The RockStar Success Library

Free - Chris Anderson

2010-03-08T07:44:35Z

Big Thought

Free becomes an economically viable price when the marginal costs of transferring digital information moves towards zero; which changes the structure of traditional markets.

Ideas, Implications, and Questions

How do we support people who are creating and disseminating information? When addressing the downward trend of newspaper circulation and ensuing layoffs, Chris writes “There may be more of them (journalists), not fewer, as the ability to participate in journalism extends beyond the credentialed halls of of traditional media.” (pg 235) It can be hard, though, for a blogging reporter to support themselves and family. I think that has to be more adequately understood.
Can advertising really support all of the free content on the internet? What are the limits? What happens when people use open source software and Microsoft has to downsize? Is it OK that we don’t make as much money if we don’t have to spend as much? I don’t think that we’ve figured out the answers to these questions on a societal level. I think that Chris is also addressing a post-industrial economy where by comparison with past generations, we don’t have to spend a lot of time on “survival needs”.
As someone who is deeply entrenched within the information economy, I have consider how much I can distribute for free and how I can use that as a sustainable business model. Two things that I found useful:
- Differentiating myself, and creating a superior product, is important – because prices among undifferentiated competitors falls to the marginal costs (pg 127). I have to find the challenges that my potential clients are struggling with, and solve them.
- Free can provide a powerful marketing tool. If I can provide valuable information that demonstrates competence, I can provide a higher level service for which people will pay (e.g. free blog articles to promote one-on-one coaching and public speaking). Part of the creativity lies in finding out what that higher level service is, as Chris writes, “The way to compete with Free is to move past the abundance to find the adjacent scarcity” (pg 231).
Chris provides a powerful list of “ Free Rules” that encapsulate a lot of his thinking:

If it’s digital, sooner or later it’s going to be free.
Atoms would like to be free, too, but they’re not so pushy about it.
You can’t stop free
You can make money from Free
Redefine your market
Round down
Sooner or later you will compete with free
Embrace waste
Free makes other things more valuable
Manage for abundance, not scarcity

Should you read this book? Who should read this book?

Absolutely. While he might not have all the answers, Chris is examining a very real dynamic in our economy that is having massive (and novel) effects on how we live and work. Anyone who has an interest in digital media will get something from Free, but especially:

Consultants, Authors, Bloggers, Coaches, Trainers, Speakers and basically anyone who uses digital media to market themselves
People who want to switch from distributing traditional media forms to digital media – artists, writers, and especially musicians
Companies and marketers who want to be on the leading edge of the free economy
Professionals on the technical side of the free information economy – IT professionals, web designers, etc.

Tags: Free, Chris+Anderson, The+Long+Tail, blogging, digital+media, digital+information, Moore's+Law

4 Ways to Handle Too Much Internet Information

2010-03-01T07:39:56Z

A colleague recently asked a question on LinkedIn about how people handle the overwhelming amount of information available online through blogs, websites, and social media. I thought I’d share my answers:

1)Be OK with not knowing everything - the secret to your everlasting happiness isn't waiting for you in a tweet.

Sometimes I find that I'm afraid that the answers I'm searching for are "out there" and if I don't get as much information as possible, I'll miss them. I've found, however, that in business and in life, there are few answers "out there" that I need, most of my answers were things I knew all along.

2)Beware of the "noise" creating more problems than solutions.

It's similar to marketing - have you ever seen an advertisement for a product that solves a problem you didn't even know you had? I prefer to go out into the world of information when I have a specific challenge that I'm working on.

3)Limit the places you hang out.

There are a lot of conversations happening on the web, and trying to take part in all of them would drive a person crazy. For example, I spend about 10-15 minutes a day on LinkedIn, about 5 on Facebook, and spend about an hour a month looking at blogs. That's it. And I don't miss a thing; or at least nothing that has proven important.

4) Read a lot of books.

The information cycle for books is much longer than the almost instantaneous nature of the internet. That means that while online information can be more timely, the material in books tends to be more thought out and of a higher quality.

Tags: online+networking, social+media, information+overload, blogging, blogosphere, linkedin, twitter, facebook

LinkedIn Privacy Settings - The 4 You Need to Know

2010-02-22T07:35:50Z

When using LinkedIn, it’s very important to understand and use the features available on the Settings page as they allow you to control many different aspects of your LinkedIn account. Especially important are the the features that control what others can see about you and your activity – your privacy settings.

There are a number of ways that you can control how and what you want to share with your network and the wider world. What you decide to share (and what you decide to keep private) is largely dependent on your comfort level and your goals for using LinkedIn. While it’s useful to spend time becoming familiar with all of the different functions on the Settings page, these are the most relevant privacy settings:

Public Profile – From here you can control what parts of your profile are visible to the public, which is anyone who does not have a first-level connection with you. While it’s usually useful to display all of your information to the public, you might want to restrict some of it depending on your industry and position.
Status Visibility – These settings determine who can see your status updates. If you are using LinkedIn to create a brand or stay on people’s minds, it’s helpful to keep this visibility broad. If you are using it to maintain your close connections, keep these set to just your connections or your network.
Connections Browse – This allows you to control whether your connections can see your other connections. In general, it’s accepted practice to leave this open (you are on LinkedIn to network, after all), but if you have a specific reason that you would not want others to see your network, you can turn this setting off.
Profile Views – When you look at another person’s profile, this controls how you show up in their “Who’s viewed my profile” log. Again, if you are using LinkedIn to build your brand, you might want to leave your “digital calling card” when you view a profile. Most people set this to this to the anonymous profile characteristics.

Tags: LinkedIn, Social+networking, linkedin.com, online+social+networking, facebook, status+update, linkedin+settings, linkedin+privacy

RockStar Selling Tip #1 - Transactional vs. Relational Selling

2010-02-02T14:11:16Z

There are many different styles of selling, and many different ways to define those styles. Two of those styles are Relational and Transactional:

Someone who follows relational selling puts a great deal of emphasis on building a relationship with their potential client. They focus on creating feelings of trust and comfort with the people they work with. It’s often called “solution-based selling” because the salesperson spends their time uncovering the needs and challenges of their prospects.

A salesperson who has a transactional selling focus concentrates on the actual sales transaction. They put their attention on the business exchange with their potential clients. Because of this they are often more movement- and action-oriented, i.e. they want to get the deal done.

Very few salespeople, however, are one or the other. It’s best to think of it as a spectrum with relational on one end and transactional on the other. Most salespeople tend to blend the two styles together while leaning towards one of the them. This mixture is good because each style has its own pros and cons:

Relational Selling

Pro -It creates a strong relationship that the salesperson can leverage because of strong feelings of “know, like, and trust”.

Con – It’s easy to stagnate and not move the business relationship forward; creates the danger of being an “unpaid consultant”.

Transactional Selling

Pro – It creates business deals, which is important because the salesperson’s job and focus is to make sales.

Con – It can be seen as aggressive and pushy; and by moving too quickly it’s easy to miss information that is important to the sale.

The ideal, then is for a salesperson to find somewhere in the middle that they are comfortable with, and that is effective for them (which can also vary based on industry and company).

Where do you fall in the spectrum, and how is it working? If you were going to adjust your selling style, which way should you move?

Tags: selling, selling+tips, sales+tips, sales+skills, transactional+selling, relational+selling, relationship+selling, solution+selling, closing+sales

Why Now is the Time to Crush It! - Gary Vaynerchuk

2010-01-28T14:43:31Z

Big Thought

The ease of access to emerging social media platforms provides a vehicle that allows for individuals to create a personal brand that they can monetize.

Ideas, Implications, and Questions

Gary skirts the line between being descriptive and prescriptive. As a descriptive book, it’s an interesting story of what allowed him to be successful. When it tries to be prescriptive, it falls apart because you can’t establish a cause and effect relationship. If you look at the book as a guide to using social media, it’s quite useful.
“If you’re not using Twitter because you’re in the camp that believes it’s stupid, you’re going to lose out. It doesn’t matter if you think it’s stupid, it’s free communication. That in and of itself has value, and you should take advantage of it.” (pg 71). That’s exactly what I told my intern when I started my Twitter account. I’m still not a huge fan of Twitter, but it’s a communication tool. That can go for a whole range of internet tools – you don’t have to like them, but don’t leave them on the table.
Is passion enough? Gary feels that it is – if you build your brand in an area that you love, you’ll eventually be able to make money doing it. I agree with him that it’s worth putting in the effort to create a business doing what enjoy. It’s harder than he indicates, though, especially because:
- People have to see a need for what you are doing. If it’s in an area that people aren’t willing to spend money on/be an audience for, it’s going to be hard to monetize.
- You have to be good at what you do. Gary points out that you have to have talent and knowledge to build your personal brand.
- Anything that has low barriers and scalability also has a lot of competition. If it’s easy for you to get involved, it’s easy for others to get involved. This is already building up a huge amount of mediocre noise. Gary might say that the best rise to the top. Yes, but not always and not automatically.
It’s ironic that the cover testimonial is from Timothy Ferriss, the author of the 4–Hour Work Week, because Gary is also a huge proponent of working hard, or what he calls, hustle. “No one makes a million dollars with minimal work unless they win the lottery.” (pg 89). This is where he skirts the prescriptive/descriptive line, though, because the next sentence is, “The cool thing about hustle, though, is that it’s one more thing that equalizes the playing field.” It can level the playing field, but it might not be enough. I know lots of hard working people who haven’t crushed it. The trick is to work hard on the right activities.

Should you read this book? Who should read this book?

Yes, it’s an interesting snapshot on what can be done with current social media platforms. And following his credo, Gary is really passionate about his topic. People who will get a lot out of this book:

Service—oriented professionals who can profit from a personal brand
Entrepreneurs who are building a business
Small business owners who want to build a community
Professionals who need to be able to sell social media:
- Web designers
- Marketing professionals
- Graphic Designers
- Copywriters

Find more info on Gary at http://garyvaynerchuk.com/

Tags: Gary+Vaynerchuk, Gary+Vay+Ner+Chuk, Why+Now+is+the+Time+to+Crush+It!, Wine+Library, Tim+Ferriss, 4-Hour+Workweek, Twitter, Social+Media

3 Ways to Control Information Flow Using LinkedIn Settings

2010-01-25T11:28:12Z

When using LinkedIn, it’s very important to understand and use the features available on the Settings page because it allows you to control many different aspects of your LinkedIn account. Especially important are the the features that control how you share and receive information from the LinkedIn system. While it’s useful to spend time becoming familiar with all of the different functions on the Settings page, these are the three most useful contact settings:

Email Addresses – It’s important to list all of the possible email addresses that someone might use when inviting you to connect, or the LinkedIn system won’t associate that invitation with your account. You won’t be overwhelmed with emails, however, as the system only uses your primary address to contact you. Also, it never displays your email addresses.
Receiving Emails – This allows you to change the frequency of contact from LinkedIn, depending on what type of information you are receiving. This is especially valuable if you are in numerous LinkedIn Groups, as you can prevent the system from sending you daily emails from each Group.
Network Updates – As your network gets larger, it’s useful to control the flow of information on your homepage, and the Network Updates setting allows you to control who is on your homepage feed and what information is shared. It’s best to modify this according to how you use LinkedIn; but remember, the more information you receive, the easier it is to keep your fingers on the pulse of your network.

Tags: LinkedIn, Social+networking, linkedin.com, online+social+networking, facebook, status+update, linkedin+settings

Highly Effective Networking - Orville Pierson

2010-01-08T07:26:51Z

After writing Step by Step Networking I’m always on the lookout for other books on networking. I love finding different tools and philosophies on networking to help refine my approach. Although focused more on job seekers, Orville Pierson’s Highly Effective Networking is a great primer for how to incorporate networking into your professional career. The ideas and approaches that he covers are incredibly useful if you are currently networking to find a job, but they also apply to any networking situation.

Orville and I share a belief in the long-term scope of networking. It’s not just something you do when you need a job or sales prospects, but rather a way of conducting your business life. For Orville, there are 4 main goals that you can achieve through networking (and I couldn’t agree more):

Get the word out
Gather information
Meet insiders at targeted organizations
Get in touch with decision makers

Big Thought:

Networking is an important and effective part of the job search when you approach it as process of building relationships with others before they need your services. Then when they have a job opening, you are a natural choice.

Ideas, Implications, and Questions

A lot of the book is dedicated to demonstrating that everyone already has a powerful network of contacts from their previous professional experiences and their personal life. It shows that you don’t have to attend networking events to start networking; it can be as simple as picking up the phone and reaching out to people you already know.
If you are not actively using networking as a tool in your career, you should start right now. Orville points out that “Effective job hunters usually meet the Decision Maker before there is a job opening…” (pg 127). My corollary would be that effective job hunters meet with the Decision Maker before they need a job. Too often people wait until they have a need before they start networking, and because of the long-term nature of the process, there’s a delay before they see the results. I think you should always be networking, because then you can leverage the relationships much more quickly.
“It’s not about having a huge network. It’s about using the network you have.” (pg 47). True, true, true. A huge mistake people make is to assume that master networkers need to have huge networks. While having a sizeable network can be helpful, it doesn’t have to be massive. If you build strong relationships with a core of well-placed contacts, that’s a great base. Sometimes I find myself falling into the trap of talking about how big my network is – I’m quick to point out, though, that it’s not necessary to know a lot of people, but rather to know people well.
The one area that Orville breezes through is on how to leverage the relationships with your network. He does a great job showing where to find possible connections and how to start and build relationships, but there is an underlying assumption that once you have the relationship, people will automatically give you what you want. It’s similar to sales books that only show how to build rapport and show value – in the end you still have to ask for the order. I think Orville passes over it because the “sales” side of networking, the asking for what you want, makes people uncomfortable and he knows that it’s hard to coach for that through a book. For networking to be successful, though, it’s not only about developing your networking, but leveraging it.
I’m a huge fan of meeting people for a cup of coffee when I’m looking to add them to my professional network. It’s a great opportunity to get to know them. Orville agrees that one on one meetings are a great way to build your network, and he points out that there are three aspects of a great networking meeting (pg 65):
1. Authentic conversation
2. Common interest
3. Information exchange

Should you read this book?

Yes, Highly Effective Networking does a good job of spelling out the basics of using networking as a professional development tool. If you are looking to use networking to build any part of your professional life, and especially if you are looking for a job right now, it’s well worth the read. I think Orville really hits the essence of effective networking when he says: “The one most important thing is to make everyone you talk to comfortable.” (pg 23)

Tags: Orville+Pierson, Highly+Effective+Networking, business+networking, networking+skills, job+hunt, finding+a+job, job+seeker

Do I Like Every Book I Read?

2009-12-12T07:19:07Z

Do I like every book that I read? I was looking over the past reviews that I’ve written for this blog and I realized that all were generally positive. There are no ruminations that end with me telling people not to read the book. Is it because I’m not discerning or because I’ve been taught to only say nice things? Or maybe I’m in the employ of the book authors?

The answer is none of the above (although any authors out there – I’m more than willing to accept checks). It turns out that the reviews are overwhelmingly positive because I only write about the books that are worth writing about. If that seems a bit unrepresentative, it is. Although reading any book is never a waste of time, I find that only a certain percentage of the books I read are actually worth taking the time and effort to write a review. I find I only write reviews/overviews for about 20% of the books I read, so most don’t get the in-depth treatment I give the Book Ruminations

My litmus test is this – after reading the book, do I want to continue to engage with the material? Do I want to clarify my thinking on the book and its subject matter? One of the biggest reasons I write the reviews is somewhat self-serving – I want to remember the material in the book and my thoughts on it. I also ask myself if I think that other people should engage with the material as well. If I think that a book brings up topics that are useful to others, it’s much more likely to be written about.

My challenge to you is this: engage with the books that you read. Don’t wait for a book review. If you don’t read much now, then start reading so you can have books that will engage your thinking! Whether or not you have a public forum to share what you are learning from a book you read, use the amazing resources you have available to get better at what you do and how you do it. No matter what the topic, others have written about it. Remember, the best institution of higher learning is your local library.

Tags: book+review, book+reviews, library, Barnes+and+Noble, Borders, Amazon

How to Improve your Public Speaking in Five Minutes

2009-12-07T06:56:09Z

If I could show you a simple skill that would double or triple your effectiveness at public speaking, would you use it?

Most people shun the spotlight and when they do present in front of others, they become nervous and ineffective. That’s why you can set yourself apart if you can stand in front of a group confidently and comfortably. While there are no shortcuts to effective public speaking skills, there is a simple tool that most books and courses on the subject miss. If you can learn this tool, the other pieces of the puzzle fit together much more smoothly.

Clearly define the purpose behind why you are speaking. Develop this before you work on any other part of the message and you will find that you will be a much more effective public speaker.

Most people get caught up in learning the delivery of the message or how to create the content. Both of these are important and deserve attention. However, a well-constructed message that is impeccably delivered doesn't help if it doesn't create the end result that you want. Rhetoric, the study of how to influence others through public speaking, is exactly that, the study of how to influence. If you don't create a change in your audience, you didn't deliver an effective presentation.

Uncovering the purpose of your message is relatively easy once you understand the importance of knowing the purpose. The key is to start from the end and work backwards. In your mind, fast forward to the end of your presentation. Imagine that it went perfectly and everyone in the audience received the message you wanted to communicate. If that should happen, what would you want them to do, think, or feel?

That's your purpose.

Write the purpose on the top of the page where you are writing the notes for your message – where you will be constantly reminded of it as you write your message. You can then work backwards in your mind from that endpoint to uncover what you had to say and how you had to say it. It becomes the guide that you can use to create the presentation. You’ll know what you have to say in order to convey your purpose.

There isn't a right or wrong purpose, but it should involve some sort of change or commitment in your audience. Very few of us want to talk only to hear ourselves talk;we have a reason we are speaking in front of people. If you are in a sales presentation, your purpose could be the audience agreeing to select your product or service. If you are speaking at a city council meeting, it could be changing the mind of public officials on how they will vote. Or it could be influencing the other parents at a PTA meeting to start a recycling program. There are many different purposes; but the key is: know the reason why you are speaking, and what you want as the outcome.

While clarity of purpose isn’t the only skill necessary for effective public speaking, it’s one of the most important (and often one of the most neglected). Learn how to define the purpose of your message, and you will find questions about content and delivery become much simpler. It’s easy to decide what to saywhat you want to convey. More importantly, when you are crystal-clear about why you are standing in front of your next audience you will find your confidence increase and you will be regarded as an excellent public speaker. when you know

Tags: public+speaking, public+speaking+skills, rhetoric, rhetorical+skills, influence, sales+presentations, sales+presenting, Toastmasters, Dale+Carnegie, influence+people

Are You the Right Kind of Networker?

2009-11-29T05:17:53Z

In my experience, people fall into one of two networking categories. It’s an incredibly important distinction because the professionals in the first category tend to fail miserably at networking, while those in the second find their career blossoming because of their networking activity.

The first type is what I call the transactional networker. People that follow this philosophy see networking as a series of brief encounters; and the goal of each encounter is to get something from it. These are the people at networking events who pass out as many cards as possible and get as many as they can. They are on the hunt for those that can use their products and services right away, or know someone who can. They’ll help other people out, but only if they see it leading to mutual back-scratching.

Often, this isn’t because they are bad people, but rather because they haven’t been taught any other way. They read a book or heard from someone that networking is about meeting as many people as possible, so they are doing just that. Transactional networkers tend to ask for business immediately, and can be relatively aggressive. They view networking as simply a numbers game – the goal is to talk to everyone so they can find as many prospects as they can. This leads to a short term view of networking because they are in it for the here and now.

The relational networker takes a more long-term approach to their networking activities. As the name implies, they are focused on building a relationship with the people they meet. They find out how they can be of service to the people in their network and create strong ties by actively helping their contacts first, without expecting a direct referral in response.

These networkers find more long-term success through their networking because they view each relationship as an investment for the future. As they get to know their network better and better, there are more opportunities for mutual benefit. Because it’s not necessary for there to be payback in the immediate future, relational networkers are able to develop a web of connections in which each person is invested in the success of the others.

Looking at networking as a relational versus transactional process is incredibly beneficial. If that’s the case, though, why don’t more professionals take a relational approach to their networking? The main reason is that relational networking is by its very nature, long-term. Business relationships, like any other relationships, take time to build. Therefore, impatience is the biggest challenge to building a strong network. That's why so many people fall into the bad habits of transactional networking.

By being aware of these pitfalls, though, you can focus on building your network the right way. Just like a farmer cultivates the fields for a huge payoff at the end of the summer, spend the time and energy to build your relationships and strengthen the ties to your connections. When you do this you will find that networking will become a key part of your business development.

Tags: networking, business+networking, networking+skills, relational+networking, communication+skills, networking+events, business+cards, transactional+networking, networking+event, business+card

Make Thanksgiving a Daily Event - Not an Annual Holiday

2009-11-23T07:25:34Z

With Thanksgiving just a few days away, it’s natural for people’s thoughts to turn towards turkey, football, and the good and bad aspects of spending a whole day with their family. And for a few moments they will think of the idea of “thanks-giving”, and they will spend time giving thanks. It might be a short pause in their day, or maybe they’ll go around the table before dinner and share one thing for which they are grateful.

It’s powerful to express gratitude, but do we have to wait until the end of November to do it? Do we need a national holiday to make ourselves stop and look at what is good in our lives? I think every day should be Thanksgiving. Here’s an excerpt from the Book of Habits on how to make appreciation a part of your daily life:

“Our daily lives are filled with good and bad, happy and sad. How can some people who have tons of challenges have a great deal of happiness, and those who have every advantage be miserable all the time? Much of it has to do with what they focus on. Since our minds can only focus on one thing at a time, gratitude is simply a deliberate choice to look at the positive instead of dwelling in the negative. A gratitude list creates the habit of looking at the positive things in our life. Get a notebook, a journal or a couple of sheets of paper. Put it by your bed, right next to where you keep this book.

Every night, before you go to bed, write down what you are grateful for. This is your list, so there aren’t any wrong or right answers. Just write at the top, “I am grateful for… and then list at least three things (there’s no upper limit). They can be big or small, specific or general. It can be that your husband did the dishes after dinner or that you are healthy. It’s very important, however, that you write at least three. Some days you’ll be able to write 20 right off the top of your head, and some days (you know the ones I’m talking about), it’s hard to get even the first one down. Those rough days are when it’s especially important that you write down at least three. What you are doing is a five-minute exercise on developing perspective. You are teaching your conscious and unconscious minds to focus on things that are positive, instead of on what you lack in your life. This is a crucial step to living in peace and happiness.”

Tags: book+of+habits, thanksgiving, gratitude+journal, gratitude, appreciation, turkey+day

The Right Questions Can Help Fix the Environment (and Your Life)

2009-11-11T05:08:56Z

“The quality of a person’s life is determined by the quality of the questions they ask.” – Anthony Robbins

Last week I read William Kamkwamba’s The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind, a fantastic story about how he persevered through poverty and ignorance in Africa to build an electricity-generating windmill for his family’s home. There are a many reasons why the book engaged me, but one of them is because I’ve also been thinking about how to build windmills.

One of the topics I daydream about is how to make every house in the U.S. a zero-sum electricity user by using solar and wind power right at the building. Now, I’m not an engineer, so a lot of the technical aspects of the question are beyond my grasp at the moment. What William’s story reinforced for me, though, is the power of asking the right questions. He didn’t get stuck asking himself why there were so many challenges in his life, he asked himself how he could change his circumstances.

In the same way, I think one of the biggest challenges that we face in wrestling with the climate change crisis, or really any crisis, is that we ask the wrong questions. Unfortunately, it’s very easy to get stuck on the why questions – which very often seem to be the why not questions:

Why do we continue to pollute even though we know it’s ruining the environment?
Why can’t we figure out a solution?
Why bother trying?

By their nature, they are hard questions to answer; and even if you can find an answer, it tends to be self-defeating. The trick, then, is to change the questions you ask. My favorite question to ask is how. By reframing the challenge in your mind you can find possible solutions. Because when you have the answer to a how question, you have a tangible next step:

How do we allow every home to cleanly generate the power they need?
How do we encourage people to change their habits around energy use?
How can I make a difference?

This doesn’t mean that the answers will come easily, or that the answers you get will be easy to implement. You will find, though, that you have answers that you can take action on. Whether they center on the challenges facing our society or our own individual lives, focusing our questions on solutions instead of problems is the first step to overcoming them.

Tags: questions, William+Kamkwamba, Kamkwamba, The+Boy+Who+Harnessed+the+Wind, energy+crisis, climate+crisis, wind+power, windmills, Tony+Robbins

The Drunkard's Walk - Leonard Mlodinow

2009-10-29T07:15:58Z

Reading a book on the history and development of probability theory might not seem too enthralling. But somehow Leonard Mlodinow’s The Drunkard’s Walk combines both the technical developments and the characters along the way into a coherent (and enjoyable) whole. Along the way, it points out why the ancient Greeks never studied probability and why most of the great thinking on the subject came about because of gambling.

There’s a method to his madness, though, and a purpose behind this story. For Leonard, studying the development of probability theory is invaluable because it educates us on how we interact with randomness in our current times. The evolution of our thinking on probability is a worthwhile topic of investigation because it still affects us in an age where we “should know better.”

Big Thought

Chance and uncertainty influences many of the decisions we make on a daily basis, and because of that, it’s valuable to understand how probability and our ideas around probability have evolved.

Ideas, Implications, Questions

“The cord that tethers ability to success is both loose and elastic” (pg 216). This idea, which echoes similar theories from such authors as Malcolm Gladwell and Nassim Taleb, is one of the most important and controversial predictions from the examination of uncertainty and probability. It’s controversial because it flies in the face of “common wisdom” that says there is a direct connection between people’s hard work and abilities and the level of success they enjoy. Leonard points out that ability does help, but it’s simply a part of the equation; and there are many other variables – including ones that have a degree of chance.
This has a profound meaning for business people. If there isn’t a direct relationship between work and results, what can you do to minimize the effects of randomness and uncertainty? Simple: increase activity, or at the very least, keep trying even if you initially fail. For example, a salesperson who is selling a product or service should keep going even if rejected at first. The more that salesperson tries, the more possibilities there are for success. J.K. Rowling didn’t sell her book about a young wizard to the first publishing company – what if she had given up?
Be careful to not fall prey to the “Law of Small Numbers” (pg 99). It’s too easy to think that we can predict future performance based on a relatively small sample size. Too often we try to create predictive models based on only a few pieces of data. It doesn’t work, so if you only have a small number of results with which you are trying to evaluate performance, find another metric to use.
Another common mistake that I thought was illuminating was the hot hand fallacy in which there is the “mistaken impression that a random streak is due to extraordinary performance” (pg 178). How often do we give too much credit to something that is in reality, just a piece of randomness disguised as skill or “good luck”? Looking at it in the reverse, how often do we attribute such things as “bad luck” to natural randomness.

Should you read this book?

Probably. If you have any interest at all in probability, you should invest the time. Even if you don’t think about probability much, it’s a fascinating story and a fun read. The times where Leonard pauses from the narrative to take a quick tour of probabilistic logic is unobtrusive and in the end quite satisfying. It won’t stop you from making decisions with a low chance of success, but at least you’ll know why you made them.

This Bizarre Networking Exercise Can Double Your Business

2009-10-23T03:02:14Z

Tired of going to business networking events? Tired of having little to show from your networking efforts except a bunch of business cards from people you don’t remember much about? Here’s something to try the next time you go to a networking meeting.

Don’t tell anyone anything about your business.

It sounds strange, but you’ll have more fun and even get a better response by not talking about yourself. When someone asks you what you do, simply say “I’m trying a new exercise where I don’t talk about me while I’m here. Instead, today I want to find out about other people and how I might be able to help them.” And then go right back to talking about their business.

You might be asking yourself, “How do I go through entire conversations without talking about myself?” There is a trick to making this exercise work. The key to focusing the conversation on the other person is to ask them questions about themselves and their businesses. Take an interest in the other person. This exercise works because most people in networking situations are looking to talk about their business – you are simply giving them an audience.

By the end of the event you’ll have discovered a great deal about the other people in the room; about them personally and what’s going on in their businesses. You’ll be much better situated to help them by making connections or by giving suggestions. You’ll also be well along the way building a strong professional relationship with the people you met, and that’s the most important goal of this exercise.

The next time you meet, and you do tell them about yourself and your business, they are much more likely to care and want to help. It’s easy to forget that networking is based on relationships, and relationships are based on communication. By listening first, you demonstrate that you care about them and their success; and you show them that they can trust you to build that networking relationship.

3 Easy Ways to Reduce Physical (and Mental) Clutter at Home

2009-10-17T12:38:52Z

We have a lot of stuff.

It seems that the average household is filled to the rafters with things. Whether it’s clothes, kitchen gadgets, or hobby materials, there’s no shortage – and the relatively large amount of leisure time we have exacerbates the situation as we seek activities to fill gaps. The square footage of the average American home has almost doubled in the last 50 years and yet we’re always looking for more space; we even rent storage spaces so we can accumulate more. It’s debatable whether all of this stuff is necessary, but it certainly causes a lot of clutter in our homes.

I’ve found that it’s difficult to have a clear mind if you’re surroundings are filled with chaos. While it is possible to have a lot of belongings and still have a clean and orderly home, it’s definitely challenging (ask any parent of a small child). The less you have around you, then, the easier it is to have an uncluttered environment and therefore an uncluttered mind. You don’t have to get rid of everything, but there are a few easy changes that can minimize the amount of unnecessary stuff in your home.

Use your local library.

Sure, Barnes and Noble wants you to buy everything for your personal library, but do you really need to? How often do you re-read your books? If you are like most people, you probably struggle to even read them the first time. Checking out books from your local public library can save you from having shelves of partially read books that just take up space. Most libraries have a very up-to-date selection, and if they don’t have the book you are looking for, they can obtain it from another library.

As a rule of thumb, if you are going to read a book a number of times, or if you are going to mark it with notes, buy it. If not, get it from your local library and then you won’t have to find a place to keep it. You’ll also save a boatload of money because all you’ll pay is a few late fees now and then (and most libraries will now email you when your book is due so you won’t forget).

Sign up for Netflix.

I’m not getting paid by Netflix to say this, but I think there are a lot of great options for watching movies that don’t require buying a DVD. If you buy a DVD and only watch it once or twice, it’s really wasteful. Not only does it occupy space on a shelf or in drawer, but the packaging and production of millions of DVDs has a huge negative impact on the environment.

Explore other ways to get your movies and TV. Netflix is a very simple rental system with a massive selection – they even have movies you can watch directly on your computer or XBOX 360–enabled television (that’s what I do). You can also visit a number of sites that have full movies and television shows that are supported by advertising (I use hulu.com). The end result – you’re not keeping a growing stack of DVDs next to your TV.

Download your music

In the past, downloaded music was usually pirated and therefore had a negative stigma attached to it. These days, however, there are more and more ways to legitimately download all of your favorite music. It’s easy, fast, and usually more inexpensive than buying a CD. And even better, the music resides on your computer’s hard drive or your Mp3 player, so there aren’t stacks of CDs lying around.

You can even burn your current CD collection onto your computer and then store the CDs in a closet or basement. If a lot of your music is on older formats, you can now buy tape decks and turntables with USB ports that allow you to record your music onto your computer (which is good because vinyl albums are not small). Digital storage of music is great because it’s so compact. Unlike a record or CD collection that takes up more space the bigger it gets, a hard drive is the same size whether you have one album or 1,000.

While not completely de-cluttering your home, these three ideas can help you minimize the extraneous stuff that tends to accumulate. It’s hard to have a clear mind when you have too many distractions. By taking the steps necessary to get rid of what you don’t need, you will find focusing on what is important that much easier.

How a Saleperson Can Help You Get a Job

2009-10-13T15:46:58Z

People often have an adverse reaction to the idea of selling, the word “sales” itself even carries a negative connotation. It’s ironic, though, because in many ways we are always selling. Whether it’s an idea for a project at work or a for where to eat lunch, we are always attempting to influence others.

This becomes even more obvious when you are on a job search and sitting down in an interview, because in many ways, you are selling yourself in that job interview. Your goal is to influence and convince the person on the other side of the desk that you are the solution to their problem – that you can and should fill their vacancy. If that’s the case, what can job seekers learn from salespeople to help them close the deal and land the job?

1. Listen as much as possible and ask a lot of questions. The common idea of an interview is that the interviewer asks all of the questions, and the interviewee jumps through hoops to answer them the “right” way. Try looking at it the other way around. Although it’s important to demonstrate your competence and ability, when you are in an interview, you want to discover as much as you can about the interviewer and the company. Top salespeople know that the less they talk, the more likely they are to get the sale – because a) they are able to discover how they can solve the customer’s problems and b) they’ve made their customer feel important by listening to them.

2. Find out what their challenges are. When an organization is hiring someone, they are doing so because they have a problem that needs to be solved. Whether it’s a backlog of work because they are under-staffed or a project that can’t be completed because they don’t have someone with the proper expertise, it’s a gap that they need to fill. That’s why they are willing to spend money to hire someone. Company’s don’t hire new employees “just because”. Do some digging to find out what these challenges are – you can do this both before the interview in your research on an organization, as well as in the interview itself.

3. Offer solutions to their challenges. Good salespeople know that the key to a sale is showing how the products and services they represent will solve the customer’s problems. Once you’ve found out the challenges that are facing the organization, you can position yourself to solve them. If you realize, for example, that they need someone with a specific skill-set to complete their latest project, show how you have the relevant experience. Also, remember that you are being interviewed by people who have their own personal concerns in addition to the organization’s. For example, if you’re being interviewed by an HR staff that is overwhelmed with work, point out that hiring you would be a good choice because then they could move on to other work.

4. Ask for the Next Step. One of the most important skills a top salesperson develops is the ability to “ask for the order” – it’s what differentiates a highly-paid salesperson from an unpaid consultant. Don’t be afraid to ask for what you want in the interview process. The worst thing they can say is no. If you are at the end of an interview, and you want the job and think you’re a good fit, ask what the next step is. Is there another interview stage, or can they make a decision right there? In the end, the person that asks, “Would you like to hire me?” has a much higher chance of landing the job than a candidate who just hopes they’ll offer it.

5. Follow Up! These days, most companies have multi-part interview processes that can stretch for days or even weeks. Make sure that you are staying in contact with your interviewers through each step. Send thank you messages by regular mail or email after each interview. If they tell you to call at a certain time or on a specific day, do so. When they don’t get back to you right away (which can happen for a multitude of reasons), don’t become complacent, continue to contact them until you get a response. Don’t worry about annoying the interviewer, if you don’t show persistence in getting the job, how will they know that you’ll be persistent in doing the job?

9 Ways the Pros Use Their Status Update on LinkedIn

2009-10-06T15:31:21Z

One of the most common features on social networking websites is the status update. Using the status update feature, a user can type in a short message that is broadcast to their entire network, and sometimes even the entire web-surfing world. Facebook’s popularity is based largely on people’s ability to share information through the status update feature, and Twitter has taken the process one step further – it’s just status updates, and nothing else.

It can be exciting to share in this way, and many business people are using it to share professional information as well. Unfortunately, the ubiquitousness of status updates makes it hard to be “heard” above the noise – social networking sites are often jammed with people posting what they ate for dinner and rooting for their favorite sports team. The status updates on LinkedIn, however, don’t compete with these other, random posts, because they are only professional updates. (I have almost 400 first level connections, but receive less than 10 status updates a day on LinkedIn – so I end of up reading all of them).

At a minimum, you want to update your status on LinkedIn once a week. If you are actively networking on LinkedIn, though, three to four updates a week are a good number to aim for. Think about your LinkedIn status update as a mini-press release about your career. You can share a small piece of information with your network quickly and without much effort. Here are 9 ideas of what to share in your status update:

Tell your network about a professional event you are going to or have just attended (networking event, trade conference, industry convention, Chamber of Commerce meeting).
Announce a project that you are starting or have completed for your job.
Plug the work of someone in your network.
Share a business success you’ve recently had – a happy client or a rave review.
Ask your network for a specific connection that you are looking for.
Post a link that would be of interest to people in your network.
Promote a new product or service that you are offering by telling your network how it can help them.
Remind people about the characteristics of an ideal business referral for you, or just ask for referrals.
Make a recommendation to your network about a service, product, website, software package, company, book, etc. that has been useful to your business.

Just implementing these ideas alone can keep you busy on LinkedIn for several weeks. Happy Updating!

Win the Crowd - Steve Cohen

2009-09-29T10:38:49Z

When you think about it, magicians are truly the masters of sales. We know that they are going to perform feats that are designed to fool us, we might even try to stay on our guard, but they always get us. And we love it – we even want more! For their illusions to work, magicians have to sell us over and over again.

In becoming a top magician, Steve Cohen has also become a master salesperson and communicator. Win the Crowd is fascinating because he’s drilled down into his methods for influencing an audience, and found how they can extrapolated into our daily conversations. Some of his techniques are quite sophisticated and require some time and practice, but that’s half the fun. It feels as if the curtains are being drawn back a bit and Steve is showing you how to make the magic work. They’re not necessarily tricks that require a white dove, but rather it’s the dance that creates the communication and relationship between speaker and audience that great magic requires.

Big Thought

The same skills and tools that a master magician uses to captivate an audience can be used to improve everyone’s communication abilities – whether we’re presenting to a big group or speaking with someone one-on-one.

Implications, Ideas, and Questions

The 5 Maxims of Magic (that can build your confidence in communication )
- Be Bold
- Expect Success
- Don’t State – Suggest
- Practice, Practice, Practice
- Be Prepared
The idea of preparation stood out throughout the book. In a magician’s show, everything is planned out and mastered ahead of time. Many, many hours of practice can go into an illusion that lasts just a few minutes. In the same way, I think that most of our important activities could benefit from more practice (an easy way to do this is to incorporate visualization – where you see your practice with your mind’s eye – into your routine).
The focus on being a “showman” resonates with me because I spend a lot of time with clients talking about how other people perceive them and their businesses. That’s really all a “brand” is, how others perceive you. This is especially relevant because there’s an attitude of individuality in our culture that makes us want to ignore other people’s views of us, but communication rests not only on what we say, but on our audience’s perception of what we say.
Steve’s chapter on “magic words” (chapter 10) was interesting and a lot of fun to read – especially because I’ve already integrated 6 of the 10 magic words based on previous learning. One of my favorite new phrases is the layered command – especially important for leaders who want to create action and direct people (pg 137). It’s worth thinking about what you’re going to say before you say it.
Steve points out that these skills shouldn’t be used to deceive someone, but rather to make your communication more effective. Still, one of the questions that came up again and again in my mind as I was reading was “Where is the sweet spot between manipulation and influence?” In my opinion the differentiating factor is your intention – the purpose you are trying to achieve. As Steve explains, he can “manipulate” people’s perceptions in a magic show because they are expecting it – they want to be entertained. In everyday conversations, though, he wouldn’t use those same techniques on the unwary.

Should you read this book?

You shouldn’t read this book if you’re not ready to really amp up your communication tools (find out why this sentence works on page 147). In all seriousness, it’s a great book for really honing your skills – especially if your career involves selling or presenting. It’s not necessarily a beginner’s guide, but it is filled with the tools that can bring a bit of “magic” to every conversation you have.

What Should I Know in my 30s

2009-09-21T22:42:01Z

I picked up a book at the library called 30 Things to do When You Turn 30; my birthday was a few weeks ago and age has been on my mind lately. It’s full of short essays by the “leading 30–somethings” of my generation filled with their musings about what being 30 means to them and outlining the steps needed to lead a good life during your third decade. Some of the essays are insightful and thought-provoking, some not so much.

I realized, though, I’m not that concerned with the thoughts of a random Harvard Business School graduate or someone who’s backpacked through Tibet. The people I do want to take life lessons from are the people around me. I know their stories, what makes up the mosaic of their experiences, and I think that makes it easier to engage with their ideas. Why go far for wisdom when it’s right around the corner?

I don’t usually ask for comments on articles, but I ask you to answer one of the following questions. The response can be as long or short as you would like. If you don’t want to publish it to the public, I’d appreciate you sending me your thoughts by email for my own understanding.

If you are in your 30’s right now, what is the most important lesson you’ve learned up to this point that you are making your best attempt to implement?
If you are over 30, what is the one thing you wish you could tell the 30–year-old version of yourself?

The Big Mistake in Online Networking that Can Sink You

2009-09-19T08:22:46Z

It used to be that bad spelling and poor grammar would only hurt you if you were writing an essay for English class. Now, because so much networking is done online, it can put a damper on your career or lose you credibility in the professional world. With the explosion of written forums that are open to the public (social networking, blogs, online reviews, etc.), how you write can be just as important as what you write. If you are using the internet in any professional capacity, you need to make sure your writing skills aren’t sending the wrong message.

Even though it has gotten easier to communicate with new technologies like texting and online status updates (or maybe because it has gotten easier) you should be more aware of everything you write on the internet. This vigilance is important for a number of reasons. In the past, you would write a letter to your newspaper to be published in a public forum, something that took time and effort. Now you can post a comment on a blog or a status update on Facebook in a matter of minutes. The fact that it can be seen by a large audience is great, but it also means that any mistakes you make will be seen by just as many people. Also, everything on the internet stays on the internet – it’s next to impossible to remove what you’ve written once it is up!

Why is this important? Just as people judge speakers based on their content and on their delivery, so too are you going to be judged by your content and how you deliver it online. This is especially important when using the internet for professional purposes like networking – your audience is always forming an opinion of you. If you are trying to build your personal “brand image” online, and your writing is full of typos and errors, the image you’re creating isn’t the one you want out in public.

The solutions are simple, but they do require some time and thought. Even if you aren’t a skillful writer, these few steps can insure that you don’t look like a complete fool when you are communicating and networking online:

Reread everything you write that can be seen by the public – before you post it. It doesn’t take long, but spend the time to read over what you’ve just written. You’ll often catch simple typing mistakes and extra/omitted words. What should you reread:
Use spell check! Most social media sites (including LinkedIn and Facebook) now include a spell checker when you post status updates. If you know you’re not a great speller, and you have a larger piece of writing on other sites, cut and paste to Word or a similar program and use their spell checker. Even if spelling isn’t that important to you, it might be to someone who’s reading your post and forming an opinion of you.
Avoid these common word mistakes. If you’re not sure of the correct usage, spend a few minutes using Google to figure it out:
Don’t get suckered into using shortcuts. As texting and instant messaging becomes more common, so too are the text shortcuts (like LOL, IMHO, THX). That’s fine if you’re communicating one on one, but it’s too informal if you’re broadcasting to a large audience – unless that audience is a group of tweens. When in doubt, always be more “formal” than less.

In the end, it’s not about being perfect with your writing (heck, I’m sure you could even find an error in this article). It is about avoiding as many simple mistakes as possible. The more you want to use the internet to network with a large audience, the more you want to make sure that you are creating the right impression. If you take the few minutes required to avoid the most common mistakes, you’ll create the impact you want to.