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Category: Personal Development

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Best Practices Growth Health and Wellness Human Resources Management

What If Your Dream Came to Life?

What if you could breathe life into one of your dreams?

What follows is step by step guide to help if you’re really interested in achieving your wish this year, set aside a block of time for the next few days, get yourself a notebook or open a file on your computer and give yourself the luxury of reflecting and seriously considering what dreams may come. 

How to Fulfill Your Dreams

1. Select a Dream:

Think about the different dreams you have.  In your imagination, step into each one of them, one at a time and experience what life would be like when you realize that dream. What do you see? Hear? Feel?

  • What changes?What’s good about it?
  • What’s not as good as you hoped?
  • How might you change it for the better?
  • After you explore the impact of having those dreams, pick one that you’d most like to bring to life.

2. Analyze what you need to do to make that dream come true:

  • What skills and strengths are required for your goal?
  • Which do you currently have?
  • Which do you need to acquire?  How can you acquire them?

3. What hurtles might present themselves:

  • What might get in the way?
  • How can you problem solve those potential obstacles?

4. Find a champion:

Find folks who can listen and respond, who can provide an outside perspective as well as cheerlead you.  These may be people you know or you might join a local or online meet-up of people with similar goals. Or start your own meet-up. Set up meetings with them to discuss your dreams and bring them to life.

5. Create a Plan:

Just like making a business plan, create a reasonable,  step-by-step personal plan with tasks, actions and deadlines along the way.

6. State your intentions publicly.

By sharing your dream out loud with others, you magnify your cheering squad many times.  It’s like telling people you’ll stop smoking.  The success rate rises dramatically because there are many others beside yourself that you want to avoid letting down.

Similarly, if your goal implies a new capability or accomplishment, start referring to yourself as such.  I’m Jane the artist; Jim the author; Jen the marathon runner; Dan the pianist.

7. Find a partner to hold you accountable:

Meet with him/her in person, by phone, online at least weekly to review the actions you’ve taken and refine your plan on a regular basis.

To learn more about creating and achieving your personal and career goals click here.

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Best Practices Entrepreneurship Human Resources Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

There’s No Shame in Ignorance

“There’s no shame in being ignorant. The shame comes from not dispelling it.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body language Expert

“Alexa, who is Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator and Body Language Expert? Sorry, I don’t know that” was Alexa’s reply.

Do you think Alexa felt shame about not knowing the answer to that question – it didn’t? Alexa is artificial intelligence. It’s programmed to acquire knowledge. You’re like that too. You acquire knowledge and that reduces your ignorance. There should be no shame associated with engaging in that process.

Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Everyone is ignorant of many things. So, why do people become shamed by it? This article explores that. And it abates the uneasiness that partners with ignorance.

The Stigma of Ignorance:

Sometimes, there’s a self-degrading stigma attached to ignorance. It generates embarrassment within the person possessing it. Don’t allow that to happen to you. And don’t allow others to weaponize ignorance against you. Understand your uniqueness. Use that as a shield. Then, if you want to become more knowledgeable about a subject, do so because it’s your desire. Don’t let others control you through their ignorance of who you are.

Self-Esteem:

Your self-esteem may come into question when asked for wisdom on a topic you don’t know. Momentary fear may kick in, depending on the circumstances. That dilemma can cause you angst.

If you’re stupefied by a question, alter your self-perspective. There’s nothing wrong with you. You just don’t know. If the subject matter is important, you can acquire knowledge. Don’t let it mentally debilitate you.

Fear of Unknown:

Do you fear not knowing the answers to questions simply because you don’t know what’s being sought? There are times when you become mentally constipated because of what you believe others think of you. Note when that happens. Allay your emotions by thinking that no one knows everything – there are things the person posing questions don’t know. Plus, you give your mental power to others when you allow them to control your self-perception.

Perception of Peers:

You may become daunted by ignorance when considering what friends and associates think of you because you lack knowledge in a certain area. If they’re ‘real friends’, you should be able to express your ignorance without fear of the negative perception of rejection. If that’s a concern, you can always push-back by saying, please reduce my ignorance or reveal your own. No one can make you feel ignorant. Only you have that power. Since you control it, control its perception.

What does this have to do with negotiations?

When negotiating, ignorance can open the door to fear. And fear can throw your negotiation off kilter. By planning extensively for an upcoming negotiation, you can reduce fear – do so by reducing unknown aspects that might cause it to occur. That means, during the planning process, consider as many variables as possible. Plan for them and have strategies ready to deal with situations that might threaten your negotiation position. Being prepared will disperse fears of where you might unwantedly venture into the negotiation. You will also cast the demon of ignorance into the dungeons of anonymity … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating! 

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 “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.themasternegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Fear #shame #ignorance #ignorant #Emotion #Business #Progress #SmallBusiness #Negotiation #NegotiatingWithABully #Power #Perception #emotionalcontrol #relationships #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #ControlEmotions

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Growth Human Resources Personal Development

Training: Learning to Measure Both Hard and Soft Metrics

Because the first aim of training is to improve the way people do things, all training programs should be evaluated by measuring “hard” metrics – which are almost always measurements that can be translated into numbers and evaluated. They could include data on:

  • Are our salespeople making more sales calls, closing more sales, or increasing the size of the average order?
  • Have our product assemblers increased their output and reduced the number of quality defects?
  • Are our phone reps now resolving more customer issues on the first call?
  • How many more positive reviews are we getting online?
  • Six months after training ends, are more customers placing repeat orders?

Without hard metrics like those, how will you know whether your training has achieved its goals or repaid your investment?

But it is important to measure soft metrics too. Often misunderstood, they have to do less with observable performance, and more to do with attitudes. They too can be measured before and after training as a way to evaluate results. Some examples:

  • Do members of your hotel’s front desk staff feel calmer and more confident about resolving customer complaints?
  • Do your new hires now feel more enthusiastic about working for your company than they did before training began?
  • Do employees now expect to remain at your company for longer periods of time?
  • Has training improved employees’ attitudes?

The Art of Measuring Soft Metrics

There is an incorrect assumption that it is difficult to collect data on soft metrics. In fact, soft metrics can be measured by having trainees complete surveys or by having interview with members of your training or HR team.

Another way to gauge soft metrics is to measure behaviors. After training your call center staffers, for example, do they arrive more punctually and call in sick less often? That could indicate improved motivation and morale. Or after training your retail salespeople, has the rate of their retention improved after six months or a year? That could indicate that your training made their jobs less stressful and more satisfying.

Another reason to measure soft metrics is that they help you identify any “extra” benefits your training achieved. If the primary purpose of your training was to teach your restaurant workers to deliver better customer service, for example, but they also became bigger believers in your brand.

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Best Practices Human Resources Management Marketing Personal Development Women In Business

Why Every Business Needs a Personal Brand

Over the past several years, personal branding has become a hot topic across the business world.  That’s because it’s tough out there with the competition increasing daily.  Not just for businesses but for individuals as well.  Just consider the statistics.

In the United States there are currently: 1.3 million lawyers.  1.24 million accountants.  659,200 management consultants.  There are nearly 28 million small businesses in this country, more than 800,000 of them in New Jersey.  Yet the competition is so fierce that 50 percent of these firms including 80 percent of all restaurants fail before their fifth anniversary.  In 2018, more than 3800 major retail stores closed their doors.

What can you do to ensure that you don’t become one of these statistics?  The first step is to recognize that the way to successfully market and promote your business has changed dramatically over the past decade.

Today, the number one way that people find new companies, products and services is by accessing your website through the Internet, primarily by using Google Search.  The majority of those searches are done via smartphones.  When someone arrives at your website, you have approximately ten seconds to capture and hold their attention.  If you don’t, they’re off to one of your competitors.

The initial challenge is to get people to your website.  One way is by utilizing online advertising.  The problem is that online advertising is expensive with costs rising 5x faster than inflation.  The average small business effectively using Google advertising can today spend as much as $10,000 per month on their online advertising campaigns. That’s $120,000 per year.  Another problem is that consumers just don’t trust advertising. In a recent survey, less than 1% of Americans said that advertising had Influenced them.

That’s the bad news.  Now here’s the good news.  Unlike online advertising, social media is not only inexpensive but highly effective.  It’s also highly personal with almost half of all Americans reporting that they have had meaningful interactions with companies via social media.  Most importantly, social media gets people to your website — not by tricking them into clicking on a link or an ad, but by building a personal brand that generates trust and credibility for your business.

What is a personal brand?    According to Amazon CEO, a personal brand is what people think and say about you when you’re not in the room.   It’s what differentiates you and sets you apart from the competition.  It’s not simply a logo or a website — although both of these are important.  Instead it’s what you say and do that resonates with your target audience.  It’s the articles, the videos, and the photos that you post.  The advice you give and the ideas you support.  It’s what makes you special and unique.

So the next time you need to set your business apart from the competition, consider personal branding and social media.  Together, they’re a powerful combination that will help you not only survive but prosper and grow.

Categories
Growth Management Skills

Transitioning From Reactive to Proactive Leadership

Are you reactive or proactive in your leadership?

As a leader you will have to respond to crisis. How will you respond?  The broad difference between the reactive and proactive leader needs to be understood in order for you to realize how you can succeed far better than you think. Proactive leaders lead by example. Leaders who plan ahead are in a better position to tackle problems before they occur instead of reactively when they pop up unexpectedly.

Requiring Change Management

Leaders who want to make a lasting impact on their organization should strive for proactive, rather than reactive, leadership. Reactive leaders wait for problems to arise before addressing them, are often running from crisis to crisis, without taking away lessons to improve the organizations and processes in which they operate. Reactive leaders have actions determined by external situations. Juggling day-to-day crises can keep you away from the things that matter most in your organization. You can’t keep your focus and concentration on the specific situations you need to.

Proactive leaders, on the other hand, take responsibility for their organization by engaging and cooperating with their team, leading by example, and always looking for ways to improve.

When you are reactive typically you make decisions as if you were in a panic or crisis mode. You may not yell, scream, pound your fists on your desk or throw things yet you make quick decisions that you may regret later. Your thinking is not focused on generating the best solution to the problem or challenge of the moment and you sometimes have to revisit the problem to rework a better solution that was not thought of initially.

Being Proactive in Your Leadership

“Opportunities will come and go, but if you do nothing about them, so will you.”

― Richie Norton

Do not procrastinate or postpone decisions. Weigh each issue as to the advantages and disadvantages of what will work within your organization. Don’t just put a temporary fix on something you may forget about. See what works and what does as you ask questions and challenge traditional assumptions and beliefs.

Maintain Your Perspective

“Proactive people focus their efforts on things they can do something about. The nature of their energy is positive.” – Stephen Covey

When you look upon the crisis as a challenge, what is your frame of mind? Instead of responding by reacting, think first to understand what is in front of you. Then think of what you can do to solve the situation. This is being proactive.

When people react, it seems to be defensive. Having a calm demeanor helps you focus and concentrate on decisions that align with the strategy of your business. Being more open to solving situations and not putting a band aid on a temporary fix requires you to get to the root of the problem.  A response is more active, and it can change the direction of an interaction or situation. Able to step back from the day-to-day details and see the big picture proactive leaders can anticipate situations and plan ahead of time for any situations that may get in the way of productivity.

Inspiring Others

“Great leadership does not mean running away from reality. Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the company, but at times sharing difficulties can inspire people to take action that will make the situation better.”

-John Kotter

By working with employees, teams and or in brainstorm sessions, employees can listen and give feedback to leaders for the specific assignments given to them. Listening carefully without jumping to any conclusions, proactive leaders are able to see another perspective than that of their own. In doing so, working with your employees and getting their feedback and opinions demonstrates how well leaders can take criticism.

Employees work better when they respect their leader. Not knowing how the leader will respond to situations can have employees on edge. If the leader reacts to situations, most employees will try to avoid being where the leader is at. On the other hand, if an employee works with a leader who inspires the employee, then the employee will respect the leader and want to do a better job for the leader.

Every Leader Has the Power of Choice

Recognize the choices you have instead of automatically reacting to situations. Reacting happens when you don’t know what to do or don’t automatically think of any options or action steps to take to reduce or resolve the situation. When you realize you have choices you need to start doing so with other situations you encounter all the time. You will make better decisions that way.

By focusing on the positives and learning from the negatives concentrating and focusing on the things you can control is where you can start to move forward. Proactivity or proactive behavior needs anticipatory change on a consistent basis. This is aligned with today’s business creativity that helps your business thrive. Choose how to act as to the type of leader you want to be. Which one will help you succeed as a leader?

What specific actions could you take today that would make a difference no matter how small that may be?

“Stop waiting for things to happen. Go out and make them happen.” – Jane W. Lee

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Best Practices Body Language Entrepreneurship Human Resources Investing Management Marketing Negotiations Sales Skills Women In Business

Body Language Dread – How to Avoid Disaster When Negotiating

“To avoid disasters, recognize what they look like and avoid actions that lead to them.” -Greg Williams, The Master Negotiator & Body Language Expert

“… He touched his knee! I thought, what does that mean? I #dread trying to read body language when negotiating!” An associate recounted her thoughts to me when discussing how she was attempting to avoid disaster during a negotiation. She wanted to understand and decipher the meaning of an individual’s body language. I told her, the gesture could have meant anything, nothing, or everything. Then, I went on to explain that one isolated body language gesture does not necessarily lend insight into someone’s emotions or thoughts – you must look at a cluster of gestures for that. I then stated, there’s an exception – it occurs when you’re observing micro-expressions.

Observe the body language gestures below. Cross-reference them to gain greater insight into the meaning they have when they’re clustered. That will grant you the insight into someone’s thoughts and what might have caused them. Being able to accurately detect these signals will enhance your negotiation abilities.

Crossed Arms:

Crossed arms by themselves does not mean that someone is unapproachable or close-minded. It could mean that the person is cold. Also, women tend to cross their arms more than men because of their anatomy.

To gain more insight about why someone crossed their arms, note the stimuli that caused it. To test their demeanor, say or ask something that will cause them to uncross their arms (e.g. that’s a nice watch – may I see it). Then, notice if they go back into their crossed arms position. If they do, you can test again with another question. After that, if they still cross their arms, you’ll have more information to make a better assessment of their demeanor.

Hands:

Movement – When someone speaks, note the timing of their hand movement. If it’s rhythmically aligned with their speech, subliminally, more believability will be lent to their words.

Handshakes – A handshake can connote hidden meanings (e.g. hands vertical to each other, we’re equal – hand on top, I’m superior). Never fall prey to the hidden meanings of handshakes. Good negotiators may intentionally allow someone to have the ‘upper hand’ as a ploy to convey subservience.

Fist – When a discussion becomes heated, observe when someone’s hand forms a fist. The fist can denote deepening anger or commitment in what’s being discussed. If the stimuli that caused the fist to be displayed was unintended, seek to de-escalate the conversation.

Smiles:

A genuine smile is denoted by crow’s feet at the corner of the eyes and elevated cheeks. It’s important to recognize the distinction from non-genuine smiles. Knowing the difference can assist in uncovering someone’s alignment.

Micro-expressions:

There are seven micro-expressions that are generic to everyone on earth. Thus, the stimuli applied to someone in Asia will have the same effect applied to someone in Europe, or anywhere else in the world. The seven micro-expressions are:

  1. Fear (eyebrows raised, wide eyes, lips slightly stretched & parted, bottom lip protruding downward)
  2. Anger (eyebrows down and together, eyes glare, narrowing of the lips)
  3. Disgust (lifting of the upper lip, scrunching of the nose)
  4. Surprise (raised eyebrows, wide eyes, open mouth)
  5. Contempt (one side of the lip raised and pulled in on one side of the face)
  6. Sadness (upper eyelids drooping, eyes unfocused, lips slightly turned down)
  7. Happiness (crow’s feet wrinkle around eyes, cheeks elevated, eye orbit muscle movement)

Misinterpreting someone’s body language can lead to unanticipated consequences. To assure that doesn’t occur to you, observe the gestures above when they’re clustered.

While reading body language is not a perfect science, it can give clues into someone’s thought process. Knowing what to look for, and interpreting nonverbal signals accurately, can help you avoid disasters when you negotiate … and everything will be right with the world.

Remember, you’re always negotiating!

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 “Negotiation Tip of the Week” and the “Sunday Negotiation Insight” click here http://www.TheMasterNegotiator.com/greg-williams/

#Dread #Avoid #disaster #Negotiate #Negotiations #bodylanguage #Negotiator #Business #Management #SmallBusiness #Money #Negotiating #combat #negotiatingwithabully #bully #bullies #bullying #PersonalDevelopment #HandlingObjections #HowToNegotiateBetter #CSuite #TheMasterNegotiator #psychology #NegotiationPsychology

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Best Practices Culture Entrepreneurship Industries Leadership Skills Technology

The Industry 4.0 Advantage

This visceral image of “industry” being gritty and exclusively blue-collar is true to some degree, but when “4.0” is added to it, it takes on a whole new meaning, and blue-collar workers end up believing the narrative that robots and artificial intelligence (A.I.) will delete their jobs.

Though common, this fear is unwarranted. Despite the now-proven Hard Trend that A.I., advanced automation and robotics, 3D printing, and other industrial Internet of Things (IoT) advancements often replace mundane tasks in manufacturing, Industry 4.0 transformations allow us to work alongside machines in new, highly productive ways.

Industry 1.0 to 4.0

Manufacturing in every industry has evolved as four distinct industrial revolutions since the 1800s. The first industrial revolution took place between the late 1700s and early 1800s. Manufacturing evolved to optimized labor performed by the use of water- and steam-powered engines with human beings working alongside them.

The second industrial revolution began in the early part of the 20th century, introducing steel and use of electricity in factories. These developments enabled manufacturers to mobilize factory machinery and allowed for capitalizing on manpower in mass production concepts like the assembly line.

A third industrial revolution began in the late 1950s, which brought with it automation technology, computers, and robotics, increasing efficiency and repositioning the human workforce. Near the end of this period, manufacturers began experiencing a shift from legacy technology to an increase in attention to digital technology and automation software.

The current industrial revolution is Industry 4.0, which increases interconnectivity and networked intelligence through the Internet of Things (IoT) and other cyber-physical systems. Industry 4.0 is far more interlinked than revolutions before, allowing for improved company communication and collaboration.

The general definition of Industry 4.0 is the rise of digital industrial technology. To better understand, let’s take a look at nine building blocks of Industry 4.0.

Big Data and Analytics

Industry 4.0 allows for streamlining, collecting and comprehending data from many different sources, including networked sensors, production equipment, and customer-management systems, improving real-time decision making.

Autonomous Robots

The ability for robots to interact with one another while accomplishing rhetorical tasks increases productivity and opens new job opportunities for employees willing to learn new things. These future autonomous robots will cost less while having greater range of capabilities.

Advanced Simulation

Advanced simulations will be used more extensively in plant operations to leverage real-time data, mirroring the physical world in a virtual model. This includes machines, products, and humans and allows operators to test and optimize the machine settings in the virtual world first, accelerating a predict-and-prevent operational strategy for downtime issues.

Horizontal and Vertical System Integration

Universal data-integration networks in Industry 4.0 increase connectivity among departments, suppliers, and partners. This resolves lack of communication or miscommunication within a project crossing departmental boundaries.

Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT)

Decentralizing analytics and decision making while enabling real-time feedback is key in today’s age. IIoT means connected sensors, machines communicating with each other, and more devices having embedded computing enabling Edge Computing, where networked sensors get new data instantly and automated decisions happen faster.

Agile and Anticipatory Cybersecurity

Secure means of communication and identity management is quite important to cybersecurity in Industry 4.0, as increased interconnectivity brings the risk of security issues. Manufacturing companies must pre-solve problems in cybersecurity and implement anticipatory systems by adding a predict-and-prevent layer to A.I.

Advanced Hybrid Cloud and Virtualization

As data increases, local storage will not suffice, which brings us to Cloud Services and Virtualization. Elements of high-speed data analytics coupled with A.I. and machine learning enable real-time knowledge sharing. Advanced Cloud Services also enable anticipatory predict-and-prevent strategies.

Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing)

Advanced additive-manufacturing methods will be integrated into mass production systems, providing a new level of speed and customization along with the ability to solve complex manufacturing problems while also functioning as a standalone system for custom manufacturing.

Augmented Reality

According to my Hard Trend Methodology, this relatively new technology will gain more traction as augmented reality (A.R.) apps for business and industry are developed. For example, in Industry 4.0, AR can help quickly find parts in a warehouse by looking around from one location.

The adaptation of any of the new technologies in Industry 4.0 will face an uphill battle, as blue-collar manufacturing industries are not often open-minded about embracing new technology often seen as a job eliminator. Embracing the ever-changing spectrum of Industry 4.0 technologies allows acceleration of innovation, pre-solving seemingly impossible problems, and developing and implementing digital manufacturing solutions.

Leaders should help their managers and employees anticipate disruption and change to get excited about learning new skills that will keep them employed and ensure development in their careers. Start with my latest book The Anticipatory Organization – I have a special offer for you!

Categories
Marketing Personal Development

Photos from the Stage are More Versatile Than You Think

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Jeff Hayzlett NSA NYC meeting

Don’t look at content creation with dread…

..it’s an opportunity to flex your creative muscles…

When you’re on stage, in front of the room, delivering a keynote, bringing everyone in the audience along with you for a ride that will have many twists and turns and end with a bang, that’s when you’re at the height of your superpowers.

It’s a pretty magical experience, 🙂

These moments are powerful and when you share them with your audience, they do a good job of getting their attention amongst the 50,000 other things populating their social feeds.

One of the more common stories that I’ve seen speakers and authors leverage their stage photos is the good ol’ “really happy to be speaking at ______ conference today…”

Now, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to come up with a way to tag the organizer and show them your appreciation for the talk, and to illustrate to your audience your #speakerlife, but, these images are a lot more versatile than for just this purpose.

When crafting a memorable and referable online presence, it’s important that you share stories that illustrate your expertise, life as a business owner and life as a human being in order to connect with your audience on a level that creates a deeper connection and rapport.

Then, you visually punctuate the sentiments of these informational and inspiring stories with powerful images from the stage – in addition to branded lifestyle portraits, but, that’s another topic for another day, 🙂

The awesome thing about these candid images is that the sentiment and emotion created through facial expression, body language, lighting and composition can visually punctuate an assortment of potential stories that you want to pair with it.

Let me show you what I mean with one specific speaker image that I’ve captured for a client.

The Flexibility of One Photo is Enormous

This photo is of Jeffrey Hayzlett, and was taken at a NYC chapter meeting of the National Speakers Association.

NYC Branded Lifestyle Portrait Jeff Hayzlett NSA NYC meeting

His dynamic presence, genuine facial expression and demonstrative body language makes this photo a slam dunk around which to create a memorable piece of content.

Now, when looking at this photo, a variety of potential ideas for stories pop immediately into my mind.

Of course, when it comes to a specific speaker, certain stories make more sense for them to leverage, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume all these ideas are in play for Jeffrey to develop further.

These are not fully formed ideas, but simply the starting points for potential ideas that could develop into full-blown social posts.

I’d like to break down these various idea nuggets into three categories: stories that illustrate expertise, life as a business owner and life as a human being.

While simply looking at the image and brainstorming anything that comes to mind, here are a few idea nuggets that immediately strike me:

Illustrating Your Expertise

  • “During my recent talk at @NSANYC, I shared a couple insights about…”
  • “When you’re speaking in front of an audience, don’t pretend to be anything less than who you are. Deliver the message in the way that’s natural to you…”
  • “When I am in front of a room delivering a talk, I feel at home…”
  • “Being a leader means…”
  • Pull a quote from a talk, interview or blog post that has a humorous twist in a way that this photo could visually punctuate.

Life as a Business Owner

  • “I’m extremely grateful for being able to make a living speaking from the stage…”
  • “While at a recent NSANYC event, I was excited to see my long-time colleague and friend_____, and I had to point him out…”
  • “When I’m speaking in front of a room, I’m not in front of a faceless group of folks, I talk to them as if we’re one-on-one, shooting the breeze…”

Life as a Human Being

  • “Although I am living the dream speaking from the stage for a living, there was a time that there was doubt and I wasn’t sure if this was the right path for me…”
  • “As a speaker, we are business owners, and moments like this make the effort worth the challenges, but, the challenges are indeed, challenging…”
  • Create a post that is punctuated with the #booyah hashtag since Jeffrey Hayzlett uses this hashtag in his social posts.

Now this is just a quick brainstorm that took less than a few minutes to generate these potential story ideas, and, I’m sure with more effort, even more ideas could be mustered up for this one particular photo.

Oh wow, its like that?

The takeaway from this is that the idea generation process can be repeated for every single image that lives in your image content portfolio, whether it’s an image taken of you from the stage, a branded lifestyle portrait or an image taken with a smartphone.

The versatility and flexibility of your image content is dependent upon how you approach each photo, and your ability to look beyond the what.

The what of the image is the foundation, no doubt, but, the sentiment of these images reach far beyond the walls in which the photo was captured, and that flexibility is always at your disposal, once you recognize the potential.

When I help provide this insight into the content creation process with my clients, I literally see the light bulbs going off in their heads as this newfound perspective is truly reinforced in their minds, forever changing the way that they approach creating social media and blog content in order to create a rapport and relationship with those they serve.

As far as I’m concerned, that’s a good start to the process, 🙂

John DeMato is a NYC branded lifestyle portrait photographer and content creation expert who serves speakers, authors, coaches and high-level entrepreneurs across the country. His 50+ e-book, S.H.A.R.E. M.A.G.I.C.A.L. I.D.E.A.S., lays out the how, what and why behind creating a memorable and referable online presence – sign up to get your FREE copy today.

Categories
Best Practices Entrepreneurship Health and Wellness Leadership

Don’t Discount this Leadership Diet

Recently I decided to detox with a liquid diet to flush all the nasty toxins to the curb.  I hate to admit it but my mind seemed sharper, my joints ached less and I could watch an entire episode of the House of Cards when I sat on my couch at 8pm.  The best part of this total change of my diet?  My tennis game stepped up a notch during my abstinence from unhealthy food and beverages.

What does this have to do with leadership? Statarius is still in growth mode and for those entrepreneurs reading this, you understand the physical demands when you share your passion continually during the start-up phase.  My team and I aspire for our clients to be more than just satisfied, we want them to be delighted.  That takes an enormous amount of time, energy and relationship-building.

As the company flourishes, the tasks and details exponentially grow like weeds in the yard. Like you I attempt to kill those pesky weeds with the prescribed killer recommended at the local home store.  But what is prescribed for completing the myriad of tasks and details, other than possibly cloning myself?  Delegation was the answer for me. 

Trust me, at first I wasn’t keen on delegating those important tasks and details to my team.  My prescription was the delegation diet to lose some of those details that would bog down my day.  Do you remember the best seller from 1985 entitled The One Minute Manager Meets the Monkey?  Indulge me a moment, and visualize yourself, with monkeys hanging onto your every limb, weighing you down.  My delegation diet included letting my team own and feed the monkeys that kept me from growing the company.  As you focus on your team’s individual strengths, high performers will develop and hone personal strengths, while learning how to handle their monkeys. 

The adrenaline you enjoy from crossing off an item on your to-do list is a nice rush of endorphins that keep you coming back for more.  Yes, it can be addictive.  But, as you delegate your monkeys, the rush of pride and endorphins is doubled.  Actually, watch out for this twice as intense addiction!  The proud team smiles after successful completion of a difficult task plus my realization that 4x the amount could be accomplished during the day blew me away!  To our client’s delight, I tried the delegation diet and relinquished my monkeys to my team. 

Another possible reason for those achy joints, tired mind and exhausted body, I was just carrying around too many monkeys!  No more liquid detox diets for me, I’ll advocate for the delegation diet.  So what monkey will you put up for adoption today?

“It is in giving that we receive.” – Francis of Assisi

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Entrepreneurship Marketing Personal Development Sales

Perspective Without Business Acumen: Is That Even a Thing?

Part Two of a five Part Series.

Without business acumen, you can’t provide meaningful perspective.

In my last article, I discussed Perspective selling, and its cousins, insight & Challenger selling – and how powerful they are. First, I described perspective: knowledge or insight that expands a customer’s understanding of one or more business issues.  When a seller provides perspective, they apply customer-valued (not just any) insights and expertise .

To consistently provide perspective, sellers need to predict – then introduce – then validate – a customer-valued outcome.  Importantly, part one detailed three techniques for presenting perspective: three ways to stimulate a prospect to visualize an outcome.  In summary: asking value-oriented questions, re-framing a prospect’s viewpoint via credible instruction, and storytelling all engage parts of the brain that simple “selling by telling” does not.

Perspective Takes Three Kinds of Acumen.

Here’s the thing: those three techniques require a strong foundation in three areas. World-class sellers need three types of acumen in order to generate useful perspectives regularly.

The three underlying elements of acumen:

  1. Business Acumen
  2. Customer Acumen
  3. Solution Acumen

With apologies, let me bring the old “three legged stool” metaphor out of storage.  Thus, each type of acumen represents one of the three legs, and the stool needs all three legs to support world class performance.

Today’s topic:  Business Acumen

One of my most popular articles ever discussed the importance of business acumen.  It makes the point that you can’t know your customer’s business until you know business. Rather than repeating that article’s point, the  “why” of understanding business, I’d like this article to address the “what” and “how”.

First, there’s good news for non-“mathletes.  Understanding the numbers in a target company’s financial statements probably won’t get you as far as concentrating your time elsewhere (unless you’re in a field like finance or accounting). While financial acumen isn’t a waste of time, just remember:  financial statements describe financial health of a company, while a salesperson is usually more interested in operational health.  It’s more important to know how an operational change will affect the financial statements that it is to be able to analyze a financial statement for needed operational changes.

Business acumen is critical regardless of your role in your organization. This series of articles focuses on seller roles (any role that faces the customer). Nonetheless, if you’re a business leader trying to focus your company on delivering customer-perceived value, your whole organization should be business-savvy.

Perspective selling, becoming a trusted advisor, requires a seller to know their customer’s business well enough to give valued insights. Thus, many sales leaders realize that building business acumen for sellers and customer-facing roles boosts sales performance. Because of this, several Fortune 100 companies put their entire sales organizations through a mini-MBA program.

What Does Basic Business Acumen Cover?

If I had only one day to work with your people to build their business acumen I would organize a workshop covering a few key topics:

  • Treacy and Wiersema’s three value disciplines; how a company sees themselves differentiating in their market.
  • Understanding current trendsin a company’s market: your own and a customer’s.
  • Perspective sellers are attuned to their customers’competition:direct and indirect / substitutes.
  • Business professionals know how to find any company’s top management priorities. Can they leverage this knowledge into insightful interactions with a customer?
  • Businesspeople should know how to uncover major business risksfaced by any company, and articulate ways to address them.
  • While I don’t advocate strongly for mastering financial ratio analysis, I am big on understanding cost structure: fixed vs. variable costs, and break-even point. Know how to impact each of those items, and how you product /service impacts a customer’s cost structure.
  • Sales people should be able to break any company down into its component processes and activities…then identify key processes.
  • Your people need to be able to identify key process inputs/resourcesa company uses.
  • Business professionals should understand how key partners, alliances, and complementary offers build into complex ecosystems..and how these players add value to each other.
  • How does a company define their customers,and why?
  • Business people, especially sellers, should understand market channels:different kinds, how they work, their value, their challenges, and how customers use them to buy.
  • Business acumen helps identify different revenue streams, and understand what value (besides revenue and profit) each stream produces.
  • Professionals should be able to pick out a company’s value propositions. They should also distinguish propositions from value presumptions and statements, and know the dangers of the latter two.

How Business Acumen Shapes Perspective Selling

Business acumen enables sellers to look at a prospective customer’s business insightfully. Demonstrating a deep understanding of the prospective prospect’s business builds needed credibility. Without credibility, sellers risk being just another annoying know-it-all spewing a misdirected “credibility deck” in a prospect’s direction. Value messaging turns into old-fashioned “telling” if the perspective is not anchored in customer insight.

In summary, business acumen is needed to discover value that is hidden to average sellers.  It opens up a more detailed “map” of all the places where your differentiated value can impact a customer.  I often help clients identify completely new personas and roles within their target companies.  Having insight into how a customer’s company really works helps anticipate everywhere a seller’s differentiation generates value. A tool I’ve developed called “value networks” builds this world-class selling practice into a repeatable system for entire sales teams.

Fee free to comment below or to share this article.  If you would like to talk about building the business acumen of your organization, let me know.  I’d love to help you build that organizational capability.

To your success!