Influential Legacy?

What is your legacy? Really, what are you leaving behind for those you love to remember you by?

A year ago today my Father, Sam Palazzolo, passed away after what can only be described as a courageous battle with Alzheimer’s Dementia for several years. The last years of his life were not indicative at all of his life’s legacy or the influence he had while here. He was a single individual who touched many with the “love” that oozed from his being.

I spent the last year performing keynote addresses, seminars/workshops/webinars and coaching one-to-one around the country/internationally. I always made a point to introduce his favorite statue, a James Fraser bronze titled “End of the Trail”. To my Father this bronze represented how he wanted to “go out”, or his legacy as he saw things. The bronze represents a rendering of a despondent Indian and his forlorn horse, an enormous hit at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco, that has come to symbolize the decline of Native Americans, "a moving parable of a losing people," as the sculptor put it. I was fortunate enough to view it in Oklahoma City (http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org).

From my Father’s perspective the statue represented giving life your all. He used to tell me when all is said and done, that he wanted to be remembered by everyone as someone who gave it all he had. He wasn’t the fastest individual; didn’t believe that he was the smartest; but did believe in himself and that he had the persistence to be the best!

The result of giving everything he had touched many. To know him was to love him, because he loved you! That was his greatest legacy, LOVE.

In remembering his spirit today, I’d ask you to reach out to those you love and tell them that you love them. Amazing things will happen for you when you do…Some old-doors will probably shut (My Father would say that they probably should have shut a long time ago!). Some new-doors will open, and it is these new doors that you will find the most peace/harmony in walking through.

So what is your legacy? Drop me a note at spalazzolo@pathosleadershipgroup.com and let me know.

Thank you for all the love and support you have shown me and my family over the last year. I can’t tell you how much comfort your warm thoughts and prayers have done!

Sam P.

The Influential Decision Maker!

Who gets the worm? Why the early bird, of course!

Who gets the business? Stay tuned...

This week marked another "fork in the road" opportunity for me. It was "man versus machine" time at the Palazzolo house. No, not me versus my computers! Instead, it was me versus my lawn mower. Yes, while most North Texans have already mowed their yards weekly for the last month, I have adopted a new "organic" approach and let my yard grow. Grow that is until I got a postcard from the home owners association requesting I take a "less than organic" approach. I'll spare the granola comments I spewed from my mouth upon receipt of said postcard for now!

Out to the garage I went to fire up old Toro. Last year, after 12 years of ownership I finally had him tuned-up. $95 later (I paid only $65 for him) I was guaranteed that "He'll run just like new!". I didn't purchase him new, so I assumed he'd run better than the sputtering/choking machine I'd experienced. Well, he did run great. He ran great that first time out of the shop. The rest of the season he was plagued with what I can only call "premature completion anxiety" for which I am certain there is a pill! The poor old-boy could barely finish the lawn without stalling 4-5 times...He was pathetic for a 15 year old! Well here was his opportunity to redeem himself after taking the Winter off. One pull (potato), two pulls (potato), three pulls (potato), four pulls (potato)...This could go on and on and on...because it did! Some twenty pulls later I decided that poor old Toro had seen his best days. My shoulder on the other hand would take some serious icing down by my massage therapist "Ms. Coors"!

Fortunately we have great neighbors who are lazy and don't cut their own lawns. My wife actually talked with several at an event known as "Bunco" or "Bunko" or however you spell it or drink it or whatever they do at those get togethers. These ladies in attendance were happy to recommend their own "crew" to her. I got their numbers the next morning and began to call. I left messages for all of them and asked them to come on down to my house and view the yard and give me an estimate. This might have been a sign that I did not get a single one of them on the phone! Guess what? Not one of them returned my phone calls! Business must be good this time of year in North Texas, so I did what any "organic" grower would do...I waited for the crew that handles my next door neighbor and approached them!

These guys were real good. They could have told me it was $100 per cutting and I would have said "Ok"! Fortunately they didn't and after a couple of go-'rounds we got to a price point that was mutually agreeable.

Here's the moral of the story...Business today does not always go to the best. I have no doubt in my mind that the crews recommended by the ladies of bunco/bunko may do a better job than the crew I ultimately hired. Unfortunately I'll never find out! Why? Because business today go's to the quick! The crew that I was able to have quick access to got the job. You will get more business than your counterparts if you are simply quicker than them. John Maxwell in his book "Talent is Never Enough" says this is true if you don't belive me!

Think quick, act quick, be quick. Jack be Nimble, Jack be Cashing Checks!

PS - I still have not received a call from any other lawn crew...Maybe they drove by and noticed my "organic" experience was no more!

The Influential Coach - Vistage VI

Are You “Getting Real”?

I just completed a week-long training session in San Diego, California…It has got to be one of my favorite places on Earth! Six days with 22 of the best coaches in the country (No Mom…I didn’t count me!). The seminar focus was on how to be the best coach possible. Let me rephrase that…the BEST Coach you can be! It was an awesome experience and there were several times when I was driven to tears. Why?

The focal point of the week was spent on what I’ll call “Getting Real”. What exactly is “Getting Real”? This is the concept that Susan Scott tackles in her A1 book titled “Fierce Conversations”. Here’s the concept…Most conversations are either superficial, superfluous, non-value added, fake, crappy, avoiding the real issue, beating around the bush, miss the mark, etc. Why? Here comes the BIG Ah Hah for the week…There is pain associated with finding the truth, or “Getting Real”!

This probably never happens to you…You need to have a conversation about something, but you avoid having it. If you have the guts, you do have it, but you miss the mark regarding what the conversation is all about or should be about. The issue for the most part go’s unresolved…Regardless of how small, sooner or later this issue becomes HUGE and you are miserable. Here’s an analogy…A frog that gets placed in boiling water jumps out. Why? The frog senses the temperature difference (HOT!) and doesn’t want any part of it so it jumps out of the boiling water before becoming frog soup. On the other hand, a frog that is placed in a pot of water at tap temperature that then gets the heat turned on gets cooked! Why? The frog didn’t sense the temperature change and its fate or destiny was determined…One order of frog soup coming right up!

Consider that frog in the second example to be the issue that never gets resolved because we lack the courage to “Get Real” and have the fierce conversation…We’re frog soup!
So what kind of conversations are you avoiding in business? What conversations are you avoiding in your personal life? Which are the ones that will lead you to become soup like our green friend?

Here’s the plan…write me an email at spalazzolo@pathosleadershipgroup.com and tell me what your conversation is that you are going to hold to help you “Get Real” as well as the date you commit to having it. How will I help? I’ll email you on the date you say you are going to “Get Real” and have the fierce conversation. Why? If I don’t keep you honest and “inspect what we expect” you and I both know what’s going to happen…NOTHING!

Come on…Let’s “Get Real”!