The NierenBlog

Listening to Two Great Authors on Memory, Identity and Love

Last night The Jewish Week http://www.thejewishweek.com/  hosted an event with two gifted authors who had just published memoirs that dealt with memory- yet from very different perspectives and points of view.

Joshua  Foer's "Moonwalking with Einstein" described how he became the 2006 U.S. Memory Champion- and he how learned an age-old memory building exercises. Diane Ackerman, a best selling author behind works including "The Zookeeper's Wife" spoke on her memoir, "One Hundred Names for Love" and described her painstaking effort to get her husband, the accomplished literary critic Paul West, to remember just a handful of words after suffering a stroke in 2005 which cleared his mind of the simplest of words.

They were both amazing speakers and spoke so passionately of their work to a packed audience.

The Jewish Week often has great events like these where they bring in top authors and speakers to share their work. To learn more-- visit their site http://www.thejewishweek.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

An Evening of Fun, Fashion and Social Networking

On July 20, it was terrific to bring together two of my favorite organizations to have an evening of fun, fashion and connecting.

EisnerAmper LLP, http://www.eisneramper.com  which is ranked as the 15th largest accounting firm in the country and The Carlisle Collection http://www.carlislecollection.com, which is a high end fashion company based in New York City with wonderful clothes that are sold to the busy woman-all by appointment only--truly one of New York's best kept secrets.

The guests, who were friends and clients of EisnerAmper enjoyed a terrific sneak peak at the Fall Collection given by Luann Sampson,Director of Merchandising-who is beyond terrific in her fashion sense and style (she unfortunately is not in the picture above) and then Leena Gurevich, my friend and the New York Showroom director,(above and to my left) dazzled us with her charm and discussion of the line and we had a great welcome from my two friends, Christal McElroy and Marie Arrigo,partners of EiserAmper-pictured from the right) and also from Alyssa Todtman,(in the middle) who co-ordiated the evening and the Event Planning guru of the firm.

I gave a few highlights on making the top social media sites work for you and your business.

A great evening was enjoyed by all and we were blessed to have our expert photographer with us-ANN WATT-- who is terrific and as you can see, her photos are amazing!  Visit her at www.AnnWatt.com and also look at her photos on The New York Social Diary.

 

Working with an Industry that Creates Beautiful Homes and More

I just conducted a webinar on "Networking: A Career Development Strategy for the American Society of Interior Designers.

I immediately retraced back my connection to this group and realized that just in May, when I spoke for ART-Accessories Resource Team in San Diego-- that there was a direct link and a wonderful chance to reach out to my friends and great connection to that terrific group! I had worked in San Diego because of my friendship and association with Bill Fortson and  John Clements- owners of my favorite store- BJ's Home Accents in Newburgh, Indiana  www.bjshomeaccents.com   And to totally connect the dots, I met Bill and John, through my life long family friend, Trudy Mitchell who I will visit in 2 weeks and who I consider my Godmother. As my dear mother, Molly's best friend, I grew up with Trudy and her wonderful husband Bill and I learned so much from both of them. When it comes to true networking- and being generous and building relationships and connections, there is no one like Trudy. Also-- I believe that the post office owes a great deal to Trudy-- she has sent more handwritten notes and cards than anyone I know in the world! And she never misses an occasion to this day to send a note to let someone know she is thinking of them.

As we know- and a great networking lesson-- always go back to the beginning and trace back how the original connections were made-- a true opportunity to stay in touch and say thank you!!  Isn't this the real strategy of everyday networking!

The Leadership Journey: A Picture Worth a Thousand Words – and Hours of Discussion

My guest blogger today is a friend and someone I admire tremendously-- Todd Cherches, who is the co-founder and CEO of BigBlueGumball, a NYC-based management and leadership consulting, training, and executive coaching firm whose motto is, "We make training entertaining." Todd and his brother, Steve, are on a mission to make the world a better place by ridding the planet of bad managers -- and bad powerpoint -- through their cutting-edge, visual thinking approach.

Todd and Steve are a terrific team--and I recommend them highly! We met years ago when we were all adjunct instructors at the Dale Carnegie program and I then had the great opportunity to have Todd as one of my clients before he opened his own firm.

They are the true Leadership training gurus- and a little bit about their firm:

• BigBlueGumball is a professional development firm dedicated to helping organizations and their people turn ideas into actions…and actions into results.
• They work hand-in-hand with their clients to design and deliver powerful, impactful, practical, engaging, and often life-changing learning experiences that have been proven to transform individuals, teams, departments, and organizations.
• How do they do it? By leveraging their patented learning methodology whose foundation lies is these three key words: Educate, Engage, and Excite!^TM  
• Whether through their consulting, training, or coaching services, they seek to… EDUCATE by providing meaningful, relevant, and cutting-edge content; ENGAGE by delivering information in a way that is entertaining, impactful and memorable; and EXCITE by leaving people inspired to change and motivated to act.

 

 

 Read what Todd has to say on The Leadership Journey--

They say that a picture is worth a thousand words. And that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. And that Leadership is not a destination…but a journey. 

I’m not exactly sure who “they” are, or what else they have to say (or why 90% of all quotes seem to be attributed to Confucius – did he really say all the things they say he said?), but regardless of who said what, there’s something about the power of a beautiful, colorful visual image combined with a simple yet thought-provoking metaphor such as this one.

 In my leadership workshops, and the NYU graduate course I teach on “Transformational Leadership & Teambuilding,” we spend almost an hour – and pretty much an entire semester – discussing and referring back to this single, powerful image.

 

“An hour on one picture? How can that be?” you might be wondering.

 

The WINDSHIELD represents the future: Your leadership vision. The road ahead. The road not taken. The unknown just over the horizon. The obstacles, yet unseen. The journey you are on. And so much more.

 The REARVIEW MIRROR represents the past: Where you’ve come from, and how you got here. Your successes and your failures. The experiences you’ve brought with you. Your core values. The competition that may be gaining on you. Or those you left behind. And a constant reminder to pull over periodically and take time for “reflection.”

 The DASHBOARD represents the present: Your dials and gauges and metrics. It tells us how we are doing, and how much further we have yet to go. How fast are we going, or how slow. And do we have what it takes to get us to our next destination.  Management guru Peter Drucker once famously said, “If you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it.”

 And what else? What does the STEERING WHEEL symbolize, and the TIRES, and the ENGINE, and the TRUNK? Should we stay on this ROAD, or is our GPS telling us that we are speeding forward in the wrong direction? And where should the leader be:  in the DRIVER’S SEAT, the passenger seat, the back seat…or not in the car at all?

 

OK. Now may be a good time to pull over and reflect…

To learn more about Todd and Steve Cherches-- visit their website   www.bigbluegumball.com

and remember, they make training entertaining!

 

   

 

 

ONE-SHOT EVENTS NEED A BRIDGE TO REAL LIFE WORK

 

My guest blogger today is a friend and colleague, Phyllis Weiss Haserot -Practice Development Counsel
Consulting/Coach to the Next Generation and Author of "The Rainmaking Machine: Marketing Planning, Strategy and Management for Law Firms" and "The Marketer's Handbook of Tips & Checklists"

Read her thoughts and suggestions below:

To provide professional development, teach skills and help to bolster productivity, a number of firms have used motivational speakers, sales and marketing experts, and team-building consultants who use physically engaging outdoor activities to kick off or enhance the training. Though this one-shot approach has proved successful in the short term when the speaker/trainer is engaging and knowledgeable, the effects often fade fairly quickly unless the activities and lessons are translated in a second stage to those activities and tasks the professionals need to perform on a daily basis. This second stage has been missing from most Outward Bound and similar types of team building training. It is also frequently missing from business development or sales training (indoors) that is not followed up with coaching and/or refresher sessions that relate to current specific needs and build new habits.

The second phase or bridge, conducted indoors, consists of exercises that are made to relate to on-the-job situations. Some examples are: organizing a team-selling opportunity; beginning a new matter with a client – setting ground rules; or determining how to reward teamwork in rainmaking. The facilitator must be familiar with firm cultures and with the processes and interactions that typically occur in delivering their services.

For more on how this training works:

 Years of experience with groups of all kinds have shown that new kinds of challenges and inspirational talks excite people and compel them to try new things. This is particularly true of high achieving professionals. But if they simply go back to business as usual after the sparking event, little changes except for the extremely self- motivated. The “bridge” to real life work situations is the crucial missing link to successfully building new habits.

To contact Phyllis and learn more about her offerings-- pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com

Voice:: 212-593-1549
pwhaserot@pdcounsel.com  
please visit: www.pdcounsel.com  
and blog http://www.nextgeneration-nextdestination.com
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/pwhaserot

http://www.linkedin.com/companies/practice-development-counsel

 

Buy Yourself a Book Today

 

Did you know that  today is Amazon.com Launch Day?

 In 1994, the Internet phenomenon Amazon.com was launched as a bookselling site. It
rang up sales of $12,438 in the first week and losses close to
a billion dollars in five years. Recently, Amazon.com has had
an estimated worth of $83.07 million. Now that's a heck of an
improvement!

So in honor of Amazon Launch day-- go buy a book either there or at your favorite store or download one-- even go to the library--- just take the time on this nice summer day--- to turn the page of a book in some fashion and learn something new!

Are You Moving the Needle Forward

 
Recently during a coaching session with a client, we were discussing a simple process on continually prospecting and deepening your current business relationships.

We were discussing what I call my "Power of Three"-

Think of the preferred method of communication of people you wish to contact and spend 15 minutes a day doing the following:

*Send 3 additional emails daily-- to say thank you, share an article or piece of news, something that you have researched that will be of interest to them

*Send 3 additional phone calls--for the same reasons above--- ( because some people in your universe are telephone preferred) -- I ask these questions daily as I continually compile my Data Service template on those in my universe

*Send 3 handwritten notes-- and enjoy the power of actually putting a stamp on the envelope!

By  going through this process daily- I have touched nine people in my network-- clients, prospects, centers of influence, etc.  It takes a total of 15 minutes and I do them faithfully. I always see results and movements in the relationships over time-- it all goes back to 'making sure that you move the needle in some way every day'.

Keeping the Family Connection

 
This past week on Linked In, I had the opportunity to reconnect with Marc Gensler, founder of Red Oak Wealth Advisors and the son of one of my favorite clients, Joel Gensler, who was with EisnerAmper- a top CPA and great person. Joel passed away a few years ago and I always remember how he spoke so glowingly of his sons and specifically of Marc.

Marc has worked in the in the financial services industry for twelve years and has experience working with public companies, institutional investors, portfolio managers, and market strategists.

As a graduate from Duke University with a Bachelors degree in Economics, he has been a CFA charter holder since 2002.

Red Oak Wealth Advisors mission is to  level the playing field for individual investors through affordable investment advice. His clients  are generally professionals and small business owners in their 30s-40s with children under 5 years old.

Take a look at his website  www.redoakwealth.com

Marc is also a great guy and as they say 'the apple doesn't fall far from the tree'

Freedom from Fear of Public Speaking-- By a Pro

 

Did you know that July is Freedom from Fear of Speaking Month. And the summer is a good time to take a public speaking class, get a coach and knockout fears of speaking.  My good friend, colleague and coach, Diane DiResta, President of  DiResta Communications is the 'go to' expert on any form of how to be a better and more confident public speaker.

Here are 5 tips Diane shared as my guest blogger  to help anyone become a  more confident public speaker.

 

1.       Get over yourself and Fear of Speaking – Nervousness is being self-centered. It’s not about you it is

          about them-- Your audience wants you to succeed! 

2.       Focus on the breath – Breathe through the diaphragm of the belly. Take 5-10 deep breaths.

3.       Prepare and Rehearse – Practice out loud and time your speech. You look good! 

4.       Set an anchor – Remember a time when you were at the top of your game. Get the feeling. Press your index finger and thumb together and anchor it. Press your fingers together right before you speak.

5.       Affirm your success – Overwrite negative programming by writing positive statements and say them to yourself. “I’m confident.” “I can do this.”

 

 

For the other 10 tips read  Diane's July newsletter, The Science of Speaking www.diresta.com  and subscribe. I learn from her all the time.

Also visit her blog  www.diresta.com/knockoutpresentationsblog and her website www.diresta.com  and order her amazing best seller--"Knockout Presentations"

Give Someone a Piece of Chocolate Today

 
I just read from one of my favorite sites that I receive daily that today is  National Chocolate Day!

Since there is a day for everything, what a great reason to celebrate and indulge in one of life's little pleasures.

I found out that chocolate comes from a small tree called Theobroma cacao, or the cocoa tree. Its fruit produces cocoa seeds, from which cocoa powder and chocolate are made. If only chocolate bars grew on trees--Hershey and Godiva would be in trouble!

If you truly love chocolate as my wonderful Mom used to,( she would call herself a chocoholic) then you have two more chocolate days to celebrate! World Chocolate Day is on September 4 and National Chocolate Day is on October 28!

In my Client Service data model, one of the pieces of information I find out about people in my networks are 'what are some of their favorite foods'--- in looking through my database, I found that 15 are true Chocoholics!! Guess who will be getting some chocolates from me today!

Have fun with this- and enjoy-- whether it’s in the form of a bar, syrup or ice cream or for me, yogurt—the choice is yours! Happy Chocolate Day!