The EIG Newsletter Volume 1: Number 2: March/April 2001.

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Welcome to the EIG (Empowerment International Group) personal and professional development newsletter. This newsletter is published every two months and is FREE of charge for recipients. The goal is to give you thought provoking articles, interesting stories and information.

This newsletter goes out to subscribers in Canada, United States, Great Britain, India, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Dubai, South Africa, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, Holland and Iceland. Please let us know if you are from a country other than the above and we will gladly add it to our list. Thank you for your tremendous support.

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In this edition:

1. A lesson in Values

2. Good Advice

3. Determination

4. Recommended Reading

5. Quotes

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A LESSON IN VALUES

In 1973 I went to work as a trainee hairdresser for the world famous Vidal Sassoon Company. I was just starting out in the business and I was responsible for washing the hair, sweeping the floor, making the coffee…all the good jobs.

One day the world famous Vidal Sassoon, himself, came to visit the salon. We were all so excited. Can you imagine, here was a person who was a celebrity; he was in the media all over the world and he was also our CEO. When he came into the salon to meet the team he did not go first to introduce himself to the senior stylists or to management but, to our amazement, he came way to the back of the salon to talk to us first, the rookies who washed the hair, who swept the floor.

Vidal Sassoon taught me a valuable lesson that day. He showed me what values and leadership were all about. He showed that no matter what you do in an organization, everybody is equally important. He demonstrated that everybody should be treated with the same respect and common courtesy, no matter what their title or position is. He made all of us feel so special and important that day as he introduced himself: “Hi, I’m Vidal Sassoon, its great to have you on our team, thank you for your valuable contribution.” We felt so wanted and appreciated. He demonstrated for me what integrity truly is. He never forgot where he came from, where he had started out in the business on his rise to meteoric fame.

I believe that this is what we are all looking for in our own lives whether on a personal or professional level, five simple values:

Respect

Respect is about treating people as equals, showing that they matter and that you value what they contribute to your life. Getting respect is a natural consequence, but to get respect, you have to earn respect. Show people you really care about them and they will care about you.

Loyalty

I cannot stress the value of loyalty enough, in a world where sometimes people are fickle and superficial. Show loyalty to the people in your life. Stand by them through thick and thin, in the bad times as well as the good.

Courtesy

Treat others’ as you would like to be treated, politely, kindly and with consideration. You can never be too courteous to people. Always be gracious and make people feel special and important.

Humility

Reputation is what people believe about you, what they say about you. Humility is keeping yourself grounded despite the curves the world throws you, the success you may achieve and how people perceive and speak about you.

Excellence

Excellence is not about position, it is about action. Even if your role is to wash hair, your goal is to be the best hair washer there ever was. Strive for excellence in everything you do.

Vidal Sassoon lived by these values. He cared about his people, and you know what? His people really cared about him. He treated all his employees with kindness and consideration. He was not only a person of tremendous success, but more importantly, he was and is still to this day, a person of tremendous significance.

Your values may not include all of these five, but what is important is to recognize what your values are and then stand by those values and live by them no matter what.

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GOOD ADVICE

Weight-Loss Systems executive Jenny Craig stays focused and maintains confidence in herself at all times. For this she thanks her father.

“ My dad used to say to me all the time: you can do anything or be anything you want.”

With encouragement and support like that, Jenny planted the seeds to her success as she was growing up and now runs one of the most successful weight-loss and wellness companies in the world.

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DETERMINATION

He grew up with a stuttering disability.

He finished bottom of his class at school.

He twice failed his college entrance exam.

He lost the parliamentary election of 1899.

He lost another election in 1922.

He resigned from office in 1929 after his party was defeated.

He was an outcast from his political party for the next 10 years.

He even inspired a book: A Study in Failure

Then at the age of 63 he lead Great Britain to its greatest victory in World War II.

Despite all his setbacks, he went on to be recognized as one of the greatest statesman and orators of all time, to be knighted by the Queen, and is one of the most quoted people in history. His important contributions impacted the course of the 20^th Century.

His name was Sir Winston Churchill.

He lived his life as in a speech he made on October 29, 1941 to the boys at Churchill's old private school in Harrow, England: "Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense.”

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