Toast like a master... communicate like a boss!

When you're a leader it's not enough to know what you want and what you want others to do to help you. As the leader of your company it is your job to cast vision, assign tasks, motivate and reprimand and these jobs all involve communicating to others.

So if your communication skills are crucial to being an effective leader then what can you do?

One word my friends...practice!

"But where can I practice?" you ask.

Great question!

There's an organization called Toastmasters that helps individuals develop their public speaking skills, their meeting skills, and builds leader confidence!

In preparation for OHJAY to get going I joined the local Toastmasters club in Truro, called Speakeasy Toastmasters. They meet twice a month and you get to work your way through a program aimed at developing different aspects of self presentation (it's all at your own pace so no pressure).

It's an amazing program and it's helped me tremendously to become a better communicator and to top it all off the clubs are full of fun & supportive people. Toastmaster clubs are all over the country so go onto "toastmasters.org" and get better at communication...your quality of life depends on it.

As Anthony Robbins once put it, "the quality of my life is the quality of my communication!"

Wha-wha-whatzit?

Always wear something unusual or unique, something that makes people ask "whatzit?"

This is advice straight from the book "How to Talk to Anyone" by communication master Leil Lowendes and one of my all time favourite tips for meeting people at any event!

You may like to meet people at parties but guess what, there are other people who want to do the same thing, and the person they want to meet is YOU!

But it can be intimidating coming up to a person you've never met before and not know what to say, that's where a "whatzit" comes in! Now complete strangers can come up to you and start a conversation about your bright purple shoes, an association pin, bizarre earrings; you'll actually have people coming up to you at parties!

I've used this technique before with my "pig belt" to great success! I have a belt with a huge brass pig for a belt buckle and I guarantee no matter where I go, someone comes up to me and asks me about it! It's awesome when you walk into a room and people gravitate towards you because you're seen as someone that is approachable. Someone who makes it easy to start a conversation with!

So Wednesdays tip of the day: get a "whatzit" for your next event!

STOP!! My Mind is Boggled...11 Secrets I Learned from "The Donald"

From Momentum's SPARK event 2011, St. John NB, Keynote Speaker: Donald Trump

Every few years a man comes along that changes the game.

Business seems dry to some and intimidating to others, but there is one thing that cannot be denied, the world's business titans and billionaires seem to know how the game of money is played.

These are the 11 secrets that made "The Donald" adopt them in your own life for astronomical success!

Success Never Changes

These are the fundamentals. What it means to be successful never changes though the toys, luxuries and indexed amounts of money do. Learn what being successful means because it's more than just the money. It's about learning the rules of the game, and how to win!

Love What You Do

You'll work harder, with more passion, and more happiness than if you do something you hate. When you do something you love it shows on your face and in the way you conduct yourself. If you love what you do it's the fastest way to find the inspiration to move higher.

The Harder You Work The Luckier You Get

If you love what you do, you'll work harder and won't mind putting in the 110% effort it takes to see projects through to completion. Even better, when you work harder things will have a way of working out in ways that just does't happen for a slacker. Do you ever think, when "this" happens I'll do "that." That type of thinking is poisonous, it actually goes, if you do "that" first then I'll trust you with "this."

Learn to Handle Pressure

"If you don't learn to handle pressure well you will be a miserable human being." ~Donald Trump

Pressure is a normal part of work and life. The more interconnected we are with our communities, careers and society, the more we'll feel the pressure. Learn to manage the pressure or people will not want to be around you, whether that's your spouse, kids, clients or co-workers.

Try sticking to an exercise plan, volunteering, drinking more water, smiling more, getting a pet, doing some relaxed breathing and feel the pressure melt away.

My personal favourite for melting away stress and pressure is to remind yourself that you are mortal and going to die someday. For most things that's enough to make stress/pressure seem unimportant.

So Much in Life is Common Sense

Overall, we live in a complex world where everything is fast and messy, and we as human beings try to make everything more complicated than it has to be. We'll shoot for the long shots, perform acts we know we shouldn't, and often live in a perpetual state of regret over things we know we shouldn't have done. The simple, straightforward solutions are usually the best and they are generally the most obvious as well.

Focus on What You Want

If you don't know what you want, then anything will do; there is no way to measure if you're going in the right direction. It's critical to know what you want, focus, and then go after it. Make what you want very specific. It's not enough to say I want a nice car, you need to say "I want a 2012 X3 Roadster"

Remain Somewhat Negative

Don't be a pessimist but the world is a cruel place. The more you succeed, the more people will try and tear you down. People will be jealous and want what you have, so don't always wear the rose coloured glasses. You need to always remind yourself that there are dishonourable people out there who will steal, swindle, cheat, and scheme against you. Be on your guard against these people.

Go with Your Gut & Against the Tide

Most people are smarter than they give themselves credit for. A gut feeling is nothing more than an emotional memory of a past experience. When you're sick to your stomach over something it's because your subconscious mind remembers something your conscious mind may not. Be careful though. If you are an experienced business person then your gut may be useful, if you are just learning the ropes of something new your "gut" may not be experienced enough to make the right call.

Competition in nature makes things tough. If lions have to eat antelopes and there are 10 lions and 1 antelope then each lion gets a small share. But if one of those lions switches to eating deer instead then that one lion can keep any deer he catches all to himself. It may look safe going with the flow and doing what everyone else is doing but the problem is that now you have more competition going after the same resources. Competition is only good for the owners of the resources because the price gets driven up. For the most part the best opportunities are found doing the opposite of the tide and waiting for the water to come back to you. Remember that, to go with the tide you must chase it and get onboard. If you get in front of the tide then you'll experience a sudden surge when the tide, with all it's riders, comes back and washes over you.

Be Careful: Hire the Best But Don't Trust Them

You want the best people working for your organization. The problem is that if they're smart and lacking moral fibre they may take advantage of you. Your staff should either fear or respect you, and according to Mr. Trump it doesn't matter which one you've got as long as they are loyal.

Screw Back

Some say revenge is petty but The Donald has an excellent point. You've got to stand for something, whether it's honesty, integrity, or quality. If someone does something to undermine what you stand for (to "screw" you) then you can't sit idly by and take it. You must respond decisively and communicate to the world that is not okay to do what the person did. If you do not respond when you are "screwed" by someone then you send the message that it is okay. When you respond, people think twice before playing games or messing with you in the future.

To Win, Think Like a Winner

There is an overwhelming amount of material on the topic of thinking your way to success. From Napolean Hill's "Think and Grow Rich" to Norman Vincent Peale's "The Power of Positive Thinking" and John C. Maxwell's advice that, "if the person on the inside is bigger than the person on the outside, in time, the outside will become bigger."

Win the inside game and the outside game becomes easier.

For more info on SPARK visit "www.gainmomentum.ca"

Duty, Not Folly: 3 "Wisdoms" from Rudy Giuliani

"Many politicians are former lawyers, maybe that's why nobody likes politicians"

~Rudy Giuliani

Some weeks ago, St John NB was host to "SPARK," an event that inspired, uplifted, informed and transformed lives by encouraging people to "Crash & Learn," not "crash and burn!"

Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of New York City during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was at SPARK and preached a message on leadership that created one of the biggest "aha" moments I've ever had when it comes to being a great leader, whether in business or in life. These are his 3 "wisdoms!"

1.) Teamwork

Rudy asked the crowd, "how can a crew help a ship get somewhere without the captain knowing where that somewhere is?" As a captain, you must cast a clear vision for where the ship needs to go, but you need the crew to take the ship in that direction. It's the synergy of the crew and the captain that steers that great ship to it's destination.

2.) Realize what problems you can solve and what you can only make better

Crime dropped significantly while Giuliani was mayor.

Giuliani said, "you can never completely solve crime, but you can reduce it."

If he had tried to solve crime he would have overlooked powerful tools that could be implemented to drop the crime rate; nothing eliminates it but many things will reduce it.

In business, the same is true:

-Shoplifting can be reduced, though never fully eliminated

-Employee retention can be improved though never perfected; people will always have reasons to leave

-Low sales can be increased, but there will always be competition for customer's money

It comes down to being grounded and realistic. By trying to solve problems that can only be improved you leave your team open to de-motivation, disappointment, and upset.

Imagine if your job was to move a mountain by hand, across a valley. When you pushed for days and days and the great mass didn't move an inch you would become disappointed and probably feel like a failure. It wasn't your fault, the goal was just too unrealistic.

Now if stone by stone you moved one little rock at a time across the valley you'd probably never move the entire mountain BUT you would be making progress towards your goal and feel a sense of accomplishment. That's the difference between trying to solve the unsolvable vs. just making the problem smaller.

3.) Preparation

When Rudy was a young lawyer he worked for a prestigious firm in New York where one of his mentors taught him a valuable lesson about dealing with fear; whether from imminent danger or the pressure of defending a high profile client in the courtroom. Rudy's mentor told him that: "for every hour in the courtroom, 4 should be spent in preparation."

How do you prepare?

Prepare your reaction to every potential scenario you can think of. You can't possibly think up every possible outcome but you can think up most of them. Then prepare thoroughly for these potential outcomes.

When you're the mayor of NYC you have a fire plan, a flood plan and a tall building evacuation plan. A plan for every foreseeable disaster that will have to be dealt with.

There is no "major airliners flying into skyscrapers plan;" nobody saw that one coming.

When the planes started crashing in 2001, Giuliani, despite not having a plan for it, went into action.

How did he do it?

You prepare for every possible situation you think you may encounter.

When the situations occur that you didn't see coming, the solution you'll need will come from a variation of the preparation you've done.

In business, you can't always foresee sales drops, loss of key employees, untimely fires, floods or other natural disasters, but you can prepare a plan of action for the things you think may happen. Let's say you run a restaurant with a top notch monitoring system, and you prepare a plan to re-locate immediately if there was a fire that destroyed your building. One night your building is broken into and key pieces of equipment are stolen.

You may not have a plan for theft but with a small tweak to the fire plan you're open for business because the fire plan included an agreement to borrow old equipment from a supplier in town.

By preparing for what is anticipated you're also preparing for what isn't!

My leadership appetite was hungry before this huge bite from the "Big Apple!" What an amazing set of simple principles that any business person would do well to learn before entering the world of commerce as the skipper (president) of their own ship (business)!

For more info on the SPARK event visit: "www.gainmomentum.ca"

Your Network is your Net-worth! 6 Tips from the Master!

I had the incredible opportunity to attend a game changing workshop this morning at St. Mary's University in Halifax with the King of Networking himself Mr. Matt Whitman.

Matt has appeared as a networking expert on Breakfast Television, is one of the founders of Integrity Magazine, and the creator of 4D Reverse Networking, which builds on traditional networking to create not only win-win solutions where people connect, but win-win-win-win (4D) solutions by going into entirely new networks to connect & help people!

Inspiring, hilarious at times, and exuding a sense of wholeness that seems uncommon in todays business environment Matt truly delivers a message that is remarkable and will blow you away! Read on to share in a piece of his wisdom!

Matt has an amazing ability to draw you into his message and make you feel good about learning something new. Here are his 6 steps to Reverse Networking!

1.) Relevance

You have to connect to people in a way that is relevant to them and helps them move closer to their dreams and desires. Ask yourself "how can I help this person?" NOT "what's in it for me"

2.) Consistency

Remember the old Batman cartoons? One of the most evil villains was named "2-Face," enough said. People can't trust your personal brand if it keeps changing. People want to know that you're not acting by one set of principles one day and different ones another day.

3.) Accessibility

Can people connect with you? Do they feel threatened? Are you even available via phone/email/social media, etc...?

4.) Relationships

The core of networking. Make friends and connections. That's all it takes!

5.) Attitude

Nobody likes being around a complainer. Anytime I've noticed the mood dropping in a conversation with someone I look inside and usually by smiling, laughing, speeding up or slowing down, dropping some clean humour, etc... I notice the persons mood improves almost immediately! Your attitude will create a great deal of your own reality because what you give out will flow back to you!

Attitude is either like a tornado or a whirlpool; a good one lifts you up, but a bad one sucks you down!

6.) Action

It doesn't matter what you know if you don't act on it. Imagine if you knew the lottery numbers for tomorrow but didn't buy a ticket! Try bragging to your friends that you knew the numbers and they'll think you're crazy! Jim Rohn always said "the world responds to deserve, not need."

Those who take action deserve to harvest the fruits of their labour.

There you have it now! 6 Steps to Reverse Networking!

Now get out there and help as many people people as you possibly can!!

For more info on Matt or his incredible insights on Networking check out "www.MattWhitman.ca"