Thanks to all of our members for your great support and participation in 2008.  As you know, CEBI is a 2-way street.  We bring the meeting, and CEBI members bring the content.  

And it's great content.  Current, insightful, thought-provoking and sometimes a bit tough.  Just this week a member said "You know, as the Board started asking me questions about my situation, it became obvious what I had to do."  And in his case, what he had to do wasn't going to be easy.  

The result is apparent -- CEBI membership is growing, new members are contributing new ideas and perspectives in both Local Board meetings and Summits.  And existing members become wiser every year.  

Running CEBI may well be the best job in the world.  For me, anyway.  I get multiple good ideas from members in every meeting, and this week was no exception.  I heard a Japanese Proverb I've never heard before:  

“Vision without action is a daydream. 
                    Action without vision is a nightmare."  

Wow, what a profound idea!  As we contemplate 2009, it's sure to be a year to remember, and we'll need to be mindful of where we're going to avoid being distracted by potentially historic events of the day.  

Here are some ideas on how to use this proverb in your personal planning process for 2009...  

CEBI members are coming more and more to realize the value of perspective from outside their businesses.  Not only from CEBI meetings, but from experts in their specific areas of need.  

Hiring, training, managing and retaining sales people is a topic that makes someone's list in almost every meeting.  If you're really good at this, you're the envy of most CEBI members.  

If you're not, perhaps you'll need to buy that know-how from outside.  In a recent Local Board meeting, one member said he had decided this wasn't a Do-it-Yourself project, and decided to hire some help.  

He's been both surprised and satisfied with the results so far.  More....

If you clicked through to the article above on hiring and training sales people, you heard another member's experience with using assessments to align people's skills and talents with their job assignments.  This is a variation on a central theme in Jim Collins' book Good to Great.  Assessments are one more tool that helps get the right people on the bus, and in the right seats.  

Recently a member said he'd had a new hire behave on the job completely differently than what he would have expected, based on an assessment he took during the hiring process.  And he's recently figured out what might have happened.  

Curious?  Here's the story...   

All of us at CEBI wish you and your families the best of the holiday season and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.