HARD Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ — Thu, 24 Feb 2011 18:38:57 +0000

Mark Murphy, author of best-seller Hundred Percenters, has discovered there’s something fundamentally flawed about the way people set goals. Goals shouldn’t be SMART or realistic, Murphy says; they should be HARD.

Murphy figured out why people don’t hit their goals. Why 85% of New Year’s Resolutions are abandoned within three months. Why people don’t save enough, lose weight, or quit smoking. Why companies don’t hit their sales targets, gain market share, or invent better products”

The people and companies are fine, but the goal itself stinks. (Utterances like “I’m gonna lose 10 pounds” or “this company will hit 30% market share” are woefully incomplete goals). And here’s why:

Every goal has to pass 4 tests, and if doesn’t, it’s virtually guaranteed to fail. (There’s even a quiz in the book to test your goals). For your goal to succeed, it must to be:

Heartfelt, you’ve got to have an emotional attachment to your goal, it has to scratch an existential itch.
Animated, goals need to be motivated by a vision, picture or movie that plays over and over in your mind.
Required, it needs to feel so urgently necessary that you have no other choice but to start acting on them right here, right now.
Difficult, goals need to drag you out of your comfort zone, activating your senses and attention.

Acheive what you once thought was impossible by transforming the way you set goals. Every leader in every organization, in fact, anyone who wants to achieve something great should read this book, then share it with their friends and colleagues.

Order HARD Goals now from one of our preferred retailers.

Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give it Their All, and They’ll Give You Even More

Mark Murphy, CEO of Leadership IQ — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:53:54 +0000

Right now, 77% of leaders believe their employees are not giving 100%. And they’re not far off in their assessment, because 72% of employees admit they’re not giving 100%. Plenty of people are doing fine work, getting by, and delivering products and services to customers. But disappointingly small minorities are coming in every day saying, “Let’s push the envelope, let’s be great, let’s do what nobody thought could be done.”

The truth is finally out: Employees cannot be bribed or coddled into giving 100%. People become Hundred Percenters not because they had it easy, but because a leader cared enough to push them to new heights.

Hundred Percenters teaches new leadership practices to inspire employees to passionately give 100% every day. Leaders learn to push employees to discover and maximize their unrealized potential, while leaving them beaming with hard-won pride and fulfillment.

Over 70 % of employees say they want to work for someone who challenges them. What are you waiting for? Get started on the path to becoming a 100 % Leader today.

Order Hundred Percenters now from one of our preferred retailers.

Hundred Percenters has been chosen as a 2012 Business Book Club selection. Read More…

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HARD Goals: The Secret to Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be

Hundred Percenters: Challenge Your Employees to Give it Their All, and They’ll Give You Even More