While it is certainly unsettling to get downgraded, the resulting unsureness that some companies will feel creates opportunities for their competitors. Whether the crisis is caused by the debt, caused by irresponsible funding, caused by short-sighted politicians or whatever you perceive it to be, businesses will continue to innovate and people will continue to live their lives. Companies with sound fundamentals, a solid talent development strategy and a courageous sales and marketing plan will continue to grow and prosper. What is the situation with your company?
Debt crisis creates opportunities for companies of courage
August 7th, 2011The hustle goes on in New Orleans
October 4th, 2010I was in New Orleans recently. It is a city I enjoy visiting for its warm people, rich culture, great architecture, excellent cuisine, varied musical offerings and its energetic hustlers.
Walking in the French Quarter allows you to see, hear and get involved in all kinds of hustles. As a keynote speaker, I love to see how other people address crowds. The callers who try to get you into their clubs, the shoe shine guys who try to shine your shoes for twenty bucks and the people who tell you long stories to beg for money. Hey that’s kind of what a keynote speaker does. We tell long stories, some more interesting and valuable than others, in order to beg for you to buy a book, schedule a follow-up seminar or order our service package. The thing I admire about the street hustlers is their sense of urgency. They are one shot sellers. If they can’t separate some money from you in the first five minutes, they are out of the picture. How do you create that kind of urgency in your business dealings without being obnoxious?
sometimes the less a keynote speaker says…the better
August 11th, 2010I found myself in an interesting situation today where my skills as a business speaker and keynote speaker were going to be very valuable. I had a small but powerful and influential audience. I needed to touch them emotionally. I needed to make several important points that they would agree with and take seriously. I needed to be respected by them and taken seriously. I needed them to alter their position on a major issue.
I attempted to listen and understand before I sought to be understood. Thank you Stephen Covey for that valuable and timeless lesson. I told them briefly what I was going to teach and show them. I attempted to teach and show. I told them what I thought I had just showed them and taught them.
I had some great help in this presentation, so that I was one of a group working on the issue at hand. I tried to use as little time and as few words as possible to make the points and effect the changes.
It is interesting to think about how much time, effort and preparation over many years a keynote speaker takes to create a “keynote speech” that takes only a minute and makes a substantial difference.
Sometimes the less said, the better.
A keynote speaker asks if you love work or hate work.
August 4th, 2010A keynote speaker asks if you love work or hate work.
It is typical for people to have a love-hate relationship with their workplace, their co-workers and superiors. If the people running the organization are paying attention, they can use this to improve the business weekly.
Take employee comments seriously. If they compliment you and tell you things that they love about work, try to find a way to do more of the same. If they tell you something they hate or bring up a problem, take this very seriously. Use the problem to find some root causes, expose some weaknesses, uncover some sloppiness. Then do something about it. Create an initiative, a training exercise or a new protocol. Measure results. Reexamine the process and measure results again.
If you do this correctly, employees can love to work at your place of business, even if there are things they hate about it, because you try to address what they hate and make it less hateful.
Do you love to work where you work, or do you hate it?
Keynote speaker recommends a carry-in
July 24th, 2010As a keynote speaker, consultant and business executive, I am often asked how to keep employees motivated. At our PhoneSmart call center, we work on motivation issues every day. Taking hundreds of phone calls a day can wear down even the most self motivated positive thinker. After all the things I have done and heard about to motivate employees, a carry-in lunch is by far the best.
Carry-in lunches are a great way to motivate your people and get them working together on a fun project. We try to have one at least once a month. You would be amazed to see how many excellent chefs you have on staff. People have so much fun preparing their favorite recipes and eating other people’s favorites. People spend a good week getting excited about what they will prepare and talking with everyone else about what they are preparing. The team work and cooperation that surround preparing a carry-in and cleaning up afterwards are very special and bonding moments.
You could not get better food from any restaurant or any caterer. Our carry-ins are delicious. You will be especially pleased if you have a diverse workforce with a wide range of ethnic heritages, because you and your coworkers will get to taste interesting treats you would otherwise never know about. The pride people feel when everyone raves about their dishes goes a long way to making people feel good about the people they work with and their workplace.
We sometimes have special theme carry-ins based on a holiday or a particular style of cooking. It is a lot of fun to see how everyone interprets the theme through their cooking. You’ll find that employees will become famous for a dish or two, and popular demand will mean they bring those dishes often.
Get this tradition started in your workplace and you will love the results. The eating will be great and your people will feel really good about it.
