leadership

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Networking is an opportunity to learn. Many take interest in networking events if there is a clear path to a money making opportunity. I disagree. A few years ago, after a series of significant events in my life, I promised myself I’d be more open to accepting invitations, pursuing opportunities and exploring open doors when they presented themselves. I was always rather quick to say “no thanks” and remain aloof allowing opportunities to move on without me. Walking through the open door can be exciting and lead to a career opportunity and almost always leads to personal growth. I simply have to step through. Recognizing that many people do not agree with me. I explain away many open doors as meeting with a potential client. Well, that’s sort of true, isn’t it? Anyone is a potential client for my digital agency.

Yesterday I was in Manhattan meeting someone who is part of the leadership team of the Lead With Giants community we belong to. When group members find themselves in the same city, they try and meet for coffee. Did I go to the meting thinking I would get something out of it! Absolutely! At the very least, I would have a new friend and colleague.

As a result of this no agenda meeting, I’m pleased to announce I will be co-hosting a Lead with Giants Tweet Chat on December 7th. Our topic will center on Leadership after a Failure. I hope you will join us, Leadership Tweet Chat to find out how. It’s free!

Asking for help

by Admin

Last month I had the opportunity to speaker to a group of entrepreneurs at the NY NOW Show at the Javits Center. I spoke about branding with the emphasis on how branding is not just about a logo plus some business stationery. Branding focuses on messaging, a target audience and a few more steps. There’s more about it in my presentation slides.

The one hour talk ended with another 45 minutes of questions. As a speaker, it’s always nice to get lots of questions. We talked about branding case studies and my favorite topic, how to get your business started online. What do you think of my website? What do you think of my products?

One of the ladies who was still in the development phase of her enterprise, asked about finding a mentor. They had questions about how to get into retail and how to find salespeople. I passed on a good piece of advice once given to me. It was constructive criticism from one of my clients. He said, “Michelle, you don’t ask for enough.” What he meant was I don’t ask for help often and I don’t ask what people can do for me.

This is the snippet of wisdom I handed off to this young lady. It’s good advice. Ask for help. Help can come in many forms. IT may mean an introduction, answer a question, or finding someone who will let you run an idea by them, and of course, manpower.

Equine Inspiration

by Admin

American Pharaoh won the most elusive sports trophy yesterday, the Triple Crown. The now legendary Thoroughbred brought joy to the world and galloped his way into sporting immortality. American Pharaoh is a horse with a misspelled name, whose owners put him up for auction but no one wanted him because of a bump on his leg, and one with a short tail because it was chomped off by a stablemate. Although American Pharaoh has every decision made for him, down to what he has for breakfast every morning, he taught us that becoming a champion takes persistence, teamwork, faith and leadership.

There an adage that says, “People aren’t against you, they’re for themselves.” The other horses, jockeys and trainers that show up to Belmont when there is a Triple Crown contender are billed as potential spoilers. They aren’t there to keep the crown from American Pharaoh’s team, they are there to win a race for themselves.

When American Pharaoh didn’t sell at auction, his owners bought him back and gave him another try with his trainer, Bob Baffert.

American Pharaoh’s trainer has come close to winning the Triple Crown before. Baffert shows up every year with at least one contender, with the same faith, hope, and spirit that he always does. We have no way to know what he is really feeling on the inside. Mr. Baffert’s winning attitude gave me faith today. He taught to believe in myself and to tune out the naysayers. Pun intended, for sure!

I’ll admit that I am inspired the horse as much as I am by the owner, trainer and jockey. They are part of a team. Even though horse is totally oblivious to all that goes on around him he is an athlete and a champion! His trainer outfitted him with earplugs on race day to make sure he stayed calm! He has no idea what he is worth, nor would he ever care.

American Pharaoh and Bob Baffert are immortalized in history.

Mentorship All the Way

by Admin

Mentorship is a wonderful thing. A mentor is someone who you have a relationship with for the sake of getting advice, learning, and receiving general guidance. They are an experienced and trusted adviser. My mentors happen to be my good friends the same way many of my clients are.

Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Airlines wrote about the importance of a business mentor. “It’s always good to have a helping hand at the start. I wouldn’t have got anywhere in the airline industry without the mentorship of Sir Freddie Laker. Now, I love mentoring young entrepreneurs”

Mentors are not necessarily experts in everything. They are knowledgeable or experienced in a few skill sets or industries. They have one or two specialized areas of expertise such as raising capital, ecommerce or asset management.

There are many articles in business journals on how to approach and ask someone to be your mentor. They make it sound like asking someone to prom; nerve racking and risky! This has never been an issue for me. My mentors and I found each other, we are fortunate.

Mentors remain with their charges; they do not abandon them when things go off the expected course. Being a mentor can be challenging at times. It is not all about introductions and coffee meetings. It can mean long hours of working together. Taking on the responsibility of being a mentor means standing up your charge when their ideas are not easily accepted.

How leaders de-stress

by Admin

Every time I type the word “distress,” my spellchecker underlines the word in red squiggly lines and wants to change it to “distress.” Maybe the spell checker is wiser! When unable to “de-stress”, then maybe you are in distress.

De-stressing can be tough for anyone, but leaders sometimes face situations unique to their station. There are times when many feel there is no one to speak with or at least no one who can truly understand a situation. That may be because a decision is unique to your job or personal life. It takes someone who truly understands due to their own experience or because they have witnessed someone else’s, to truly relate to all the dynamics of a decision or non-decision.

A colleague went through a particularly difficult and very public conundrum. A decision he made, resulted in a backlash from his long-time co-workers. It was a personal decision that was a matter of who he chose to sponsor as a replacement prior to her own retirement. He had no decision-making ability in the successor, but of course could voice who he felt was a suitable replacement.

I called him every time I saw it hit the news. The rumor mill was even more active. We were not and still are not close friends, but I wanted to let him know there was someone out there who understood. I knew he had good friends who also grasped the dynamic of the situation, but I was in an equivalent organization; in an equivalent position so felt I could empathize well.

It is an unknown whether I helped or not, but he answered the phone every time I called, listened, talked with and thanked me.
There are times when leaders cannot find someone to relate. There are times when leaders, bound by non-disclosure agreements or other legal restrictions are limited to discussing matters only with their attorney or other directors. How do you de-stress then?

A goal without a plan

by Admin

Recently I asked a business coach for advice on saying no to a goal without a plan. Okay, not just saying “no,” more like driving the word home. An opportunity was pitched to me, and although it was something I would enjoy leading, it was just a goal, more like a wish. There was no realistic and executable strategy. To make matters worse, the team had a record of losing money on deals. I politely declined the opportunity.

That did not discourage them. New requests came from via phone calls, emails and even texts. The “no” was always ignored and followed the next day with a new request from someone else. It became so ridiculous that handling this situation was something I had to schedule and prepare for every day.

There is a difference between tenacious retooling and badgering. I checked in with my business coach. “What do I do?” I asked. I was frustrated with the lack of respect for my decision and the time this was taking away from my day. I had solid reasons to turn this down. The opportunity cost was too high. The work would take away time from my family and my business ventures, but most of all, the goal was not achievable without a plan.

It was possible but not probable. Initially I had contributed ideas for a long-term strategy. My ideas were initially accepted, but quickly things went back to the way they were always done. The financial hemorrhaging method.

A goal without a plan is just a wish. Antoine de Saint-Exupery, French writer

These are true words, unless leprechauns play into it somehow. This was no opportunity; it was an energy black hole.

The business coach gave me two canned responses to work with. The first came across as rude so it was discarded. The second put the onus on me and I worked with that one. Here is what I use for those who just will not accept an answer, “How can I phrase the word “no” in a way that you will accept and understand?” Direct, pointed. It worked! Although the recruiter was put off by the remark, I have not heard a single request again!

“A goal is a dream with a deadline.” – Napoleon Hill