Unleashing the Power of People

A powerful article written by our strategic partner, author, internationally renowned speaker, and business consultant, Jack Lannom...

Unleashing the Power of People

As a business owner how many times have you asked yourself this question? “How can I make my business more successful?” And how many nights have you lied awake in your bed pondering this question? “What am I missing to take my business to the next level?” Many entrepreneurs have sought to answer their quires by turning to the outrageous success stories in thriving organizations such as Google, Southwest Airlines, and Starbucks. You will be surprised at what they discovered which is the Number 1# Secret for Business Success. Google, Southwest, and Starbucks GET IT!

I hope you are now engaged and you are asking,” What is it that they GET? You see even though Google, Southwest, and Starbucks are in totally different industries they all have one thing in common. They have worked very hard on creating outrageously engaged, charged-up, high-performance CULTURES. They GET IT! CULTURE is KING. Culture is the lead indicator of long-term success.

Let’s take Google as an example. This 8 year old company is making $10 Billion a year in revenue and they are worth about $125 Billion. After looking at those numbers anyone will have to say, they are definitely doing something right. How did Google do it, what was their secret to success? They figured it out early in their career that you can’t be a great company without developing a great culture. And they knew that culture is all about people. So they put people first by asking every employee what would make them happy. They believed that if they were to make people happy at work they would want to come to work (which would reduce the number of mental health days), and they would be more productive. In addition, Google would attract and retain the best people.

So what did Google do specifically to create one of the best business cultures on the planet? They began to survey their employees concerning what would make them happy at work. In their surveys they learned that many people wanted to bring their dogs to work, others wanted a full-time massage therapist to help relieve their physical pain and other employees wanted to go from room to room on their skate boards and enjoy volleyball and gourmet food.

Well guess what, every day at the 1.3 million-square foot headquarters in Mountain View, California every Google employee enjoys free gourmet food, the loving companionship of their animals, a massage, free laundry and an endless host of things to make them happy. It is no wonder that Google receives 13,000 applications a week from people all over the world seeking employment with such a great company that has learned to put people first.

What is the health of your culture? How engaged are your employees? The empirical data concerning workforce engagement is really terrible. The Gallup Group distributes a semi-annual Employee Engagement Index report; this is what their statistics state.

· 26% of employees are actively engaged in their jobs (loyal and productive)

· 55% are not-engaged (just putting in their time)

· 19% are actively disengaged (unhappy and spreading discontent)

According to Jim Collins author of the best selling book, Good to Great, you need to get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus and the right people in the right place on the bus. The Gallup Management Journal is telling us that there are about 74% of employees in many companies that need to GET OFF THE BUS!

The question for every business owner is how many people in your organization are fully engaged and they are actively engaging your customers? And if they are not engaged how do I create an engaged culture like Google, Southwest, and Starbucks.

There is good news for you entrepreneurs who are looking for help. There is a company in south Florida that specializes in providing organizational leaders with the latest, breakthrough business tools, to create outrageously engaged, charged-up, high-performance cultures. The name of the company is Lannom Inc. a Fort Lauderdale based corporation. They have been in business for 30 years and Jack Lannom is the CEO and founder. They have twenty people in their company; two of the twenty are psychologist. Five of them are professors at leading universities. Jack is an adjunct professor of leadership at Trinity International University.

Lannom Inc. has helped contribute to the success of many of the top corporate giants in America. The following is a partial list of companies that have hired them to transform their cultures: AT&T, Citibank, Caterpillar, Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, UPS, Lexus, Sensormatic, Nortel Northern Telecom, San Diego Chargers, Knight Ridder Newspapers, The Miami Herald, Blockbuster, The Miami Dolphins, Cleveland Hospital and Ritz Carlton. H. Wayne Huizinga, the founder of Blockbuster Entertainment Corporation was so impressed with Jack Lannom’s talents, that he hired Jack to fly with him and his top business associates on his private jet to London. It was a nine hour flight and Jack taught his secrets for five of those hours to one of the most successful billionaires in the world. From the success of that flight Jack had his team begin working with Mr. Huizinga’s companies.

Jack Lannom is quite a success story. He has authored fifteen books and his latest book People First has won a national award. www.peoplefirstbook.com He is currently touring the nation lecturing at Barnes and Nobel stores on the People First philosophy. He will address 8,000 people in Moscow, Russia on September the 28^th on his book People First. In addition, to his accomplishments, Jack wrote and hosted the first and longest running TV program on PBS on the MIND. His 13 hour series ran in the prime time spots for 11 consecutive years, teaching millions of people in the US and Mexico on how to tap their untapped mental potential. In 1998 Newsweek cited Jack for his work in America on the human mind.

In his spare time he trains the Marines at camp Lejune in Jacksonville, N.C. to prepare our soldiers for hand-to-hand combat in Iraqi. Jack is a master in the art of Walu Kung-Fu. www.walukungfu.com He has black belts in 5 different styles of Kung-Fu and he has been practicing Kung-Fu for over 42 years.

Lannom Inc. has been working in southwest Florida for the past two years transforming many of your neighbors companies. See if you recognize any of these companies. J.L. Wallace, Inc., Royal Corinthian Homes, Riverside Bank, Cornerstone Kitchens, Northwestern Mutual, GCM Contracting Solutions, Inc. , Community Engineering Services, Inc. , Global Solutions Electronics Company, Gulf Coast Materials, Glory Homes Custom Builders, Ritz Carlton, Vitarich Labs and Teen Challenge.

John Moran, President of Gulf Coast, Riverside Bank passionately states, “Jack Lannom and People First are right on target with where Leadership needs to go…now. Leading with a people before profits mentality will lead to greater profits through an outstanding culture of trust by valuing the people that produce the profit. At Riverside Bank, we were delighted to have Jack and his team come in and teach us how to lead in a People First way and it is beginning to pay big dividends for our employees, customers and our shareholders.”

If you would like more information on how to create an outrageously engaged, charged-up, high-performance culture, to increase your profits, tap the potential of your people, attract and retain the best people and make the competition irrelevant then call Lannom Inc. at 954-445-2271 or www.jacklannom.com . If you would like to hear one of Jacks’ $15,000 an hour presentations for free then mark your calendar for September 25, 2007 he will be speaking for the BIA at the Hyatt Regency Coconut Point at 6:30pm-8:00pm

As a closing note listen to what Jack Canfield author of the New York Times Best-Sellers Chicken Soup for the Soul says about Jack Lannom’s awarding winning book People First. “If you are a leader, manager, coach, and parent, please read this book. People First contains priceless wisdom that will change your life.”