If All the World's Our Stage - Why are We so Unrehearsed?

William Shakespeare said it best,

All the world's a stage, and men and women, merely players.

So why are we so unrehearsed?

Next Best Audiences Workshop!

Want to make the best use of your professional time while strategizing about how to get in front of the best audiences for you? Come to the May 25th Breaking Down Barriers workshop at Kegler Brown Hill & Ritter from 10-11:30.

For just $60 you can join others who want to improve their focus, strategy and activity in business development. We've honed the content to your 3 best areas of audience focus, will help you consider who best to align with to get the audiences you want, and get you started on next steps to speaking in front of them.

Join us! http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=z9snwybab&oeidk=a07e3ov3hyx5c66b769

Best Audiences for You

Building our visibility is of primary importance when we are in the position to find more business. We have shifted from the need to enhance our credibility - this is already underway with the projects, cases and experiences we have behind us. To advance next, we must build our network, originate our own clients and regularly get some face time in front of key people.

So how do we strategize to build our audiences? Great question. It all starts with developing a plan, preparing to manage it and practicing the implementation until we develop insight on what is and isn't useful. Let's explore the first of these three steps.

Simply subtract

Addition is the usual sign of success. More toys, more friends, more dollars, more cars, more land, more square footage, more vacations, etc.

Rarely does someone select "subtraction" as a standard mode of operating when their career is going well. Yet simplicity is the ultimate form of reward. And simplicity leads to clear communication - clear mesages.

7 Benefits of Being in the Spotlight

As an introvert, I have come to see spotlights - times speaking in public - as unexpected sources of energy.

Yes, I still thoroughly enjoy days away from the crowds, schedules free of appointments and the time and space to research, analyze, and create in isolation.

But I must admit there are huge benefits for us to seek the spotlight, even us introverts. And these benefits are humbling. But a quick survey is important - who are you?

As Mark Sanborn suggests, "Change this inconsistency!"

By nature we automatically think one thing and do another. See the problems in others and not in ourselves. Do those things we wish we wouldn't. We are inconsistent creatures.

There is one inconsistency that Mark Sanborn has tweeted about lately. How can you keep commitments to others if you can't keep commitments to yourself?

A Right, A Risk, A Reward

This week on Harry's Law, Harriet's "security" director tipped her in the possibility of gang warfare in her neighborhood. His intention was for her to close up shop for awhile, so nobody got hurt. Of course Harriet had another idea. Force the gangs to meet her that evening so she could mediate the issue and resolve the issue responsibly. All in true Harriet style.

This collective bargaining method - bringing all parties together for a facilitated conversation around the issues of conflict - is a right of law-abiding citizens, yet it is a right many avoid. With it comes the possibility of escalated emotions that many of us are afraid to navigate.

This risk - navigating through heightened emotions - is one that is common to everyday life. From childhood into and through adulthood we grow in our practice of handling our emotions for the sake of being responsible while building relationships with those around us. Sitting down with those who have differences of opinion is an adult practice, that although risky, brings reward.

In Harry's Law, it brought closure on whether a gang member could date someone from the opposing gang. It brought closure on the value of a car. It even opened the discussion on handling gang members who decide to terminate their membership. Was it easy? No. Are most things worth having easy to come by? No.

Yet the reward for opening ourselves to honest, challenging conversation is actually several things: our personal satisfaction in having managed ourselves in a higher, honorable way; the ability to problem-solve while gaining mutual agreement; and the sense that everyone involved has been given the chance to say what they want to/need to say.

Open communication is a challenge. Yet it is a challenge that adult, responsible, emotional and respectful people take. And it is worth it.