Contacts sports

Today I published an article from a guest author about the connection between making a good impression on one individual you meet and the meaning of that connection to a much larger group. (How to Meet 300 People in 30 Seconds, by Cynthia W. Lett.) It gave me a few more thoughts to expand on, a bit.

One of the first things I learned about networking and self-promotion was that the average person knows about 250 people well enough for them to be invited to his funeral. That figure came from a “rule of thumb” estimate made by funeral directors. The point was that every contact you make is a potential connection to about 250 others. And, of course, that’s the whole idea behind LinkedIn, Facebook and other networking sites.

Yet, do you ever stop to think about how important it is to make a good impression on each and every one of your contacts. Every time. New or old, your contacts will pass on their impressions of you to their own contacts. That works socially and in business. If you have a dispute with a colleague, your dispute — and your colleague’s interpretations of it — may be throughout the company grapevine, or even spreading on line, in a matter of minutes. If you do a good deed for a friend, a hundred people may know about it twenty minutes later. If you get drunk at a company party, someone with a camera phone may record it and post it to their blog in five minutes flat.

After all the time you spend trying to build your network, you definitely want good news spread throughout your contacts’ networks. Watch your appearance and behavior in person, on the phone, in mail and email, in public and on line. If you’ve got publicity, you’ve got a public following. Anyone and everyone has become the paparazzi.

Today I published an article from a guest author about the connection between making a good impression on one individual you meet and the meaning of that connection to a much larger group. (How to Meet 300 People in 30 Seconds, by Cynthia W. Lett.) It gave me a few more thoughts to [...]

Just a reminder (service)

Do you use some reminder service like rememberthemilk.com? There are several excellent ones, and if you don’t use Firefox, they’ll do a good job for you.

However, I’ve just discovered an add-on for Firefox that does the job of keeping your to-dos and reminders/alarms constantly available on your browser. No calendar program needed. Very handy. It’s called ReminderFox and you can find it https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/1191/. You can receive alarms in your browser and by email. You can even create “quick alarms” that remind you to do something a short time later, such as “it’s 4:00 p.m. — call your manager about the report.”

It’s set by default to reside in the right corner of the status bar at the bottom of the browser window. Just click on it and a fairly sophisticated reminder and to-do program window pops open. It’s very easy and intuitive, but there’s lots of user info and training available on the developer’s Firefox page (here). And it is free, but the developers would be most grateful for a small donation.

Do you use some reminder service like rememberthemilk.com? There are several excellent ones, and if you don’t use Firefox, they’ll do a good job for you.
However, I’ve just discovered an add-on for Firefox that does the job of keeping your to-dos and reminders/alarms constantly available on your browser. No calendar program [...]

Thinking about thinking

I just published an article by Kevin Dwyer on Leadership and Thinking. I’m always glad to see articles and books that stand up for the value of using reason and intellect to guide solid business decisions and actions.

I’ve seen so many people who have the heartfelt belief that leadership is only about action. The seem to think that they’ve paid their “thinking dues” and by virtue of experience and intuition they know the right action. They have arrived at their leadership positions either by promotions through rank or by natural charm and persuasion. They don’t want to hear the thinking or reasoning behind the advice they’re given, they just want to trust their underlings — or consultants — to do the hard work of research and come up with a plan that sounds good. They want to stand out in front and “lead” their people to fabulous profits, or crushing the competition or whatever glorious end they have in mind. If it goes well, they get the credit. If it goes badly, it’s the fault of everyone else. Who advised them badly.

Hello — you can’t outsource thinking.

I just published an article by Kevin Dwyer on Leadership and Thinking. I’m always glad to see articles and books that stand up for the value of using reason and intellect to guide solid business decisions and actions.
I’ve seen so many people who have the heartfelt belief that leadership is only about action. [...]