One of the neat things about sending out this Great Idea is the great ideas I get from all of you. Recently, Kyle, from Stafford, Texas, sent me an e-mail. I liked it so much I wanted to share it with you this week. So here goes:

Marty,

I have listened to some of your teleseminars as well as read 9 Simple Steps and love getting your Monday morning idea sheets. I spent the last several days in Colorado vacationing and heard an analogy that I thought you would like. You may already be familiar with it.

After seeing some Buffalo in a pasture, a gentleman asked me if I knew the difference between Buffalo and Geese. Kind of a strange question. He then explained that although both travel in large groups, the way the herd and gander are run is very different. He explained that the reason buffalo were so easily killed in the masses was because if you shoot the lead buffalo, the whole herd stops in confusion and doesn’t know what to do next. The geese on the other hand also have a lead goose, but if you shoot the lead goose, a trailing goose immediately takes the lead.

Then he asked if my company was a herd of buffalo or a gander of geese. Really is an interesting way of looking at each individual company and the true internal strength that we are creating within our employees. Interesting time to ask as well and made me hope that I had left a gander of geese back at home while I was away. Kyle

Thanks, Kyle! Great point. We all hope to have organizations where one person can fall back, leave, or just be away for a week and things still get done. If you like the sounds of this analogy shared with us this week by Kyle, pick up Flight of the Buffalo by James A. Belasco and Ralph C. Stayer; it’s an excellent book that will go into great detail on the very concept that Kyle is talking about. Have a great week!

I came across the following story about Monrovia Nursery in a management newsletter we get at the office. I thought it was so outstanding and insightful, I wanted to share it with you. Please take a moment and read it.

The folks at Monrovia understand nurturing. As one of the country’s largest wholesale nurseries, the California-based company nurtures 22 million plants a year. But fortunately for the family-owned enterprise–and its employees–management is also quick to nurture ideas.

Among the most common tasks at Monrovia is “canning”–the process of transplanting growing plants into increasingly larger pots. Different types of plants are potted in different types of specially formulated soil, which is piled outside the canning shed. Of course, all the specially formulated soils include ample amounts of nature’s favorite fertilizer–manure. So when it rains, the soil becomes acidic. The stench is overpowering, and the wet, sticky, manure-laden mud coats workers’ hands and gathers under their fingernails. Soon their skin becomes irritated and their hands begin to hurt.

Or that’s the way it was before one of the workers offered a simple suggestion: Cover the piled-up soil with tarps so it will stay dry in the rain. Monrovia’s management quickly approved the suggestion–and got an unexpected lesson in how doing good can be good for business.

Once canners began working exclusively with dry soil, Monrovia’s plant yield increased dramatically. It turns out that anytime the workers had to pot plants using wet soil, the soil would clump and then dry in cakes. Plant roots couldn’t penetrate the hard cakes, so the plants died. With Monrovia’s canning operation transplanting as many as 2,700 plants per hour, a rainfall that thoroughly soaked the soil might doom thousands of plants. But because there was no fixed pattern to the losses, management never identified the problem until the tarps inadvertently eliminated it.

In heeding a simple suggestion, Monrovia’s leaders hoped to make work safer and more pleasant for employees. They wound up making it more lucrative for the company.

Adapted from “Small ideas, big payoffs: How to turn workers’ small ideas into big results,” by Alan Robinson and Dean Schroeder, on SeekingSuccess.com.

Some things to think about this week are as follows:

1. Do you have a suggestion box in your office that your team can use? Your team most likely has many great ideas of their own; let them know you want to hear them.

2. When was the last time you asked your people the following questions?

What’s stupid around here? What tool do you need to make doing your job easier? What is your biggest problem at our company?

3. Why do you do certain things the way you do? Are those still the best ways to do those tasks? What about asking, or rather challenging, your people to find a better, quicker, and cheaper way to do things?

Kudos to Monrovia and kudos to you if you take on the same mindset they did to their work.

Last year I asked my son, who was 6 at the time, what he wanted to be when he grew up. He responded, “Nothing!” Oh, my goodness, I thought…the son of Mr. Motivator doesn’t wasn’t to be anything when he grows up?! I can’t take this. I have to spend some time with him and push him and have him be more focused on goals and have a plan. THEN I realized he was only 6.

We parents all want what’s best for our children. We want to see them grow up and be successful. We want to brag to our friends about the accomplishments of our kids, and we hope that they will be more successful than we are.

At the end of the day, folks, success is about being the best you can be at whatever you are doing. Part of what shapes us are all those experiences we have as a kid. Grant will have plenty of time to figure out what he wants to do; right now, his time is best served being a kid and forming positive memories about his childhood. I will set the best example I can for him, and I know he will turn out just fine. Right now, he’ll learn more from my going on a bike ride with him than making him read a book on entrepreneurship or pushing him to do something he’s not ready for.

Recently I spoke to a wonderful group of Pest Control Professionals in Phoenix, Arizona. I was teaching one of my favorite sessions – Make Friends, Make Sales: The Art of Relationship Selling (This is also the preliminary title of a new book I’m working on). Anyway, the founding principle of Relationship Selling is this – Take an Interest in Others and They will Take an Interest in You. Or as Dale Carnegie said it over 70 years ago: “You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years of trying to get people interested in you!

I could go on and on about this. This is a Great Idea, so it needs to be quick; you’ve got work to do. So this week, focus on being more interested in others than trying to get others to be interested in you. Ask questions of other people and truly take an interest in them. I know if you try hard to make this a habit, you will see that you will grow as a person that others want to be around and that others want to do business with!

And a big old hello and thank you goes out to all the friends I made in Phoenix!

I have a really great idea for you this week, and it’s quick and easy. Click here and buy Dr. John Maxwell’s latest book Leadership Gold. A group of my clients and I recently experienced the thrill of a lifetime as Dr. Maxwell spent 4 hours with us teaching his 5 levels of leadership. I could go on and on about what John has meant to me, both personally and professionally; suffice to say, many of my ideas come from John. So please, buy a copy of his book and read it; it might change your life for the better and take you down a road to success you otherwise never knew was there! Look at his other materials as well; you can’t go wrong with any of them. I have both the print copy and audio CD for several products.

And if you ever have the opportunity to hear Dr. Maxwell speak in person, please don’t miss the chance to hear him speak. You will certainly be glad you did.