As an adult, you rarely try something that is completely new. After a certain point, you don't have a lot of chances to dive into new situations or experiences. We don't usually start a new job in a different field or a hobby that is completely unrelated to something we've done before. Even when we "try something new", it's usually tangential to something we've done before. Which means that we usually have some knowledge or background to draw upon in our new venture. For example, if I wanted to learn how to play the clarinet, I would have someplace to start. I've played the drums for almost 30 years, and have taken lessons in … [Read more...]
How to Combine Grey Hair and Social Savvy to Win on LinkedIn
For better or worse, social media has changed the way business happens. One of its biggest effects has been on how we judge credibility in others. In the past, we would extend provisional trust to new connections. When we met someone, for example through a referral or at a professional event, our starting point would be to trust them. We would then build a relationship and a foundation of credibility underneath it. These days, because information is so easy to access, that process has inverted. It's easy to research someone before we decide to do business with them. We're giving more and more credibility to the information we find … [Read more...]
Renewal in the Wilderness – John Lionberger
This article was originally published on July 25th, 2008. John is still a good friend and every conversation we have is insightful and fun. When I played in a band, I learned an interesting quirk of human nature – when we played a gig with other bands, the degree to which we liked the people in the band influenced how much we liked the band’s music. Reading Renewal in the Wilderness by John Lionberger was a fun experience for me, as I am lucky enough to call John a friend of mine. He’s “good people” and someone I’ve gotten to know over my career. So I admit that I’m a little biased. When I gave him feedback on the book, the highest … [Read more...]
Help! I Don’t Have Any Experience! (LinkedIn Profile Advice for Recent College Grads)
If you are a recent college grad, have at some point been a college grad, or have ever tried to get your first job, then you’ve probably run into the circular trap that hits most young people when they enter the job market. “How can I get the experience I need to be qualified for this job when no one will hire me because I don’t have experience?” Well, now we can add a 21st-century twist to the problem. It goes something like this: “I just graduated from college; and everyone says that my generation is totally social media-savvy so I should have a killer LinkedIn profile to help me get work. But what do I put on my “professional … [Read more...]
The Confidence that Will Make You Comfortable on Zoom, on Stage, and in Zumba
Updated March, 2021 Years ago I read through Scott Berkun's Confessions of a Public Speaker and I came across the line: Know that your response to a mistake defines the audience's response. And I thought to myself, "Dude, you couldn't be more right." It's continued to stay relevant to me as I've moved beyond my normal public speaking and into the digital realm. Because now I can often see the mistakes I make in real-time! When you have a camera on you, and a little window of yourself in the corner of the screen, it can be a little intimidating. The Audience Only Cares if You Do And now everyone is a public speaker because of video … [Read more...]