What An Amazing Place FSO Is. An Organization Build On Helping Others.

"When I look at FSO today, I see hundreds of lives transformed… people with careers, not jobs. People thriving, not just surviving."

Good Morning Folks,

How unfortunate to personally be stagnant in our careers, unable to take full advantage of an opportunity or even let one "slip" by due to unpreparedness. 

We provide so much to our field employees. We guide, mentor, teach, support them. We show them they are important, show them they matter, show them we care. We build relationships with them, friendships, comraderie. They are the future...us - and it is our obligation and pleasure to assist them reach their goals, progress, fulfill their dreams.

Most importantly - it is all of our jobs as leaders and managers to ensure that in our absence or promotion others can take the reins over and shine in doing so. 

To our employees, ask yourself - who at your site or department are you partnering with and developing? Who can you count on? Are names immediately popping up in your head? 

What an amazing place FSO is. An organization build on helping others.

We help them - let me help you.

You have all reached a certain level of success and growth... why stop there?

You each have strength and skills that have merited your current roles within the Division, within FSO. Let's reach HIGHER!

Let's self motivate.     Let's increase ourselves.     Let's GROW!

Reflect on the FSO career path:

Cheryl | A former mail clerk at groupm - now the Portfolio Manager to Durst
Glenda | A former internal messenger for VNO - now the Division Administrator
David | A former Lead at Sage - now the Portfolio Manager for Brookfield +
Mario | A former Supervisor at Conde - now the Portfolio Manager for VNO +

Then there is the rising star that was personally discovered by me a few years ago that I wish to give a special shout out and thanks to - Vivian! In Denise's absence, she rose above and beyond all expectations and shone in her capacity, commitment and smarts. She Denise to come back with a sigh of relief and joy. 

Vivian started with FSO as an informationalist a few years ago and has continued to rise and put her intellect and personality to invaluable use. Additionally Vivian is also working closely with me on "employee analytics" and keeping a close ear to the heartbeat of our valued staff across the country. 

Again this important role was borne out of care, concern and a passion to ensure that our staff are feeling and experiencing my brand, company culture and commitment to our staff's happiness and career growth. Thank you Viv for all that you do! 

WHATS NEXT?!     WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?!     WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?!

It doesn't matter if you are an ELT member or a site lead. We all bear the responsibility of nurturing and developing talent. 

When I look at FSO today, I see hundreds of lives transformed… people with careers, not jobs. People thriving, not just surviving.

How can I help you fulfill your dreams? When I fulfill employee dreams, I fulfill your dreams and ambitions as a client. It's a simple formula, but maybe not that simple because we seem to be among the few in our business that actually get this right.

Feel the FSO Experience - and ensure everyone around you does too. 

Here's to a wonderful finish to the week!

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"The things you learn raising a child are great skills for nurturing a team and bringing a project to life. You take obstacles out of the way, encourage them and set goals that are tough but can be achieved." ~~Denise Ngeow FSO SVP Strategy & Chief of Staff … and proud new mother to beautiful Scarlett

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When Times Grow Tough, A Leader's True Colors Are Revealed

"Regardless of where you work, always continue to learn what makes leaders successful and what makes them fail" 

Good Morning Folks,

As I have often reminded our teams, anything is possible. Regardless of where you work, or what you do, always continue to learn what makes people successful and what makes them fail.

Because.. The most important resource in the entire universe is YOU. Products, services, innovation, ideas, breakthroughs – they all exist in your head, your heart and your hands. The output of your thinking, the engaging of your heart and the enlistment of your hands create profound results.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people can’t do”. Find me anyone with skip, fire and twinkle who wants to learn and grow, and I will promise you a career in my company, never just a job. No one ever sets out to be average at FSO, we need to be the best at everything we do.

I am forever grateful to you all for being such a loyal audience and for the great feedback you've been sending my way. I really appreciate it!

Great leadership seems easy when things are good and everybody's happy. When times grow tough, however, a leader's true colors are revealed.

Ten years ago, a group of U.S. soldiers tasted combat for the first time in Sadr City, Iraq. Bill Murphy Jr. got to know one of the junior U.S. leaders in that battle when he wrote a book about West Point and wartime.  

Murphy chronicles the lives of representative 2002 graduates of the United States Military Academy. A former trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Justice and an army veteran, Murphy was protégé of celebrity journalist Bob Woodward and has military experience that may have helped him connect to his subjects and perhaps encouraged them to be open with him. He also reported from Iraq for the Post. Here's an excerpt from In Time of War that first appeared in INC:

Dave Swanson was a 26-year-old lieutenant then. He's out of the military now, and we talked recently about what he learned by leading 40 soldiers in 82 straight days of combat. Most of us probably won't be taking a platoon into a hail of gunfire anytime soon, but applying these principles can greatly improve your effectiveness as a leader, no matter what challenges you face. 

1. Control your fear.
As bullets whizzed by him for the first time, Swanson says he was very much afraid. However, he realized he had to subdue his fear because his soldiers were looking to him for clues as to how they should react. 

Courage doesn't mean the absence of fear, and of course being a leader certainly doesn't mean charging ahead blindly in the face of adversity. It does mean you can't allow your fear to become contagious. Your team needs to believe you're in control of yourself, if they're to have confidence that you can make smart decisions in tough times. 

2. Remember that the mission comes first.
You owe a lot to your team for giving you the privilege of placing their trust in you. First on the list, you owe them a goal worth dedicating their efforts to, and you need to demonstrate that you're willing to do whatever it takes to achieve it. 

"I say complete the mission at minimal expense to the people," Swanson says. "Every military leader will publicly say that the mission comes first, but we always accomplished the mission with the soldiers in mind."

3. Remember that the mission comes before you, too.
The only way that "mission-first" mantra can work is if your people truly believe that you will put the mission before yourself, too. In a life-imitates-art moment, Swanson says that in the heat of combat, he thought of a line from the 2001 HBO miniseries, Band of Brothers: "The only hope you have is to accept the fact that you're already dead. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you'll be able to function as a soldier." 

In combat, this means being willing to risk your own safety for others in the unit and the mission. In other contexts, it means demonstrating that you'll sacrifice your personal short-term interests for the team's goal. Otherwise, how can you ask them to do so? 

4. Rely on your preparation.
Swanson spent years preparing for battle. He had been an enlisted solider, he spent four years at West Point, and he trained for nearly two years after graduation. While training alone will never quite prepare you to lead in real life, he says, it's as close as you can get to the real thing. 

The same principle applies in any leadership context. Think ahead of time about how you'll react to tough situations, so you can free your mind in crucial moments to react and adapt quickly. 

5. Be tough, but human.
"To those who have been in combat," Swanson explains, "you live by hardness, intuition, and compassion." 

As an example, he stayed awake and on duty for 60 straight hours at the start of the battle, pushing himself until he physically collapsed, but he also found moments of humanity and even humor in the heat of combat. Your team needs to know that you're tough, but also that you're reacting to the world around you like an engaged leader, not a machine. 

6. Encourage your people.
Business is rarely a matter of life and death, but war certainly is. One of Swanson's soldiers, Specialist Jacob Martir, was killed in action during the months of fighting, and several others were wounded and sent home to hospitals in the U.S. 

"It absolutely ate me alive to lose anyone in the platoon," Swanson says. However, he realized that it fell to him to encourage his soldiers and inspire them to keep going. "They were all special. The next day after any [casualty], I would remind them that each of them had already sacrificed themselves for each other on a daily basis--and how, if required, I would sacrifice myself for any of them." 

7. Communicate effectively.
In the heat of battle, it's easy--almost natural--to shut down everything else and focus exclusively on the job at hand. That's a dangerous inclination, however. It's important to make communicating what's going on a priority as well. Your team and all of your stakeholders need to know what's going on, or they can't contribute. 

"Early on in combat, radio communications weren't always the greatest, but that was no excuse," Swanson says. "When technology fails--and it always does at the worst possible moment--you need to have backup ways of getting and giving information." 

8. Use your resources wisely. But use them.
Especially in the first days of combat, Swanson's unit dealt with destroyed and unarmored vehicles, and insufficient supplies of almost every sort. More important, confusion, combat, and casualties left them critically short of soldiers. 

At the same time, they made full use of everything they had. At the end of the first week of fighting, for example, Swanson reflected that he had personally gone through ten 30-round magazines, meaning he had fired 300 bullets at the enemy. Just about everyone else in his platoon had, as well. 

9. Imitate the leaders who inspire you.
When Swanson had to act in the heat of battle, especially when his soldiers' eyes were on him, he thought back to the lessons he had learned at West Point, and some of the other leaders he had known and respected. He also found himself asking a question that has circulated for years among military leaders as a sort of joke: "What would John Wayne do?"

"Regardless of where you work, always continue to learn what makes leaders successful and what makes them fail," he says.

We have amazing employees, customers and leaders at FSO. Thanks to our employees for all you do for us, and to our clients for awarding us with the privilege of serving you.

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

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"Excellence is not an act, but a habit"

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Start Today Differently, IT’S THE FSO EXPERIENCE!

"Moving to NYC and starting a new job can be a BIT intimidating, but everyday I’ve been able to count on my FSO family made me feel right at home. I look forward to the lovefest every day! Here at FSO we truly care about our people & making them feel special, IT’S THE FSO EXPERIENCE!"

TGIF Folks,

That buzz around the FSO Nation, it is growing louder and louder everyday! 

That feeling that something magical is going on.

From our clients to employees to our senior management, it is everywhere!

FSO is booming! 

We are on FIRE!!

and.... The FSO Experience is speeding across the country.

One of our 2014 corporate goals is to have the most inspired, motivated and best trained employees in the industry - and this really speaks to our commitment to YOU our client and providing each employee with the chance to have their career dreams fulfilled. 

And nowhere is that spirit reflected more passionately in the words that follow. Plucked from our internal communications from one of our People Solutions Specialist's who has a key hands-on role in making that training real and dreams fulfilled: My daughter, Chelsea Weiner, over to you!

"Myself, as well as everyone else who has written the morning message, approaches this honor with the same intentions; to make an impact, to inspire & to allow everyone to feel the FSO EXPERIENCE! So… considering I recently celebrated my 1 year anniversary with the company, why not share a little bit of how the experience has impacted my life!

For starters - Before joining the FSO, I was studying Education and didn’t think I was fit for a business environment. As we know the FSO experience is all about spotting talent and nurturing it; Mitch helped me to realize that I would be a valuable asset to the training team. As the months went by, I started to discover new interests and my career pathing started! My drive and efforts paired with the never ending support from the People Solutions Team and colleagues allows me feel like I’m capable of ANYTHING!  I encourage all of you - TAKE ADVANTAGE OF CAREER PATHS; IT’S THE FSO EXPERIENCE!

When I stepped into the office on my first day of work, I saw tons smiling faces, received countless hugs and warm greetings from familiar and new faces!  Moving to NYC and starting a new job can be a BIT intimidating, but everyday I’ve been able to count on my FSO family made me feel right at home. I look forward to the lovefest every day! Here at FSO we truly care about our people & making them feel special, IT’S THE FSO EXPERIENCE!

Above all, I’m beyond impressed by the intelligent people I interact with every day, ON EVERY LEVEL! I am lucky enough to spend time with our executives, clients, our directors, the sales team, colleagues, EM’s, leads, associates & everyone has something special to bring to the table. FSO offers something unique, people come from all different backgrounds and experiences. Each and every one of you have helped me transform into the professional I am today, and I thank you. We are extremely lucky to have leaders and mentors who want to be a resource to you and guide you, IT’S THE FSO EXPERIENCE!

I could go on and on, trust me! The truth is, FSO is one of the best kept secrets. But why?! We have the greatest leader, Mitch, who truly loves our employees and our clients. Mitch truly puts his heart and soul into creating the happiest place to work every day. After this past year, I want to scream “THANK YOU FSO” from the rooftops! Would you do the same? Would your teams do the same? Would your clients do the same?

Start your day with these questions in mind, and make sure you’re working to ensure that YES is the answer.

Start today differently, IT’S THE FSO EXPERIENCE!" Chelsea Weiner-- People Solutions Specialist

As you know, my vision and legacy are all about our EMPLOYEES, and the focus that is placed on each person is part of the fabric of the company and this will NEVER change – and I feel so fortunate to be a part of this amazing company and to lead our Team. 

Our employees and clients must love us, and feel the energy and excitement we all share at HQ.  WWe are going to bring the FSO Experience to life for every single employee and ensure this the HAPPIEST PLACE TO WORK!!

As our tagline says, don’t keep it a secret.

Feel the FSO Experience - and ensure everyone around you is too. 

Have a HAPPY, SAFE and HEALTHY Weekend.

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain"

~~Dolly Parton

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Live Life. LOVE Life!

The Buddha said, “You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.”

Good Morning Folks,

Jonathan Swift wrote, “May you live every day of your life.”  While it is clearly obvious that we are alive—living and breathing human beings, how much of the time we are spending on Earth are we really living? How can we tell?

An entire lifetime can be spent on searching outward for the true purpose of life. There is no right or wrong scenario in the notion that we embark on this journey of self-realization. However, when we refuse to acknowledge our Being as the ultimate truth, we are indeed living, but solely for the betterment of others.

So… How can we live every day of our lives? 

After over a decade of study, best-selling co-author Michelle Rosado, ("Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams), offers a few ways she's learned to live a mindful and peace life:

1. Be Present. 
To live in the present means to BE present in all you do. Observe your thoughts as if your mind was a separate entity from self. Take a few moments throughout the day to be still and honor the time you spend with your higher self. Remember, this moment is the most important one of all.

2. Be Compassionate. 
Hardly any effort can be found in expressing compassion for anyone who is in need of guidance. It is our natural instinct as compassionate Beings to offer assistance in times of need. But when the hurtful words of another creates a lasting emotional scar on one’s heart, the ego can be diffused by showing love and compassion for the one inflicting the hurt.

3. Be Grateful. 
The Buddha said, “You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.” When you feel as if there is a lost sense of hope in humanity and receive a “reality slap” from your current circumstance, it is the perfect opportunity to look within. There is much to be grateful for when we are present and aware of our gifts.

4. Be Yourself. 
Many of us have experienced conditioning in our childhood that only accommodate others – in our thoughts, actions and speech. It is by fear that we continue living in this mindset throughout our adulthood, and by choosing to unravel the layers of the past can we truly be free. Make this a daily practice, for being yourself is one of the most precious gifts you can give to others, and to your soul.

What makes this advice so special is Michelle's rise from adversity: Her book, Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams" is the touching true story about how Michelle escaped from the World Trade Center on 911 into the life she never dreamed possible. Together, with her husband Randy, they share the experiences of their chance meeting which brought these two souls together to create one life they share.

Michelle's brush with death on 911 reminds us that time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. No one is ever guaranteed tomorrow. To realize the value of a friend or family member: LOSE ONE. 

As I have often reminded our teams, anything is possible. Regardless of where you work, or what you do, always continue to learn what makes people successful and what makes them fail.

Because.. The most important resource in the entire universe is YOU. Products, services, innovation, ideas, breakthroughs – they all exist in your head, your heart and your hands. The output of your thinking, the engaging of your heart and the enlistment of your hands create profound results.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people can’t do”. Find me anyone with skip, fire and twinkle who wants to learn and grow, and I will promise you a career in my company, never just a job. No one ever sets out to be average at FSO, we need to be the best at everything we do.

We have amazing employees, customers and leaders. Thanks to our employees for all you do for us, and to our clients for all you award us the privilege of doing for you.

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

Mitchell D. Weiner
Chief Happiness Officer

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“Expect the best. Prepare for the worst. Capitalize on what comes” 
~~Zig Ziglar
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(re) IMAGINE Mondays: Change Is Good If It's Going In The Right Direction

"How many retail clerks are you on a first name basis with? How many retail clerks know what style and color shirts you prefer when you shop? Salemanship is an art and most companies don't have any real salesmen working for them that truly enjoy what they do, go the extra mile for their customers, nor build any genuine relationship with their customers."

Good Morning and Welcome to Monday FSO USA, Clients, Readers and Fans!!

Monday is a day to cause mayhem and havoc for our competitors! Rumors are flying around the country about FSO and our company! AWESOME! Our competitors are getting nervous and they are feeling the pressure.

Here's why:

Change is one of the most guaranteed things in life, but few people want to accept that fact, and fewer can deal with it.

Just look at history and you don't have to go far back to see how fast things can change. Take 250 years ago. That's not very far when you think about it. The United States of America didn't even exist. Look how much this one little band of rebels against the British monarchy accomplished in that time. We took on the most powerful nation in the world at the time and kicked ass and started our own country from scratch.

Go back 500 years ago. What did the United States look like then? There was nothing here but Indian tribes. No buildings. No roads. No corporations. No electricity. No water systems. No airports. No cars. No financial system. No banks. It was better than when the dinosaurs ruled our continent but not by much.

What was life like 5,000 years ago on this planet? Civilization was just starting to take root.

Let's move up in time. When I grew up we had 3 major TV networks and 3 UHF stations. TV was in black and white. There were no cell phones. No personal computers. No video games. No Internet. None of the great stuff like we have today. I remember going to the World's Fair and seeing the World of Tomorrow pavilion and being totally fascinated by what visionaries expected the world to be like in the 21st century and what has come to be was even beyond that vision.

But the bottom line is time changes everything and does it continuously. It is a destroyer and creator both. Change is remarkably efficient at taking out what is not right, what is not healthy, what is not good and productive, and what is no longer needed in a system. In that respect change is positive and it is vital. Change kills things and at the same time change gives birth to brand new things and brand new opportunities.

So to succeed when everything is falling apart you merely have to accept the reality and destructiveness of change and join its side and adapt as things are changed. Don't fight it, because you can never win trying to keep and maintain what needs to be changed. This is when those who know how to do well when life becomes overwhelming and each day brings another unforeseen punch in the face from change, thrive and succeed most.

The key is to make change your partner and look for the brand new opportunities that are being created from the transition of the economy. The new gardens that change is now planting and seeding.

You have to be an optimist and creative, pessimism and doing things the same way will take you down the toilet with everything else going downhill now. 

From a practical perspective, there's a great amount of inefficiency and unproductiveness in many aspects of business these days. You can go to any mall in the US and it all looks the same. You can instantly spot the stores that are well managed, with great staff, great products, great marketing, good value, good prices, etc. and those that are not. The stores going out of business deserve to and need to. They are not being run well or what they are selling is no longer marketable. And that's the bottom line. You can only get away with running a business badly for so long and then change will take you out.

I find it amazing how clueless and bureaucratically most businesses are run. It's a wonder they survive for as long as they do. In today's dynamic world things move and change at a lightning pace. You have to be fast and nimble to adapt and keep up with it each day. The dinosaurs in business are getting killed because they are just that running their businesses like dinosaurs and not able to keep up anymore. Someone is doing a better job. Someone has better trained salesmen. Someone has more innovative products or services. etc. etc. People like FSO!

I recently hired someone who started the interview sharing what he learned from his first job in in Philadelphia: working in a local department store in the men's clothing department. He told me, "I think I was the only one who actually WORKED in my department. Most of the other salesmen would stand around either chatting or pretending to be doing something. When I didn't have a customer to wait on, I would go around and straighten up my area and make sure it looked pristine. When that was done I would pickup the phone and call my customers and tell them about upcoming new styles coming in and sales for the next week. I was the only salesman in the entire store that would ask customers for their first name and phone number to keep in touch with them and build a relationship with them."

He continues, "My manager, Jason Bonner, said he'd never seen anyone do the things I did in all his decades of retailing. He'd never seen anyone look so happy to be working. I would even organize all the inventory in the back stock rooms perfectly which wasn't even in my area of responsibility. My sales per hour for the store were 4 times and higher to the norm and higher than anyone else. Customers would come in the men's department and specifically ask for me to shop with them and help select their clothes and suggest what'd look best on them. They obviously loved the fact that someone actually enjoyed and was enthusiastic about waiting on them, and showed a genuine interest in them."

Right in the first moments of the first interview I knew he had the skip, fire, passion and love of hospitality that made him a shoe-in for the job. It's easy to spot, because so few people that we meet with that "X factor"-- that extra smile, the inner happiness, the hunger to serve, all in the name of becoming all they can be.

How many retail clerks are you on a first name basis with? How many retail clerks know what style and color shirts you prefer when you shop? Salemanship is an art and most companies don't have any real salesmen working for them that truly enjoy what they do, go the extra mile for their customers, nor build any genuine relationship with their customers. This is one of the biggest problems and deficiencies in business today. And this permeates into other aspects of businesses as well. Management at most companies is atrocious and incompetent. They don't know what they're doing and most times they are just "coasting" instead of doing what they're supposed to do which is managing and building business.

I could go on and on. The mess, mismanagement, and incompetence out there permeates so much of our lives today. In business, big and small. In government, federal, state, and local. Especially with the incumbents we beat replace every day in the outsourcing world. So many people just don't know how to do things the right way anymore, have no enthusiasm, and aren't productive.

We all have talent and lots of skills. More than most. People in here will do fine because we are used to "dancing" with business challenges every day.

To build your own career - knowledge building is essential. Whether it's in hospitality, mail, copy, records, messenger, security or facilities there are trends, innovations, technology and essential best practices that surround these services.

Do you know what these are? Is your site "keeping up with the times?" Are you and our staff having discussions about things you have seen, read or heard in the market that are cutting edge?

What have you done this year to introduce something NEW, INNOVATIVE or exciting to our clients? Like onsite Concierge Services? Or an iPad Check-in App for guests? These are just a snippet of things that are being introduced by FSO but we are always looking for more ideas, more creative services and solutions we can bring to our prospects and clients.

Now get to work, ignore the negative energy, stay positive, smile, be happy, and energize your mind to its maximum potential to think of new ideas that create, innovate and build a future that makes possible what was never possible before.

Have a great day…make it happen…SMILE…and, thanks for being a part of this amazing journey.

Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

ABOUT FSO:

• The fastest growing and most successful national onsite outsourcing in the U.S. focused on 1) improving services, 2) reducing costs, and 3) giving employees  an opportunity to grow.
• We outsource functions like: Mail, Copy, Reception, Switchboard, Office Services, Records, Messenger, IT, Concierge, Front & Back Office and much more.
• 1600+ employees, operating in 60+ cities, 225+ operational sites, 98% employee retention & 100% client retention.
• We (re)imagine the ways businesses are run.

ABOUT FSO CEO & FOUNDER – MITCH WEINER:

• Pioneer of the onsite outsourcing business model.
• 20+ years of industry experience.
•  Previous owner of Archer, which he sold to Canon.

VIDEO:
Brief "corporate portrait" video shows who we are and what we can do for you HERE

InspireME Friday: TO REALIZE (.value)

If you look at what you have in life, you’ll always have more.
If you look at what you don’t have in life, you’ll never have enough. –Oprah Winfrey

Good Morning Folks,

All of our managers from across the country this week to headquarters to share our plans, progress and programs. Juan Sanchez, our Western Regional Manager, reflected, " We are thinking way outside the box, which is something our competition is not doing. We are truly taking Hospitality services to new heights. Everyone plays a part in the success of FSO and we need you to get involved and bring the passion back to providing exceptional service."

Juan wondered, "We all have internal and external customers, so ask yourself when was the last time you truly did all you could to take care of them. We have amazing employees, customers and leaders, so why not show them how much we appreciate them."

To help you learn how to appreciate what you have, what you give, what you contribute, and what you reap, I came across this old wive's tale on social media.

It puts it all in perspective.....

TO REALIZE (.value)

 To realize

The value of a sister

 Ask someone

Who doesn't have one

  > >

To realize

The value of ten years:

Ask a newly

Divorced couple.

  > >

 To realize

The value of four years:

Ask a graduate.

  > >

To realize

The value of one year:

 Ask a student who

Has failed a final exam.

  > >

To realize

 The value of nine months:

 Ask a mother who gave birth to a stillborn.

  > >

To realize

The value of one month:

Ask a mother

who has given birth to

A premature baby.

  > >

To realize

The value of one week:

Ask an editor of a weekly newspaper.

  > >

To realize

 The value of one minute:

Ask a person

Who has missed the train, bus or plane.

  > >

To realize

The value of one-second:

Ask a person

Who has survived an accident.

Time waits for no one. Treasure every moment you have. No one is ever guaranteed tomorrow. You will treasure time even more when you can share it with someone special., To realize the value of a friend or family member: LOSE ONE.

The people that we interact with on a daily basis allow us the opportunity to fulfill dreams through growth. Take it Personal and get Passionate with what we do to stay Productive in providing perfect service. Please remember you have internal customers as well that are helping you grow the business, know who they are and take care of them as you would external clients.

“Successful people do what unsuccessful people can’t do”.  No one ever sets out to be average at FSO, we need to be the best at everything we do.

We have amazing employees, customers and leaders, so why not show them how much we appreciate them. Sooner rather than later.

Make the weekend special! 

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

Learn more about what DIFFERENTIATES FSO here

Tour our beautiful offices

Read my latest article in CEO Perspectives  

  

InspireME Friday: Making The Most of Life

"Being yourself is one of the most precious gifts you can give to others, and to your soul."

Good Morning Folks,

So here we are at the end of another banner week for FSO. 

As I wake up this beautiful spring morning, I remind myself how grateful I am to have an amazing family of clients, employees, readers and social network followers. I am inspired by the growing audience contributions and look forward our daily interaction on Linked In. And I am truly moved that this blog, which started as a blank canvass less than a year ago, and is already a popular recurring read in two thirds of the Fortune 500 and AMLAW 200 firms nationwide.

Don't ever forget that you truly are part of something special by bearing witness to this galactic ride. Unlike almost every other company, you not only get to have the experience of being part of our incredible growth, but you get to contribute.

Jonathan Swift wrote, “May you live every day of your life.”  

While it is clearly obvious that we are alive—living and breathing human beings, how much of the time we are spending on Earth are we really living? How can we tell?

An entire lifetime can be spent on searching outward for the true purpose of life. There is no right or wrong scenario in the notion that we embark on this journey of self-realization. However, when we refuse to acknowledge our Being as the ultimate truth, we are indeed living, but solely for the betterment of others.

So… How can we live every day of our lives? 

After over a decade of study there are a few ways Michelle Rosado, professional speaker and best-selling co-author of "Pursuing Your Destiny: How to Overcome Adversity and Achieve Your Dreams", learned to live a mindful and peace life. She advises:

==> Be Present. 
To live in the present means to BE present in all you do. Observe your thoughts as if your mind was a separate entity from self. Take a few moments throughout the day to be still and honor the time you spend with your higher self. Remember, this moment is the most important one of all.

==> Be Compassionate. 
Hardly any effort can be found in expressing compassion for anyone who is in need of guidance. It is our natural instinct as compassionate Beings to offer assistance in times of need. But when the hurtful words of another creates a lasting emotional scar on one’s heart, the ego can be diffused by showing love and compassion for the one inflicting the hurt.

==> Be Grateful. 
The Buddha said, “You have no cause for anything but gratitude and joy.” When you feel as if there is a lost sense of hope in humanity and receive a “reality slap” from your current circumstance, it is the perfect opportunity to look within. There is much to be grateful for when we are present and aware of our gifts.

==> Be Yourself. 
Many of us have experienced conditioning in our childhood that only accommodate others – in our thoughts, actions and speech. It is by fear that we continue living in this mindset throughout our adulthood, and by choosing to unravel the layers of the past can we truly be free. Make this a daily practice, for being yourself is one of the most precious gifts you can give to others, and to your soul.

Abraham Lincoln said, "Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be."

Well, we've made up our minds to be happy, and to make everyone happy through our FSO way of doing things!! In fact we're so happy, the only thing that could possibly bring more happiness to our lives is the lovely box of chocolates (our inspiring Friday mascot pictured above)! 

Thanks to Michelle Rosado for sharing her inspirational thoughts and to you for listening.

Make the weekend special! 

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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Innovate or Capitulate: In The Struggle For Survival, The Fittest Win

"Change is Good. You Go First, Because somebody's gotta win. It might as well be you."

Good Morning Folks,

"Innovation" is one of those buzzwords you hear all the time. People are always talking about being a "leader in innovation" or "taking innovation into the twenty-first century". It can look like some kind of innovation nation out there it's hard to tell who is devoted to innovation and who is simply paying lip service to It. We at FSO are serious about innovation. So serious that we use the word (re) IMAGINE to define who we are: a partner dedicated to always finding new and better ways to improve service, lower costs and take better care of people.

I believe complacency is when innovation ends. The advantage every business has, but few in our industry leverage to the advantage that we do, is the ability to innovate and reinvent. So many great companies lose their edge and end up playing catch-up until they're obsolete. That’s not going to happen here.

Dramatic paradigm sights are occurring in every industry, YOUR industry because traditional barriers to entry don't exist anymore. If you don't think a new era of change and creative destruction isn't headed to your door step, you are sadly mistaken. If you want to be on top, you have to look at innovation in a new, interactive way. You have to believe it is worth coin, its worth doing wrong. You have to be willing to try your model, test it, innovate around it, get out, screw up, and then do it right. You have to understand that speed is everything in an electronic realm because you can fix mistakes before anyone realizes that mistakes were made.

We are facing the biggest transformation the way business is conducted since the industrial revolution. If you are willing to innovate, you are taking steps towards crashing your competition.

The problem according to ANTHONY IANNARIN of there sales blog is change, He writes:

==> Change is more difficult than you believe. Having an intellectual understanding the reason something needs to change isn’t enough. An emotional need to change is necessary and more powerful. 

 ==> Change is psychological. You first have to have a shift in your mindset, your personal philosophy, your personal psychology. Without that shift, there will be no change.

Why something is being changed is more important than how that change is accomplished.

==> Change takes longer than you believe.  It takes longer to sell, longer to build consensus, and longer to execute before results are seen. It is mistake to believe the results of change will be realized quickly, even though change happens in a second 

==> Change comes with built-in enemies. The very fact that you are trying to make change will cause some to oppose you. Resistance is your enemy when you try to change yourself. 

Most change initiatives die not because the idea isn’t good or necessary but because it was poorly executed. The change is usually poorly executed because it lacks executive engagement. People are exceptionally gifted at waiting out change initiatives. 

We overestimate what we can accomplish in a short period of time and underestimate what we accomplish over a longer period. When results don’t come fast, change initiatives are often abandoned. The better results were only a little bit further.

==> Sometimes change initiatives fail because too many variables are changed at once. One major change might have been enough to produce a result, but because so much was attempted, nothing really changed. When too much is changed, you can’t easily figure out what is working and what isn’t.

Radical change very quickly becomes the new status quo. It soon develops its own defenders who protect it from future change.

As an owner and CEO, I am keenly aware that rapid change in business and technology is the “new normal.”  The only way for our company to survive, let alone thrive, is to continuously reinvent and redefine— everything.

This means we can’t go backward, and we can’t stand still. We can’t rest on our laurels and we can’t keep doing what we’ve always done — even if we are doing our best, we need to keep doing it better.

Because at FSO, we never stop rethinking, refreshing and (re)IMAGINING a better future for our clients. 

We strive to give our customers the ability to do what they can’t currently do but would want to if they only knew it was possible.

The love running throughout this company is infectious and it’s impossible to not share it with everyone I come in contact with.

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?

IT IS YOU that makes FSO who we are. Love Life!

Mitchell D. Weiner

Chief Happiness Officer  

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"In the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment." ~~ Charles Darwin

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S. ANTHONY IANNARIN is the President and Chief Sales officer for SOLUTIONS Staffing, a best-in-class regional staffing service based in Columbus, OhioHe is also the Managing Director of B2B Sales Coach & Consultancy, a boutique sales coaching and consulting company where he works to help salespeople and sales organizations improve and reach their full potential. And he works ass an adjunct faculty member at Capital University’s School of Management and Leadership. Anthony teaches Personal Selling in the undergraduate program, and I teach Persuasive Marketing and Social Media Marketing in the MBA program.