IFP Reflection Questions Instructions and Coaching, Part 1 of 4 [22 pages]

Businesspeople respond and discuss Aji’s Reflection Questions in their Aji Intention Fulfillment Program Meetings after watching videos and reading papers about Aji.

Using them increases businesspeople’s competitive capabilities and advantages and doubles their productivity, value and incomes.

It increases their abilities to design and execute new offers, practices, narratives and strategies (OPNS) and then use their designs tactically, strategically and competitively to fulfill their ultimate financial, career and business intentions by age 60.

Once businesspeople learn how to use Aji’s Reflection Questions,

… and discover how reliable, easy, enjoyable and definitive it is to increase their value,

… they begin to use them with their colleagues, employees, employers, customers and vendors throughout the day.

“Responding” to reflection questions is not the same as “answering” them academically with a right answer.

Responding is speculating, designing, interpreting and creating for the sake of increasing one’s competitive capabilities to produce outcomes that fulfill their intentions, rather than coming up with a correct answer for a teacher.

It’s a different way of “being” productive and competitive in the marketplace.

Aji’s Reflection Questions are important tactically, strategically and competitively. They enable businesspeople to increase their competitiveness and value very quickly, which is essential in today’s rapidly changing global marketplace.

They make it possible to build IR#4 Networks of Tactical, Strategic and Competitive Capabilities with customers, colleagues, employers, employees and vendors,

… which is The Aji Source Fundamental Strategy’s “Strategic Pivot” (Part #6) and a “Source of Power”,

… and to quit working with obsolete Networks of Convenience that are task oriented and commonsensical,

… and that suppress businesspeople’s value and incomes by at least 100%.

The new interpretations, intentions, designs and actions Aji’s Reflection Questions enable businesspeople to create, help them and their business organizations to quit relying on task orientation and their common sense,

… which suppresses businesspeople’s productivity, value and incomes by at least 100%.

The constant production of new offers, practices, narratives and strategies (OPNS) that are used to execute a competitive, fundamental strategy enables businesspeople and business organizations to hold leadership positions in the marketplace.

It doesn’t matter what businesspeople’s roles are. They can all design and execute their own steady streams of fresh, new OPNS.

Using Aji’s Reflection Questions isn’t “hard”, stressful or upsetting.

It’s a set of orientations, intentions to produce outcomes and skills to fulfill those intentions that is natural and creative.

When businesspeople execute The Aji Source Fundamental Strategy using the four fundamental tactics (designing new OPNS), they learn the new orientations, intentions and skills they need to double their productivity, value and incomes.

Aji’s Reflection Questions work by having businesspeople invent a continuous flow of new ways to think and act to increase their value, or the value of their OPNS throughout the day, to:

Build strategic and competitive networks of colleagues, employees, employers, vendors and customers

Increase their autonomies, or freedom to think and act competitively

Produce steady streams of new and highly valued accomplishments

Establish identities of trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity that are superior to competitors’

Hold highly compensated leadership roles

Build business organizations that are strategic and competitive, rather than task oriented and commonsensical

Anticipate competitive threats, obligations and opportunities

* * * * *

What is an example of Aji’s Reflection Questions?

After reading a paper or watching a video about “marginal utilities” and how to design them to increase the value of their OPNS,

… businesspeople might, for example, respond to the following Reflection Questions:

1. What is your interpretation of a “marginal utility”?

2. What is the “lowest possible transaction cost” and why is producing it with your OPNS important to fulfilling your ultimate financial, career and business intentions?

Are your OPNS seductive and compelling enough to compel Buyers — customers, employers, employees, colleagues and vendors — to accept quickly?

How can you improve their value, so they are fresh, new, highly valued and scarce relative to demand?

3. What is the “highest possible purchase price”, and why is it important to produce to fulfill your ultimate financial, career and business intentions by age 60?

Are your OPNS seductive and compelling enough to produce a monopoly that compels Buyers — customers, employers, employees, colleagues and vendors — to increase their willingness to pay you a premium?

How can you improve their value, so they are fresh, new, highly valued and scarce relative to demand?

4. How, exactly, does marginal utility seduce and/or compel (pleasure or force) Buyers to accept your offers quickly and increase their willingness to pay a premium?

Are you satisfied with the power of your marginal utilities?

How can you improve their value for your most competitive offers, practices, business narratives and strategies?

5. Please speculate on what new marginal utilities would increase the value — the importance, utility and worth — of your:

Offers?

Practices?

Business Narratives?

Strategies?

… to your customers, employers, employees, colleagues and vendors?

6. How can you use the new OPNS you design and execute to increase your value — your importance, utility and worth —

… and your identities of trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity,

… to your:

Customers?

Colleagues?

Employers?

Employees?

Vendors?

7. How can you use your new OPNS to help you execute Parts #6 – #12 of The Aji Source Fundamental Strategy

… tactically, strategically and competitively enough

… to fulfill your ultimate financial, career and business intentions?

8. How can you use your OPNS to improve Part:

#6 – Build IR#4 Networks with strategic and competitive capabilities,

… rather than ones that are local, or “convenient”, task oriented and that rely on common sense?

#7 – Increase your autonomies, or freedom from internal limits such as a lack of knowledge and external restrictions such as not having the best tools,

… to fulfill your financial intentions?

#8 – Produce accomplishments that are highly valued and scarce relative to demand in the marketplace or your organization to increase your value?

#9 – Establish identities of superior trustworthiness, value, authority, leadership and dignity,

… to create monopolies, and then auctions, for your help

… to increase your value and income?

#10 – Hold highly compensated leadership roles?

#11 – Build strategic and competitive business organizations,

… and increase the enterprise value of your business?

#12 – Anticipate future competitive threats to avoid, obligations to fulfill and opportunities to exploit?

How to Use Aji’s Reflection Questions When Leading an Aji IFP

Instructions

1. To use Aji’s Reflection Questions in an Aji IFP

… to increase everyone’s competitive capabilities and advantages:

a. READ a paper or WATCH a video on aji.com to prepare for the meeting.

b. WRITE responses to a set of Reflection Questions about what everyone read or watched from one of the Focuses, which start on page 22.

c. DISCUSS everyone’s responses to develop new interpretations, intentions and commitments, and how they will use The Strategy, to increase their productivity, value and incomes.

2. Make each meeting easy, enjoyable and definitive.

3. ALWAYS work on Part #1 of The Strategy first, and keep it in existence.

Every Aji IFP Meeting’s most fundamental purpose

… is to help businesspeople increase their competitive capabilities

… so that they are better able to fulfill their Life, Financial and Business Ambitions,

… and the ultimate financial, career and business intentions they create.

*****

When businesspeople don’t know their Ambitions, or they become so busy and stressed they forget them,

… the Aji IFP Meeting will have no meaning or value for them.

Until everyone is rock-solid holding and speaking their ultimate financial, career and business intentions by age 60 when the infirmities of old age begin to appear,

… begin each meeting with everyone speaking their intentions so they are easy, enjoyable and definitive to hear.

Have each person speak their ultimate financial, career and business intentions in 2-3 minutes (tops) to increase their abilities to SPEAK their:

4. Discuss what they have learned responding to the questions and the new thinking, interpretations, intentions and commitments they have made.

Responding is speculating and designing, and not answering with the right or correct answer.

Coaching for Leaders

The purpose of Aji’s Reflection Questions is:

… to enable businesspeople to increase their competitive capabilities and advantages

… and execute The Aji Source Fundamental Strategy strategically and competitively

… so that they are able to fulfill their ultimate financial, career and business intentions by age 60,

… which is when they need enough money saved to afford the “non-discretionary” goods and services they are certain to need with their spouse,

… i.e., food, housing, medical care and transportation,

… during 25+ years of old age.

Responding to Aji’s Reflection Questions is not the same as answering them academically with right, smart or correct answers.

When businesspeople “respond” to a reflection question, they are asked to speculate, interpret, design, orient themselves, create new intentions, consider new ideas and to change their Action Packages.

It’s easy, enjoyable and definitive.

* See “The Aji Action Package” in Aji Notes, Volume 1.

Responding to and discussing reflection questions generates moods of ambition and resolve, wonder about all there is to learn, enthusiasm for the work that needs to be accomplished, passion for the future they are producing and dignity in the marketplace and at home.

It also enables businesspeople to quit and avoid moods of despair and resignation about their ability to save enough money to afford the food, housing, medical care and transportation they are certain to need with their spouse during 25+ years of retirement.

1. Remember, the minimum requirements to lead an Aji IFP are:

a. Know The Aji Source Fundamental Strategy’s 12 strategic and competitive intentions, and why they work in sequence

b. Know how to design a fresh, new offer, practice, narrative and strategy that is highly valued and scarce relative to demand

* This becomes possible when businesspeople are about halfway through The Aji Starter’s Course.

The Introduction to Aji Course introduces and orients them to these two competitive capabilities.

The Aji Starter’s Course helps them build minimal competence.

2. If you are new leading an Aji IFP, be a beginner.

Don’t “fake it”.

a. Follow the instructions and ask for help if you need it.

b. Avoid being pretentious with your participants. Be a beginner. Be open about what, why and how you are learning to lead.

c. Consider joining an Aji IFP on aji.com to increase your leadership skills.

d. Allow your leadership skills to grow gradually over 10-12 Aji IFP Meetings.

3. Always learn each participant’s financial, career and business intentions so that you can help them produce outcomes that fulfill them.

4. Maintain everyone’s dignity in each Aji IFP Meeting.

a. Everyone completes their preparation for the meeting.

b. Everyone is on time and ready to go.

c. Everyone is responsible for producing value for themselves during the meeting.

5. When you are working with an Aji distinction or practice for the first time:

a. Use Aji’s Reflection Questions that focus on description, meaning, relevance, value and purpose (DMRVP)

… to make fundamental interpretations, first.

b. Use DMRVP to make specific interpretations, second,

… about how participants will use what they learn after the meeting

… to fulfill their financial, career and business intentions

… in their specific competitive situations, careers and businesses.

6. Make sure everyone has many new ideas about how they will use Aji immediately

… to design and execute new offers, practices, narratives and strategies (OPNS)

… to increase their productivity, value and incomes.

7. Avoid intellectualizing Aji by keeping the meetings practical.

Have everyone speak about how they will ACT with, or USE, whatever they are learning to increase their productivity, value and incomes.

Aji is a practical discourse, a fundamental strategy that is a means to an end, about how to act in the marketplace like a sport or martial art to fulfill businesspeople’s financial, career and business intentions

… to survive, adapt over time and live a good life with their family.

It isn’t academic. There are no grades. No one makes money because they understand Aji.

To double businesspeople’s productivity, value and incomes, businesspeople must invent their own new narratives, intentions, commitments, OPNS and business skills to execute The Strategy and produce new financial outcomes.

(End Part 1 of 4)