Prince Charles to the Board of Directors for The Princes Scottish Youth Business Trust and awarded an OBE for her significant contribution to business.

What’s the secret of her success that worked for her?

1. Be honest, hard working and determined. Do not settle for less than you deserve.
2. Be the master of your own fate and the boss of your dream.
3. Be vocal about your dreams. Shout and say people what you want.
4. Regardless of what you wish to achieve, you have to be genuinely passionate in making it happen.
5. Never give up! If you feel like giving up think about those who have accomplished the impossible through hardest circumstances.
6. Passion is what makes you stay and inspires you to continue. Find it anyway and anyhow.
7. Believe in team work. Alone you may achieve little but with a team you become invincible.

Find What’s stopping you?

There are outstanding men and women who turned their rough times into wealth of opportunity, discovered something interesting and stayed passionate in their most hopeless and helpless situation. They stumbled upon numerous failures, worked hard through numerous hindrances, stood up and fought back and built something big and significant. We all can achieve impossible feats with positive attitude, hard work and determination. At times, things seem difficult (sometimes impossible) but when you start walking on the rough road, you become courageous to handle the troubles arriving to you.
When you dream, your negative inner-self awakens and instructs you not to go for them and you soon you surrender. However, when your positive-self jumps up for it and echoes your soul, you find yourself to be more powerful than you ever could think of and keeps you awake and busy working towards your dreams.

SUCCESS STORIES : Varun Agarwal: From Failing in Engineering to Co-founding a Million-dollar Company

“Stop Thinking and Start Doing”
Varun doesn’t believe in spending too much time on seeking out the secrets to success. He believes that success is the result of taking timely decisions, hard work, learning from failure, and shifting focus from thinking to doing.

26-year-old entrepreneur, film maker and author Varun Agarwal envisioned a lot but accomplished nothing until he stopped thinking and started doing what he wanted to and that’s what he cleared about himself at INK talks. He co-founded Alma Mater (a company that manufactures customized sweatshirts to alumni), a social media marketing firm Reticular, and a film production house Last Minute Films. Besides, he is also the author of a book ‘How I Braved Anu Aunty and Co-Founded A Million Dollar Company’. His pursuit of interests took his way to work with one of the greatest composers A.R. Rahman, famous actress Preity Zinta, and some other big names.

Entrepreneurial Lessons to Learn from Varun Agarwal:

1. Do what you love doing; don’t look too far ahead
Do what you truly desire to do and make business happen. You can justify your doorway into a specific business niche (which was literally forcefully imposed upon you by your family or acquaintances) by pretending to be an indulgent successful figure but ultimately you will be a mere latent power and possibility. On realization, it brings a miserable fortune.

Studying engineering was never his decision and as the consequences he failed. When he started following his instinct, he ended up establishing a multi-million dollar company. Don’t let anybody affect and limit your creativity and efficiency.

2. Show your sincerity to whatever you do

Before delving into any business venture, hold authenticity and sincerity as your very first principles, the leading part of selling anything. Leadership is self-made and self-instilled that come on the surface shinning through your truthfulness, sincerity and earnestness.
Note: Don’t listen to the people talking rubbish about sincerity because that is what threatens their horrid constitution they’re preserving in their business values.

3. Don’t think much; otherwise someone else will accomplish before you

Thinking is the source of insight that shape your lifetime but excessive thinking and anticipation is the enemy of creativity. The amount of energy you are imposing on your ‘futile ‘ifs’ and ‘thinkings’ will make your life inadequate and strenuous; instead, think on ‘how’s’, act and discover the equipment to fly over your destination and land before others.

4. If it doesn’t sell then it isn’t the business

If it doesn’t sell then sorry it isn’t the business. Sale is more about the approach of the salesman rather than the attitude of the prospect. If you have hard time selling, deal with it bravely, patiently and cheerfully. Remember, everybody survives by selling something (whatever it is).

Note: Have a graceful persuasion (instead of manipulation or exploitation) to captivate an earnest listener, subdue their understanding, engage them throughout your presentation and watch the result enhancing…

5. Aim high regardless of what people say about it

Aim for unaccomplishable and impossible. Your self-endowments (conviction in your visions, perseverance in attitude and consistency and patience in the task in hand) are the determining factors of how competent you are to reach for the farthest thing.

Note: Think big to be big; don’t look backwards or forwards but upward to reach it.

6. There is no single goal for entrepreneurs, they have endless

Leaders’ glory lies in the triumph of reaching goal, one after another. Have goals and stare up the stairs to reach on top.

Note: There should be one determined goal that is to set up goals one after another and accomplish them with persistence.

7. Fail but don’t stop, keep going

It is basically the destructive fear of failure that prevents you from realizing your desires and dreams of success. Fear is what you think with your closed eyes; open it and it will cease you to amaze how infinite your power is to accomplish whatever you think and beyond it.

Note: Whenever fear of failure overwhelms you, think of your last failure. What was the worst thing that happened to you after it. Did a anyone swallow you? Were you vanished for some time or died miserable? …Of course not! Then what is it that you fear?

 

 

SUCCESS STORIES : Shachin Bharadwaj: Founder of TastyKhana, India's Leading Online Food Portal

TastyKhana.com, which evolved as an online food ordering platform, has come a long way now, with over 5000 restaurants in different cities across India. Serving over a million customers and more than Rs.10 crores of annual turnovers, the company aims to cross Rs.100 Crore mark in less than two years. Currently operating across Pune, Mumbai, Bangalore and Delhi NCR, it is literally transforming India’s food ordering habit. The company Founder Shachin Bharadwaj has been featured in Outlook, Economic Times, Money India and other newspapers and Magazines.

Shachin Bharadwaj is a highly enthusiastic, dedicated and self-motivated entrepreneur who started working on TastyKhana out of his own personal experience of ordering his meal from office. Soon he teamed up with Sheldon Dsouza who he knew whilst being a student at
Maharashtra Institute of Technology and Pune University. Both of them came from Pune and shared the same college and university. Initially, Bharadwaj wasn’t quite convinced by the idea of starting a venture that relied on engaging customers through Social Media; Nonetheless, he wanted to give it a try. After months of market research and time spent on developing the portal they finally launched it in 2007 in Pune. It wasn’t an overnight success but the innovative idea was soon picked up by the food enthusiasts and the news made its way to the print media; the portal witnessed a consistent growth in coming years. In 2013, Delivery Hero, a German Portal that provides similar services, invested $5 million in the company and it hasn’t looked back ever since.

Shachin Bharadwaj completed his Bachelor of Engineering (B.E) from the Maharashtra Institute of Technology, Pune and worked at Synygy, India before delving into his own entrepreneurial venture. He started TastyKhana.com out of his personal savings of Rs 200,000.

 

Top 10 Young Entrepreneur Success Stories

#10 Syed Balkhi, 21

Syed Balkhi used to get online at three o’clock in the morning to trade stones for a game called Neopets.

When he was 12, his cousin pointed out that he could do the same thing with domain names – all while pulling in a handsome profit. Soon he was developing websites, designing them, and running a paid domain name directory.

Along with a handful of college friends (Amanda Roberts, David Pegg, and Mohammed Karim), Syed has started a successful web service company called Uzzz Productions. His blog for WordPress beginners, WPBeginner, has been up since July 2009 and already attracts an incredible 145,000 unique visitors each month.

 

#9 Farrhad Acidwalla, 18

His first step at entrepreneurship started with his borrowing $10 from his parents to buy his first domain name. He began building a web community devoted to aviation and aero-modeling. The website was a success; he sold it for a lot more money than his initial investment, and moved on with other similar ventures. Each took his achievement to another level and the appreciations left him humble. This motivated him to offer his work under the name of his company.

Farrhad has launched Rockstah Media, a cutting-edge company devoted to web development, marketing, advertisement, and branding.  It is just over a year old but it has clients and a full fledged team of developers, designers and market strategists spread across the globe.

As the CEO and founder, Farrhad is behind the wheels of the company taking care of the clients and guiding the creative team to success.

 

#8 King Sidharth, 20

King Sidharth is a multitalented youngster. He is a speaker, author, magazine publisher.

As an 11-year-old growing up in Northern India, King Sidharth and a few friends began organizing events and competitions for other children. They would make tickets and charge an entry fee, then award little prizes to whoever won. Sidharth’s first business was a big success.

Seven years later, King Sidharth got graduated from high school and he has already made a name for himself as one of India’s top young entrepreneurs. His primary work is in website development and design (see websites like MeditationRocks.us).

King is also a speaker on topics of entrepreneurship and spirituality. He calls himself the Outlaw Entrepreneur, because he refuses to follow a given pattern and says he’s going to reinvent the wheel. His vision of the wheel is unique.

 

#7 Arjun Rai, 20

Arjun Rai caught the entrepreneurial bug at the age of seven, selling knickknacks that he found around the house.  Young Arjun set up shop to sell leftover wildflower necklaces after a wedding. He and a cousin put up a banner at his grandmother’s front gate, asking 25 cents.

TV shows like ‘The Oprah Show’ and ‘The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch’ inspired Arjun to take entrepreneurship to the next level. During the summer of 2009, he got a LinkedIn account (under the name Aaron Ray) and started connecting with other ambitious entrepreneurs, hoping to learn as much as possible about the art of entrepreneurship and business.

In 2010, Arjun became the COO of a quickly growing onlineadvertising company, but he soon set out to follow his own,unique vision. That vision is a brand-new venture called odysseyAds.

 

#6 Sabirul Islam, 21

Sabirul Islam grew up in a crime-ridden borough of London, England. His eyes were opened to entrepreneurship by his cousin, who offered Sabirul a job at the age of 13. But when Sabirul was fired a few weeks later, he decided to take matters into his own hands. At 14, he gathered six of his friends and started Veyron Technology, a website design company. Sabirul made his first $1000 within the first two weeks.

In January of 2008, at age 17, Sabirul self-published his first book “The World at Your Feet”. It offers young people guidance and encouragement to turn their entrepreneurial vision into reality. The book sold 60,000 copies. Sabirul has also launched a board game (‘Teen-Trepreneur’), become a globe-trotting public speaker (over 600 speaking engagements), and started his own publishing company for aspiring teen authors.

 

#5 Adora Svitak, 14

Adora started writing when she was four years old. She hasn’t stopped since. At six, Adora received a laptop computer from her mother, on which she quickly amassed a collection of hundreds of short stories and hundreds of thousands of words – typing at 70 words per minute.

At the age of seven, Adora achieved her dream of becoming a published author with the release of Flying Fingers: Master the Tools of Learning Through the Joy of Writing. The book featured several of Adora’s short stories, along with her writing tips, typing tips, and advice from her mother. At age 11, Adora published a second book, Dancing Fingers, with her older sister, Adrianna.

Adora at the age of 12 has transformed her writing success into speaking and teaching success. She has spoken at over 400 schools and presented at the annual TED conference. She has been featured on Good Morning America and on CNN.

 

#4 Savannah Britt, 17

Savannah Britt was a published poet by the age of eight. By nine, she was hired as a paid reviewer of children’s books for The Kitchen Table News – a New Jersey newspaper with a readership of 70,000. But when that newspaper went under, Savannah was left unemployed at the tender age of 11.

She bootstraps herself and started her own publication – a magazine called Girlpez – making her the youngest magazine publisher in the world. The magazine features coverage of events, like concerts and fashion shows, along with interviews from the likes of Shwayze, Kevin Rudolf, and Dawn from Dannity Kane.

 

#3 Philip Hartman, 17

Philip Hartman became an entrepreneur when he was eight-years-old. That’s when he started building slingshots that shot both BB’s and arrows.

When he was a home-schooled high school senior at the age of fifteen, Philip spent most of his time cultivating two somewhat more advanced entrepreneurial ventures. One was a new system for fusing optical fibers that is cheaper, more efficient, and more dependable – an invention for which Philip won the 2008 Young Inventor of the Year award.

The other was called Steam Viper. It was a device that emits steam onto a windshield and is capable of defrosting a frost-covered windshield in about 15 seconds.

 

#2 Alex Fraiser, 18

In January 2009, at the age of 15, Alex Fraiser used his web design know-how to start Blogussion.com, a blog about blogging. As the year went on, Blogussion thrived – bursting not just with insightful articles but also with an ever-growing, increasingly enthusiastic community of subscribers.

In January 2010, Alex and his business partner, 24-year-old Seth Waite, launched their first product – a web theme modeled after Blogussion’s unique style – to immediate success. With an Alexa ranking under 20,000.

 

#1 Mark Bao, 19

Mark Bao had his first encounter with entrepreneurship in the fifth grade. He used Visual Basic 6.0 to write a simple computer application that managed his homework assignments and helped him write school papers. Then he copied the program onto floppy discs and sold them to his friends.

His first start-up came in his first year of high school. Debateware.com was an event management system for debate organizations. Eventually, Mark and his business partner sold it to the largest debate organization in the United States.

Mark at the age of 17, a high school senior, launched 11 web-based companies (and sold three of them) along with three non-profit foundations.

3 Strategies to Win the War for Talent

When I graduated with my MBA from Richmond, The American University in London, School of Business, and returned to the states to settle into my new grownup life, I was being courted by a handful of startups and a half dozen large, name-brand technology and consulting companies. This was the late 1990s, and I was mentored to join a name-brand company.

Many people told me that having that big name on my resume would result in a richer network and an education in business best practices. I listened. I spent the next 15 years in large-enterprise technology. My idea was that starting out as an entrepreneur or at an early-stage technology startup was something only people in California did, and if that's what you really wanted, you would move there too. Many MIT and Harvard graduates moved their technology ideas from Boston to Silicon Valley during that time.

The landscape is different today. Sure, there are many great candidates who still look at well-established brand names for the paycheck and resources, just as I did so many years ago. Student loans are only growing, and careers need fast-tracking. But opportunities are more diffuse.

"Entrepreneurship is as compelling an option as graduate-training programs with blue-chip companies," says Emma Sinclair, a successful serial entrepreneur and currently co-founder of EnterpriseJungle. Still if you don't have an impending IPO putting dollar signs in candidates' eyes, what else can you do to attract talent?

1. Push the sex appeal of the "what might be."

Sinclair notes that the emergence of entrepreneurship in mainstream media has had a significant impact on a founding team’s ability to hire good staff, even when money is limited. "Candidates want to be part of the next Facebook story," she says.

Make sure you define your company's potential to disrupt the market, and what leading that disruption would mean for team members.

2. Lay out a compelling compensation strategy.

Sure, we all want interesting work and to feel like we are making an impact. But we also want to get paid for the work we do. You have to run lean when you're running a startup. High salaries are not usually an option. Sinclair suggests offering employees stock in the business. Just remember to be prepared to discuss what you believe your company’s exit strategy will be and the desired timing. Otherwise, your potential new applicant will have too many lingering questions about the value of working for potentially worthless options.

3. Stay connected, even if you can’t hire people right away. 

Sinclair recommends looking at relationships as long-term investments of your time. "The best way to engage top talent you might not be able to afford is by building relationships," she says. Your relationship will grow stronger through common interests and shared values. And when the time comes for your connection to make a career transition, "you will be the first person she calls," says Sinclair.

She cautions that founders should not feel urgency for top talent recruitment too early in their startup’s lifecycle. Instead, use these strategies as you plan for your company’s growth, so that when you're ready, you have a solid human-capital plan that will enable you to hire the best recruits for your business.

 

 

Leadership Lessons From Microsoft's Satya Nadella

Satya Nadella started his new role as CEO at Microsoft early this month with a promise to "change the world through technology." Although it's way too early to see if he will succeed in achieving that lofty goal, it's not too early to hear about the business philosophies that will guide his effort.

During his first interview as CEO, talking with The Newyork Times on Thursday, Nadella dished out some leadership tips based on his 22 years of experience at Microsoft. Here are three nuggets from the new man in charge in Redmond that can help you lead your own company.

Stay focused on the cards you've been dealt.

Nadella tells the Times that during a performance review one year, he asked former CEO Steve Ballmer how he (Nadella) compared to his predecessors. Ballmer's answer was, "'Who cares? The context is so different. The only thing that matters to me is what you do with the cards you've been dealt now,'" Nadella recounts. "'I want you to stay focused on that, versus trying to do this comparative benchmark.'" Although Nadella wanted a straight answer, he tells the Times that Ballmer's response impressed a larger point on him: "The lesson was that you have to stay grounded, and to be brutally honest with yourself on where you stand."

Know when your team needs a confidence boost.

The CEO says he received one of his earliest leadership lessons during a school cricket match. He wasn't playing his best, so the team captain took his place for a while until their team started faring better. Nadella then was put back in to finish the match. "I never asked him why he did that, but my impression is that he knew he would destroy my confidence if he didn't put me back in," Nadella says. "And I went on to take a lot more wickets after that. It was a subtle, important leadership lesson about when to intervene and when to build the confidence of the team. I think that is perhaps the No. 1 thing that leaders have to do: to bolster the confidence of the people you're leading."

Innovation trumps institutional structures.

Nadella has a mandate to effect a change in culture at Microsoft. But what is the right mindset to try to develop throughout an organization that employs more than 100,000 people? Nadella says the top priority should be "recognizing innovation and fostering its growth." Making that happen is "not going to come because of an org chart or the organizational boundaries," he says. "Most people have a very strong sense of organizational ownership, but I think what people have to own is an innovation agenda, and everything is shared in terms of the implementation."

Why You Can't Force Friendliness

An article in the The Wall Street Journal last week shed light on a new management trend at some big businesses: the use of "influencers," or those "who are particularly well-connected and trusted by their peers" across their organizations.

Companies like Procter & Gamble and Salesforce, the Journal reports, have begun finding ways to leverage their most friendly employees to connect teams and help spread information.

On the surface, the idea appears sound. It recognizes the value of interpersonal connections. It's consistent with countless studies showing the importance of a happy and friendly workplace. And it seems useful as a way to recognize employees with future management potential. But there is one area where the idea seems less than ideal.

Judging Employees on Friendliness

It's one thing to find ways to leverage your best intraoffice networkers. It's another to judge employees based on how friendly they are.

This is an issue explored later in the Journal piece, focusing on the idea that not every job really should require friendliness.

"When it comes to promotions or layoffs, that's when it starts to get hairy," management professor Jerry Davis tells the Journal. An employee, he says, might ask, "Wait a minute, I thought I was doing my work really well, and because I didn't spend my time networking, I'm going to be fired?"

Beyond that is the very notion that friendliness can be managed. Consciously or not, by demanding networking abilities and friendliness, those qualities become diminished--they become forced.

Previous research has shown that employee connections grow organically from the bottom up, and do not start with leadership. To that end, there are plenty of ways leadership can move to foster greater connections--from setting up a company social network to putting protocols in place to keep uncivil behavior to a minimum.

More importantly, you can (and should) consider every candidate's fit in your culture while hiring. One tip for doing so: interview like you're talking to an old friend.

All of these strategies might help you cultivate the sorts of employees who can bridge gaps at your company. But once managers start mandating friendliness, the result probably won't be actual, genuine friendliness in the long run.

 

 

5 Fresh Ways to Spark Creativity

Sometimes you just need some fresh tips on how to think creatively. I know I do, anyway. So I went to ScrollMotion co-founder and chief creative officer Josh Koppel. It's Koppel's job to help big companies such as GE, Campbell's, and Hallmark think innovatively about how they come up with interactive tablet apps. 

"We're not supposed to be just taking PowerPoints, PDFs, and essentially putting paper on a tablet. That's the enemy," Koppel says. 

In other words, he helps brands get out of creative ruts. Feel like you could use a little assistance in that area? Read on for Koppel's tips. 

Play around with technology in novel ways.

Koppel says he remembers when QuickTime came out and instead of using it to watch movies he used it to slow videos down frame by frame.

"I was so enamored with the idea of being able to slow something down and that was clearly not what it was intended for," he says. "I remember once I took this video of myself doing all these different faces and then I just used the scrubber to create something like a digital puppet."

Another thing he admits to doing: making music with a phone's dial pad.

"A lot of what I do is daydreaming and playing with stuff. I think play is probably one of the most important things in terms of creating innovation," he says.

Immerse yourself in visuals.

The walls of Koppel's office are covered in interesting photos, words, and other sources of inspiration.

"We live in this world of vast imagery. I love looking at Google Images and I love searching through imagery to inspire me. And that's a lot of what I do with my work inside my office. My office is curated into these little ideas," he says.

Use old objects for inspiration.

As a creativity guru, Koppel's job is to help others tap their inner ingenuity. One way he does it is by leaving interesting oddities around the office for discovery by curious souls.

"If someone has a visual problem that they need to solve sometimes [it helps to] look at an old comic book, an old magazine, an old cookbook, and old Playboy that's in braille," he says. "I want to create environments like a puzzle that unlock the creativity that someone has by evoking some close relative of the problem they need to solve."

Other things you might find in his space: a Rubik's cube, Mad magazines, and a working Atari 2600.

Take a walk in an interesting locale.

With a problem in the back of his mind Koppel walks around Manhattan making free associations--mental connections between seemingly unrelated things.

The idea for ScrollMotion actually came from an old-fashioned 24-frame lenticular--one that uses a sequence of images to create an animation--Koppel found in a store in 1997 during one such walkabout.

"That was a very important moment for me and by looking at that I was sort of able to get an idea of the future," he says. "There are clues all around us to the problems that we need to solve and sometimes it's just about being open to those clues and thinking about them in a flexible way."

Use children as a litmus test.

After creating apps for "Sesame Street" and Disney, ScrollMotion ended up using kid-friendly functions such as puzzles and drawing in apps for manufacturing and pharmaceutical companies.

"All that stuff that we built actually had applications for these other types of more professional ideas and it was the fact that we had built them early on for kids that allowed us to think much more creatively about these problems that we had to solve," he says.

Koppel also like to bounce ideas off kids because of their honesty.

"Often I tell my ideas to children before I tell them to adults because I feel like children are absolutely fearless and they have no remorse to tell you that something sucks," Koppel says. "Not only will they tell me instantly visually by the way they act if it's good or not but if you can entertain a child then you're pretty sure you can entertain an adult."

Want more of his unusual perspective? Check out his TED talk titled "Digital Dreams in an Analog World" In it, he shows the lenticular he found so many years ago that sparked the idea for his company.

 

 

7 Signs You're Not as Ethical as You Think

Do you believe you have strong ethics? You probably do. Just about everyone answers "yes" to that question. If you think about it, that's a problem.

"The comment we hear most often is, 'I'm ethical, it's everyone else I'm worried about.' That can't be true of everyone," says Mark Pastin, CEO of the Council of Ethical Organizations. He's spent the past 30 years advising companies and governments about ethics.

Pastin says most people are too forgiving when considering their own ethics. "It's one of the home fields for self-deception," he says. That's especially dangerous for someone running a small business. "Small companies are judged by their character more than big companies are. Most people understand that the way a small company behaves clearly reflects the leadership," he says. In fact, his organization is often called in to consult with small companies--after an ethical misstep has damaged their reputation. "They're looking to create a sustainable culture that will prevent unethical actions in future. Small companies are especially vulnerable when they make an ethical mistake."

Before that happens, it's worth taking a few minutes to think about the seven questions Pastin poses. At worst, you'll have wasted a little time figuring out that your ethics are as solid as you think they are. On the other hand, you may find some inspiration to make changes.

1. Do your actions match your thoughts?

This is how most people tend to let themselves off the hook, Pastin says: You judge yourself by your thoughts and intentions rather than by what you actually do. "The most important thing is to judge your own ethics the way you would judge someone else's, which is by their behavior. Particularly in situations when it's not easy to do the right thing." People are victims of what the Ancient Greeks called akrasia, which Pastin defines as "knowing best but doing worst."

His advice? "Look at your own behavior and think how you would evaluate someone else who did the same things."

The thing that's most important about your own ethics is that you judge it the way you would judge someone else's which is by their behavior, particularly when it's not easy to do the right thing.

2. How do you reward loyalty?

Loyalty, Pastin says, is an interesting ethical test case. Most people and companies claim to value loyalty, but as in question 1, their actions tell a different story. "People who say they're loyal may be working for a company that developed them and brought them along, but if they get a slightly better offer, they're gone," he says. "And companies, if their first action when things go wrong is to fire people, they'd better keep their mouths shut about loyalty."

How can you truly demonstrate that you value loyalty? By giving an effective employee who's stayed with the company for a long time substantial pay increases, rather than an "attaboy," Pastin says. "Think about your own employees from the perspective of what someone else would pay for them," he adds. "If you have people who stay with you even though they could make more elsewhere, try to value them as much as they'd be valued if they weren't loyal and had left for another job. It's your job to make that adjustment, or they will."

3. How do you handle whistle blowers?

"When someone speaks up to identify a problem, the immediate instinct is to hurt that person," Pastin says. "So really protect employees who bring you significant issues. Make sure there aren't reprisals. Learn to love your whistle blowers."

The other challenge is to create an environment where employees feel safe raising negative issues in the first place, even though there will be times when you wish you hadn't. "When you tell employees, 'We want to hear your concerns,' you have to be prepared for the fact that 99 out of 100 of them won't be serious," he says. "But you could get that one out of 100 that will change the future of your company. So you have to listen to all the comments and some of them aren't going to be much fun."

One other thing, he says: "If someone raises an issue that enables you to avoid a serious ethical mistake, you should value that. And we have a way of expressing value to people in this culture--we pay them!"

4. Do you over-promise?

"In smaller companies, the chief executives have to be very careful about what they say," Pastin says. "If they say one thing and do something else, they can't hide from it. If they over commit or exaggerate, they'll be called out."

That can have consequences that go beyond just you if you're running a company or overseeing a team. "You have authority and power," Pastin says. "When you say something, you're committing the company, and not just yourself. You'll often find experienced executives learn to parse what they say very carefully for this reason. If they over commit or exaggerate, they'll be called out. It's much better if the truth beats what you say than if what you say beats the truth."

5. How much business do you get by word of mouth?

Pastin is often asked whether or not strong ethics confers a business advantage. Though there's no simple answer, on average he says it does because strong ethics leads to a good reputation. Having your business grow by word of mouth or referrals is one of the best indications that your reputation is solid.

Unfortunately, expectations for ethics are so low these days that customers are fairly easy to impress, he adds. "They expect to be treated well while their wallets are open, but once they're closed, they don't expect to have a relationship with you." If you treat people who have a complaint or a product to return with the same level of service you would if you were selling to them, you'll win their loyalty quickly, he says.

6. How do you treat your vendors?

Most companies focus on customers, Pastin says. After all, they're the ones paying the bills. But how do you treat people and companies when you're the customer? Do you pay bills on time? If you can't, do you get in touch to explain, and let them know when to expect a payment? "What ethical face are you presenting to the world? Your vendors probably know best," Pastin says. "You usually show who you truly are to the people you're paying."

Pastin says his company makes an effort to pay vendors ahead of schedule and that's paid off when he's needed thousands of copies of a code of conduct for a client with a 24-hour turnaround. "We needed to be able to call up the printer without a written order or comparative bids and just get it done," he says. "If they'd wanted a signed contract we never would have been able to do it in time."

7. How do you deliver bad news?

If you need to discipline an employee or fire someone for cause, do you do it yourself? Do you deliver the news yourself? Face to face or by email? Or do you hand it off to an HR person or another manager? "When there's bad news, you need to point out something negative, or take a negative action, your willingness to own the consequences is a good measure of your ethics," Pastin says.