LjjSpeaks BlogPost: Yes You Can! Let's continue to "LiveIt!" Up in 2011! (30 Pounds Later...)

Happy New Year!  Let's continue to LiveIt! in 2011!  Today I  share with you success.  

I was very public about my desire to be more healthy and make my “liveit” a reality.  I posted in December of 2009 (reposted below) that I would lose 25 pounds in 2010.  It took until August to really kick this goal into high gear.  I am not able to pin point why August - why 3/4 of the year went by with me continuing to embrace a lifestyle of poor choices. I do think it shows that you need to give yourself time and keep a positive attitude to succeed - to not berate yourself for lost time  - but to start and then keep on starting! 

 I am proud to be able to say “Yes You Can!” because I did!

Download now or preview on posterous

YesYouCan!.pdf (342 KB)

Here are my 7 steps to success for this year (and my liveit goal beside it for 2011)

Step One:  Took the Interleukin Genetics, Inc. Swab test that came back showing I have metabolism craving for extreme exercise and pathetically low carbohydrate intake.    

   2011  LiveIt Goal:  Continue to research new technologies and healthy options)

Step Two:  Complained about the test results

    2011 LiveIt Goal:  Take each day at a time - don’t complain about that chocolate kiss I sometimes reward myself with!

Step Three: Embraced the test results and make slow changes.  

   2011 LiveIt Goal:  Slow is the key word - keep focus and continue to make every day and every meal count!

Step Four:  Purchased a Natuilus Mobia to jump start my exercise.

    2011 LiveIt Goal:  Begin placing diverse exercise into my routine - daily movement.  Just learned about aquatherapy research  (Thanks HydroWorx!) and am excited to get rocking. 

Step Five:  Actually get on the Mobia 2 times a week 

    2011 Repeat LiveIt Goal above!  Tone the body!!! 

Step Six: Begin eliminating carbs. Deleted all pastas, breads and potatoes from diet.  (Once this happened the results were dramatic.)  I still “liveit” with chocolate! 

    2011 LiveIt Goal:  I now don’t think about pastas / breads and fatty starches.  It’s just a new lifestyle of choice for me and I feel better than ever! 

Step Seven:  Began to park farther away and walk up stairs to all meetings/ events. 

     2011 LiveIt Goal:  Plan time into the day to walk to/from more  places

My “liveit” mentality has allowed me to embrace new and exciting ventures and to embrace my number one goal to create changes in my life that will have long-term positive impact for myself and others.   What are your “liveit” goals for 2011?

My December 2009 I repost below: 

Diet and exercise rank as one of the top New Year Resolutions year after year after year.  Have you made your resolution?  40-45% of American adults make one or more.  How many are maintained? 

Nearly 1/2 of Americans who make resolutions keep them in the first 6 months.*
- past the first week: 75%
- past 2 weeks: 71%
- after one month: 64%
- after 6 months: 46%

The Wall Street Journal reports only 19% of us have kept a resolution 2 years after making it.

My resolution as many of you already know from a previous posting is to lose 25 pounds in 2010. (goal is 39 long term).  I’ve written it in my work and play blog - I’ve posted for all to see.  This is one of the recommendations given to me by motivational coach Tony Gates.  I’ve definitely followed his recommendation and made my goal public! 

To ensure my success, I am going to now focus on the steps I will take to LIVEit! In 2010.

LIVEit!

1. Laugh!  Let it be said that I will not go on a diet. Diet has the word DIE in it - I’m going for all out lifestyle change. I will laugh at myself and laugh more in my life. I am not afraid to laugh out loud I refuse to let others laugh at me, I will instead welcome them to laugh along with me. Laughing keeps me healthy from the inside out.  Let’s make laughter our #1 ringtone in 2010!
2. Invest.  I will invest time. I will invest in the time it takes to listen to others. I will listen to my inside voice telling me what I truly want to do professionally. I will invest in learning new ways to make my goals a reality.  I will be proud in the knowledge that my most important investments are time with my family, and time spent helping colleagues and clients become better at what they do! Let’s invest in each other in 2010!
3. Visibly post my goals.  I will keep a visible reminder of each goal in a very public place for me to see every day.  I will encourage others to know what that reminder is and to help me stay excited about the goal I’ve set. I will stay visibly involved in my goal. Let’s become visibly supportive in 2010!
4. Engage.  I will engage others to join in the Liveit! mentality. I will engage my passion each day. I will engage in learning new skills to help me reach my goal. I will be engaged at each meeting, Each day I will engage in a conversation with a stranger.  I will also engage others by learning about their goals for success.  Let’s make 2010 the year of engagement! 

We can LIVEit! Up together in 2010! (and now 2011!) We can beat the bad economy mentality. We can enjoy a new year and a new reality and make our resolutions positively affect each and every day!

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MarketingProfs.com: Turn an Business Blog into a Bottom Line Success

MarketingProfs.com

Original Article:  ttp://www.marketingprofs.com/short-articles/2125/three-ways-to-enhance-your-blogs-lead-generation-potential

"Most corporate blogs are ghost towns, in terms of both content and reader engagement," writes Ian Greenleigh at the MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog. "Abandoned blogs litter the web, making the businesses that own them look lazy, uncommitted and anything but current." A well-executed blog sets your content marketing apart from the competition—and will enhance your lead-generation efforts. To get the best results, Greenleigh has this advice:

Pace your publication schedule. Don't post at breakneck speed when you first launch, only to slow down once your initial passion wears off. Rather, maintain a steady pace with a consistent number of posts per week. "Like any good publisher, you'll need an editorial calendar," he says. "Plan several weeks in advance, but realize that you'll also need the flexibility to blog about business-relevant hot topics as they come up."

Vet your sources. You might accept contributions from a variety of sources with a variety of voices—but posts should conform to general standards of quality and tone. It's OK to reject submissions that don't fit. "Establish official content guidelines and an approval process that your employees can reference during content creation," notes Greenleigh, "and use this to inform and explain your approval decisions."

Edit your content. Sloppy typos undermine your credibility, so make copyediting an important part of the publication process. "[Microsoft] Word or another word processer [sic] should be used until the post is ready to go up," he says. "[N]ot only do you then have backup copies, but Word's editing features are more robust than those of WordPress and most other platforms."

The Po!nt: Blogs have become serious business—and though they're still less formal than many content-marketing channels, they still need your careful and consistent attention.

Source: MarketingProfs Daily Fix.

If you're not already a MarketingProfs PRO Member, Upgrade Your Membership and gain instant access to hundreds of exclusive, cutting-edge articles, case studies, templates, tools, online seminars, research, and how-to guides to make your marketing smarter and more effective.

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"Practice isn't the thing you do once you're good. It's the thing you do that makes you good." Malcolm Gladwell- Outliers

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LjjSpeaks Blogpost: All Is Calm. All Is Bright.

By Lynne Jarman-Johnson

It is a beautiful eve of Christmas Eve. Are you running around trying to get end-of-year projects complete or wrapping up last-minute shopping?  We all try to be super-people this time of year when the true spirit unfolds in these lyrics: All is calm. All is bright.

All is calm. There is Hope in the words included in the song Silent Night. A Hope that your world can be organized, peaceful, and smooth.  Do you find yourself calm? Or are you stressed, hectic and disheveled?

I woke up this morning late. I arrived to a meeting 15 minutes late, only to learn I was 45 minutes early. All is now calm as I write this post, sipping coffee while gazing at a perfectly lit Christmas tree downtown. A man came in and ordered coffee to go - hurriedly sat down to put pen to an important Christmas card. I asked him if he was on a mission. He said "yes - to not get caught writing this before my friend arrives." The friend showed up after the card was sealed. All is calm.

Last night my husband and I reconnected with old friends - colleagues who are now so much more than that. We shared the stresses in our lives. We shared the updates of children becoming adults and the harried lives we lead. We shared our fears for our works and successes. When we wrapped up our evening we all celebrated the shared connections that keep us grounded in knowing we are all on paths intended for us, wherever those paths may take us. We have the solid foundation of deep and lasting relationships to fall back on. All is calm. 

All is bright. The year has been an amazingly topsy-turvy roller coaster of life. In work there is such change. There is not many people who can boast the economy did not impact their focus. Perhaps you suffered a job loss or disappointment in the workplace. Maybe something happened in your personal life to shake you to the core. Major changes in life, even exciting announcements like engagements or a child's accomplishment's that take them to exciting new places are wonderfully accepted with the underlying fault line that rocks your world. Will you  fall into the crevices created by a changing landscape or seal the cracks with mentorship, support and Faith? 

I choose to celebrate the hustle and bustle. I choose to wrap up the year on the highest note of Hope. I am grateful for colleagues, friends, family, and smiling strangers. Bring on the New Year!  All is bright!

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LjjSpeaks BlogPost: The Ultimate Process

The Ultimate Process

Processes, when created and implemented, can turn organizations into well honed, profit-making, economy generating works of art.
Often times people push back on processes - broken processes immediately highlight a lack in employee accountability.

There is a way to create the ultimate process and have colleagues jump on board. Turn a process into a tradition.
Everyone likes traditions. Even the groans about the same marbles or socks Aunt Ruthie gives each year have a smile within the sound emitted.

When you think differently about processes you can re-energize teams that may be just "punching in." Implement new traditions for "old processes" and see what happens!

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Kenrob Tree Toasting!

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LjjSpeaks: It takes exactly .5 seconds to wrap up a smile. Hands down my favorite gift to give and receive!

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LjjSpeaks: From a Saugatuck Art Gallery: Don't Go Out OF Business... Go Out FOR Business!

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#WJRW 2-3PM LjjSpeaks: Nab that job! Rule #6 Civility: Speak Kindly! Holiday Giveaways #GoodLifeGranola & #BCMeats! http://bit.ly/En25M

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LjjSpeaks: Open your windows to let the light of new opportunities shine through!

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2010 Christmas Cards!

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Ljjspeaks Blogpost: Instill Accountability Versus Blame

Accountability can be a scary word. When you are held accountable you may immediately think you are being called on the carpet vs., being called in for collaboration. All of us have the power to turn accountability into a positive experience, one that brings productivity to the table. Below are three ways to help you and others instill accountability through positive, clear direction.

1) Ensure everyone has the correct time table for a project. Missed deadlines can easily become a fast track for frustration which leads to blame.
Keep timelines in visible places for team members to see. Use project management or cloud computing for more effective time management.

2) Keep the tasks and who is responsible for each task very clear. Written delegation of who is completing tasks is critical in any project or work.
No one can be accountable if they are unsure they had a responsibility in the project in the first place. Create a simple chart that helps with
What is the project, Who is responsible, When is the Deadline, How they can receive assistance if needed.

3) Help colleagues with friendly reminders when a project task is due. Note the word friendly in the last sentence.
Review the two sentences:

"Your task is due tomorrow - don't be late again"
"We have a lot of tasks due, is there anything you need to ensure (X task) comes in on or before the due date?"

Which communication will receive a more positive response and most likely a more positive work flow?

Feeling accountable brings pride and ownership. Being made accountable brings fear and rejection. Which type of accountability would you like to instill?

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LjjSpeaks: Listen in to latest podcasts - Customer Service | Listening | Be Inclusive

Thank you for Listening In! http://bit.ly/6zNaP8

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LjjSpeaks: Slip Sliding Away? Get a grip & let the steering wheel of life/love help you drive through the icy patches!

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Top Myths That Kill Your Productivity - Time isn't the issue - Attention & Focus is! | Bnet |Mark Hendricks

David Allen on the 3 Reasons Your To-Do List Keeps Getting Longer

By Mark Henricks | November 30, 2010

Original Post:  http://www.bnet.com/blog/business-myths/david-allen-on-the-3-reasons-your-to-do-list-keeps-getting-longer/516?promo=857&tag=nl.e857

At 10:59 a.m. one day last week, I told my daughter I expected the phone to ring in one minute. I was about to interview a personal productivity expert who makes his living helping people get things done, I explained, and he was scheduled to call at 11 a.m.

I didn’t actually think the phone would ring in 60 seconds. I’d interviewed time management and personal organization gurus before, and I knew they were about as likely as anybody to run late.

Not David Allen. My desk phone jingled precisely at the scheduled time, validating my half-ironic prediction.

Mindful that I was dealing with the author of the near-iconic “Getting Things Done” personal management system and book first published in 2001, and the subsequent slew of products and services built around it, including the 2008 book “Making It All Work,” I didn’t make a big deal of his promptness, or indulge in chitchat. I explained what the article was about and started in.

The Debunker: What are some misconceptions people have about time management and personal productivity?

Allen: The main one is, if I organize my time, I’ll be organized. But you can’t manage time. You don’t manage five minutes and come up with six minutes — or four and a half minutes. Time is an important resource, just like money and space. But managing time isn’t the issue. It’s an inappropriate framing of the issue. That’s why there haven’t been a lot of good solutions. It’s not about managing time, it’s about managing your attention and focus.

The Debunker: What’s another myth?

Allen: The second one is, if I just have a calendar and to-do list, that will do it. It’s sort of productivity porn: “My new app will get me organized. This is going to be the perfect app that will do it for me.” But personal organization tools don’t get you organized.

And another is that you can simplify prioritizing by using A-B-C, 1-2-3, high-medium-low. It’s much more complex than that. I want to get everything done on my list. I’m constantly making judgment calls about which one will give me the highest payoff now given the time, context, and energy. That’s much more subtle than a simple set of priorities.

The Debunker: Is it going to get any easier? Will technology help?

Allen: It’s getting worse, in the sense that it’s getting more evident when people don’t handle this well because it’s coming at them so fast and in such volume. All the technology is doing is making it easier to have a lot more potentially meaningful stuff coming at you. But you have to decide what’s meaningful and create a systematic way to manage that.

The speed and volume are forcing people to have to come to grips with what they’re about and what’s important and what’s a good systematic way to manage that. That’s why my stuff has hit a nerve. It’s the thought process about what you have to do to capture meaning. You can capture all this stuff. But you still have to decide what it means to you. There’s no technology that does that.

Mark Henricks has reported on business, technology and other topics for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Entrepreneur, and other leading publications. Follow him on Twitter @bizmyths.

To-do list image courtesy of Flickr user Florian, CC2.0

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NEGATIVE IMPACTS DEEPER THAN POSITIVE: TURN THE BAD AROUND | Sutton | Harvard Business Review

Bad Is Stronger Than Good: Evidence-Based Advice For Bosses

Today's Management Tip was adapted from "Bad Is Stronger Than Good: Evidence-Based Advice For Bosses" by Robert I. Sutton.

ORIGINAL POST:  http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2010/09/bad_is_stronger_than_good_evid.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip112910&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip112910

Robert I. Sutton: 

Recently, I posted a list of 12 Things Good Bosses Believe. Now I'm following up by delving into each one of them. This post is about the tenth belief: "Bad is stronger than good. It is more important to eliminate the negative than to accentuate the positive."

Of all the tunes in the Johnny Mercer songbook, the most generally beloved must be "Accentuate the Positive" — whether your favorite cover is Bing Crosby's, Willie Nelson's, or someone else's. Chances are that you yourself could summon up the chorus word for word (and click here if you want accompaniment).

You've got to accentuate the positive
Eliminate the negative
Latch on to the affirmative
Don't mess with Mister In-Between

It trips off the tongue so easily that you might not even notice that Mercer is telling you to do two things, not just one. Eliminating the negative, as any skilled leader can tell you, is not just the flipside of accentuating the positive. It's a whole different set of activities. For someone with people to manage, accentuating the positive means recognizing productive and constructive effort, for example, and helping people discover and build on their strengths. Eliminating the negative, for the same boss, might mean tearing down maddening obstacles and shielding people from abuse.

Certainly, every leader should try to do both. Yet, given that every boss has limited time, attention, and resources, an interesting question is: which should take priority? A growing body of behavioral science research provides a pretty clear answer here: It's more important to eliminate the negative.

The seminal academic paper here is called "Bad is Stronger Than Good" [pdf]. Roy Baumeister and his colleagues draw on a huge pile of peer-reviewed studies to show that negative information, experiences, and people have far deeper impacts than positive ones. In the context of romantic relationships and marriages, for example, the truth is stark: unless positive interactions outnumber negative interactions by five to one, odds are that the relationship will fail.

Scary, isn't it? Yet it was confirmed by several studies that, among relationships where the proportion of negative interactions exceeds this one-in-five rule, divorce rates go way up and marital satisfaction goes way down. The implication for all of us in long-term relationships is both instructive and daunting: If you have a bad interaction with your partner, following up with a positive one (or apparently two, three, or four) won't be enough to dig out of that hole. Average five or more and you might stay in his or her good graces.

Studies on workplaces suggest, along similar lines, that bosses and companies will get more bang for the buck if they focus on eliminating the negative rather than accentuating the positive. For some time, I've been campaigning for a certain form of this, urging companies to eliminate the worst kind of colleagues from their workplaces. Research by Will Felps and his colleagues on "bad apples" is instructive. (You can hear him talk about it on This American Life). Felps decided to look at the effect of toxic colleagues on work groups, including what I would call deadbeats ("withholders of effort"), downers (who "express pessimism, anxiety, insecurity, and irritation," a toxic breed of de-energizers), and assholes (who violate "interpersonal norms of respect"). His estimates that a team with just one person in any of these categories suffers a performance disadvantage of 30% to 40% compared to teams that have no bad apples.

Similarly, another study by Andrew Miner and his colleagues tracked employees' moods, and found that the impact on an employee's feelings of a negative interaction with the boss or a coworker was five times stronger than that of a positive interaction.

So, negative interactions (and the bad apples that provoke them) pack a real wallop in relationships at work and elsewhere. They are distracting, emotionally draining, and deflating. When a group does interdependent work, rotten apples drag down and infect everyone else. Unfortunately, grumpiness, nastiness, laziness, and stupidity are remarkably contagious.

My chapter in Good Boss, Bad Boss on "Stars and Rotten Apples" opens with the story of how I got to know a CEO named Paul Purcell. It was after his company, Baird, had landed on Fortune magazine's list of the "100 Best Places to Work". Fortune briefly explained, "What makes it so great? They tout the "no-a**hole rule" at this financial services firm; candidates are interviewed extensively, even by assistants who will be working with them." Having written an entire book on that topic, I immediately contacted Leslie Dixon, their HR chief, and she introduced me to Paul Purcell. As I wrote in Good Boss, Bad Boss:

Paul told me that he had seen and suffered destructive assholes in past jobs, so when he got to Baird, he vowed to build a jerk-free workplace. When I asked how he enforced the rule, Paul said that most jerks were screened-out via background checks and interviews before they met him. But he did his own filtering too, 'During the interview, I look them in the eye, and tell them, "If I discover that you are an asshole, I am going to fire you."' He added, "Most candidates aren't fazed by this, but every now and then, one turns pale, and we never see them again — they find some reason to back out of the search." When I asked Paul what kinds of jerks are most poisonous, he said: "The worst assholes consistently do two things: 1.Put their self-interest ahead of co-workers and 2. Put their self-interest ahead of the company."

Clearly this is someone who didn't need any research to tell him that "bad is stronger than good." By refusing to tolerate selfish jerks, Paul Purcell gives us a great model of eliminating the negative. And the fact that he doesn't seem to procrastinate when it comes to doing the unpleasant work of dealing with destructive people and poor performers is another benefit backed up by research. Consider a classic study [pdf] by Charles O'Reilly and Barton Weitz on how supervisors handled "problematic" sales employees (in which category they placed salespeople guilty of bad attitudes as well as other problems like low productivity and lack of punctuality). Bosses of the most productive groups confronted problems directly and quickly, issued more warnings and formal punishments, and promptly fired employees when warnings failed. The words and deeds of these no-nonsense bosses inspired performance because they made crystal clear that they would not tolerate crummy work. Related studies of punishment in the workplace show that employees respect bosses more when they punish destructive characters more swiftly and intensely - so long as they are fair and consistent.

The upshot is, if you are the boss, doing such "dirty work" is part of your job — and although you might not enjoy playing the heavy, doing it doesn't make you the jerk. If you can't or won't do it, either you ought to be in another line of work or, at least, you ought to team up with someone who can.

With further apologies to Johnny Mercer, sure, as boss you should spread joy up to the maximum, but your main task is to bring gloom down to the minimum. Get that priority straight, and set the stage for your people to do their best work. Or pandemonium is liable to walk upon the scene.

Robert Sutton is Professor of Management Science and Engineering at Stanford University. He studies and writes about management, innovation, and the nitty-gritty of organizational life. His new book is Good Boss, Bad Boss, from Business Plus. 

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5 Ways to Make Your Point Effectively In Meetings | Careerbuilder.com | Kaitlin Madden | CNN

By Kaitlin Madden, CareerBuilder.com

Original Post: http://mw.cnn.com/snarticle?c=cnnd_living&p=0&aId=20101124:cb.speaking.up.at.meetings.tips:1

(CareerBuilder.com) - The way you present yourself in company meetings can have a big impact on your career.

If you take the role of passive onlooker, for example, and never offer an opinion or comment, you may be giving off the impression that you're not sure what's going on -- or that you just don't care.

At the same time, if you speak up every chance you get, dominating everything to from the department budget meeting to the planning session for the holiday party, your colleagues may end up thinking that you're overbearing -- or that you just like to hear yourself talk.

Whether you're the shy type who usually opts not to speak up -- or you're just the opposite -- here are a five expert tips on making your point effectively in front of a crowd.

1. Practice: Like anything, practice makes perfect when it comes to speaking up -- especially if you're shy.

"One way shy people can gain confidence to speak in meetings is to practice outside of meetings," says Susan Newman, co-founder of School2Life, an organization that helps students transition to the workforce.

"Share your point of view and participate in conversations in and out of the workplace. Doing this helps you recognize where the discomfort sets in. In time, it will get easier or more manageable because you'll know what to expect from your nerves. So speak up and speak often."

One of the best ways to get practice outside of the workplace is to join your local chapter of ToastMasters, a group specifically designed for helping people to improve their public speaking skills. The organization currently has more than 12,500 chapters globally, so chances are there's one in your area.

2. Get to the point: When you speak at meetings, concentrate on making your point as succinctly as possible. This will help your message come across clearly and will help you avoid the title of "company blowhard."

For those that tend to be on the verbose side, try thinking about your message in Twitter terms, says Joey Price, founder of career consulting firm Push Consultant Group, LLC. "[Ask yourself]: is your message potent and concise enough to fit into 140 characters or less? If not, you may be rambling on. Trim and enhance."

That said; If you must make a longer point, set yourself up to keep the floor until you finish, advises Dianna Booher, author of "Communicate with Confidence" and "Speak with Confidence." This will let your peers know that you're making a multi-faceted point, and not just going on and on.

"If you fear that someone will interrupt you before you finish, preface your ideas with something like, 'I have four observations to make about the situation. First ..., 'and then keep enumerating as you go along so that people understand you're not finished when you take a breath," Booher says.

3. Belly breathe: Public speaking can be nerve-wracking, but you don't have to let it show. Abdominal breathing will make you sound confident by giving strength to your voice.

To use this technique: "Inhale deeply and then project your voice by speaking from the diaphragm," says Jean Palmer Heck, president of Real Impact, Inc. "This is essential for those who are shy, because it gives more power to your words and persona and can eliminate any shakiness in your voice."

4. Pay attention to your body language: "I know it sounds obvious, but if you're hunched over, or speaking softly, it's unlikely people are going to take what you say seriously," says Frances Cole Jones, author of "The Wow Factor: the 33 Things You Must (and Must Not) Do to Guarantee Your Edge in Today's Business World."

Her top tips for in-meeting body language:

* Sit up and forward

* Keep your hands on the table (We trust people when we can see their hands)

* Lean in

* Smile

* Make eye contact with everyone around the table

5. Learn from others: A great way to figure out how to become an effective speaker is by watching those who do it well. Pay attention to colleagues who seem to captivate their audience, and what it is that makes them so poignant.

"There are always colleagues that I've worked with from my current or past business interactions whom I have admired for their ability to confidently share their opinions, and listen and accept the viewpoints of others, without monopolizing the conversation or sounding like wind bags," says Dianne Shaddock, principal of EasySmallBusinessHR.com.

"I study their presentation, the tone and volume levels of their voice, as well as the reactions of others in the room to what the individual has to say. I then incorporate their best qualities and make them my own. I've found that this works quite well and has helped with my confidence level at meetings," she says.

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LjjSpeaks: If at first you don't succeed... Be Thankful you can take up Kickboxing!

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In Crisis: Learn from it. | Ron Ashkenas |Harvard Business Review

Don't Let Your Next Crisis Go to Waste

Ron Ashkenas | Harvard Business Review Blog

Original Post:  http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2010/09/dont-let-your-next-crisis-go-t.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip112210&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip112210

We're all familiar with the many examples of spectacular human and organizational response to crisis situations — such as that in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, the recent wildfires in Colorado, or the floods in Pakistan. In a matter of moments total strangers feel connected, people around the world reach out with physical or financial support, and red tape falls by the wayside in the service of getting things done creatively and quickly. But what happens after the crisis fades, the adrenaline rush dissipates, and people turn their attention back to their daily lives?

The reality is that despite our best intentions, most people (and organizations) can't sustain the energy of a crisis environment. If the challenges go on for too long they start to become routine. People who stay with it either get burnt out, cynical, or disheartened; and for those not involved on a day-to-day basis, the crisis fades into the background.

The current situation in Haiti is a sobering example of this phenomenon. The immediate aftermath of the quake saw global mobilization of fundraising efforts and the arrival of hundreds of volunteers in Port-au-Prince . But despite all of that early energy, eight months later less than 2% of the 33 million cubic yards of debris have been cleared, preventing widespread reconstruction and resettlement of the population. And how many of us still think about what we can do to help Haiti?

According to news reports, the lack of progress in Haiti is due not just to a shortage of funds, but also to the reemergence of a bureaucracy that seemed to be temporarily suspended in the early days of the crisis. There is no overall plan for debris removal; property records are in disarray; strategies for sifting, decontaminating, and relocating the debris have not been made; coordination has been poor between NGO's; and no one official in the government is in charge of the overall program. In other words, although the situation in Haiti continues to be dire, the crisis dynamics have been replaced by business as usual.

Unfortunately we see this pattern over and over in organizations. People jump to respond to floods and snowstorms, urgent customer problems, financial challenges, or competitive moves. Levels of collaboration and creativity rise; a sense of urgency pervades the workplace; and everyone pitches in to resolve the problem or achieve the goal. But when the crisis passes, things revert to normal. The crisis becomes a part of the company's folklore rather than a step towards lasting performance.

But it doesn't have to be this way, either in Haiti or in your organization. You can capture the spirit and energy of a crisis and use it not only to achieve the immediate goal, but also to build new patterns of achievement over time. If you and your team have recently experienced a surge of performance due to a crisis, special deadline, or extraordinary challenge, consider taking the following steps:

1) Organize a post-crisis learning clinic. Include the key people who were involved — from your team, other parts of your organization, and even outside parties. Take stock of what you learned: What was done differently? What new patterns or innovations were sparked by the crisis? And most importantly, what new ways of working — individually or collectively — should be continued?

2) Identify a critical initiative that you want to accelerate. Carve out a stretch goal that will demonstrate progress in 100 days or less — and then consciously apply one or more of the new patterns to it. Use the next 100 days as a real-time experiment to build the new innovations into your team's muscle memory, while also generating additional learning from the 100-day challenge.

Crises create new working patterns spontaneously — but without conscious effort, these innovations cannot be sustained, which may be what's happening in Haiti. To counter this lost opportunity, managers need to extract lessons from the crisis experience and then continue the learning process through a series of short-term challenges.

What's your experience with building new capability from a crisis?

Posted via email from LJJ Speaks!

LjjSpeaks: Thankful for...

There is so much to be thankful for.

I'm thankful for the kind older gentleman who thanked me with a grin after giving him directions.
I'm thankful my son noticed and thought it was cool.
I'm thankful for my kids who are so very very independent and have a beautiful life and future ahead of them.
I'm thankful for my husband who is my partner in every sense of the word.
I'm thankful for my family near and far.
I'm thankful for the coffee at work.
I'm thankful for my colleagues who brainstorm, build on our mission. help us all succeed.
I'm thankful for the friends I don't need to see every day - yet they know they are my friends - always.
I'm thankful for my dog Molly and my tortoise Sparticus.
I'm thankful for my Mom.
I'm thankful for the memories of my Dad, Big Bro Uncle Heinz, Laureen & Lo, Zach, Michael and Allie.
I'm thankful I love to work.
I'm thankful I love to smile.
I'm thankful for new attitudes.
I'm thankful for historical values.
I'm thankful my computer works -even though the "D" sticks
I'm thankful for Apple Ipad / Iphone Apps
I'm thankful for Facebook, Twitter, Linked In Friends
I'm thankful for the confidence boosting gifts of very special friends -(you know who you are)
I'm thankful for best friends.
I'm thankful for nail polish that doesn't chip after one day.
I'm thankful for a great hairdresser.
I'm thankful for more coffee at work (that we share)
I'm thankful for feeling awesome at nearly 1/2 a century.
I'm thankful for downtown Grand Rapids.
I'm thankful for Hockey.
I'm thankful for Theatre & The Arts.
I'm thankful I-96 is open.
I'm thankful for my sister's inane phone calls.
I'm thankful for my sister-in-law's funny voice messages.
I'm thankful for thank you cards and nice gift surprises in the mail.
I'm thankful for success.
I'm thankful for challenges.
I'm thankful.

What are you thankful for?

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LjjSpeaks: Let's stop the insanity and start the civility!

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LjjSpeaks Podcasts: Choosing Civility Rule #2 Acknowledge Others

  
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LjjSpeaks Podcasts: Choosing Civility | Pay Attention

  
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11-8 Pay Attention .mp3 (2131 KB)

  
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Pay Attention 3: Gain an Hour .mp3 (1569 KB)

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Casey & Mandy Wedding

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LjjSpeaks Blogbost: Civility is Cool. Join in our conversation!

What does kindness look like to you.  To me it looks like a gentleman

from John Hopkins University. He speaks softly, slowly and you find  

yourself hanging on to his every word.

I had the distinct pleasure of working with Dr. P.M. Forni when he  

came to Grand Rapids Community College to launch our One Book, One  

College, One Community project. 

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pastedGraphic.pdf (361 KB)

 Dr. Forni is the author of Choosing Civility.  I am thrilled to share Dr. Forni*s 25 rules of conduct.

The    Grand Rapids Community College will launch a blog sharing weekly conversation starters for Dr. Forni’s 25 rules of civil conduct.  You can find the blog at www.grcc.edu/25rules.

Dr. Forni spent three very full days in Grand Rapids, Michigan on GRCCs campus. He presented to students, faculty and the community at  large.  Each of his presentations were standing room only and crowds spilled into overflow rooms.   

Obviously, the topic of choosing civility is one that people are eager to learn more about.

The following twitter posts showcase Dr. Forni’s presentation to the community.  I*ve chosen to showcase examples  below each twitter post to underscore how we can practice what Dr. Forni preaches:

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni - refrain from arguing- never raise your   voice or lose your temper. (that is something I need to teach myself!)

How often do you find yourself raising your voice, rising to the occasion when anger bubbles up inside you?  Dr. Forni speaks as if  every word is one he has chosen with care just for you.  This style of  speaking is obviously a part of his personality, yet I often found   myself thinking back to times in my life when I would raise my voice   just to hear myself speak.  I often lash out instead of listening.    Choosing to listen to others and not overreacting is one of the most   important lessons I’ve learned this week. Listening behavior is not innate. It is learned.  This weekend I was told to “shut up” twice. I cheer at hockey games. I cheer for both sides.  I sang happy birthday to a  

young man who scored a goal on his birthday and the opposing fans  screamed ‘shut up.’  Seriously?  When did jeering replace cheering? It is up to all of us to stop the insanity.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni - "other people at work has replaced workload  as #1 cause of stress in the workplace" 

Think about the fact that people are causing more stress in the  workplace than work load.  That means you and I.  What can we do in  our workplace make our space a more civil place?  How can we take a  more 5,000 foot view and see our surroundings and how we impact them.  

Do you say good morning? Do you listen when people are giving constructive criticism? Do you care about those around us? Do you ‘internally negatively accuse yourself’  and turn work issues into your own personal issues.  Let’s face it, most often they are, in  fact, ‘just issues at work.’  When we personalize the issues we may react in an uncivil manner to our colleagues and exasperate the problem.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni - 5 causes of incivility: lack of self  restraint & time - high stress, anonymity , doubting yourself. 

Dr. Forni*s point to drive home:  anonymity will increase the opportunity for incivility.  He showcased a story of two individuals  driving to work.  One cuts the other off and that person returns with a dramatic one finger gesture.  What does the first driver do in  return? He slows down to a snails pace to frustrate the second driver even more.  The second driver then speeds around the individual to really showcase their anger, and when they pull up alongside each other, 

they realize they know each other.  The anger immediately turns to  embarrassment for both individuals.  Thinking you are anonymous  (social networking?) can lead you to say and act in ways you may not  otherwise.  You are “bold”  to the point of rudeness.  Stop.  Think

of  your actions. Remember the person you are addressing “anonymously” may  be your mom.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni -Civility does the everyday busy work of goodness.  Social intelligence is an indicator of success in life. 

Everyone is tired of the negative campaign ads.  We crave goodness. We cheered when miners saw the light of day.  It*s good to be good.  Dr. Forni says it*s never appropriate, yes,  NEVER appropriate to be  rude.  If that is the case then it is ALWAYS appropriate to be good.  

I saw an individual at lunch today hold a chair open to a stranger  because there were no seats left in the restaurant.  Goodness.   I saw  a young person hold the door open for three older adults. Goodness.    Can we improve our everyday business work of goodness?  When we do, we  

have a greater chance of success.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni - Civility is a matter of life and death- people die more frequently in ICUs with a culture of incivility. 

The one place where care needs to be the top focus should be in an  ICU.  If colleagues are passive, inattentive, angry in their work  environment the people they care for are not receiving intensive care.  Dr. Forni states that studies prove that a culture of incivility can relate to deteriorating  health.  What can each of us do something to stop it?  Often the most effective “treatment” for this incivility is to place yourself in your colleagues shoes. Feel their pain. It*s not only civil - apparently, it’s lifesaving.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni - Civility and kindness brings attention to daily goodness. We need connections and daily goodness, to be likable. 

Likeable.  Now that’s a word I like.  It feels good to be liked. It feels good to like others.  How can you learn to like others who are  not like you?  Each day we choose to care about those around us. We choose to include them in our worlds.  A smile, the tone of your  voice, your body language can be likeable.  You can also immediately  give the impression of stern, stressed, overworked, overbearing and unlikeable.  I choose likeble. I choose civility.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni We ought to treat others as ends in themselves rather than means of satisfying our own personal needs.  

“That was cool Mom!”  said 14 year old Luke.  “What?” Mom replied.  “That guy blinked his tailights at you after you let him in.  I was  in a hurry to get home as I sped down the freeway. A car next to me  wanted to come into my lane and was stuck behind a semi-trailer. My normal behavior would have been to speed up and gleefully pass by  without caring about his time or need.  But civility wrapped my mind  and I thought, “I’ll slow down, flash my lights, and let him in.”

That small gesture became a life lesson for a 14 year old. Civility is cool.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni There is little more importance than caring about others and being thoughtful for others. 

When Dr. Forni spoke about caring for others he stopped me cold.   

Because this is the essence of his presentation.  Dr. Forni  didn’t say it’s important to... he said “There is little more importance....” This means nothing is more important than caring  

about others. Civility IS caring about others. There is little more importance than remembering that above anything else.

#Civility-Dr. P.M. Forni Relationships are the cornerstone of civility. Handle others with care. 

Handle with care.  We sometimes  treat shipped packages better than  people. How do you treat the individuals you are most close to?  Do  you find yourself taking them for granted, constantly venting to them, only caring about your own personal day or issue?  I sometimes have  

hot coffee brought to me from my favorite coffee house.  It is sitting  steaming on my desk when I arrive.  This small act of goodness is a  calculated civil act. My feelings were thought of in advance and I’ve been handled with care.  And I will share that goodness,  share my overflowing cup of civility. 

Be sure to share your stories of civility.  You can post here or on the  GRCC blog, which launches a 25 week campaign on the 25 rules:    www.grcc.edu/25rules.

Posted via email from LJJ Speaks!

Add an Hour To Your Day (You really can!) | Ron Ashkenas | Harvard Business Review

Add an Hour to Your Day

November 2010 - Ron Ashkenas

Original Post:  http://blogs.hbr.org/ashkenas/2010/11/add-an-hour-to-your-day.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-weekly_hotlist-_-hotlist110810&referral=00202&utm_source=newsletter_weekly_hotlist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=hotlist110810

What would you do with an extra hour? Sounds like the plot device of a romantic comedy — but in truth it's an opportunity that many world residents receive around this time every year. I'm talking about the shift from Daylight Saving Time (or Summer Time in the EU) to Standard Time when we turn back our clocks and repeat one hour.

Now, let me acknowledge that it's not really an "extra" hour. You have to give it back in the spring, and it doesn't really affect your lifespan. However, it's important to consider what to do with extra time — since one of the most frequent concerns of managers is not having enough.

A number of years ago, I co-authored a piece in HBR with Robert H. Schaffer about why managers waste time. In the article, we shared a question that had been posed to dozens of managers: Imagine if the president of your company personally asked you to take on a special assignment — working directly for her. The project would take one day per week but you would have to continue your regular job in the remaining time. Would you take the assignment? By now we've asked this question to hundreds of managers — most who complain about not having enough time already — and 99% say they would take the assignment.

The reality is that we all have "extra" hours available, without having to turn back the clock. Sometimes it takes a presidential request or a customer crisis to find them; and sometimes it takes a personal incentive such as clearing the decks before a vacation. But we all know that those hidden hours exist, buried in unnecessary meetings, inefficient work processes, interruptions, false starts, PowerPoint perfection, misplaced files, and a host of other time-wasters. We may assume that these patterns are part of the normal rhythm of imperfect organizational life — but unconsciously (and sometimes consciously) we know that these inefficiencies give us a cushion in case we have to suddenly step up the pace.

It is still likely that most managers have more cushion than they actually need — and some of that time could be applied to reducing today's feeling of overload, instead of waiting for a crisis or special event. If that applies to you, then here are a couple of ideas for identifying and capturing a few additional hours:

1. Do a quick calendar analysis. Go back through the last few months of your Outlook calendar, Lotus Notes, or handwritten diary. Put a checkmark next to all of the activities or meetings that — in retrospect — truly advanced your organizational or personal goals. Then look at the remaining items. Which ones had no impact on these goals? If you had not spent the time, would it have made a difference? See if you can find a pattern. Finally, look forward at your next couple of months and see if there are meetings or activities that you could bypass or eliminate without any consequence.

2. Ask for feedback. Our time-wasting patterns are often invisible to us — but apparent to those around us. So a second useful step is to ask your subordinates or colleagues if they could identify some activities that you could do less often, do in less time, or stop doing altogether. For example, one manager who did this was told that he didn't need to attend a weekly operations meeting that was run by one of his people — a meeting that he habitually sat in on as a way of "lending support."

None of us have the luxury of finding more time by simply turning back the clock — except when Daylight Saving Time ends. For the rest of the year, we need to find other ways.

How do you find extra time?

Posted via email from LJJ Speaks!

Be Childlike!!!!! Love Love Love Seth Godin's Blog Today!

Seth Godin's Blog: 

CHILDISH VS. CHILDLIKE

Childlike makes a great scientist.

Childish produces tantrums.

Childlike brings fresh eyes to marketing opportunities.

Childish rarely shows up as promised.

Childlike is fearless and powerful and willing to fail.

Childish is annoying.

Childlike inquires with a pure heart.

Childish is merely ignored.

Original Post:

http://www.feedblitz.com/f/?FBLike=http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/typepad/sethsmainblog/~3/VrEcwweEa1s/childish-vs-childlike.html

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LjjSpeaks: IT'S VOTE DAY "V"ery "O"ptimistic "T"oday "E"nds crass and negative commercials.

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Voting Help from Michigan Non Profit Association. Quick Links for Voting Ease!

Tomorrow is Election Day! The polls open at 7:00 a.m. and will remain open until 8:00 p.m. Make your voice heard tomorrow by participating in this important election!

Need some tips for tomorrow? MNA has a number of helpful election resources available on our Michigan Participation Project website. Check out the Quick Links below or just visit the site.

http://www.michparticipationproject.org/

Quick Links for Election Resources

• My Polling Location: Find your polling location by entering a few pieces of information about yourself on this website. From here you can also access your sample ballot.
• Do I Need Photo Identification? Yes, but if you do not have a photo ID or forget to bring it with you to the polls, you can still vote by requesting and signing an affidavit. More detailed information is available on the Secretary of State's website.
• Filling Out a Ballot in Michigan: Nervous about filling out your ballot correctly? Check out this easy-to-read description and visual example of how to fill out an optical scan ballot.
• Nonpartisan Voter Guides: Statewide and local guides to give you nonpartisan information on candidates for Governor, Secretary of State, Attorney General, U.S. House of Representatives, State House and Senate Districts, Supreme Court Justices, University of Michigan Board of Regents, Michigan State University Board of Trustees, Wayne State University Board of Governors, and many more. 
• Statewide Ballot Proposals: Get information on Ballot Proposals 10-01 (Constitutional Convention) and 10-02 (Ban on felons holding some government offices).
• Sample Ballots: Provide a few basic pieces of information about yourself and this handy site will provide a reminder on your polling location, contact information for your local clerk, and a copy of your sample ballot.

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Two Polls to take this morning please: Planning To Vote? Candidates Civil?

Please take the following two polls prior to 2 PM EST this AM.

We will announce results on WJRW AM1340.

Are your planning to vote?

http://polls.linkedin.com/p/108548/hbxdh

Are candidates civil to each other?  

More | Less | Same 

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Supercharge Your Productivity | Tony Schwartz | Harvard Business Review

Six Ways to Supercharge Your Productivity

Original Post http://blogs.hbr.org/schwartz/2010/09/six-ways-to-supercharge-your-p.html?cm_mmc=email-_-newsletter-_-management_tip-_-tip110110&referral=00203&utm_source=newsletter_management_tip&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=tip110110

It's Labor Day in the U.S. as I write this post. To my own amazement, I've spent most of the past month truly relaxing — reading lots of books, playing tennis, running, hanging out with my family and eating food I mostly shouldn't — scones and donuts for breakfast, BLTs and burgers for lunch. I enjoyed every minute of it.

Now it's time to return to work. I feel lucky to have a job, and especially one I love, but the fall ahead is intense, daunting, and demanding, as I suspect it is for you. I'm anxious about the economy. I'm wondering when the next shoe is going to drop. I'm concerned about how my company will hold up if things do get worse.

Add to all that the digital demands of the world we now inhabit. Armed with ever more ways to connect with each other, and to stay current in every moment, we often aren't sure where to put our focus. We find it harder to give all of our attention to anything — or anyone — for very long.

The consequence is that we're undertaking more and more tasks every day, but they often add up to less and less real value.

Just think about how many emails you now receive and respond to each day? There are 1307 sitting in my inbox right now. I suspect that two dozen at most genuinely merit my attention. But how to focus on those, and invest minimal time on the rest?

What, in short, does it take to be productive and efficient in a world of infinitely rising demand, and endless potential distractions? By productive, I mean generating goods and services with lasting value. By efficient, I mean doing so with the least amount of unnecessary expenditure of time and energy.

Here are six behaviors that we regularly teach to our clients (for more, please click here):

1. Make sufficient sleep a top priority. Schedule your bedtime, and start winding down at least 45 minutes earlier. Ninety-eight percent of all human beings need at least 7-8 hours a night to feel fully rested. Only a fraction of us get that much regularly, in part because we buy into the myth that sacrificing an hour or two of sleep a night give us an hour more of productivity. In reality, even small amounts of sleep deprivation take a dramatic toll on our cognitive capacity, our ability to think creatively, our emotional resilience, the quality of our work, and even the speed at which we do it.
2. Create one to-do list that includes everything you want or need to do, on and off the job — and I mean everything, including any unresolved issues that merit further reflection. That's the essence of David Allen's simple but profound work (see Getting Things Done). Writing everything down helps get it off your mind, leaving you free to fully focus on what's most important at any given moment.
3. Do the most important thing first when you get to work each morning, when you're likely to be have the highest energy and the fewest distractions. Decide the night before what activity most deserves your attention. Then focus on it single-mindedly for no more than 90 minutes. Productivity isn't about how many tasks you complete or the number of hours you work. It's about the enduring value you create.
4. Live like a sprinter, not a marathoner. When you work continuously, you're actually progressively depleting your energy reservoir as the day wears on. By making intermittent renewal and refueling important, you're regularly replenishing your reservoir, so you're not only able to fully engage at intervals along the way, but also to maintain high energy much further into the day.
5. Monitor your mood. When demand begins to exceed your capacity, one of the most common signs is an increase in negative emotions. The more we move into "fight or flight," the more reactive and impulsive we become, and the less reflective and responsive. The first question to ask yourself is "Why am I feeling this way, and what can I do to make myself feel better?" It may be that you're hungry, tired, overwhelmed, or feeling threatened in some way. Awareness is the first step. You can't change what you don't notice.
6. Schedule specific times for activities in your life that you deem important but not urgent. With so much coming at you all the time, it's easy to focus all day on whatever feels most pressing in the moment. What you sacrifice is the opportunity to take on work such as writing, strategizing, thinking creatively, or cultivating relationships, which may require more time and energy, but often yield greater long-term rewards.

Tony Schwartz is president and CEO of The Energy Project. He is the author of the June, 2010 HBR article, "The Productivity Paradox: How Sony Pictures Gets More Out of People by Demanding Less," and coauthor, with Catherine McCarthy, of the 2007 HBR article, "Manage Your Energy, Not Your Time." Tony is also the author of the new book "The Way We're Working Isn't Working: The Four Forgotten Needs that Energize Great Performance" (Free Press, 2010).

Posted via email from LJJ Speaks!

Schmooz your way to business success | BNet | Steve Tobak

How to Schmooze Your 

Way to Business Success

The Corner Office   |  Steve Tobak

Original Post: http://www.bnet.com/blog/ceo/how-to-schmooze-your-way-to-business-success/5879

Anyone who says that schmoozing isn’t critical to business success is just being disingenuous. It’s certainly been a big part of my success. If you knew me, this would come as no surprise. My wife calls me a BSer. There may be some truth to that on a personal level, but when it comes to business, I take schmoozing very seriously.

You see, business success is all about relationships, and schmoozing enables relationships. A couple of weeks ago we discussed how your network is your biggest asset, especially for top execs. Well, schmoozing is how you network. It also plays a big role in marketing and sales, getting deals done, developing and maintaining long-term relationships with customers, garnering support from your peers and coworkers, selling your ideas, even getting ahead in your career.

I’m still willing to bet that some of you, like my wife, think schmoozing is all about BSing, telling people what they want to hear, that sort of thing. So not true. In fact, the actual definition of schmooze is “to converse informally, to chat, or to chat in a friendly and persuasive manner especially so as to gain favor, business, or connections.” Who among you doesn’t consider that to be a critical part of business success?

And while successful schmoozing is all about being open and genuine, about connecting with people, there are plenty of lines you shouldn’t cross. Just follow these 10 Tips to Becoming a Great Schmoozer and you won’t go astray:

1. Don’t BS. Let’s get one thing straight. BSing destroys credibility. If you want to become a successful executive or leader, don’t BS. Period. It doesn’t matter how smart others think you are, just how smart you really are.
2. It’s never about you; it’s always about them. Connecting with people means finding things you have in common, or even different views on a subject you both feel strongly about. You already know you, what you don’t know is them.
3. People like to be schmoozed. I know some will disagree, but they’re wrong. People like attention, to be noticed, to connect and engage. That is, as long as you’re straightforward about it.
4. Be open and genuine. Be you. The most effective way to connect with people and find common ground is to be yourself, with all your native charm, faults, and idiosyncrasies. There’s nothing more attractive than genuine humanity - humility, humor, being yourself.
5. Don’t overdo it. Next to BSing and trying to be someone you’re not, trying too hard is the biggest schmoozing pitfall. Pushing too hard will backfire.
6. Everyone is schmoozable. CEOs, VCs, tough administrative assistants, everyone is schmoozable, for the simple reason that everyone likes the attention … under the right conditions.
7. Always be appropriate. Never overstep your bounds or make others feel uncomfortable. Never invade someone’s personal space. Not sure what the boundaries are? It’s different for everyone, so pay attention; they’ll let you know.
8. Always be respectful of people’s time. Now more than ever, our time is our most precious resource. Enough said.
9. Don’t talk at people. Nobody likes to be talked at. They like to be engaged. They like to be listened to. There’s a big difference. Just remember: give a little, get a little.
10. Let yourself be schmoozed. Although, by definition, schmoozing is related to persuasion, you’ll be better off just thinking of it in terms of long-term relationships. That means you should always be willing to help people first. It’s good Karma
    .

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