January 30, 2013

15 Lessons From The 2012 Global Leadership Summit

The Global Leadership SummitBy Cheryl Crumb

In the world of self-development, I’m like the proverbial shoemaker who is barefoot. My unoriginal excuse: “I’m too busy.”

I recently gifted myself 2 days to attend a telecast of the 2012 Global Leadership Summit sponsored by the Willow Creek Association originally held in Chicago in August.

Jim CollinsI luxuriated in the wisdom of experts like Jim Collins, Patrick Lencioni, Condoleezza Rice, Carly Fiorina, Marc Kielburger, and Bill Hybels. My briefcase is weighted down with new book purchases and I’m still smiling and inspired as I write this.

For those not fortunate enough to attend, here were some of the messages that resonated with me.
  1. Take responsibility for your own development. Don’t wait for your company to do it.
  2. Leadership at its core is about character.
  3. Every adversity brings gifts if you can allow yourself to see them.
  4. Don’t resent or judge the next generation. Believe in them. The old and the young need each other. Honour what the old have done and what the young will contribute. Find ways to learn from each other.
  5. Delegate authority, not tasks. Give freedom: “you’re bright … you’ll figure it out.”
  6. Ensure your greatest legacy is making sure your organization is in good hands when you’re no longer there.
  7. Many leaders incorrectly assume their most valuable quality is time. But it’s really energy. Be prepared to put out energy “bursts” against all challenges and opportunities.
  8. As a leader in any journey from “here” to “there”, where is the vision most vulnerable? Divide the journey into three phases. It’s the middle phase that’s red flagged. You’re past the adrenaline rush of the starting line, but not yet near enough to the finish line to feel its magnetic draw. The middle is where everyone — including you — most needs your bursts of energy.
  9. crowd is wowedLeadership requires irrepressible optimism to see the possibilities of a better future. You must continually generate this.
  10. We’ve all heard about company values, but it’s not a litany of all known qualities + the Boy Scout motto + the Ten Commandments + The Bill of Rights. Instead select a maximum of three endemic behaviours for which you’re willing to get punished. It’s not something you aspire to, but where a violation would be like selling your soul.
  11. You are the most difficult person you’ll ever have to lead.
  12. Two requirements for a success organization are its smartness (strategy-finance-marketing-technology) and its health (minimum politics, minimum confusion, high morale, high productivity, low turnover). The former gets 95% of the attention, but it’s only half the equation. A healthy organization becomes the multiple of its smartness. Focus on making your organization healthy. It’s not “beneath” effective leaders.
  13. Be prepared … it’s what you do before difficult times, so that you can be present and strong when people need you the most.
  14. Winners aren’t luckier than the also-rans, but they didn’t squander their lucky (bad or good) moments. Ask yourself and act on, “what do I need to do now to make the most of this event?”
  15. The only mistakes you learn from are the ones you survive. Ensure your survival with discipline, creativity and paranoia.
Here are video highlights


Cheryl CrumbCheryl Crumb helps you get customers for keeps. She is an ISO 9000 accredited trainer, coach, transition consultant and facilitator who designs training programs to fit specific corporate needs. You’ll find more on her website, the Experion website and LinkedIn.

January 23, 2013

Two Instant Presentation Upgrades

Girl smile 500x430 Photoxpress_3368065by Heather Stubbs

Do you want to upgrade the effectiveness of your presentations? The two most powerful actions you can incorporate into your delivery are a smile and eye contact.

Everyone you talk to is sizing you up emotionally and instinctively before they focus consciously on the content of your presentation. They can’t help it. It’s the way the human brain is designed. Neuroscientist Antonio Damasio said, “We are not thinking machines that feel; rather, we are feeling machines that think.”

Even people who seem unemotional base their decisions on their feelings to a vastly greater degree than we might imagine.

The path of information

All information that reaches us through our eyes and ears travels along nerve paths that go first to the instinctive and emotional centres of our brain. When you speak, this part of your listener’s brain pays close attention to how you look and sound. Based on that, it develops a feel for whether it’s safe to open up and trust you, or whether it needs to be on guard against you.

It’s no secret that when someone trusts us, they are more likely to be receptive to our ideas, but someone who is on the defensive doesn’t really hear what we are saying. If a person feels even slightly uncomfortable with you, to that degree they are on the defensive against you, and will not be responsive to your message.

Why so powerful?

Why are eye contact and a smile so powerful? Because they link to our deepest and most primitive desire – to survive. Scientists believe that the process of screening information through the instinctive and emotional parts of our brain appeared very early in human evolution. The perceptions we develop are sometimes buried so deeply in our unconscious that we’re not even aware of them. We think it just feels better when someone smiles.

But why? Because it makes us feel safer.

As far as our unconscious brain is concerned, a person who smiles is more likely to be friendly and safe than an unsmiling person, who might be hostile and a threat to our survival. Instinctively, we all know that the quickest way to make someone relax is to smile at them. Even if you must be the bearer of bad news, your message will be more effective if you can find a way to ensure that your listeners don’t feel you are personally hostile toward them. Focusing on solutions and wearing even a slight smile will increase your listeners’ receptivity.

The need to be acknowledged

Everyone, from the most introverted to the most extroverted, has a need to be acknowledged as someone who matters. When you look someone in the eye, you fulfill that need. You show them that you see them and care about them. This harks back to our need to feel safe, doesn’t it?

Someone who cares about you is less likely to be a threat. When your direct eye contact shows you care about your listeners, the instinctive and emotional parts of their brain feel it’s safe to relax and respond.
We think we’re so modern, don’t we? Yet we all still function from a part of ourselves that is deep and primal. When you look your listeners in the eye and smile at them, you get that deep, primal part of them working with you, instead of against you.

Links

Heather StubbsHeather Stubbs helps her clients discover their own potential as exciting speakers at Skilltime. She has been performing onstage since early childhood as a musician, singer and actress. Heather compiled the lessons learned and mastered over a lifetime into a training program called, “SPEAK UP! How to Talk So People Listen”. She offers workshops, keynote speeches and private coaching. You’ll find more on the Experion website,  LinkedIn and Twitter.

January 16, 2013

Brand You Successful

stand outby Shannon Smith

You either create a brand that is distinct …
or you become extinct.
— Tom Peters, author of In Search of Excellence.


Humans think visually. The saying “I hear what I see” is true. The visual you has the most impact.

The personal brand (image) you project affects others’ decisions about
  • your intelligence, character and ability
  • whether they want to do business with you
  • how they treat you
The way you dress (and act) has a remarkable impact on the people you meet professionally and socially. Clients who dismissed the importance of personal packaging (their personal brand), tell me they have lost promotions, deals have fallen through, memberships were denied and friends have disappeared.

Is your personal brand (image) professional, congruent, attractive and attracting?

Before you sell anything — your product, company or service — you sell yourself. Shift the balance of power in your favour. When you brand yourself, you are perceived as more desirable and in demand. Brand Status increases the bottom line, both personally and corporately.

Large, successful companies understand the power of branding. They spend a lot of time, money and energy to create a brand for their product that is eye-catching and appealing enough to sell through to their market. They want to ensure that the buyer builds a strong connection with that brand.

Do you think of yourself as a company of one?

How much time, money and energy have you spent in developing a personal brand that is unique enough to sell through to your market? Chances are you haven’t even given it a thought. Perhaps, like many of my clients, you too, dismiss attention to personal branding as frivolous, fluffy and superficial until you, like them, hit a brick wall, lose business, that big contract falls through or you fail to get the next promotion.

An individual with a well-defined personal brand has more status and a tremendous advantage over the competition in the marketplace. When you are well-branded, you are pre-sold. That gives you a huge advantage over others selling themselves.

When you want someone to date you, for example, you don’t just stand in the street naked. Instead, you put on the outfit that reveals just enough and covers up just enough to make people want more. To get someone interested in you, just give away a few pieces of information. You want to tease them, wet their appetite and make them drool for more. In the beginning, it is simply style. Substance comes later.

What are you doing?

In the current economy, competitiveness has increased dramatically. Business is more serious and conservative --- not only in attitude but in business attire, business etiquette and leadership skills as well. Companies are concerned and hiring us to train their employees in acquiring the soft skills that lead straight to success. Of course, intelligence, experience and education count. Today, the whole package counts

The hallmarks of successful individuals in a fast-paced global marketplace are their confidence, ability to communicate effectively, manners and poise. Mediocrity is dead — and it’s about time. It is not acceptable to dress inappropriately or do business with the wrong fork. There is a return to formality, elegance, manners and sophistication.

It’s been my experience that an individual who understands the power of perception will make the changes necessary to ensure that he/she creates a powerful, congruent personal brand. To be competitive, have greater influence on others, attract more business and be more successful, it is critical to pay greater attention to personal branding.

Be a smarter marketer. To attract the best, you need to be the best.

Links


Shannon SmithShannon Smith is a leading image strategist and founder of Premiere Image International, the foremost provider of personal brand training. Since 1983, Shannon and her team of consultants have taken companies and individuals from unnoticed to unforgettable. You’ll find more details on the Experion website and LinkedIn.

January 09, 2013

How To Start Blogging

old typewriterby Promod Sharma

Blogging is writing an article with a touch of personality. You're not writing for a newspaper, magazine, journal or book. There's no rigorous editing process (which has pros and cons).

This post explains how current Experion members can write for this blog. The process is much simpler than starting and running your own.

Why Blog?

In this short clip, Seth Godin and Tom Peters give the reasons for blogging.

The Topics

You have considerable leeway in what you write about. Since this is a business blog, you probably want to show your expertise in your field.

Please be original. You can build on content you've written before which is not already online. If you’re referring to other content that’s online, provide links.

The Process

The blogging process is meant to be simple for you.
Write
When blogging, the length of the content makes a difference. An article that's too short may disappoint readers looking for detail. and rank low in Google searches.

Target a minimum final length of 500 words. There's no maximum limit but a longer article might work better as two related articles. A shorter article can often be extended or used as a segment of a longer piece.
Consider using subheadings to help readers skim.

You can write in your usual word processor or text editor. If you have an iPad and like writing, consider getting iA Writer. If you use Windows, consider using Windows Live Writer. It’s free from Microsoft and gets used to finalize each blog post here.
Distill
Editing makes your message clearer and more concise. The challenge is being objective. For better results, leave a gap of at least one day between writing and editing.

Twitter is the extreme form of blogging (called microblogging). Here you’re limited to 140 characters. Can you summarize your article in that length? The result might make a great title for your post.
Find Visuals (optional)
Your article will have more impact with visuals. Here are free sources. Better still, use original photos or graphics. It's important that you have permission to use the visual. Include a link to the source as a form of thanks.
Submit
When you’re satisfied, email your article to the Blog Editor. Light editing and posting will be done for you. If more extensive changes are needed, you’ll be contacted. Once ready, your article will be scheduled for publication.

Format

Each post will show
  1. Title (catchy to attract readers)
  2. Author’s name
  3. Article (can include photos, audio and video)
  4. Author's byline with a links to their Experion page and LinkedIn profile. Links to Twitter and a website can be added too.
This post is an example.

Frequency

Plan to write at least once a month. To keep on track, consider submitting your draft in time for monthly Experion meeting.

Subscribe

Subscribe to receive blog updates automatically. Invite others to subscribe too. The process is quick and free.

Patience

Traffic builds. Old articles continue to get read year after year. There's no way of predicting what will be popular. That’s why having lots of articles is important. Each visitor has the opportunity to read other articles, subscribe and follow on Twitter.

If you have questions, please post them as Comments below. That lets others participate.

Links


Promod SharmaPromod Sharma is your insurance literacy tutor. Learn about life and health protection online (wikiblog, Twitter) or at a live event. At Taxevity, get a fee-only insurance review and help updating your coverage. You’ll find more details on the Experion website and LinkedIn.