A Dream Realized through Business Expert Webinars

When I started my present business back in 2003, I was told a big goal took no more thinking effort than a small goal. I decided to think internationally in achieving my goal of making people in business and in personal life more aware of the powerful benefits of the right leisure interests for work and personal life success. So I started by calling my business Work Leisure International.

In the 4+ years since then, I have managed to achieve a great deal - mainly in my home city of Adelaide but also elsewhere in Australia and to a reasonable extent, given my limited resources, internationally.

But I wanted to be an international speaker and to do this I had previously imagined I would have to travel to other countries. Australia is a long way from anywhere so I felt it would probably cost me a lot of money to get me started. So I focused my attention on putting articles into Article Directories (see examples on the right hand of this page)

The beauty of articles online is not only you get known widely but you overcome one of the great issues in doing business on the internet - establishing credibility and trust. Print consistently popular articles and people start to say "hey this guy knows his stuff!"

Turns out my articles had attracted the interest of Lee Salz the creator of Business Expert Webinars and his invitation to me to speak internationally through his Webinar program. Suddenly a longer-term dream of international speaking had become a reality without me having to even leave home! I won't spell out the details here. You can to find out the rest by going to http://www.businessexpertwebinars.com/index.php?option=com_comprofiler&task=userProfile&user=128&Itemid=29

I am excited and I know my presentations will be great! Please think about registering for the call of any of my 12 Business Expert Webinars, the first one being on 22 May 2008 (US EDT) on the topic of Transitioning from Work to Retirement.

Review of Australia's Health System

Australia's National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission has called for submissions on the future of the Australian Health System. I have put in a submission entitled "Enjoying Good Health". I have focused on (quoting from my submission) " the mutually-beneficial links between good health, enjoyment and the 'ripple effect' of enjoyable experiences, positively affecting everything that develops, nurtures and promotes good health."

Always good to at least give people in high places something to think about. Who knows? they might even like it! If you would like a copy of my submission (6 pages total), email me at peter@workleisure.com

Managing 21st Century Business by 19th Century Principles

Life changes fast – so fast we can’t keep pace. We haven’t any choice but to move with the times because we know if we don’t we’re sunk. And when we decide to make the most of it we often find it can be fun.

For some reason it all stops when people become a boss in business. It seems business is expected to change with the times in product development and sales but not in how it manages people. Recently I looked at the Taylor Principles of Management written in the 19^th Century and its scary how little they differ from the way bosses manage people today.

The bigger the organization the worse it is. The corporate kings (not too many queens yet) still:

• love starched white shirts, grey suits and ties
• promote bosses for their product knowledge ahead of people knowledge
• only trust staff to be working when they can see the whites of their eyes
• believe the longer you’re at the office the smarter you are
• step over a workaholic's dead body, looking for somebody to meet the next deadline
• see minimum movement as maximum efficiency
• think they know better than the workers.

Is it any wonder business management is one big mess?

Staff are kept in some sort of straight jacket and told “this is the way I (not we) do things here. You can like it or lump it.” In the next breath he (not too often she) is asking "why is the organization having trouble attracting and keeping good staff?”

When are the big bosses going to run business like people (including themselves) run their personal lives? Set goals and let 'em loose to do it their way, in their chosen place, using their own ideas. Give them the right to laugh or even to cry. Give them help when they ask for it, give them respect, because they love it.

The system wouldn’t be perfect but, like we say about life, it sure beats the hell out of the alternative.