Another Video

Here is another fun video of Rodger and I speaking!

New Videos

I just edited and posted new videos of my speeches! They came out good! I really have to thank Grand Valley State University for film and Rob Lazurus for editing the videos.

Enjoy my solo work and work with Rodger Campbell.

What is your life path number?

Just had a friend teach me about life path numbers. It's amazing how close to target the numbers are about my personality and traits! I'm a number 6.

If you want to learn your number go to this LINK!

The Little Things to Leadership

Here is another short article on one of my speeches!

The Little Things to Leadership

By: Frank Kitchen

www.frankkitchen.com

www.badbadapples.com

What is leadership? We know leadership isn’t easy! We know that leadership requires time and energy. We know that leadership requires both physical and fiscal investments. We know a lot about leadership, but we don’t know the exact definition of leadership. Author Joe Roest found at least 221 different definitions of leadership while writing his book “Leadership in the 21^st Century.”

Over $15 billion a year is spent teaching executives about leadership! That’s over 14.5 tons in twenty-dollar bills spent every year just to train the hierarchy of organizations. That doesn’t even cover students, employees and supervisors. We may not know what leadership is, but we know it’s important.

I believe LEADERSHIP is the ability to inspire, motivate or lead an individual or group to accomplish a goal or idea. We all want to be successful leaders and we want to work with successful leaders. The dilemma with Leadership is we focus so much on the goal or outcome, we forget about the little things!

“Take care of the little things and the big things take care of themselves.” – Joe Paterno, Penn State Football Coach and All-Time Victories Leader for NCAA College Football

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Being a successful leader requires luck. The ultimate lucky number is SEVEN. Here are Seven Little Things you can do to become a highly effective leader.

#1 Show Genuine Interest

Study the people you lead. Know their strengths and their opportunities for growth; know their likes and dislikes, know their motivations. Don’t treat the people you lead like a number! Know them as an individual.

#2 Be Visible!

Be a Role Model. Set the example. Show up to meetings and programs you ask others to attend. Let people see you working. Display the behaviors you want people to exhibit.

#3 Be a Teacher!

Provide people with a vision and teach people how to make that vision come true. Invest the time and resources to train people thoroughly and constantly. Develop a training program that helps people grow.

#4 Delegate

You can’t do everything yourself! Discover the talents of the people you lead. Use their talents to accomplish the goal or vision. Put people in positions to excel and grow.

#5 Do the Sugar Honey Ice Tea Jobs!

Don’t delegate only dirty jobs. Show everyone that you are willing to get dirty too. When people see you doing the tough jobs, you will earn their respect.

#6 Be Honest

Truthfully explain why decisions are made. A lack of integrity and communication can lead to rumors, uncertainty and distrust. Be fair and keep things professional versus personal.

#7 Reward People!

All Feedback must be given at the proper time. This is especially true for positive feedback or rewards. Some people require a simple, “Thank You!” Other people require more. Find ways to celebrate every accomplishment or item of growth. If you truly know (Rule #1) the people you lead; finding unique ways to reward them won’t be a problem!

4 R's to a Dream Business!

Recently I was asked to write several articles for several magazines. I wanted to share a few of my favorites over my next couple of blogs.

I do a presentation called "The 4 R's to a Sweet Business/Organization" I love giving the presentation, because I'm speaking from the heart. I have personally experienced amazing organizations to work for and experienced some terrible ones too! Those experiences gave me the motivation to write this article.

“The Trick or Treat Theory”

The 4R’s to your Dream Business /

The 4R’s to a Sweet Organization

By: Frank Kitchen

www.frankkitchen.com

“Trick or Treat?” This is the question children ask countless homeowners nationwide for Halloween. Their question is answered when they receive a “fun sized” treat. Many are ecstatic to receive a sugar filled confection that causes nightmares for dentists. Others say, “What is fun about this?” They’ve put in an enormous amount of time planning for Halloween. Children have to pick the best costume or several; they have to map out all of the good houses to go to; they have to recruit friends and family to participate; and they have to obtain the perfect device to transport their expected treats. All of this work seems under appreciated when a 1 by 1 inch piece of candy is dropped into a king size pillowcase. The homeowner has failed to reward the children of time and effort they committed to impressing them. The child has been tricked! The AWESOME house on the corner has not delivered on the expectations it created!

A multitude of businesses are treating their employees just like the children mentioned. They forget that their success is based on time and effort of its employees. There is an old saying that goes, “ the business of business is people”. If a business truly wants to be successful, it needs to concentrate on the people it employees. They must exceed their expectations. A satisfied group of employees leads to a successful business. To have the business of your dreams you must ask yourself this question, “Am I a Trick or a Treat?”

“Putting too much emphasis on the bottom line is a mistake. Research indicates that good boss-employee relationships, opportunity and friends all rank higher than money on the list of what is important to employees in the workplace.” Tony Hsieh, CEO Zappos

Here are four simple steps to increase the odds of you having the business of your dreams! I would like to introduce you to the 4 R’s.

#1 RECRUIT

You must attract the right people to support your cause or business. Just like Halloween you must be creative in the way you attract people to you. Research what others are doing, and do something to make you stand out from the crowd.

#2 RECOGNIZE

Once you attract people to you, you must recognize what you have when you answer the door? You have pirates, clowns and super heroes? You may even notice the occasional teenager or parent! Everyone person you hire brings both known and unknown talents to the table. The key is to recognize the skills they posses and how to use those skills to grow your business.

#3 RETAIN

When you move the letters around in the word RETAIN you get the phrase “TRAIN E.” A big factor to retaining employees is proper training. When children arrive to your door for Halloween you do two things: You organize them to receive candy one at a time, you teach them how to ask the question “Trick or Treat?” Constant training, organization and clear communication will foster an environment where people feel valued and have an opportunity to advance.

#4 REWARD

For employees, a paycheck is expected. When you do the unexpected you create loyalty. People will spread the word about you. Be the house that gives out the unexpected for Halloween. This will create a buzz in the neighborhood. A full size candy bar, a toy, crazy decorations or an out of this world experience are the ultimate recruiting tool. There are many ways to reward your employees. The first three R’s will help you learn if your employees are internally or externally motivated. Once you learn what motivates them, do the unexpected. If you want the more out of your employees, you must give more too! Make your business a Treat to work for and not a Trick!

Old Spice Add for BYU and studying!

Brigham Young University / BYU - New Spice | Study like a scholar, scholar

Your Blogs have been slow

Hello Everyone,

I haven't posted as many blogs lately because I've been putting a lot of information on my facebook and twitter pages. I'll be sure to put more information, thoughts and ideas on this page, but if you don't see anything here, please check me out at the links below:

FACEBOOK LINK
TWITTER LINK

Wedding Invitation

Kelly and I have been super busy lately doing our wedding planning! This is our day, so we're doing everything to have our personalities show.

The biggest part was our invitations. We had an amazing graphic artist make something original for us. I was excited to see the final result.

Above is the edited version of our invite.

Ok, I'm off to do more planning. 3 months until the big day!

Teacher in Space!

My best friend recently got selected to participate in the teacher in Space Program sponsored by NASA. Read the article below to learn more about his adventures and the program!

Click HERE

Are you a good driver?

That's a great question for my blog title? I recently received a nice little "bill" in the mail showing me run a red light. I wanted to prove the city/state wrong, but when I saw video and photos, I discovered I was in the wrong. The fact that the citation showed up over three months after the incident, didn't make me feel good either.

So, I learned eyes are everywhere and to be a safe driver because my "bill" was not cheap. Thinking that I could get out of my debt to the state for cheap, I signed up for the mandatory traffic class needed to waive my citation. Yep, it's only $10 cheaper with all of the processing fees! So, I still owe over three figures!

While taking my online class I've discovered that many of us are terrible drivers and really don't know the rules of driving, or we just forgot! I'm sure many of you reading this are saying, that's a very obvious fact, all you have to do is drive a few minutes. GMAC has a driver's test that it offers to drivers. The results are pretty amazing. The average score is 76%. That means most of us are 6% away from not having the privilege to operate a motor vehicle.

If you wonder how much you know or don't know, go to the website below and test your knowledge. I'm sure you'll be surprised what you do and don't know. Good Luck!

GMAC National Drivers Test

Wedding Planning

Kelly and I are a little over three months away from the big day. There is still a lot to do, but this week we were able to take care of some major parts of our planning and preparation. I'm not going to give away the location of our wedding, but the pictures above are some very good clues.
The excitement is building, so, be on the look out for most posts!

We had a great day seeing the wedding location, meeting our florist, setting our reception menu, picking out our cake and taking a peek at the place we will stay.

To celebrate we went to Ken's Creek Side Restaurant in Sedona to enjoy some good food, a glass of wine and their world famous( they've been on the Travel Channel) Peach Cobbler! It was amazing!

If you want to learn more about Ken's, Click HERE!

Quote of the Day

"If you want to soar like an Eagle, you can't hang out Turkeys!" - Author Unknown

How safe is your seafood?

I'm a huge fan of sea food. It's amazing to learn how much of it isn't safe for us to eat. If you would like know more about what is good to eat, good for you and good for the enviornment; check out the site below.

SEAFOOD WATCH (Click Here)