March 2009 | Vol. #9

Service Serves Us

Stress researcher Hans Selye once said, "Nothing erases unpleasant thoughts more effectively than concentration on pleasant ones." It is in that spirit that I share this quarter’s newsletter. I had a conversation recently with a colleague who was integrally involved in the success of the mega-selling video and book “The Secret.” While I complimented their work for highlighting the importance of a positive attitude, I challenged the notion that success comes from an unfaltering focus on one’s own wants, needs and desires. In fact, I argued that preoccupation with self-gain, particularly if not tempered by consideration for the needs of others, is at the root of many of the economic issues faced globally today. From my perspective the only way to achieve success is by serving the stated and unstated wants, needs and desires of others. Thus, my premise: “Service Serves Us.”

Shifting Focus Elevating Mood

While it is natural to feel some anxiety in these times, I have been amazed by those who have transcended the anxiety to create service-based businesses which are both successful and purposeful. Just north of where I live, Brad and Libby Birky opened a restaurant called the SAME Café. SAME is an acronym for So All May Eat. The restaurant serves healthy, freshly prepared food for all who enter. You can order what you like from the menu and pay what you wish afterward. If you can’t pay, you can volunteer. The restaurant has done reasonably “well” financially and incalculable “good” for those in need. Business people sit at tables with the homeless, some paying pennies for their meal others overpaying by a magnitude of two to three times the price they would have paid elsewhere. Eat a lunch at the SAME Café, and you can’t help but appreciate the mood elevating nature of service. Brad Birky notes, “We not only serve healthy food but we serve dignity.” The SAME Café reflects the difference each of us can make, even in the face of our own uncertainties.

Resources

The Michelli Stimulus Package
In an effort to serve my friends, I am offering a $1,000 finders fee to any individual (not affiliated with a commissioned speaker’s bureau) who refers me for a full-fee keynote for which I am chosen to present. Simply let Lynn (lynn@josephmichelli.com) know the contact at the group to whom you have referred me and she will take care of the rest.

The NEW Website
I am happy to announce the launch of our newly designed website. While the look and functionality have improved, you can find me at the same old place: www.josephmichelli.com. For my friends at speaker’s bureaus, the bureau-friendly mirror site is: www.josephpresents.com

The Podcast
Our free 3 to 5 minute weekly podcast The Starbucks Experience recently was selected as one of the best small business podcasts for 2009. It is available streaming online or for download at: http://www.josephmichelli.com/podcast.html

The Book
My newest book The New Gold Standard can be purchased by clicking on the link below:
The New Gold Standard: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating A Legendary Customer Experience – Courtesy of The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company

How Friends and Colleagues are Serving

I am adding a new section to this newsletter offering some positive resources from friends and colleagues of mine:

Marci Shimoff, contributor and compiler of many of the “Chicken Soup” books, a principle resource for “The Secret” video and book, and international speaker is launching the paperback version of her book “Happy for No Reason.” Intrinsic happiness is such important message in these times… www.HappyForNoReason.com/MyBook

Annie Armen, host of the Annie Armen radio show has attracted some of the world’s most thought-provoking and uplifting authors and speakers to her radio show during the last decade. She has put together a compendium of her greatest interviews entitled “Legends In Excellence.” While I am honored to be included on the anthology, you will be treated to the insights of Zig Zigler, Brian Tracy, Jack Canfield, Denis Waitley, and Stephen M.R. Covey among so many others… http://www.thinktq.com/products/books/tqs_legends_toc.cfm?sa=110394

Until I visit your email inbox in June….. Always with gratitude, and enthusiasm…

Joseph