If you keep scrolling through your LinkedIn Profile, tucked in at the bottom you'll find the Recommendation section. And it's not getting a lot of love these days. Which is kind of ironic because it's one of the oldest sections of the profile. And one of the few that hasn't seen any significant changes over the years. Being down there at the end of the profile makes it easy to skip over. Many professionals gloss over it because they don't know how to ask for recommendations from their network. And they don't know the powerful impact a robust Recommendation section can create. But... Adding 3rd-party testimonials to your profile … [Read more...]
Don’t Give Happiness a Deadline
I was in the midst of writing an intense article on how to use crisis as a way to grow when I remembered a simple lesson I learned my senior year of high school. It has stuck with me and I think it could be useful now and anytime you are feeling stuck in a pit of despair. Man's Search for Meaning At my high school, seniors were able to take an elective for their theology class. One of my choices was Existentialism (the Jesuits are always up for some interesting discussions). We read a number of texts that really spoke to my angst as a teenager, including Sartre and Camus. But one that has really stuck with me was the classic by … [Read more...]
How Learning from System Failures Will Make You a Better Person
There's a beautiful metaphor in Buddhist writing about Indra's Net. In the stories, it's a large (possibly infinite) net hung over Indra's palace that has a multifaceted jewel at each intersection. Each of these jewels reflects back every other jewel. It's a powerful illumination of the Buddhist approach to interconnection. That each of us has an impact on and is a reflection of the world around us. And this interconnection is on full display during a global pandemic. Not only in the spread of the virus but in our ability or inability to counter it. The Interconnected Global System Not only have we seen how interconnected we are, … [Read more...]
How to Coach Salespeople to Succeed in the World of Social Selling
How do you coach a salesperson to improve their sales results using digital tools like LinkedIn? It seems like an easy question. All you need to do is present it at a sales meeting, maybe send a few articles you found, and that should be it. Right? Unfortunately, lurking underneath the seeming simplicity of digital selling are a number of complications that differentiate these new sales activities from business as usual. If you try the training and coaching approaches that worked in the past, you'll soon find yourself stuck in the mud. So let's look at some ways you can leverage sales coaching to drive online selling skills in … [Read more...]
My Advice on Listening to Advice
Somehow I've created a career where I spend a lot of time giving advice and feedback. Whether it's coaching, consulting, writing, speaking, or training, a big part of what people pay me for is guidance. Which means that the last year has been quite a different experience for me as I've been on the other side of the advice pipeline. Because when you have a new baby, you get a lot of advice. From everybody. All Advice Isn't Equal Whether they are your best friend or the person in front of you in the grocery store line, you'll get stories and suggestions about what worked and didn't work for them in the parenting … [Read more...]
How to Manage the Unintended Downside of Positive Thinking
My wife recently asked me if having Liam was easier or harder than I expected it to be. My response, "It's been really hard, but that's what I had imagined it would be. So I guess the experience lived up to what I thought was coming." Now, don't get me wrong, fatherhood has been a truly transformative experience with many positives. And also a whole heap of challenges. But because I had been warned by friends, family, and shell-shocked new parents, I was prepared. (Prepared doesn't mean ready. Because you definitely can't be ready. But at least I wasn't surprised when I felt like I was way over my head). Setting Ourselves Up for … [Read more...]
This Is Why You Need Two Approaches to Personal Growth
There are basically two ways that personal growth happens: gradually or suddenly. I've been in a few debates over the years about whether it's really just one or the other (ironically, on both sides). Do you evolve so slowly you don't notice the changes, or does growth come as a "Eureka!" moment and all of a sudden you're a new person? Here's a life lesson I've learned, though. If someone gives you an either/or choice, it's most likely a little of both. So the real trick to consistent growth? Use both gradual and sudden change. Growth Comes in Many Flavors I've written about the power of gradual, incremental change before. … [Read more...]
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