On this New Year’s Eve, we get to make a choice of what we leave behind and what we take with us into the coming year. We get to choose our actions, goals, aspirations, dreams, and desires. We get to select a belief in all of the possibilities or all of the problems that could occur.

We have control over three things in our lives: our choices, our words, and our actions. Given this limited span of influence, it behooves us to choose wisely.

May your dreams come true…

Take a moment and see things through the eyes of a child, especially during this holiday season. Anticipation and excitement fill her entire being as she thinks about all of the possibilities that the day will hold. Even when family members become impatient with her or one another, she still sees the glass half full, believing that wishes do come true.

Where does this attitude go when you become an adult? It gets buried under responsibilities, distractions, and the stresses of life.…

Hundreds of leaders have recently wasted thousands of hours planning strategies for next year. Yes, many of these plans are brilliant, profound even, but that doesn’t matter. The time invested would have been better spent meeting with customers or even doing some holiday shopping.

The problem is not the strategy. It’s the abandonment of these well intentioned plans that’s about to occur in thousands of companies across the…

Next time someone asks you to repeat a question, count the number of words. Chances are it was more than ten. I’ve often noticed this happening with salespeople talking with prospects and clients and executives speaking with members of their team. What’s the issue? Our brains process questions of less than ten words much more effectively than those that exceed ten.

Each time we pose a question of more than ten words, the listener spends more time focusing on the question and less on…

Talk may be cheap, but salespeople often spare no expense when it comes to spending lots of time saying lots of words. That is why I created the Sales Mantra:

Say little, ask a lot.

I’ve been told by many of the sales leaders and salespeople I’ve had the honor of working with over the years that this one concept alone has impacted both the quantity and quality of their business.

Since words alone are not enough, there is a second part of…

I don’t know about you, but small talk often drives me crazy. It goes something like:

“Hey, how are you?”

“Great, how are you?”

“Fine, you?”

“The same. What’s new?”

“Oh, you know, working hard, not playing enough. You?”

“Things are great. Just got a new Lexus.”

“Really, that’s great.”

“Well, great to see you.”

“Yeah, great to see you and catch up.”

I’ve often said that I’d rather endure a mild form of torture than be…

It’s the height of hockey season and the winning teams and great players all have one thing in common—they skate to where the puck will be versus where it already is at any given moment. The great one, Wayne Gretzky, was known for this trait, with many players that have come after him emulating this best practice.

In hockey you score by advancing the puck into the goal; in recruiting you score by having and advancing the right person into the need of the customer. Therein lies the…

Some salespeople seem to be channeling their inner Darth Vader, attempting to will customers to buy using the Force—Sales Force. Using Jedi mind tricks and their trusty tongue sabers, they attempt to convince, cajole, and manipulate people into saying “yes.” Even the best of salespeople, including those with high integrity and ethics, are still…

Take No Prisoners is a free weekly memo from Scott Wintrip that explores how Radical Accountability prospers companies and changes lives. Instead of taking people hostage with outdated, heavy-handed, and ineffective methods of management, measurement, and motivation, Radical Accountability focuses on creating an unwavering responsibility for getting what matters most done.

Too many leaders spend too much time serving as the longterm memory for their direct reports.…

My black lab, Kingsley, is like many of his breed in that he has Squirrel Moments. He’ll be doing one thing, and then a squirrel runs across the top of the fence. Seeing this out of the corner of his eye, Kingsley runs for all he is worth, convinced that this he’ll actually catch the critter. But, alas, the squirrel is always faster and craftier, and Kingsley is left to glare and bark his fiercest of barks. Once the squirrel is out of sight, Kingsley rarely returns to what he was doing…