Are Millennials better or worse at interacting on a one-on-one basis because of the prevalence of technology in their lives? I’m not sure what the long-term effects of growing up in a world of computers and cellphones will be. However, watching high school and college students communicate leads me to believe that texting and digital communication have affected their “in-person” communication skills (but that is a completely unscientific observation). When looking at what skills to develop, face-to-face communication is a critical place to start. The more effectively you interact with others, both online and off-line, the more powerful … [Read more...]
Thought Doesn’t Automatically Create Leadership
The Right Questions Can Help Fix the Environment (and Your Life)
“The quality of a person’s life is determined by the quality of the questions they ask.” – Anthony Robbins Have you read William Kamkwamba’s The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind? It's a fantastic story about perseverance, and how he used ingenuity to build an electricity-generating windmill for his family’s home despite being surrounded by poverty and doubt in Africa. 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 … [Read more...]
The Right Questions Make All the Difference
I was catching up with my friend Ian yesterday and our conversation turned philosophical (as it usually does when we are sharing a few craft beers). At one point he asked, "Do you think that American society is on the path to solving its problems, or are we not even asking the right questions?" This morning I'm thinking about how that same distinction can apply to us as individuals. We worry about coming up with the right answers, but we actually need to start by examining the questions we ask about our lives. The quality of our answers, in fact the possible answers we can come up with, are dependent on the questions. And I'm not … [Read more...]
My Trick to Successful First Dates (It Works on Networking “First Dates” Too!)
Updated October 2018 I wrote this article about how to do well on first dates (because I was going on a lot of first dates and I was struck by how awkward they can be). I realized that the tool works just as well when you grab a cup of coffee or lunch with a new networking partner...which is basically another form of first date. So whether you are looking for a referral partner or a spouse, I hope this will help! Most of us dread first dates. It's a weird combination of job interview, etiquette test, and fashion show that we submit to in the hopes that a) we like the other person and b) the other person likes us. And the most "useful" … [Read more...]
3 Ways to Network When You’re Shy
Networking can be tough when you're shy. Building new business relationships can be hard when just the idea of attending a professional event to network fills you with dread. You're not alone - it's common for people to spend most of their time at events with those that they already know precisely because they are nervous about making new friends. But this prevents you from taking advantage of the full benefits of networking. You want to consistently add new people to your network - because they have new information, new ideas, new contacts, etc. You don't have to be the life of the party and meet everyone to be successful, but you … [Read more...]
5 Rules from Zombie Survivors for Business Development
An undead zombie is shambling towards the lone survivor, arms outstretched, low moan coming from its chest. The plucky hero raises a machine gun in an attempt to ward of the attack and fills the zombie full of lead...but the zombie keeps coming! Because the hero didn't shoot it in the head! And everyone who's seen a zombie movie knows that the brain is a zombie's weak point! ...It's frustrating to watch the characters in a zombie movie make the same fundamental mistakes over and over again. It's just as frustrating to watch sales people and business development reps fail to take care of the basics when they meet with prospective … [Read more...]