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Category: Entrepreneurship

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Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Human Resources Management Marketing Skills Women In Business

What I Wish I Would Have Known Before I Bought My First Smartphone

Have you ever been so excited about buying something new that you fail to stop long enough to consider how it might impact you in the long run? Let’s face it; rarely do we ever consider the long-term consequences of our purchases and impulsive needs, especially when it comes to technology.

I can still remember my first smartphone purchase – the answer to my productivity needs. The ability to map my destinations, create travel itineraries on a whim, respond to emails in a more timely fashion, take photos and more. I’ve never been one that is a cutting-edge ‘early adopter’ where technology is concerned, but the smartphone was truly that – smart. It was the answer to my overwhelmed, overly committed life.

Never one time did I stop to consider the long term impacts the smartphone would have on my life, let alone on society. Have you ever stopped to contemplate how your life has changed since introducing this device into it? If you knew then what you know now, would you still have made that very first purchase? Or perhaps, would you have introduced it to your life differently?

The following aspects are those I wish I would have – could have – considered before that first smartphone purchase:

Dinner Disruptions:

I wish I would have known that I would rarely see families and friends engaged in a conversation around the dinner table without the distraction of a device. I can’t even recall the last time I sat in a restaurant and witnessed everyone engaged in a non-device disrupting conversation and meal. Far too often I see adults tuned out reading online while kids mindlessly play games and avoid interaction. I watch as young couples engage more on social media than with each other. I wait as servers and staff turn their attention to patrons in need of photos, causing other patrons to sit in wait.

Traveling Challenges:

I wish I would have known that every airport would become a land mine of adults sitting on floors and against walls, hovering near any available power outlet or charging station, handcuffed to their device in a desperate hope it will charge before boarding the flight. Before smartphones, I can’t recall a time it was commonplace to see grown adults holding a small device as if it were their very life support.

Distracted Driving:

I wish I would have known the rate people would crash, or even die, due to distracted drivers. Let’s face it, there are few things more annoying, distracting and dangerous than a smartphone alert going off when you’re behind the wheel of a car. No matter where you keep the phone – your purse, console, glove box or back seat – there is something about the sound of an alert that pulls your focus from the road. Never would I have imagined how many people I would share the road with that would be texting while driving, reading the news, posting online or even live streaming their thoughts in transit. Even when thought I have disciplined myself not to look at the phone while driving, the very thought of what awaits for me competes for my attention more than I would have ever imagined.

Home Life Hindrances:

I wish I would have known how much I would ask my friends and family to pause their thoughts as I answered a self-inflicted obligation to respond to emails after hours. I can remember when I first linked my email to my smartphone and thought how amazing it was to respond to emails after the work day was over. I considered this a productivity win as my response times were cut in half. I had faith that others recognized my diligence and would be appreciative of my timely response. What I didn’t realize is that in time, my enthusiasm for answering after hour emails would turn into a habit and that habit would turn into obligation. Little by little, I had trained those in my circle to expect an immediate response from me. Before I knew it, my 9 to 5 turned into a 24×7 workday. My loved ones became the ones in wait as I took time and attention from them to respond to messages that could have easily waited until morning.

Need for Instant Information:  

I wish I would have known my need for instant information would become a crutch. I’m not sure if you’re like me, and have lost track of the number of times you’ve stopped mid conversation to research facts and figures to prove a point. While having information at our fingertips is amazing, it can also hinder our ability to be free thinkers and engage in healthy debates and judgement without the need to immediately prove who is right.

Social Media Influence:

I wish I would have known how toxic social media would become. If only I could have seen the day I would wish for photos of a friend’s meal to be the topic of social media fodder. Instead, the smartphone has allowed all of us to think, and post, without self-censorship. We’ve entered into a world where what we feel is immediately available for others to read. I would have never guessed the draining effect it would have on my in my daily life, feelings and productivity. Not only has the smartphone increased my accessibility to read social media, it’s made it addictive to the point that a concerted effort has to be made just to tune it out or avoid it all together.

Productivity Nemesis:

I wish I would have known that the very tool I was purchasing to help me become more productive would be the very thing that would challenge my ability to do so. With constant alerts, messages and updates, it’s hard to remain focused on anything of importance. Trying to focus on a task becomes challenging when I know someone has messaged me and is awaiting an immediate response. Now, I have to make a conscious effort to download apps and schedule times of days they work to keep alerts and messages at bay. Never the less, the impulsive need to check my screen for notifications is often more than I can bear. Despite my need for focused thinking, I find my attention challenged in ways I would have never previously imagined.

Talking to Foreheads:

I wish I would have known that the introduction of the smartphone meant learning to carry on conversations with people’s foreheads. If only I had the ability to grab someone by their face and say what my 5 year old friend, Donovan, taught me – “Listen with your eyes.” Put the phone down and pay attention to what is right in front of you, not what can wait. If only I would have known how preconditioned I would become – we would become – to accepting interruptions and someone’s half attention as the norm.

Is there anything you wish you would have known before buying your first smartphone? While technology has helped us in many ways, it challenges our focus and competes for our attention for what is truly important. While I don’t regret having this amazing technology, hind sight is always 20/20. Now that we know the challenges, can we change our habits, or are we doomed to distraction?

I believe attention is our new currency. Attention to what matters most is where we will profit, boost productivity and increase accountability. Paying attention to what is important is a skill we must learn – if not relearn – to help us achieve balance in our lives with technology.

What are your thoughts? I would love to read them. Are you committed to changing your habits and learning how to use the smartphone as a tool and break the dependency you’ve created? If so, subscribe to my ezine to learn tips, techniques and strategies to help you pay attention to what matters most.

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Management Marketing Skills Technology

BEing Seen and BEing Heard as a Thought Leader

When thinking about my first post, I thought that a link to my TED talk was a great way to start.

It covers several thoughts and ideas for your business. When I re-watched it this weekend, I wrote down twenty different ideas that stood out. Here are seven:

  • As a thought leader, are you sharing a message of service?
  • Trust comes from vulnerability, integrity & authenticity!
  • Are you being vulnerable & authentic?
  • Are you creating opportunities to be known, liked and trusted?
  • Are you screaming “Buy, Buy, Buy” on social media? If won’t work!
  • The microphone that everyone has with social media is really a headset, where you must listen more than talk.
  • Are you “truly” listening to your prospects and clients and changing your products and services as a result?

What do you think? What idea stood out for you when watching this talk?

—

Mitchell Levy is a people publisher that empowers thought leaders to share their genius. After a 2-hr interview to extract your genius, his team will write and publish your book in hardcover, paperback, Kindle, PDF, and AHAbook formats. To explore what this means for you, sign up for a 30-minute strategy session http://aha.pub/focused

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Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Skills

Mastering Our Craft

In a recent statement from Tom Petty’s family revealing that his death last October was the result of an accidental overdose of pain medication, Petty’s daughter AnnaKim has reached out to fans to stress that, in her eyes, her father was not addicted to opioids. The statement goes on to say that “Petty wasn’t using his meds recreationally – he was simply doing his best to cope with a crippling injury that was only getting worse, ALL IN ORDER TO LIVE UP TO HIS TOURING COMMITMENTS.  He suffered a hip fracture during his 40TH ANNIVERSARY tour with the Heartbreakers. Let me repeat – he was doing his 40th anniversary tour. Tom Petty loved and mastered his craft. He daughter also said “I love my dad and feel he is an immortal badass.

In 2006 Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal defense attorney to start Askinosie Chocolate. Shawn Askinosie had perfected his craft as a criminal defense attorney – he NEVER lost a criminal jury trial. He has now mastered a new craft – yes making chocolates, but as the title of his book Meaningful WORK: A QUEST To Do Great Business, Find Your Calling, and Feed Your Soul clearly indicates, Shawn Askinosie is on a new journey. developing mastery in a new craft, one that Jack Stack, founder and CEO SRC Holdings; author of The Great Game of Business describes as “I have witnessed the evolution of Askinosie Chocolate. It has been a courageous journey which had to be guided by a higher authority.”

Chuck Collins grew up in the 1 percent as the great-grandson of meatpacker Oscar Mayer, but at age 26 he gave away his inheritance. He has been working to reduce inequality and strengthen communities since 1982 and in the process, has cofounded numerous initiatives that support his mission. His CRAFT is working tirelessly to reduce inequality in the U.S. and the world.

I did not know Tom Petty, I recently read Shawn Askinosie’s book and interviewed him for my Business Builders Show on C-Suite Radio, I have been blessed to have interviewed Chuck Collins more than once and I have delivered dozens of his books, Born on Third Base, to those who I felt would benefit from reading his work.

Tom Petty, Shawn Askinosie and Chuck Collins were and are masters of their craft. Are we on the path of mastering our craft? Even if it takes 40 years, or giving up a lucrative career as a criminal defense attorney, or giving up a significant inheritance?

BTW – If you ever have the opportunity to say something about me after I leave this earth – I can’t think of any better compliment than to say “he was a real badass.”

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Economics Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Human Resources Management News and Politics

Thank You Generation Z

I work with “younger” people all the time. My interaction with them comes from work as a business coach / consultant, being involved with several entrepreneurial development programs and in doing interviews for a regional business show I host called Tec Bridge Radio, www.tecbridgepa.org.

Why did I title this article “Thank You Generation Z?”. First reason is, I read a great article in Time Magazine (December 25, 2017 / January 1, 2018 edition) by Katy Steinmetz. Some of the comments were that Gen Z – individuals now in their teens and early 20s – have “grown up during mass disruption” and “now they are entering adulthood with a willingness to experiment.” The article also stated, according to a survey that was part of the research for the article, that 78% of Gen Z-ers say getting a four-year degree no longer makes economic sense, and hundreds of programs, from apprenticeships to boot camps, have cropped up to offer an alternative path.”

Is this good or bad for business in the U.S. around the world? That depends on what we learned from the past and what we do today.

If most of us feel a moral imperative to do what is best for our (all of us on the planet) well-being, in the long run, then everything will be OK! What I mean is, if we can at least spend SOME time on what is healthy for someone other than ourselves and if we are willing to listen to all points of view – and maybe Gen Z and Gen Y are the most important voices to listen to, we can act today to help create healthy people, healthy communities, and healthy businesses.

WE created the disruption, WE created the environment where Gen Zers want to experiment, and WE created the environment that has Gen Zers and many others questioning the value of a four-year college degree. Therefore, WE can be pro-active in our approach to the future.

Some thoughts. Read a hard cover book. Read and listen to different points of view on all topics – especially political topics since they tend to deal with immediate gratification (pleasing constituents NOW, instead of a healthy future). Spend time with your children and grandchildren so you can positively impact their view of their surroundings, and finally CARE about the world the Gen Zers are building – we will be living in it!

FOR BUSINESS OWNERS: get 5 people under 25 and 5 people over 40 in a room together. Have them sit across the table from each other. Then ask them, one at a time “what’s going on in the world today?” Have no specific agenda, other than conversation. Might be interesting! Let me know how that went!

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Don’t Play With Your Emotions

“Exerting greater control over your emotions will allow you to exercise greater control of your life.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

 When you engage in life, don’t play with your emotions. Anytime you’re unsure of which path you should take, don’t play with your emotions. That doesn’t mean that you should consider options devoid of your emotions, it means, attempt to think of your options without the emotional attachment that might saddle itself to those options.

By eliminating the emotional aspect that might go into your decision-making process, you allow your thought process to be driven by logic. After you’ve assessed a situation from a purely logical perspective, you can test your sense of direction by considering the emotions that might be the co-pilot of your decision.

Sometimes people allow their emotions to lead their actions. They toss logic aside. Allowing your actions to be driven by emotions alone can lead you into dangerous situations; “I don’t know why I did it; I must have been temporarily insane.” Those may be the afterthoughts you have if you don’t control your emotions before delving into a situation.

To maintain greater control of your life and those that surround you, always seek to control your emotions. Don’t play with them! Once you learn to have greater control of your emotions, you’ll have greater control of the environments you engage in. You’ll also find that your emotions serve you better. So, always seek to keep your emotions in check … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

In every negotiation (you’re always negotiating), emotions dictate how you’ll engage in the negotiation. Thus, your emotions will drive your actions if you don’t curb them. It may not be very easy to control your emotions at times when negotiating, but if the opposing negotiator senses that he can control you by controlling your emotions, he’ll play you like a drum. You’ll dance to any tune he decides to play.

Before entering into a negotiation, know the hot points that may cause you to lose control of your emotions; your hot points are also called triggers. Being aware of the triggers that may provoke different emotional reactions in you, allows you to prepare the demeanor you wish to display, versus one that would hijack your real-time display of emotions. Such displays can cause you to lose control of the negotiation. By not displaying a demeanor the other negotiator expected, you’ll initiate doubt within him about the strategy he’s employing in invoking such triggers to maneuver you.

Suffice it to say, controlling your emotions allows you to have greater control of yourself and the other negotiator, and everyone knows, he who controls the negotiation has a greater chance of controlling the outcome of the negotiation.

 

What are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free 5-minute video on reading body language or to sign up for the “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

Remember, you’re always negotiating.

#HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions #Psychology

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Personal Development Women In Business

Ignore the Trolls – Pay Attention to Opinions That Really Matter

Trolling – A fishing term for trailing bait and hoping for a bite. In today’s world? The idea of trolls frequently conjures up ugly and distasteful online comments, often left by anonymous sources. These sources are looking for a bite as well, and an opportunity to engage.

When I think of the word troll? I think of the big ugly monster covered in warts and grumpy that sits under the bridge.  Or in modern society – a mean bully behind a computer screen, eager to inflame, incite, and get under someone’s skin. So, what can you do about the modern-day troll? I’ve got six strategies to share:

  1. Don’t feed them. This is my favorite way to handle their nonsense. Don’t give them the attention they crave. Trolling is really only sport for people when they get the bite they are looking for. Without it? The troll becomes bored and goes away.
  2. Set policy and safeguards. If you have an organization that has an online presence and an opportunity for trolls to stumble across your “bridge” and bait your team, set a standard policy in place for how to handle it and let every team member understand that policy. Your blog and online forums can also be locked so that comments need approval before going “live”. Or shut down commentary altogether on your site. A Psychology Today article on the topic shared, “Reuters, Popular Science, ESPN, Huffington Post, The Week, USA Today, The Chicago Sun-Times, and National Public Radio have eliminated reader commentary in the past few years, in favor of moving commentaries to platforms like Facebook and Twitter where users are less anonymous and more accountable for their words.
  3. Use your principles as a guide. A self-proclaimed “former troll”, Paul Jun, shared this in an enlightened post, “The reason why abiding to principles is so helpful is because they tell us how to act. ‘Do this, not this.’ It focuses on the long-term outcome, whereas acting on our impulses creates many possible—and unfavorable—results. If there is one thing I learned both in psychology and philosophy, it’s this: No one can hurt you. It is what we tell ourselves about the specific event or person that creates the feeling. In the words of Marcus Aurelius, ‘It can ruin your life only if it ruins your character. Otherwise trolls cannot harm you — inside or out.’
  4. Create a community. When you’ve got a great name and reputation going for yourself and your business, and you’ve got the support of the community members around you – they’ll help take care of the problem. It’s wonderful to see those stories that come out where communities rise up in defense of someone who has taken an online hit.
  5. Laugh. Consider the source and keep your sense of humor. The bottom line is that bullies are often attention seekers who have too much time on their hands and too much ill will in their lives. As long as you have systems in place to protect your reputation and shut down unprovoked and unkind commentary and you know that your integrity and character are above reproach? Just laugh it off and walk away. Take the high road and leave them to their low one.
  6. Make corrections. Sometimes, commentary is based in a legitimate complaint or issue. If that’s the case, take the advice of renowned author, speaker and TV personality Jeffrey Hayzlett, who said in an interview for Forbes, “Let the person who wrote the complaint know you have corrected an error and explain what you did. Most times you’ll never hear from the person again, but I can guarantee the individual will appreciate that he heard directly from a company representative and didn’t have to navigate an endless phone tree.” Everyone makes mistakes. Every company can find areas of improvement. If someone points something out, and it’s a concern – fix it, and move on.

In a world that sometimes hosts trolls and bullies of both the cyber variety and in real life (that’s IRL in troll-speak), it’s good to pay attention to what matters. Your word. Your reality. Your integrity. Your character. What someone says to bait a person for bullying purposes is almost always not based in reality. Protect your reputation – but let those words roll off. In the end, they are not worth your valuable ATTENTION.

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Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development

5 Traits of Authenticity that Diversify Your Brand

When your brand is seen as authentic, your competition pales, your customer loyalty skyrockets, and your sales grow. According to Wikipedia, authenticity is “truthfulness of origins, attributes, commitments, sincerity, devotion, and intention.” In other words, it’s the real deal! Over time, authentic brands become reliable, consistent, and reputable. Not only are they first to market, they are also first to a specific market. In most cases, they’ve withstood the test of time—they are the real thing. They are leaders in their category, looked up to by their pretenders, and put on a pedestal.

So, how can your brand become “authentic?” Here’s our list:

  1. Principal.Your brand signifies high standards of quality, dependability, customer service, craftsmanship, and community support. You have the reputation of treating associates, employees, neighbors, and the environment with compassion and respect. You protect this reputation devotedly.
  2. Original. Your brand was first to satisfy a necessity. Other brands in your niche are considered knock-offs. But that can only be true if your brand consistently delivers superior quality. Knock-offs will try to see how little quality the market will accept (thus undercutting your price) in order to take advantage of the market you defined. Being first has a feeling of authenticity, especially in applied technology, but your brand must consistently please an unstable, unpredictable market.
  3. Classic. Your brand’s actual image carries classic conventions, not just a popular trend at the time (eventually outdone by yet another glitzy fad). From its logo to its packaging to its signage to its trade dress, your brand image sticks to classic representation. It’s easy to read and pronounce, easy to recognize and remember, and it respects tried-and-true graphic relationships for color, spacing, and quality queues.
  4. Pedigree. Your brand’s name is synonymous with quality. But unless your brand is Rolex, Tiffany, or Chanel, you must wait until your brand has a history of superior performance before you can get those privileges. Your brand’s story diversifies your brand, and can give it a unique quality identical to pedigree.
  5. Persona. Like Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook, Henry Ford for Ford Motor Company, and Steve Jobs for Apple, your brand has an actual person behind it. They represent the brand, as though they’d say, “I guarantee it!” as former president of Men’s Wearhouse George Zimmer said. A real live person behind the brand, rather than an impersonal logo, adds the integrity that authentic brands truly need.

These are our top 5 traits of authenticity, but there are many more! It’s fascinating that “authentic” brands risk losing one or more of these traits for efficiency, standardization, or profitability. Their authenticity could be exploited without appreciation for the details these traits convey to the market. Authenticity is difficult to earn, and must be carefully protected.

Your faithful customers will demand authenticity once your brand earns that reputation. This is an exceptional advantage in keeping your brand stocked and on the front page.

Retailers understand the influence an authentic brand has. If they want to appeal to the brand’s faithful following, they have to carry it. They must keep it stocked to satisfy their customers and maintain their reputation as a retailer.

After all, there’s nothing like “the real McCoy.” So why not enhance your brand with some authenticity?

For more, read on: http://csnetworkadvis.staging.wpengine.com/advisor/michael-houlihan-and-bonnie-harvey/

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How to Use Reverse Questioning to Win More Negotiations

“The degree of success you experience in life and in negotiations is based to a degree on asking the right questions successfully.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

You no doubt know what reverse engineering is, right? Reverse questioning in a negotiation is the process of identifying the questions you need to ask in order to obtain the answers that will lead to a successful negotiation outcome. It’s also a way to identify how you’ll control the flow of the negotiation.

As a quick example, if you wanted to exit a negotiation paying $1,000 for a product you’d work from the outcome sought back to the beginning of the negotiation; you might also consider working back from that point to how you would position yourself prior to entering into the negotiation. To perform the latter, you’d assess the requirements needed (i.e. how you’d position yourself) to have your persona projected in a certain light/manner.

The following is what the step-by-step process would look like.

  1. Identify the most and least favorable outcome you’ll seek from the negotiation, along with why you’ve identified those points of juxtaposition. As a benefit, having that insight will help you identify exit points from the negotiation.
  2. Assemble a list of questions that might be asked of you as you would go through the negotiation.
  3. Create answers to the questions posed in step 2 that are needed to drive your efforts towards a winning negotiation outcome, while formulating questions you’ll ask to keep the negotiation on track; these will be your defensive questions. Identify points where you can answer a question with a question; remember, the person asking the questions is the person controlling the negotiation. That’s due to the fact, that person is gaining more information.
  4. Once you create and address step 3, create a list of questions that you might ask of the other negotiator that’s separate from the ones you might use to respond to his questions; these will become your offensive questions. Offensive questions are questions that move your negotiation efforts quicker towards the end of the negotiation; they are questions that the other negotiator has to agree with because they’re based on what he’s previously stated as his beliefs or truths; you’ll be weaponizing his thoughts and questions against him. Some of these questions will also come in the form of questions that answer questions.
  5. Assess how the opposing negotiator might respond to your scenario.
  6. Continue going over steps 1 through 5, in an attempt to uncover additional questions that you’d not considered that need to be included in the process.
  7. Once you feel you’ve honed the questions to a point that the other negotiator has to follow a prescribed path that you’ve created for the negotiation, test your hypothesis in a mock negotiation. This will allow your questioning process to become more refined and may uncover better/additional questions.
  8. Once you feel totally prepared to utilize your questions in a negotiation, do so. Engage with the confidence in knowing that you’ve created a stealthy way of capturing better information as you go throughout the negotiation.
  9. Save your questions in a repository to be used for comparison to past and future negotiation situations.

 

The wrong question asked at the right time in a negotiation may do incalculable harm. The wrong question asked at the wrong time in a negotiation may lead to a negotiation impasse. Create and test your questions before entering into a negotiation and you’ll have more of a chance to reach a successful negotiation outcome … and everything will be right with the world.

After reading this article, what are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com 

To receive Greg’s free 5-minute video on reading body language or to sign up for the “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

Remember, you’re always negotiating.

#HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #Bully #Question

#psychology

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Don’t Hurt the Leader’s Position

“A leader is someone that possesses the ability to successfully lead others from the front or the rear. Always know the position of your leader.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

When someone is serving as the leader of your team and you’ve agreed to give them your support, follow their lead; don’t hurt them or your team by engaging in intended or unintended subterfuge.

In the daily activities of everyone’s life, everyone follows someone. Thus, those that you follow have influence by the fact that you anoint them as someone to lead you. You embolden them with that privilege by the fact that you follow their edict/mandate/suggestions. That being the case, don’t undermine the leader by:

  1. Going off-point per a strategy that has been discussed and agreed upon (e.g. going around the leader to gain attention for yourself, etc.)

 

  1. Engaging with outside sources that have not been agreed upon – make sure the leader knows what you’re planning to do

 

  1. Creating ad-hoc strategies when you’re in the midst of interactions with those that are not on your team/group

When you subvert the direction of the lead that you’ve granted to someone, you forgo potential opportunities, and diminish your team’s ability to implement the plan that’s been agreed upon; that can be costly in time and opportunities. You may also be cloaking into darkness the light of opportunities that may have shown themselves to you in the future (i.e. if you prove not to be a team player, no one will want you on their team.)

If you’re going to be a team player, play follow the leader by supporting the person that you’ve chosen to follow. Do so to the degree that such returns are beneficial to you and the team. Once you decide that you no longer wish to engage, inform the leader of your intent and disengage. Don’t just drop out without any communication. If you restrict the flow of communications, you don’t know what potential door(s) you’ll close that might have offered opportunities that could lead you to higher heights.

As long as you’ve decided to follow the leader, don’t hurt her. You’ve made a conscious decision to allow her to lead. So, follow her lead as long as it serves you and her … and everything will be right with the world.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

In a team negotiation environment, the leader of the team can position and pose as any of its members; it doesn’t have to be the person that projects the image of a leader at the negotiation table. Depending on the strategy chosen by the team, the leader may pose as someone that’s in a strategic position for a particular negotiation. He may also be positioned as someone that a senior person on the team can replace once the negotiation has reached a certain point.

The point is, once you have a strategy in place, don’t undermine it by undermining the person that’s the lead for the negotiation. Not only will you be weakening her, you’ll also be weakening your team’s negotiation position and the perspective beneficial outcome of the negotiation for all of you.

 

What are you thinking? I’d really like to know. Reach me at Greg@TheMasterNegotiator.com

To receive Greg’s free 5-minute video on reading body language or to  sign up for the “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

Remember, you’re always negotiating.

#HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #Leadership

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Business Needs Early Childhood Education

My work as a business coach and my radio, TV and podcasting work (Business Builders Show) are all about sharing stories and information to help business owners and business leaders build their business. I share the belief that good business can change the world. And I see and hear results from individuals and companies all the time who are leading the charge in making the world a better place. Organizations like www.consciouscapitalism.org, companies like Cascade Engineering, in Grand Rapids, and leaders like Bob Chapman at Barry-Wehmiller are setting the example we need to follow in order to improve our work places, our communities, our country and the world (I believe we set the example leaders in other countries want to follow). Other companies and leaders I suggest you learn more about, you’ll find listed at www.bcorporation.net.

However, I’m concerned that our short term thinking about tax plans, GDP, stock price and other related indicators take up too much of our thinking. Of course, I know having the right tax structure, and a solid GDP along with a steady or increasing stock price is a good thing. HOWEVER, I have been thinking a lot about early childhood education. How is that being funded? What infrastructure is in place to help us develop good citizens who are intellectually, emotionally and socially ready to build our businesses in the next few decades?

I like working with small to mid-size companies. Once again, taxes and all economic indicators are important. Yet, the companies I work with DO think about the well being of their employees, and their communities. They put plans and actions into play that help their employees take care of their families, so they can afford the early childhood education their children need. They have reading programs, financial literacy training, they LISTEN to what is needed, not only to do business today, but in the future.

The future WILL arrive. Short term gains like a one-time bonus will allow us “to go shopping” to help us feel better and to fuel government statistics, yet, how will this help us ten, twenty or thirty years from now?

If what I shared made you THINK – mission accomplished. Read, listen, watch, learn, and act on what you think is best for all of us in the LONG run. The future will be here, will it be what we planned for?

If you want you want to yell at me or agree with me, I can be reached at marty@martywolffbusinesssolutions.com