You know, I think sometimes you really can make your dreams come true. Margie has often said, "A goal is a dream with a deadline." As you think of your New Year’s resolutions, go ahead and dream about the person you want to be or the thing you want to do. When you start to send energy out to dream, people just may show up in your life to help you accomplish it. That’s what happened when Spencer Johnson and I wrote The One Minute Manager. In May 1982, the book was coming out and in September, Spencer Johnson and I met at the La Jolla Cove. We had The New York Times book review section and a bottle of champagne, and we set our goals and our dreams for this book. We dreamed that we would be able to sell 500,000 copies—no business book had ever sold that many—and we dreamed that it would be on The New York Times bestseller list for six months. We celebrated, we clicked the glasses as we were sitting there with the bestseller list, and it was just really a fun time. This was on a Sunday. On Monday I was getting on a plane in San Diego going to Chicago, and I introduced myself to the guy sitting next to me in First Class. I said, "What do you do?" and he said, "I’m a regional sales manager for B. Dalton." I said, "You sell books?" and he said, "Sure, we have 750 stores."  And I started talking to this guy and I designed a whole strategy to get to the business and economic buyers of B. Dalton and Waldenbooks and all the bookstores. And I said to this guy, "You weren’t supposed to be sitting here, were you?" and he said, "How did you know that? They goofed up my ticket and at the last minute I was upgraded to First Class." I said, "You had no choice. I sucked you into this seat with the energy from my dream and our vision about this book."  So dream big in 2010! And let other people know what your dream is so that maybe they can help it come true. Have a wonderful dreaming year and let’s see what kind of things you can accomplish at work and at home and in the community. Be the best you can be in 2010.

You know, one of the questions I keep on getting is, "Are leaders born or made?"  And my response is, "Both."  I know some people who are just born leaders. They just show that quality that makes people want to follow them, that magnetism—some have it from the time they are young kids. But I also feel that leaders can be made. People can learn. That’s what our business is all about. And people should always keep trying to learn more, trying to get better, even those who are born leaders. So I tell people that leaders are born and made. And of course, our whole business is based on the belief that we can help people become better leaders. I think that’s especially true if they keep learning interesting, exciting new things. So always be a learner. I’m absolutely convinced. That’s our #4 value at The Ken Blanchard Companies, and it’s so important—learning. When you stop learning, lie down, because it’s over. Take care! Have a great learning day.

You know, my son Scott gives a presentation called "If You’re Talking, You’re Losing," which is a really powerful thing. I think we all talk first and listen second. You know that saying about how if God wanted us to speak more than listen he would have given us two mouths—but he gave us two ears. I heard a wonderful thing recently, too: "Lead with your ears." This is a thing I really need to learn. The problem with some of us is that we get so excited, and we’re so into what we’re doing, that when people talk to us the first thing we do is think about a response. We think about what we’re going to say next. I think I do that too often. So if I’m ever with you and I’m talking too much, just say to me very gently, "Ken—Shut your mouth and use your ears!"  Wouldn’t it be neat if we could all feel free to do that with each other?  If we would listen, we’d probably learn a lot more. So my thought today for myself and probably all of us is: Listen more and speak less. And remember when people say things, even if it sounds like it’s going to be a problem if you do something with what they say, separate out listening from deciding what you’re going to do. Listen first and decide second.  Listen, listen, listen.

The US Senate  on  December 22, 2010  passed  bill - S.4053 - reauthorizing SBIR for EIGHT years Given that everyone expects the 110th Congress to disband in hours, the House MUST  bring up this bill for consideration and passage or the SBIR program is at great risk I would hope this great program would have a higher priority, but better late than never Bill - S.4053 Highlights are below Compromise Highlights of the SBIR/STTR Reauthorization Bill (as of 12/16/10) Industry support from the Small Business Technology Coalition and BIO: Makes firms majority owned and controlled by multiple venture capital firms eligible for up to 25 percent of the SBIR funds at NIH, NSF, and DoE and up to 15 percent of the funds at the other eight agencies; Reauthorizes the programs for 8 years, retaining Dr. Coburn’s amendment, instead of 14 years as adopted by the Committee; Increases the SBIR program allocation by one percent, from 2.5 to 3.5 percent, at all agencies, including the NIH, spread out over ten years; Increases the STTR program allocation from 0.3 percent to 0.6 percent over six years; Allows for up to 3 percent of the SBIR allocation for administrative, oversight and processing costs if there is an allocation increase. Increases the award guidelines for SBIR and STTR awards from $100,000 to $150,000 for Phase I and from $750,000 to $1 million for Phase II; Limits award increases to 50 percent ($225,000 for Phase I, $1.5 million for Phase II) to address "jumbo" awards that have greatly exceeded the guidelines for Phase I and Phase II and cut out other Annual increases for inflation to keep award levels realistic for r&d costs. Reauthorizes and enhances the Federal and State Technology Partnership program, or FAST program and the Rural Outreach Program, programs that have been very effective in increasing the participation of small business in federal research and development and the start-up of high-tech firms; Streamlines and improves data collection and reporting requirements for the SBIR and STTR programs, including developing metrics for annual evaluations by each participating agency, as reflected in the amendment by Dr. Coburn; For oversight and fraud prevention, mandates amendment of the SBIR/STTR Policy Directives to include specific measures to prevent waste, fraud and abuse; requires inspectors general of participating federal agencies to establish fraud detection measures, coordinate fraud related information sharing between agencies, and provide fraud prevention related education and training to agencies administering the program; and strengthens the SBA’s existing Tech-Net Database to help IGs combat cases of waste, fraud and abuse.

Do you know someone who is an energizer? When somebody is an energizer, when they come in the room, energy starts to increase. People’s energy picks up. Do you know other people who, when they come in, the energy just gets sucked out of the room? Ha!  You know, there are people like that. Things just seem down when they come around. And those are the kind of people that you should be nice to, and love them, but don’t hang around them. The question is: Are you an energizer? Does people’s energy increase when you’re with them? When you come home, does the energy pick up or are you the wet blanket that just slinks in? I think it’s so important that you be an energizer and you gather people around you who pick up your energy. Because what really makes organizations great, and families great, is positive energy. And it takes energizers around people to make the energy come out in them, too. So that’s my message today. Be an energizer. When you come in a room, light it up! Make something happen. You don’t have to be an extrovert to do that. Just by your interest and your energy in terms of what you do can make a difference, people can see that, even if you aren’t being Mr. or Ms. Exuberant. Life is about positive energy. So energize people! Energize yourself!

I was recently reviewing an old concept that I learned years ago called "The ABCs of Personal Power:" A stands for Activating Event. It’s anything that can happen to you. It can be good, it can be bad, or whatever. Things will happen. You get praise, you get a reprimand, you get promoted, you lose a job, your house burns down - you know, whatever. It’s something that happens to you in life. B stands for your Belief system. That’s where you store your beliefs about yourself, about other people, and about life. C is Consequence. What do you do about what happens to you? We can never control the activating events. Good and bad will happen to you in life. Things show up. The only thing you can control is your belief system—what do you do with what happens? I remember one time when I was a kid, walking with a friend in the woods when a snake came crawling across the path. I’m not a big fan of snakes, so I was about ready to turn around and run. And my friend said, "Don’t run! Snakes are beautiful—look at this thing!" And he bent down and picked up the snake. It was the same activating event from a different belief system. That’s the way it is in life. The same event happening to two different people gets programmed a different way. What do you do when something happens to you? Remember—it’s your belief system that will drive your life. You can’t control what happens to you but you have complete control over what you do about it.

Well it’s Christmas day. I was going to do my blog Friday, but just now I am finally sitting down.  Watching my children dance to "Beat It" on the Just Dance. I am having a cup of coffee and enjoying some down time.  The only individuals to not get a technology related gift were the dog and I.    But the dog’s toy has a special website for additional related toys.  Lots of Ipods, Kindle, and video games today. I love my gifts. A flannel shirt, candy, coffee gift card, and a cap from the private college that gets lots of tuition money a year. They should send me a box of caps. But I do have a great gift in Discovery Machine had a wonderful year.  I/ITSEC was a great show for us.  We have a lot of interest coming out of the show.  Our team did a great job. We were the only vendor, that I saw, that had AI which you could speak to in natural language and it would talk back to you.  Lots of people have told me how well the Discovery Machine demonstrations showed how far AI has come. Just think how some AI technology improved your holiday?  Did it make your travel smoother?  Was there in a game you gave your children? I feel AI is at a point where it will positively improve everyday life in a dramatic way.  Discovery Machine is here to help make that happen. Let’s hope 2011 is an even better year. I hope everyone has a good New Year.  I have to go find some more AA batteries.

I have been thinking about how important it is to be caught doing things right. Some people think you have to be careful; you don’t want to praise people too much, because they’re going to get a big head. People don’t get a big head by getting caught doing things right. People get false pride and big heads because they’re not praised enough. And they start to crave it, and they need it, and they start to push and shove for credit. When I was a kid, I was so fortunate, no matter what I did there was always somebody there—my mom or dad or my sister—to give me an "attaboy" and tell me that I did great. I think one of the reasons why I’m able to keep things in perspective, if I happen to achieve anything, and laugh about it, is because I’ve been told I’m okay all of my life. So I don’t really need or crave it or need to push or shove for it. So I just wanted to say to you how important, again, it is to help people who are important in your life and give them an "attaboy" or "attagirl" and tell them that you love them and you care about them. Because what really makes people feel good in the long run is the belief about that. False pride comes when nobody pays any attention to you and you start to wonder if you’re okay. Everybody needs that pat on the back once in a while.

As the ability to create virtual environments has evolved, we have witnessed a dramatic growth in their use through training simulations. At the same time, the commercial game market has enjoyed explosive growth, becoming one of the largest entertainment industries today. These two sectors are beginning to come together, with technology developed for one being used by the other. Now there exists the notion of "serious games", which attempt to leverage concepts from gaming in order to provide useful training experiences. When viewing various training simulations, it’s easy to see the similarities to computer based games. User interfaces are often similar. Environments are rendered in three dimensions, and the user can manipulate and move throughout these creations. However, many people believe that a simulation and a serious game are the same thing, and I believe they are not. Suppose, for instance, I wanted to train someone in how to work as a bartender. I could construct a three dimensional environment depicting a bar and enable the player to go about the daily routine of a bartender. But this on its own is not a game. What I would have created would have been a bartender simulation. Compare this to the old classic video game, Tapper. Aside from the very abstract concept of a bartender, it’s really nothing like the actual job of a bartender. It’s merely a game. It’s an entertaining diversion, but it’s not actually going to teach you how to tend a bar. We cannot ignore the value of its entertainment, though. The fact that it is actually fun to play is what made it a popular game back in the 1980′s. It was engaging to the extent that people were willing to pay money to play it. And playing it certainly taught you something, in that if you played it over and over you would get progressively better that serving little digitized mugs to rowdy digitized customers. When it comes to "serious games", we need to find some way to merge these two ideas. We need to capture the essence of a successful game that makes it fun to play, and use that to achieve the same level of engagement in a training environment.  If we can do that, imagine the scenario where  the same kind of dedication that caused kids to pump quarters into arcade games is focused learning useful skills.

Although the U.S. unemployment rate is estimated to be 10%, if you look at the age groups of our talent base that’s out of work, it is far higher among recent college grads and estimated to be 20% or more among those between the ages of 20-30.  Many people have proposed a "job corps" like the Peace Corps, where young people would serve their communities for a year or two, and their education debts would be forgiven based on the duration of their service. There is so much energy and passion among this age group just entering the workforce, and so much social entrepreneurship happening from this new generation.  It is a shame that we may be facing a "lost generation" of new workers due to the economy! My friend Harvey Mackay has a new book called Use Your Head To Get Your Foot In The Door: Job Search Secrets No One Else Will Tell You. Whatever age you are, if you are frustrated with your job search, or you’re facing a career change, you will get some very practical insights. People are more discouraged than ever.  But stay positive! Finding a job and advancing a career is tough work.  People need an inspirational force behind them and Harvey will share that journey with you. This is a great book, and everybody today, whether they have a job or are looking for one, will find a lot of useful information.