"The beginning is half of every action." - Greek proverb
"Everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was." - Robert Louis Stephenson
What are you beginning?
Where are you beginning?
Brand new day photo courtesy of hendrasaputra
Note from Phil: One of the best ways I’ve found to connect with folks is to be completely authentic and share what’s in my heart and my soul. It works for the team I manage, and it works here on my blog. It often hurts to share as much as I do…until I get out of my own way and realize that by sharing, I’m connecting and helping someone else who might be too afraid to share to learn from me.
When I got this article from Vince Poscente, author of the recently published in paperback book The Age of Speed, I knew I had to share it with all my friends. I hope you enjoy it.
Guest article by Vince Poscente, Author of The Age of Speed
"I heard you did a great job connecting with the audience and got all choked up with your acceptance speech for the Canadian Speaking Hall of Fame," said my friend Victoria.
"Yep, when I DO authentic, it works every time," I said with a chuckle.
I was kidding about 'doing' authentic, of course. What immediately connected with the audience was 'being' authentic.
The fact was my introducer, Warren Evans, brought me to the stage with "Welcome home Vince." I was emotional about coming home to Canada with this kind of honor.
I blubbered for a bit, gained composure and then gave an acceptance speech. The single comment I received after was, "I loved your speech. It was you. It was real." The speech wasn't scripted. I had three general ideas I wanted to get across and I made it up from there.
If you are going to give a speech, pitch a product, ask for a date or convince a teenager of something then the authentic approach is the fast way to connect.
Authenticity is truly one of the most endearing qualities in people. And whom do you buy from? Someone thinking of what they should say or someone tells their truth.
Think about it. When you meet someone real. Someone who is being truly authentic; How attractive is this quality?
That's the wacky thing about sales actually. And before you say you're not in sales, remember the quote. "If your lips are moving, chances are you're selling something. So make it good." Making it "good" is simple and tricky all at once.
Think about it. If you're selling something really important you probably want to put your best foot forward. You will likely be on your best behavior and be extremely conscious of saying the right things in the right way. In other words, you don't want to show any vulnerability. You assume that if you show any signs of weakness or chinks in your armor you will loose the sale.
But as Shakespeare once said, "Therein lies the rub."
Think of people you feel most connected to. Have they shown you their vulnerability and authentic selves? YES! Now, in a sale, whom do you buy from? Someone you feel connected to or someone where there is no connection? You buy from people you connect with.
So, here you are spending all this time hiding parts of your personality that has the net effect of disconnection. By trying to speed up a sale by doing everything right, we are slowing it down by being less vulnerable or authentic. The flip side is if you are vulnerable and authentic you speed up the sale.
You have everything to gain and little to lose by being authentic. Vulnerability is not that old Budweiser commercial where you break down crying while saying, "I love you man!" Vulnerability is a state of mind. It is a clear signal to your prospect or person you are talking to with, "This is who I am. This is real. I'm not hiding anything."
If you're new to a situation, then be honest. If you're unsure of an answer, admit it. If you disagree, beg to disagree. If you messed up, say sorry, skip the excuses and move on. If you think you have spinach in your teeth, come out and say it, "Do I have spinach in my teeth?" You get the picture. If it is authentic and honest you are vulnerable in a very good way. This will take you further and faster. People appreciate that in the Age of Speed.
Recently I spoke to a large franchise and the message the organizers kept hitting home was how "important the client experience is." The new approach they would take is to listen to the client and give a specialized experience. Not a "by the book" agenda. They wanted the client to feel that it was a real, authentic encounter.
What struck me funny was how scripted the entire event was. They had every single executive speech on a teleprompter. The underlying message I felt while listening was incongruent. The leaders offered advice they weren't truly demonstrating.
How much different would the audience's experience be if the VP's were trusted to deliver a few key points from an extemporaneous approach? How difficult would it be for the executive s to give up control of the exact outcome?
When it's your turn to speak to one person or a room full of people stand back from trying to be perfect and decide to be you. Knock your script down to key touch points and trust that you authentic self is more than enough.
Be authentic. It's the fastest way to connect and it works every time.
©2008 Vince Poscente
Author Bio
Vince Poscente is best known for his ability to provide an invigorating message to organizations across the corporate landscape. Company leaders call on him to inspire employees to embrace speed when they feel compelled to resist it and to produce faster results in ways they find rewarding. When companies come face-to-face with speed, Poscente helps them understand the challenge and turn speed to their advantage.
To learn more about harnessing the power of speed, join the ever-increasing community of people who subscribe to Full Speed Ahead, a weekly eBrief that will help you discover how the force of speed can be put to use in your life and business.
by Noah St. John, Author of The Secret Code of Success
NOTE from Phil: I got this as a guest article for a book I’ll be reviewing soon. I thought this article was particularly touching for where my head is right now. I hope you enjoy it too.
You’re standing on a gold mine. You know that treasure is buried in there somewhere. So you start digging away… with a teaspoon. How long is THAT going to take you?
Many smart, talented, motivated people are digging for gold using a teaspoon. Yet, if they’d look closely, a beautiful new backhoe sits untouched right under their noses.
You can’t get to your inner “gold” without using the right tool. Ironically, the #1 thing that keeps most of us from our buried treasure is OUR OWN HEAD TRASH, which says things like, “I can’t do it… I’ll never make it… I’m not smart enough… I’m not enough.”
If you want to unearth the treasure buried within you, try this exercise called “Excavating and Evicting Your Negative Reflection.” Your Negative Reflection is like looking in a funhouse mirror to see what you look like. A funhouse mirror distorts your image and causes your head trash. So the first thing we need to do to get your foot off the brake is to excavate your Negative Reflection – get it out in the open – and then evict it – tell it to take a hike.
Take out a sheet of paper and draw two columns: your Negative Reflection on one side and your Authentic Self on the other. First, write your Negative Reflection. What is your head trash saying to you?
Maybe it’s been telling you, “You can’t do it. You’ll never make it. You’re a a phony, and nobody likes you.” Whatever it is, just write it down.
Once you’ve done that, get quiet and listen. Just listen to Who You Really Are. Now, write a statement from your Authentic Self.
Your Authentic Self is Who You Really Are, not the bully in your head. That Negative Reflection is just a bully who’s been living in your head. Your Authentic Self is that still, small voice within that might say, “I am good enough because I bring Value into people’s lives, and I enjoy doing that. I CAN succeed at whatever I put the work into.”
For example, one of my Students wrote:
Negative Reflection
I am not smart enough to be successful. My ADD keeps me from being able to focus, and therefore being able to attain success.
Authentic Self
I am in the top 2% of intelligent people in this world (how many times do I have to be hit in the head to get this?), and if anyone is smart enough to be successful, it’s me. I have proven through previous work that I have the ability to be focused and remain on task for long periods of time.
When you’re done with both columns, answer these questions:
1. Who will I share this information with?
2. When will I share it with them?
3. How will doing that help me gain correct perspective?
4. What are specific examples where the Negative Reflection is WRONG?
Notice that we’re killing your head trash with facts and data. For example, my Negative Reflection might say, “Nobody likes having me around.” But I could realize, “Wait a minute. Plenty of people like me. I just got off the phone with five different people who enjoyed talking to me!” So when that Negative Reflection comes back, you obliterate it with the truth.
You simply say to your Negative Reflection, “You’re wrong. That’s a lie.” Combat it with facts, data and information and by getting it out in the open, out of the darkness – and that’s when you can start to mine that treasure that’s buried right inside you.
Copyrighted material courtesy of Harper Collins.
About the Author
Noah St. John, Ph.D. is Founder and CEO of www.SuccessClinic.com and author of The Secret Code of Success: 7 Hidden Steps to More Wealth and Happiness (Collins). www.SecretCodeBook.com
When you are thinking about who you are and what you stand for, it's important to remember that uniqueness does not equal usefulness. When I interview candidates for jobs on the team I lead, I often ask folks "What makes you the best candidate for the job?" Often, they tell me about something that makes them very unique, but not often enough are they able to tie their unique quality back to something that we can use to make our team better. The ones that are able to make that key connection are the ones I often hire.
Example: When I got out of the Navy, my first major at college was education. I also did field work and taught before-school and after-school programs for a variety of age groups and skill levels. If I stop here, you're probably thinking, "So what? You're a manager and public speaker now. What does this have to do with anything you do today?" And if I stopped right there, you'd be right.
I make the connection by explaining what I learned as a teacher, the ability to discipline for behavior and not the individual, the ability to take a very difficult concept and break it down into easy to understand parts, and the ability to develop and deliver a curriculum that is engaging and entertaining, and you can now see that my background in educational is perfectly suited to my roles now. Most IT professionals are not teachers by education, and most public speakers have never taught young children how to read. My uniqueness allows me to do what I do from a different angle than most people come from.
What's your uniqueness? Are you taking the time to explain that your unique blend of skills and abilities are what make you the best person to take on the challenge you're striving for? Or are you like this fork, unique but not very useful?
Chris Brogan is one of my favorite bloggers, for his authenticity, his insightfulness, and his willingness to share with everyone. He re-launched his “rock star” program of sharing his community with his community.
And now, to share a little love back to Chris (and a little knowledge for you):
Thanks for sharing folks like me with your community Chris. And thanks for all the value you bring to the world.
"They say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself." — Andy Warhol
"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those acts will be written the history of this generation." — Robert F. Kennedy
Are you changing time, or is time changing you?
What small portion of events are you changing?
For the second year in a row, I contributed to the amazing Age of Conversation project. This year 237 “marketers” contributed their smarts to create one amazing book. I put “marketers” in quotation marks because some of the folks are like me, an accidental marketer (there’s a whole section dedicated to folks like us), and some are more traditional.
You can buy the book right now, or you can keep reading to learn more.
What’s amazing about it? LOTS of things, but I thought I’d focus on just 5 things.
Still not convinced? Check out the “Money Quotes” courtesy of John Moore.
Check out the list of all the Age of Conversation contributors and find a few new blogs to help YOU make it great!
Have you read the article about blogging being dead?
If your goal is to write "posts quickly skyrocketing to the top of Google's search results for any given topic."
I think if you're trying to have intelligent conversations or share best ideas, you're better off writing an article on your blog instead of just writing 140 characters on Twitter.
Do a Google search for manager, and tell me where Manager Tools and Slacker Manager rank.
This article is interesting though, and I agree that as mainstream media go more blog-like (read: more frequent and fast updates) they will show up higher in search engine rankings. After all, what are you looking for when you search for "Obama campaign speech" Obama's campaign speech on a major news network, probably in a copywrited video form, or some bloggers take on the same speech, with a link to some useless YouTube video?
Another way to think of it is comparing it to TV: Do you want to watch The Office or do you want to watch a show that talks about The Office?
Make sense?
What do you think?
"Hold yourself responsible for a higher standard than anybody else expects of you." - Henry Ward Beecher
"Do not bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself." - Willam Faulkner
How high is your standard for excellence?
Are you committed to being a better version of yourself today…and tomorrow…and every day?
Flickr photo credit to fadedmilkyway
Please take 9 minutes to watch 10 year old Dalton Sherman. He shares a powerful message for everyone out there.
His message is centered around what you believe.
For those hard of hearing or that don’t want to push play and watch the video, here are 3 questions for you to think about this week:
Do you believe in you?
Do you believe in your peers?
Do you believe in everyone else around you?
He is 10 years old and he believes in himself. He is delivering a keynote speech to 20,000 people. He’s being his best authentic self, and his message definitely inspires me.
You owe it to yourself to invest 9 minutes in yourself to watch the video.
Thank you Stephen Hopson for sharing this amazingly inspirational video.
Timothy Johnson and Stephen Smith – Two of my favorite goofballs
(Separated at birth???)
Pam Thomas is one of my favorite help yourself bloggers, and she has become one of my dearest friends as I go through this crazy universe. So today, when she encouraged me to embrace my inner goofball, and do something F-U-N today, I had to stop my busy life and think about some of the fun I want to have.
First, I wanted to look through pictures of my friends. That always feels fun to me. the picture above are two of my favorite friends, Tim and Stephen. Believe it or not, they are NOT related, but they are goofballs.
Second, I decided to have some pizza and chocolate dunking sticks for dinner, instead of broccoli, rice and beef as planned. That was AWESOME, and the chocolate got all over me. Fun stuff!
Last, instead of writing a bunch of articles or reading through all my e-mails or catching up with everything for work like I thought I was going to do, I decided instead to watch the Tampa Bay Rays and the Philadelphia Phillies in game 1 of the World Series. I LOVE baseball, so this is way fun!
Oh, and one other thing. I’m sticking my tongue out every time a politic ad comes on the TV. I’m doing it so much, my tongue hurts now :)
Baby steps towards embracing my inner goofball.
What are you doing to have fun and embrace YOUR inner goofball?
"You cannot kill time without injuring eternity." — Henry David Thoreau
"We must not allow the clock and the calendar to blind us to the fact that each moment of life is a miracle and mystery." - H. G. Wells
Are you trying to kill you time?
Are you allowing your clock and calendar to make you blind to the rest of your life?
My friend and CEO of Jibber Jobber Jason Alba wrote what should be a wake-up call to all folks who use LinkedIn. Please do yourself a favor and read LinkedIn Maintenance I and LinkedIn Maintenance II, and do what Jason recommends. You should also buy a copy of his book I’m On LinkedIn Now What, but at the very least, please read his posts.
Here are the highlights for those of you who don’t want to click through:
1) Back up as a PDF your LinkedIn profile and export your contacts regularly.
2) Never have your work e-mail address as your primary LinkedIn email address.
Wondering why or how? Read LinkedIn Maintenance I and LinkedIn Maintenance II.
Trust me. It’s WAY worth it to take 10 minutes and do what Jason suggests.
I’ve been writing Make It Great! for almost 4 years, 3 of those years on Typepad, 1 on Blogger, and now, I want to move my blog to it’s own domain using WordPress, and take my blog to the next level.
I have 2 questions for you, and I’d love your feedback:
What domain should I choose?
What design do you like?
For those who may be new here or who want to know my goals with my site, my goal is quite simple: To break free from corporate America in the not-too-distant future and do public speaking, coaching, writing and training. Topics I specialize in are personal branding, customer service, and management, which all revolve around the importance of connecting people to ideas and most importantly, to other people.
Thanks for reading and for sharing your suggestions with me. I’m really good at helping other people brand themselves, I just have a hard time getting clear on me, and I really appreciate your help!
"Not the maker of plans and promises, but rather the one who offers faithful service in small matters. This is the person who is most likely to achieve what is good and lasting." - Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe
"Every single one of us can do things that no one else can do - can love things that no one else can love. We are like violins. We can be used for doorstops, or we can make music. You know what to do." - Barbara Sher
What small matters are you offering your faithful services to?
Do you know what to do?
NOTE: Oh yes you do!
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