George Bernard Shaw is reported as saying that America and Britain are two nations divided by a common language.

My recent experience suggests that the same applies to Britain and India. I am gradually being educated about what is unacceptable to say in India and what is not understood.

For example, one of the key coaching questions that I teach is “What would be even better than that?” Although logically it makes sense, in practice it does not translate into the Indian context.

I am very keen to receive suggestions for a replacement as I use flash cards with it printed on.

However, I have recently also been experiencing the reverse, whereby I have imported an expression from America that people at home do not understand.

I love the phrase “Motherhood and apple pie” but recently I have been met by blank looks. Indeed, recently I was accused of sexism when I used it in a business meeting.

Motherhood and apple pie is both a description of a sentimental memory of an ideal American home life and two things that nobody can disagree with. It is a powerful metaphor and shorthand – for those who understand it.

It is used as a response to platitudes.

I was very fortunate when I was in the sixth form at school (does that translate internationally?) to follow an excellent general studies course. Part was on philosophy, taught, surprisingly enough, by the woodwork master.

He described an event some years earlier when a major change was under discussion at a parents association meeting, presumably to do with voting of some sort. He said that parent after parent would stand up and make the case for one side or the other and every time justify it by a belief in ‘democracy’.

Democracy is a case of motherhood and apple pie. Everyone is supposed to be in favour of democracy, though no-one actually defines what it is. It is a platitude.

The reason that all this is significant is that both as a coach and as a consultant I am involved in helping organisations define their vision, mission and values. These are meant to be sufficiently meaningful to be used as a direction within the organisation.

There are lots of well known and important values – but what do they contribute? For example, ‘honesty’. Clearly, it is important in any organisation, but does it define the organisation? Ask yourself: “What is the opposite?” Would any organisation want not to be honest?

Think about what matters; is particularly important in this organisation.

For example, as a coach and as a consultant I believe that the highest value should probably be ‘integrity’. I deal with people’s lives, their fears and emotions. I am privy to confidential information.

As a coach I believe that ‘caring’, ‘commitment’ and ‘curiosity’ should be the basis of how I work.

If I were an accountant or a banker, then ‘honesty’ would be a key and relevant value. ‘Creativity’ might not be; but for a designer it would be essential.

When creating a values statement aim to define only three to five key values. Select those that define you.

An interesting feature of values is that you cannot see or touch them. So, when teaching or communicating them, they have to be translated into actions. “If we define ‘innovative’ as a value what implications does it have for our behaviour?” “How does it impact on our approach to risk and blame?”

Brefi Group has a values statement. It does not define any values! It defines what we value, which is an alternative approach.

We value: –

Learning and development. We role model learning and behave as co-learners when working with clients. We are committed to our own personal and professional development.

The practice and maintenance of high ethical and professional standards.

The individual’s knowledge of their own business and available resources.

The bottom line impact of personal and professional development.

The well-being and performance of individuals at work, both separately and as members of teams.

We also adopt the International Coach Federation code of ethics.

Richard Winfield is founder of Brefi Group.
An international facilitator, he coaches and
facilitates directors and boards in transition:
helping them to make progress by
bringing structure and clarity
to their thinking.

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Our colleagues in India, Intrad School of Executive Coaching (ISEC), successfully conducted their second Mentor Coach Level One Certification workshop. The program involved 16 participants and was held on July 16th and 17th at the Gateway Hotel, Bangalore.

Participants included senior executives from Robert Bosch, Infosys Leadership Institute and L&T Komatsu. The picture on the right shows the participants and faculty at the venue.

The ISEC Coach Certification Program comprises four workshop modules, Mentor Coach, Personal Coach, Corporate Coach and Professional Coach together with tutorials, home study and mentoring. It takes a minimum of 12 months and is designed to prepare candidates for certification by the International Association of Coaching (IAC).

The Mentor Coach workshop is also a stand alone product for managers in organisations and will next be offered in September and November with a local training team.

The Mentor Coach workshop was followed by an intensive three day Personal Coach workshop for a smaller group of five participants between 22-24 July, 2010.

ISEC Master Trainers, Krishna Kumar and Richard Winfield conducted the training program, which was supplemented by a special edition of Barbra Sundquist’s nine hour “Coaching by Example” audio program, which is based on the IAC’s nine Coaching Masteries™.

The next Personal Coach workshop will be held in Bangalore in November.

Deepak Nakil, Neelakantan Ravi, Guhesh Ramanathan, Sulakshana Shenoy and Prasad Doreswamy, who successfully completed the program, are shown here with ISEC Master Trainers, Krishna Kumar and Richard Winfield.

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Brefi Group has a variety of downloadable management games that are immediately accessible for use in workshops, training sessions and team building.

These include the well known and inexpensive Prisoners’ Dilemma trust game, several other low cost team building and creativity games, as well as a series of more sophisticated simulations, consensus building, planning and leadership games.

Also, lots of free resources

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Coaching is a process that should be delivered from a mindset of curiosity and caring.

How we think will not only affect how we behave, it will affect what we communicate subliminally.

Here is a set of beliefs that will help you become a more effective coach. These are not necessarily true, but if you take them on board, they can turn out to be extremely powerful.

Consider each one carefully. Does it makes sense? Is it necessarily true? What would be the impact of assuming that it is true?

Now work your way through the list.

1. The meaning of the communication is the response it elicits.

   Commentary: Words can often be insufficient to communicate a specific idea. They might lack information or the communication might be based on an assumption about how the receiving person thinks.

   When you are coaching, it is your responsibility to check that what you have heard is what was meant – feed back your understanding at key stages in the process.

   Also, check that your client has understood what you are communicating. This might involve checking their facial expression or body language, as well as monitoring what they say next.

2. You cannot not communicate.

   Commentary: People often imagine that they can avoid personal responsibility by simply saying nothing. However, we communicate continuously through our body language, and saying nothing is a statement in itself.

   When you are coaching, make sure that you notice what people are not saying, as well as what they do say.

3. There are no failures in communication, only outcomes (feedback).

   Commentary: “There are no failures, only feedback.”

   If you accept this, then everything that you do can be a contribution to your learning. Indeed, it is well proven that the sports people with the greatest number of successes are also those with the most failures. In other words, by taking opportunities, they learn faster and have a larger number of total wins, even if their relative hit rate is less than some others.

   Thomas Edison is reported to have discovered more than 1,000 unsuccessful ways to make a light bulb. But it was Edison who succeeded eventually.

4. Everyone lives in their own unique model of the world.

   Commentary: Following on from above, your experience of the world will be different from other people’s experience – so beware of making assumptions about other people.

5. If you keep on doing what you always did, you’ll keep on getting what you always got.

   Commentary: If your behaviour is determined by habit, it is likely to continue to get the same results. If you want to change the outcomes, you must change your behaviour.

6. Choice is better than no choice. The person with the greatest number of choices in a given situation is likely to get the best outcome.

   Commentary: The more flexibility you have, the more likely you are to be able to respond effectively. In addition, the more options you already have, the more likely you are to be able to generate even more. This is why we encourage clients to develop at least three options – even when they think they already have the best one.

7. People always make the best choices available to them, given their unique model of the world and of the situation.

   Commentary: By increasing people’s awareness in coaching, we can change their perception of reality. Then they will naturally have better options or different priorities.

8. People have all the resources necessary to make any desired change.

   Commentary: The job of the coach is to help the client appreciate both that they have the resources, and that they know how to use them. Then they can take responsibility for change.

9. Resistance you get is a comment about your inflexibility as a communicator.

   Commentary: If what you are doing is not working, it is for you to do something different – don’t be tempted to blame the other party (See No.1 above).

   In a coaching situation, resistance is often a sign that you are getting close to an issue. Be sensitive, but don’t give up.

10. There is a positive intention behind every human behaviour.

    Commentary: You can interpret this in two ways – both helpful to you.
    Either: Somewhere there is a positive benefit to the person exhibiting the behaviour, so find that benefit and you will understand the motivation, which can be the key to changing the behaviour;

    Or: Assume that there is a positive message for you and discover what you can learn from it.

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I am just about to leave for Bangalore. I have spent the last several weeks writing handouts for module two, Personal Coach, of the four module ISEC Coach Certification Program.

I love creating content. In fact much of the content comes from work that I have done over the last few decades. But, nonetheless, there was still plenty to learn.

I have been very keen on force field analysis and include it in our Make Effective Decisions workshop for Centrica. However, I had not appreciated that it was developed by Kurt Lewin and is related to his Unfreeze, Transition, Freeze model of change.

I had an additional challenge this time. I had lots of content for a four day module. But the feedback from the participants was that they would have difficulty making four days available. Could I do it in three days?

In addition, I was already concerned about how they would get enough coaching practice if they were also to get the content.

We have solved this by licensing Barbra Sundquist’s nine hour ‘‘Coaching by Example” demonstration coaching based on the IAC’s nine Masteries.

My other concern was how to deliver all this content within a coaching context. This I have solved by turning the program on its head. Instead of designing it around the content, I have done so around the themes of Who am I?, Where am I?, What do I want? and How do I get there?

As so often, an apparent difficulty leads to a re-think and a significant improvement.

The coach training workshops will be in Bangalore on 16-17 and 22-24 July. We have been delighted with the response, with three times as many people registered this time as at our launch event. However, there are still places available.

ICF International Conference

A challenge in any profession is to keep fresh, and having to research and develop new courses is certainly one way. Another, of course, is to keep up to date by attending conferences.

I have already registered for the International Coach Federation annual conference, this time in Fort Worth.

This is a multi-stream conference with probably 1,500 coaches from around the world. You can learn, you can experience and you can network. If you are a coach – and you don’t need to be a member – working alone, this is a wonderful opportunity to regenerate your enthusiasm and stimulate your coaching.

We ran a two day event for 60 people earlier in the year. I based the opening session on Peter Block’s presentation at last year’s conference and the closing one I had learned at the previous conference.

In addition to the conference, there is an exhibition with not only coach training but lots of business support services for coaches – and, of course, a fatal book shop. Make sure that you have spare weight capacity in your luggage for all those books you are sure to buy.

In addition, Forth Worth is a fun place in its own right. It has an active rodeo and historic centre – and if you are interested in President Kennedy’s assassination, Dallas is not far away.

Register before 31 August and you save $175. Shall I see you there?

For me, it will be part of a round the world trip, as it follows a trade mission to Hong Kong and Shanghai – all part of Brefi Group’s expansion into Asia.

The ABC of Sales Lead Generation

For many coaches, keeping up to date is not their greatest challenge, it is getting clients! So, here is a reminder about a special free offer for CorporateCoach readers.

I’ve had a number of emails from people who wanted to take advantage of John Sproson’s kind offer of a free copy of his recent book “The ABC of Sales Lead Generation”, but for some reason couldn’t make the link work.

Here it is again. To claim your free copy now click here

If the link takes you through to the Amazon page , I’m sorry. It means that all the free copies have gone.

Richard Winfield is founder of Brefi Group.
An international facilitator, he coaches and
facilitates directors and boards in transition:
helping them to make progress by
bringing structure and clarity
to their thinking.

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Affirmations, positive statements consistently repeated, are surprisingly powerful in programming your subconscious.

An affirmation is a statement that you say to yourself on a regular basis. Some of these affirmations are positive; some are negative. Unfortunately, for most people, 90% of their thoughts are negative?

Positive affirmations give your mind something solid to focus on and by repeating these affirmations, you are drilling these positive statements into your subconscious mind. They have to be strong, positive and most importantly, repeated with conviction and faith that you already have or are achieving the results you intend.

The subconscious mind then starts “filtering” your reality or altering it by bringing people and opportunities into your life so that the affirmations become true statements and match up to your reality by way of the law of attraction.

When you choose to start using positive affirmations, the subconscious will either avoid the new statements or be forced to re-evaluate your old beliefs. It is easy for your subconscious mind to avoid them and continue to respond to your previous negative beliefs. If, however, a statement is repeated often enough and powerfully enough as a daily positive affirmation, the subconscious mind will be forced to reassess the current belief.

If you say an affirmation often enough, and combine the words you say with vivid images and positive emotions, then your mind will accept it. If you keep telling yourself that you are confident, that you are a winner, that you are likeable, then it will become true. It is as simple as that.

Think about what you want to change. It will be one of your core beliefs about

• Who You Are
• How You Behave
• What You Can Do
• How you should live
• What you expect from others
• What the world is like

The easiest way to create an affirmation is to think of the problems you are having, and write down a phrase that describes the main problem. Then write out an affirmation statement that is the opposite of that.

Refine it until you get a phrase that brings to mind a clear image of yourself doing whatever it is you want to do and feeling good about doing it. It must make you feel good about yourself or your situation.

Here are some simple rules to follow when using affirmations.

1. Affirmations should be stated in the present tense

The present tense should be used, never the future tense. You need to let your mind think that what you want has happened already. Don’t say your affirmations starting with words like, “I will or I would…”

Your subconscious works to achieve your beliefs. If your affirmation is about ‘now’, it will endeavour to make reality fit with the affirmation. But if the belief is about the future, then, of course, the future never comes.

2. Affirmations should be stated in the positive

What that means is to use positive words and statements rather than negative ones. Instead of affirming “I will not fail”, use a positive statement such as “I am succeeding”. Avoid negative statements absolutely.

3. Affirmations must be about you

You cannot change other people or external circumstances. Aim to start each affirmation with “I …”.

4. Affirmations must be aligned with your goals

To work, the affirmation must be something you actually want. Where fear or shyness, for example, might hold you back then you need to include affirmations about your courage and confidence, as well.

5. Keep your affirmations short and specific

That way you get to the point quickly, it’s easier to say, and the mind will not get distracted by a long sentence and many words.

6. Make sure that you do sufficient repetitions of the affirmation

The more you repeat an affirmation, the more established it becomes, the stronger the impact on the subconscious mind and the greater the neurological imprint on the brain.

7. Do affirmations with emotion

Showing emotion is a signal that you believe in what you’re doing and that you really want it. Your subconscious mind will pick that up and act accordingly.

8. Be persistent

It can take up to 30 days of consistent application to change a habit. Affirmations are set to change habits of belief, so it is important to be persistent and consistent at least until you see results. Much better is to make your affirmations a habit and continue with them anyway.

9. Visualise as you are doing the affirmation

As you are doing the affirmation, visualise it as well. See it happening in your mind. Feel the emotion and hear any positive feedback. Adding the visual element to your affirmations increases their effectiveness. Seeing something as if it is happening will increase your self belief in the outcome.

Follow these simple rules when you repeat your abundance affirmations and you will be reprogramming and priming your mind to attract abundance more rapidly.

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This saying has been doing the rounds on Twitter:

“Just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to, doesn’t mean they don’t love you with all they have.”

This reminded me of Anthony Robbins’ love strategies, which I last covered in October 1994.

Love strategy is about how you give and receive motivational feedback. Think about an occasion when someone said or did something that made you feel good.

Do you like to do things for other people, or have people do things for you? Do such actions signify love? Visual.

Do you like to say particular words to other people, or have people say special words to you in a particular tone of voice? Do such words signify love? Auditory.

Are there certain actions, forms of touch that signify love to you – either giving or receiving? Kinaesthetic.

The trouble is that you might have a different strategy for recognising love from how you express love – and, of course, other people have their own strategies, too.

So, there is a four dimensional challenge in establishing a behaviour strategy that supports a loving relationship with one other, let alone with a whole family or group of friends.

Furthermore, during the ‘in-love’ stage of courtship you would tend to exude love so generously through all senses that the other party does not discover your preferred forms.

Later, when things quieten down, communication can appear to be lacking, if it is received through the wrong sense.

If you would like to receive a more loving form of communication in the future, then perhaps it would be useful to tell others what you like and how it makes you feel. Is your response very specific, or would similar actions, words, tones or touches be equally effective?

Now that you have explained to others what works for you, then find out what works for them. Perhaps they have never thought about it; in which case you are helping them to improve the quality of their life.

There is no ‘one rule’ for motivation. However, there is a ’simple rule’: find out what someone appreciates and give it to them.

It might not be appropriate to ask someone specifically about their ‘love strategy’; in which case you should observe how they react in different circumstances.

Love strategies in the workplace

The love strategy is a sophisticated version of meta-programs. Some people respond best to receiving feedback or compliments by visual (including gifts), auditory or kinaesthetic means. Some people prefer lots of attention (stroking); others are more self referenced and get their motivation from knowing that they are doing well. Some like to achieve targets; others like to avoid failures.

Love strategies are relevant to any form of communication in which you want people to feel good. So, the same processes apply between managers and their reports and between coaches and their clients as they do between couples.

In addition, when giving motivational feedback, there are other meta-programs to consider.

Meta-programs are explained in this week’s Coaching Notes.

Coach training in India

For those of you who have been following my progress in Asia, you will be interested to learn that we are running ahead of business plan. We had intended to run our first Module Two, Personal Coach, in November or February of next year. I return to Bangalore in a couple of weeks and at the Indian School of Executive Coaching we shall be running a second Module One, Mentor Coach, on 16-17 July and the first Module Two on 22-24 July.

Module Two includes an introduction to Inner Game Coaching from ISEC Principal Krishna Kumar, as well as sessions on coaching qualifications, coaching deliverables and processes of change. The module is structured around “Who am I?”, “Where am I?”, “What do I want?” and “How do I get there?”.

Further details are available from www.isecindia.in or from Brefi Group.

Richard Winfield is founder of Brefi Group.
An international facilitator, he coaches and
facilitates directors and boards in transition:
helping them to make progress by
bringing structure and clarity
to their thinking.

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I met up with John Sproson recently. John and I have known each other for several years. He’s a great business mentor whose main focus is helping business owners put their sales and marketing process onto autopilot.

John’s just published a book called “The ABC of Sales Lead Generation”

This book is now on Amazon at £9.97 but John has agreed to make some FREE copies available to CorporateCoach readers.

Many coaches find that getting leads is a challenge. So if you want to get over the hurdles that have so far stopped you from generating a steady stream of sales leads, you need to be one of the lucky ones to get a copy of John’s book

John will give you all the details: click here

Following our successful activities sessions with the European Respiratory Society (ERS) we now have three sets of the planks shelving game.

Planks is a challenging exercise which highlights the importance of planning, teamwork, working in sub-teams, effective communication and problem solving. It is also very effective for drawing out the characteristics of effective management and leadership.

The exercise involves sorting a set of planks and then assembling them into a grid system that represents a large version of a shelving system sometimes seen on people’s walls.

The group is presented with a pile of oversize puzzle pieces and are tasked with putting them together to form a grid system.

The teams are given 20 minutes to work out their strategy. They are then faced with refining the process to get it assembled in less than 2 minutes with each member of the group putting at least one piece in place.

The objective is to beat the benchmark time of 30 seconds while demonstrating their ability to improve with practice.

This activity takes the team through the full problem solving process with emphasis on communication, leadership, role definition and continuous improvement. It is best used with groups of around 4-8, and takes around 1 hour.

Brefi Group experience

We first used planks than ten years ago, benefiting from summer weather and working outside on a lawn.

In that case we had two teams who, by sheer luck, chose contrasting strategies that demonstrated the benefits of a learning organisation.

In one team they adopted a highly centralised strategy, with one person directing the action from a set of notes.

The other team was the opposite, with each person responsible for making a connection and fitting two planks together.

In the first round the ‘organised’ team won easily.

However, in the second round the ‘empowered’ team improved significantly and from then on rapidly overtook the organised team, whose time remained stuck.

It was an interesting demonstration of comparing efficiency with effectiveness.

The planks activity at the ERS event followed Andrew Halfacre’s ‘Nuclear Reactor’, which involved carrying out a task without instruction and supplied with an odd collection of bits and pieces.

Three teams competed, this time indoors, and managed best times between 28 seconds and 17.5 seconds.

The best team took advantage of what they had learned in the nuclear reactor exercise and achieved their creditable time with only one practice.

Once again, valuable lessons were learned.

Applications for Planks

The planks is a versatile experience that can be used successfully in workshops, teambuilds, conferences or away days where the focus might include;

• Planning and Organising
• Communication Skills
• Project Management
• Problem Solving
• Performance Improvement
• Managing and Leading
• Team working and valuing work styles and preferences
• Working in sub-teams
• Team Learning
• Inter-team/department communication

For enquiries about using Planks and other management training games contact Brefi Group.

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Meta-programs are core traits that determine how someone is likely to approach or respond to a situation. The term comes from NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP), which describes these traits as ‘meta’ or over everything else, like programs we run continually in background mode to guide our behaviour. Over 50 meta-programs have been identified – here we describe seven of the most useful to be aware of. (For further reading; “Figuring out people” by Bodenhammer & Hall.)

The reason why meta-programs are so important is that they are running in the background without us consciously being aware. It is possible for a meta-program to change where the desire to want to change, and the knowledge of how to change is evident in an individual, and where the environment is supportive. Meta-programs are also context specific.

The table below describes the meta-program and the two ends of the spectrum in how people can think and behave. Many people will be somewhere along the scale rather than at the extremes.

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A few years ago I led a small trade mission to Dubai as part of my strategy to establish a business in Asia. I took along some senior staff from a local further education college that I was helping to review opportunities for growing their international student business.

We had a very positive experience and my colleague John Duncan agreed that he would relocate to Dubai for three months to take the project further. He had a cough.

On his return, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and a few months later he died. John was known for being a ‘real gentleman’ and much loved by those he worked with.

Today marks the funeral of Helen Crowe, who had been my virtual PA for a year. Helen was highly regarded and had played a lead role in a personal development programme. Last year she went on a physically demanding charity trip to South America but seemed not to recover from her jet lag on her return. She was diagnosed with a brain tumour and lung cancer.

Two of my colleagues in Birmingham have prostate cancer.

It seems that each day we hear about soldiers in Afghanistan who have died on our behalf. But, at least, they voluntarily put their lives at risk and confront the possibility of death on a daily basis. For people who have heart attacks or die in car accidents there is no such preparation.

Some ten years ago the wife of one of my colleagues gave birth to her second child. Only a few weeks later she was diagnosed with a brain tumour. It took almost four months to get together the team to operate on her, but she has survived.

A couple of months ago I telephoned my colleague and his wife answered the phone. I asked her how was life. She responded “perfect”.

We are connected to life by no more than a thread, which could be broken at any time. Perhaps it is only when we are forced to confront our mortality that we think about what we do with our lives. And that can be too late.

I am constantly amazed to hear about the number of people who are doing a job that they hate, or are failing to do something that is really important to them.

The Brefi Group slogan is “Releasing human potential”. We help individuals and teams in organisations discover and achieve their potential so that they can become more effective with less stress. Helping people be who they really are is important to us.

I have been watching The Bucket List. This is a film in which two men diagnosed with terminal cancer decide what they want to do before they ‘kick the bucket’.

Traditionally we have offered three key questions in this vein to help clients focus on what they really want out of life.

Here I offer eight questions for you to consider.

They are deep and fundamental, and the more time you spend on them the better – in fact they could be a theme for the rest of your life

1. If you could achieve outrageous success, what would it be like? Describe it.

2. What are your passions, what makes life worthwhile for you?

3. List three occasions when you really felt good, you were in your flow. What do they have in common?

4. What might be your destiny? What do you think you were born to do?

5. Name your hero(es). What is it about them that you admire?

6. If you were granted three months of good health but knew that you would then die, how would you use the time?

7. If you suddenly received enough money to pay off all your debts and then be financially independent, what would you do?

8. What would you like your friends/family/colleagues to be able to say about you at your funeral or retirement party?

If you haven’t answered these questions before, do spend some time on them soon. Your time is running out!

When you have the answers, think carefully about what they mean. How could you live your life more fully, while you still have it?

What is it about being you that you would like to leave behind, empowering and enriching future generations?

PS: Watch The Bucket List, too. It’s a good film; might stimulate your thinking.

Richard Winfield is founder of Brefi Group.
An international facilitator, he coaches and
facilitates directors and boards in transition:
helping them to make progress by
bringing structure and clarity
to their thinking.

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• The Bucket List
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Guest article by V. N. Bhattacharya

All human beings are susceptible to decision flaws from the way the way decision problems are presented or framed, claims V. N. Bhattacharya.

One of the responsibilities of a coach is to notice ’stuck’ or negative thought patterns and draw them to their clients’ attention.

In this article V. N. Bhattacharya examines the harmful effects of framing and suggests ways to improve decisions.

By adopting methods suggested in this article individuals can make better decisions in everyday life. Managers can make appropriate choices rather than take too little risk or too much. Organisations can train senior managers in decision strategies and adopt group processes that reduce the risk of flawed decisions.

Introduction

In January 2009 Ramalinga Raju, then chairman of Satyam Computer Services, confessed to having manipulated the company’s accounts for eight consecutive years. Each year the company’s cash position and profits were exaggerated.

“What started as a marginal gap between actual operating profit and the one reflected in the books of accounts continued to grow over the years,” Raju wrote in his letter of January 7 to the Board. “It was like riding a tiger, not knowing how to get off without being eaten.”

It must have been clear to Raju for quite some time that continuing down the path would lead to catastrophe. Why didn’t he stop before what he was riding became a tiger? He probably didn’t foresee the road led to disaster. Why didn’t he? How could such a capable, intelligent and experienced entrepreneur-manager be so irrational?

Raju may be an extreme case but we are all capable of similar irrationally risky behaviour.

The evidence is everywhere. Most people stay invested in a falling share market even though it is safer to exit. We delay investing in a bullish market and once invested postpone exit in the belief it will not fall. We drive faster, sometimes recklessly, when we are late for an appointment. We ignore the fact that even a minor accident may jeopardise the very appointment we are trying to keep.

Perfectly sane people are capable of misjudgment because a considerable amount of thinking is intuitive.

Intuition is an automatic, effortless process that uses rules of thumb and short cuts to simplify and quicken decision making. It tends to use information that is easily accessible and disregards others even though they may be more relevant. Accessibility enables us to interpret information and make decisions in a split second. Why certain items of information are more accessible than others is harder to explain.

It certainly has something to do with past experience, learned behaviour, salience and context. But it also seems to have a lot to do with the way a situation is framed.

Framing Effect

It may appear strange that our preferred choice can vary merely because a situation has been presented differently. This occurrence is called the effect of framing. It was demonstrated in an experiment by McNeil and others, who presented statistical data about the effects of surgery and radiation therapy on patients of lung cancer. The same information was presented to two groups in different ways.

Survival frame

Surgery: Of 100 people having surgery 90 live through the post-operative period, 68 are alive at the end of the first year, and 34 are alive at the end of five years.

Radiation therapy: Of 100 people having radiation therapy all live through the treatment, 77 are alive at the end of one year, and 22 alive at the end of five years.

Mortality frame

Surgery: Of 100 people having surgery 10 die during surgery or the post-operative period, 32 die by the end of the first year, and 66 die by the end of five years.

Radiation therapy: Of 100 people having radiation therapy, none die during treatment, 23 die by the end of one year, and 78 die by the end of five years.

In the group that was presented the information in the survival frame 18% favoured radiation therapy. However among those that were presented the mortality frame 44% opted for radiation therapy. Embarrassingly, the framing effect among experienced physicians was similar.

The majority of respondents preferred the riskier option when the information was framed in terms of mortality or loss frame, whereas they tended to make a conservative choice in the survival or gain frame. Similar effects of framing have been observed in many other experiments.

Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky explained this curious phenomenon as an effect of the way a decision problem is presented or framed.

It occurs because human beings are, by nature, loss averse.

When choices are framed between gains people tend to be risk averse. They tend to preserve and protect what they feel they have.

In choices framed between losses people prefer to take higher risk to make good a potential loss.

This shift, merely because a problem has been presented in different ways, is evidence of our limited rationality. That we are incapable of perfectly rational behaviour at all times makes us vulnerable to poor decisions as individuals and managers.

The insidious part of the problem is that we are not even aware of the machinations of our intuitive minds.

Intuition – help or hindrance?

Is intuition a bad thing, then? Heavens, no!

Intuition is a powerful faculty that is a product of tens of thousands of years of human evolution. Working by association and extension, it enables us to make judgment about complex situations in the blink of an eye. Without intuition we won’t be able to live.

But intuition is not very good at making judgment of uncertain events, especially future events. The associative process also creates other cognitive biases that blinker vision and compromise our best interests. Sometimes it leads to action that can leave observers aghast at the stupidity.

In October 2009 a young software engineer running late for his flight called the commercial manager of the airline to claim a bomb had been placed on board. Surprisingly he called from his own cell phone.

He was arrested on arrival at the Delhi airport. He has lost his job at a very reputed and large Indian company and now awaits a far worse outcome in the trial that will follow.

Perhaps the young man feared the cost of missing the flight and not keeping an important appointment with his boss or client. Or, a couple of previous missed appointments had led to warnings and he feared much worse in this instance.

It is likely that he saw the options between losses and opted for a high risk action oblivious of the consequences of tracing the call to him.

If we are prone to the effects of framing, how can we improve the quality of our decisions?

Unfortunately, leading behavioural scientists and cognitive psychologists have so far failed to provide definitive solutions. However, their experiments have yielded indicative directions that seem feasible.

Strategies for Better Decisions

Awareness. Knowledge of biases such as effects of framing can alert us to missteps. Greater awareness of our thoughts gives us the opportunity to bring our rational faculties to bear on the problem.

Audit. Audit of past decisions is a powerful source of learning. It serves as a feedback mechanism to reinforce processes that had led to good judgments. In time they become learned behaviour and enable instances of good judgment to become more accessible to intuition. Audit of one’s thinking is what is commonly called reflection but includes the additional step of embedding past learning.

Consultation. The case for wise counsel can hardly be over emphasised even though evidence of its efficacy may not be abundant in academic literature. Most people are unable to distinguish a preferred choice as intuitive from rational thinking. This blinds us to the possibility that our judgment may have been coloured by a particular frame.

A knowledgeable and impartial adviser, especially one who is schooled in the effects of framing, can suggest alternative ways of defining the problem and point out when our thoughts lean towards needless risk or unduly conservative choice.

Group dynamics. Are two minds better than one? Does it help to discuss an issue with people in one’s team?

Empirical observation points to the danger of like-minded people, as in a functional group or a small business unit, thinking alike. Indeed experiments have shown groups sometimes swing to greater extremes than individuals. This is usually a consequence of groupthink arising out of confirmation bias in which homogeneous groups believe in similar assumptions or hypotheses.

Empirical evidence does however point to bias neutralisation through debate . When alternative, even contrarian perspectives are brought into the open, the shades of framing seem to fall off. Experience shows heterogeneous groups are more likely to challenge conventional wisdom.

Conclusion

In spite of possessing perhaps the most miraculous product of nature, the human brain, we are destined to be imperfect. Fortunately, we can improve our strike rate of good decisions by becoming aware of the fact and that we need to intersperse intuition with critical thinking.

Mr. Bhattacharya is a Business Strategy Consultant based in Bangalore, India.
There is more information on him at www.vnbhattacharya.com.

This article was first published in the Journal of Indian Business Research, Vol. 2, No. 1 2010.

USEFUL LINKS

• Subscribe to the CorporateCoach RSS feed
• Choices, Values, and Frames Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky , Amazon UK
• Choices, Values, and Frames Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky , Amazon.com

According to Malcolm Gladwell, if you want to be a success, the first thing that you must do is to be born in January!

Then you need to choose the right year, so that you will be ready in 20 years for the next wave of the technology revolution!!

In his fascinating and easily readable book Outliers – The Story of Success Gladwell explores the features that have made very successful people so successful.

What it comes down to, is “10,000 hours.” 10,000 hours to reach mastery, and the earlier the better.

Because of the way the school system works, people born in the earlier part of the year are the oldest in their class. This means that when they are young their physical and mental development is significantly ahead of their classmates. As a result, they do best and, particularly in sports, they are picked out to be in the ‘A team’. The consequence of this is that they get more coaching, training and experience – as well as more adoration and positive feedback.

The more they get, the better they become. The better they become, the more they get.

The same applies in other skills such as software and music.

The great software successes were born at just the right moment in history. For different reasons, they each got accelerated experience at writing code, so that they were ready when the opportunities arose.

The book describes how Bill Gates started off by going to Lakeside, one of the few high schools in 1968 with a computer terminal for a main frame. He started intensive experience in his obsession when still young. By when the time came for him to launch Microsoft, he had already accumulated many thousand hours of programming. He was way ahead on the learning curve in a brand new industry.

It is, perhaps, well known that the young Beatles performed in Hamburg night clubs. I hadn’t appreciated the significance of this.

Whereas in their home country, the UK, they might have performed one or two sessions a night, in Hamburg they performed all day and night every day. They got in their 10,000 hours early in their career and, as a result, then got the success that brought them more and better experience.

Clearly, it helps to have latent talent, but for that talent to emerge you need application.

Another part of the book that I enjoyed explained how culture and groupthink can be negative – even leading to plane crashes – and how Korean Airlines transformed their safety record when they recognised this.

Why are Chinese people better at maths than Westerners? Because of the sound of the numbers’ names and the logical naming system. Chinese children find it easy to learn numbers so they start life with a positive attitude to mathematics. Not so in the West.

Why do Chinese work so hard? Because traditionally they grow rice rather than wheat.

Read the book and find out how this all makes sense.

This is an excellent book for coaches because it helps understand the context and parameters that lead to individual success, as well as how the impact of corporate and ethnic culture.

It is also a good read for parents. Even if they cannot arrange their family planning to maximise their children’s start at school, they will learn how to encourage them to make the best of the hand they were dealt.

I read this book last year and I am already tempted to read it again.

USEFUL LINKS

• Subscribe to the CorporateCoach RSS feed
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• Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell, Amazon.com

I have had a very good week. Amongst other things, I have become a published author.

A Wealth of bonuses

The Wealth Garden describes practical experience and application of Wealth Dynamics by 34 authors from around the world. This is the first time such experience has been brought together and is an example of the latest incarnation of publishing, including text, audio and video. A traditional book will follow in the summer.

If you purchase now, you also get $3,000 worth of bonus offers from the authors. It’s worth a look.

ISEC Coach Certification Program

Next, I hear from my colleague in India that there is enough interest in the Level Two module of our coach certification program for us to run it in July, when we shall also run a repeat of the Level One module. We had considered running it in November, but more likely in February next year, so this is great news.

Further, we are likely to get a grant in support of my travels to India over the rest of the year. The UK government has been very supportive of Brefi Group over the last few years as we have researched and established overseas ventures.

I haven’t yet visited our local Apple shop, but it seems probable that the iPad, launched in the UK this week, will be the solution to my international travel computer needs. I am desperate to reduce the weight of my carry-on luggage, and it will also be great for reading The Wealth Garden!

Birmingham Young Professional of the Year

However, the real highlight of the week has been the Birmingham Young Professional of the Year event at which we celebrate young professionals in Birmingham.

For the last four years I have been a director of Birmingham Forward, which was established in 1990 to promote the strength, range and depth of Birmingham’s business and professional services to the widest possible audience. At the same time we promote the region, as an ideal place to do business and lobby for improvements. For example, my particular responsibility is for transport.

Birmingham Future is a sister organisation for the under 35s professional staff at member firms.

Birmingham Young Professional of the Year (BYPY) is the highlight of the professionals’ year, when 750 members of Birmingham’s business community recognise and reward our most talented individuals. It is a black tie event at the International Convention Centre and is organised completely by Birmingham Future members themselves.

Candidates compete across six different categories:

• Communications
• Entrepreneurial
• Financial Services
• Legal
• Property & Construction
• Recruitment & Training

Birmingham Future also has an excellent mentoring scheme, organises events for graduates, works in schools and has established its own charitable trust.

Opportunities for personal development

There are many opportunities for professionals – young and old – to combine networking and developmental experience with contributing to society.

In the 1980s, I was a member of the committee of the Chartered Institute of Transport in South Wales and launched the Young Transportants Group. A few years ago the Institute of Directors West Midlands branch launched a Young Directors Forum.

Not only do these organisations allow members to network with others from different companies and disciplines, but they also give the leaders of the future an opportunity to emerge, gain experience on committees and contribute to the community.

A few years ago when I was responsible for developing the directors of companies within an international engineering group I was looking for a means of introducing my directors to people and experiences outside their normal environment. I discovered that the company was a member of a networking organisation with a wide and exclusive membership and regular lunches with politicians, opinion formers and exceptional achievers.

There are always opportunities to join a voluntary organisation, and maybe take on a non-executive directorship. These not only contribute to society but help people develop in their careers.

As coaches we should be on the lookout for such opportunities for our clients.

Which free chapter would you like?

“The Wealth Garden” is packed full of insights that you won’t find anywhere else, based on a unique wealth building system called Wealth Dynamics that’s delivered dramatic results for entrepreneurs on every continent.

Until now, only a lucky few thousand have had access to these secrets. They’ve seen how playing the right game, with the right team at the right time made all the difference – a massive difference, in fact – in their businesses and their lives.

Here’s a selection of their results:

• boring careers ditched
• high-growth businesses launched
• winning teams built
• fortunes transformed

If you’ve been working hard at “doing all the right things”, but not having the success you were hoping for, or it’s proving to be much harder work than it should, the 34 personalised stories we have to share with you will be one of the best investments you can make.

But don’t just take our word for it – take a few chapters out for a test drive with no obligation. 15 minutes that we’re sure you’ll enjoy and find highly insightful.

You’ll be able to find out how former church minister Petrus Carstens went from earning $2,000 per month to becoming a multi-millionaire in under 3 years. (He now runs highly sought after investment clubs around the world.)

Or how Australian Dr Joanna Martin went from a highly successful career in medicine to building a multi-million dollar “lifestyle business”.

And if you’re already feeling like you’re on top of the business world, you’ll learn vital secrets to keeping your business on track from international business coach Nick Haines.

All these are available: -

• Foreword by Dr. Topher Morrison
• Welcome to the Wealth Garden
• Wealth Dynamics Primer
• Breathe Life into Your Dreams by Dr. Joanna Martin
• Rewire Your Mindset…and Your Life by Petrus Carstens
• Coaching toward Lives of Least Resistance by Bert Verdonck
• The Time Is Now by Bea Benkova
• And It All Came Tumbling Down by Nick Haines

To pocket your complimentary chapters from the “The Wealth Garden” Multi-media book find out more now.

The authors in “The Wealth Garden” are connected by a desire to make a difference in the world. That’s why we’re delighted to announce that when you buy a copy of “The Wealth Garden”, a wealth-building teacher automatically receives two weeks’ training, thanks to the inspired work of The SAGE Foundation, whose work in India has been given special recognition by The Clinton Global Initiative.

The Sage Foundation seeks to build sustainable communities that provide enlightened education for children and wealth generating skills training for their families for creating extraordinary lives.

Looking at a holistic approach, SAGE attempts to enhance living conditions through quality education and social empowerment, focusing on health, environment and eradication of poverty. SAGE has started by adopting major slums in Mumbai and one hundred villages. Known for ethical excellence, its greatest strength is its credibility, visibility and networking base.

It will also focus on microfinance and creating self-help groups to empower women in small scale industries like making pickles, sauces and chutneys, for which ties are being created with organizations like Extraordinary Ones for buying their products.

The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) convenes global leaders to devise and implement innovative solutions to some of the world’s most pressing challenges. Since 2005, CGI members have made nearly 1,200 commitments valued at $46 billion. Already these commitments have impacted more than 200 million lives in 150 countries.

Setting well formed outcomes

The GROW model is a simple structure for moving from goals to actions.

However, there is often a difference between deciding what to do and actually doing it – consistently.

Setting well formed outcomes is an eight step process to ensure that you consider all the implications of a decision and deal effectively with anything that might stop you from succeeding.

We dealt with it in detail in a previous newsletter.

If you start to use the setting well formed outcomes questions, you will soon install them in your brain. In particular, you will begin to notice when statements and activities are not well formed, and be able to challenge them.

Resources

Follow this link to access a dynamic web form to use when making a decision.

Follow this link to download a printable form to use when making a decision.

Exercise

Print out several copies of the setting well formed outcomes sheet and use it.

Show it to your colleagues and use it when delegating – you will find it very useful in getting people to do things for you!

Keep these key questions in mind: -

What do I/we/you really want?

Is it within my/our/your control

What might stop me/us/you?

What is the first thing that I/we/you must do now?

They are particularly useful interventions for controlling discussion at meetings – or making sure they are followed up by actions.

Conclusion
Practising this process a few times will quickly install a mental discipline that will make you consistently more effective at making and implementing decisions.

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• On-line form – Setting well formed outcomes questionnaire

I recently ran a coaching workshop for L&T-Komatsu in Bangalore.

On the back cover of the notebooks available in the training department are a set of ‘Good Thoughts’ I thought you might find of interest.

• God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.
• Be willing to spend today for tomorrow’s growth.
• Education is the ability to meet life’s situations.
• The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.
• Learn to live with your mental doors unlocked so that you can let ideas come in.
• Accepting responsibility is accepting challenge.
• If you want to be a success, display courage to welcome failures.
• You better pay attention to your future because you are going to spend a lot of time there.
• Do not wait for the best idea. Implement the better idea; still better, and best will follow.
• It is foolish to learn things that one has to forget later on.

USEFUL LINKS

• Subscribe to the CorporateCoach RSS feed
• Executive Coaching and Mentoring
• The Indian School of Executive Coaching

Dear Reader

I’m very excited to share this news with. I am co-author in the new book called “The Wealth Garden”. It is an innovative online multimedia format with text, audio and video.

I have collaborated with more than 30 authors and, together, not only have we created this innovative book, but we have also put together a bonus package worth $3,000.

How’s that for readers of CorporateCoach?

I have often written about Wealth Dynamics, the revolutionary wealth creation profiling system? Based on the Chinese text the I Ching, Wealth Dynamics shows you how to tap into your natural flow by following one of the eight paths to wealth creation—a path unique to you and EASY to follow.

But how does Wealth Dynamics change your life? What happens after you learn your profile? How will the application of Wealth Dynamics help you to realize your dreams and attract real, lasting wealth?

Announcing my book

So, I’m very proud to be a co-author in the empowering new multimedia book, The Wealth Garden: The New Dynamics of Wealth Creation in a Fast-Changing Global Economy, in which I share my practical experience of Wealth Dynamics in action, along with more than 30 other leading entrepreneurs from five continents.

This cutting-edge online book allows you to experience our stories through text, audio and video!

Click here to meet these innovation entrepreneurs.

The Wealth Garden is a must-have book for anyone who wants to stop the chase and start attracting wealth, opportunity, resources, powerful connections and success in all areas of life. In this multimedia book I share valuable insights that come from working in alignment with my true purpose and Wealth Dynamics profile.

My story is but one of the dozens of empowering stories included in this collection. The knowledge and experience revealed in this book is truly awe-inspiring.

What you get

“The Wealth Garden” is packed full of insights that you won’t find anywhere else, based on the unique wealth building system called Wealth Dynamics that’s delivered dramatic results for entrepreneurs on every continent.

Until now, only a lucky few thousand have had access to these secrets. They’ve seen how playing the right game, with the right team at the right time has made all the difference – a massive difference, in fact – in their businesses and their lives.

Here’s a selection of their results:

• boring careers ditched
• high-growth businesses launched
• winning teams built
• fortunes transformed

If you’ve been working hard at “doing all the right things”, but not having the success you were hoping for, or it’s proving to be much harder work than it should, the 34 personalized stories we have to share with you will be one of the best investments you can make.

Test drive it yourself

But don’t just take our word for it – you can access a few chapters for a test drive with no obligation. 15 minutes that we’re sure you’ll enjoy and find highly insightful.

You’ll be able to find out how former church minister Petrus Carstens went from earning $2,000 per month to becoming a multi-millionaire in under 3 years. (He now runs highly sought after investment clubs around the world.)

Or how Australian Dr Joanna Martin went from a highly successful career in medicine to building a multi-million dollar “lifestyle business”.

And if you’re already feeling like you’re on top of the business world, you’ll learn vital secrets to keeping your business on track from international business coach Nick Haines.

Click here to pocket your complimentary chapters from the “The Wealth Garden” Multi-media book:

$3,000 of bonuses from the authors

AND, we have created a valuable gift package designed to help you take your business, your life, your future to the next level.

Find out about the massive bonus package here

I hope you will take advantage of this special offer on The Wealth Garden: The New Dynamics of Wealth Creation in a Fast-Changing Global Economy and gain access to these powerful tools.

Click here to hear how your life can be changed also.

If you’re looking for the easiest, most efficient, most enjoyable path to wealth creation, Wealth Dynamics is a powerful tool that will help you find it.

Stop chasing fortune. Start living the life you were meant to live. Experience The Wealth Garden TODAY.

I do hope that you will want to purchase this exciting new book – and benefit from the $3,000 of author bonuses.

Best wishes

Richard Winfield

The Wealth Garden
The New Dynamics of Wealth Creation in a 
Fast-Changing Global Economy

Thirty-four leading entrepreneurs reveal how to attract
lasting wealth.

I have found that Wealth Dynamics provides an excellent map, with your wealth profile acting as a personal compass, pointing the way to the most efficient route to wealth. In my case, this has enabled me to take my business to significant new levels, via strategies that are tuned specifically to my profile and my business.

What is YOUR easiest, most joyful, most effective path to wealth?

Wealth Dynamics is a profiling system created by Roger Hamilton, world-renowned speaker on wealth creation, bestselling author and founder of The XL Group, the world’s leading network of social entrepreneurs.

Based on the ancient wisdom of the Chinese text the I Ching, Wealth Dynamics shows how each of us can tap into our unique path to value and wealth creation.

In this collection of insightful, real world accounts of the power of Wealth Dynamics, trailblazing entrepreneurs from five continents empower you to:

• Discover your true value and natural path to wealth creation.

• Leverage your natural talents and abilities

• Live and work in alignment with your purpose

• Attract REAL, LASTING WEALTH.

In addition, you get access to $3,000 of bonuses from the authors (see below).

“Magic in business is about knowing how to increase your chances of success by following some simple rules to build the right team…the profiling tools of Wealth Dynamics are perfect for this. I use Wealth Dynamics every single day when mentoring entrepreneurs.“

from the chapter by Mike Southon, leading entrepreneur mentor and co-author
of several bestselling books, including The Beermat Entrepreneur

Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. BONUS GIFTS Buy THE WEALTH GARDEN Multimedia book and you will receive truly amazing bonus gifts created to help you leverage your Wealth Dynamics profile and create the life of your dreams! You know there is a better way, a smarter way, an easier way. You know your dream is not impossible. And you know you were meant for greatness. Now get the tools you need to attract the amazing life you deserve. Buy your copy of THE WEALTH GARDEN today and gain access to bonus gifts that will help you catapult your entrepreneurial dreams into reality. More from the Foreword by bestselling author Topher Morrison: "Twenty thousand entrepreneurs worldwide have taken the online profile test, and this book contains real-life stories from thirty-four of them applying Wealth Dynamics in their businesses. Several of these authors are friends of mine, and I know that these insights have made a tangible difference to their businesses. Finding and following our natural path in life is critical to playing at our highest level, and making our greatest contribution." Start working in alignment with who you really are. Build flourishing teams and thriving businesses. Embark on a new path, your true path to wealth. Buy this Multimedia book TODAY. Free Bonus Gifts FREE gift from Richard Winfield Richard Winfield is the founder and principal consultant of The Brefi Group. He is a strategy consultant, facilitator and scenario planner who provides transition coaching to directors, boards and partnerships and helps them develop strategy and build teams. His instinctive creativity is in establishing objectives, defining strategies and assessing priorities. Gift 1: “Board Performance Evaluation and Director Appraisal” value £25 This report explains the roles and responsibilities of directors and boards, and how to improve performance by evaluation and appraisal. 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Then in 2006 my world changed… I had a bad fall that landed me in hospital and then virtually bedbound for six months, in severe pain and unable to continue in my old world. Suddenly, I was forced to rethink everything. Once I got back on my feet, I promised myself I’d make it my mission to spread the word about these powerful, proven strategies that have made such a difference for my patients over the past 26 years: making better decisions, avoiding the previous “see-saw” nature of their success, achieving real flow. That’s why for the first time ever, I’m sharing these powerful discoveries with a wider audience, and I’m delighted to give you this free bonus, as a thank you for your Wealth Garden book purchase: Our Energies– Why We Think, Feel and Act As We Do: a 20 min video showing you the missing key to business and personal development that has people waiting two years to see me. Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. 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The one mistake that most of us make regularly, that leads to making the WRONG DECISIONS – and the simple question you can ask yourself to avoid it. The two foundational laws of prosperity and how without both you will experience regular frustration in the pursuit of your financial and lifestyle goals. The Security Myth and how it holds most of us trapped in mediocrity, never fully taping into the potential we have. And much MUCH more… Value: $79.00 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Adrian Ponnampalam Just as every athlete has a coach to propel them forward, Adrian Ponnampalam is a catalyst coach for business owners, investors and entrepreneurs. Having had many opportunities to coach clients on their Wealth Profiles for over 4 years now, Adrian has acquired a practical handle on connecting people to what they need. Coaching on strategy, Wealth Dynamics Profile and success, Adrian catapults his clients on their journey to abundance and fulfilment. Gift #1: How to Unlock Your Hidden Goldmine! – Value $57 In this report, you will discover: Discover The Only Secret To Achieving Success! Unveil The 4 P’s That Create Value from Your Self And Business Learn To Recognise the Appropriate Leverage for Your Value The 5 Things That Will Hold You Back And How To Break Free From Them. Gift #2: Save $100 on Next Step Coaching Programme With this offer, you will be able to: Get Clarity On What Your Wealth Dynamics Profile Means Specifically To You Get A Working Appreciation Of Your Position Within The Wealth Dynamics Matrix Get Exactly What Stage You Are At Now In Your Journey. More Importantly, Know And Be Prepared For The Next 2 Stages. Know What You Need To Achieve Your Goals. Total Value: $157 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Helen Bichel Helen is a successful entrepreneur who sold her last recruitment business for $1m – her talent and passion is helping people realise their dreams by creating alignment and value; fostering self mastery, and empowering everybody on the team in her wealthy workplace business & team coaching programs. Free Gift: e-book WINK by Roger Hamilton This book holds the keys to your wealth. Each time you read the book, you will see a little better until, one by one, you will unlock the doors to your wealth. Bonus Offer #1: ½ Hour Business Coaching Call Help clarify your business cycle in view of creating a high performance team that will achieve the results and success you aspire to. Total Value USD $125, Pay just $37 Bonus Offer #2: 1 Wealth Dynamic profile test + 30 minute coaching call Covers profile insights, strengths and talents, self mastery and creating flow in all areas of your life. Total Value USD$200, Pay only USD$97 Bonus Offer #3: 1 Wealth Dynamics profile test + 1 hr Coaching Call To discover and master you own wealth path, and create to achieve business.  Total Value USD$375, Pay only USD$179 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Gina Lazenby Connect with Your Inner Wisdom and Create True Business Success A 7-Step Guide Never Shared Before! Gina has a wide range of skills from her years as MD of her own award-winning PR & Marketing consultancy then making a complete career change to open the first personal development centre in London in the early 1990s. She followed that with creating the world’s first professional training programme in Feng Shui winning an award for putting this ancient wisdom on the map in the UK. Her three books on this have sold half a million copies. Since then Gina has become a champion for women entrepreneurs offering a unique coaching programme to help them access their own inner wisdom. She also runs life-changing Business Wisdom retreats for women in her famous retreat home which has been featured on television several times. Gina’s passion is to bring feminine wisdom to the world of commerce. She feels that the challenges that we face in these turbulent times call for solutions that desperately need new thinking and that involves feminine wisdom, something that has been missing from the higher levels of companies and government. She is keen to support women in moving forward to take on this role. Gina’s bonus is a 7-step guide to your Wisdom Journey given as a coaching hand-out and reviewed in three powerful 6-minute videos. One video expands in greater depth on the first step which is about making your home a personal wisdom space. Gina’s signature skill is to blend ancient wisdom, spiritual insights and practical business advice. Value: $147 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Martyn Anstey 5 Steps to 8 Figures, with Little or No Money Marketing Over 95% of companies fail within 3 years. On top of that, only 15% of the survivors manage over $1million in revenue. Don’t let your business become just another disappointing statistic. Martyn Anstey is the founder of marketOXYGEN, a company on a mission to transform the planet by helping launch and grow companies through effective business, sales and marketing strategies and systems that work in the real world. Plus access to capital, investment advisory services to maximize company valuations but most importantly, access to a world-class team of people who have been there, done it and succeeded. Long story short, Martyn knows exactly what it takes to get a business to succeed and grow long-term. Find out the 5 key steps to catapult your business to 8 figures and beyond with little or no money marketing systems which work in the real world during these uncertain economic times. You will learn strategies and distinctions that you can use and profit from straight away in your business. Learn from a leading entrepreneur and marketing and business strategist who has catapulted Financial Times, National Geographic, Fox International and Huggies to new heights. Value: $199 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Amber Ludwig & Marty Dickinson Is the Internet producing all the leads and sales for your business that you hoped for? Are you able to maintain your own website content or do you have to pay your designer every time you want even a small text change? Since 1996, HereNextYear, Inc. has helped authors, speakers and business owners to take control of their Internet promotion process and dominate their industry online presence. Gift: The Ultimate Web Essentials Guidebook – Value $179.00 Part 1: Do-it-Yourself Website Evaluation Checklist Part 2: Getting BRUTAL with Google…and Bing! Part 3: How to Get 300 Minutes of Social Networking Benefit for Every 30 Minutes You Spend Part 4: Converting Your Website Visitors to Leads and Sales as if Your Next Meal Depended on it Part 5: 101 Realistic Methods for Driving Targeted Traffic to Your Website Bonus A: Essential Website Pre-Flight Document for Planning Your New Website Bonus B: 11 Questions to Ask a Website Designer Before You Hire One Bonus C: “Web Hands” – Outsourcing Your Internet Marketing Tasks and Keeping Control of the Process Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Sheri Greenwell How You Could Be Getting More Out of Your Business, Now What if Sheri had the tools, resources and international experience to tell you how you can: Create an enviable business reputation and become an industry leader Navigate triumphantly through chaos and change Create the business and financial success you originally wanted Internationally experienced capacity enrichment strategist, consultant, coach, training facilitator, speaker and writer Sheri Greenwell is a prominent business thought leader out of New Zealand. For more than 20 years, Sheri has researched effective business strategies from wide-ranging disciplines including key business success practices and various compliance disciplines, to human dynamics such as communication, learning, leadership and motivation. She then found her niche, to apply those strategies in surprising new ways to get remarkable results. She has helped numerous organizations to successfully navigate crisis and change, communicate more effectively with customers and co-workers, engage employees more fully, lead more effectively, and achieve financial gains as a result of getting priorities right and taking appropriate actions. Your Business Self-Assessment Pack and Introductory Offer includes: Gift 1: A powerful 20-minute audio guide, “What Every Healthy Business Needs to Succeed” Gift 2: Business Self-Assessment Checklist to instantly identify your core trouble _points?_ Gift 3: Introductory 20-minute No-obligation Consultation to discuss your present and how to grow into an even more profitable future Sheri can and will show you how to get more from your business, today. Value: $297 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Judy Hamilton From Stuck to Spectacular! Judy Hamilton is a certified Wealth Dynamics Master Practitioner (there are currently only 6 certified WDMPs world-wide!) with a BA in Psychology, obtained a PostGraduate Diploma in Clinical Hypnosis, Master Coach & Trainer in NLP, and LifeLine Practitioner. Judy has over 20 years managerial experience in the corporate world as well as a background in counseling, training and bodywork. How can her extensive training and experience benefit you? In this 20-minute audio bonus offer, Judy provides you with a valuable overview of the different Wealth Dynamics profiles, and then gives insight into the practical application of Wealth Dynamics through a looking glass of real-life cases. If you are ready for a lasting transformational change, yet feeling “stuck” in some way, Judy’s introduction to the power of actively using this knowledge (consciously knowing your natural talents & strategies) could be just what you need to get peace of mind and move away from what is holding you back personally or professionally. You’ll discover how to work with the unconscious and re-pattern the blockages that once controlled your pace and direction. It’s time to get educated, access your strengths, and move forward with ease. Value: $67 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Susan Paul Susan Paul, CEO of Eternal Alliances, is an international mediator. An employment law specialist, she has over 20 years’ experience as a UK lawyer and was appointed as an Employment Judge for the UK Ministry of Justice, a position she held for 5 years. Susan is passionate about mediation. She created Eternal Alliances in 2008 to raise her clients’ awareness of the power of the mediation process to resolve conflict, repair broken relationships and create successful, lasting solutions for all parties involved – whatever the scale of the dispute. Susan’s offer, “10 Tips For Handling Your Own Mediation”, is a simple yet authoritative guide that will empower you to create a win-win settlement of any dispute, whether family or work-related, saving you valuable time, money and stress, and restoring your peace of mind. Value: $397 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Dr Sue Barley Tap Into Your Source of Power to Get the Most Out of the Wealth Garden Book Massive changes are occurring on our planet – earthquakes, volcano eruptions, economies in peril, mass-scale job layoffs. This level of change is reflected in humankind leading to a shift in consciousness, a new spirituality, opportunities for growth, a blank canvas to create the life we always wanted. How can you use these changes to your advantage? How can you move through the hurdles of life with grace and fierce determination to live the life you deserve? Sue can show you how. Sue started her career by achieving a PhD in Chemistry. Combining logical and intuitive methods, Sue discovered how to get in touch with the “Internal Compass” we all have. By tapping into that resource, Sue detected a source of power that would allow individuals to become the most magnificent version of themselves. Within Sue’s audio guide, which has never been offered before, she takes you through a process of finding and working with your own Internal Compass. She will help you make the shift, to move forward – to act from inspiration. Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Sandra Epstein Hidden Healing Secrets of Araretama – Opening the Pandora’s box here on Earth Special eBook and Online Video Meditation Imagine that you could access the hidden secret of the most bio-diverse place on Earth for your growth, wealth and well-being… Atlantic Rainforest in Brazil is that place. It is the richest place on Earth – in terms of its biology. Like the fantasy world of Pandora we’ve seen in the movie Avatar, if appreciated and properly accessed its bio-diversity provides an unthinkable gift of healing and harmonization for our bodies, minds and emotions. Sandra Epstein – a healer, photographer, and educator – lives in the Atlantic Rainforest. She has dedicated the past 19 years of her life to develop a unique skill to extract the gift of the rainforest into a usable form for each and every one of us through her system of essences and teachings called Araretama. Download Sandra’s Special eBook Becoming the Path that demystifies Araretama and its potent healing power for you. In addition, you get an exclusive access to her online video meditation that combines beautiful pictures of the Atlantic Rainforest with harmonizing tribal music. Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Deb Maybury GET IT DONE and Accomplish Your Goals, Desires and Plans with Lightening Speed In Deb Maybury’s 20-minute audio bonus, you will discover how to combine the mind energy, power and discipline of the martial arts with the inspiration of achievement found within the world famous Wealth Dynamics program. Used together, any roadblocks in your path to progress will be crying for mercy! If you want to eliminate “try” and “someday” from your to-do list and are ready to reach a whole new level of action-driven performance then here’s your first test — Sign-up now to get immediate access to Deb’s message. Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Nikki Slade Experience the On-Demand Audio Track that Law of Attraction and Abraham-Hicks groups in the UK Love With purchase of the Wealth Garden book, Nikki offers an on-demand audio download of ‘Deep Meditation’ / Warm Globe from her very popular CD “Soundscape”. It is a supreme accompaniment that can assist you in creating your individual and company dreams and to enrich and fulfil your personal and professional vision. This is a unique track which has become increasingly popular with a wide range of clients, from Yoga students to business men and women. As well as a leading edge tool in Law of Attraction/Abraham-Hicks groups in the UK due to the vibrational alignment that listeners experience with the CD. Nikki Slade has pioneered voice and sound work in the UK since 1990. She offers individual and group Voicework to everyone from corporations to performers and the general public. Nikki Slade’s mission is to create an empowering space where individuals Free their Inner Voice. She brings this transformational gift to organisations, stimulating a Chemistry at Work that liberates creative self-expression, unites teams and aligns company vision, progressing towards the realisation of corporate goals. Value: $15 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Elizabeth Reveley and Dr. Greg Gerber Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. Invest yourself in yourself for yourself in consciousness…now Your life is all about you …where you focus your attention…to direct your energy…to create your habits and ultimately your life in each moment, with each breath. We are Elizabeth – retired owner and director of a renowned institute for massage therapy and spiritual healing and Dr. Greg – retired after 25 years as chief of Internal Medicine at SW Memorial Hospital and medical director at seven rehab centers, Houston, Texas – international trainers and experts in the sacred arts of alchemy. Throughout our careers, we are privileged to have been with extraordinary masters and have studied a wide variety of eastern and western healing modalities. We thrive on our entrepreneurial careers as educators, authors, and visionary creative spirits. Today, we are delighted to offer you a bonus that is ongoing and free. Get immediate access to our Radical Self Care newsletter and each month you will receive some of the most unique and rewarding instruction and support to help you slow down and be present, passionate, and watch your visions come alive. Now that’s Radical Self-Care! Plus, upon sign-up, you will get immediate access to a specially selected package of our 10 most provocative articles from past newsletters. Join us in Radical Self Care! Value: There is nothing to buy, nowhere else to go, nothing more to do. Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Samantha Kelly Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. The Unlived Life: Putting an End to the Great Divide Between the Life You Want and the Life You Have As a natural ambassador, Samantha Kelly now focuses her career toward promoting entrepreneurship for ex-offenders. Whilst working in prisons, Samantha noticed the deep talents of individuals that are unused or used in ways that are detrimental to others. She has committed herself to establishing pathways and enterprises that allow ex-offenders to reintegrate into society in ways that are meaningful and productive to all. Samantha is an inspirational speaker who conveys a powerful vision and shares her experiences with an honesty that touches the hearts of all who hear her. After having identified that suffering is primarily about the “Unlived Life”, Samantha combined that discovery with teachings from powerful mentors such as Anthony Robbins and Jack Canfield to create a jam-packed audio bonus for instant download. Samantha educates on the 6 Human Needs according to Anthony Robbins and offers powerful examples of how and why these Needs drive us to create the life we have. Then, by asking the challenging question, “Why is there is such a gap between the lives we want to live and the lives we are living?”, Samantha takes you to the next step, which is to identify what you want and how to get it – a highly valuable exercise derived from Jack Canfield. You are now invited to discover your own limiting beliefs, become conscious of them and then let them go so you can create the life you long for. Value: $47 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more.   FREE gift from Mark Craig Simply Ask Strategies and the “Simply Ask” group of enterprises are committed to the health of both businesses and Individuals. It was founded by Mark Alexander Craig, a master practitioner of NLP and Wealth Dynamics. Having been coached and mentored by some of the most well known and respected coaches and mentors in the world, Mark now provides new insights through his own coaching practice, incorporating all the modalities he has learned. Mark brings out the best in you, and opens up new possibilities. His favorite question, as explored in this audio clip, is: “Would it be possible if…..?” With a background in the health service, and trained in Holistic therapies including Hypnotherapy and Essential Oils, Mark stays up to date with healthcare as a pharmacist registered with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, and a highly experienced facilitator within the healthcare sector. Value: $47 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Margaret Hamar Margaret Hamar BA, Postgraduate Dip. in Psychology, MAPS is a psychologist who has followed her passion for empowering others to be the best they can be, to help them tap their true potential and optimize their performance in life. A Master Practitioner, she uses Wealth Dynamics through her business “Your Wealth Key” to bring others into better relationship with themselves and others. Gift 1: MP3 download and workbook: “How To Harness The 3 Fundamental Keys Successful People Use To Create Wealth To Fast Track Your Path To Success” Value $39.00 With this MP3 audio and Workbook you will discover how to harness the 3 fundamental keys successful people use to create wealth and how to apply it to your life to create extraordinary success! Gift 2: Success Articles: Value $197 You will also receive Success Articles delivered to your inbox every 2 weeks containing ‘how to’ tips to work smarter, not harder, make more money and get the results you want! When it comes to your success and getting ahead, whether it be in business building, your career or wealth creation, the proven step by step system from YOUR WEALTH KEY will show you how to work smarter, not harder. Value: $236 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Jo Ward Jo Ward is a social entrepreneur, presenter and intuitive coach who inspires and educates Entrepreneurs, Ethical businesses and Star performers. Jo uses the principles of Wealth Dynamics and Natural Universal Energies to transform and shift any challenges to enjoying a fulfilling life. As an expert in the evolution of human consciousness, spirituality and human behaviour, Jo has helped and taught 1000’s of people to raise their vibration to increase the natural flow of wealth. With a sound knowledge of Hypnotherapy, NLP, Wealth Dynamics, Time Line Therapy® and Huna, coupled with business know how, Jo is an insightful individual who opens your eyes to a new positive way of living. Gifts: “The Secrets To Mastering Wealth Flow Package” Gift #1: “How To Do What You Love And Be Healthy & Wealthy Using Wealth Dynamics” Audio & Meditation Gift #2: “How To Create Law of Attraction In 9 Easy Steps.” E-Book Gift #3: ‘Wake Up To Your True Self and be the Supreme Being You Were Born to Be.” Audio Gift #4: “Why Not Live A Conscious Life With Money Working For You….” Audio Gift #5: “47 Top Tips To Create Financial Success” E-Book Value $297.00 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Bernadette Willems Imagine being able to protect your children from the anger and hostility you suffer from as your relationship brakes down. Imagine if you could protect those delicate relationships which exist between a child and his parents, irrespective of your feelings for your ex-partner. Imagine being able to enjoy all the milestones in your children’s lives without your children having to worry about having mum and dad attend the same event. These two bonus gifts from Bernadette Willems will help guide you through the stress and trauma of a relationship breakdown, and highlight the ways in which you can achieve the best possible outcome for you, your children and even your ex-partner! As a lawyer mediator Bernadette Willems is widely known and respected in professional circles, and has been a guest speaker at many European and International Mediation Conferences. She heads a very successful mediation company, Greater Manchester Mediation Limited. Bernadette’s vast experience as a lawyer and mediator has helped thousands of people mediate their divorce or separation, ensuring the children’s needs are met and enabling adults to move on with their lives. Report Value: $75.00 E-book Value: $19.99 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more. FREE gift from Melinda Woolf The Abundance Mastery Course™ The Abundance Mastery Course is your step-by-step guide and tool in creating infinite love, light, and abundance in your life. In this automated level 1 course, you will begin the journey of discovering your greatest purpose by clearing connecting and activating your consciousness in alignment with the principles of wealth and thriving in your life. Includes The Abundance Mastery curriculum e-book and step-by-step guided system with tools to support you through this process of realization. Are YOU ready to? Move from Survival to Thriving in Realizing Health & Wealth in YOUR life now! Awaken & Connect with YOUR greatest purpose & innermost Creativity now! Commit fully to yourself, YOUR Purpose, & the embodiment of Leadership & Integrity in YOUR life, community, and relationships now! Update & Up-Level Your Sacred Contracts & Agreements, & establish Loving, Supportive & Collaborative Relationships in YOUR Life now! Connect and realize YOUR collaborative partnerships, resources, and support in service to YOUR purpose now! As an additional bonus, you will also receive the audio recordings for The Abundance Mastery Course Level 1, which includes 5 + hours of recordings of course materials, plus bonus abundance mediations and activations. Value: $333 Visit The Wealth Garden and find out more.