Talent is Never Enough

A summary of the book by John C. Maxwell

 

The 13 Traits of a Talent-Plus Person

1.      Belief lifts your talent

2.      Passion energizes your talent

3.      Initiative activates your talent

4.      Focus directs your talent

5.      Preparation positions your talent

6.      Practice sharpens your talent

7.      Perseverance sustains your talent

8.      Courage tests your talent

9.      Teachability expands your talent

10.  Character protects your talent

11.  Relationships influence your talent

12.  Responsibility strengthens your talent

13.  Teamwork multiples your talent

 

Belief Lifts Your Talent

 

 "Life is a ten-speed bike.  Most of us have gears we never use." – Charles Schulz

 

·        Believe in Your Potential

·        Believe in Yourself

·        Believe in Your Mission

 

"We cannot live in a way that is inconsistent with our expectations for ourselves"

- James Maxwell

 

Passion Energizes Your Talent

·        Passion is the First Step to Achievement

·        Passions increases Willpower

·        Passion Produces Energy

·        Passion is the Foundation for Excellence

·        Passion is the Key to Success

·        Passion Makes a Person Contagious

 

"Death isn't the greatest loss in life.  The greatest loss is what dies inside of us while we live."

-Norman Cousins

 

Initiative Activates Your Talent

 

"We cannot live in a way that is inconsistent with our expectations for ourselves"

-James Maxwell

According to Maxwell, "when it comes to initiative, there are really only four kinds of people:"

 

·        People who do the right thing without being told

·        People who do the right thing when told

·        People who do the right thing when told more than once

·        People who never do the right thing, no matter what

 

Here's How:

·        Accept Responsibility for Your Life

·        Examine Your Reasons for Not Initiating

·        Focus on the Benefits of Completing a Task

·        Share Your Goal with a Friend Who Will Help You

·        Break Large Tasks Down into Smaller Ones

·        Allocate Specific Times to Tasks You Might Procrastinate

·        Remember, Preparation Includes Doing!

 

Focus Directs Your Talents

 

"If you want to be successful, you must focus on what you can do, not on what you can't"

-James Maxwell

Facts about Focus:

·        Focus Does Not Come Naturally to Most People

·        Focus Increases Your Energy

·        Focus Lifts You

·        Focus Expands Your Life

·        Focus Must Be Intentionally Sustained

 

"I think what separates a superstar from the average ballplayer is that he concentrates just a little bit longer."

- Hank Aaron

 

Five Types of People Your Likely to Encounter in Life:

·        Refreshers – they inspire your dreams and energize your talents

·        Refiners – they sharpen your ideas and clarify your vision

·        Reflectors – they mirror your energy, neither adding nor subtracting from it

·        Reducers – they try to reduce your vision and efforts to their comfort level

·        Rejecters – The deny your talent, hinder your efforts, and impede your vision  

 

Suggestions for Improving Your Focus:

·         Be Intentional – Make Every Action Count

·         Challenge Your Excuses

·         Don't Let Yesterday Hijack Your Attention

·         Focus on the Present

·         Stay Focused on Results

·         Develop and Follow Your Priorities

·         Focus on Your Strengths, Not Your Weaknesses

·         Delay Rewards Until the Job is Done

 

Preparation Positions Your Talent

 

"ALL'S WELL THAT BEGINS WELL."

- James Maxwell

 

"I've found that every minute spent in preparation saves ten in execution."

- James Maxwell

 

"The only thing that relieves pressure is preparation."

- Rick Bizet (golfer)

 

Principles of Preparation:

·        Preparation Allows You to Tap into Your Talent

·        Preparation Is a Process, Not an Event

·        Preparation Precedes Opportunity

·        Preparation for Tomorrow Begins with the Right Use of Today

·        Preparation Requires Continually Good Perspective

·        Good Preparation Leads to Action

 

Tom Kite's three main steps to preparation:

 

·        Assessment – Am I Evaluating Correctly?

·        Alignment – Am I Lined Up Correctly?

·        Attitude – Am I Visualizing Correctly?

 

Practice Sharpens Your Talent

 

 "Excellence is an art won by training and habitation . . . We are what we repeatedly do."

- Aristole

 

Things We Musicians Know About Practice:

·        Practice Enables Development

·        Practice Leads to Discovery

·        Practice Demands Discipline

 

Five Elements Upon Which Great Practice Rests:

1.      An Excellent Teacher or Coach

2.      Your Best Effort

3.      A Clear Purpose

4.      The Greatest Potential

5.      The Right Resources

 

To Improve Practice . . .

·        Use a Little Extra Effort

·        Take a Little Extra Time

·        Ask For a Little Extra Help

·        Try On a Little Extra Change

 

Perseverance Sustains Your Talent

 

"Think things through – then follow through."

-          Eddie Rickenbacker

(World War I Flying Ace)

 

Things to Consider About Perseverance:

·        Perseverance Means Succeeding Because You Are Determined to, Not Destined To

·        Perseverance Recognizes Life is Not a Long Race, but Many Short Ones in Succession

·        Perseverance is Needed to Release Most of Life's Rewards

·        Perseverance Draws Sweetness Out of Adversity

·        Perseverance Has a Compounding Effect of Life

·        Perseverance Means Stopping Not Because You're Tired but Because the Task is Done

·        Perseverance Doesn't Demand More Than We Have but All That We Have

 

Perseverance's 5 Greatest Enemies:

·        A Lifestyle of Giving Up

·        A Wrong Belief That Life Should Be Easy

·        A Wrong Belief That Success Is a Destination

·        A Lack of Resiliency

·        A Lack of Vision

 

To Persevere . . .

 

·        Find a Purpose

·        Eliminate Excuses

·        Develop Stamina

 

Courage Tests Your Talent

 

"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself.  That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with the inner drive, go much farther than people with vastly superior talent."

- Sophia Loren

 

Our Courage Will Be Tested . . . When Our Convictions, Once Expressed, Are Challenged

 

Our Courage Will Be Tested . . . When Learning and Growing Will Display Our Weakness

 

Our Courage Will Be Tested  . . . When We Talk the High Road Even as Others Treat Us Badly

 

Our Courage Will Be Tested . . . When Being "Out Front" Makes Us an Easy Target

 

Our Courage Will Be Tested  . . . Whenever We Face Obstacles to Our Progress

 

To become a more courageous person  . . .

·        Look for Courage Inside, Not Outside, Yourself

·        Grow in Courage by Doing the Right Thing Instead of the Expedient Thing

·        Take Small Steps of Courage to Prepare You for Greater Ones

·        Recognize That a Leadership Position Won't Give You Courage, but Courage Can Make You a Leader

·        Watch Your Horizons Expand with Each Courageous Act

 

Teachability Expands Your Talent

 

"Talented people often think they know it all.  And it makes it difficult for them to continually expand their talent."

- James Maxwell

 

Teachability Truths . . .

·        Nothing is Interesting If You Are Not Interested

·        Successful People View Learning Differently from Those Who Are Unsuccessful

·        Learning is Meant to Be a Lifelong Pursuit

·        Talented People Can Be the Toughest to Teach

·        Pride is the Number One Hindrance to Teachability

 

Teachability Expands Your Talent

 

"Talented people often think they know it all.  And it makes it difficult for them to continually expand their talent."

- James Maxwell

 

The PROBLEM with PRIDE . . .

 

*Pride Closes Our Minds to New Ideas

*Pride Closes Our Minds to Feedback

*Pride Prevents Us from Admitting Mistakes

*Pride Keeps Us from Making Changes

 

 

To Overcome a Problem with PRIDE . . .

 

*Recognize and Admit Your Pride

*Express Gratitude Often

*Laugh at Yourself

 

"Blessed are they that laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be entertained."

-Chinese proverb

 

How to Open Up and Be Teachable:

·        Learn to LISTEN

·        Understand the Learning Process

·        Look for and Plan Teachable Moments

·        Make Your Teachable Moments Count

·        Ask Yourself, Am I Really Teachable?

 

Character Protects Your Talent

 

"People are like icebergs.  There's much more to them than meets the eye.  When you look at an iceberg, only about 15 percent is visible – that's talent.  The rest – their character – is below the surface, hidden . . . The greater their talent is, the greater their need is for strong character "below the surface" to sustain them." – James Maxwell

 

Maxwell's 4 Elements that Comprise Character:

·        Self-discipline

·        Core Values

·        A Sense of Indentity

·        Integrity

 

"Character shows that who you are and who you appear to be are one and the same, and that is the first key to greatness."

- James Maxwell

 

Develop Your Character?  Here's How:

 

·        Don't Give Up or Give In to Adversity

·        Do the Right Thing

·        Take Control of Your Life

 

"While your circumstances are beyond your control, your character is not."

- James Maxwell

 

Relationships Influence Your Talent

 

 

"Surround yourself with people who add value to you and encourage you, and your talent will go in a positive direction."

- James Maxwell

 

The Direction Relationships Can Take Us:

 

·        Some Relationships Take from Us

·        Some Relationships Add to Us

·        Some Relationships Are Pivotal in Our Lives

 

5 Signs of a Solid Relationship . . .

·        Mutual Enjoyment

·        Respect

·        Shared Experiences

·        Trust

·        Reciprocity

 

"Respect is almost always built on difficult ground."

- James Maxwell

 

Building Talent-Plus Relationships:

·        Identify the Most Important People in Your Life

·        Assess Whether They Are Influencing You in the Right Direction

·        If Your Friends Aren't Friends, Then Make New Friends

 

"In prosperity our friends know us.  In adversity, we know our friends."

- A Folk Proverb

 

Responsibility Strengthens Your Talent

 

"We live in a culture that overvalues talent and undervalues responsibility."

- James Maxwell

 

How Responsibility Helps  . . .

·        It Provides the Foundation of Success

·        Handled Correctly, It Leads to More Responsibility

·        It Maximizes Ability and Opportunity

·        Over Time, It Builds a Solid Reputation

 

Take the Following Steps to Strengthen Your Ability to be Responsible:

·        Start Wherever Your Are

·        Choose Your Friends Wisely

·        Stop Blaming Others

·        Learn Responsibility's Major Lessons

·        Make Tough Decisions and Stand by Them

·        Live Beyond Yourself

 

Teamwork Multiplies Your Talent

 

"One is too small a number to achieve greatness."

- James Maxwell

 

Truths of Successful Teamwork:

·        Teamwork Divides the Effort and Multiples the Effect

·        Talent Wins Games, but Teamwork Wins Championships

·        Teamwork is Not About You

·        Great Teams Create Community

·        Adding Value to Others Adds Value to You

 

To Develop a Team:

·        Buy into the Law of Significance

·        Include a Team in Your Dream

·        Develop Your Team

·        Give Credit for Success to the Team

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Business intelligence (BI)

Business intelligence (BI) refers to skills, technologies, applications and practices used to help a business acquire a better understanding of its commercial context. Business intelligence may also refer to the collected information itself.

BI technologies provide historical, current, and predictive views of business operations. Common functions of business intelligence technologies are reporting, OLAP, analytics, data mining, business performance management, benchmarking, text mining, and predictive analytics.

Business intelligence often aims to support better business decision-making. Thus a BI system can be called a decision support system (DSS).

Often BI applications use data gathered from a data warehouse or a data mart. However, not all data warehouses are used for business intelligence nor do all business intelligence applications require a data warehouse.

Business intelligence refers to the use of company data to facilitate decision-making by decision-makers, which means understanding current functioning and anticipating actions for well-informed steering of the enterprise.

Intelligence tools are based on the use of an intelligence information system which is supplied with different data extracted from production data, information concerning the company or its environment and economic data. Data warehouses or Data marts are used in the process of extracting data for decision-makers.

A tool called ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) is therefore responsible for extracting data from different sources, cleaning them up and loading them into a data warehouse.

Finally, analytic intelligence tools make it possible to model the representations on the basis of queries to create border tables, this is called reporting.