Where Are You On Your Journey To Realizing Your Peak Potential?
Reaching a mountain summit is a physically daunting task.
Reaching our own summits of potential in business and in life can be just as difficult.
My latest interview with Scott Addis about his new book, Summit: Reach Your Peak and Elevate Your Customers’ Experience, is a great new resource for helping us as business professionals.
I really like Scott’s answer to one of my questions, which nicely summarizes the importance of this book:
“..does your performance reflect your potential? If the answer is no (and I bet it is), Summit reveals tools, strategies, systems and exercises to assist in maximizing your capabilities. It closes the gap between potential and performance giving you clarity, purpose and passion.” ~ Scott Addis
Now read on for my interview with Scott Addis about his new book…
Who would benefit most from your book, Summit?
If you are a person who is starting your career or an experienced business professional, you will find something in Summit to support and strengthen yourefforts to achieve full potential – take you straight to the peak to benefit you, your family and your customers. Summit requires that you self-reflect and self-examine the skills required to build your business.
What inspired you to write this new book?
Over the years, various publications have asked me to contribute articles on the trials and tribulations of the industry in which I built my career – insurance and risk management. Although I have achieved success, I bear the scars and wounds in evidence of the challenges and dangers that come with one’s quest to reach the peak. Consequently, the articles that I have written span a wide range of topics that extend far beyond the concerns of my profession. In studying these pieces, I saw that those topics fit within the framework of reaching one’s peak and were thus applicable to almost anyone at any point in his or her journey.
The idea of reaching your peak centers on disciplines and skills that support achieving your full potential to maximize performance. The peak represents the point where potential and superior performance intersect.
Please tell us a little bit about your background and what you are currently doing.
I serve as the President and CEO of The Addis Group and Addis Intellectual Capital. Founded in 1990, The Addis Group is an insurance brokerage and risk management consulting firm while AIC is in the business of helping individuals and organizations transform so they may reach new levels of success.
I have been fortunate to have been recognized as a Philadelphia finalist for Inc. Magazine’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” award as well as one of the “25 Most Innovative Agents in America.” A graduate of Princeton University, I began my career with Johnson & Higgins (now Marsh USA). While there, I handled the insurance and risk management placements for some of Philadelphia’s most prestigious companies and institutions including Comcast Corporation, University of Pennsylvania and Aqua Pennsylvania.
What makes your book different from other books that cover the same topic?
Summit is for talented people who need both a nudge and a dose of confidence to begin their transformational journey – to get started, to leave ordinary behind, to move beyond the status quo. To make a difference in a world that so desperately needs difference makers. Summit is unique as the book is organized into a sequence that reflects a progression from individual skill development to business relationships to the customer experience.
What are the most important elements, messages or takeaways of your book that you would like readers to know they will benefit from?
I suggest that the three most important elements, messages and takeaways relate to transformation, potential and performance. Transformation is an intriguing word with deep meaning; to be transformed, to change outer appearance and inner character; to become better, more than one is today; to open up possibilities for future success. Potential, what you are capable of becoming, represents your capacity for growth and development. I ask the question, “does your performance reflect your potential?” If the answer is no (and I bet it is), Summit reveals tools, strategies, systems and exercises to assist in maximizing your capabilities. It closes the gap between potential and performance giving you clarity, purpose and passion.
What are the major sections of your book?
Summit is divided into four elevations.
Elevation I: Preparing for the climb (preparing one’s personal readiness)
Elevation II: Setting up base camp (preparing to present oneself to others)
Elevation III: On to the summit (focusing on the customer experience)
Elevation IV: The final ascent (discovering one’s inner strengths)
What is the best piece of advice for an entrepreneur you’ve ever received?
I would suggest that you have a mentor who serves as a trusted confidant over an extended period of time. Ask yourself, is there someone with more professional or entrepreneurial business experience who possesses the skills of a teacher, manager, strategist and coach? His or her role is to provide an appropriate degree of challenge as well as an emotional, technical and tactical support so that you can build competence and confidence.
Give us an interesting, fun fact about your book or research you conducted for your book.
I uncovered the importance of passion. My research reveals that some of the most influential people in the world do not fit into a stereotypical mold. For example, more than 50% of all CEO’s of Fortune 500 companies had a C or C- average in college. Nearly 75% of all U.S. Presidents were at the bottom half of their school classes and more than 50% of all millionaire entrepreneurs never finished college. While each person, no doubt, had been blessed with talent, it was apparent that their desire, supported by purpose and passion served as the fuel for their ultimate success. Influential leaders have a burning desire to make a difference.
Where can people find out more about you and/or your book?
They can go to www.scottaddisbook.com.
Is there anything else you would like to mention to the readers?
Most people dream of a more fulfilling life, yet their circumstances and complexities of daily life get in the way of their journey to the peak. It is becoming a sad commentary in our society that most people have lost sight of the beauty of the summit, the rewards of fully realizing their potential. If you think your plans, goals and dreams have fallen into some else’s hands, and if this has been affecting your ability to build and maintain business relationships and serve your customers’ needs, Summit is written for you.
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