Humble

Some people!' snorted a man standing behind me in the long line at the grocery store. 'You would think the manager would pay attention and open another line, 'said a woman.

I looked to the front of the line to see what the hold up was and saw a well dressed, young woman, trying to get the machine to accept her credit card. No matter how many times she swiped it, the machine kept rejecting it.

'It's one of them welfare card things. Damn people need to get a job like everyone else,' said the man standing behind me. The young woman turned around to see who had made the comment. It was me,' he said, pointing to himself.

The young lady's face began to change expression. Almost in tears, she dropped the welfare card onto the counter and quickly walked out of the store. Everyone in the checkout line watched as she began running to her car. Never looking back, she got in and drove way.

After developing cancer in 1977 and having had to use food stamps; I had learned never to judge anyone, without knowing the circumstances of their life. This turned out to be the case today.

Several minutes later a young man walked into the store. He went up to the cashier and asked if she had seen the woman. After describing her, the cashier told him that she had run out of the store, got into her car, and drove away.

'Why would she do that?' asked the man. Everyone in the line looked around at the fellow who had made the statement. 'I made a stupid comment about the welfare card she was using. Something I shouldn't have said. I'm sorry,' said the man.

'Well, that's bad, real bad, in fact. Her brother was killed in Afghanistan two years ago. He had three young children and she has taken on that responsibility. She's twenty years old, single, and now has three children to support,' he said in a very firm voice.

'I'm really truly sorry. I didn't know,' he replied, Shaking both his hands about.

The young man asked, 'Are these paid for?' pointing to the shopping cart full of groceries.

'It wouldn't take her card' the clerk told him.

'Do you know where she lives?' asked the man who had made the comment.

'Yes, she goes to our church.'

'Excuse me,' he said as he made his way to the front of the line. He pulled out his wallet, took out his credit card and told the cashier, 'Please use my card. PLEASE!' The clerk took his credit card and began to ring up the young woman's groceries.

Hold on,' said the gentleman. He walked back to his shopping cart and began loading his own groceries onto the belt to be included. 'Come on people. We got three kids to help raise!' he told everyone in line.

Everyone began to place their groceries onto the fast moving belt. A few customers began bagging the food and placing it into separate carts.. 'Go back and get two big turkeys,' yelled a heavyset woman, as she looked at the man.

'NO,' yelled the man. Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. The entire store became quiet for several seconds. 'Four turkeys,' yelled the man. Everyone began laughing and went back to work.

When all was said and done, the man paid a total of $1,646.57 for the groceries. He then walked over to the side, pulled out his check book, and began writing a check. He turned around and handed the check to the young man.

The young man looked at the check and said, 'This is really very generous of you.'

'No, ' said the man. 'Her brother was the generous one.'

Everyone in the store had been observing the odd commotion and began to clap. A great example of why we should be kind and patient. Kindness is the language the blind can see and the deaf can hear.

One Paragraph That Explains Life

Arthur Ashe, the legendary Wimbledon player was dying of AIDS which he got due
to infected blood he received during a heart surgery in l983.


He received letters from his fans the world over, one of which conveyed: "Why does

GOD have to select you for such a bad disease?"

To this Arthur Ashe replied:

"The world over -- 50 million children start playing tennis, 5 million learn to play tennis, 500,000, learn professional tennis, 50,000 come to the circuit, 5000 reach the grand slam, 50 reach Wimbledon, 4 to semi final, 2 to the finals, when I was holding a cup I never asked GOD 'Why me?'.

And today in pain I should not be asking GOD 'Why me?' "

Find a Mentor

Choose your mentors wisely. Mentoring is not counseling. It is guidance in the form of teaching and support provided by someone you trust, usually a teacher, a parent or relative, a supervisor, coach or a counselor. Attached is a list of characteristics we believe the best mentors possess:

Fair - in their assessments, judgements and expectation.

Enthusiastic - excited about helping you pursue your goals. Look for a mentor that is willing to share that excitement with you and help you stay on path.

Inspiring - always keep you moving forward and stretching your current state of limitations. Finding someone that inspires you and others will keep that focus.

Able to identify strengths and weaknesses - that can determine what your strengths are and also know how to offset some of your blindspots and weaknesses.

Able to stretch their mentees - a mentor should challenge you daily to be better than you were the day before.

Both demanding and supportive - always challenges you physically, mentally, spiritually, etc.

Straight forward and decisive - someone that you can have candid conversations with and don't have to 'pull punches' with during your one-on-one meetings and discussions.

Willing to express gratitude for a job well done - someone that supports your goals and objectives.

Willingness to share knowledge, insights and ideas - someone that can provide solid, documented success and insight.

Still learning themselves - find mentor that is continuing to learn more everyday. No one has it all figured out and a mentor should be someone that is continuing to sharpen their minds and experiences as much as you.

Open and accessible- Make sure your mentors can be easily accessible, especially early on in the relationship.

Appreciative of the opportunities they have been given - Find a mentor that is grateful for the mentors they have found along the way and appreciate of the things their life has brought to them through experiences. The happier they are, the happier you'll be!

Give me Lee anytime

After the rains come a little sunshine, and I’m not referring to the torrential downpours that have been hitting Singapore. After two years of depressing news, people here have at last some blessings to count, and perhaps feel a little proud of being Singaporeans.

They came as the economy improved enough to allow the government to rule out another recession, and the global tribute paid to Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew’s achievements in the past 50 years.

Lee’s acclaim by the United States and the 10 Asean countries has raised the Republic’s morale and standing at a time when both are badly needed in the wake of its worst recession.The foreign recognition comes at a time when the Minister Mentor is losing popularity among young

Singaporeans who have a different set of values and little recollection of what he did in the past.However, Singapore’s founding father has shown he still retains the world’s admiration for his role in the contemporary history of Singapore and the region.

In Washington last week, he was accorded the first lifetime achievement award by the US-Asean Business Council – with tributes from the current US and two former presidents at the ceremony. President Barack Obama, who met him at the Oval Office and who will be in Singapore, said Lee was “one of the legendary figures of Asia in the 20th and 21st centuries... somebody who helped to trigger the Asian economic miracle.”

Among a list of high-powered figures who were present were Bill Clinton and George W. Bush, who said: “All of us who have worked with him have benefited from his wisdom, his insight and his dedication.”

Henry Kissinger said: “I’ve known him for 40 years. I would say I’ve not learned as much from anybody as I have from Lee Kuan Yew.”

The accolade shows an appreciation of the man’s tremendous accomplishments, but he remains to the world as controversial as he is admired.Amidst the praises, his Law Minister K. Shanmugan was in another US city repeatedly defending against charges that the Singapore system that Lee had put up is undemocratic and lacks human rights and press freedom.

His “lifetime award” has also raised questions about whether this was his last hurrah, and if the 86-year-old leader intends to seek another five more years in office.“It is always risky to predict an imminent Lee retirement. He has a habit of proving it wrong,” said a local reporter. “However at 86, he is visibly slower. How long can he go on?”

The international buzz is adding to the national debate about what possible impacts his eventual exit will have on Singapore. Although he has distanced himself from the day-to-day running of the country, Lee is widely believed to hold significant influence over the Republic.The general feeling is that the country will continue to move ahead without Lee, but replacing his vast experience and his global stature is virtually impossible.

For years he shaped a foreign policy on China and the United States that enabled Singapore to avoid being crushed by their conflicting interests, but also served as a bridge between them. At times, it hit a sensitive nerve as it did last week when he urged the US to deepen its “indispensable” role in Asia as a counterweight to China’s emerging power.“

The size of China makes it impossible for the rest of Asia, including Japan and India, to match it in weight and capacity in about 20 to 30 years. So we need America to strike a balance,” Lee said.

Within hours, it drew strong reactions from thousands of Chinese bloggers, some accusing Lee of being used by the US to undermine China. One described Lee as “a political animal... (who) relies on China to develop his country’s economy, but is ushering wolves to deal with China.”

Another was reported to have said, “Just because he has achieved some success in Singapore, he dares to play the guiding light that shows US the way.”

Ironically, American liberals have accused Lee of more or less the same thing – setting Singapore up as an example for China on how it can have a predominant one-party democracy.

Lee’s successes abroad and the “feel good” factor for Singaporeans, especially the older people, were reflected by a blogger who said:“Without Lee Kuan Yew, we Singaporeans would not be respected especially when travelling overseas.

People associate Singapore with him, that’s for sure.”After a long 50 years, the People’s Action Party (PAP) is feeling the heat from a new generation of demanding, tech-savvy voters who frequently disagree with its policies.Aggravating the strains is the hardship brought about by the global crisis.

Much of the blame is levelled, fairly or unfairly, at Lee’s influence. Some foreigners have found the level of vehemence hard to understand given Singapore’s advanced state of progress.

During a dinner among regional journalists, one editor from a developing country asked me to explain why so many Singaporeans were so angry with the architect of their prosperity.“We’d be happy to swap our leader for Lee anytime,” he said.

It reflects how much society is changing.Lee recently said the evolving mindsets of the young and their response to the world’s changes will alter Singapore’s political landscape in future “and not because I won’t be around.”

Its Communication, Brother

One only has to look at the performances of Bill Clinton, Jack Welch, Ronald Regan and Barack Obama to see the key role that effective leadership communication has played in their successes.

Bill Clinton is widely regarded as the most effective communicator to ever enter the White House. His communication skills and in particular his charisma were regarded as central to his ability to consistently turn opponents into friends and to build strong alliances with world leaders.

President Barack Obama, described as the 'Communicator in Chief', connected with and inspired millions of Americans during his Presidential campaign. His performance as an orator and use of leadership body language is virtually unprecedented for a politician. Critically, Obama possesses a conversational and relaxed communication style that is critical when seeking to connect with people.

By way of contrast the recent lack of success by Caroline Kennedy and John McCain demonstrate the consequences of poor communication skills.

The Key Components of Effective Leadership Communication

• Develop the mindset of a leader - Given that our nonverbal communication reveals to the world what we feel inside, emotional mastery is critical to congruent, credible communication.

• Be able to connect with people on an emotional level - People form opinions and make decisions based on their emotions. First we listen to our emotional guidance system, then we justify with reasons, then we rationalize.

• Develop leadership charisma - Leader must always maintain authority whilst communicating charisma. Some individuals may have innate elements of charisma but much of charisma is made up of a set of behaviors that can be learned.

• Learn to move like a leader - Body language (postures, gestures and facial expression) communicates your emotional state to the world. We make our decisions primarily on what we see rather than what we hear.

7 Tips on Leadership

Exceptional leadership skills are needed in order to succeed in all business. The right leadership style is essential in order to reach your goals and a “well-honed leadership skills” are the most important component of being a success in the business world.

Adaptability - means reacting in an effective manner to shifting circumstances in your business environment. Everybody experiences adaptive challenges, but leaders are keen to resolve these issues with a carefully thought-out plan of action. If there is one trait that every business leader needs most in today’s business environment, it is adaptability.

People Skills - is about genuinely connecting with those you work with and who work for you. When you connect well with others, you develop a trusting, productive relationship that benefits everyone.

1: The ability to observe people in your business giving you the insight needed to take the appropriate action required for the right result.

2: The ability to communicate effectively to everyone – not just some people – in order to be productive.

3: The ability to motivate gives you the leadership edge to get the best out of those who work for you or with you.

4: And adaptability.

Self Awareness - Leaders who are aware of how they’re perceived by others or how they impact the behavior of others are more likely to succeed than those who aren’t self aware. Others can only judge us based on our behaviors, which can often lead to misunderstandings and miscommunication. If you are self-aware, people will see that you are making the effort to overcome your faults – a very important trait of a great leader.

Decisiveness - is an exercise in good judgment, affording well-informed, fast and sound decisions when needed from a leader, but it is not to be confused with inflexibility. Decisiveness is an important rule in leadership - the decisions you are willing to make will have a direct impact on how you’re accepted as a leader.

Purposefulness - Business needs a vision to set its direction and every successful leader can tune into that vision to achieve success. Leader must have the ability to own a strong sense of purpose and the ability to convey this purposefulness to your employees and coworkers. Purposefulness can be more powerful than a vision because it shares the ambition of growing your business with others. Understanding what the real purpose behind the vision is will inspire others.

Collaborative Skills - Technology has opened up new avenues for communicating and working in today’s work force. Today’s business environment benefits greatly from a culture of collaboration within your business and across all departments, both internally and externally (example of using the Internet makes this extremely easy to do at a very low cost).

Innovate And Execute - Another advantage of inculcating a culture of collaboration is the constant exchange of innovative ideas within your organization. To be a great leader, become the person that everyone approaches when they have a new idea or innovative approach to a problem. Leadership means understanding that you don’t have to come up with ideas yourself – you can also nurture growth and innovation in others that will benefit everyone.

Benevolent Dictators

Whether its recession time or boom time, small business owners should look at the way they operate in order to maximize their revenues. Many small businesses are run a little loosely; because many owners believe they lack the overhead and the staff to require a lot of strict policies and procedures.

That’s a mistake, according to Jim Muehlhausen, CPA and author of The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How To Avoid Them.

“Every business owner is enrolled in the world’s most expensive business school: The School of Hard Knocks. Instead of acquiring business knowledge the slow and expensive way, business owners need to capitalize on the hard-fought lessons of others. That’s why benevolent dictators are the best small business leaders, because ruling by committee against that landscape rarely works.”

Small Business face more challenges than the large corporations with huge cash reserves to help them through financial crises. They are more susceptible to market fluctuations, have fewer clients to support them and generally have more transient staff. On the flip side, they also make up 70 percent of the businesses in the U.S., so as goes small business, so goes the economy.

In order to swim with the big fish without getting eaten, small business owners get a little tougher and smarter to survive the nasty water.

There are several practices that are considered standard operating procedure that actually work against small business owners. First, many insist on learning hard lessons themselves rather than learn from the mistakes of their competitors.

To compound the problem, they also tend to hire employees away from their competitors without realizing that chances are that the employee may be leaving because they had been fired, or they are about to be fired. In essence, they wind up with their competitors’ rejects, who they wind up firing soon after.”

CEOs need to be benevolent dictators to be more effective. “Managing employees is a lot like parenting. Employees may not like what you do, but you’ll have to do it, anyway. Many CEOs are afraid to be authoritarian, but they should do it, anyway”.

They should remember two things – first, being authoritarian does not mean you can’t be nice, and second, it’s the CEO’s name on the big door. No one else will be blamed for the failure of staff. An autocrat is not automatically a jerk, and businesses aren’t a democracy. Hire good people, listen to input, but after you’ve listened, call the play and make sure you have a team on board who’s going to execute it.”

Top Business Leader from Kampar, Perak

Olivia Lum, head of the fast-growing water-treatment company Hyflux, never knew her biological parents. She was adopted at birth by an elderly woman she called Grandma, and home was Kampar, a poor Malaysian mining town where an exodus of jobs had left most residents with no income.

After Grandma sold her house to pay some gambling debts, Lum was brought up in a wooden shack without running water—unless you counted the rainwater that would regularly seep in and flood the floors. To keep Grandma's spirits up, Lum used to say that when she made it big, she would buy her a new house. "Of course it never happened," Lum says. "She died before I became successful."

Lum found her success in the water business. She worked her way through college and earned a chemistry degree, but she always saw the business world as the way to climb out of poverty. Fifteen years ago, drawing on her meager savings, she founded Hyflux, a company that pursued a wide range of water-related ventures in Asia, from cleaning wastewater in China to investing in desalination plants in Singapore.

Today, Hyflux is one of the hottest firms in the Asian water market, and under Lum's leadership it has scored a number of R.-and-D. breakthroughs. In the 1990s, the company developed an ultrafine membrane filter that is used in all the company's major products.

More recently, Hyflux, in association with a U.S. group, began manufacturing a condensing device called the Dragonfly, which produces potable water by extracting moisture from air—and could change the way water-scarce countries meet their daily water needs. There are some drawbacks: the surrounding air must have at least 40% humidity, and each device costs about $1,000. Lum, however, insists that the unit price will fall as her team refines the design, and says Dragonflys may soon be found in refrigerators and even cars.

Hyflux is now a $270 million company, and Lum's biggest challenge will be to sustain its rapid growth. "There are further good years ahead," says Kerryn Tay, an analyst at GK Goh Research in Singapore, pointing to growing demand for Hyflux's products in China and government support at home.

For her part, the hardworking Lum wants Hyflux to be worth $3 billion within five years. Grandma would approve.

Ahhh - A Leader we Love to Hate

Ugandan dictator Idi Amin rose through the ranks of the British colonial regiment to become Commander of the Ugandan Army. He took control of the small central African nation in a military coup and declared himself president. He introduced martial law, replacing civilian law courts with military tribunals.

Amin’s regime was responsible for the murder of thousands of civilians. Often massacres were justified as attempts to quash rebellion but it was not uncommon for entire villages to be wiped out for no reason.

These atrocities extended to executing religious leaders, journalists and entire ethnic groups. He also expelled all Asians from the country and appropriated their property and businesses.

Amin is perhaps best known for his short temper and bizarre personality quirks. He hated the England and all things English but reportedly wrote several love letters to Queen Elizabeth. He is also rumoured to have consulted on issues with the severed heads of executed cabinet ministers.

This strangeness of personality is reflected by the long and grandiose title he gave himself in 1977: ‘His Excellency, President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin Dada, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Seas, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa’.

Leader Consumed By Greed

The former AIG chairman, Hank Greenberg, is suing the crisis-stricken insurance company, claiming he lost $2bn (£1.4bn) of his personal fortune because the firm failed to inform shareholders of vast losses run up by its controversial London finance office.

Greenberg, who was the architect of AIG's growth between 1968 and his forced retirement in 2005, said AIG kept investors in the dark about its perilous financial condition well after it became aware of liabilities at its Mayfair-based financial products division, which insured banks against default on debts and derivatives.

The 83-year-old accuses AIG of "material misrepresentations and omissions" which prompted him to buy shares in AIG as part of a retirement plan, at an "artificially inflated price" in early 2008.

He told CNBC television yesterday that the company's near collapse had cost him $2bn."It was such a strong company," said Greenberg. "It was the biggest insurance company in the world. I never dreamed that even incompetence could destroy the company.

"Greenberg cited an investor conference in December 2007 at which, he said, the company assured investors it would not lose money on its dealings in ill-fated credit default swaps. "They went to great lengths to explain it, to try to calm the markets," he said.

Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, yesterday accused AIG of operating like a hedge fund. In testimony to Congress, he said AIG "made huge numbers of irresponsible bets".

AIG this week recorded the worst corporate loss in US history with a deficit of $62bn for the final quarter of 2008. The US government, fearful that a collapse of AIG would cause a domino effect throughout the financial system, has made four attempts to prop up the business at a cost of more than $150bn in emergency aid.

Defendants named in the legal action include Greenberg's successor as chief executive, Martin Sullivan, and the head of the company's financial products division, Joseph Cassano.

An AIG spokeswoman dismissed the action, saying: "We believe the suit is without merit and we will defend ourselves vigorously."Greenberg's legacy at AIG is the subject of vigorous debate.

He said a "freewheeling" culture developed only after he left, and said that the company's management failed to keep proper checks and balances on its complex financial maneuvering.

However, AIG's present chief executive, Ed Liddy, who was appointed at the behest of the US treasury, suggested Greenberg was partly responsible for AIG's demise, pointing out: "The formation of the [financial products] unit, which has literally brought us to our knees - that happened on his watch.

"Greenberg was ousted four years ago in an accounting scandal concerning allegations about off-balance sheet transactions.

Christopher Whalen, co-founder of Institutional Risk Analytics, said: "The bottom line is that Hank Greenberg wandered out of the very safe, well-capitalized world of insurance into the surreal world of credit default swaps."

Why Most Sales People Failed

There can be multiple reasons that contribute to a new insurance agents failure. Here are the most common reasons I have found that lead to failure.

Limited Portfolio - Most Insurance Agents have a Limited product portfolio and are unable to cross sell other insurance products.

No System - Agents don't have a proven sales track or sales system to follow which most new insurance agents need to get results quickly.

Cash Flow Problem - They don't create consistent cash flow from insurance sales quick enough and must leave the insurance business to go back to an hourly paying job just to survive.

Low Reserves - New Insurance Agents start out in the insurance business with little or no reserves to fall back on. Most businesses require some upfront capital or reserves to get started.

Training - A lot of agents do not get enough training (Product or Sales) to give them a fair chance of making it in the insurance business.

Prospecting - Insurance Agents are not taught effective prospecting and marketing techniques that generate a consistent flow of sales prospects.

Drive - Some people simply don't have the drive, work habits, persistence, self motivation or ability to handle rejection that it's takes to survive in an insurance sales career.

Walk Your Talk

People are much more likely to follow a leader when they believe in that leader. Unfortunately, what leaders often have to say to their followers can directly conflict with their followers' beliefs and long standing habits. The results are chaos, arguing, and poor performance. Whenever that happens, your best bet is to step back and lead through example, like Benjamin Franklin did in the following story.

Evidentially, when Mr. Franklin learned that fields scattered with plaster produced a better crop, he tried to share the information with his neighbors only to be argued with by some, ridiculed by others, and ignored by most.

Not a man to waste time on words, he simply went about planting his own field. Next to the road, where people could see the emerging grain as they passed, Mr. Franklin traced some letters with his fingers and then lined the tracings with plaster. He then sowed seeds into the entire field. Once the seeds began to sprout, passers- by were surprised to see words in the field; clear for all to read, as the plants were a brighter green than the rest of the field. The words said, "This has been plastered."

People believe what they see for themselves, so if you are having trouble convincing others to follow you, perhaps you should find a way to show them a truth rather than tell them a truth.
Leadership through example requires a sense of humor, a great deal of patience, and a basic understanding of human nature.

Instead of complaining that people don't listen, a leader through example creates situations that compel attention. Instead of complaining that people don't follow through, a leader by example discovers ways to make people want to follow through. Instead of complaining about the closed minds of others, a leader by example designs and asks questions that expand a person's mind.

Durian - King of Fruits

Durian, or the scientific name is Durio zibethinus, is widely known and revered in Southeast Asia as the “King of Fruits,” the fruit is distinctive for its large size, unique odour, and a formidable thorn-covered husk. Its name comes from the Malay word duri (thorn) together with Malay suffix that is -an (for building a noun in Malay), meaning “thorny fruit.”

The fruit can grow up to 30 centimetres (12 in) long and 15 centimetres (6 in) in diameter, and typically weighs one to three kilograms (2 to 7 lbs). Its shape ranges from oblong to round, the colour of its husk green to brown and its flesh pale-yellow to red, depending on species. The hard outer husk is covered with sharp, prickly thorns, while the edible custard-like flesh within emits the strong, distinctive odour, which is regarded as either fragrant or overpowering and offensive. The taste of the flesh has been described as nutty and sweet.

Red colored durians are found in Sabah, Malaysia. Known among the Kadazandusun community as sukang or tabelak, the fruit is also called “durian hutan”, as it is mainly found growing wild in the jungles of Sabah. Its flesh is said to be thinner and drier compared with the cultivated fruit which is of thicker and creamier texture. The taste is about similar with other durians, although some have described it as sweetish sour.

Meritocracy

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom. What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving. The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else. When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that my dear friend, is about the end of any nation. You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it." ~~~~ Dr. Adrian Rogers, 1931

Leadership Qualities

"I think it's very difficult to lead today when people are not really truly participating in the decision. You won't be able to attract and retain great people if they don't feel like they are part of the authorship of the strategy and the authorship of the really critical issues. If you don't give people an opportunity to really be engaged, they won't stay." - Howard Schultz, the CEO of Starbuck

1: You must have a vision. You must stand for something, or you'll fall for everything. But what does that really mean? Stand firm on your company's policies and procedures. Your company's vision should be in your mind every day, and you should reevaluate it occasionally so that it stays current with the changing times. Communicate your vision or the vision of your company to the people you want to follow you.

2: You must have passion. Passion is such a key part of being a great leader that if you don't have it, you simply can't be a great leader. Your employees want passion; in fact, they'll go to the ends of earth because of it, live and die for it. To build an extraordinary management team, you've got to light the "fire in their bellies," to get them to feel passion about the company and connect to the leader's vision.

3: You must learn to be a great decision maker. Use the Q-CAT formula
· Q = Quick. Be quick but not hasty.
· C = Committed. Be committed to your decision but not rigid.
· A = Analytical. Be analytical, but don't over-analyze (Too much analysis can cause paralysis.)
· T = Thoughtful. Be thoughtful about all concerned, but don't be obsessive.

4: You must be a team builder. To become a great leader, you must develop a great team or, one might say, a well-oiled machine. Start by handing off responsibility to your team and letting your team to run with it. Don't micromanage, but make yourself available if questions or problems come up. Teach your team to use the Q-CAT decision-making system and give them the freedom to work through their own decisions.

5: You must have character. All great leaders have taken steps to learn about their individual personality and what part it plays in their leadership style. Your innate character strengths and limitations play a critical role in your leadership style.

Peter Pepper

It is a curious little pepper, the Peter Pepper. Some say it's sexy. Some say it's hot. Others say it is delicious. No matter who you are, you will agree it is an unusual Cajun pepper. One that makes every cooking and gift giving occasion an interesting experience

The fiery little Peter Pepper has long been considered too hot to eat! Native to Louisiana and Texas, this blistering capsicum forms pods which naturally and consistently contort themselves into a miniature replica of, well - take a look at its scientific name: Capsicum annuum var. annuum 'Peter' (Penis Pepper).

These interesting peppers are certainly a conversation piece for the gardener who has everything! Seeds are almost impossible to obtain, and most plants are grown from much coveted "private stock" - plants grown year after year for seeds alone.

Peter Peppers belong to the genus Capsicum. The name Capsicum comes from the Greek kapto, to bite, an allusion to the hot, biting taste of the fruits. Peter Peppers are hotter than the tabasco and at least 10 times hotter than the jalapeno.

Papa Jeabert's Founder:The founder of Papa Jeabert's, Inc., Phil Gremillion was born and raised in the heart of Cajun country - Lafayette, Louisiana, and grew Peter Peppers in his back yard from seeds given to him by his father.

Little is known about commercial cultivation of the Peter Pepper because it has always been grown as an ornamental. Papa Jeabert's was the first to grow Peter Peppers for commercial purposes. The first successful commercial field of Peter Peppers was grown by Papa Jeabert's under nursery shade cloth to protect the pepper plants from the sun.

Today the peppers are still grown under shade cloth, with the growing season lasting from late March through early October. A typical field might have 2,000 plants, set about 16 inches apart. Each Peter Pepper plant produces approximately 100 hot little peppers.

Failures are Lessons

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
– Theodore Roosevelt, 1910

Most people are afraid to fail. They worry constantly about not meeting expectations, making a mistake, or trying something new. Many never get started on the path toward reaching their goals and thus assure themselves of the very thing they are afraid of - “Failure”.

In order to become a successful entrepreneur you will likely have to ‘pay your dues.' You'll likely have to fail a few times, learn from your lessons, and only then be able to come through a winner. While you don't have to take wild chances, you do have to take calculated and educated risks.

Mistakes are simply opportunities to learn something new. The more mistakes a person makes, the more they will have learned and the greater chance they will have of succeeding on their next try. The key, however, is to learn from your mistakes and never make the same mistake twice.

Thomas Edison would have never invented the light bulb if he did not take this principle to heart. Edison failed more than 10,000 times before he found the filament that would create light for a sustained period of time. He did not view these as failures, however. On the 6,635th try to find a proper filament for the light bulb, Edison did not see himself has having failed 6634 times. He reframed the situation so that to him he had successfully eliminated 6,643 possibilities, refining and narrowing his search as he proceeded, drawing him closer and closer to his goal.

Sweet and Simple Formula for Success

75% of adults don't like their jobs, more than 50% of all marriages end in divorce, and three out of five businesses fail.

The root cause of small business success or failure is not due to a lack of knowledge or capital. It is due to a poor fit between the owner and the chosen venture. The successful entrepreneur always enjoys a good relationship with the business. They found their work, their mission, their purpose, and they stayed with it.

There are only two ways to achieve a "good fit" between an entrepreneur and a business. The first is pure luck (which is most often the case). The second comes from consciously exploring who we are and how we might connect to the world of self-employment. It's really no different than analyzing one's career options or choosing a mate.

The very first step toward success as an entrepreneur is recognizing that we possess enough independence to leave the perceived safety of traditional employment.

The second step is giving ourselves permission to reflect deeply on what we want out of life and out of a particular venture.

Best Coffee

Coffee drinkers are going bananas over a brew that's made of Monkey Dung. Brits are flooding exclusive US stockists with orders for the brew, called Kopi Luwak, made from berries that have passed through the digestive system of Indonesian monkeys. Unlucky coffee plantation staff have to search through the dung to gather the bizarre "harvest" of coffee berries,which are said to emerge virtually intact.

Experts reckon the monkey business gives the drink a unique "earthy"taste, which has made it the most expensive and sought-after coffee in the world. It is in such short supply - just 500 lb of it is harvested a year - that it is virtually impossible to get hold of in Britain and has only limited availability in the States and Japan.

Experts say the brew first came to light hundreds of years ago, when explorers sampled it on the Indonesian isles of Java, Sumatra andSulawesi. The monkey - known as the Palm Toddy Cat - lives on a diet of alcoholictree sap and coffee berries. The animal is a palm civet, a dark brown tree-dwelling cat-like creature found throughout Southeast Asia. The scientific name is paradoxurus hermaphroditus.

US-based food and drink critic Chris Rubin said: "Whether it's because the intestinal juices give some special flavour or because it eats only perfectly ripe berries, the Toddy Cat's droppings produce what many say is the world's finest coffee."

Some exclusive US outlets sell Kopi Luwak for around a FIVER a cup. US Coffee supplier Mark Mountanos has snapped up 110 lb of the beans. He said: "We've had interest from all over the world because it is very hard to get hold of."

US coffee shop owner Richard Karno ordered a pound from Mark's firm - butonly after he convinced him it wasn't a joke. He said: "It's the best coffee I've ever tasted. It smells musty, but it roasts up real nice

Great Leaders

Great leaders show up a lot
Great leaders are great communicator and show up on site, hall, cafeteria and email boxes. They catch-up and talk with folks. They get to know their people ie who does what well and who needs attention. They find out what the real issues are on the front lines. Great leaders share their ideas about direction and purpose of the organization. They lead by example – illustrating what is important and paying attention to key issues. They establish strong bond and relationship with their people.

Great leaders rehearse mentally
Great leaders think and plan in details about the kinds of situations they might face. They run through them in their mind--a kind of mental practice. They focus on long term future and remain aware of its consequences. They think farther ahead than most of their peers. They rehearse individual encounters. Scenario planning helps you to recognize changing future situations because it's their job to choose the path for their organization in an unfamiliar forest. Without mental rehearsal and thinking about the future, leaders are forced to rely on precedents to deal with new situations. In today's rapidly changing environment, that doesn't work.

Great leaders manage the consequences of performance
Great leaders manage the systems of consequences so that it's in the best interest of the subordinate to do what's in the organization's best interest. Great Leaders have clear expectations and spend a lot of time ensuring people understand exactly what they expect and what the consequences of behavior are. Great leaders stay focused on performance. You don't hear them talking much about somebody's "attitude." They concentrate on the performance they want from subordinates and on the things they can control

Great leaders do lots of performance interviews
Great Leaders conduct performance interview regularly with someone who works for them with the objective of influencing them to change their behavior. Most of the interviews are short and informal. Great leaders tend to make small course corrections early, rather than waiting for problems to develop.

Great leaders critique their own leadership performance
Great leaders believe that leadership is a performance issue and the most important thing they do. They believe that it's something they'll get better at if they work at it. Great leaders are continually doing "after-action critiques" on their own performance. They pay attention to the items that are under their control and try to do those better and better and better. They monitor the results they get from their actions and then modify their actions to get the result they want. This grows out of the concentration on consequences and behavior. The result is that the great leaders use a wider array of leadership and communication tools and use them more effectively than their less effective peers.

I Hate My Job

When you have an "I Hate My Job" day, try this....

On your way home from work, stop at your pharmacy and go to the thermometer section and purchase a rectal thermometer made by Johnson and Johnson. Be sure you get this brand.

When you get home, lock you doors, draw the curtains and disconnect the phone so you will not be disturbed.Change into very comfortable clothing and sit in you favorite chair, open the package and remove the thermometer. Then, carefully place it on a table or a flat surface, so that it will not become chipped or broken.

Now the fun part begins. Take out the literature and read it carefully.You will notice that in small print there is a statement."Every rectal thermometer made by Johnson and Johnson is personally tested"

Finally, close your eyes and repeat out loud five times."I am so glad I do not work for quality control at Johnson and Johnson."

Lesson in Leadership

While visiting England, George Bush is invited to tea with the Queen. He asks her what her leadership philosophy is. She says that it is to surround herself with intelligent people.

He asks how she knows if they're intelligent."I do so by asking them the right questions," says the Queen."Allow me to demonstrate."

She phones Tony Blair and says, "Mr. Prime Minister. Please answer this question: Your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or sister. Who is it?"

Tony Blair responds ,"It's me, ma'am."

"Correct. Thank you and good-bye, sir," says the Queen.

She hangs up and says, "Did you get that, Mr. Bush?"

"Yes ma'am. Thanks a lot. I'll definitely be using that!"

Upon returning to Washington, he decides he'd better put the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to the test. He summons Jesse Helms to the White House and says, "Senator Helms, I wonder if you can answer a question for me."

"Why, of course, sir. What?s on your mind?"

"Uhh, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Helms hems and haws and finally asks, "Can I think about it and get back to you?" Bush agrees, and Helms leaves.

He immediately calls a meeting of other senior Republican senators, and they puzzle over the question for several hours, but nobody can come up with an answer. Finally, in desperation, Helms calls Colin Powell at the State Department and explains his problem."Now lookee here, son, your mother has a child, and your father has a child, and this child is not your brother or your sister. Who is it?"

Powell answers immediately, "It's me, of course, you dumb cracker."

Much relieved, Helms rushes back to the White House and exclaims, "I know the answer, sir! I know who it is! It's Colin Powell!"

And Bush replies in disgust, "Wrong, you dumb shit, it's Tony Blair!"

The Shameless Art of Kissing Ass

Kissing ass, sucking up, brown nosing, polishing balls. We have lots of terms for trying to make someone like you, almost all of them dirty. It’s seen as a manipulative, shallow, and dishonest. But damn if it isn’t effective.

If you master the art of charming people, everything becomes easier — making the sale, getting the promotion, keeping your job. You’ll make more money, create more friendships, and feel more secure.

The key is doing it right. Kissing ass has gotten a bad rap because so many people are bad at it. They’re like amateur magicians that the crowd boos because their tricks are obvious.

Unfortunately though, the technique is light on training materials. You can’t take Brown Nosing 101 in college or browse through the Sucking up section at the bookstore. What we need is a guide for how to kiss ass effectively… which is why I’ve written one.

Ass Doesn’t Taste so Bad
The first step in learning to kiss ass effectively is to get rid of the bad taste in your mouth that comes just from thinking about it. If you’re disgusted by what you’re doing, you’ll never be able to do it well.

What’s so wrong about getting someone to like you? You’ve probably done it to get laid or talk your way out of a speeding ticket. If it works and doesn’t hurt anybody, then why not carry those skills over into business?

After all, most people like having their ass kissed, as long as the one doing the kissing is good at it. I know I do. We all like to be around people that make us feel better about ourselves. It’s only human. So why feel guilty about it?

You’ve Got to like Asses
You can never become a top-notch ass kisser unless you genuinely like people. All people. Otherwise, they’ll be able to tell that you don’t really mean it, and they’ll hate you for trying to manipulate them.

How does one go about learning to like people? Part of it is realizing that, whether you like it or not, you’re a lot like everyone else on this planet. You feel the same emotions, make the same mistakes, and have the same desire for people to love you anyway.

Another part is teaching yourself to see the good side of people. Work at it long enough, and you can find something you genuinely like about anyone, even if it’s only their talent for making you hate them.

Either way, if you’re going to kiss someone’s ass, you need to put yourself in the right state of mind. You need to like them, and they need to know it.

Don’t Overdo It
Second to disliking them, the worst mistake you can make when kissing someone’s ass is to overdo it. You want them to like you, so you give a compliment that obviously isn’t true or you shower them with too many compliments in a row.

It doesn’t work because people know when you’re lying. If you walk in for an interview and immediately start complementing the furniture, family pictures, and everything else you can find, they’ll know what you’re doing, and they’ll know it’s dishonest. No one is that impressed.

Similarly, if your boss drives a piece of junk car, you’d be stupid to try and convince him that it’s the prettiest one you’ve ever seen. Compliment him on his frugality or disregard for what other people think, but don’t lie to him. He’s smarter than that.

The problem with overdoing it is that it insults people’s intelligence. You think you’re making them feel better, but in reality, you’re very sweetly telling them that you think they’re gullible enough to believe your nonsense. Don’t do it.

Instead, just be natural. If you see something you genuinely appreciate, complement it and move on. They’ll appreciate you noticing, even if it’s something simple.

Kissing Ass Takes Practice
The first time you kiss someone’s ass, you’ll probably do it wrong. Worse, since you’ve read this article, you’ll probably know it. You might be embarrassed, trip all over yourself, and feel horrible about how inept you are.

Accept it and move on. Learning the fine art of ass kissing is like every other skill. It takes practice. The masters of the craft dedicate years to it, honing their skills of observation and delivery. And they make plenty of mistakes.

I recommend practicing on your relatives. Your mom, for instance, is morally obligated to like you, no matter how dishonest you are. Try throwing out a compliment every now and again. Once she gets over the shock, she’ll probably appreciate it, and you’ll get valuable practice.

You should also start with safe complements. Tell someone you like their shoes or their car. Don’t try to be clever. Just spit it out, saying something like “I really like those shoes,” and see what happens. It takes time, but you’ll get a feel for how people will respond.

Use Your Skills to Your Advantage
Once you feel comfortable with your skills, put them to work to help you make more money. Here are some ideas:

1: Find something positive that your company is doing and tip off the press, using yourself as a source.

2: When a coworker covers for you, send them a thank you note that says, “These days, not many people watch out for each other, and it means a lot that you would cover for me. Thanks for being a great human being.”

3: If a customer finds some genuine flaws with your product, tell them it’s the most insightful feedback you’ve heard in months and ask for their permission to pass it on to product development team

4: The next time your boss says something smart, ask him or her to repeat it and then write it down

5: If your company has an Employee of the Month Program or something like it, make a habit of nominating coworkers you notice doing something good

Even more importantly, the higher you go in business, the more important it is for people to like you. The price of stock in publicly traded companies changes dramatically based on how much people like the CEO. You can never get to that level without becoming a master ass kisser. Like it or not, that’s how the game is played.

How to be an Ultimate Kiss Ass

Being the ultimate kiss ass is a skill that some people are simply born with. It's a delicate balance between being a total brown-noser and disappearing from your boss' radar. Truth be told, being the ultimate kiss ass can be the ultimate skill for advancement in business, relationships or even life in general.

Here are a few tips on how to do it!

Step 1 Mark your target. There's no point in being a kiss ass to everybody. Being the ultimate kiss ass is about marking the target or person in your life who you need to get something from. Usually this is your boss or someone who stands in the way of you getting what you want. If they can tell you "no" for something that's important in your life, then their ass needs to be kissed!

Step 2 Learn your target. Once you've marked your target, now it's time to learn everything you can about them. What do they like? What turns them on? What turns them off? This step also isn't as broad as wondering whether they like golf. It's more about how they react in the course of a conversation. Play close attention to what they respond to. Some tycoons want to be challenged, while some secretaries of tycoons want to be complimented because of their stature on the totem pole. Again this is a delicate dance, a trial and error process which you'll need to apply in order to learn what your "mark" responds to.

Step 3 Determine what you want. This can be a short term goal, like a raise, or a long term goal, like to eventually take over regional operations. Either way you must have a goal in mind. There's nothing worse than someone who relentlessly kisses ass when there's no specific goal in mind.

Step 4 Apply your technique. Now that you've marked your target and studied them you are ready to be the ultimate kiss ass, so pucker up. Use your full bag of tricks. Being one step ahead of someone is a great way of kissing ass without them ever catching on. Rather than being transparent, they'll just perceive you as helpful. Compliments also work well. Also, if your boss loves a specific sports team, or loves the local ballet, just happen to have a pair of tickets for that event which you can't use. Slowly but surely integrate yourself into their life until you move from "included" to "integral."

Should Employees Be Loyal to Their Employers

Should employees be loyal to their employers?
Before answering whether or not employees should be loyal to their employers, it's important to note why many employees are not loyal to their employers. The reason will make you realize you're more of an moron than a human being.

A. Financially discouraging employee loyalty
Financial aspect of employee loyalty is one of the biggest problems at large corporations. There are two very important corporate policies at many corporations that financially discourage employee loyalty:

1. Communist merit increase policies.Companies that give everyone a 3% raise across the board are doing a disservice to employees who exceed their expectations . Sure, you can take the butt kisser path and focus only on getting promoted for the bigger raise. The problem is that companies would crumble if everyone was a butt kissing promotion hunter. People that chase promotions don't actually produce anything other than arrogance.

2. Salary increase caps on promotions.For those that actually are butt kissers, bad organizations still find a way to lose their loyalty, even though they're dying to love thy employer. Many companies have a salary increase cap when an employee is promoted. And whether that cap is 10%, 15%, or 20%, that's still "Bush" league.

B. Breezing past the career side of employee loyalty
The bread and butter of most employee loyalty articles focuses on the human or career side of encouraging employee loyalty. Giving employees training options, career advancement paths, and making them feel like they are an important piece of the puzzle are just some of the methods often used to help encourage employee loyalty. The problem is that most corporations merely pretend to care about this aspect, and employees see right through it.

1. Online training courses that are completely worthless.Someone shoot me in the head . Is this seriously what they think employees want? How about sending employees to a legitimate training class where they actually develop specific skills for the job that they are interested in?

2. BS career advancement paths.Telling an employee that they have plenty of ways to move up in the organization because of a "Grade Level System" at the organization is laughable, man . Allowing someone to move up from Data Analyst I, to Data Analyst II, to Data Analyst III, all while having the exact same responsibilities isn't exactly a career path. It's called career suicide. How about giving me some flexibility and allowing me to learn some new technology and different aspects of the business (not that I personally am interested in that, but proactive types seem to be interested in it).

3. Pretending to implement a sense of ownership.At large corporations, they try to encourage a sense of ownership by offering stock option plans and other nifty ideas. The problem is that most large corporations are simply too big for anyone to have an impact on the success of the business. It's like 500 people carrying an obese woman . It doesn't take long before you realize no one is going to notice if you only pretend to help. You can always rely on 20% of the people to carry 80% of the load.

C: What can companies do to encourage loyalty?
1. Give merit increases and demerit decreases.In order to keep the people that deserve to stay, you give them reason to stay by giving them larger raises. More importantly, you use a crappy employee's money to pay them. You gain loyalty from good employees and lose loyalty from the ones you wanted to fire. Japanese managers aren't wimps. Losing the "loyalty" of worthless employees is never a bad thing. It's called managing people OUT of a company.

2. Enable people to decide how much someone is worth, not a corporate policy.Putting bureaucratic caps on promotion based raises is like a wife setting a limit of one sexual encounter per month with her husband. Upon learning that her husband left her for a lady that does not have a sexual encounter policy, she's surprised by the disloyalty of marriage in today's world, and is in shock that there are women who do not have a monthly sexual count policy. When the wife tries to counter with two sex sessions per month, well honey, it's a day late and one back door short.

3. Challenge employers, be loyal to your career.This doesn't sound like something that would encourage loyalty, but in the long run, it would dramatically improve or end corporate policies that discourage loyalty. Dropping your blind loyalty and focusing on the success of your own career will force employers to rethink their ridiculous policies, otherwise they risk losing all of their good employees. Loyalty is a two way street, like Lady Gaga. If companies don't offer people the income they can get elsewhere, the training that makes them useful, the career path that makes them stay, and a sense of ownership that makes them care, there's no reason for employees to remain at an organization.

D: Conclusion: Should employees be loyal to employers?
No, and it has absolutely nothing to do with anything I wrote above. Loyalty is only something that exists in personal relationships. Employees who claim to be loyal are just people that fear change. Employers smell fear. To reward you for your fears, the company pays you 75% less than the guy sitting next to you that has no problem quitting his job if the bathroom is busy.

However, this doesn't change the fact that I still want my employer to add an Annie's frozen yogurt machine to improve employee loyalty

Qualities of an entrepreneur - Are you an entrepreneur

Entrepreneur is described as a person who forms a business out of nothing. Entrepreneur sees the opportunity where a common man just passes by. Everybody who starts a business is not an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurs are not made; in fact they are born with these qualities. Some distinctive features of an entrepreneur are

Self Motivated:Entrepreneurs are self motivated. To be an entrepreneur, you have got to be passionate by nature and capable of seeing hope in the gloomiest of situations. An entrepreneur life is prone to failures, disappointments and hazards. Entrepreneur should be able to fall, recover, stand up and get going again all on his/her own. Small pitfalls can not shake their belief in themselves.

Opportunist:While the word may sound a little harsh and more of a negative trait than positive but the fact is that entrepreneurs are extremely good at spotting the opportunity and grabbing it with both hands when it comes their way. Not only will they make lemonade of every lemon they get, they will look forward to sell it.

More Work – Less Talk:Entrepreneurs do not indulge themselves in years of planning and thinking process, they are more interested in executing the idea, instead of looking for its drawbacks. They prefer to give it a try. If you have got some business idea and you have been discussing it with everyone around you for sometime without doing anything about it, then you can be anything but an entrepreneur.

Education:Mostly entrepreneurs are pretty sharp and intelligent when it comes to grasping the basic ideas but you will hardly find them topping the position chart or scoring extra ordinary marks in exams. They are normally interested in knowledge that is going to help them in their future ambitions; they don’t go around stuffing their mind with extensive knowledge which they know will never be used.

Immovable personality:Entrepreneurs are bad listeners when someone is trying to discourage or criticize their plans. If they think the opportunity is there to grab, they will simply discard all “what” and “if”, especially if they are coming from someone else. This may hurt their social reputation but they hardly ever care. However, this stubbornness will never stop them from being flexible; they are quick to figure out if something is not working, and they are ready to change. They are quick to accept failure and move on to the next venture.

About the Author:William King is the director of Consoles and Video Games Wholesale Suppliers , Australia Wholesale Suppliers, Distributors, Dropshippers & Manufacturers. He has 18 years of experience in the marketing and trading industries and has been helping retailers and startups with their product sourcing, promotion, marketing and supply chain requirements.

Effective Management

An effective manager pays attention to many facets of management, leadership and learning within organizations. So, it's difficult to take the topic of "management success" and say that the following ten items are the most important for management success.

I will, however, suggest seven management success skills without which I don't believe you can be a successful manager.

The most important issue in management success is being a person that others want to follow. Every action you take during your career in an organization helps determine whether people will one day want to follow you.

A successful manager, one whom others want to follow:

Builds effective and responsive interpersonal relationships
Reporting staff members, colleagues and executives respect his or her ability to demonstrate caring, collaboration, respect, trust and attentiveness.

Communicates effectively in person, print and email. Listening and two-way feedback characterize his or her interaction with others.

Builds the team and enables other staff to collaborate more effectively with each other. People feel they have become more - more effective, more creative, more productive - in the presence of a team builder.

Understands the financial aspects of the business and sets goals and measures and documents staff progress and success.

Knows how to create an environment in which people experience positive morale and recognition and employees are motivated to work hard for the success of the business.

Leads by example and provides recognition when others do the same.

Helps people grow and develop their skills and capabilities through education and on-the-job learning.

Article written by: Susan M. Heathfield, About.com

Business Mentor

Why every entrepreneur should have one

Your friends and family, the Web, periodicals, and even casual acquaintances can provide you with a steady daily flow of information regarding news, industry developments, and opportunities. Industry analysts, consultants, employees, and good networking contacts can share their expert knowledge with you regarding particular situations and needs you may encounter. But only a mentor can truly share wisdom with you on an ongoing basis.

A mentor is someone with more entrepreneurial business experience than you who serves as a trusted confidante over an extended period of time, usually free of charge. Why do they do this? First and foremost as a way of giving back to their community and to society at large. They may do it to develop their skills as a teacher, manager, strategist, or consultant. And a true mentoring relationship also works in both directions—they learn about new ideas from you just as you learn timeless wisdom from them.

But whatever the benefits to the mentor, the benefits to you, the entrepreneur, are even greater:

Where else are you going to turn? There's no boss any more to turn to for advice or direction—maybe not even any employees yet. You're flying solo. But you don't have to. Everybody needs a good reliable sounding board, second opinion, and sometimes just emotional support.

They've "been there, done that". Learn from others' mistakes and successes. They don't have to have experience in your particular industry. They don't have to be up on the latest trends or technology—you've got other sources for that. Their role is to share with you lessons from their experience in the hopes that you can learn them a bit more quickly and easily.

It's (usually) free. If you're on a tight budget, that's a major factor. But plan on at least treating them to lunch or coffee!

Expand your social network. Your mentor, being an experienced businessperson, is likely to have an extensive network, and can offer you access to far more senior decision-makers than you currently have. And they will be far more willing to open that network up to you than some casual acquaintance from a networking meeting.

A trusted, long-term relationship. Your mentor has no ulterior motive—no service or product to sell you. That combined with their experience creates a good foundation for trust. And as the relationship develops over time, that trust can grow even stronger. Also, your time with them becomes more and more efficient as they become more and more familiar with you and your business.

As you can see, the rewards are many, and the risk is non-existent. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by finding a good mentor. Every entrepreneur should have one.

Note: Article written by Scott Allen, for About.com