Make Every Day a Beautiful Day

By Deb Boelkes

If you’ve read my book The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture, you know I am a big fan of the late great UCLA basketball coaching legend, John Wooden. I particularly relate to this quote of his, which pretty much sums up my own philosophy of life:

Things turn out best for the people who make the best of the way things turn out.    

Regardless of how others choose to live, you have the magical ability to make every day a beautiful day—regardless of what else is going on in the world. I am not saying you should blithely be a Pollyana, but there is nothing wrong with seeing the bright side in every situation.  It’s all in your attitude. 

With all that has transpired over the past eighteen months, it is easy to see why some people believe the world is falling apart. Some cities have been virtually destroyed by protests and riots. Businesses have been forced to close. People have lost jobs and loved ones.

Yes, life is challenging. Always has been, always will be. But overcoming challenges is how we learn, grow, and become better leaders. The best leaders—heartfelt leaders—do the best they can to make every day a beautiful day.  It is all in our attitude.

I have a sign in my kitchen that says, “Attitude is everything. Make it a good one.” I used to have a bigger version hanging on my office wall at work. No one entered without smiling at it. It worked wonders to put everyone who came to visit me in a better frame of mind.

As I said in my book, Heartfelt Leadership: 

I am a firm believer we must look inside to challenge ourselves in new directions every day. We must lead and behave in a way that we continuously inspire others to be all they can be, too…. Heartfelt Leadership begins with you.

Complaining about the status quo and criticizing others is not inspirational, nor is it the mark of a great leader. Instead, heartfelt leaders reveal the beauty inside themselves, and they find beauty in others.  The leaders people choose to follow are those who give hope and relentlessly share a WOW vision. Be that leader. It’s really not difficult. It is all in your attitude, so pick a good one.

One of my favorite songs—from one of my all-time favorite movies, the musical Bye Bye Birdie—is the American classic, Put on a Happy Face. It was introduced by one of my favorite actors, Dick Van Dyke, who over the past 60 years has never failed to make me smile. The first few stanzas are these:

Gray skies are gonna clear up,
Put on a happy face;
Brush off the clouds and cheer up,
Put on a happy face.
Take off that gloomy mask of tragedy,
It's not your style
You'll look so good that you'll be glad
You decided to smile!

Pick out a pleasant outlook,
Stick out that noble chin;
Wipe off that “full of doubt” look,
Slap on a happy grin!
And spread sunshine all over the place,
Just put on a happy face!

It’s all in your attitude. Be sure to pick a good one.

The late radio and television personality, Art Linkletter, said this in his book, Yes, You Can!  

Learning to laugh at yourself, and at unpleasant situations that confront you, is one of the best techniques for turning a negative incident into something more positive. Also, the more you can stand back and smile at what’s happening to you, the cooler your head will be, and the more resilient and effective you’ll become in dealing with tough challenges. 

While I believe it is important to stay on top of current events, rather than allow the barrage of endless bad news make me angry or bring me down, I choose to begin and end each day by appreciating the view of Florida’s Intracoastal Waterway from my back veranda. I especially love summer evenings, when the sky turns brilliant shades of pink and lavender, just before the sun goes down behind the feathery clouds on the other side of the sound. The fleeting pastel majesty reminds me to be grateful for that one last glimpse of the twilight sky, perfectly painted by the artistic hand of God.      

Earlier this week, my youngest son and his wife came to visit from California, along with their adorable baby, Vienna. The last morning of their visit, I got up extra early to enjoy some precious, final one-on-one moments with the little one, who I knew I would dearly miss before the morning was over. But rather than sadly await their departure, I awakened the baby, got her dressed, and took her out on the west veranda to enjoy the bright blue sky and relatively cool morning air.

As we stepped onto the screened in porch, we could hear a gentle patter of rain on the roof.  “How strange” I thought to myself, given all we could see of the sky was cloudless and clear blue.

At that very instant, a great big perfect rainbow appeared brightly before us. As I pointed it out to the baby, Vienna smiled that happy grin of hers, spreading even more sunshine all over the place. While it would soon be time to say goodbye to my cherished family, how could I not put on my own happy face, too, and lock such a beautiful moment into my memory forever.

May you, too, make every day a beautiful day, regardless of whatever else is going on. Just put on a happy face.  You will be amazed at how much brighter the world around you will magically become.

The Value of Loyalty

By Deb Boelkes

I usually hear a resounding “YES!” whenever I ask a business leader or military officer whether loyalty is important in the workplace.

Yet, I find some leaders to be more focused on customer loyalty than employee loyalty. They rationalize that loyal customers spend more money over the long term and therefore offer greater long-term value. This may explain why some companies spend fortunes on customer loyalty programs—to incent customers to feel good about purchasing their brand.

But have you ever heard of companies spending fortunes on employee loyalty programs?

It has been my experience that the most impactful customer loyalty programs are organic. Organic customer loyalty costs little because it is the result of consistent interactions with enthusiastically loyal employees who love where they work. Happy, loyal employees naturally share their “lovin’ feelin’s” with customers who, in turn, become enthusiastically loyal to your brand.

Too often when I ask leaders, “What do you do to instill loyalty in your employees?” I get blank stares. They don’t know what to say. Instead, they express bewilderment that employees just aren’t loyal like they used to be. If this is indeed so, could it have something to do with their own lack of showing employees that they care about them? 

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Who is Responsible for Teaching our Kids?

By Deb Boelkes

Since the onset of the pandemic, working parents of school-age children have had to manage the education of their children while also managing their own careers.

Who could have imagined that schools the world over would shut down, not just for weeks, but in some cases for over a year? Who would have ever thought that a public-school teacher, whose salary is paid by taxpayers, could either refuse to teach or be disallowed to teach by the teachers’ union unless specific union demands were met?

Childhood education has certainly changed since my grandfather was a boy—at the turn of the last century. I recall him telling me how he attended school in a one-room schoolhouse in Kansas. The students in his class, mostly between the ages of 6 and 12, either had to walk to school or ride a horse shared with siblings. There was no carpool or school bus. Some had to walk two hours each way.

The schoolmarm, who was responsible for teaching students of all ages and at all grade levels, had a contract with the county school board that stipulated she could keep her job only while she remained unmarried and demonstrated high moral character.

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Leading Through Trying Times

By Deb Boelkes

Life has way of throwing us curve balls when we least expect them. As a leader, it can be challenging enough to quietly deal with your own personal hardships when they happen, but how do you brace yourself to manage situations professionally yet compassionately when those reporting to you suffer a tragedy?

While the COVID-19 pandemic may have been a wonderful boon to some organizations, like major online retailers and home delivery firms, it’s been a disaster for many in the travel, hospitality and tourism industries. The pandemic has completely derailed many small businesses and anyone unfortunate enough to have been labelled non-essential.

When disaster strikes, it’s in the DNA of heartfelt leaders to run toward the fire, so to speak. Just as first responders are trained to do, heartfelt leaders know instinctively to be highly visible. They stand ready to provide support, comfort, and aid to distressed team members whenever it’s needed most. Doing so is what separates heartfelt leaders from the rest.

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Do You Disparage Your Competition?

By Deb Boelkes

I remember when I was four or five years old, some of the neighbor kids would say silly things to each other, like “Liar, liar, pants on fire,” or, “Ooooo, you have coodies!”

Whenever one child might do something mean to another, the recipient might call the instigator a name, like “You coo-koo head!” followed by, “I’m going to tell on you!”

While name calling and character trashing statements may be common practice for preschool aged children, those kinds of abusive remarks were never condoned at my house. To the contrary, if my mother or grandmother happened to overhear me or any of the neighborhood children say such things, they would immediately pull me aside, sit me down, look me straight in the eye, and say to me, “It’s not nice to call people names. You know that don’t you?”

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What the Military Knows about Heartfelt Leadership

by Deb Boelkes

If you or your immediate loved ones have not served in the military, you may assume that all military officers rely on command-and-control style leadership to gain compliance from the ranks. In fact, when it comes to the US Marine Corps, many of us tend to conjure up visions of drill sergeants shouting commands and derogatory statements about an infantry person’s appearance or behavior, while standing just inches from a young grunt’s face. This is hardly the picture most of us envision when it comes to imagining Heartfelt Leadership. With a son, a father, two grandfathers, and generations of great grandfathers before them who served this nation in every major war since 1776, I was very eager to interview military officers as well as corporate leaders when it came time to research and write the two books that Dr. Mark Goulston and I collaborated on, The WOW Factor Workplace: How to Create a Best Place to Work Culture and Heartfelt Leadership: How to Capture the Top Spot and Keep on Soaring. 

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Are You Happy to Have this Year Behind You?

by Deb Boelkes

How would you rate 2020 in the scheme of things? For some folks, 2020 has been a tremendous boon for business. In fact, it’s been the best of times.  For others, this year has been devastating in so many ways. For them it’s been the worst of times.

Perhaps 2020 will go down in the history books as Charles Dickens described in The Tale of Two Cities:

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

Many of us faced both the best and worst of times this year. No matter how this year impacted you, it’s more important than ever, as the year comes to a close, to reflect on the intentions we originally set out for ourselves and assess our personal performance. Did we actually accomplish our goals or did we allow the pandemic to defeat us?

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Be Sure to Give Some Heartfelt Thanks to Your Employees

By Deb Boelkes

The holiday season is always a great time to infuse a little WOW into your team members’ lives and strengthen your workplace culture. As my special thanks to you for your continued support, here are some of my favorite ways to show gratitude to all those team members who have been through an especially challenging year.

As the holiday season approaches, most managers start looking for ways to show their teams they care. Yes, that’s what bonuses are for. But cash gifts aside, there are plenty of other ways—more meaningful ways— to show your team members that you really do appreciate all their hard work and dedication, especially after all they’ve been through in this crazy, upside down pandemic year.  

Demonstrating a true sense of heartfelt gratitude is a key part of creating a WOW factor workplace. One of the greatest gifts you can give your team is a culture so great that they can’t imagine working any place else. It all comes down to giving the kind of support, encouragement, guidance, and compassion each team member needs to flourish and thrive.

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