Welcome to the new year! We are bringing the new energy of the year in. Meaning, that the energy of new ideas, home business projects, behaviors, and habits usually takes place at the end of one year as we begin a new year…with new hope, a renewed vision and a goal to be our best selves!
One of the goals I take into each year is to learn more and one way I learn is through reading. I usually read a book a month…and I am proud to put the books I have read on the shelf after I have finished one and then marvel at the number of books I have completed in the year.
One such book I am actually still reading is by W. Brett Wilson. For those of you from the U.S. or outside Canada, you probably wouldn’t know who this guy is.
Brett is a former Dragon on a show here in Canada (where I reside) called, “The Dragon’s Den”. The Dragon’s Den is like Shark Tank in the U.S.
In fact, two of our Dragons are now on Shark Tank. You can thank Canada for Kevin O’Leary and Robert Herjavec. They are Canadian too and got their start as Venture Capitalists on the Dragon’s Den.
Brett Wilson was one of the kinder, nicer Dragons.
He is a venture capitalist, fund manager in the oil and gas sector, a speaker, author, philanthropist and business advisor.
He is also a survivor of prostate cancer. At 40 he was diagnosed with cancer, his marriage ended, his kids hardly knew who he was, because he was never home. It was work, work, work, pedal to the medal.
In his book Redefining Success- Still Making Mistakes, he talks openly about his life, the mistakes he made, how he healed himself from having prostate cancer to adopting a new way of being and having a deeper appreciation for balance in his life. Wanting to spend more time with his children, giving more, having integrity, being a true leader.
The book talks about the overall idea of knowing what your “wake” is in life. How what you do impacts many. How you talk, act and how you are being with not only yourself, but with others, is vital to your success or failure.
He suggests, for example, that as a Dragon, he didn’t want to be on the show if it meant cutting the entrepreneurs who come on to pitch the Dragons or Sharks and their ideas into shreds. He didn’t want to be mean-spirited. Yet, the edge of the show is to have that kind of tension.
Brett felt you can still get your point across without being rude and mean-spirited.
I also had the pleasure of seeing W. Brett Wilson speak at a conference in Toronto called The Entrepreneur Within. Notable names like Michael Gerber (author of The E-Myth Revisited), Dan Roam, (author of the book The Back of the Napkin: Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures) and Jim Fannin (a success coach, speaker and author of the book S.C.O.R.E Five Keys for an Optimum Achievement) were also some of the speakers at this event.
In Brett’s talk he shared his journey with us and his totally new approach to life. A more balanced, holistic life, rather than the driving “success at all costs” existence he was living.
He was living a life of doom, and at 40, which should be a time of liberation, was for him a time of near disaster! Having had health issues, marital and family issues and yes even surviving the 2008 economic downfall!
One of the other key concepts in the book is Brett’s guiding principles to life. First of all, before I share these with you, it is important to understand that W. Brett Wilson grew up in the harshness of the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan. Saskatchewan is a “Prairie Province” known for its vast flat land, wheat farming and the mining of Potash.
The winters are harsh (think of places like Wyoming, Montana and Minnesota), the summers can be dry and hot, the people are resilient, they help each other when times are tough, there is a closeness and a community feeling that is felt locally.
In fact, the pro football team (the Saskatchewan Rough Riders) is a community owned team and people come from all over the Province to pack the park. They revel in the sport, all wearing the team colours of green and white. Some fans even wear “watermelon” hats from real watermelons; after all, they are green, just like the team colours.
People in Saskatchewan work hard, they are resilient, community focused, they have humility and they give back! They like to play hard too as evident at a Saskatchewan Roughrider CFL Football game.
These are the characteristics that Brett grew up with and now embodies in his life and work now!
These are what is known as “Cowboy Ethics”.
Cowboy Ethics is a concept based on a book and leadership principles designed by Jim Owen.
On his website called www.cowboyethics.org is a bio about Jim Owen which discusses the concept.
I am just learning more about this concept of Cowboy Ethics from reading Brett’s Redefining Success book…
The goal of Owen’s work is to re-establish the need for ethics in our business world. Recall the tumult and how lives were ruined in the 2008 real estate meltdown and how many people over 50 lost their life savings and their retirement income; this whole event was due to greed and not thinking about the good of the whole, but the good for a select few.
Everyone paid a price.
As we move into this new year, think of being more ethical in your work and business. If you ever shop at the Container Store, CEO and Chairman of the company Kip Tindell often discusses the concept of knowing what your wake is!
Your wake is the effect you have on others. How do your words, actions and behaviors affect others?
To close, I invite you to learn more about Cowboy Ethics or how Container Store differentiates themselves. Other examples of companies that lead with kindness, customer care and great leadership skills include: Mitchell Richards Clothing Store, Zappos, Pike Place Fish Market and Zane’s Cycles in Connecticut!
Finally, here are the key ethics to incorporate in your business this year as discussed in the work by James Owen on Cowboy Ethics;
1) Live each day with courage.
2) Take pride in your work.
3) Always finish what you start.
4) Do what has to be done.
5) Be tough, but fair.
6) When you make a promise, keep it.
7) Ride for the brand.
8) Talk less and say more.
9) Remember that some things
aren’t for sale.
10) Know where to draw the line.
