If you attended the High Stakes Learning Event on March 8 in Las Vegas, you got to learn about Jason Young’s down-to-Earth approach about building a high performance. If you didn’t attend, you are in luck. Jason promised the attendees that he would share his PowerPoint presentation after the event and he recently sent it to ACCA. You can download the full presentation here.
It’s been an enlightening few days and Erik Wahl wrapped it all up for attendees during his closing general session: The Art of Vision.
Wahl started out by reminding contractors, “Some people play the game, other people change the way the game is played. Success is about competitive advantage.” (He also painted an amazing picture of Michael Jordan before the eyes of attendees)
He asked how do we tap into our creative side that differentiates us from each other? He says it’s about breaking out of our comfort zones and taping into the right side of our brains and reinvigorating our creative sides.
Erik said, “There is a direct correlation between mind and body. Take a deep breath when you are performing under pressure. There are often rewards when you take chances.”
“Fear is nothing more than false evidence appearing real,” he added. “Fear cripples performance.”
He reminded contractors that there are three core things that high performers have: The ability to focus, to commit, and to adapt. And focused on the ability to adapt. Adaptation is what keeps you ahead of the competition, to continue to thrive.
He also shared that, “The almighty dollar is no longer the currency of the world, it’s trust. What ways can you take your traditional ideas and move it to the social realm to grow your business?”
He encouraged contractors to stay ahead of the curve and the only way to do that is to be innovative and creative. You have to think of the things you never thought possible. You have to find things your customers need, long before they ever know they need it. If you stop being creative, you are going to fall behind.
“You must continue to create that emotional connection to continue to succeed,” said Wahl. “The art of vision is built on the science of stepping back and looking for new ways to grow and succeed.”
Sometimes you have to step away from the business to spark your innovation and creativity to see how you want to differentiate your company from the rest. This will help you overcome challenges and build the emotional connection.
He closed with, “See what around you see, see the opportunities and have the courage to twist the landscape.”
For the past few years the looming idea of regional standards have made many contractors uneasy. Then this past fall, they became an impending reality starting in May 2013.
Charlie McCrudden, ACCA’s vice president of government relations, spent some time explaining to contractors what exactly these mean for them.
He first went over the different standards for heating and cooling.
There was lively discussion about how the standards were created, what the availability of products is, and finally how it will be enforced.
Here are the suggested enforcement plans that are currently part of a DOE rulemaking process:
He also posed the questions that ACCA has about the enforcement of the standards: Do they have the authority to ask for this type of information? And said he is skeptical that the DOE can get this done in the legal amount of time.
You can also learn more about Regional Standard enforcement in Charlie’s latest article in IE3 Magazine.
