The Best Brand Gift Ever!

I know you are a YES person. A DIY person. A BRING IT person. A CAN DO person ... excellent at all you do—conscientious, responsible, dependable, overachieving. No doubt, it's how you got where you are. All wonderful qualities. So this Christmas, perhaps the last thing you need or want is, as the song says, some version of "12 drummers drumming, 11 pipers piping, 10 lords-a-leaping, nine ladies dancing, eight maids-a-milking, seven swans-a-swimming, six geese-a-laying, five golden rings, four calling birds, three French hens, two turtle doves or even a partridge in a pear tree." You don't need or want more stuff. You want a meaningful, long-lasting, brand-enhancing and life-affirming gift. Something useful and practical.

What you just might need this month is 12 days and ways to say NO.

The deal is that no one can give this gift to you. It's a selfie. There's no outsourcing this skill to a personal shopper, no concierge service that can do this for you. It's a true DIYer.

As YES people, the word NO is an infrequent part of our vocabulary—in our brand lives and in our personal lives. But I have found that the happiest and most productive people have given themselves the gift of NO. They have learned to make NO a natural part of their DNA ... both in and out of the office.

So, before you head out of the office to start holiday celebrations, why not raise a toast to that little two-letter word NO and see if these bits of inspiration may encourage you to treat yourself (and the brand you lead) to this very important present:

1. The gift of a new discipline ... making no an art form. Missy Park, founder of Title Nine, echoes the power of no. "In my book, saying yes is over-rated. Fact is, it's easy to say yes. No difficult choices, no disappointments. Ahh, but saying no. That is the real art form. There's choosing to say no which can be wrenching. There is choosing when to say no, which is often. And then there's saying it graciously, which is very hard indeed."