Tips for a successful fantasy football league

People who don't play fantasy football – remarkably, there are still some of them out there – think it's a dorky game of numbers and ownership of a pretend football team.

And while we fantasy football players of the world can't exactly argue it isn't that, we all know that fantasy football isn't so much about the game itself as it is the personality of the league and the people in it.

There are fun leagues, there are boring leagues and there are leagues that are actually just a nuisance. Here is how to ensure your fantasy football league strikes the right balance.

You need continuity of membership.

A fantasy football league is very much like a TV show. You need the characters to keep coming back season after season, and you need a backstory to develop to the point that specific words and phrases mean something within the context of the league that they don't mean anywhere else. In my league, for example, there is something called a "Denver Hamlet," which is something I would in no way be allowed to describe in this space.

Obviously, characters are going to come and go over time, but you need to maintain a core group that can show the noobs how it is done, and you need to make sure that at all times you have at least one of the following:

1)  The Attorney

When I say "attorney," I don't literally mean a practicioner of the law (though there is a good chance The Attorney in your league will be an attorney in real life), I mean the guy who is constantly offering you three nickels for a quarter and then making a complicated argument as to why you would be better off with Marshawn Lynch, Matt Cassell and some tight end as you would be with Arian Foster.

Having The Attorney around is great because every other person in the league gets to laugh at his trade proposals and gang up on him with jokes about what his sex life with his wife must be like. Careful, though, because there's a good chance this guy is going to end up winning the league, all because of …

2)  The Distracted Idiot/Punching bag

This is the guy who joined the league because some of his friends are in it, but maybe has a couple of kids and a time-consuming job and is really more interested in Dragon Ball Z than football in the first place. Best case scenario is that he updates his roster just in time for kickoff on Sunday.

The Attorney will sniff out this guy immediately and just bombard him with trade proposals until he's too exhausted to say no. Most leagues should have in place a system of vetoing comically one-sided trades, but that can be hard to judge if it's a keeper league (which it should be).

Soon The Distracted Idiot's team will represent an easy win for everybody in the league, and because The Distracted Idiot spends hardly any time on the league Web site, everyone in the league has total freedom to Photoshop his head into compromising situations with no repercussive action on his part.

This guy will just take insult after insult, acting as a catharsis dump for everyone else.

3)  The Obsessive Geek

This is the guy who has very little autonomy at his job, so he takes it out on the league, obsessing over the smallest rules and procedural details.

This guy can be incredibly annoying, but he's good to have around because if there are any inefficiencies or imbalances whatsoever, he will root them out, resulting in a better experience for everybody.

His rosters, however, will be overanalyzed to the point of detriment. This dude will talk himself into weird strategies, like carrying two defenses or something and will never win the championship.

4)  The Know-It-All Jackass

Because when this guy is wrong, it is DELICIOUS.

Most of this guy's sentences begin with, "Actually …" and he'll be happy to tell you what a crappy deal you got on your house if you ever bring it up.

If you're sneaky enough you can sabotage this guy by tricking him into defending something he said earlier in the year. He'll want to prove himself right and will hang on to, say, Michael Crabtree for far too long.

You need to foster an environment of nearly anarchical freedom of speech.

No personal insult is too devastating. Nothing is politically incorrect. Everybody knows that nothing said within the context of the league's imaginary walls is 100 percent serious, so anything goes. It's like being at a roast.

This is a tough trick to pull off, but it is another reason why continuity is so important. Eventually everybody gets a feel for the way people talk to each other in the league, and once you have an established culture, that culture is self-perpetuating.

Speaking of which, everybody in the league needs to be of comparable intelligence and similar age. That way people can play off each other in a way that works. You don't want your Skrillex haircut references to be lost on someone who stopped listening to new music when Kurt Cobain died. And if, say, your league's Distracted Idiot doesn't understand your subtle humor, it's not going to be any fun to needle him.

You need a czar running the league.

It has to be someone everybody respects, and it can't be somebody on a power trip, but you need somebody who is comfortable making executive decisions.

People will clamor if you change something in a way they hate, so you don't need to worry about polling everybody about every little decision. They'll mostly just get annoyed at you for your inability to make a decision. Half of them won't even notice, anyway.

The owner also needs to be committed to updating the league's Web site with posts, message board topics, polls, etc. That way people drop in even when they don't have anything they need to do to their team.

It should be a keeper league.

This seems obvious, but there are so many advantages to this that I feel they need to be pointed out. The biggest is that it creates a sense of continuity. Your team's name may change from "Dexter McLackLuster" to "Mike Vick in a Box," but there is still some sense that this is the same franchise.

Furthermore, it adds intrigue to the end of a season for teams that have been eliminated from the playoffs. Let's say your team stinks, but your running back is Adrian Peterson and he is healthy (this, I remind you, is purely hypothetical).

Now let's say there is a contender whose starting quarterback is Drew Brees. But he drafted Andrew Luck in the fifth round and is just stashing him on the bench. You could offer Peterson in exchange for Luck. You probably name Luck one of his keepers as you plan for the future, and he improves his shot at winning right away.

This hypothetical trade would make no sense in a non-keeper league.

A keeper league keeps everybody interested until the very end. It also makes personnel strategies more diverse. When some people are playing for the present and some are building for the future, the league is more realistic and more interesting.

It should be a money league.

Unfortunately, gambling is illegal. So, you know, don't do that.

You should (probably) not be in a league with your spouse.

Don't read this to say women shouldn't be in fantasy football leagues. Read this to say that, whether you are a man or a woman, you are inviting all kinds of problems by participating in a fantasy league with your spouse, when something is at stake.

First of all, any time there is a transaction involving your team and your spouse's team, you're going to hear about it endlessly from the rest of the league. The accusations of collusion will be non-stop, especially if it's a money league (which, you know, isn't allowed by law).

Also, you may find out pretty quickly just how badly your spouse wants to humiliate you. And you need to ask yourself, Is this something I really want to know?

You should not allow team names that aren't funny or cleverly offensive.

The "Houston Traffic Jams," for example, sounds like grandma humor. You need to dig a little deeper, and you need to force this upon everybody. The best thing to do is identify the biggest, most controversial or most embarrassing stories from the NFL offseason, and build your team name around that.

Naming your fantasy football team and choosing your Halloween costume are practically the same thing. Same thought process, same goal.

You should have a championship trophy, and it should be a totem of some kind that gets passed around.
Ideally, it works something like the Stanley Cup. The champion gets to write his name on the trophy, or otherwise deface it in some identifying way, and keep it until someone wins the next championship.

Bonus points if it's something hideous that must be displayed on the mantle, next to the family photos.

And finally, everybody in the league should have everybody else's cell phone number.

Because the possibilities are endless.


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National Conference 2012

Raseri, Inc. recently attended the annual National Conference in Atlanta for more than 1,900 sales professionals across the United States – and the energy and excitement was contagious. Attendees included owners from our network of independently-owned sales offices, administrators, leaders, and sales representatives.

With the theme of “Go For Gold,” everyone had the opportunity to participate in valuable learning sessions and heard a presentation from keynote speaker and NCAA wrestling champion Anthony Robles, who spoke about the struggles he overcame to achieve his goals, including being the recipient of the “Jimmy V. Award” at the ESPYs. It was also announced that Raseri and its network of independent sales offices will be raising funds once again for Operation Smile, a children’s medical charity. Earlier this year, our network of sales offices raised $150,000 and was able to sponsor a mission.

Many also received awards for high performance and achievement – and had the honor of getting the recognition in front of their friends and colleagues. A great – and memorable – time was had by all!


Browse our photo album on Facebook!


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ALES SOURCE | Geoffrey James

Jul 18, 2012

True Secret to Success (It's Not What You Think)

If you're not exercising this emotional muscle, you're probably setting yourself up for failure.

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I'm utterly convinced that the key to lifelong success is the regular exercise of a single emotional muscle: gratitude.

People who approach life with a sense of gratitude are constantly aware of what's wonderful in their life. Because they enjoy the fruits of their successes, they seek out more success. And when things don't go as planned, people who are grateful can put failure into perspective.

By contrast, people who lack gratitude are never truly happy. If they succeed at a task, they don't enjoy it. For them, a string of successes is like trying to fill a bucket with a huge leak in the bottom. And failure invariably makes them bitter, angry, and discouraged.

Therefore, if you want to be successful, you need to feel more gratitude. Fortunately, gratitude, like most emotions, is like a muscle: The more you use it, the stronger and more resilient it becomes.

Practice Nightly

The best time to exercise gratitude is just before bed. Take out your tablet (electronic or otherwise) and record the events of the day that created positive emotions, either in you or in those around you.

Did you help somebody solve a problem? Write it down. Did you connect with a colleague or friend? Write it down. Did you make somebody smile? Write it down.

What you're doing is "programming your brain" to view your day more positively. You're throwing mental focus on what worked well, and shrugging off what didn't. As a result, you'll sleep better, and you'll wake up more refreshed.

Reprogramming Your Brain

More important, you're also programming your brain to notice even more reasons to feel gratitude. You'll quickly discover that even a "bad day" is full of moments that are worthy of gratitude. Success becomes sweeter; failure, less sour.

The more regularly you practice this exercise, the stronger its effects.

Over time, your "gratitude muscle" will become so strong that you'll attract more success into your life, not to mention greater numbers of successful (i.e., grateful) people. You'll also find yourself thanking people more often. That's good for you and for them, too.

This method works. If you don't believe me, try it for at least a week. You'll be amazed at what a huge difference it makes.


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Don't Waste Your Money: Update your resume and electronic profiles

(Toledo News Now) - With hiring on the increase in recent months, many of us are dusting off the old resume again. Unfortunately, in too many cases, "old" is exactly what it is.

Looking for a new job?

One of the first things you need to know is that it's 2012, not 1997. Many people are still putting together resumes as they did when Bill Clinton was president and a resume was something you printed on extra heavy, beige paper.

Farewell to Paper

We all remember the beautifully printed resume, with neat little paragraphs on heavy bond paper.

But in this iPad age, you may want to tear up that old job-hunting advice.

US News and World Report says today's resumes should be sent electronically, as an attached file to an email. It says paper resumes are now a "nuisance" to many hiring managers.

Top Resume Mistakes

Other tips, according to US News:

-Don't list an objective at the top. Objectives can hurt your chances these days because they pigeonhole you into one specific job. You must appear flexible.

-You should list nothing more than 15 years old, or it will make you look old. Even if you were a team member on the Space Shuttle group in 1982, it no longer helps you, unless you are applying for a job in an aeronautical museum.

-Skip the "references upon request" line: That is so 1950s.

Doesn't That Stink?

But from the "doesn't that stink?" file, comes the downside of today's electronic resumes.

You no longer have the chance to impress with a long cover letter. Now that it's 2012, most prescreening is done by computers, which may leave you saying, "doesn't that stink?"

So skip the flowery letter, and focus on words like "skill sets" and "experience," that will catch the computer program's attention.

You need to appear to be up to date on the latest technology, especially if you are over the age of 45. That means having a current LinkedIn profile, a professional looking Facebook page, and an electronic resume that doesn't look like your dad's.

As always, don't waste your money.

Copyright 2012 Toledo News Now. All rights reserved.


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Wizard of Oz Leadership Lessons

Wizard of Oz Leadership Lessons

7 Leadership lessons  from the Wizard of Oz

Seventy years ago MGM produced one of the best and most beloved movies of all time, based on L. Frank Baum’s The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The original book was published in 1900, the first of 14 Oz books written by Baum, to be followed by dozens more from other authors. The 1939 film, starring Judy Garland, is so well crafted it continues to enchant audiences today… and also offers some important leadership lessons.

There’s no place like home, and no motivator like clarity of purpose.

You have to hand it to Dorothy. She fully engages the wonders, adventures, friendships, and dangers she encounters in Oz, but she is never deterred from her purpose of finding her way home. Does your organization have that clarity of purpose and vision? How, as a leader, do you keep yourself, and your followers, focused on that purpose?

Exceptional Teamwork derives from aligned WIIFM.

What’s In It For Me? The reasons why each of the protagonists want to go to Oz are different, but the destination is the same. Everyone needs to get to the Emerald City to see the Wizard. The journey is safer and more productive traveling together, and ultimately the Scarecrow, Tin-Man, Lion and Dorothy become a powerful team that defeats their nemesis and creates a better future for Oz.

Great causes must accommodate individual purposes. Effective leaders seek to understand the personal needs and motivations of followers, and help to align individual purposes with the higher purpose of the organization.

Head, Heart, Courage, and Spirit are cornerstones of character.

The Scarecrow needs a brain. The Tin Man a heart. The Lion, courage. Dorothy, her home. One reason the Wizard of Oz endures is because it deeply resonates with our experience of the human condition. We recognize that to be our best as a human, or team, or leader, we must draw from head, heart, courage, and spirit. Yet none of us are fully complete in these respects, and our endeavors are often interdependent.

The leaders we need for today’s world, not to mention tomorrow’s, are those who have significant mastery of these four “meta-factors” of character: wisdom, humanity, courage, and resilience - and who also recognize their limitations. A remarkable leadership tool, recently developed, is an instrument called the Tilt360. Tilt goes beyond most 360 instruments that focus on skills and competencies, to assesses these four meta-factors of leadership character. The assessment report provides a guide for leaders, best used working with a coach, to further understand and build on their strengths in these cornerstones of character.

Deal with what comes at you, but don’t lose faith.

Just when you think it can’t get worse, here come the flying monkeys. So deal with it.

Companies that sustain success face brutal reality head on, while at the same time never lose faith in their ability to prevail, notes Jim Collins in his book, Good to Great. Collins observes, “The good-to-great companies faced just as much adversity as the comparison companies, but responded to that adversity differently. They hit the realities of their situation head-on. As a result, they emerged from adversity even stronger.”

The world is full of lions and tigers and bears. Oh my! Wise leaders keep their people moving down the yellow brick road - they deal head-on with obstacles, stay true to their values and mission, and always expect and give help along the way.

Understand the difference between a role and who you really are.

The Wizard manipulates trappings of wizardly power to evoke, fear, awe, and respect, but is able to provide genuine help only after he is engaged as a real person. Both wizards and leaders do well to present a powerful facade of office to the world, and at the same time cultivate personal authenticity that sustains engagement with followers. Believe your own press clippings and ignore that person behind the curtain at your peril. It is in authentically connecting to other people that real leadership magic begins.

Framing can be magical.

Exceptional leaders can foster change by reframing how their followers look at the world. With the right frame, doors that seemed closed are open, paths appear in the wilderness, and people suddenly possess what seemed out of reach. The Scarecrow seeks a brain, but the Wizard reframes the circumstances and produces a positive outcome.

Why, anybody can have a brain. That's a very mediocre commodity. Every pusillanimous creature that crawls on the Earth or slinks through slimy seas has a brain. Back where I come from, we have universities, seats of great learning, where men go to become great thinkers. And when they come out, they think deep thoughts and with no more brains than you have. But they have one thing you haven’t got: a diploma. Therefore, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Universitartus Committiartum E Pluribus Unum, I hereby confer upon you the honorary degree of ThD. (Doctor of Thinkology, the Wizard explains.)

Framing based on smoke and mirrors ultimately is exposed as a sham. Framing based on substance - true wisdom, humanity, and courage - provides deep value that changes lives.

No one else can do it for you.

At the end of the movie Glinda the Good Witch informs Dorothy she has always had the power to go home. “Why didn’t you tell me?” Dorothy rightly inquires, only to be told, “Because you have to find out for yourself.” Some things you simply have to experience for yourself. Leadership is one of them.

While perhaps informative, reading a book does not fully equip someone to ride a bike, drive a car, fly a plane, or be a leader. All these things require experience. Reflection on experience in a way that informs how to handle future experiences is the fundamental key to development. Leadership is a developmental process. Help along the way is essential, but no one else can develop for you.

Leadership is much more than telling people to go down the yellow brick road. It’s about authentically engaging them in the adventure.

***

by Tom Stevens (c)2009

Tom Stevens helps leaders create and sustain exceptional organizations. To contact him, visit www.ThinkLeadershipIdeas.com or call 800 727-978


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