Things we can all learn from Weight Watchers

Weight Watchers has been in the business of helping people live a healthier life for over 40 years. In that time it has produced numerous testimonials and noteworthy innovations in the field of weight loss, dieting and healthy eating.

But even if you are fit, healthy, eating well or even apathetic, several axioms hold true across any endeavor:

• Start with a goal or target
  
  In Weight Watchers, you start with a target weight loss (e.g., 30 pounds). To achieve this (without specific regard to a timeline) you are given a daily "budget": x points per day that represent a target calorie intake. If you meet (but do not exceed) the intake level over the course of a week, you are poised to burn more calories than you consumed.
  
  In life, you need to know where you're going to be successful (you define your own success). Dreams are important, but you need a tangible result in mind to move forward. Goals are your vehicle to getting where you want to go.
  
  Your first goal is strategic: where do I want to be in a year? What you must do to accomplish that goal is tactical: how will I get there?
  
  
• Write things down
  
  "If you don't write it down, it never happened."
  
  You learn about yourself when you journal. Knowing your "budget" or "plan" limits helps to hold yourself accountable to your goals.
  
  
• If you work the system, the system works
  
  Success is in the details, and the details are in the plan of action. When you stick to the script, you stay on target. Diligence brings focus.

• Learn, and share, the art of failure
  
  The writer of the book of James says we all stumble in many ways. In any group environment such as Weight Watchers, the safety and accountability is in knowing people have similar stories.
  
  
• Creativity abounds in safe company
  
  When you have a group of people you can be open and honest with, you can explore challenges in a more meaningful way. And you open yourself to more creative thought than you might otherwise.
  
  
• Confession is good for the soul
  
  Sometimes we just need to vent our spleen. To share what's on our mind and know we're safe doing it.
  
  
• Three simple words: "So do I."
  
  Best of all is when we know the people we're being vulnerable with can identify with our circumstances.

Things we can all learn from Charlie Sheen

Celebrity. Icon. #winner. By turning a series of indelicate public conversations into a world record, few have stirred up the twitterverse like Charlie Sheen.

Chances are you haven't burned bridges with your employer in such a public fashion. Still, there are noteworthy takeaways from the train-wreck-cum-genius-marketing-campaign that is Tiger Blood:

• One person's #winning is another person's unemployment check
  
  It is a very unique individual who can get away with trash talking their employer and not collect unemployment. Not even an affluent, caucasian, privileged son of a celebrity can pull it off. So if you're going to publicly stick it to The Man, have a good backup plan. Forewarned is forearmed.
  
  
• Make lemonade out of lemons
  
  Whatever cards you were dealt, you still have some plays you can make. The question is, how will you respond to adversity? Remember your attitude determines your outcome.
  
  
• Don't forget where the lemons came from
  
  Sometimes the tragic circumstances of our lives are of our own making. You can only squeeze so much juice out of a bad situation, and some kinds of lemonade are just too tart.
  
  
• Leverage your notoriety -- to a point.
  
  For most people, it can be difficult to see what the revenue play is when they flame out in a very public way. Don't let that stop you from making the most of a touchy situation. Just remember there's a short half life for cashing in on your foibles; the smart money is on folding early.

• Turn your #fail into a #win
  
  John Maxwell teaches: if you're going to fail, fail forward. Or, if you're flat on your face, before you get back on your feet - pick something up! Ultimately, you control your own destiny.
  
  
• Success != a life well-lived
  
  Today's achievements can be tomorrow's stumbling block. Being good at what you do doesn't necessarily translate to a legacy worth remembering. Your honor and integrity will be remembered longer than your name recognition.

Few have the opportunity to influence on a platform as public as the one Sheen has enjoyed of late. When your actions command attention, are you drawing the right kind?

Things we can all learn from Top Chef

Top Chef is a popular American television show that pits chefs against one another in a half Survivor, half American Idol model. Of course, the single biggest tease of any cooking show is that we have to trust people we don't know to tell us what food tastes like that we will, most likely, never experience for ourselves.

• Remember your purpose
  
  Candidates are judged on their cooking, just like American Idol candidates are judged on their singing. So if you are not competent with the basic requirements, you will not excel.

• You are judged on the how as much as the what
  
  The qualitative is at least as important as the quantitative. While Top Chef is a cooking competition, it is also, at its core, a change leadership journey. Executive chefs bear a higher burden of responsibility than the rest of the cooking team - or, leadership matters.
  

• You may get the job done, but how you get there matters
  
  Own your missteps; throwing people under the bus for the sake of expedience will come back on you. In whatever your community of practice, you are bound to re-encounter those with whom you collaborated. If you leave a trail of bodies in your wake, you will ultimately work alone.
  

• Age and experience is a great leveler
  
  Wisdom comes with trials and hard knocks. Competitors on Top Chef Master dramatically eclipse those on Top Chef for professionalism and maturity. There is a big difference between 10 years of experience built on learning from your mistakes and one year of experience repeated 10 times.

• Nice guys can finish first
  
  Everyone loves a winner; we love a winner more when they are humble and generous. Whether you win or lose, people will remember how you played the game.
  

Just how badly do you want my money?

Or, If you can't say anything nice ... by all means, throw a fit in front of an executive

In a recent meeting with several executives, a non-executive came looking for a handout. A Megan Joy - American Idol moment ensued.

Team A requested an investment in their product from Team B. Team A was rebuffed, and a member of the team made his disappointment known. Team A was offered alternatives, and the non-executive turned down Team B, citing schedule conflicts and displaying a general inflexibility.

What Team A did not know was, the sponsoring executives were open to the funding request ... Until Team B heard this response: "I just don't have time to try something new. But if you won't fund my project, I'll tell my team to kill it." The call ended rather quickly after that.

Nobody likes rejection. We take it personally, especially when we have invested in a particular tool or resource, only to find it coming under attack. Worst of all is when we are unprepared to face change.

Such circumstances do not relieve us from the responsibility of responding well. Being right, or being under perceived attack, is not license to respond with hostility. Burning bridges will not make things better.

But responding well, even being conciliatory, may actually build bridges.

Things we can all learn from Barack Obama

Today, Barack Obama becomes the 44th president of the United States. There is no precedent for his election.

• Make the most of the opportunities (and challenges) in front of you.
• You can be an agent of change. You can be an agent of change.
• The audacity of hope, residing in just one person, can unify many.
• Obstacles don't stop us, they can only slow us down; it is our attitude that can stop or propel us.
• You did not get here on your own. Carry your heritage with you.
• Rivals can strengthen us.
• Destiny is not written for us, it is written by us.
  

Things we can all learn from Don Imus

There are myriad leadership and diversity lessons about Don Imus that have nothing to do with the politics of the actual incident.

It is a sufficiently divisive topic that people would feel more comfortable shying away from it, rather than wading into potentially treacherous waters. After all, no one wants to be labeled racist or sexist, which is one of the "wisdom of crowds devolving into mob mentality" lessons worth noting.

But the basic principlces of emotional hijackings that are at play in this particular incident, with dramatic consequences, are also present every time we make bad decisions that affect people around us.

Here, then, are a number of imporant learning points about how we respond in the heat of the moment. Were we to break them down chronologically, the lessons to be learned are these:

• If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all - Abraham Lincoln said, "better to keep one's mouth closed and thought a fool, than to open it and remove all doubt." Put another way, emotional self-control is the first and most critical lesson of all. It's one thing to know you want to say something questionable or inappropriate; it's entirely another to actually let it slip from your mouth.
  

• If you make a mistake, admit it - There are few things less tolerable than making excuses or blameshifting. Own your gaffes, your blunders, your inexcusable lapses in judgement. Let your track record and other people defend you.
  
  And if people cannot defend the context of your work record over time, you may need to ask yourself: am I the problem?
  

• If you think you crossed a line, you probably have - People with a strong social intelligence understand, almost intuitively, what impact their words and actions might have on people around them. And they act accordingly.
  
  
• It's your response that dictates the repercussions - Life is 10% what happens to us, and 90% how we respond to it. You can be wrong, and respond properly, and be thought better of by those around you than when you are right and respond poorly.
  
  
• There is an opportunity wrapped up in every blunder - For those who blundered, there is an opportunity to come to terms with what went wrong, to recognize the missteps, and to take corrective action in order to avoid the same pitfalls in the future.
  
  Strong leaders recognize the teaching moment inherent in every mistake made by people they influence. This underscores the value of debriefing after every project or new initiative: what went well? What should we do differently? What should we not stop doing?

When you make a mistake, even of epic proportions, you still have the opportunity to fail forward. It remains on you to decide, will I learn from this? Will I pick myself up and move on, and try to make amends?

Or will I choose to blame others for my failure?

Things we can all learn from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. is at the top of a very short list of leaders whose leadership case study should be required reading.

• You get to decide your attitude.
• Learn from others you respect, and from those you do not.
• Apply your learning in creative, life-affirming ways.
  
• The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.
• You can be an agent of change. Just be ready to take action, and don't assume everyone will agree with or support you.
  
• Fight for what you believe in, whether or not you see change for yourself.
• Love is the best weapon of all.
  

Things we can all learn from George W. Bush

George W. Bush is the 43rd president of the United States. In his time, Dubya went from being one of the most approved-of presidents (late 2001-early 2002) to one of the least approved-of (2003 invasion of Iraq).

While most of us will never be the leader of the free world, there are things we can all take away from his legacy, regardless of our political affiliation.

• Even the best intended plans can be derailed. Make the best of it.
• Staying the course is an invaluable leadership trait.
• Admitting your misjudgments engenders respect, too.
• Your father did things differently than you for a reason. Learn from him.
  
• Keep advisors close by whom you can trust.
• If you believe in something, take a stand, even when those around you disagree.
• If you make a decision, stick to it.
• Hold yourself accountable for your decisions and your actions.
• Life will go on without you. Make your legacy count.
  
• History is the best judge of current events.