Author Archive

This hysterical video (which also serving as a commercial for a health center) is a great commentary on the human condition and the dangers of “learned hopelessness.”

Watching this video is an excellent opportunity to not only laugh (good for your health), but to take a look in the mirror and see your own potential blind spots.

• How often do you feel “stuck” or trapped in a situation?
• Why wait to be rescued when you can easily change your own situation with simple action?

While there are many external forces that we all have to contend with, it has been my experience as an certified Blind Spots executive coach and a motivated human being that WE are the barriers, WE are what gets in our way, WE are the problem. When you acknowledge and accept your role in your current situation and begin to live in “cause” rather than “effect” (i.e., victim status), then you regain the kind of personal power that can move you forward in your business, career and life.

In my study of Neuro Linguistic Programming, I embraced the following attitude and belief:

There are no unresourceful people; only unresourceful states.

People have all the resources that they need.

Sometimes we all need a good swift figurative kick in the pants to help us make the necessary changes that we already know we need to make. If you’ve been complaining, hesitating, holding back, or have been indecisive for longer than you care to admit, watch this video a few times. Ask yourself, “Now, how can I get off this broken down escalator?”

One of my personal goals in networking is to strive to be visible and valuable to the people in my professional life. I don’t want to be one of those people who call you only when I need you; or the kind of person who disappears for long periods of time.

I also don’t want to fall victim to the scary business statistic that I recently heard about:  With every month that you are not in communication, you lose 10% of your influence. Staying in touch is clearly a business and career priority, in the good times and the lean times.

Here’s how I define visible and valuable in the context of networking and relationship building:

• Visible: be “front of mind” with the people that you care about. Communicate regularly, through both active and passive communication channels. Show up. Show your face. Don’t just communicate by email or texting. Let them see the whole human being that you are.
• Valuable:  be a resource, be helpful, know what they need and care about. Help them solve their problems.  Be collaborative, not competitive. Share your ideas, experiences, thoughts, ideas, content and resources that you have discovered and find worthwhile. Introduce people to other people that potentially can help them.

How often should you stay in touch?

The question of frequency of communication comes up when I speak to groups about professional networking and relationship building. The goal is to stay in touch frequently enough to have influence and visibility, without being overbearing.

Think of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears:

• “This one is too soft” – i.e., you are out of touch, you don’t reach out, you are neglecting your the people in your network. They start wondering if you are alive or if you simply don’t care enough about them to stay in touch;
• “This was is too hard” – i.e, your actions are too pushy, too much, you appear aggressive or worse yet, desperate or needy because you are constantly calling/emailing;
• “This one is just right” – i.e., you use the appropriate amount of follow-up, demonstrating that you care about the relationship, you are organized and professional and that you have self-confidence in who you are.
• Photo credit: Tito Verano, http://www.flickr.com/photos/88251752@N00/4085056238/

Click here to review guidelines for how often you should stay in touch in the people in your professional circles….

What can a Tennis Pro teach you about networking?

How about Identical Twin Brothers who are Tennis Pros? Meet Angelo Rossetti (far left) and his identical twin brother, Ettore (far right). Two guys with a serious passion for tennis…and for networking. I have gained great insight and skills on effective networking from Angelo Rossetti – an athlete, a businessman and a friend who I hold in high regard. He is a man of the solid integrity and a masterful CONNECTOR.

50 Ways to Leverage the WHO in your Rolodex

If you want to increase your sphere of influence, then you need to learn HOW to leverage WHO is in your Rolodex (or BlackBerry, or Palm Pilot, or Business card file, or wherever you keep your contact list). Here’s a simple, but powerful networking strategy that Angelo Rossetti taught me and I have put to work for myself with great success:

Angelo’s 50-5-10-2 Networking Strategy Read the rest of this entry »

FIND YOUR KEY MESSAGE

“If you want to be successful with your next presentation, then you must discover, strengthen and deliver your KEY MESSAGE with conviction!”

The Problem: Most presenters take a copy & paste approach to planning presentations. They forget that every audience is unique from the last. The important information is usually buried in the middle or at the end of the presentation – somewhere on slide 58. Sometimes there are too many key messages. But what is most problematic, is that many presenters when asked cannot clearly and concisely articulate their key message.

The Solution: Clean Sheet Thinking – the brilliantly simple presentation planning tool – will help you quickly focus on the objectives and needs for your next presentation. In less than 30 minutes, you can develop a strategic game plan that will increase the probability of your success. Clean Sheet Thinking will help you to discover your key messages. To download a copy of the Clean Sheet Thinking Template, go to the FREE STUFF page on our web site.

7 criteria for evaluating your KEY MESSAGE

1. What your audience needs to know from you (versus what you want to tell them)
2. Action-oriented
3. Urgent and important
4. Personalized to them
5. Motivates with pleasure or pain
6. Memorable
7. Simple

The single MOST IMPORTANT thing

Your key message is the single most important thing you must know before you present. It is the essential message that you must communicate, even if there is a power failure and you can’t use your fancy PowerPoint slide presentation. It is what you need to communicate if the meeting gets cut short and you only have 5 minutes to talk. It’s the first, last and most important message you must deliver to your audience. Doesn’t it make sense to REALLY know it?!

GET HELP from an Executive Presentation Coach

I am available to help you not only discover your key message, but to teach you new ways in which you can creatively deliver it to your audience without the use of PowerPoint. I can show you how to truly engage your audience and move them to action: to think, to feel and to do what you need them to do to create your desired outcome.

2 ways in which I can help you become a more powerful, persuasive presenter:

1. One-on-One Executive Presentation Coaching. Call 860.371.8801 for info
2. On-site workshops for up to 10 people at your company’s location. 1-day and 2-day formats are available.

The most important thing that you need to know from me today is:

“If you want to be successful with your next presentation, then you must discover, strengthen and deliver your KEY MESSAGE with conviction!”

Note: image of key found on http://www.flickr.com/ Photographer is Mofo.