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January 27th, 2012
I have loved Barry Devolin since he gave up a career in real estate to work for the Minister of Natural Resources in the Ontario government. When I first met Barry, he was ambling around the Premier’s Office in a cozy knit cardigan (quite distinctive in a culture of “power suits”) and had a little gurgling quartz water fountain on his desktop.
“It’s part of my plan,” he explained. “If we lose the next election and the left wing gets back in, maybe I’ll look enough like one of them that maybe they’ll forget to fire me.”
Actually, we did lose the next election and of course all of us got “fired” promptly, but Barry had the last laugh, as he went on to win in the federal election and is now the Member of Parliament for Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes.
I kept a running file of “Barry-isms,” as he regularly dropped quiet, insightful little rural pearls of wisdom.
Once, discussing the fact that three female union leaders had publicly commented on an issue while the lone male boss in their midst had yet to reveal his position, Barry compared it to hunting for white-tailed deer inEastern Ontario:
“A smart buck will stay back and let three does cross a clearing first,” he noted. “If the third doe makes it across without getting shot, the buck figures it’s safe enough for him to emerge.
“Of course,” he finished, “a smart hunter lets the first three does cross, hoping that will draw out the buck.”
So there we were, the brilliant team of crack communications strategists, basing our negotiating plans on an age-old hunters’ strategy!
I saw Barry in Ottawa years later and Parliament hadn’t changed his wit or humour one little bit. Pleased to have been elected, he was keenly aware that the minority government of the day could fall at any time, and that he would then be plunged into another election battle to keep his seat.
“Waking up every day knowing you could be 38 days from unemployment tends to keep you focused,” he commented wryly.
Of all the “Barry-isms” I can recall, my absolute favourite has always been this one:
“If you wrestle with a skunk,” Barry used to warn as we prepared to plunge headlong into yet another round of political mud-slinging, “even if you win, you both stink when you get up.”
Dale Carnegie offered a similar observation in Stop Worrying: “As a farm boy, I trapped four-legged skunks along the hedgerows inMissouri; and as a man, I encountered a few two-legged skunks on the sidewalks ofNew York. I have found from sad experience that it doesn’t pay to stir up either variety.”
Both Dale Carnegie and Barry Devolin were pointing out that some things just don’t pay: wrestling with skunks is one of those things.
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January 24th, 2012
Interviewing one of Canada’s most successful businessmen recently, I was fascinated by his insight into prioritization and commitment.
Jim Hjartarson is the CEO of OneChip Photonics, an Ottawa firm poised to become one of the world’s leading suppliers of FTTH components (Fibre to the Home). Hjartarson is a 30-year veteran of the telecommunications industry. He was a co-founder and CEO of Catena Networks; co-founder and VP of the Telecommunications Design Centre at Cadence Design Systems and, before then, he served as Director of Access Peripheral Design at Nortel Networks.
Hjartarson feels strongly that negative attitudes and too much playing ‘devil’s advocate’ can grind progress to a halt: “People tend to get the results they focus on,” he said. “In an environment in which people spend a large part of their time preparing to defend their work against challenge or argument, that energy is not going into the primary project.
“In fact,” he noted, “I believe that when a company pours a large amount of energy into developing a ‘Plan B’ in case ‘Plan A’ fails, they are almost guaranteeing the failure of Plan A by this very process. You need to know what you want, and commit to putting your energies there.”
Hjartarson’s observation is basically a 21st century update of the story of explorer Hernando Cortes: legend has it that after landing on the Yucatan Peninsula in 1519, Cortes overheard some of his men worrying that they were doomed to be defeated in battle. The men were making a plan to get back to their ships and sail away before such a defeat could occur.
In response, Cortes had all the ships in the harbour set on fire and burned to destruction.
“Now,” he told his men, “fight, or die. If we sail back to Spain, we will sail in their ships.”
Napoleon Hill wrote, “Every person who wins in any undertaking must be willing to burn his ships and cut off all sources of retreat. Only by doing so can one be sure of maintaining that state of mind known as a burning desire to win, essential to success.”
Dale Carnegie, of course, phrases it in plainer language (because, he’s Dale). He quotes Abraham Lincoln: “If I were to try to read, much less to answer, all the attacks made on me, this shop might as well be closed for any other business. I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep on doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, then what is said against me won’t matter. If the end brings me out wrong, then ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”
As Jim Hjartarson notes, focusing too much energy on developing a ‘Plan B’ in case ‘Plan A’ fails almost guarantees the failure of Plan A. You need to know what you want, and commit to putting your energies there.
“Do the very best you can,” Dale Carnegie advised simply. “Then put up your old umbrella, and keep the rain of criticism from running down the back of your neck.”
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January 20th, 2012
Some years ago when I was seeking office space, I found the perfect space two short blocks from my home.
I worried a bit on moving in, because I have quirky professional habits as a writer – listening to funky World music and burning Tibetan incense. I was concerned that my neighbours might be irritated by the sounds or the smells emanating from my office.
That was before I met the tenant next door. John Grigoriadis is a very successful real estate agent, regularly closing huge, expensive deals. One year he got involved in a nasty lawsuit and paid his lawyer more money in legal fees than I earned in the whole year – “And this lawyer is an a–hole, I don’t trust him at all,” he fumed. “But who knows, the next guy I get might even be worse! Better the devil you know, than the devil you don’t know,” he advised me seriously.
John’s habits while working are even more extreme than mine. He smokes brutally strong Turkish cigarettes that cloud up the whole floor. He doesn’t play music while he works. Instead, he shouts into the phone at lawyers, mortgage brokers, purchasers, vendors, and especially other real estate agents.
“You cashed the f—— deposit cheque, you b—–d, when you knew you weren’t supposed to! I oughta come over there and break your neck, you f—— a–hole!” was the litany one day. “You cost me this deal, and you’ll never do business in this town again, I promise you that, you f—— idiot!”
Somehow, I’ve never found the sounds or the smells coming from the office next door disturbing but rather, ironically hilarious. Here I am in my sunny yellow office promoting Dale Carnegie programs and writing articles on positive communications, to a background soundtrack of histrionic shouting and vein-popping anger accompanied by billowing clouds of stinky tobacco smoke.
“Do you know,” I couldn’t help smiling one day, “that when I moved in I was worried my music and incense might disturb you? Of course, that was before I found out about the Turkish cigarettes and the 100 decibel phone calls.”
“Really? Can you hear me next door?” he asked, wide-eyed with sincere and anxious concern. He considerately waved away a thick plume of smoke. “I’m not disturbing you, am I?”
“No, it makes me laugh,” I admitted. “It’s like I’m living in a situation comedy and you are the most extreme character in the piece. And the tobacco smoke reminds me of the Pall Malls my mother used to smoke, so I don’t even mind that.”
One day, we reached the ironic extreme. Returning from a meeting about a happy community event, I passed John’s door to hear him screaming at a purchaser. “Don’t you even think about walking away from this deal!” he was thundering. “You go to that lady and give her that cheque right now, you b—–d, or I swear to God I’ll come over there and shoot you myself!”
Holy mackerel, I thought. If anything ever happens I’ll have to tell the police I heard death threats being uttered. For the first time I actually worried about the shouting coming from next door.
I paused for a moment to wonder what Dale Carnegie would have said to my neighbour John. I think Carnegie would have offered up these tips from “Win Friends” entitled “You can’t win an argument:”
- Welcome the disagreement – it could be your opportunity to be corrected before you make a serious mistake;
- Distrust your instinctive first impression;
- Control your temper;
- Listen first;
- Look for areas of agreement;
- Be honest;
- Promise to think over your opponents ideas and study them carefully;
- Thank your opponents sincerely for their interest;
- Postpone action to give both sides time to think through the problem.
“The only way to get the best of an argument,” Carnegie summarized, “is to avoid it.”
I imagine John’s response. “What does he know, the f—— b—–d? This Dale Carnegie guy ever crosses me, he’ll never sell real estate in this town again!”
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January 18th, 2012
The Travel Corporation wins Dale Carnegie Award
In Outstanding Achievement in Staff Development
January 10th, 2012 (Toronto) – Today, the Travel Corporation of Canada was presented with the Dale Carnegie Business Group’s 100th Anniversary Award for Outstanding Achievement in Staff Development.
This special award was created to acknowledge the winning organizations’ ongoing, enthusiastic commitment to training and personal improvement as a fundamental element of their business success philosophy.
 “We are thrilled and honoured to receive this award from the Dale Carnegie Business Group,” says Jeff Element, President of the Travel Corporation. “We would like to acknowledge all of the incredible efforts of our entire team in Canada and around the globe.”
The Travel Corporation is a highly successful international travel group with over 25 award winning brands. These include luxury hotels and boutique river cruise ships, niche tour operators and other leisure interests. The Travel Corporation’s guiding principle is one of providing the most enjoyable, enriching travel experience for its customers across the globe.
It is family-owned and has been in business for four generations, maintaining an uncompromising commitment to offering the highest standards of product integrity, outstanding service and leisure experiences. The Group serves over one million customers per year, and is dedicated to providing them with excellent service, value and quality in every one of its businesses. Each brand is strategically positioned and is clearly differentiated in its market sector. Today, they are seen as market leaders in their respective niches.
“We are proud to operate in 60 countries, on five continents, with over 35 offices and more than 4,000 team members,” Element points out. “Wherever they are located, our people are the very foundation of our business.”
Dale Carnegie Training, a world leader in the field of staff development through improved communications and human relations, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2012. Today’s Special Award presentation is part of the 100th Anniversary celebration.
“Only 10 in a million companies make it to the one-century mark,” Kevin Crone points out. “We are proud to be marking this anniversary and in 2012, The Travel Corporation will be celebrating two milestone anniversaries with their two biggest brands: Trafalgar’s 65th anniversary and Contiki Holidays’ 50th anniversary.”
Both the Dale Carnegie organization and The Travel Corporation believe that putting people first, investing in people and building relationships with employees and customers is the first priority in business. The relationship between Carnegie and The Travel Corporation has become stronger with each passing year, and graduates include President Jeff Element.
“We are very pleased and proud to present The Travel Corporation with this well-deserved award for Outstanding Achievement in Staff Development,” says Kevin Crone. “The Travel Corporation stands as an excellent example of the business success that can be achieved through commitment to ongoing personal development. Congratulations to Jeff and the entire team.”
For more information, please contact
Rita Smith
647 242 5505
rsmith@dalecarnegie.ca
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January 17th, 2012
When there is good will between people, little miscommunications are barely noticed. You just correct them and move on.
When good will is absent, the smallest misunderstandings can become giant issues.
One winter, I wound up scrambling to help a riding get election-ready on very short notice. I drove 8 hours through a freezing rain storm to a small town in rural Ontario. When I finally arrived at the home of the campaign manager, I was stressed and exhausted.
We sat down to dinner, and immediately Buddy started in on me. How was I qualified to do this job? What did I know about the local people? (Curious question, as he was from Vancouver). How would I be able to take time away from my day job to do the work?
I didn’t appreciate the grilling, but I patiently answered all of his questions. Then he started in on me personally.
“I don’t think the locals will accept you here,” he announced imperiously. “You’re too blonde, too aggressive, too loud, and too American.”
I sighed, knowing that I simply had to work with this man if we wanted to win. “I grew up on the Bruce Peninsula, and went to high school in Wiarton,” I pointed out. “I spent 13 summers in Renfrew County. I know a little bit about rural Ontario.”
The haranguing went on for quite some time, including a shocking number of inappropriate sexual comments.
After three long hours, he paused and said admiringly, “Wow, you can really take it. I’ve been insulting you for three hours, and you haven’t risen to the bait once.”
“I’m a trained Dale Carnegie instructor,” I shrugged. “We are taught to ignore our instinctive first impulse.” My instinctive first impulse was to give him a swift kick somewhere tender. I resisted the urge.
Months went by before an election was called. By then the entire team was in place, and headquarters was set up. Upon my arrival at the campaign office, Buddy greeted me by exclaiming, “Welcome to Sexism and Male Chauvinism Central!”
I groaned inwardly. “That’s going to make it really hard for us to recruit young, female volunteers,” I pointed out.
“Oh, we don’t have any of those,” he replied cheerfully.
“That would be my point, exactly,” I hissed through clenched teeth. Dear God, Dear Dale, please see me through this campaign…
Much to Buddy’s dismay, I hit it off famously with the local residents and was regularly invited to fun social events, while he was not. One afternoon when he showed up in my office door.
“Do you have a Power Bar?” he asked.
I reached into my desk drawer, where I kept a stash of protein powders, Power Bars and calcium chews to help me get through long days with irregular meals. I handed him a chocolate Power Bar.
He glared at me hatefully, and left. A few minutes later he was back. “I need a Power Bar,” he snapped angrily.
I reached into my drawer a second time, and pulled out another Power Bar. “These things cost five bucks each,” I pointed out. “Don’t you eat at home?”
“I need to PLUG IN MY COMPUTER!” he shouted at me in utter frustration.
Oh…a POWER BAR!! I couldn’t help but roar laughing; soon, I was shaking with mirth and had tears running down my cheeks.
“Yes, I bought a spare power bar,” I gasped, hauling a brand new six-banger out of my equipment box. “Here you go.”
Buddy snatched the bar out of my hand and stomped out of the office. I was still laughing. “Can I have my Power Bars back, if you’re not going to eat them?” I called after him. I was impressed and astonished at how a simple misunderstanding could have caused so much anger and grief. I mean, it was pretty funny, actually. Wasn’t it?
“Do you know that if you are courteous and pleasant all day during your work that you will go home at night less fatigued than if you gave way to irritation? Pleasantry, light laughs, relieves tension. It isn’t work that makes you tired, it’s your mental attitude,” Dale Carnegie wrote.
Tactfully in 1936, Carnegie did not make the point that if you are an argumentative, jealous, sexist pig, you’ll probably be tired and tense most of the time. Today in 2012, I feel compelled to make that point for him.
Epilogue: We won by 11,000 votes.
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January 16th, 2012
 - Kevin D. Crone – Monday Morning Mentor
You and I always want to grow our businesses by increasing revenues and managing budgets through the willing co operation of our teams. It is what we do. It’s just a lot tougher and more complicated to do today. It means we need ways to find new customers, when in fact how they buy and what they buy has changed significantly. You know it is important to take care of the customers you have and protect margins yet, in this hyper-competitive and global market place it is difficult to know what else to do.
You want to have a team connected to what needs to be done, are engaged and excited about their part but, the world is changing so rapidly the only thing you can do is to catch up with what is perceived to be the missing link, making the technical and digital changes required. What is really needed now? Within six months? My guess is performance needs boosting immediately; team alignment on where we need to go is an absolute necessity; new ways to boost sales are required now; building a team ready and competent to manage the change has to be addressed.
Over the holidays I saw the great movie “War Horse”. What stood out to me was how the magnificent ‘stiff upper lip’ British, in the first world war, with their incredible military history, didn’t realize the way battles were changing since the Boar War. Thinking nothing had changed they lined up their outstanding Calvary and charged only to be cut down mercilessly by German machine guns. Even a German Commander in the movie yelled out “Who do think you are, what were you thinking?”
Einstein once said that no big problem can be solved in the same context in which it was created. Joel Barker, a futurist popularized the paradigm concept in the nineties. (A sort of pre-conceived view). In other words, we all get stuck operating from the same old contexts and paradigms even when change is rushing by us. The reality is we as managers, can’t depend on bravado and pep talks as the answer alone. In 2012 we need to think like our prospects and our people, and it takes openness to what is really going on to respond quickly. We can’t afford too many lost battles with the competition.
The other reality is we are in a world of people, with all their fears, interpretations, personal needs and resistance to change. Which means even the best strategies can be difficult to execute. The management teams who excel at adapting to customers and are focusing on engaging and connecting their people are gathering momentum and are on the path to where they need to go.
Occasionally everyone needs help from the outside. Seek out an objective group that understands business strategy but most importantly can move groups together to get excited about where the business is going and help leaders build the environment and the behaviors of the team to be creative, cooperative, and growing their competence at getting things done. This allows them to be better at finding and keeping customers, and improving operations to achieve the business plan.
We are fortunate to be one of ten million companies who have lasted for 100 years. We are celebrating by offering quick and easy ways to grow your business, your team or career. I suggest that if you realize the world has been changing for yourself, your customer’s and your people, your views can be stretched. Your habits can change. You do not have to be imprisoned by the past. A good friend just e-mailed me and said “Our past experiences make us who we are today but they should not hold us back from a future meant to be. What we can do is change ourselves. That is the only answer. There we have unlimited power”.
So as we enter a new year filled with global uncertainty and more unexpectedness, it is paramount to focus on competing to win; building an engaged team; and making ourselves produce way beyond what our old paradigms would normally allow and blow away even our best excuses.
Listed below are some services and events that could stretch you, maybe even wake up your business. I suggest you take advantage of our offering and join in. As always, I appreciate your emails, comments and requests. Kdcrone@dalecarnegie.ca or call me at 905 826 7300 Ext. 223.
Have a great week.
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COMPLIMENTARY SERVICES & EVENTS
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February Focus: Increasing Sales
For Business Owners and Operators
Generating Sales in the Digital World: Monday, February 6th
3:00 – 5:00 pm
Dale Carnegie Meeting Room
2121 Argentia Road, Suite 104
Mississauga
To register, send an email to Amy: ablake@dalecarnegie.ca
Buying and selling has changed. Find out what you can do to catch up while using the basics. This is an exciting new showcase of what works.
Finding, keeping customers while protecting margins.
We will engage in a dialogue to examine what works and what doesn’t. And what are the essentials to generate revenue in a scarier economy.
We are not just talking about selling. We will examine what needs to be in place to continually compete and win as a business.
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March Focus: Creating High Performance Teams
For Human Resource Professionals and Managers
Managing Talent in a Digital Age: Thursday, March 8th
3:00 – 5:00 pm
Dale Carnegie Meeting Room
2121 Argentia Road, Suite 104
Mississauga
To register, send an email to Amy: ablake@dalecarnegie.ca
How to structure training/ learning and development so it produces behavior changes business results and is tied your plans , goals and strategies of the business.
Three quick creative dialogues to help you figure out:
1) How to engage and connect employees prior to training.
2) How to make on-line training efforts work so that people actually change.
3) New easy tools to measure job application, ROI and barriers in the organization to make training work on-line and live.
Tags: Monday Morning Mentor
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January 13th, 2012
 Photo credits to Brian Gable.
One of the best illustrations of a Carnegie principle occurred on January 4th in Whitby, during the celebration at which we presented Valentino’s Grande Salon with the very first Dale Carnegie Business Group 100th Anniversary Award.
I had been preparing for days – organizing my remarks, writing press releases and media advisories, contacting local media.
On the day of the big event, I went to Valentino’s to have my hair coloured and cut so I would look my very best. You don’t stand up in a room full of 100 hairstylists and media without the kind of cutting-edge “do” you get at Valentino’s.
Valentino’s owner George Tsinokas gave me a warm and gracious introduction. I stepped forward and took the microphone. The room fell silent in anticipation of my remarks.
I paused.
“Excuse me,” I told the waiting room. “There is something very important I have to do first…Teanna?”
My stylist Teanna rushed forward with her salon brush. She made a very large production of fluffing, arranging, and smoothing my hair so that it was absolutely perfect.
“Thank you,” I said. “Now, I can begin.”
The room went insane!! The clapping, cheering and hooting went on for a minutes. There was nothing I could have possibly said, no words I could have spoken, that would have telegraphed so powerful a message to a room full of people who cut and style hair for a living: what you say is important, yes. But how you look – now, THAT really matters!!
Without a single spoken word, I communicated to the room: what you do matters. What you do is important. You help people be successful in their jobs and their lives, and we appreciate you for it. Two of Dale Carnegie’s most important principles are “Show honest and sincere appreciation,” and “Make the other person feel important.” I believe I covered both of those with my “hair perfecting” demonstration.
The demonstration itself, however, was an example of another Carnegie principle which everyone would do well to remember and use: Principle #20, “Dramatize your ideas.”
“This is the day of dramatization,” Dale Carnegie wrote – in 1936!! “Merely stating a truth isn’t enough. The truth has to be made vivid, interesting, dramatic.”
Brian Gable’s cartoon in Tuesday’s Globe and Mail is a fabulous and hilarious illustration of dramatization and showmanship. “The next portion of our presentation will NOT be on Powerpoint,” the speaker notes, as her assistant is diligently filling the room with bubbles blown from a wand. Evidently, the real estate bubble is about to burst – what better way to illustrate the point, than with real actual bubbles? Bubble bursting – check – got it. I see it with my eyes. I do not need to see a Powerpoint slide to understand it, or remember it.
“You have to use showmanship,” Carnegie emphasized. “The movies do it. Television does it. And you will have to do it too, if you want attention.”
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January 10th, 2012
Some stress is unavoidable, and some is actually positive. Then there is stress which is completely avoidable and really a silly waste of time.
Stress associated with vague, ambiguous communications is at the top of this list. That’s why it’s important to be clear in both your language and your meaning, and save everybody tons of grief. Especially in the age of hurried text messages and cryptically short emails, who can afford to be any more confusing than necessary?
So this bit from the Globe “Social Studies” column made me shake my head:
“Ask any randomly selected group of English speakers to answer this question: If a meeting scheduled for Wednesday is moved forward two days, what day will it fall on? ‘More or less 50 per cent of the people will say Monday,’ says Rafael Nunez, a cognitive scientist at the University of California-San Diego.
“The word ‘moved’ allows the ambiguity that the meeting is either being moved forward in time, meaning it will happen later, or being brought closer in time to the person.”
I’m not a cognitive scientist, but I’ve spent 27 years pondering language and the meaning of words and phrases. I’ve also set up and run hundreds of meetings in my time and I can only imagine how disgusted a group of busy people would be to travel to an offsite meeting only to find they are four days early or four days late.
The word “moved” isn’t ambiguous at all; it means what it says. It’s the word “forward” that is unclear and confusing is this phrase as it could mean either direction to anyone you ask – forward to Monday, or forward to Friday. Time is both relative and confusing, as Einstein showed us a century ago.
Never mind all that gobbledygook, though – let’s just consider common courtesy and basic consideration for other people’s time. Why make them expend the effort required to guess what we mean by “moved” or “forward” or “backward” or “closer”?
Let’s just make a clear, unequivocal statement of fact:
“The meeting originally scheduled for Wednesday March, 2nd, has been rescheduled for Friday, March 4th. The time and location remain the same. Thank you.”
“Get the facts,” Carnegie wrote in Stop Worrying. “Half the worry in the world is caused by people trying to make decisions before they have sufficient knowledge on which to base a decision.”
Everyone you know and work with is far too busy and stressed to have to guess at the ambiguous meaning of your messages. Help people “get the facts” from you so they can quickly make an intelligent decision – be clear and precise in your communications and as much as possible, provide all the information required in one place. People will love you for it.
By way of a fun current illustration, here’s a FaceBook posting from my friend Lydia’s page this week:
Lydia: Let’s do a fun survey!! If someone tells you they’ll be there soon, how much time do you think they mean? Respond in the comments section. •
Danielle: under 20 min
Dawn: 10-15 minutes.
Natasha: LOL, it depends on the person! For most 10-20 minutes. For others…an hour or more!
Natasha: OMG, is your man in trouble?
Natasha: I meant Lydia’s man…
Nancy: Within the hour
Angele: Depends what the context is. If it’s for something everyone is waiting for you for then 5-10 min. Otherwise, within an hour.
Lydia: Thanks guys!! Natasha, no, Dan isn’t in trouble… we just have different ideas of what “soon” means 
Tags: precise information: people will love you for it by Rita Smith, Provide clear, Rita Smith
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January 9th, 2012
 Front row: George Tsinokas (Valentino's), Rita Smith (Dale Carnegie), Vasile Tsinokas (Valentino's), Bill Buslepp (Dale Carnegie). Second row: Teresa Shaver (Whitby Chamber of Commerce), David Dias, (Proctor and Gamble)
Valentino’s Grande Salon wins Carnegie Award
Outstanding Achievement in Staff Development
January 4th, 2012 (Whitby) – Today, Valentino’s Grande Salon was presented with the Dale Carnegie Business Group Award for Outstanding Achievement in Staff Development.
This special award was created to acknowledge the winning organizations’ ongoing, enthusiastic commitment to training and personal improvement as a fundamental element of their business success philosophy.
Valentino’s Grande Salon is a pre-eminent business in Durham Region and one of the most successful salons in the country. Since its inception, Valentino’s has been dedicated to training its staff in the newest, trend-setting techniques and products the industry has to offer. Valentino’s has earned numerous awards and accolades, including the highly prestigious Contessa “Salon Team of the Year” award.
Founded in 1985 by brothers George and Vasile Tsinokas, Valentino’s is the largest trainer of apprentice hairstylists and colourists in the province of Ontario: more than 85 individuals are on staff at Valentino’s.
“Where a lot of people finish training, we are just beginning,” says co-owner George Tsinokas. “We invest in our people continuously…we have invested more than $2.5 million in training alone since we opened and have an 80 per cent retention rate among our staff.”
In addition to running an award-winning salon which has become a cornerstone business in Durham, five years ago George and Vasile launched Valentino’s Training Academy. The Academy is adjacent to the Salon, which has expanded to dominate almost an entire block in downtown Whitby. Individuals interested in exploring a career in styling and colouring are welcome to enroll in a Valentino’s training program, whether or not they decide to remain with the Salon.
Because of its commitment to training, Valentino’s has experienced growth for 14 straight years. It even grew during the recession of 2008-09 and continues to grow today.
In recent years this has included sending key personnel on the Dale Carnegie Course, as both George and Vasile are graduates and supporters of the program. Additionally, George has served as an Assistant Business Coach on the Carnegie program. “Every one of my staff who has taken the Dale Carnegie Course has gone on to be part of our leadership team,” George points out.
“Certainly we are very excited and honoured to receive this award from the Dale Carnegie Business Group,” says Vasile Tsinokas. “We want to acknowledge all of the incredible efforts of our entire Educational Team. It is the work which they have done over several years to make the Training Academy a success. We thank them and are very proud of them.”
Dale Carnegie Training, a world leader in the field of staff development through improved communications and human relations, celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2012. Today’s Special Award presentation is part of the 100th Anniversary celebration.
“Both the Dale Carnegie organization and Valentino’s believe that putting people first, investing in people and building relationships with employees and customers is the first priority in business. The relationship between Carnegie and Valentino’s goes back over twenty years, when owners George and Vasil Tsinokas entered our programs,” says Kevin Robert Crone, Managing Partner at the Dale Carnegie Business Group in Toronto.
“We are very pleased and proud to present Valentino’s with this well-deserved award for Outstanding Achievement in Staff Development. Valentino’s Grande Salon stands as an excellent example of the business success that can be achieved through commitment to ongoing personal development. Congratulations to George, Vasile, and the entire Valentino’s team.”
-30-
For more information, please contact
Rita Smith
647 242 5505
rsmith@dalecarnegie.ca
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January 3rd, 2012
I found the stapler I lost six months ago!
This might not seem a big deal, in and of itself. But I hate paper clips (they are so temporary) and much prefer staples (those pages are going NOWHERE until I say they’re going somewhere) and was irked to distraction every time I wanted to staple something and had to settle for a slippery little non-committal paper clip, which I was certain was planning to abandon its task and squirt away the very second my back was turned.
Unfortunately, my office has been heaped with mounds of papers that ranged from two inches deep in some places to foot-high stacks in others. At least I had some rough idea of what was where on my 8-foot desk surface and was managing to get work done every day in a somewhat productive fashion. I could never find the time to stop and file as necessary, and I couldn’t risk what little order I had achieved to turn the whole mess upside down in search of the stapler. So I begrudgingly settled for paper clips.
Today, though, I resolutely turned over a new leaf: actually, about 1000 leafs of paper pages, notes, forms, pieces of mail, and God knows what else as I decided to start the new year off with a clean, organized office. Seven hours later, every piece of paper has been either pitched or filed. I feel fantastic and enthused about tackling tomorrow’s workday, AND I found my lost stapler!
In honour of my shiny clean desk and my refreshingly clear mind, I present Dale Carnegie’s fourth principle for “Preventing Fatigue and Worry and Keeping Your Energy and Spirits High:”
“Apply these four good working habits:
1) Clear your desk of all papers except those relating to the immediate problem at hand.
2) Do things in the order of their importance.
3) When you face a problem, solve it then and there is you have the facts necessary to make a decision.
4) Learn to organize, deputize, and supervise.”
“If you visit the Library of Congress,” Carnegie wrote, “you will find five words painted on the ceiling – five words written by the poet Pope:
‘Order is heaven’s first law.’
“Order ought to be the first law of business, too. But is it?” Carnegie asks. “No, the average desk is cluttered up with papers that haven’t been looked at for weeks. In fact, the publisher of a New Orleans newspaper once told me that his secretary cleared up one of his desks and found a typewriter that had been missing for two years.”
(Well, I feel much better about losing such a little thing as a stapler!)
Chaos and confusion have consequences beyond productivity, Carnegie points out emphatically.
“The mere sight of a desk littered with unanswered mail and reports and memos is enough to breed confusion, tension, and worries. It is much worse than that. The constant reminder of ‘a million things to do and no time to do them’ can worry you not only into tension and fatigue, but it can also worry you into high blood pressure, heart trouble and stomach ulcers.”
Order IS heaven’s first law. Happy, Organized New Year!
(NOTE for New Years, 2012: I’m pleased to report this blog was originally written several years ago. Ever since I paid a professional organizer a measly $500 to whip me into shape in 2006, none of these issues have recurred. Best wishes to you in becoming as organized as possible this year! It truly does reduce your stress levels fantastically – as Dale Carnegie pointed out in 1955. Try it and see! You have nothing to lose…and you might actually find some of the items you’ve lost.)
Tags: Rita Smith, The consequences of chaos and confusion by Rita Smith
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