Mountaineering, extreme skiing, endurance cycling, organic gardening or playing with his grandchildren - Rick Seymour's interests encompass the lofty to the down-to-earth.
Mathematician, Aerospace Engineer, Entrepreneur, Business Owner, Management Consultant, Author, Professional Speaker and creator of multiple training curriculum - A career path that uniquely qualifies Rick to understand and relate to a wide variety of both private and public organizations and the people that make them up.
Rick believes "Our circumstances will never change unless our performance changes. Our performance will never change until our behavior changes. And our behavior will never change until we have a good enough reason. If our people don't grow and change, neither do our organizations."
Rick has been called the "velvet hammer". He has a way teaching and relating powerful ideas and concepts in such a way that people readily accept their need to change and grow. Rick believes that "If behavior doesn't change - it isn't training!”
Achievements:
EDUCATION Ø B.S., Applied Mathematics Ø Advanced degree work in Social Psychology
WORK HISTORY Ø Business trainer and consultant Ø Entrepreneur - health and nutrition business Ø Aerospace engineer -Systems Analyst for Space Shuttle, Apollo, Viking and Skylab Partial Client List Ø AT&T Ø Colorado State University Ø Lockheed-Martin Corp. Ø TRW Ø United Bank of Denver Ø University of Kansas Ø USGS Ø IRS Ø Equitable Ø Department of Defense Ø Farmers Insurance Ø Vail Business & Professional Women’s Association Ø Geneva Pharmaceutical Ø Tennis Club Management Association of America Ø Shaklee Corporation
Perfectionism and the “paralysis of analysis” are two of the biggest stumbling blocks to success that many people trip over. There is an old adage that says, “Good enough is good enough.” For those wanting to move ahead in their lives, it is a good saying to live by. The way my grandfather always put it was, “Rick, you’ve got to learn to be a B+ person.”
What does that really mean? When I watched my grandfather work (he was a painter and remodeler), I was always amazed at how much he got done and how fast he worked. The end result rarely came close to an A+ job, but the customers were always happy with not only the end result, but also the fact that they didn’t have to wait nearly as long for the job to be done as they would have if it had been a typical contractor.
Yes, there are times when an A+ job is called for, but the law of diminishing returns says that the extra effort required to get there in most cases is not worth it. I started my working life as an Aerospace engineer. I worked on a multitude of NASA projects involving manned space flight. When peoples’ lives are at stake, it is entirely appropriate to get as close to perfection as possible. I was responsible for the Failure Modes and Effects Analysis. We spent months and sometimes years trying to anticipate every conceivable thing that could go wrong – from a hardware failure, to an astronaut flipping switches in the wrong order. We built in redundancy in every system. We had backup plans for every contingency. We tried to anticipate every emergency that might occur. Everything was done by committee and took forever to make decisions.
For the space program it was an entirely appropriate way to work. The problem was that I carried that into my business life when I decided to go out on my known and become an entrepreneur. The end result of that type of exhaustive analysis and striving for perfection was that I rarely got anything started, and on the occasions that I started, I almost never finished. Very few businesses (or jobs, or goals…) in this world require that level of perfection.
When people get caught in that trap, it’s much like waiting for all the lights to turn green before you leave home – you will never leave. There are lots of ways that perfectionism manifests itself: Wanting to know the answer to every conceivable question someone might ask you, before you are willing to go out and make a presentation to a potential client; Having to have your desk perfectly organized before you will pick up the phone to call a prospect; Spending hours and hours on your PowerPoint presentation getting all the colors and graphics ‘just right’ in order to avoid actually having to talk to anyone. The list goes on and on. The 80/20 rule applies in most areas of our lives and businesses and is certainly appropriate when you think about managing your time and accomplishing anything significant. About 80% of the time a B+ job is probably good enough. Learn to recognize the 80%. Learn to ‘triage’ your schedule. Just get the 80% done as quickly as possible. You will accomplish a lot more if you learn to become a B+ person.
For a FREE subscription to Rick Seymour's newsletter, "Goal Getters" (Tips, tricks and insights to achieve your goals), go to: http://www.godinyourgoals.com Mathematician, Aerospace Engineer, Entrepreneur, Business Owner, Management Consultant, Author, Professional Speaker and creator of multiple training curriculum. Rick Seymour understands and relates to a wide variety of both private and public organizations and the people that make them up. He has consulted most of the Fortune 100 companies. Rick is called the "velvet hammer". He teaches powerful ideas and concepts in a way that people readily accept their need to change and grow. Rick believes that "If behavior doesn't change - it isn't training!” Rick’s Training Expertise: Self-Motivation and Goal Setting Wellness and Sports Nutrition High-Integrity Sales / Permission Marketing Communication & People Skills for ‘Techies’ Effective Team Building / How To Lead A Team Succeeding As A First-Time Manager Professional Supervisory Skills For additional resources go to: http://www.godinyourgoals.com