I've blogged about the Coolest Women We Know group before. It's a wonderful group of smart women, mainly from high-tech or related areas (e.g., recruitment for IT), who have a passion for their work and know how to joke around with each other in a way that says, "Isn't it great to have some real conversation?"
Last week, we met at the home of Melodie Reagan, founder of Auromira, and president of TIE-Rockies, the Denver chapter of a national networking and mentoring group for entrepreneurs. The din of the conversations among 30+ women was almost unbearable at times (all the sound gets trapped in the kitchen area) AND I thoroughly enjoyed myself.
The cocktail hour winded down and the party moved to Part 2 of the evening, a TIE-Rockies event at Level 3 headquarters, courtesy of Melodie. (BTW, the TIE-Rockies event featured a fabulous speaker, Christine Heckart, general manager for marketing Microsoft's television, video, and music business. I'll report on what techie stuff I learned on my other blog, A Bigger Voice, next week.)
As women started leaving for the TIE-Rockies event, I got the chance to sit down with two CWWK serial entrepreneurs, Sue Kunz and Camberley Bates. Sue talked about the new startup she just joined as CEO, American BioResources and Camberley talked about her passion for helping clients at Bates Strategy Group.
What I noticed in interviewing both women was how the passion for their work comes through. You can clearly see that they love what they do. It's no coincidence that they are both highly successful in the business world.
My thanks to Melodie Reagan who graciously opened up her home to this effervescent tribe of women (I mean that to be a compliment, ladies) and then sprinted to the TIE-Rockies event, where she served as emcee. She is definitely one of the coolest women I know (and one of the best emcees I've seen in a long time.)
P.S. We really are only six degrees apart (or less.) In researching for this post, I ran across a podcast interview between a TIE-Rockies member (Guy Cook) who I met at a networking event last year and someone who follows me on Twitter (@RobMcNealy). I had seen Rob at a social media conference last fall, which I found out about through a member of the A Bigger Voice team located in New Zealand, Simon Young. Simon found out about the conference from Rob. Okay, did you follow all that? Yeah, like I said, we are more connected than we know.
Just found a very cool tool from Harvard Business Review that helps you craft your elevator pitch, HBS Elevator Pitch Builder. The elevator pitch is one way to crystallize your thoughts on the unique value you bring to the world and how that matches with the marketplace. I also have used Robert Middleton's idea of an audio logo, which is more conversational and expansive.
I tried out the pitch builder using my other business, A Bigger Voice, as the topic. What I like about the tool is that it breaks down the elevator pitch into several parts--who you are, what you do, why you are unique, and what your goal is. By doing this, it forces you to focus on one piece at a time, making it less daunting. Still, just doing one piece well can take some work. After about twenty minutes using the tool, I came up with the following elevator pitch. Bear in mind that this is something I've been working on for months, so it's one of many iterations:
"I'm a Bell Labs engineer turned career coach turned wisdom entrepreneur. I help innovators transform an idea, born from their life experience, into a sustainable, scalable movement, combining 21st century smarts with centuries old methods. A Bigger Voice focuses on three distinct areas that often get overlooked in the "doing good and doing well" arena: Story-telling, Community Building, and Monetizing, in that order.
My goal is to create a vibrant community of wisdom entrepreneurs that continually evolves the roadmap of how to "do good and do well" in the world. If this interests you, please check out my blog, A Bigger Voice, and become a regular reader and contributor. "
The tool provides an analysis of number of words, estimated speaking time, and number of repeated words and then compares that with the "average," whatever that means. I was pleased to see that both my words and speaking time were about half the average (108 words vs. 231, 27 secs vs. 56.) Unfortunately, I was a bit redundant. I had 13 repeated words vs. 4.
Ahhh....the curse of continuous improvement!
What are your biggest challenges in crafting an elevator pitch? What tools have you found to be useful? Provide your elevator pitch as a comment so we can learn together.
When I look back at points in my career, both as an employee and as a small biz owner, I notice places where I "got lucky," when something really good happened. Only, to be honest, I didn't "get lucky." I made my luck. And you can, too.
Some examples:
Within a month of being laid off from US WEST, I was working at Lucent Technologies, with better pay and more opportunities. At the time, I was an engineer with two small children and the major breadwinner for my
family. When I was notified of my layoff, I was given less than a day's notice to clean out my
office. I found my position at Lucent from a friend of a friend.
I have given advice for a New York Times column, Shifting Careers, which later became a popular career blog. Six months prior, I had emailed an author who I admired, Dan Pink, asking for a networking meeting while he was in town for a speaking engagement. Dan wasn't able to meet, but we kept in contact. A couple of months later, he referred me to a book that I might be interested in, One Person, Multiple Careers by Marci Alboher. I emailed Marci, and we hit it off. I arranged for her to speak about her book to my college alumni group in Denver. (That's me, on the left, with Marci.) A month later, she was hired by the New York Times to write a career column and soon after that, Marci invited me to give advice as part of a "coaches roundtable."
I've received coaching and consulting contracts worth tens of thousands of dollars, unexpectedly, from people I didn't know at all or knew only slightly. In one case, I can trace the connection back to sitting at a kitchen table, early in the morning, after a late night of partying with friends at a high school reunion. Across the table from me was my friend's stepfather, whose house I was staying in, and who I had not seen in nearly two decades. He asked me about my business. After talking, he took a tattered business card from his wallet. Not his card, but his son's card, who happened to live in Denver, and who was a VP at one of the largest student loan originators in the country. I contacted the son, and several months later, I had the first of many coaching and consulting contracts with the company. Photo by jenn_jenn
I've been blessed to have mentoring since day one of starting my business, from one of the premier thinkers on servant leadership. This opportunity came from someone who spoke at a conference I attended. Yet I didn't attend this person's session, nor did I meet him at the conference. Instead, I followed up with this person later, after seeing a summary of the session he had given and being intrigued by the topic. In a subsequent phone call, this same person said, "You really should meet my friend, Richard." Richard, pictured here, has been a mentor ever since.
Starting to get the idea of how to create your own luck? Yes, networking has been a major factor in find a job, getting hired as a consultant and coach, connecting with a valuable mentor, and gaining national visibility in my field.
If you've been mystified by how good things seem to just happen to certain people, you'll want to sign up for my new program, Networking Naturally: Less Stress, More Joy, Better Results, a series of four teleseminars, starting on April 8. You'll learn the principles that successful networkers follow. Other topics covered:
April 8. Myths and Beliefs: What You Aren’t Conscious of Can Hurt You!
April 15. Creating a Meaningful Conversation: What Do I Say?
April 22. Etiquette, Systems, and Structures: How Do I Develop Lasting Connections?
April 29. Integrating Online With In-Person Networking: How Do I Put It All Together?
I've purposely made this program affordable ($37) so that more people can take advantage of it, when the need for networking skills has never been greater.
Space is limited and this introductory price won't be available after registration closes. To register, go to www.naturalway2network.com
If you are interested in one-on-one coaching to increase the ROI on your networking efforts, check out the Rocky Mountain PBS auction starting on April 1, www.rmpbsauction.com. I've donated a three session package that's worth $900. I'll cover some of the same topics as the Networking Naturally Program, but go into more depth and tailored to your specific needs. If you are in the Denver area, this includes accompanying you to a networking event and playing "angel on your shoulder" during the event.
So, what you are you waiting for? Start down the road of creating your own luck today.
These days, everyone has a perspective on the recession. Peggy Noonan, a writer who I admire for her straight talk, recently wrote about the psychological depression that has descended on this country, a collective gloom that's not likely to go away any time soon. She observes:
"The heart-pumping drama of last September is gone, replaced by the drip-drip-drip of pink slips, foreclosures and closed stores. We are tired. It doesn't feel like 1929. It feels like 1930."
Noonan goes on to make a point about the emotional state of life today:
"People sense something slipping away, a world receding, not only an economic one but a world of old structures, old ways and assumptions."
She cites the rise in sales of guns, gold coins, and anti-depressants, as well as an uptick in church attendance and people surfing the Internet for things that will make them feel secure.
I have a different perspective from Noonan and I'm not alone. Yes, the old ways and structures are being erased from the post-crash landscape. And there are good things happening because of that. The upside to the recession as I see it:
More innovation.
I believe in creative destruction, the idea that a tectonic shift like the one we are experiencing now is accompanied by innovation. Let me explain how this has unfolded for me. Photo by laffy4k
A down economy doesn't mean that there's less money for spending (Okay, so I did read that Americans lost 18% of their wealth in 2008. Cut me some slack as I try to make this next point.) It means that the money has shifted to new places. Look at the activity around figuring out how to get a piece of the stimulus money. As a small business owner, my charge is to reinvent myself to be relevant. Where is the pain now and how can I help?
Now couple that with a tight feedback loop from the marketplace. If you listen carefully, your customers will tell you what they need now. In January, I wrote an article, titled, "Nine Networking Mistakes to Avoid" and put it in my ezine. The response was overwhelming, with people not only thanking me for the article but telling me they were sharing it with their friends, colleagues, clients, and staff. As a result, I developed a new product, Networking Naturally, a series of four teleseminars, to help individuals improve their ROI on networking. (Whether people view this new product as an innovation remains to be seen. I think I've come up with a new take on solving an old problem. Certainly, I feel that I've had to innovate to be relevant.)
Remarkable stands out from the mediocre. In a down economy, the people who could sell ice to Eskimos will be the ones left standing. The companies that fill a gap in the market perfectly, with the right solution at the right price point, will see their revenues grow. The products that are so compelling that they define a new market and become a must have (think iPhone) will be profitable.
A corollary to this is that the individuals and companies which don't have a good fit in the marketplace will disappear or turn their assets to something that is a better fit (exception: the growing number of companies falling under a federal bailout program.) In a booming economy, businesses and individuals can hang out for a lot
longer before the marketplace gives a clear signal that the person or
the companyisn't filling a need. A coaching
colleague of mine told me the story of when she first started her
coaching business. Being the mother of a young child, she thought her
niche was life coaching for mothers. She did everything a small
business owner should do in terms of marketing and sales--for two
years--before she discovered her real niche, coaching business leaders. A CEO of a company heard her on a radio show, called her and became a
client. That led to more clients in the business arena. She hasn't looked back since.
Seth Godinarticulates the idea of being remarkable as well as my next point, on businesses being better run in a down economy. My thanks to the site, InSocialMedia.com for
bringing the video to my attention:
Less waste, smarter businesses. When I only have so much, I have to make wise choices. I must be focused on making every dollar count. I can't afford to scatter my money across many things. Last year, I had recurring monthly charges for services I rarely used as well as services that I mistakenly signed up for twice. I spent money in places that provided little value. I won't be making that mistake again. By the same token, businesses are more atuned to how they add value, by impacting the bottom line. Companies are focusing their efforts where they can add the highest value and letting go of the rest (think GM closing down Hummer line.) (My thanks to @chrisgarrett for pointing me to this last link.)
Less complacency. Whether you are unemployed, fully employed, own a small business or run a big company, no one is taking anything for granted. We are hustling for every opportunity. No one is too busy, too wealthy or too arrogant to pay attention to what's going on in the economy. I've noticed that service is better, from a hostess happy to see me when I enter a restaurant to attentive service at the local hardware store to receiving a call from a bank manager where I keep my business account, thanking me for my patronage. A couple of years ago, I offered to donate items for the annual silent auction that benefits my sons' school. I never heard back. This year, the chief fundraiser reached out to me two months in advance, specifically asking if I'd like to donate. Companies that used to dismiss the buying power of women are now courting the female audience. (My thanks to @kenherron for bringing this last example to my attention.) Last year, I barely did any business development for my coaching and consulting business, and I had my best year ever. This month alone, I'm attending three in-person networking events, creating new products, and helping to plan a business panel for my college alumni group. None of this would have happened without the recession. Photo by Seattle Municipal Archives
More incentive and time to connect. This takes on different forms--getting together for coffee, writing an email or a LinkedIn invitation, attending networking events, following others on Twitter. High school and college classmates who I haven't heard from in decades have friended me on Facebook. As the economic climate has gotten harsher, people are turning to old and new friends alike, with questions like, "How are you faring?" and "What are you doing differently?" Over the last three months, I've noticed more people approaching me with "let's catch up" requests.
Getting back to the basics. True, some people are feeling that they can't afford more than the basics. But what I'm sensing is not resentment but rather relief. Conspicuous consumption is out. It's in poor taste these days to even think about keeping up with the Joneses. The simple things have a new shine to them. Can we be just as happy, nay even happier, with a home-cooked meal than a four-course dinner at a chic new restaurant? Okay, I may be stretching a bit. My point is that we have moved onto another track that can be just as satisfying as the old track and a lot more meaningful. Photo by Ella's Dad
Increased gratitude. Decreased entitlement. Since the crash last fall, I have reminded myself how lucky I am to have my health, a wonderful family, work that I love and control over my own destiny. I also feel blessed to have the material things that I do--a reliable car, a place to live that I enjoy, and enough clothes in my closet that if I lost a few pieces, I wouldn't notice. A WSJ article even cites a "a growing "noncomplaining" movement that touts the belief that whining doesn't work as a strategy, and that happiness can be found through rituals such as writing in "gratitude journals.""
The perspectives laden with anxiety, fear, and discouragement are still valid. It is what people are feeling. However, we don't need to only choose from the darkness that so many people are dishing out. We can choose to see the gifts sprouting from our current circumstances. A close friend calls this realistic optimism--seeing difficult situations for what they are and by focusing on what is good and true, you can find a way out.
Shaken out of my comfortable stupor, encouraged to connect with others and my values, challenged to be smarter, more creative, and attentive to what really matters, call me a realistic optimist.
In addition to finding me on this blog, you can get my daily thoughts on what's happening in the world by following me on Twitter. My user name is carolross.
Last week, I blogged about a networking event that I had learned about at the last minute, a Girl Geek dinner, hosted by Sun Microsystems. The CBS affiliate in Denver, KCNC, Channel 4 News, decided to cover it, complete with a camera person in the lobby of Sun. (I wasn't able to embed the video here but if you click on this link, you'll see the short clip. If you look really closely near the end of the clip, you'll see the back of me in bright green as I hug a friend.)
On my other blog, A Bigger Voice, I wrote about what I learned from the speaker for the event, Deirdre Straughan (who was a stand-in for the flu-stricken Linda Skrocki.) Deirdre works for Sun as a video blogger and an online community organizer. She spoke about Sun's use of social media and how to apply it as individuals.
Hooray for smart women, coming together, to share, support, and learn from each other! I'll post about the next Girl Geek dinner once it's announced. If you are interested in organizing the next dinner, please contact Deirdre, deirdre.straughan [at] sun.com. She doesn't "own" this type of event but she certainly can give you a tip or two about organizing the next dinner.
At least that's what Ode magazine would have you believe, in an article titled "A Place to Call Home."
Max Rameau, an activist for the homeless in Miami is held up as a role model for making a difference, by helping homeless people move into foreclosed homes. Would be nice if the owners of the foreclosed homes had consented to the arrangement.
Instead Rameau plays re-distribution czar by calling his initiative "Take Back the Land" and the matching of homeless families with foreclosed homes as "liberations." Say what? Since when is enabling others to become squatters considered a liberation? And how is this considered "taking back the land?" Rameau missed his calling as marketer.
The article points out that Rameau briefs the families ahead of time that what they are doing is illegal and as such has risks that include being charged with burglary, being deported, or having their children taken away. He goes on to say, "We just explained the levels on which you can hit and the only real question they had was, "Do you have any four-bedrooms?" This really speaks to how desperate people are."
Really? C'mon. You mean if someone is really desperate and they want to steal a car, they'll go for the Escalade instead of the Scion? Is that what he means?
The end does not justify the means. Let me say that one more time.
I have not read the book but I did scan the excerpt. To be honest, there are a lot of books written on this topic every year. I started reading books on leadership over ten years ago. I always ask the question, "What does the author have to say that's new?" From looking at the excerpt, Lowney has articulated what people experience in today's world that makes lives go off course and off purpose: change, clashing cultures, and scale. He's put the importance of leadership in our lives in the context of a complex world.
He rightly asks the questions that helps one navigate complexity--who are you, what do you stand for, and why are you here?
This is short notice, but a great networking opportunity for "girl geeks" in Denver/Boulder. SUN Microsystems is hosting a Girl Geek Dinner on March 5 at 6pm (yes, that's tomorrow.) It's free and over 60 fabulous girl geeks have already signed up.
Here's the announcement:
"The first Colorado Front Range Girl Geek Dinner will be held the evening of Thursday, March 5th, at Sun's conference center in Building One of the Sun campus at 500 Eldorado Blvd., Broomfield CO 80021. Food and drink will be provided; this event is free of charge, and begins at 6 pm.
Please indicate your attendance on the Facebook group http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=133159715320 or (if you aren't on Facebook and don't want to be) on the wiki: http://wikis.sun.com/display/cofrggd/Home , or simply RSVP to me, Deirdré Straughan, deirdre.straughan [at] sun.com
What's a Girl Geek Dinner? Girl Geek Dinners were founded in London in 2005 by Sarah Blow, who got tired of being vastly outnumbered by men at tech events. You can hear her story here: http://girlgeekdinners.com/about-us-2/ .
Since then, the idea has spread worldwide (check the right sidebar on http://girlgeekdinners.com/ for a full list of locations).
A Girl Geek Dinner is an event for women in technology, however they choose to define/identify themselves (from scientists to programmers to bloggers). Attendees are only women, but any woman attending may, if she chooses, invite one and ONLY one male guest. This means that the ratio of women to men is always at least 50:50 - a far cry from the usually 90:10 men:women ratio we're accustomed to at tech events. And that's a nice change for tech women. If you haven't yet experienced a GGD, you'll be amazed at how different the atmosphere is, and how much sheer fun there is in just hanging out with other "geeky girls".
There's no age limit for being a girl geek. If you have a daughter or other budding technogrrl who might be interested and inspired by seeing some of the diverse careers of women in technology, feel free to bring her along.
The agenda for this GGD includes a presentation by Sun's Linda Skrocki and Deirdré Straughan on Social Networking, New Media, and the Enterprise.
But there will also be plenty of time to just meet and mingle, and make plans for future GGDs (Sun does not "own" this event, nor do we want to - we welcome assistance, participation, and sponsorship, and/or suggestions about how to find any of those things)."
So what are you waiting for? I'll be there, with my Flip video camcorder, of course, connecting with and interviewing fellow girl geeks. Let me know if you'll be attending or say hi at the event.
A wonderful video find from my Twitter feed (thanks @SharnAtlanta) led me to a group called ImprovEverywhere. Based in NYC, they "cause scenes of joy and chaos in public places" by enlisting thousands of "undercover agents." To date, they've completed over 80 "missions." These missions are the millenial version of Candid Camera, only using a crowd of volunteers instead of a few hand-picked actors by Allen Funt. Several missions have taken place in or near the NYC subway. I suspect that there's no better place to cause a scene, among a mass of humanity.
This first video, titled High Five Escalator, creates joy among subway riders (no small feat!):
This second video, titled No Pants 2009 (apparently so successful that it's an annual event) tips the scale in favor of chaos. I love the opening lines: "This is the 8th Annual No Pants Subway Ride. This is for participants only. If you didn't come to take off your pants, you are in the wrong spot."
These videos bring back fond memories of being on the NYC subway during a visit a few years ago. I rode the subway from the Bronx, where I was staying with a friend, all the way down the length of Manhattan and over to Brooklyn, to meet a friend for lunch, and then back up north again to Columbia University, where I was speaking at a conference. My friend in the Bronx thought it was completely normal. My friend in Brooklyn congratulated me for experiencing the real New York (and the kindness of a stranger who helped me figure out how to switch lines at Ground Zero.) And later, a friend in NJ thought I was crazy. I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the diversity of human beings, from A to Z, coming and going, in the space no larger than a modest living room.
Check out more of ImprovEverywhere's videos and be sure to read their "agent reports" on the blog. It can turn a bad day into a good one.
I set aside time this morning to research burnout and retention in an industry that is new to me. This industry is a potential niche for the organizational/group work I do with a partner.
My business partner and I had agreed to review a dozen documents as part of the research, ranging from studies on retention in this industry to best practices for addressing burnout. I noticed that I was having trouble focusing and was procrastinating by making tea, having breakfast, reading the paper. What was wrong with me? Why was a simple research task so hard?
It hit me. In my last corporate job at Avaya, I had taken on the role of "retention leader" within the R+D community. I had been down this road before, doing the research, making presentations to decision makers and being an advocate for improving workplace culture. I was not alone in this work. I had allies and colleagues who believed that making a better workplace was not just a noble thing, but a doorway to higher productivity.
Many years later, I feel a sense of failure. (I left Avaya in 2002.) Many of the improvements I helped to implement (e.g., meditation room, yoga classes, career development talks, a group of volunteers dedicated to community-building) are no longer at Avaya, not because the need has gone away, but because the winds have shifted. Deep down, I know that I had some impact, if only on the people who took advantage of the short-lived improvements. Yet, there's an emotional wound of having worked so hard on something that meant so much, only to see the tide turned back years later. Friends and former colleagues have told me in recent years how the current workplace, under new management after being bought by private equity, bears no resemblance to what I knew when I worked there.
I couldn't stop crying as I told my business partner how I was already feeling discouraged on applying what I knew to this new industry. I kept going back to the idea: "I'm not sure I can have an impact."
Intellectually, I know that it is my Gremlin talking. In the last six years of having my coaching and consulting business, I have developed a more effective toolkit for creating transformation--inside companies and individuals. Yet emotionally, the Gremlin's grip is iron clad and makes my heart unbearably heavy. I am surprised at how raw this feels, after so much time.
Over the last few years, I have been playing it safe, by focusing on
work that involved team dynamics, secretly hoping that better teams would
eventually spill over to creating better culture. One does not
necessarily lead to another. It's a lot easier to claim the territory of transforming teams. It's a hell of a lot harder to embrace head-on work to transform a culture.
At some point in our journeys, it is the rare individual who will go back into the fire--the place he/she entered long ago and emerged, with emotional scars, but spiritually stronger. The crucible in which the fire burns will call us back, not as punishment, but because we can be of service to others. At some point, I will go back into the fire, hoping to play a role in creating better workplaces, with cultures that are congruent with our most cherished human values.
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