Ted Tuesday: ALA Keynoters— Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly: Be Passionate. Be Courageous. Be Your Best.

"He has combined teamwork, leadership, communication and family in an unwavering commitment to succeed. "

Good Morning Folks,

In just a few short weeks several members of the FSO family and I will be on our way to Toronto for the Association of Legal Administrators premier annual event. These few days of knowledge and collaboration are just one of the many ways we are spreading the FSO way, driving visibility for our great brand and making powerful connections.

A highlight of the conference for me, as Chief Happiness Officer, will be the keynote by Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly. Talk bout possibility thinking and overcoming adversity.

Their address will be called "Endeavour to Succeed" taking place Tuesday 20th at 8AM Sharp.

On January 8, 2011, Mark Kelly faced the toughest challenge of his life when a would-be assassin shot his wife, who was then serving as a U.S. Congresswoman. His dedication to family and Gabby Giffords' arduous road to recovery captivated the world.

For Kelly, focus equals success-even in the face of adversity. Personifying resilience and spirit, he was a combat pilot in Iraq, an astronaut on four Space Shuttle missions and commander of the final flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour. He has combined teamwork, leadership, communication and family in an unwavering commitment to succeed. Kelly shows audiences how to accomplish their missions while maintaining the love and devotion to family that make up the foundation of true success.

Kelly and Giffords will have their international bestselling book, Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope, available in the onsite ALA Bookstore, with a book signing to follow the ALA Keynote Address on Tuesday, May 20.

In today's Ted preclude to their keynote , Be passionate. Be courageous. Be your best, the pair describe their lives both before and after the accident -- and describe their political campaign against gun violence.

The Gifford's embody all of the goodness which lies within us. Theirs is also a story of teamwork at its best. At FSO, we are only going to get bigger, better and stronger as a TEAM.

To our team: You have been given the opportunity to show what you’re made of, to be so much stronger and better than you were just the day before and to show the world of business a better way.  

So as you get ready to start your day take a second to think; how am I contributing to the FSO competitive difference? How can I be better?

How can I get to infinity and beyond? 

How can I be that star, that hero that brings to our clients all the positive change, wealth and success they deserve?

I hope you are feeling great and are geared up for another personal, passionate, productive week.

Because IT IS YOU that makes FSO who we are. 

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Short Video: Experience Our People:

Meet our passionate onsite staff who deliver service extraordinaire to our clients each and every day

Tour our beautiful offices

Read my latest article in CEO Perspectives

Ideas are not set in stone. When exposed to thoughtful people, they morph and adapt into their most potent form. TED Tuesdays on MitchWeiner.com highlights some of today's most intriguing ideas. Look for more talks on Technology, Entertainment and Design -- plus science, business, global issues, the arts and much more— HERE. 

LinkUP Thursday: 10 Simple, Science-Backed Ways To Be Happier Today and more...

"Our commute to the office can have a surprisingly powerful impact on our happiness. The fact that we tend to do this twice a day, five days a week, makes it unsurprising that its effect would build up over time and make us less and less happy" from... 10 Simple, Science-Backed Ways To Be Happier Today

Good Morning Folks,

Please enjoy these articles that got the most likes and great comments when I shared them on social media.

Can You Be Found? Why You Must Personally Invest in Social Media

Coveting Not a Corner Office, but Time at Home

8 ways to turn passion into success

Superhero or Sidekick: Which One Are You?

Five Ways to Change Someone Else's Mind

10 simple, science-backed ways to be happier today

How to stop doing so much busy work

Thanks again for your amazing energy and support that is fuelling the FSO fire across the country. FSO did not get to this place by luck. With the market on our side, we have recognized the opportunity for limitless growth.  

Folks, there is so much awesome “stuff” happening in our great company. We have awesome leaders; awesome people; and a market that is in love with us and competitors that just cannot keep up! 

Good luck and feel it folks. It is real. Thanks for reading, sharing and supporting.

Have a GREAT day,

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here

How to Get Human Customer Service

"Of course at FSO, you can always count on getting a live person to help you."

Good Morning Folks,

Have you ever had a problem with a company and wished you could just get a person on the phone? Yeah, me too!

According to Steve Anderson, "Even with all the technology at our disposal sometimes it is faster, easier, and creates a much better customer service experience when you can actually talk to a customer service agent. But, it can often be difficult to find the right number to call."

That’s why you need to bookmark GetHuman.com. This site does one thing really well. It maintains an easily searchable list of over 8,000 company customer service phone numbers that, in most cases, connects you with a real live person.

It also provides advice and shortcuts on how to get through voice menus as well as tips on how to receive good service. You can also see reviews left by others and leave your own reviews about your experience with a company for others to see.

The site does have quite a few ads displayed between blocks of information so just make sure you click on the information you want and not an ad.

GetHuman.com also works on your mobile phone. No special phone necessary. Any Internet-enabled phone can use GetHuman.com by using your browser to navigate to the website. When you visit on your cell phone, you’ll see a mobile version of the site that is fitted to a smaller screen.

If you have an iPhone or an Android device, you can download the free GetHuman App from the respective stores. The app has customer service phone numbers for major businesses, and the steps for getting a live person – just like the website. But unlike the site, the app is on your phone, meaning that you can contact customer support from wherever you are. The app dials the phone number for you after suggesting how to talk to a real person."

Of course at FSO, you can always count on getting a live person to help you.

Have a GREAT day. Love LIFE!

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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“If failure is not an option, then neither is success.” 
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Steve Anderson is the leading authority on insurance agency technology. He is a prolific writer known for his knack for translating “geek speak” into easily understood concepts. Check out his free weekly newsletter “TechTips” and other resources for the insurance industry on his website.

Via LinkedIn: Creative Commons

LinkUP Thursday: The Best Business Books In Brief...

"People want to be part of something that is bigger than they are"

Good Morning Folks,


Want to read 15 famous business books in under a minute?

To save you some time and money, Business Insider's made it possible. They boiled down some of the most popular and influential business books out there to their central lessons.

For those looking to bone up on some business theory, here are the highlights.

Read all about it: http://www.businessinsider.com/famous-business-book-summaries-2013-10#ixzz2jd8lh8HT

Have a GREAT day. Love LIFE!

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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"Never stop working at what you love because that's the fuel that makes life worth living. Happiness is about making dreams come true, no matter how long it takes."
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LinkUP Thursday: Leadership's Biggest Challenges

"Invest in individual mastery and market value . . . culture is to attracting high impact talent as a great product is to attracting good customers."

Good Morning Folks,

As you know I am a firm believer in continuing education by asking my team to read business books. Tom Peters is one of my favorites.

But now, thanks to the Internet, there are much shorter reads with just as powerful takeaways.

Here are a few I found to share with the leaders among us this morning:

Jack Welch: Star Wars: When to Let a Top Performer Walk

How CEOs Can Transform HR into a Revenue Driver

How to Get Employees to Embrace Social Media

How To Uncover Your Company's True Culture

The Most Powerful Habit You Can Imagine

The Future of Work

Some thoughts on the culture article: Give me a team I can bring together in person now and then and watch the synergy pay off. 


As an people / talent professional, I have been astounded by how often senior leaders don’t “get” that culture is a living thing, unique to a company or organization. I once heard a fairly new leader describe the corporate culture of our organization to candidates but what he described was the culture of his previous company. He truly thought that if he said it, it would be so. As hard as I tried, I could not convince him that one organization’s culture could not simply be grafted onto a new organization and its employees.

The article linked above proffers that "... many companies have tried to adopt, say, the Zappos culture or the Google culture… but in most cases those attempts fail because culture is something that can be mimicked but almost never successfully copied."  

Within every organization, decision making drives performance. Every employee comes to work every day and makes decisions that impact performance.   The workplace has many temptations that employees must resist, from the petty impulse to claim credit for someone else's work, to the unscrupulous lapse of lying in a negotiation, to the criminal act of misrepresenting financial numbers.   

These decisions, at every level of the organization, define the corporate culture and drive performance.   

In 2008, Harvard Business School Professor Robert S. Kaplan and his Palladium Group colleague David P. Norton wrote The Execution Premium: Linking Strategy to Operations for Competitive Advantage.   There are ten (10) steps to define the corporate culture and drive performance, including:  

Step 1: Visualize the strategy.   

Step 2: Communicate the strategy. 

Step 3: Identify strategic projects.   

Step 4: Align projects with strategy.   

Step 5: Align individual roles and provide incentives.  

Step 6: Manage projects.   

Step 7: Make decisions aligned with strategy.   

Step 8: Measure the strategy.   

Step 9: Report progress.  

Step 10: Reward performance.  

To make change, leaders must identify behaviors that are in line with the desired culture and find ways to reward or reinforce them

I will like t say these idea is common among young growing companies regardless of years in existence, they are still learning, but when they get to certain points in their growth, they begin to value employees much as the value the customer, quite really, they realize that the employees also make the hearth of the company much as the customer do, it's a matter of time, if the company as a future or big dreams.

Have a GREAT day. Love LIFE!

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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“Never, never, never give up.” – Winston Churchill
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Inspire ME: Do 80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives?

"While the more you can do the thing you love the better off you will be, the more important thing is to identify why you wake up in the morning. You need to come to grips with something that you value and be willing to make sacrifices in order to move towards it."

Greetings Folks,

Steve Spalding suggests that 80% of People Quietly Despise Their Lives. Are you among them?

This isn't a statistic, it's a casual observation based on talking to way more people about their careers than any normal person should. I'm convinced that most people dislike their lives, not in any robust way but with the kind of casual contempt that can be easily ignored by a society that prizes movement and action above just about everything else.

They dislike their jobs, they dislike their boss, they dislike the things they must do in order to make the living that will allow them to continue disliking their life.

They don't yell and scream and complain about it, in fact, they shuffle their way through it peacefully enough and teach their children that life is hard and painful and that they should appreciate any ounce of goodness that the universe deems them worthy of.

I think that the older you get, the more likely it is for you to fall into my 80%.

Children typically like life a lot. Teenagers are a little wishy-washy on it, but for the most part they think it's the tops. The problem starts somewhere around the mid-20s, when we get thrown out into the world to do "whatever we want to" and we realize that the majority of that time will be spent surviving and helping others to survive.

Kind of a bummer, especially when you spend the majority of your early days looking forward to the freedom of being an adult. This realization is enough to cripple most of us, and very few who survive it make it through unscarred.

So who, you might be wondering, are the elusive 20% who are actually enjoying the ride?

The richly working.

More than any other criteria - age, class, wealth, sex, whatever - it's the people who have a purpose, who have something they believe in and are willing to work on it despite whatever obstacles might get in their way who end up being happy. It's the people who wake up and know they are moving in a direction, towards something that is important to them, that end up loving their lives. It's the people who don't think about retirement because whatever it is that they are doing is truly meaningful that end up being truly content.

Before you ask, you don't have to quit your job and move into a commune to pull this off.

Having a purpose doesn't mean devoting your entire life to that purpose. While the more you can do the thing you love the better off you will be, the more important thing is to identify why you wake up in the morning. You need to come to grips with something that you value and be willing to make sacrifices in order to move towards it.

It might take you 20 years to write your novel, but put a sentence or two on a page every day.

It might take half your life to save up enough to open your restaurant, but do save and make concessions, make sacrifices to see to it that you will eventually get there.

Don't just hope that things will work themselves out, understand that you can make goals and as long as you actively pursue them it's not foolish or crazy to think that you can really accomplish something.

A big part of happiness is having something that makes you happy. A bigger part is doing something with it, developing real, practical steps that you can use in order to reach your goal. You can work your entire life and never do anything that you like. Considering time is the only resource that is truly scarce, you have to ask yourself whether it's worth it.

What say you about this? Let me know by reply.

Have a safe, happy and healthy weekend as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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"Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower" 
~~Steve Jobs 
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FSO: Building Great Leaders to Make a Great Organization Even Greater

"TRUE leadership is the ability to inspire others to greatness beyond their expectations. "

Good Morning Folks,

I don't often blog to toot our own horn, but because we have so much great "stuff" happening at FSO that I simply cannot keep it a secret.

In order to guarantee perfection, protect the brand and ensure future growth, it is imperative that we “FSO-ize” our new staff who will be supporting my legacy and vision across the country

We recently held a (re) IMAGINE SUMMIT with over 40 hand-selected Experience Managers and Leads attended a highly energetic and intensive program from Oct 14th – Oct 15th at FSO Headquarters and via Sypke for those few that couldn't attend.

The goal? To achieve a solid foundation, solid work force and team players who have the “can do attitude” that makes FSO so special.

More importantly, we wanted each and every person who flew in to New York for this special event to come out feeling completely energized, excited and pumped to work for us and spread the word and energy back across their regions. The two day program provided a wonderful opportunity for our new starters and representatives to experience the FSO love fest and Personal, Passionate and Productive culture firsthand!

Of course they are out with clients every day so they bring a "field real" perspective.

One manager noted "having come back to the industry we created, every account we hold someone else had, many times waiting since we returned in 2010 until their contract with the incumbent was up for renewal to make the switch. Ultimately it’s the people, passion and what happens when no one is looking. There's is a reason we were brought on- better product at better price than anyone else. We bring the passion back."

So what it all boils down to is our corporate culture and our leaders ability to inspire others to greatness beyond their expectations.

All of us at FSO live and breath what we call the  8 “P”s:

1. Personal
2. Productive
3. Passionate
4. Positive
5. Progressive
6. Professional
7. Proud
8. Proactive

FSO is building great leaders to make a great organization even greater. According to our Chief Inspiration Officer "Dr. Phil" (Levy, this) TRUE leadership is the ability to inspire others to greatness beyond their expectations. He argues...

• There is no one style of leadership.
• Great leaders are authentic and are perceived as genuine.
• Great leaders style should be one that they are comfortable with and that maximizes their strengths and minimizes their weaknesses.
• Great leaders  an interest, respect, and compassion for others.
• Great leaders motivate with optimism, passion, confidence and humility.
• Great leaders praise publicly and criticize privately and constructively

The effort and atmosphere at FSO is just awe-inspiring. To my staff: THANK YOU for your wonderful efforts, motivation, teamwork, leadership, care, passion and a desire to execute like no other. The list goes on but I think you get it :). And to our great clients: THANK YOU for your continued support. We appreciate your business and our ever-evolving relationship.

We have a ton of people who believe in and love what we do. It is up to our leaders to build the confidence and leadership in FSO to ensure the best-ever “skip in the step, fire in the belly and twinkle in the eye” coupled with delivering the three “Ps”.

It is winning time. It is time for all of us to put on our thinking caps; smile; laugh; lead and show our newest family members the excitement and enthusiasm behind winning the largest prize the industry has seen!

As I reflect on another action-packed week "fso-izing", I m reminded that our business and our company is built on great people who care. Coupled with the best knowledge and tenure this industry has ever seen, we are unstoppable. we are not perfect, but we will strive for perfection each day to perform for FSO

On that good note, make every day count and enjoy your week.

Have a GREAT day, and...

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here

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“It’s important to be optimistic and to call stakeholders to a purpose bigger than themselves.”  ~~Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks

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InspireME Friday: On a Positive Note, Let's Be Grateful.

"The hardest arithmetic to master is that which enables us to count our blessings."~~ Eric Hoffer

Good Morning Friends,


Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos into order, confusion into clarity.... It turns problems into gifts, failures into success, the unexpected into perfect timing, and mistakes into important events. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow.

These words remind us that all of us at FSO we have lots to be thankful for.

Indeed, we do.

Here's a life lesson my mother taught me:

I've learned that if you pursue happiness, it will elude you. But if you focus on your family, your friends, the needs of others, your work and doing the best you can, happiness will find you.

I've learned that whenever I decide something with an open heart, I usually make the right decisions.

I've learned that even when I have pains, I don't have to be one.

I've learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love that human touch- holding hands, a warm hug or just a friendly pat on the back.

I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

Sometimes you need just a little something to make you smile. 

At times like these we all need to smile. 

People forget what you said, but people will never forget how you made them feel.

You should pass this along to someone you care about. I just did. 


And always remember what John F Kennedy said: “As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.”

Here is how you say Thank You in 465 languages.

Have a GREAT day as I look forward to seeing all of you soon.

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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People may not always remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. 

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InspireME: Bringing Out Talent in Others

"A superior leader is a person who can bring ordinary people together to achieve extraordinary results."

Good Morning Folks,    Thank you for today's wonderful article, Bruce.  Recognizing talent is relatively easy, no offense to successful recruiters be it in business, college or sports. However, "cultivating" talent is a gift because it requires really listening and looking for the unspoken words more than the spoken words as you note. But apply this to a team, many leaders are befuddled and look for the easy fix of drawing to people that think like themselves.  There is great merit in exploring the talents people have, developing them, encouraging them, and taking them to the next level. With good leadership, every day, regular people accomplish amazing things when they work together as a team doing what they do best.  Indeed - the mark of a true leader is getting others to perform beyond their own expectations. Parents and sports coaches alike can agree to this.

==> The Best Talent Is Bringing Out Talent in Others by Bruce Kasanoff Entrepreneur. Writer. Speaker. "A superior leader is a person who can bring ordinary people together to achieve extraordinary results." Many years ago, an entrepreneur told me that. He was right. But this isn't just true of leaders. It's true of all human beings. I've come to believe that the most valuable talent is being able to recognize hidden skills that others possess. Why? There's only one you, and you only have so much time. But if you can bring out the best in others, you gain remarkable leverage. So very hard... I'm not just talking about recognizing talent. I'm talking about being able to recognize a look in someone's eyes that tells you something valuable is burning inside that person. I'm talking about realizing that if you take Jake's drive, mix it with Julie's intelligence and Dave's creativity, then you will transform three mildly effective people into a spectacular team. I'm talking about looking past what's "wrong" with others, and instead seeing what's special about them in very pragmatic and actionable terms. How do you do this? Here's a short list of ways you can bring out the best in others: 1.) Let your gaze - and your attention - linger.  Instead of rushing past a person, or barely acknowledging their existence, you could choose to stop and really look into their eyes. Look at their body language. Consider what they are NOT saying and NOT doing. Ask yourself why. Consider two possibilities. One is that they have more value to add, but are unwilling (yet) to show greater initiative. Another is that they lack the confidence to utilize their "hidden" talents in a public fashion. Then look for ways to offer motivation and support. 2.) Magnify the quietest voices.  Money, power, and influence often flow towards the loudest voices in an organization - but sometimes the quietest voices possess the best answers. Can you think of a way to magnify the quiet voices? For example, I once visited an organization and was greeted by dozens of outgoing, warm people. But one young woman sat quietly in a corner, studying a book. It turned out she had recently moved from China, and did not yet have a strong mastery of English. But she was a genius, had performed at Carnegie Hall as a teenager, and had both a broader and deeper perspective than virtually everyone in the room. Think about ways you can identify and encourage these quiet gems. 3.) Mix things up.  Watch for opportunities to create non-intuitive combinations of people, ideas and circumstances. You can do this through social events, discussion groups, or even a carefully orchestrated meeting. You can do this by introducing people via email, and giving them a reason to interact. Many times, we make the mistake of waiting for others to initiate change. You might be thinking: this isn't my job, I'm not head of the department/division/company. Anyone can do this, and no matter who does it, that person is cultivating the amazing skill of bringing out the best in others. 4.) Look past your own biases.  Most of us are drawn to certain types of people. They might be like us, or they might simply be people who like us. If all you do is to follow your natural instincts, then you will be blind to most of the talent on Earth. You need to cultivate an appreciation for people who think, act, and feel differently than you. This is a tremendously difficult challenge. One way to start is to make others feel important by listening, really hard - with 100% of your attention - to what they have to say. Then repeat back what they told you, so that they know you understood. It's a small step, but an important one in the right direction. If you only interact with people who are within your comfort zone, you will seldom achieve anything great. Almost by definition, spectacular progress requires disparate ideas and talents to come together in unprecedented ways. Become one who cultivates talent in others. It will enrich your life and supercharge your career.

Have a Happy, Healthy, Safe and Refreshing Weekend, Love Life! Mitchell D. Weiner Chief Happiness Officer   Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . .  "Doubt is an old disease. Faith is an old medicine. Compassion is an old doctor. Concern is an old nurse." ~~Sri Chinmoy (1931-2007, spiritual teacher) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . . . .