Always enjoy meeting new people who are energetic and inspiring. Recently met several university students at the Circle who have the inspirational spirit.
We had an opportunity to have a good discussion about their ideas, dreams and aspirations. It was very inspiring to see their ambition and focus on their academics, their projects and their careers.
They stopped by for a tour of AlphaKOR and we had another good discussion. It was one of their first looks at a company in action. The interesting feedback made was "We are really surprised how open and informal the culture is here." Explained that is what it takes to be an AlphaKORian!
At a presentation about a month ago, met an individual who just arrived in Canada a week before. She attended our Circle and was introduced to many in the room.
It was inspiring to hear her story how she left her family and moved to Canada with her husband to focus on both of their careers. She was grateful to meet People Like Us who are genuine, caring and helpful. She was inspired to see how people care about her as oppose to pushing their own agenda to make money for themselves.
There are many others who are building on their great ideas, battling personal challenges and health issues who are Inspiring People. Wishing all of them continued success and to stay focused on their dreams.
What inspiring people have you met lately?
Connecting professionals to share stories of making new business relationships and creating opportunities.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Vulnerability Makes You a Better Leader
Being vulnerable makes you a better leader.
"People prefer their leaders with an appropriate balance of confidence and humility. Yet, one of the greatest challenges many leaders struggle with is embracing (and revealing) their own vulnerabilities."
Why do many feel they have to be perfect and never make any mistakes? There is a significant difference between striving for perfection and appearing to be perfect. Many cannot tell the difference and struggle with people like us. Yes we strive for perfection while at the same time we are open to being vulnerable - the balance.
In a recent presentation which included some personal stories, one gentleman approached me to ask why there was such an admission of a weakness? My response was open, honest and straight-forward: "I am not embarrassed to admit sometimes you deal with all the pressure by going home and spending some alone time and yes even cry". He seemed to have a real problem with being this honest and sharing it with the audience. It's the only policy I know!
Continuously raising the bar and striving for excellence while being vulnerable are what makes you a better leader.
Check out Brad Smith, President and CEO of Intuit, for his story which inspired this week' blog topic.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130816142308-1940438-vulnerability-makes-you-a-better-leader?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0
"People prefer their leaders with an appropriate balance of confidence and humility. Yet, one of the greatest challenges many leaders struggle with is embracing (and revealing) their own vulnerabilities."
Why do many feel they have to be perfect and never make any mistakes? There is a significant difference between striving for perfection and appearing to be perfect. Many cannot tell the difference and struggle with people like us. Yes we strive for perfection while at the same time we are open to being vulnerable - the balance.
In a recent presentation which included some personal stories, one gentleman approached me to ask why there was such an admission of a weakness? My response was open, honest and straight-forward: "I am not embarrassed to admit sometimes you deal with all the pressure by going home and spending some alone time and yes even cry". He seemed to have a real problem with being this honest and sharing it with the audience. It's the only policy I know!
Continuously raising the bar and striving for excellence while being vulnerable are what makes you a better leader.
Check out Brad Smith, President and CEO of Intuit, for his story which inspired this week' blog topic.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130816142308-1940438-vulnerability-makes-you-a-better-leader?trk=tod-home-art-list-large_0
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Building Your Network: 3 Things to Do Everyday
Top 3 things to do everyday to build your network:
1. Share your network
2. Share information
3. Be actively compassionate
A recent post in LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130524133536-45185363-building-your-network-3-things-to-do-everyday) made me ponder what do people like us do everyday to build our Circles?
Agree sharing your network by connecting people all the time should happen naturally when the opportunity arises. Being known as "the connector" is a good thing to building your Circle.
I personally enjoy connecting people every month at our WindsorEssex Circle events. Watching new relationships develop and seeing interactive discussions leading to great ideas which turn into opportunities for the people you just connected is what it's all about.
Sharing information such as articles specifically to someone in your network makes them know the value you have on the relationship. Take some time to think about others and what they may be interested in. Make it genuine and not tied to your services to generate a sale.
Being compassionate and bringing positive energy to everything you do regardless of how your day has gone or what is on your plate can sometimes be difficult. Breathe, focus and bring on the positive energy and thoughts. People prefer to connect with people like us. Don't forget to smile.
What are you doing to build your Circles every day?
1. Share your network
2. Share information
3. Be actively compassionate
A recent post in LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20130524133536-45185363-building-your-network-3-things-to-do-everyday) made me ponder what do people like us do everyday to build our Circles?
Agree sharing your network by connecting people all the time should happen naturally when the opportunity arises. Being known as "the connector" is a good thing to building your Circle.
I personally enjoy connecting people every month at our WindsorEssex Circle events. Watching new relationships develop and seeing interactive discussions leading to great ideas which turn into opportunities for the people you just connected is what it's all about.
Sharing information such as articles specifically to someone in your network makes them know the value you have on the relationship. Take some time to think about others and what they may be interested in. Make it genuine and not tied to your services to generate a sale.
Being compassionate and bringing positive energy to everything you do regardless of how your day has gone or what is on your plate can sometimes be difficult. Breathe, focus and bring on the positive energy and thoughts. People prefer to connect with people like us. Don't forget to smile.
What are you doing to build your Circles every day?
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
How do you qualify Opportunities?
We have our own idea how to measure the success of
creating Opportunities. Some gauge how long the meeting was.
The longer the meeting the more successful. My rule of thumb is 45
minutes resulting in an hour more or less.
Some like to give away all the answers. This can actually work against you. Ever find yourself listening to how many challenges the prospect is having? It is natural to answer all their questions, provide solutions and walk them through how to resolve all these issues.
What happens when you do that? Sometimes they say yes we will move forward with you. More than likely they will respond with thinking it over and resolve it themselves or give the answers to their current vendor.
So where is the right balance on sales and unpaid consulting?
Some good questions to ask during qualification stage are:
How do you make decisions? Who needs to approve the decision? What is your budget? (ever get an answer to this one?) What is your timeframe? Who else is bidding on this opportunity? What kind of Return on Investment (ROI) is required to move forward? If we could provide you with.....would you move forward with us?
Qualifying all Opportunities will lead you to moving forward more often and will also help you walk away from unqualified Opportunities.
Some like to give away all the answers. This can actually work against you. Ever find yourself listening to how many challenges the prospect is having? It is natural to answer all their questions, provide solutions and walk them through how to resolve all these issues.
What happens when you do that? Sometimes they say yes we will move forward with you. More than likely they will respond with thinking it over and resolve it themselves or give the answers to their current vendor.
So where is the right balance on sales and unpaid consulting?
Some good questions to ask during qualification stage are:
How do you make decisions? Who needs to approve the decision? What is your budget? (ever get an answer to this one?) What is your timeframe? Who else is bidding on this opportunity? What kind of Return on Investment (ROI) is required to move forward? If we could provide you with.....would you move forward with us?
Qualifying all Opportunities will lead you to moving forward more often and will also help you walk away from unqualified Opportunities.
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