Hello Leader,

I recently met with the Utrip team (see picture below.) Utrip is working to solve the travel planning challenge. They hope to remove the headache from exploring Paris, London and Rome and turn planning into an enjoyable experience of discovery. This is a challenge that Expedia, Travelocity, Kayak and Trip Advisor failed to solve.

Imagine you have 10 days and you want to explore two or three cities in Europe. How do you go about it? Where should you go first? How would you optimize your trip so you can catch the soccer game or the dream concert and make it to all your preferred destinations? Which books or sites provide holistic, one stop solutions? Until now, none.

Utrip's mission is to help reduce 20 hours of research on 20 sites and in 20 books into 10 or 20 minutes of fun and satisfaction. How does Utrip deliver this impossible solution? The Utrip platform asks you to adjust 13 preference levers to inform the "Utrip brain" about your interests in art, cuisine, adventure, history, and so on. In seconds you get an optimized and personalized trip to your liking. You can review and manipulate every step in the planning phase and in real time. It's slick, elegant, smart and fun.

Naturally, when Gilad Berenstein, Utrip's CEO, asked me to spend time with the Utrip team I was excited. "We have a young and passionate team that wants to grow as professionals. If you can share useful lessons with us it will be great," Gilad said. Since Edan Shahar Gilad's cofounder is my son I have been involved with Utrip as an advisor and I was thrilled for the opportunity.

In this Key you will discover the 10 Practices of Outstanding Professionals I shared with the Utrip team. Listen to our Podcast here. Please forward this KEY to friends, family and associates.

Sincerely,

Aviv Shahar

10 Practices of Outstanding Professionals

Here are the 10 practices we focused on with the Utrip team. These are practices I've observed with outstanding professionals who create innovative new products and excel.

  1. Develop learning mastery. Learn every day. Become better every day. Knowledge is power. The capacity to learn quickly is super-power. In a rapidly shifting environment it's not what you know -- It's how quickly you learn. Apply the Airforce rule: an un-debriefed action is a wasted action. Turn every experience into a learning opportunity.
  2. Build confidence. Develop a healthy sense of self-esteem and self-worth. Be free of validation dependency. Do not be defensive in the face of learning. Believe you belong here. Believe you can belong anywhere. Trust yourself. Radiate confidence. Be confident.
  3. Take ownership. Take responsibility for the challenge in front of you. Address needs head-on. Don't be small minded. Eliminate blame. Jettison complaints. Replace blame with taking responsibility. Replace complaints with transparent communication. A complaint is an unexpressed need or request. Turn a complaint into a request. Make things happen. Create progress. Get it done.
  4. Cultivate self-awareness. Understand your learning inclinations. Understand your strengths. Discover your sweet spot. Learn to work at your optimal energy cadence. Know how to operate inside your peak performance.
  5. Become a resource. Become a resourceful asset. Build a network of capable resources. Become the person that people go to because they know that if you don't know how to do it or where to find it, you know someone who does.
  6. Make it better. Make it matter. Make us better. Make us matter. Improve every situation you walk into. Make every place better. Make sure that when you leave the room, you leave it brighter, happier, and more purpose-ready. Make everything you do matter. Make every person you touch better. Make us all matter. Show us that we have the power to make a difference. Give us a sense that we are part of your world.
  7. Build an application discipline. Apply the 72-hour rule. Become an instantiation master. Turn learning opportunities into dramatic upgrades. Applying knowledge and learning is how you create momentous progress. Build an accountability system that delivers results. Become accountable to the future state.
  8. Demonstrate impeccable character. Be as good as your word. Pride yourself on impeccable ethics. Bring forward your authentic voice. Be true to your capability and potential. Become the role model you were looking for.
  9. Cultivate a support network. To be highly effective and productive you need a support network. Every successful person has many people that make them the remarkable success they become. You need someone that loves you the way you are. Someone to offer you advice. Someone to challenge you. Someone to make you laugh. Someone to hold you accountable to your true potential.
  10. Become mission critical. Create transformative value. Develop an opportunity Doppler radar. See opportunities where others don't. You thrive by becoming mission critical and by delivering transformational value. Bring enthusiasm, energy and passion to your teams and to your work.

Now it's your turn. Turn the key. You and I are privileged to serve and help others succeed. Help coach and mentor your people to become the outstanding professionals they can be.

© Aviv Shahar