What is your core purpose?

• Don Ellis - Survival
• Sandro Menasci - Make people happy
• Robert Busch - Bring better vision to people
• Ryan Bohlander - Teach kids how to exercise now so they will do it later
• Janice Jaicks - To make a difference in people's lives; To make children more water safe
• Jake Ulrich - Strategize your financial needs and provide excellence service
• Stacy Hyder - Keeping people out of jail; To walk people through the most difficult time of their life
• Althea Bussert - To make my client's surroundings beautiful
• Chris Curran - Find out about myself
• Carole Weishaar - Make memories
• Lin Schmelzer - To provide a service to my clients to help them grow and makes lots of money
• Phyllis Prater - To be an excellent wife and mother; Make every customer feel like they are my only customer
• Barbara Luther - To help people and to help businesses start and grow
• Nick Carr - To be a loving supportive hus and fat and help people realize their goals
• Tim Green - Be a good dad, husband and partner; All about beautiful
• Jeff Sutherlin - Be a good dad and husband; To operate at my personal best by helping others
• Herb Stokes - To document a moment in time
• James Bache - Help people when they need help
• Erin LaGrassa - Provide a quality product that represents fun
• Brad Green - Listen to people and give them more than they need
• Joe Zingale - Create beauty, peace, tranquility and profit
• Dave Lathrop - Take a bad experience and make it good
• Nick Mawrenko - Treat you as a person, not a number

Social Update
Don Ellis is taking signups for the overnight MABE trip to historic La Posada in Winslow (with a stop at Flagstaff and Montezuma's Castle on the way).  The date is Saturday June 11th, coming back Sunday.

Meeting Update
On May 6th we will NOT meeting here at Shalimar.  Instead we will have an event at Joe Zingales' new facility (McDowell Rd and 70th street in Scottsdale). 

"In preparation of the May 6 MABE meeting at the offices of Berghoff Design Group, I have attached a map of the area and google earth photo highlighting the entrance to our building. If anyone gets lost or has a question they can call my cell phone number listed on the attached map. I will also have copies of this to distribute at the meetings over the next few weeks. Thanks." Joe Zinagale

Today's Program - More Good to Great Concepts

Level 5 Leadership
Which is harder to cultivate within yourself: humility or will?
If Level 5 is about ambition first and foremost about the cause, the company, the work—not yourself—combined
with the will to make good on that ambition, then how can each of us as individuals learn to take actions
consistent with being Level 5?

First Who
How might you tell if someone is the right person on the bus?

Employees with bad attitudes are like a cancer in your company, regardless of how competent they are.

Use the downturn in the economy to weed out the bad employees.

During the first 90-days new hires are at their peak.

Robert Busch will go to his sales reps to get quality employees.

I love the concept of hiring on attitude more than skill. 

There are assessment tests that are not perfect but they are proven.

Try an ad in Craig's List but make sure to include what you are looking for (years of experience, references).  You can control things with that ad.

When checking on references, go deep.  Ask who else knows this person and call them.

If you have the opportunity, have a woman do the interviewing.  They have that intuition and can sense reliability.

In an interview, it is very important not to let your first impression take over. 

Confront the Brutal Facts
Which side of the Stockdale Paradox is harder for you: unwavering faith or confront the brutal facts? Why?

Hedgehog Concept
Which is more important to an organization, trying to be the best at something or realizing what you can and can't be the best at?

Sandro Menasci - Car count.  So many come in during the day.  Average ticket on a car. 

Lin Schmelzer - My ability to negotiate contracts on my clients behalf.

Stay focused on being the best at something. 

Janice Jaicks - I am the best because of my passion.  I would like another facility/location to rent (not my own).

The key thing is steady growth.

"If we have to pick up the dog shit we will!"

Timing is key.  You have to hit the market at the right time.

James Bache - The "Best in the World" is a system for failure.  I don't care who you are, there will always be someone better.  It should be "Be the best you can be".

Bob Busch - One thing that sticks out in mind, when times get tough and things don't work anymore, you have to try new things.  You have to change and adapt to survive.  For example, I have always been an independent.  But I now have an optometrist in my shop.

Herb Stokes - E-Myth, the passion cycle.  How many want to sell your business to retire?  You need to make is something sellable.

Dave Lathrop - What are you really stubborn about.  Are you passionate about getting your way?  Their is a subtle distinction between being passionate and being stubborn.

Sandro Menasci - You make plans and God laughs.

Suppose you woke up tomorrow and received two phone calls. The first phone call tells you that you have inherited $20 million, no strings attached. The second tells you that you have an incurable and terminal disease, and you have no more than 10 years to live. What would you do differently, and, in particular, what would you stop doing?

• Worrying.

• I would spend the next 10-years giving the money away.

• I would keep doing most of the things I am doing.

• I would stop being a vocal business partner and become a silent business partner.

• It is fine to being dedicated to being the best you can be but you should be passionate about your family.  Passionate should not be your business, it should be other human beings.

• The two things don't have to be separate.  It goes beyond the money.