Newsletter 28 - 2 August 2005

How to be Truly Unique! This is the newsletter for www.mindtools.com. You have received this newsletter because you have subscribed to our double opt-in newsletter. This newsletter is published by James Manktelow of Mind Tools Ltd, Hardwick House, Prospect Place, Swindon, SN1 3LJ, United Kingdom. To contact us, please email us from this page

How to be Truly Unique!

Welcome to our August 2nd Newsletter!

from James Manktelow & Kellie Fowler of MindTools.com.
Mind Tools: Essential Skills for an Excellent Career!

Contents: In This Issue... Rest, Relax, Re-Energize Leadership Interview USP Analysis Associate Recruitment The Unstoppable Woman A Final Note

In this issue, we look at the important role rest and relaxation play in stress management. We know that stress typically affects people who are highly committed to the work they do, probably much like you. Because of this, we felt the need to reiterate the importance of rest and relaxation as a tool for combating stress.

We also share with you a short interview with Felix Brodbeck, co-author of the soon-to-be-launched Mind Tools course, "How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You."

As Professor of Organizational and Social Psychology, Head of Department, Work & Organizational Psychology, and Director of the Aston Center for Leadership Excellence (ACLE) at Aston Business School, UK, Felix is widely recognized as a world leader in this field.

We consider it a true honor that he has worked hand-in-hand with the Mind Tools team to expertly craft "How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You" and are eager to share his knowledge in this field with our readers. Felix is an acclaimed author on the subject of leadership and provides us with pertinent information that is sure to bring out the leader in anyone who participates in this course.

Next, we give you an exclusive preview of a new tool due to go up on the site: "USP Analysis". USP Analysis helps you tackle the difficult issue of crafting a unique position in your market. This is essential if you are to build a great business.

And, we look at "Unstoppable Women," the new book by Cynthia Kersey, (author of the best-selling book "Unstoppable") which claims to be able to help readers "achieve any breakthrough goal in 30 days" with a plan that requires simple, daily actions that work to build momentum and keep readers on target for achieving their goals.

We're also looking to get in touch with experienced trainers: There's going to be a lot happening with Mind Tools over the next year - if you're interested in working in association with us, and you have the talent, energy and experience, why not register your interest with us?

And please remember, we encourage our newsletter readers to share the information in these newsletters with others. We also hope you will let us know if there is any topic you would like to see covered, or any applicable service or product you would like to read more about. We remain committed to providing you with tools that help you reach new heights of success and to do this, we rely on your feedback.

Best wishes, and enjoy this issue!

James & Kellie

Renew Yourself: Rest, Relax, Re-Energize
By Kellie Fowler and James Manktelow

As your workload increases and demands on you rise, you’re sure to put in more hours. In doing so, you may cut back on your sleep, forgo vacation/holiday time, perhaps even distance yourself from family and friends. While this may seem necessary to get the job done, it serves to leave you drained and unable to perform at optimal levels.

Of course, if this is short-lived, you needn’t worry too much; however, if you try to “burn the candle at both ends” for any extended amount of time, you’re sure to see very negative effects.

In fact, you are putting yourself at severe risk of burnout.

Rest & Relaxation
This makes rest and relaxation absolutely paramount if your goal is to accomplish the tasks at hand and remain fresh, alert and productive for the long run.In fact, rest is what we do to let stress subside. Rest at the end of a day, and at the end of a week, helps us to calm down and to regroup and re-energize.

Similarly, doing fun things that we enjoy in our leisure time compensates us for the unpleasant stress we experience at work, bringing some balance back into life. This is particularly important if we routinely experience unpleasant levels of stress.

A good way of getting rest and reducing long-term stress is to take up an enjoyable, non-rushed sport or hobby. If you spend all your working day competing, then it can be very pleasant to be completely noncompetitive for some of your free time. Slow physical activities such as sailing or walking are good for this, as are others where there is little or no pressure for performance. Reading novels, watching television or socializing can also be very restful.

Vacations are particularly important, and you really do need to take these. Where possible, take two weeks off rather than just one week. A common observation that people make is that they really do not start to relax properly until the end of their first week of vacation.

Make sure that you take your vacations and that you use them to relax. Also, make sure that you get enough good quality rest during the week to keep on enjoying life to its fullest.

Sleep
The average person needs approximately eight hours sleep a night (although this can vary between three hours and eleven hours, depending on the person and his or her age).

If we are regularly short of sleep, then our concentration and our effectiveness suffer and our energy levels decline. We have all experienced this.

This diminishes our effectiveness in our job, and can therefore increase stress. As our concentration wanders, we start to make mistakes. As our energy declines, we become less proactive in what we do, reducing our control over events. This means that a situation that is already difficult and stressful can become worse, needing even more sacrifice to bring it back under control.

Make sure that you get enough sleep. If you have become used to being tired all the time, you will be amazed by how sharp and energetic you will feel once you start sleeping normally.

This article is an excerpt from the Mind Tools Stress Management Masterclass. It is just one example of the things that you can do to reduce stress in your life, explained in the ‘Buffers Against Stress’ module of the course. Other tools in this module discuss the importance of social support networks and of a balanced lifestyle. As well as this, the ‘Managing Environmental Stress’ module helps you control the background environmental stresses that raise our overall stress levels. Small changes to our environment can often significantly reduce the stress we experience and improve our quality of life.

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Leadership Interview:
A Quick Look Ahead with Leadership Expert, Professor Felix Brodbeck
(As we look to launch “How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You”)

As founder of the Center for Leadership Excellence, Felix Brodbeck has assembled a great deal of knowledge about leaders and effective leadership and continues to work to generate new knowledge through research. In doing so, he trains, teaches, coaches and develops individuals and organizational groups for excellent leadership.

Recently we sat down with Felix to ask him what he considered to be the top tips for individuals looking to become effective leaders or for current leaders looking to become more effective and this is what we learned.

• First, Felix advises that leaders handle themselves and others with integrity, adding: “self awareness is very, very important.”
  
• Secondly, he advises that in working to be an effective leader, one must move forward and be able to motivate people to achieve the shared objective. This, as he says, “requires the development of skills and confidence of the leader and of the staff.”
  
• Thirdly, he stresses the importance of handling systems well, including relationships with employees and members of the group. In doing this, he suggests organizing work activities to make things more readily come together, enlist support from resources outside the group and maintain the relationships within the group while being mindful and respectful of any cultural differences that may exist.
  
• Fourthly, he believes that being innovative and evolving or changing for the better is a must for effective leadership.

“Managers are those who do things right and leaders are those who do the right things,” Felix says. “Managers seek stability; leaders seek innovation.”

Yet, he readily admits that leading and managing are distinct processes, not different types of people; concluding that one can learn to be an effective, respected leader. “Surely people have certain skills, intellectual levels, self-esteem and emotional stability that, when combined, provide for better leader than others, but overall you can learn more and can become a better leader,” he says.

“How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You” will be launched in September.

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USP Analysis:
Identifying Your Unique Selling Proposition
by James Manktelow

For years, business trainers have stressed the importance of "USPs" (Unique Selling Propositions). Your USP is the unique thing that you can offer that your competitors can't. And it’s the reason that customers will buy from you and you alone.

USPs have helped many companies succeed. And they can help you too when you’re marketing yourself (when seeking a promotion, finding a new job or just making sure you get the recognition you deserve.)

However, USPs are often extremely difficult to find. And as soon as one company establishes a successful USP in a market, competitors rush to copy it.

This tool helps you find your USP. And it then helps you think how you’ll defend it.

How to use the tool:
USP Analysis is a four-step process:

1. Understand The Characteristics That Customers Value:
First, brainstorm what customers value about your product or services and those of your competitors. Move beyond the basics common to all suppliers in the industry, and look at the criteria customers use to decide which product or service to buy.

As with all brainstorming, by involving knowledgeable people in the process, you'll improve the range of characteristics you’ll identify. So talk to sales people, customer service teams and, most importantly, talk to customers themselves.

2. Rank Yourself and Your Competitors By These Criteria:
Now identify your top competitors. Being as objective as you can, score yourself and each of your competitors out of 10 for each characteristic. Where possible, base your scores on objective data. Where you can’t, do your best to see things from a customer’s perspective and make your best guess.

3. Identify Where You Rank Well:
Now plot these points on a graph. This helps you spot different competitors’ strengths and weaknesses.

And from this, develop a simple, easily communicated statement of your USP.

Tip: When you identify your USP, make sure it’s something that really matters to potential customers. There’s no point in being the best in industry for something they don’t care about.

4. Preserve Your USP (and Use It!):
The final step is to make sure you can defend your USP. You can be sure that as soon as you start promote a USP, your competitors will do what they can to neutralize it: If you’ve got the best website, they'll bring in a better web designer. If you’ve got a great new feature in your product, you’ll see it in theirs next year.

If you’ve established a USP, it makes sense to invest to defend it – that way, competitors will struggle to keep up: By the time they’ve improved, you’ve already moved to the next stage.

And once you’ve established a USP, make sure the market knows about it!

Example:
Dan Jackson, the new CEO of LPC Office Supplies, was worried. He was confused by the situation he'd inherited, and felt that the company was drifting. Part of this, he felt, was that the company had no distinctive market position. He decided to use USP Analysis to find one.

After talking to the company's biggest customers, Dan has identified the following criteria as important:
- Price
- Quality of merchandise
- Range
- Catalog quality
- Website appearance and navigation
- Ease of ordering
- Speed of delivery
- Reliability of delivery.

He then ranks LPC and its competitors using the criteria he had identified. Some criteria he assesses objectively, and on others he relies on instinct, market reputation and salespeople's reports. This gives him the table below:

	LPC Supplies	Barnwick Smith	Roskan Group	HTX Supplies
Price	7	9	6	6
Quality	7	7	7	7
Range	9	6	5	9
Catalog Quality	9	7	6	9
Website	9	7	6	8
Ease of Ordering	7	7	7	6
Speed of Delivery	6	7	9	7
Reliability	7	7	9	7

Using these rankings, Dan plots this graph:

As he does, different industry USPs start to become plain. Barnwick Smith seems to operate a “pile ‘em high and sell ‘em cheap” policy. The Roskan Group seems to focus on fast, reliable delivery, possibly of urgent, essential materials.

Dan decides to invest in LPC's website and its customer service systems, with a view to opening up a clear gap between itself and HTX. And he then launches a marketing campaign stressing LPC's USP.

Mind Tools Associate Trainers:

Opportunities for Experienced Career Development Professionals

As part of our continued and future growth, we at Mind Tools are looking to expand our team of experienced, energetic and talented trainers. Over the next few months, we will be looking for associates who are expert trainers in a range of career and management skills, such as time management, leadership, communications skills and negotiating skills; and many other personal and career development fields besides.

Probably already self-employed, you will work mostly by phone and email, with initially a time commitment of just a few hours a month. You will already have experience as a trainer, coach or other career development practitioner, with strongly developed expertise in one or more career development areas and an inspirational, motivating style.

You will receive appropriate job-related orientation and training in Mind Tools materials and ways of working, with excellent ongoing support.

Over the next few months, we expect some exciting opportunities to come up with Mind Tools - if you have the talent, energy and experience, why not register your interest with us now? Simply fill out the brief questionnaire at http://www.mindtools.com/rs/Associates, and as appropriate opportunities arise, we will contact appropriately qualified candidates.

BookReviews: “Unstoppable Women”

By Cynthia Kersey
Reviewed by Kellie Fowler

Any time I see or hear about something I think sounds or appears too good to be true, I shy away from it. On the cover of the book "Unstoppable Women," it promises to "transform your life in just one easy step." Despite this, I opened it up. For every life needs some transformation and, let's face it, anyone (including myself) is willing to try "just one easy step" to complete the transformation, right?

It seemed painless enough. Besides, I am a compulsive reader and I figured if it didn't read well or if it strayed too much from it's promise, I'd just put it down and grab another book. Nothing lost, nothing gained.

The good news here is I stuck with it and, despite the fact that it did not transform me or my life in a single step, it served to motivate me, give me a fresh, more positive perspective on "things" and empowered me to believe I may actually be unstoppable. Thus, I gained!

Comprising stories from other women, "Unstoppable Women" is an inspirational guide and confirms just why it's predecessor, "Unstoppable" was a bestseller and published in 13 languages.

Crafted by Cynthia Kersey, "Unstoppable Women" is an easy read and is as practical as it is enlightening. What's more, it is easy to incorporate into any daily life, with the result being courage, confidence and determination, all the things we need healthy doses of regularly.

The women profiled in the book are remarkable and, yes, unstoppable and help the reader to see that life is chock full of possibilities and that with passion and persistence, any goal is achievable.

Their rich stories are shared in "Unstoppable Women" and followed by practical, proven steps anyone can take to make positive change.

Admittedly, I am still working through the book and actually savoring every bit of it, for it's one of those reads that when completed, is sure to leave me wanting more.

Hats off to Cynthia Kersey for a job well done with “Unstoppable Women.”

The Mind Tools Store:

• Design Your Life E-Class: This e-class gives you the resources and recordings from our “Design Your Life” life planning and goal setting teleclass, in a format that’s easy to use at a time and in a place that suits you. More >>
  
  
• Mind Tools Relaxation MP3s: Download 15-minutes of intense relaxation in MP3 format with our relaxation MP3s. Put stress behind you, and face the rest of your day with renewed energy and enthusiasm. More >>
  
  
• Personal Coaching from Career Excellence Professionals: Find career and life direction, bring your job under control, build self-confidence and put yourself on the path to long term success with a Mind Tools coach. Our coaches give you the focused personal coaching you need to make the very most of your career and life. More >>
  
  
• The Mind Tools E-book: All of the articles on the Mind Tools website in one convenient, easily-downloadable, easily-printable PDF file. We have excluded advertising to enhance clarity and have formatted sections to be easy to read, print and use. More >>
  
  
• Make Time for Success!: Make Time for Success teaches the 39 essential time management and personal productivity techniques that help you bring your workload under control and maximize your effectiveness, so that you can make the most of the opportunities open to you. More >>
  
  
• The Stress Management Masterclass: This e-book shows you how to tackle the deep structural problems that cause stress in your working life. It introduces you to relaxation techniques, shows you how to win control of your job and career, cope with politics and manage stress effectively. More >>

A Final Note From James

We included just a few tidbits on leadership in this issue of the Mind Tools newsletter and hope we piqued your interest in our latest works, "How to Lead: Discover the Leader Within You." This comprehensive course will be released in September, and we have some exciting surprises to go along with it, so stay tuned: You're sure to be impressed!

In the next issue, we provide our newsletter readers with some "breaking news" about our Stress Management website and the Stress Management Masterclass, both of which are currently undergoing "facelifts" to keep material fresh and up-to-date. We had hoped to share this with you in this edition, but we want to make sure things are absolutely finished before we make too much noise!

In the next issue we also announce the winners of our survey prize draw, and talk about some of the fascinating things we've learned from your feedback.

And, in response to a newsletter reader's request, we'll explore cross-cultural communication - so important in today's global business environment.

Best wishes, and until next time!

James & Kellie

James Manktelow & Kellie Fowler

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