August 2005 Newsletter

The American Dream

Hi Everyone,

What does the American dream mean to you? For most people, it resounds of success, however they may measure it. Your meaning of success might incorporate reaching your milestones for financial wealth, a healthy lifestyle, loving relationships, or a blissful feeling of happiness and self-esteem. All of those things pretty much sum up success for me, but I want to add a few more.

For me, the American dream is also about having integrity in business and in life, and being respected and admired as an honest individual. For me, the American dream is being able to work with people I love and respect. I’m fortunate in that I work with ALL of my favorite people: my best friend since I was a little kid is the executive director of my company. My two amazing brothers, a sister, a sister-in-law, and numerous nieces and nephews also work with me. My mom has been the bookkeeper for several of my companies for almost 20 years. (If mom is embezzling, we’re all in trouble!)

In this month’s newsletter I want to introduce you to a couple of other amazing individuals who are living the American dream. First is John Paul DeJoria, CEO of the Paul Mitchell hair care company. Not only is he financially very successful, he is one of the nicest men I’ve ever met. Next is Outback Steakhouse President Ben Novello. I love that company’s philosophies, and I know you’ll be happy to discover that there are companies who take care of their people.

Thanks for helping me live my fantasy of spreading this BE NICE message and giving nice people a voice.

XOXO, Winn

A BE NICE Story
Do you have a BE NICE story to share? Send it to editor@BeNiceOrElse.com. If it appears in the newsletter, you’ll receive a BE NICE T-shirt and CD!

Jennifer Dournaux is the Admissions Leader at Paul Mitchell The School–Orlando. She's found a great way to create a contagious BE NICE environment.

Hello Winn!

I love your Be Nice (Or Else!) book and find it to be one of those books you can open anywhere, read a little, and always get a good chunk of "A-ha" from it. I have been experiencing the BE NICE concepts throughout my school—and they are so catching! It's funny how little things can add up to create an incredible environment or even existence. I've started posting feel-good quotes on my bulletin boards, lighting a candle in my office, buying fresh flowers, and even making CDs of all the songs I like—just as you suggested. Funny, the Future Professionals will often come in to my office and just sit there and smile. When I ask them if I can help them with anything they say, "No, I just needed to sit in your happy space for a minute. Thanks," and off they go.

Thanks, Winn, for teaching me how to create a life for myself that I enjoy and can easily share with others without giving up too much and without feeling worn out.

Jennifer Dournaux

Monthly Audio Message

I’m passionate about spreading the message that being rich does not replace being nice. I personally don’t have a lot of wealthy friends or acquaintances, but the few I do have are wonderful examples for me of how to behave as a wealthy man. One person who immediately comes to mind is John Paul DeJoria, co-founder and CEO of the $700 million-per-year Paul Mitchell hair care company. He struggled against the odds to not only achieve success, but to share his success with others. His rags-to-riches biography exemplifies the American dream.

I’ve watched John Paul in almost every type of scenario, from a hectic office to a board meeting, from dining out in a restaurant to dashing through a crowded airport, from hosting a small dinner party in his home to taking phone call after phone call. No matter what situation he’s in, John Paul is always nice.

Why are some rich people mean and nasty? Because they can be. Money is a powerful thing to possess, and in most situations it will get you exactly what you want. Follow the wonderful example of people like John Paul and be mindful of how you utilize the financial gifts you’ve been given, and how your use of money makes other people feel about themselves.

Listen to John Paul’s interview about building wealth, taking care of those around you, and giving back.

If you enjoyed this month’s audio message, you’ll love our MASTERS Audio Club. CLICK HERE for more information.

People Profile

Ben Novello, president of operations for Outback Steakhouse, has been with the company since 1991. I once interviewed Ben because I’m very impressed by his organization. I know businesses that have challenges creating a positive, dedicated, passionate frontline team in just one location, and I was curious about how Outback Steakhouse creates a fun, consistent culture in 650 locations around the world. I loved Ben’s answer. He said that the leader of their organization is not a human being, which at first confused me. When I probed more, he explained that a human being couldn’t be in 650 locations every single day to inspect that the culture is intact, but a vision and a standard can be in every location, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He explained that the leader of their organization is the vision of a happy customer.

Ben went on to tell me that Outback Steakhouse has yet to receive a letter telling them what great executives they have. Instead, he says, “They all (and we get a lot of them) speak of what great people we have in our restaurants. Great people demand to be treated well and will grow your business if you are simply nice to them in every situation. ‘Nice’ does not mean you’re weak or a pushover; on the contrary, a big part of it is your strength to show kindness whenever you can. It is being honest when dealing with your people, no matter how difficult it is to do so.”

So, why do people love Outback Steakhouse? It’s because the hosts, bartenders, servers, bussers, line cooks—and yes, even the executives—practice customer-focused leadership.

Corporate Corner
Make Your Business a Party

As business professionals, we constantly strive to upgrade our business expertise and fine-tune our competence. Now it’s time to implement one more necessary ingredient for running a successful business: Fun! Laughter! Make your business a party!

The intentional use of fun can be a powerful force in team building, improving customer service, improving team attitude and loyalty, and ultimately increasing profitability. Studies show that when staff members laugh together, creativity and production go up and absenteeism goes down. A staff that laughs together stays together.

You can create an environment of fun, laughter, and enthusiasm in your business by making fun a daily priority, not an occasional event. Don’t assume that you and your team will occasionally laugh together, and don’t wait for it to happen. Click here to learn how you can create experiences and events where people have fun and laugh with each other.

Do Something!
Find Professional Balance

A lot of people hate their life from nine to five. “No pain, no gain” doesn’t need to refer to your job or career. To hate something will bring to it unproductive, infertile energy. You can’t hate your job and expect it to bring you prosperity.

I had a friend who complained about her job for years. She called me one day, very distraught, because her employers had fired her. She couldn’t understand why I was so happy for her until I finally pointed out, “You hated that job and had been telling the universe about it for years. The universe finally took care of it for you. Now you have the chance to find the job you love.”

As you work on achieving professional balance and fulfilling your version of the American dream, please keep in mind that the process must be fun. That doesn’t mean it will always be easy, but it must be fun. How do you make things fun? Two steps:

Find mentors and gurus for the area you want to improve. Ask yourself: Who are my professional mentors?
Find people who want to play with and support you in your many, diverse paths of development. Ask yourself: Who wants to play with me professionally?

Quote of the Month

“. . . even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.”
—Martin Luther King Jr.

Walk the talk and wear the talk.
Click Here!