This blog is motivated by an email I received from an old staff who worked for me in Shanghai back in 1999 … I havent heard from this person since 2000, but his email and his mention of a couple stories in his mail motivated me to post this blog…..because it blends into the theme I have been recently discussing: “the importance of core values.”

When I first opened an office in Shanghai back in 1999 for the previous company I worked…..

I was in the right place at the right time and recruited a couple great sales leaders to help me build an army of successful operations, production and sales people.

The office took off quickly, and within a few months we had 70 mainland Chinese employees making their success happen – even though we had American, Australian, New Zealand, Chinese and British employees, the office had been built by people who all had similar, or the same “core values.”

Within just a few months, the Shanghai office became one of the most consistent, and best performing offices in the company —  so the CEO of Asia (based in Sydney) asked me to watch over the Hong Kong office while the General Manager of that office was on a 3 week vacation.

The Hong Kong office averaged less than US$20,000 a week …. I wanted to be the managing director of Greater China, so controlling the HK office was my goal.

As I type, I remember back to that phone call where Simon (the CEO) called me about watching over the office for 3 weeks….

I explained to the CEO of Asia that if my name was going to be associated with the Hong Kong office for 3 weeks, then I had to be able to run the office my style.

He laughingly called me an “arrogant prick” but agreed.

It’s an easy 3 hour flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong…
on the flight, I reviewed the previous 12 months of sales figures for the HK office which also included staffing, recruitment information (where I noticed massive turnover of staff)  There was only one person in the office who seemed to have any consistency, a Hong Kongnese sales woman who was also on vacation for the period I would be in the office.

For the 3 weeks I was in Hong Kong, the company put me up in the Mandarin Oriental hotel – a gorgeous 5 star hotel which I completely took for granted.  (issues discussed in “ode to Marcus Evans…”)

The memo I received the day before my trip stated there were 20 staff working in the Hong Kong office, 18 of them were in sales.

My first day in the office wasn’t a big surprise —  the office was in a gorgeous part of HK, had a view of the harbor, but was messy.

The CEO of Asia knew how competitive I was so he sent a company memo to all the GMs stating that “Scott Ragsdale was running the Hong Kong office for the next 3 weeks.”

As I was walking into the office, a young, good looking British guy was walking out …

I stopped him, and asked where he was going… he told me he had worked for the company for the month, saw no future so had quit the previous week and was just picking up his pay check.

I remember the way the guy spoke to me – looking me directly in the eyes as he spoke.. you could see he had something – a spirit, or a passion, something that not everyone has…

He was dressed very well (I dont mean he was wearing an expensive suit, just very sharp)
I introduced myself, and told him to go back in the office, listen to my morning speech and see if what I had to say was something which might change his mind.

Within a few minutes of the work day beginning, I had a morning meeting with the office to introduce myself.

I also used the meeting to discuss the next 3 weeks…

I explained we would spend the first few hours cleaning the office up, retraining and getting ready for the next 3 weeks…

I set several ridiculously generous incentives for the 3 weeks (I often gave lavish incentives out of my own pocket to make the job more fun – it was my way of investing)

I told the team one of the 3 weeks we would break US$100,000 in business for the week (Simon had challenged me to do this because it was something which had never been achieved before in this small office).

As I was speaking, I saw one of the young men roll his eyes to two girls in the office …. and the girls giggled. (all three were Hong Kongnese)

I terminated all three of them on the spot, in the middle of my meeting …. once they were gone, probably 3 minutes later,  I continued the meeting…

I knew the sales figures, thus I knew these nobodies didn’t really exist anyways….two of them had worked for the company for more than 2 years and in those 2 years didn’t do much, definitely, did not add value to the office so I was certain that I had done what was best for both the office and the company.

As I stood there waiting for the 3 to leave the office, the sharp young British man (Adam Fletcher) came up and told me (I can still hear him say) “I’m in.”After my meeting he immediately, started to clean up the mess, and his actions got the rest of the team to start cleaning up the office (you could see (clearly) this guy was a leader)

We spent the first morning cleaning, making the office sharp – and then I retrained the sales team – all at the same time, judging who I believed wanted what I wanted …

After lunch, I terminated 4 more because they showed up 15 minutes late … surely, just to say “fuck you” to me.

… so by 14:00 on the first Monday, I had terminated 7 out of the 20 staff …. In an office that I was just overseeing for 3 weeks.

My CEO (Simon) called me later that day from Sydney telling me how the General Manager of the office (a man in his early 30s from Mumbai) had called him on his mobile from his vacation to say ‘Scott Ragsdale is destroying my office!!!’

The CEO knew me well … and gave me the trust and support I needed and told me “he looked forward to seeing my results.”

The following day, my 2^nd day in the office …. I got rid of a few more.

Now the office was down to 8 staff …. 7 of them sales staff.  I was convinced that all 7 had the same “core values.”

The office did US$74,000 that first week; US$48,000 the second week and $108,000 the third week.

(I still have the memo from the Chairman and CEO highlighting the success achieved over those 3 weeks)

Upon reflection – my biggest achievement during those 3 weeks was not the 3 weeks of great sales, but more importantly — I saved the company from losing two exceptional talents – one of them being the young British guy and the other a young American woman who both went on to senior management positions in the company.  (both were quiting or had quit the company the day I arrived)

The British guy, Adam Fletcher worked with me for several years, and was directly involved with closing and developing several million euro of business during his time with the company.

How could I get that shitty little office to do 3 weeks of big business so quickly??

Because … during the 3 weeks I was in that office – I ensured everyone who was with me had the same core values, or if they didn’t have the same values … at least, I was convinced they wanted to have the same values as me.

It’s something I learned when I was just a sales executive in Tokyo …

At the time, I had no power because I was just a newly hired sales staff, but I saw firsthand how one negative staff –  destroyed, or nearly destroyed the bunch.

It was a brilliant management training course – because I saw firsthand how just one negative employee, destroyed the potential success of many – like cancer.

Three years after my Hong Kong adventure, I was based in Europe and was transferred to run the Barcelona office ….Barcelona was a massive office for the company in the number of staff who were in it, but shit figures when it came to business.

My first day in that office I fired at least 15 people, maybe a few more than that – people who came late, left early, or obviously didn’t want what I wanted.

That week, the office had the biggest week it ever had in the 2 years it was open …
(I am sure there are people who still talk about that first week because it was exceptional, like God came down and touched us)

Every manager falls in the trap of wanting to have as many staff as possible to “manage” … but the secret is not the number of staff a manager oversees, but to ensure everyone on the team has the same “core values.”

Much more can be achieved with a small group of people with the same values than can be achieved by a large group of people who have mixed values.

Maybe the best team I ever worked with was TEAM MONACO…

The team was made up of French, Italian, British, and American, but everyone worked together as a team – with the same goal, to be the best ….

From my experience, I dont believe that one can simply blanket the same management style over employees from France, India or China, etc, however, by ensuring the team/office have the same “core values” … the chance for consistency and success is far greater than simply just employing anyone for the job.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
I intentionally, do not use examples from naseba to discuss my point in this blog … this is not to say that we are perfect, or that everyone at naseba has the same “core values”
Unfortunately, as we have expanded, senior management (me included) have slipped in regards to sticking/ensuring everyone has the same “core values.”
I am certain this has slowed us down; prevented us from climbing faster and more efficiently – something which is being reviewed and addressed.

I posted a blog this morning, and took it down after a couple of hours…

My little brother-in-law, Romain called me and pointed out that he prefers I only talk about the greatness in man, instead of focusing on something negative…. and how the blog entry wasn’t in line with my theme.

He’s right – so I took it down (although I personally loved the blog “TEAM CHINA.”)

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As discussed many many times in this blog …. I never lived up to my talent as a swimmer.

I am one of those “should have been/could have been, but wasn’t” ….

The world is full of people who should have been, and could have been, but aren’t.

I am obsessed with the idea of “wasted talent” and “wasted opportunity” …

I challenge everyone around me to make their lives happen.

Recently, I got an email from someone who asked me how I started my english channel swim – he was referring to the time I first got in the water at 3:30am on the day of my swim.

I told him how I sat in the cold water up to my neck for 5 – 7 minutes until my body was numb so to be acclimatized to the cold … then once I was acclimatized to the cold, I got completely out of the water and stood on the Dover beach, held my arms up, the horn sounded and then I got back in and started my swim across the English channel.

He emailed —  “do you really think that is the best way??  Why not swim around a little bit before you started because it must have lowered your core temperature a lot??”

I replied with a grin on my face: “I am not sure it was the right way …. however, I was the only solo who succeeded on a day when 7 other solo attempts failed…. and I became the 853rd person (according to my certificate) to swim the english channel.”

I trained for 2 months to swim the English channel … many of the marathon swimmers I met along the way told me that it wasn’t enough and I would fail, esp. since I did only one training in cold water.

However…

Mentally – I was focused, and I never once thought I would fail.

My earlier life had been a series of should of have been and could have been, but wasn’t …. and my past mediocrity plays a big role in what drives me today.

Many of those times I almost succeeded, but didn’t … had to do with mental weakness.

It sounds phony … but sincerely, I believe ”it’s all mental…”

My friend and I summited Mt Kilimanjaro with nearly no training …
I remember the climb (vividly) – I never once thought we wouldn’t summit.

Failure wasn’t even considered.

The day we summited,  20+ people in other groups around us had to turn back because of a snow storm.

Marathon des Sables .. the famous 7 day race across the Sahara desert …. I was not in shape at all and shouldn’t have entered the race.

(for the ultramarathon/ironman readers of my blog – MDS was before I had any clue of what ultramarathon/ironman and adventure challenges are all about – please forgive my ignorance.)

I finished MDS because I sincerely never thought that I wouldn’t.

I am not boasting.

I am just using the above examples of how the power of the mind can carry us to great achievement, but we have to have the mental strength and focus to make it happen.

How many readers are thinking about doing something, but haven’t made the commitment to do it because you might fail?

I am not talking about running or climbing mountains ….
I am talking about everything in life.

When I was a salesman at my previous company…

I always thought the person I was trying to sell to was going to buy.

He has to be interested.

I am sure many of the big deals I sold were done because I never thought about the potentail client not buying from me – always expected to sell.

I bet most people in sales think a lot about why the client might say no before they ever step up to try and sell them.

Mental weakness prevents many good talents from achieving great things.

I use sales as the example – because life is one big sale …

but seriously…

consider your own role – no matter what you do.

Do you think about the negative of something before you think about the positive?

Is there something you are thinking about doing, but you are somewhat scared of making the commitment to try and do it … because you might fail?

make your life happen.

please note: I am not suggesting that mental power can achieve all things.
I am a firm believer of making sure one is in the best shape possible to achieve — whether that achievement is something in the office or a physical challenge.
Don’t let the fear of failure prevent you from making sure you are in the best shape to achieve.

This blog is motivated by an email I received yesterday from an old staff who worked for me in Shanghai back in 1999 … I havent heard from this person since 2000, but his email and his mention of a couple stories in his mail motivated me to post this blog…..because it blends into the theme I have been recently discussing: “the importance of core values.”

When I first opened an office in Shanghai back in 1999 for the previous company I worked…..

I was in the right place at the right time and recruited a couple great sales leaders to help me build an army of successful operations, production and sales people.

The office took off quickly, and within a few months we had 70 mainland Chinese employees making their success happen – even though we had American, Australian, New Zealand, Chinese and British employees, the office had been built by people who all had similar, or the same “core values.”

Within just a few months, the Shanghai office became one of the most consistent, and best performing offices in the company —  so the CEO of Asia (based in Sydney) asked me to watch over the Hong Kong office while the General Manager of that office was on a 3 week vacation.

The Hong Kong office averaged less than US$20,000 a week …. I wanted to be the managing director of Greater China, so controlling the HK office was my goal.

As I type, I remember back to that phone call where Simon (the CEO) called me about watching over the office for 3 weeks….

I explained to the CEO of Asia that if my name was going to be associated with the Hong Kong office for 3 weeks, then I had to be able to run the office my style.

He laughingly called me an “arrogant prick” but agreed.

It’s an easy 3 hour flight from Shanghai to Hong Kong…
on the flight, I reviewed the previous 12 months of sales figures for the HK office which also included staffing, recruitment information (where I noticed massive turnover of staff)  There was only one person in the office who seemed to have any consistency, a Hong Kongnese sales woman who was also on vacation for the period I would be in the office.

For the 3 weeks I was in Hong Kong, the company put me up in the Mandarin Oriental hotel – a gorgeous 5 star hotel which I completely took for granted.  (issues discussed in “ode to Marcus Evans…”)

The memo I received the day before my trip stated there were 20 staff working in the Hong Kong office, 18 of them were in sales.

My first day in the office wasn’t a big surprise —  the office was in a gorgeous part of HK, had a view of the harbor, but was messy.

The CEO of Asia knew how competitive I was so he sent a company memo to all the GMs stating that “Scott Ragsdale was running the Hong Kong office for the next 3 weeks.”

As I was walking into the office, a young, good looking British guy was walking out …

I stopped him, and asked where he was going… he told me he had worked for the company for the month, saw no future so had quit the previous week and was just picking up his pay check.

I remember the way the guy spoke to me – looking me directly in the eyes as he spoke,  you could see he had something – a spirit, or a passion, something that not everyone has…

He was dressed very well (I dont mean he was wearing an expensive suit, just very sharp)
I introduced myself, and told him to go back in the office, listen to my morning speech and see if what I had to say was something which might change his mind.

Within a few minutes of the work day beginning, I had a morning meeting with the office to introduce myself.

I also used the meeting to discuss the next 3 weeks…

I explained that we would spend the first few hours cleaning the office up, retraining and getting ready for the next 3 weeks…

I set several ridiculously generous incentives for the 3 weeks (I often gave lavish incentives out of my own pocket to make the job more fun – it was my way of investing)

I told the team that one of the 3 weeks we would break US$100,000 in business for the week (Simon had challenged me to do this because it was something which had never been achieved before in this small office).

As I was speaking, I saw one of the young men roll his eyes to two girls in the office …. and the girls giggled. (all three were Hong Kongnese)

I terminated all three of them on the spot, in the middle of my meeting …. once they were gone, probably 3 minutes later,  I continued the meeting…

I knew all the sales figures, thus I knew these nobodies didn’t really exist anyways….two of them had worked for the company for more than 2 years and in those 2 years didn’t do much, definitely, did not add value to the office so I was certain that I had done what was best for both the office and the company.

As I stood there waiting for the 3 to leave the office, the sharp young British man (Adam Fletcher) came up and told me (I can still hear him say) “I am hooked.”After my meeting he immediately, started to clean up the mess, and his actions got the rest of the team to start cleaning up the office (you could see (clearly) this guy was a leader)

We spent the first morning cleaning, making the office sharp – and then I retrained the sales team – all at the same time, judging who I believed wanted what I wanted …

After lunch, I terminated 4 more because they showed up 15 minutes late … surely, just to say “fuck you” to me.

… so by 14:00 on the first Monday, I had terminated 7 out of the 20 staff …. In an office that I was just overseeing for 3 weeks.

My CEO (Simon) called me later that day from Sydney telling me how the General Manager of the office (a man in his early 30s from Mumbai) had called him on his mobile from his vacation to say ‘Scott Ragsdale is destroying my office!!!’

The CEO knew me well … and gave me the trust and support I needed and told me “he looked forward to seeing my results.”

The following day, my 2^nd day in the office …. I got rid of a few more.

Now the office was down to 8 staff …. 7 of them sales staff.  I was convinced that all 7 had the same “core values.”

The office did US$74,000 that first week; US$48,000 the second week and $108,000 the third week.
(I still have the memo from the Chairman and CEO highlighting the success achieved over those 3 weeks)

Upon reflection – my biggest achievement during those 3 weeks was not the 3 weeks of great sales, but more importantly — I saved the company from losing two exceptional talents – one of them being the young British guy and the other a young American woman who both went on to senior management positions in the company.  (both were quiting or had quit the company the day I arrived)

The British guy, Adam Fletcher worked with me for several years, and was directly involved with closing and developing several million euro of business during his time with the company.

How could I get that shitty little office to do 3 weeks of big business so quickly??

Because … during the 3 weeks I was in that office – I ensured everyone who was with me had the same core values, or if they didn’t have the same values … at least, I was convinced they wanted to have the same values as me.

It’s something I learned when I was just a sales executive in Tokyo …

At the time, I had no power because I was just a newly hired sales staff, but I saw firsthand how one negative staff –  destroyed, or nearly destroyed the bunch.

It was a brilliant management training course – because I saw firsthand how just one negative employee, destroyed the potential success of many – like cancer.

Three years after my Hong Kong adventure, I was based in Europe and was transferred to run the Barcelona office ….Barcelona was a massive office for the company in the number of staff who were in it, but shit figures when it came to business.

My first day in that office I fired at least 15 people, maybe a few more than that – people who came late, left early, or obviously didn’t want what I wanted.

That week, the office had the biggest week it ever had in the 2 years it was open …
(I am sure there are people who still talk about that first week because it was exceptional, like God came down and touched us)

Every manager falls in the trap of wanting to have as many staff as possible to “manage” … but the secret is not the number of staff a manager oversees, but to ensure everyone on the team has the same “core values.”

Much more can be achieved with a small group of people with the same values than can be achieved by a large group of people who have mixed values.

Maybe the best team I ever worked with was TEAM MONACO…

The team was made up of French, Italian, British, and American, but everyone worked together as a team – with the same goal, to be the best ….

From my experience, I dont believe that one can simply blanket the same management style over employees from France, India or China, etc, however, by ensuring the team/office have the same “core values” … the chance for consistency and success is far greater than simply just employing anyone for the job.

What “core values…”  am I talking about….?  will be discussed tomorrow.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
I intentionally, do not use examples from naseba to discuss my point in this blog … this is not to say that we are perfect, or that everyone at naseba has the same “core values”
Unfortunately, as we have expanded, senior management (me included) have slipped in regards to sticking/ensuring everyone has the same “core values.”
I am certain this has slowed us down; prevented us from climbing faster and more efficiently – something which is being reviewed and addressed.

Today’s blog is motivated by a comment left by the Voice of Reason:

“you have written about setting goals, not rushing and sticking with your focus.
How about writing about how to keep yourself motivated and the importance of positive thought.
You are probably the most focused person I know and you are the most positive person that I know.
Is there a correlation?”

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I gain focus & motivation by other people’s negativity.

When I was in university an old friend told me that I would never learn to speak fluent Japanese …. “it’s too difficult for you…”

This person’s negativity gave me focus — 6 years later, I passed the highest level on the Japanese proficiency exam, and there was a time when I was living in Japan that I spoke Japanese as well as my native tongue, English.

When I first applied to my previous company — someone told me “you will never get hired….they only take a select few…”

This person’s negativity gave me focus — and I made sure I got the job, a job which ultimately changed my life.

Maybe if this person had not been so negative….maybe if he had not told me “you will never get the job…”
I probably wouldn’t have wanted the job as much as I did, so maybe I would not have chased to ensure I got it.

When my previous company brought me to Europe to launch a division for the company in Monaco…. several people told me that I would fail….

“your aggressive American style will not work in Europe”

(in fact, I heard this in each country I worked – your style will not work in Japan; your style will not work in China; your style will not work in western Europe; etc… and each time I proved to develop the best sales offices in the region the office was located)….

This negativity gave me focus.

When we first launched naseba …

I had lunch with someone I had just met in Monaco, someone who is retired in Monaco, and extremely negative about everything, a big moaner and complainer.

Over that lunch he told me “it is going to be next to impossible to succeed with naseba … you are trying to launch a company at the wrong time…in France, which is very costly social taxes and business taxes … I think you are wasting your time…”

(I have not spoken to this person since that lunch, but 4 years later — right after we went public, he tried to call my office in Monaco and offer his services as a “board member,” needless to say we did not return his phone calls)

Over the years, I have learned (to be honest, it didnt happen over night) to not let negativity consume me, nor prevent me from achieving.

Furthermore….

I try to never speak negatively about anyone or anything.
My grandfather is 93 years old and I have never heard him say a negative word about anyone or anything – not once.

Now adays …. It seems moaning and complaining has become a virus… a world wide epidemic.

Seriously – count how many times you or someone around you says something negative over the course of the day…

example: “I am tired…I have a headache….my boss is an idiot….this food sucks….the car in front of me is a clown….etc.”

Then go through your day and try and focus on not saying anything negative – try and not say one negative word about anyone or anything.

Nothing positive is gained by telling people you are tired; or that your meal is no good; or screaming at the car in front of you for driving like an idiot….

Negativity only brings you down and distracts from your focus.

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tomorrow I will post another part  to “ode to the old school…”  exploring the importance of “core values”
…the importance of the team having the same core values.

I am not a baseball fan.

However, several years ago, Larry Lucchino, the CEO of the Boston Red Sox promoted Theo Epstein, a 28 year old with nearly, no management experience to be the General Manager of the club – the youngest General Manager in Major League Baseball’s history.

The Boston Red Sox had not won the world series in 80+ years … and promoting a 28 year old with no management experience was extremely, controversial.

I was intrigued.

Imagine being 28 years old and being in charge of the 2^nd most valuable baseball franchise in Major League Baseball.
The pressure must have been incredible – having the entire sport, the media, the other management, and an entire city – all watching and questioning your every move.

So from that day, the Boston Red Sox became my favorite team – and I followed Theo and the Red Sox with great interest.

2 years later, the Boston Red Sox won the World Series.

3 years after that win, the Red Sox won the World Series again.

A brilliant success story.

Larry Lucchino didn’t care about Theo’s age; he didn’t care about Theo’s lack of management experience – he chose Theo Epstein because he believed Theo was the best man for the job.

Yesterday, I promoted Robin Titus, a 25 year old with relatively, no management experience to be the General Manager of the Middle East and Africa.

Robin has been the number one salesman at naseba for the past 5 years.  The past two years, he has been involved helping the producers develop the product, as well as working with marketing to expand our marketing machine.

Although he will have the experienced, senior management support in ensuring his development, and success, he is now the boss responsible for developing/leading/managing our Dubai office which has 43 people; and in charge of developing and expanding our Middle East and Africa business.

I don’t care if Robin doesn’t have a MBA.

I don’t care if he doesn’t have a wealth of management experience.

I don’t care if he is only 25 years old.

Robin Titus has something that age, experience, and no school can teach — he is driven.

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If you work in sales, or want more information on Robin Titus this is worth reading:  http://www.scottragsdale.com/?p=2709