B USINESS S UMMARIES

kn o w l e d g e | b e s t p r a c ti c e s | i n n o v a ti o n

BOOM!
7 Choices For Blowing The Doors
Off Business-As-Usual

Kevin and Jackie Freiberg

Thomas Nelson Books, 2007
286 pages

the big idea

When you realize your career and your reputation is a result of choices and not
conditions, the effect is absolutely liberating. You begin to think big and act bold.
You become impassioned and engaged. Co-workers look to you for leadership
and inspiration. You become more accountable and involved in closing the gap
between the corporate culture you envision and the one in which you work. In a
word, you become “indispensable” on the job.

After twenty years of talking to America’s most innovative and unconventional

business leaders and accountable employees, the Freibergs have distilled this
collective wisdom into seven essential choices. If you are ready to move from a
life stuck in neutral to the freedom of seeing work as an exciting and passionate
adventure, then BOOM! is your ticket.

Expand your influence and engage in work that matters!

Leadership is a choice! Leadership doesn’t come from titles, positions or DNA.

Leaders choose—they choose to serve others, take on risk, assume responsibility
and discover a life where passion and excitement replace ho-hum routine.

August 9, 2010
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the authors

Drs. Kevin and Jackie Freiberg are two of the most influential voices
on the professional-speaking circuit today. Their mission: to create
corporate cultures where impassioned people exercise the freedom to
make a difference and change the world! The Freibergs have coau-
thored the international bestseller NUTS! Southwest Airlines’ Crazy
Recipe for Business and Personal Success and GUTS! Companies that
Blow the Doors off Business-As-Usual. They have been interviewed
by CBS’s 60 Minutes and appeared on CNBC and the CBS Morning
News for their insights on the links between gutsy leaders, passionate
employees, cultures of accountability, and loyal customers.

value
BOOM! Is a wake up call for every person who wants to make a differ-
ence and every business leader who wants to change the cultural DNA
of an organization doing business as usual.

Buy the book at http://www.amazon.com/Boom-Choices-Blowing-

Doors-Business-As-Usual/dp/B001M5UJ26/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=
UTF8&qid=1281325946&sr=1-2.

Know more about the Freibergs at http://www.freibergs.com/.

BOOM! | © BusinessSummaries 2010

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nutshell
CHOICE #1 BE A PLAYER, NOT A BYSTANDER
Extraordinary Happens When Ordinary People Choose to Do Whatever
It Takes

On the field of life, we are all called to be players and to actively engage in
winning the game. Players are focused on bringing energy, passion, heart
and soul to the game. Players get joy and meaning through their contribu-
tions. Players have a powerful bond and loyalty to their team, and players
always strive to win and make a difference.

Players choose to “be there,” and you can count on them to bring their all
to the competition.

Do you choose to bring your all to the game?

You may not be able to look into a crystal ball and discover the future, but
you should do something, because when you understand how your roles
and responsibilities contribute to achieving the vision, strategy, and goals
for growth, you take a huge step toward being a player!

What can you do?

• Lead a weekly/biweekly or monthly forum, with the goal of creating

open lines of communication between you, your colleagues, and your boss.

• Stop rumors and never trust secondhand information. When it’s pos-
sible, make data-driven decisions – go directly to the source for accurate
information.

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• Look for information that describes the direction, objectives, and

vision for the future of the business—and commit to playing hard to get
there!

• Think about how your talents and your work projects will help drive
business success; then get in the game and just do it.

• Benchmark the competition. Study and know them. Visit their web
“Think about sites. Look at their ads, marketing, and PR pieces. Read their press releas-
es… and visit them if you can. Borrow what you learn.
how your tal-
ents and your • Study the market realities and trends in your industry, listen to the
work projects futurists and industry experts, and then apply their observations to your
business.
will help drive
business suc-
cess; then get
in the game
and just do it.”
CHOICE # 2 BE ACCOUNTABLE
There is No “THEY” Only You and Me

Get in touch with the impact you have on others. Think of the positive
impact you could have on your organization if you had the guts to go to
those who receive the output of your work and ask, “What are the top rea-
sons I’m difficult to do business with? “What headaches does our depart-
ment create for your department?” If you decide to do this, here is a note of
caution: Overcome the urge to be defensive by rationalizing or justifying
your behavior, instead accept the feedback, learn and change.

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Blaming is a fundamental part of human nature. It’s a coping mecha-

nism we learned when we were young. When we felt threatened or
angry or vulnerable, we used it, and it worked. In fact, it worked so well
that we perfected it as adults.

If we can’t be blamed, we are safe, right? Wrong. The problem is that

you will never get to the cause of your misfortune and therefore never
get on with living the life you want by pointing the finger at others.
Blaming may make you feel good temporarily, but in the end it will only
leave you stuck in the situation – a lousy relationship with your boss,
a job that sucks the life out of you, a culture that values bureaucracy
and politics over making things happen – that is making you unhappy.
Blaming only perpetuates the problem. Own the problem! Be account-
able, think and act like an owner (even if you aren’t one).

Refuse to Play the Blame Game.

Whoever they are for you, we challenge you not to let them lock you
behind the walls of anger and resentment. Instead grow, stretch and
learn from informed feedback, we dare you to conduct an audit of your
gifts, talents and blind spots and examine the potential you have to make
a mark in the world.

Being a victim is a choice, much of which hinges on our failure to be

accountable for our own outcomes in life. Choose to be accountable and
embrace them as you and me!

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CHOICE # 3 CHOOSE SERVICE OVER SELF-INTEREST

Me–First Rarely Delivers the Desired Outcome

When your contribution takes the form of service to others, your work
suddenly starts to come alive with meaning. And you don’t have to be
Gandhi or Mother Teresa. Service isn’t reserved to helping the poor, wait-
ing tables or working behind a counter. It’s just like Bob Dylan said: “We
all have to serve somebody,” and no matter what your job is, there are
real people – in your company and outside of it – who depend on you for
“Serve some- some kind of service.

one who really

But service is more than helping others, because being of service is
needs a lift, we the greatest gift you can give yourself. As Gandhi said, “The fragrance
guarantee you’ll always remains on the hand that gives the rose.” Just as we know that the
most joyous holidays are the ones where we give, not receive, the most,
be lifted in the so the greatest joy in work is when you make your work a form of service.
process.”
When self–indulgence becomes the norm, our egos become the center
of the universe, and feeding them becomes priority number one. “I am
the world” becomes the refrain in the song that plays in the back of our
minds. Of the many addictions that tempt us in the world, none is as pow-
erful as self–addiction. But a me–first attitude rarely delivers the expected
outcome, it always leaves us wanting more and in constant search of sig-
nificance.

Taking the focus off of you and putting it on others is not an easy thing to
do. If you want to make a difference in the world, it’s only going to hap-
pen through service, and it’s only going to happen if you make it happen.
Try it—pay it forward, give without any expectation of acknowledge-
ment. Serve someone who really needs a lift, we guarantee you’ll be
lifted in the process.

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CHOICE # 4 FOCUS FORWARD

Your Future Isn’t in the Rearview Mirror

The most important thing about you today is not where you’ve been, it’s where
you are going. Your attitude and motivation in the present are shaped by your
view of the future. So what is your vision for the kind of leader you want to
become in the near future? We’re convinced focusing forward will help you
realize that vision.

The benefits to focusing forward are many, but here are five that are pretty
compelling and might just accelerate your ability to become a leader people
want to follow:

1. Focusing forward enables you to overcome defeats and roadblocks.

Focusing forward has the potential to elevate hope, and without hope you’ve
got nothing.

2. Focusing forward enables you to transcend petty preoccupations.

Focusing forward is about the bigger “YES” in our lives. It’s about what you
ultimately want to accomplish.

3. Focusing forward enables you to improve decisions and performance.

Focusing forward is about emphasizing your strengths versus your weakness-
es, what you do right versus what you do wrong, and what you can do versus
what you can’t do.

4. Focusing forward enables you to raise the level of problem solving.

Learning to focus on solutions expands our problem-solving capacities. The
more we exercise this muscle the stronger it will become.

5. Focusing forward enables you to create team unity. When people focus
forward, they naturally become less defensive and more accountable. They are
more likely to look in the mirror than look for someone to blame.

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CHOICE # 5 PLAY TO YOUR GENIUS

Your Work Is a Statement About You

Your work matters. And the sooner you realize that, the sooner you can
begin to change your life. As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to
you when you’re busy making other plans.” If you don’t plan for your life
to matter, guess what? It won’t, at least not to the extent you wish it did.
The work you do – in fact, everything you do – is a statement about who
you are. Why not choose to make it a masterpiece?

So how do you get there? Where do you start?

You begin by changing your perceptions about your work. Whatever it is

you do, look for the meaning and value beyond the task itself. And here’s a
hint: work is not meaningless. All work has meaning. All work can make a
difference.

To play to your genius, ask 3 questions:

1. What am I good at?

2. What do I love doing?
3. What needs to be done?

Find a way to overlap your answers to these questions and you will discov-
er your sweet spot and be more inclined to Play to Your Genius and realize
the meaning in your work.

If you ask ten people who know you well what you’re good at you may be
surprised at their answers. They may already have very clear ideas about
where your talents lie.

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We often ask people, “If you’re not happy, why don’t you change?” The
answer we most commonly hear: “I don’t have a choice. It’s too risky. I’ve
invested twenty years of my life in this career!” We then respond, “You
always have a choice. If you’ve lost the last twenty years of your life, don’t
lose the next twenty!”

It’s your life, and it’s the only one you’ve got. The work you do is a statement
“It’s your of who you are. If you want your life to matter, then you have to transform
your work into something you are turned on about. It’s your choice, rediscov-
life, and it’s er the meaning in your work—look around, what needs to be done? Find a
the only one way to play to your genius and engage—do what you are good at and do what
love!
you’ve got.”

CHOICE # 6 GET IT DONE

Success Is the Reward for Those Who Make a Difference
Right now someone somewhere is training to kick your butt. When you
stop bringing something of value to the game, the game is over (whether
you realize it or not).

What happens when you create vitality, energy, and buzz in an organization?
Well, you are certainly more visible, and you have more of a voice than oth-
ers. Your ideas will carry more weight and have more influence on the busi-
ness. That means you have a better shot at getting other people to rally around
your ideas.

Whether it’s calling to check in from a different time zone in the middle of
the night, going the extra mile to research an issue, filling in when you are
short staffed. Or connecting you to significant others in their network, people
will give you more of their discretionary time and energy.

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People who choose to “get it done” hang with the best. Why, because
thoroughbreds like to run with other thoroughbreds. People seek out
people who energize them. That means you have a better shot at put-
ting together project teams that win. Do this enough and BOOM – you
will build a reputation as someone the organization can trust with big-
ger or more important assignments. Do you bring the same level of
energy and passion to the game as those you admire?

Here are some things to consider if you want to become a get it done
“buzz agent” and bring more life to others and infuse more energy into
the organization.

Give people a voice. When you create room for people to “weigh in”
with their ideas, you value them – even if you disagree with them.
When we are valued, we feel more vital to the organization. One of the
greatest ways we can energize people is by asking for their insight, lis-
tening without distraction, and acting upon what we learn.

Build Momentum. Have you ever arrived at the end of an extremely

busy day and felt as though you accomplished nothing? We all want to
know that we are making a difference. People get energized when they
are going somewhere. You can help this along by being action oriented
– by creating a sense of urgency.

Entitlement Sucks– Banish it from Your Thinking. Entitlement is

grounded in the belief that if I make a sacrifice for you or for the orga-
nization –you owe me! At some point each of us has to wake up to the
fact that society is better served and we are better served when we stop
claiming rights that we haven’t earned and step up to the plate of meri-
tocracy.

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You stand a much better chance of getting it done and making a differ-
ence when you recognize that you earn your way into more responsibil-
ity, more autonomy, higher visibility, bigger jobs, more important roles,
and better pay.

There are three myths, three points of confusion that entangle many of
us. Each contributes to an entitlement mentality, and each diminishes our
“Just because effectiveness as energizers, and “buzz agents”:

you put in a
Myth # 1: Fairness = Equality
lot of time and
expend a lot of It’s easy to confuse these two concepts. People who operate from an
effort does not entitlement mentality frequently complain that they are not being treated
fairly, when what they really mean is they want equality.
mean you are
adding value. ” Myth # 2: Busyness = Results

Just because you put in a lot of time and expend a lot of effort (look and
act busy) does not mean you are adding value. Do not confuse activity
with accomplishment.

Myth # 3: Longevity = Loyalty

No one is paying you today for what you did yesterday. You cannot rest
on yesterday’s headline. The shelf life of your contributions keeps get-
ting shorter and shorter. Seniority is no substitute for the result achieved
through loyalty and engagement.

Do not let these myths entangle you and deflate your potential. Instead,
understand and embrace fairness, results, and loyalty as rights that you
are not simply entitled to; they are rights you earn through effort, time,
contribution and a passion for getting it done.

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CHOICE # 7 RISK MORE – GAIN MORE

The World Isn’t Changed by Those Who Are Unwilling to Take Risks

It doesn’t matter where we are in the world; when we talk with CEOs and
senior executives, they rarely gripe about people who take too many risks.
We have yet to hear them complain about folks pursuing new initiatives, new
products and services, and new revenue streams that stretch the organization
and challenge the core business.

As we said, most of the executives we’ve met in the last twenty years don’t
whine about employees who stand on their convictions and fight for things
they deeply believe in – people who are bold and uncompromising when pre-
senting their ideas. They do, however, talk about people who lack initiative or
play it too safe and avoid taking risks.

What makes YOU unforgettable? What makes you stand out in the eyes of
your coworkers, your boss, your customers? You become unforgettable when
you leverage your unique gifts, perspectives, and voice to make a difference.
Of course, this assumes that you have the courage to risk, to step through the
door of uncertainty to seize an opportunity.

Think about it. No one ever makes it into the innovator’s hall of fame by com-
ing up with a better imitation. It is the “game changers” who ultimately get
our attention.

Whether it is a product innovation, business systems advance, or an improve-

ment in strategic partnerships, your ability to change the rules of the game
makes you extremely valuable. The challenge here is that you can’t innovate
without experimenting, you can’t experiment without making mistakes, and
you can’t make mistakes unless you are willing to risk failure and rejection.

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Do you have the courage to try new things, test new ideas, and challenge
the status quo, particularly if your boss is the one promoting the status
quo? Do you have the guts to circumvent the bureaucracy and step out
beyond the boundaries of just doing your job?

Risk More, Be Brave, Act Gutsy….STEP THROUGH YOUR FEAR

“It’s not the It’s not the absence of fear that makes leaders successful; it is their abil-
ity to step through fear that makes the difference. No one is exempt from
absence of fear fear; it is deeply rooted in the human condition. Fear deadens our spirits
that makes and draws us into smaller lives. In fear we hesitate, procrastinate, ratio-
nalize, make excuses, and ultimately end up living smaller, less-fulfilling
leaders suc- lives.
cessful; it is
their ability to Yet fear always confronts us with a choice, and how we handle it is our
choice. We can do the thing we fear, or we can give in to it by not taking
step through the risk. If we choose to face it and step through it, fear loses its strong-
fear that makes hold. If we repress or run from fear, it gains strength and enslaves us.
Each time we give in to fear, it weakens our courage, diminishes our self-
the difference.” esteem and stalls our gain.

So, what does it look like to risk more, step through fear and not let it con-
trol or consume you? There are no quick-fix, banish-it-forever formulas,
but here are six powerful – but by no means easy – approaches that work:

1. Choose to accept your heritage. Fear and anxiety do not belong to

you. What does belong to you and what is a part of your heritage is free-
dom. Since you can’t experience the freedom that is rightfully yours and
feel fear at the same time, what do you do? Claim the resources that God
has given you to step through fear and get moving – you were designed to
choose!

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2. Find the bigger YES. Make your passion bigger than your fear. It
is a lot easier to say no to anything, especially fear, when you have a big-
ger YES to live for. Stepping through fear is about looking beyond the
danger you face to the significance of the outcome you could achieve. Is it
weighty? Is it right? Will it make a difference? If the answer is YES, then
go for it!

3. Let truth strengthen your resolve. When we fight for what we believe
is true, when we stand for what we believe is right, the pilot light of passion
is lit, a sense of duty and honor flow, and the flames of courage and resolve
are unleashed.

4. Take charge of your thoughts. Fear can be activated so quickly that it

hits us before we even know it. In one sense fear can be a gift, a split-sec-
ond survival tool designed to save our lives. Taking charge of your thoughts
is about stepping back and buying yourself time to question your automatic
fear response before fear is fully activated.

5. Jettison the voice of condemnation. Inside all of us is what many

have labeled the “inner critic.” The inner critic is a voice that we think is
ours, but it is not ours. Anytime your thoughts show up in the form of con-
demnation, see it as a warning.

6. Expect no guarantees. If you wait for a guarantee before stepping

through fear, the only thing you will be guaranteed is missing a window of
opportunity. Success demands that you stare down the possibility of failure
and all of its consequences and “let ‘er rip!”

Could have, would have, should have! Your spouse, your children, your
boss, your co-worker and your customers don’t care about what you intend-
ed to do. They care about what you do. So stop getting ready, do some-
thing now, move, push through the fear that is holding you back!

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YOUR CHOICES SHAPE YOUR LIFE AND YOUR LIFE IS IN YOUR

HANDS….

AN INVITATION

If you accept our call to arms and join this revolution, at least three things will
happen: you will expand your influence, you will become a positive force for
change, and you will live with fewer regrets.

Time is a tyrant. It takes no prisoners, and it never stands still. The moments
of opportunity you miss at work and in life can never be regained.

Your life is not a dress rehearsal. Your life is now. Time is ticking. Guess
what?

IT’S YOUR MOVE!

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