June 9th, 2010
BP Oil Spill creates Sacrifice Zone
We have created a sacrifice zone in the Gulf of Mexico. We were willing to accept the risk of a huge disaster. However, since most of us are busy doing their own things day in day out, we did not give it much thought. We get up in the morning. We drive to where ever we have to go. We fly to a business speaker conference. We go home. We know that we are totally reliant on dirty, dangerous energy sources. But we get a tall mocha and go on with our day.
Now we see what happens when we create a sacrifice zone. So the question is: should we identify other sacrifice zones and accept that they may one day be destroyed, too. We need to feed our economy, our appetite for luxury and our need to travel. We can’t do that without oil.
We never thought much about wells in the Arabian Desert leaking or burning, or water sources and wildlife habitat in Nigeria being destroyed for ever by our oil businesses. But we have already sacrificed these places. Do we even know we might miss them?
Now we have sacrificed the Gulf of Mexico and maybe more.
Do we make this our policy and our practice? It is our unstated policy now, isn’t it?
Tags: bp, gulf of mexico, luxury, oil spill, sacrifice, Travel
Posted in Travel, alternative energy, business speaker | No Comments »
April 29th, 2010
On of the things a business speaker likes to talk about is the moment when someone changes his or her mind. We all have opinions. Some are better informed than others. Some are just other people’s opinions that we regurgitate. But if we are lucky, we come across a time in our lives when we look at an opinion and realize that it is “off”. If we stand strong, we change our mind.
I am not so interested in the little changes, like when you might decide you really do like guacamole after having avoided it for years. I am more interested in the big changes, like when you decided that the invasion of Iraq really was a stupid thing, or when you decided that acquiring more parks and open space really are good things to do for the next generations.
It sounds like Governor Crist of Florida has had one of those moments. After taking an airplane tour over the massive oil spill that is uncontrollably taking over the Gulf of Mexico and after thinking about the people who died in the explosion, he said that he had changed his mind about off shore drilling. Crist is now convinced Florida does not need it or want it. After seeing how much damage can come from an accident, he has set aside one of his party’s biggest mantras: “Drill, baby, drill!”
Now Crist might be heard saying, “No drilling near Florida!”
As a business speaker, I would find a way to use this turnaround in a speech about leadership. Sometimes you have to take the right stance, even if it is opposite of the mantra of the day.
Tags: crist, drilling, florida, gulf of mexico, oil spill
Posted in Management, Travel, alternative energy, business speaker, history, people, personal growth, politics | No Comments »
April 14th, 2010
I rent a lot of cars traveling around as a business speaker and a corporate leader. I am usually unimpressed with what I drive. Granted I always rent the least expensive cars, so I don’t expect much. I have driven a few hybrids i really liked. I enjoyed the Prius. I thought it drove well, was comfortable and handled nicely. But the other day i rented a Volkswagen Jetta. I had two different Beetles back in the day and I loved them, so it was a sentimental moment. I really liked the Jetta. It was comfortable and it was zippy. I drove it in Dallas, which is one of the towns where you have to drive fast or get blown off the road. I was able to run with the big dogs and fly like the wind. I had no idea the Jetta was a sports car. I’d have to say it was a treat to drive.
Tags: dallas, hybrids, prius, volkswagen
Posted in Travel, business speaker, people | No Comments »
March 6th, 2010
The cab driver’s kids.
As a business speaker, I love to talk to people about their businesses. After the end of the Inside Self Storage World Expo, I jumped into a cab to take me to McCarran airport and home. I had been gone from home for what seemed like a very long time. The cab driver was playing a CD of music that sounded East African and had a nice beat and an endearing melody. So I struck up a conversation.
I said, “I am enjoying this song. What language are they singing in?” “Ethiopian”, he said proudly. So we chatted about music and we chatted about how busy Las Vegas seemed this week. He asked me if I had ever been to Africa or to Ethiopia. I said I had not, but that I had heard that Ethiopia was a beautiful land.
The cab driver’s kids live in Ethiopia in a small town outside of Addis Ababa. He hasn’t been home to see them in a year. When he can go, it takes him 19 hours to fly from Las Vegas to Washington-Dulles, where he has a four hour layover before flying to Rome to connect to the flight to Ethiopia.
Last year he was home to see his kids twice. One time a few years ago, he flew through Frankfurt on Lufthansa and saved two hours of layover time.
The can driver sends his wife $300.00 a month. That is enough to support the cab driver’s wife, the cab driver’s two kids and his brother’s family. They don’t live in style, but they manage to get by. There is little work in Ethiopia and even less cash. So a few American Dollars become significant.
The cab driver used to live in California, but the cost of living was too high. In California he had to drive a cab 16 hours a day, six days a week in order to be able to send home $300.00 a month. In Las Vegas, he can make more money, spend less money and save a little money driving 12 hours a day, six days a week.
He lives in a cheap apartment he shares with three other cab drivers who send money home to their families every month in Ethiopia, Somalia and Iraq.
He is saving money to bring his family over to the U.S. He just finished getting his US citizenship. It took him three years and about $2,000 to make it happen. There are no opportunities for his children in Ethiopia. His oldest child is a ten year old boy. At 14, the army will come and take him away. He doesn’t have a lot of time to get his children out.
He hopes his kids will get a good education in the US. He hopes they will not fall in with a bad crowd of kids when they get here. He hopes the corruption and inconsistencies in the Ethiopian system won’t prevent him from getting his family here before his boy is conscripted. In the US he can have some hopes for the future.
As we pulled up to the curb at the American Airlines door, I told him I would complain less about being gone from my kids when I travel for work. I wished him luck. And I wished his kids luck, too.
Tags: africa, american arilines, inside self storage world expo, kids, las vegas, lufthansa, McCarran
Posted in Management, Travel, business speaker, marketing, people | 1 Comment »
February 28th, 2010
So I am back at my home away from home. I think I must have been at Las Vegas Trade Shows 25 times in the last 10 years. Las Vegas is busy this weekend, or at least the Paris Hotel and Bally’s are. If people are not spending money, they must be some other people. It was a good weekend for those who live off of the tourists and gamers on The Strip. There was also a NASCAR race in Las Vegas this weekend that pulled a lot of people. Still people left time for the Olympics. I heard lots of screams and groans when the US tied Canada in hockey. I was having a snack in one of the restaurants, but could hear everyone clearly from the sportsbar. I sure heard the noise when The US beat Canada in overtime.
I am here to promote the PhoneSmart business, act as a business speaker for a round table session and a presentation to regional managers on sales training initiatives. I hope to spend some time with current clients and some future clients. It all kicks off early Monday.
Tags: bally, business, hockey, las vegas, nascar, olympics, paris, the strip, trade shows
Posted in Travel, business speaker, marketing | No Comments »
February 20th, 2010
Today I was teaching and doing face to face marketing at the Kansas City home show. We had a lot of people pass our booth. We had a simple sales goal: get a post card with a “special offer” in the hands of everyone who passed by. So as a business speaker, I needed to develop a great script to use.
At home shows, you hear the cooking demo people and the tool demo people doing their pitches. Some of their pitches are long and involved. I realize their goal was different then ours. They are trying to make sales and collect revenue at the show.
But our script was simple: “here you are”, “Here is something you can probably use”, “Did you get one yet?” were our phrases.
Then we had to perfect the physical business. We learned to extend the arm all the way to the person passing by. We learned to leave our hand with the card out in front of the person until the card was accepted. You can’t get much simpler than that. We also handed out about 1,500 offers. We had a good day.
Tags: home show, kansas city, post card, sales goals, special offer
Posted in Management, Travel, business speaker, marketing, sales | No Comments »
January 24th, 2010
My sister-in-law leaves today for Haiti to work with a medical team. They will try to bring relief and attention to survivors. There will be fifty people on the team from various medical and non-medical backgrounds. I know their work and their time will be very much appreciated by the people they meet and the people they help. The International Medical Relief Organization is sponsoring the trip. Follow the link and see if there is a way you might be able to help.
International Medical Relief
I know we are not all able to lend a hand personally. I am scheduled to give a talk as a business speaker in the next couple of weeks. Like the vast majority of people, I will continue with my normal routines. Thankfully for the people of Haiti, there are lots of people who are able to go in person to help.
Posted in Travel, business speaker, food, people, personal growth | No Comments »
January 15th, 2010
Take a Hawaiian approach.
I returned several months ago from the PhoneSmart Hawaiian un-conference, which was an excellent event. We got wonderful feedback from the attendees and sponsors. I had a chance to act as a business speaker and MC the event. People thought the format and the discussions were very valuable. The location was awesome and soul-feeding. And we had a chance to learn just a little bit about Hawaiian culture. Some people tease me and call me “Mr. History”, because I love learning about the origins and the development of places and people. I won’t bore you with all the fascinating things I learned about the first Hawaii settlers, but I will share a few things that should help you in your business and in your life.
Beauty is not an option. Everywhere you turn in Hawaii there are beautiful flowers and beautiful landscapes and beautiful views. This affects every aspect of daily life. Keep this in mind for your business. Redecorate your office. Plant more flowers in front of your store. Wear colorful shirts. Take time to watch the sunset. If you follow this piece of advice, your customers will want to do business with you, because they appreciate a nod to beauty as well, even if they don’t know they do. You’ll also like coming to work better than you used to …and that will show, too.
Courage comes standard. The first settlers in Hawaii traveled 1,700 miles across the ocean in big double-hulled canoes. Then they settled on an island that was mostly lava rock. Do you have that kind of courage? I am not sure you need that much, but you do need a certain amount of courage to face today’s business environment without doing something short-sighted or stupid. You need courage to ask every one of your prospects to do business with you. And you need courage to continue to do your periodic price increases.
Adapt while remaining true to yourself. The pace and intensity of change that occurred in the Hawaiian islands since the first European ship anchored off the Kona coast during the time of the American Revolution has been relentless. Yet the Hawaiian people have adapted very well, while maintaining many of the core values that make them Hawaiian.
How are you and your business adapting to the changing world around you? Are you remaining true to yourself?
Tags: american revolution, courage, flowers, hawaii, history, Kona, unconference
Posted in Management, Travel, business speaker, history, marketing, people, personal growth | 3 Comments »
January 5th, 2010
The Best Business Speaker Will Deliver the Goods!
Large companies typically hold annual or semi-annual conferences where board members huddle over financial and sales data, stockholders listen for optimistic news or voice their opinions, and senior managers and personnel gather to strategize and socialize. Somewhere in the mix, the event will feature sessions in which a business speaker addresses the gathered masses. The purpose of these occasions is to create enthusiasm for the company and its direction, inspire those gathered to renew their commitment to achieving goals, and leave conferees with a sense of mission going forward. An effective speaker will demonstrate a combination of expertise in the company’s industry, a ready wit, and a passionate delivery that will cause listeners to be attentive and fully engaged. Smaller companies that do not hold national or regional conferences, but still want to expose their workforce to a knowledgeable and motivating business speaker, may host an in-house meeting where top producers are rewarded with an excellent meal and an entertaining message.
In either situation, the best choices will have both the resume and the personality to produce a memorable impact on the audience. A fitting resume would include notable success in their area of business, and the more prominent, the better. Jack Welch from GE, and before him, Lee Iacocca from Chrysler turned their past business successes into very lucrative careers after retiring from the leadership of these companies. And retired president Bill Clinton commands the highest fees on the planet for giving speeches. Personality is also important, because the individual should be engaging, warm, passionate, and perhaps humorous, too. The last thing an organizer of a business function wants is a boring speaker, regardless of their business credentials.
Larger corporations might have the budget to choose a business speaker from one of the leading speaker bureaus boasting a bevy of world-class communicators. The best speakers receive fees in excess of $50,000! For half that, they can still hire a well-known speaker that will deliver a great address that meets the organizational purposes for the event. Small companies without large budgets should look within their industry for leaders with proven track records in business, and verifiable positive experience as a public speaker. Organizers looking for a quality communicator should contact colleagues and leaders in their field to seek recommendations, and whenever possible, should attend an event at which the prospective communicator is speaking.
Tags: achieveing goals, business speaker, sales data, stockholders
Posted in Management, Travel, business speaker, marketing, people, personal growth | 1 Comment »
November 30th, 2009
I had the pleasure of doing a business speaker engagement recently in Toronto, Canada.
I get to go there on occasion and I always enjoy it. It is an interesting mix of metropolitan bustle and Canadian laid-backness. I tell people it reminds me of a mix of New York, Chicago and London…just a lot more mellow. Since I like New York, Chicago, London and mellow, you can imagine I like Toronto, too.
I enjoy the business climate there, too. People are very focused on running their businesses and creating more deals. You can tell that people here take care of business, because even though there are clearly a lot of people who are not wealthy, I cannot find any signs of poverty. One can also easily find the wealthy parts of own, and there are lots of them.
One of the ways I measure a city is to visit one of the local Whole Foods grocery stores. You can tell what sort of a market you are in by the size of the Whole Foods store and the array of products. Downtown Toronto has one of the biggest and most interesting Whole Foods I have ever been in.
My keynote speech seemed to go well. I had a lot of nice compliments from people and I felt good with the interaction. I hope it leads to more interesting opportunities.
I also got to meet one of my self storage marketing heroes. I met Allan, the owner of Jiffy Self Storage in Toronto. He has been in the self storage business for over 20 years and has probably forgotten more about marketing self storage than most people have ever learned about it. Just search the key phrase “Self storage Toronto” on Google or Yahoo and see how strong his results are.
Tags: canada, chicago, foods market, london, new york, self storage, toronto
Posted in Travel, marketing, people | 2 Comments »
|
|
