COACHING NOTES: LIVING ON PURPOSE
March 1, 1999

Brought to you by Ann McAllister, Ph.D.
(But you can call me Bubba.)

Welcome to COACHING NOTES: LIVING ON PURPOSE,
your twice monthly coaching session in the form of an email
newsletter, for those who want to live balanced, fulfilling,
successful lives and are willing to take the steps to make it
happen.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. What Business Leaders Can Learn from Jesse Ventura
2. Humor:  Dr. Seuss' Computer Manual
3. Words of Wisdom
4. Taking Care of Business
5. Yada, Yada, Yada

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WHAT BUSINESS LEADERS CAN LEARN FROM JESSE "The
Body"�."The Mind"�."The Governor" VENTURA.

One of the political shocks of the season was the election of
former pro-wrestler Jesse Ventura as governor of Minnesota.
Whether you agree with his policies or not, people who wish to
be effective business leaders (or leaders in any field, for that
matter) can learn a lot from him.

"What?" you may ask.  Well,�

1. Let people know who you really are.

Jesse Ventura was not packaged or "handled" in his campaign.
He was himself.  True, a much more flamboyant self than most
of us, but himself.  People are not going to trust or connect with
someone for very long who is not authentic.  Show people who
you really are behind that title; let people know your human side.

2. Honesty is the best policy.

Ventura expressed his controversial views forthrightly.  In a time
when "misleading" is not lying, people are fed up with
doublespeak.  Truthfulness and candor break down distrust and
cynicism.

3. Be clear about your values and your organization's values.

Effective leaders, like Ventura, believe in what they are doing
and, thus, are passionate.  They have a clear vision of what
could be and a mission for themselves and their organization.
And they are not afraid to communicate it clearly and passionately.
If you are not passionate about what you are doing, why should
anyone follow you.  If you are not passionate about what you are
doing, why are you doing it?

4. Understand and connect with your audience.

Ventura understands his constituency.  He communicates his
understanding of their needs and speaks plainly and directly to
those issues.  Effective leaders must do the same by truly
listening to their stakeholders and speaking plainly and honestly
to their concerns.

5. Maintain your sense of humor.

Ventura is a pretty good stand-up comedian.  At the very least,
he communicates that he doesn't take himself too seriously.
Without humor leaders can appear boring and unapproachable.
Humor is a great way for people to connect.  Major businesses
today are learning the value of humor in the workplace.  Besides,
leaders without humor are not having much fun.

6. Keep balance in your life.

Family and personal time is very important to Ventura.  He has
declared Sunday as his work free day and that only a major
disaster would justify his being disturbed.  Sunday is his day off.
Tired, stressed out people do not make good leaders.


Well, it's Sunday afternoon.  This article is written.  Bubba "The
Coach" McAllister is going to take a nap.

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WHAT IF DR.SUESS WROTE TECHNICAL MANUALS?

If a packet hits a pocket on a socket on a port,
And the bus is interrupted as a very last resort,
And the address of the memory makes your floppy disk abort,
Then the socket packet pocket has an error to report!

If your cursor finds a menu item followed by a dash,
And the double-clicking icon puts your window in the trash,
And your data is corrupted 'cause the index doesn't hash,
Then your situation's hopeless, and your system's gonna
crash!

You can't say this?  What a shame sir!
We'll find you another game sir!

If the label on the cable on the table at your house,
Says the network is connected to the button on your mouse,
But your packets want to tunnel on another protocol,
That's repeatedly rejected by the printer down the hall!

If your screen is all distorted by the side-effects of gauss,
So your icons in the window are as wavy as a souse,
Then you may as well reboot, and go out with a bang,
'Cause as sure as I'm a poet, the sucker's gonna hang!

If the copy of your floppy's getting sloppy on the disc,
And the microcode instructions cause unnecessary RISC,
Then you have to flash your memory, and you'll want to RAM
 your ROM
Quickly turn off the computer and be sure to tell your MOM!

                                                    -Author Unknown

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WORDS OF WISDOM

What I have learned in life�

I've learned-
           that you can get by on charm for about
           fifteen minutes.
           After that, you'd better know something.
I've learned-
           that you shouldn't compare
           yourself to the best others can do.
I've learned-
           that you can do something in an instant
           that will give you heartache for life.
I've learned-
           that it's taking me a long time
           to become the person I want to be.

                                          -Source Unknown

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TAKING CARE OF BUSINESS

"Most of us only learn through painful mistakes."  That was how
I began this column in the last issue and that certainly has been
true for most areas of my life.  Kind of mind boggling that we can't
seem to learn from good advice and common sense.  I want to
engage in a little bit of self-congratulation, however, because with
my computer I seem to be avoiding that human foible.

Last issue I reminded readers to back up every thing important
on their computers.  This issue I want to remind readers to use
a surge protector (if not an uninterrupted power source) on their
computers.  Maybe most of you do that already.

I was working away on the Internet last week and I heard a very
loud boom outside.  I went to investigate.  My neighbor's power
had gone out (and stayed that way for 12 hours).  Fortunately my
power stayed on.  But, when I got back to my computer, I had
lost my Internet connection.  I soon discovered my modem was
not working.  Not thrilled at the prospect of taking the time,
trouble and expense to install a new modem, I continued trying
various combinations.  To my relief, the surge protector was fried,
not my modem.  I ran to Office Depot (well, actually I drove my
car), and the rest is history�except I now unplug the phone line
from the surge protector when I am not using it.  A little pain
caused that new precaution.  "A stitch in time saves nine."

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SHAMELESS MARKETING TIP

� If your life is pretty good, but somehow you just know there
 should be more, you could use a coach.

� If you are ready to move your business or career to the next
 level, you could use a coach.

� If you have had a lifelong dream but just can't quite get started
 on realizing it, you could use a coach.

� Great athletes have coaches.  Great musicians have teachers.
 Great leaders have advisors.  Isn't YOUR life just as important?


For a complimentary introductory session to see if
coaching is for you, call me at 770-399-6619 or email
me at [email protected].  I am available for individual
and group coaching.


Who is Ann McAllister, Ph.D., you ask?  Well, she
has been helping people achieve the lives they really,
really want for 26 years as a psychologist and more
recently as a personal and professional coach.  She
is a member of the International Coach Federation and
the Coach Training Program of Coach University.
Her current projects include creating VisionBuilding
workshops with colleague Mary Pike, Psy.D.(we call
ourselves the Vision Mavens) and seminars on truly
effective financial planning with financial planner Fran
Levine.

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Copyright 1999 Ann McAllister, Ph.D. All rights
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