Business Lesson: Cesar Millan

If you've heard about Cesar Millan from his show "The Dog Whisperer" on the National Geographic channel, then you know what his story is: Came from Mexico, found work in an industry he was familiar with and now he's one of the leaders in that industry.

The great thing about his success is that you can learn as much about leadership from his dog-training principles as you can from studying his actual rise to success.
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There is 1 word that is used more than any other on this dog rehabilitation show - not 'exercise', not 'discipline' and not 'affection'. The word is "Energy". More than anything else we hear how the energy of the owner is read by and responded to by the owner's pet. At first you might be thinking" Yeah, yeah what does energy mean in the business world? Can energy pick stocks or hire the best employees?

The answer is: YES! I'm going to run through some of Cesar Millan's biggest points and see how they apply to the business world. I think you'll be happily surprised to learn something new here today that you can begin to apply immediately.

1. Calm, Assertive Energy. We've got to hit energy first since it's the most referenced cause and solution to almost every problem. In the dog world you want to have a calm assertive energy because dogs read energy to a great degree and will respond to the energy that you portray. Trying to get a dog to sit from a place of frustration VS. getting a dog to sit from a place of calm assertion - will net you completely different results. For some reason nobody believes this until he comes to their house and shows them calm assertion.
   
   In the Business World: This applies in the business world in a very simple way. Just as a dog will not support and 'get behind' erratic behavior - that type of energy from a leader won't garner any support in the business world. In the corporate world - even in the online business realm - calm assertion is your ideal state of mind. From there you are focused and ready to meet and overcome challenges. The erratic, impatient, nervous business owner is unconfident, can't carry through an idea, and is wholly ineffective.


2. Attention. I would say that as much as 90% of the time the problem with a dog on Cesar Millan's show arises from owner neglect. The owner doesn't put in the time to make sure the dog understands the lesson that is being taught. The dog nips or makes a small biting move towards someone and the owner simply says 'no' or makes a tugging motion on the leash if they are on the walk - none of which the dog takes seriously. Thus - the lesson is never learned. The problem persists - and Cesar must be called in.
   
   In the Business World: The way Cesar solves this problem is to address it fully AS SOON AS it happens. This is a great managerial point because correcting a problem THE MOMENT you see it occur will be much more beneficial than trying to correct a mistake 2 months down the road when the company officially gives its "reviews" of the employees. Give attention to what your employees or downline or affiliates are doing and be quick to correct their mistakes. The sooner you can do this - the better. A little time now will save you hours, weeks, or months of problems down the road.



3. Using Tools. It doesn't matter if there is a muzzle laying around, or an umbrella, or a bell, or a chair....whatever is laying around that can potentially be used as a tool to get the dog to respond the proper way IS used. You can see that in almost every show Cesar reads the dog's responses, improvises and uses something from THAT SPECIFIC environment to effectively "get through" to the animal.
   
   In the Business World: Using tools is how you get ahead. You don't rebuild the wheel - you take one that is already made and make a new one. You take this invention and that one and that one - and combine them to form something completely new. If you're in a situation as a small business owner or employee or whatever - if you're sitting there with the "oh poor me" attitude then you are blind to the resources that are surrounding you. So much of what you see and what you come up with depends on your attitude. That's why we give a lot of attention to attitude on this site. It's really THAT important. Pay attention to your surroundings and learn how to use the subtle tools that you have access to, to deal with the problems you face.
   
   
4. Exercise. Almost every dog case on Cesar Millan's show involves some sort of exercise whether on the treadmill or struggling to get from under Cesar's grip on the ground, or actually running outside. Exercise does a few things: It tires a dog out thus making it less likely to fight commands and more likely to follow them, and exercise also provides cardiovascular reinforcement that dogs normally get on their own when living in the wild. Another thing that Cesar accomplishes while he's exercising dogs is that he establishes the relationship of leader-follower. It's vital that the dog knows YOU are the leader, and exercise is utilized to establish that and consistently reinforce it with consistent, daily exercise.
   
   In the Business World: Exercising your business is the best thing you can do to make it work more efficiently. Host events, role play with your employees, partner with other companies, practice handling different senarios you might experience in your business. The more you 'exercise' your business the more YOU learn as an individual how to deal with different situations - and your business and the employees learn how to cope, adapt, adjust, etc.... This is also the time where you will establish and reinforce YOUR position as leader. A little bit of each day should be set aside for exercising your business.
   

Ideas CAN really come from anywhere, but sometimes you come across information that rides so closely to you on a parallel track that you can't ignore it. It's obvious from watching this show that successfully rehabilitating a dog is very similar to rehabilitating a business. Learn the lessons and apply them and if you want more - grab one of the seasons and watch it with your "business eye" open. You'll see just how many business lessons you can apply tomorrow.

Don't forget your leash.