One of our account executives at MMI Associates, Inc. shared with us how a client had complimented an award application I had written about her. The client said the piece “brought a tear to her eye as she read it, wondering who this person was.”
The person was her, of course, and she had accomplished everything I had written about. We had not made anything up, and the client knew that. She was just expressing admiration ... but for whom? Herself.
The truth is that sometimes people do not know themselves and their true worth until they see it on paper or someone else points it out. Having a piece published about us or seeing ourselves on television somehow makes our lives seem more real, more purposeful and more dramatic than before. It also satisfies our deep inner craving to be valuable and appreciated. All of us enjoy the recognition brought by publicity, visibility and admiration from others. Publicity increases your status, number of contacts and earning power.
If you find you’re at war within yourself over the idea of self-promotion, you aren’t alone. Many people feel they shouldn’t “brag” about themselves or seek the limelight. But you’re not meant to hide your light, your talents, your abilities, your knowledge or your accomplishments. Your gifts are meant to be shared with society.
You can be an inspiration to others—or even a teacher and mentor, especially to those younger and less experienced than you. When you concentrate on helping others, you will naturally get over any lingering self-consciousness, and more often than not, you end up getting what you need as well.
Awards are a wonderful way to win publicity and goodwill from your public, because those organizations that give awards look at what you have accomplished for your community, your employees and others. Awards are almost always based on real merit and strong leadership in improving the lives of others in the areas of business, community service, and healthcare.
Next: Some common business awards you can apply for in the Triangle.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Monday, September 17, 2007
Applying for and Winning Awards
Nothing makes a business owner or professional look quite as trustworthy or attractive to potential clients as one who has won awards and recognition. MMI client Cynthia Anderson is a good example. Cindy is managing partner of CD Anderson, P.A., a full service CPA firm that sets itself apart from others by establishing personal relationships with each of its clients.
In these days when accounting irregularities can bring down entire companies and ruin employee retirements, an upstanding and ethical accountant like Cindy Anderson draws clients who want to feel they are in safe hands. As an executive advisor first and an accountant second, Cindy exercises sensitive professional and moral judgments with her clients, always upholding the highest standards.
Cindy recently was awarded recognition in the 2006 Class of Business Leader’s Women Extraordinaire. This is one of a string of awards Cindy has won since she signed with MMI Associates, Inc. In 2004, Cindy was named North Carolina’s “Business Woman of the Year” by the Business Advisory Council in Washington, D.C. She was also recognized in 2005 when she won the Triangle Business Journal’s Women in Business Award for her exemplary leadership skills. Prior to being named a Woman Extraordinaire in 2006, Cindy was recognized when she received the Triangle Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 Award, which honors successful business leaders under the age of 40 who are making a difference in the community.
As a result of these awards, Cindy has seen steady increases in the number of referrals from her existing clients plus a growing stream of new clients. Cindy’s awards are testimonials to her excellent standards and professionalism.
Applying for and winning awards and recognition is an art that has a snowball effect, gathering momentum with every new award you win. Although your nomination letters will be signed by other individuals who recommend you for the particular award, you will use variations of the information contained in your bio to write these nomination letters yourself, or at the very least, provide your nominators with written copy to which they may add their own ideas about you.
Here is where the story elements of your bio become important. In an earlier post, we said that a story describes how a “hero” overcomes adversity? People always root for someone who has passion for what they do, takes risks, overcomes great odds to succeed.
You are the “hero” of your bio, and the information you include in your bio becomes fodder for almost any business award. For example, the esteemed Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award asks the following three questions, among others, about the nominee:
- Discuss the nominee’s high standards relating to him/herself, the business and his/her determination to be successful.
- How does the nominee demonstrate perseverance in the face of adversity and overcome obstacles?
- Describe how the nominee is an independent thinker and is willing to take risks in the face of uncertainty.
Extracting this information from your bio is a straightforward matter if you’ve given the document proper time, thought and effort.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Authenticity: Your Key to Success
Martha Stewart has said that she realizes she’s more than a person -- she’s a brand.
Your personal brand is a larger-than-life version of you. It’s the identity or role you play in your business, community and social spheres. It’s your overall image and how people feel about that image. Crafting your personal brand so that you have power, influence, respect, goodwill and loyalty from your public is the goal of PR.
When PR professionals help their clients create a personal brand, we don’t encourage them to act phony or pretend to be something they aren’t. Instead we encourage people to figure out what their strengths are, then play to those strengths.
Faking it isn’t cool. Just look at the serious dressing down Oprah Winfrey gave author James Frey for the lies perpetrated in his supposed nonfiction memoir, A Million Little Pieces. Ouch. That whole episode was painful to watch unfold.
Maybe one of the reasons Reality TV is so popular these days is because rather than watching professional actors playing scripted parts, we are watching actual people being their (supposedly) authentic selves. On reality shows such as "America’s Biggest Loser" and "America’s Next Top Model," ordinary people’s transformations fascinate the millions who watch.
But building an authentic personal brand is a larger effort than simply telling the truth or being yourself. It has to do with finding meaning in your personal and professional life, doing what you’re meant to do, following your unique path with real passion, and letting the world know about what gifts you have to give.
In the PBS series, “The Power of Myth,” journalist Bill Moyers interviewed the late professor and mythologist Joseph Campbell, who said that giving your gift to the world will have to come out of your own experience and the fulfillment of your own potentialities, not someone else’s. Campbell’s words echo Shakespeare’s, “This above all: to thine own self be true,” and Goethe’s, “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
Pretending to be something you’re not creates suffering and confusion. Imitating someone else will never allow you to shine as a special star. So start out by examining who you are and how you can promote your unique value to the world. If you are feeling doubt, confusion or despair about your personal brand, just continue to deal with others in an honest and accountable way. Act upon your values and publicly affirm them. Be authentic!
The late Robert Terry, author of Authentic Leadership, said that “Authenticity self-corrects.” I think he was right.
Your personal brand is a larger-than-life version of you. It’s the identity or role you play in your business, community and social spheres. It’s your overall image and how people feel about that image. Crafting your personal brand so that you have power, influence, respect, goodwill and loyalty from your public is the goal of PR.
When PR professionals help their clients create a personal brand, we don’t encourage them to act phony or pretend to be something they aren’t. Instead we encourage people to figure out what their strengths are, then play to those strengths.
Faking it isn’t cool. Just look at the serious dressing down Oprah Winfrey gave author James Frey for the lies perpetrated in his supposed nonfiction memoir, A Million Little Pieces. Ouch. That whole episode was painful to watch unfold.
Maybe one of the reasons Reality TV is so popular these days is because rather than watching professional actors playing scripted parts, we are watching actual people being their (supposedly) authentic selves. On reality shows such as "America’s Biggest Loser" and "America’s Next Top Model," ordinary people’s transformations fascinate the millions who watch.
But building an authentic personal brand is a larger effort than simply telling the truth or being yourself. It has to do with finding meaning in your personal and professional life, doing what you’re meant to do, following your unique path with real passion, and letting the world know about what gifts you have to give.
In the PBS series, “The Power of Myth,” journalist Bill Moyers interviewed the late professor and mythologist Joseph Campbell, who said that giving your gift to the world will have to come out of your own experience and the fulfillment of your own potentialities, not someone else’s. Campbell’s words echo Shakespeare’s, “This above all: to thine own self be true,” and Goethe’s, “As soon as you trust yourself, you will know how to live.”
Pretending to be something you’re not creates suffering and confusion. Imitating someone else will never allow you to shine as a special star. So start out by examining who you are and how you can promote your unique value to the world. If you are feeling doubt, confusion or despair about your personal brand, just continue to deal with others in an honest and accountable way. Act upon your values and publicly affirm them. Be authentic!
The late Robert Terry, author of Authentic Leadership, said that “Authenticity self-corrects.” I think he was right.
Friday, September 7, 2007
“Pecha-Kucha” PowerPoint for Business Presentations
Two Tokyo-based architects named Mark Dytham and Astrid Klein have turned PowerPoint into both art form and competitive sport with an innovation called “pecha-kucha” (Japanese for "chatter"). I just read about this invention in the September issue of Wired Magazine in an article by Daniel H. Pink.
Pecha-kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha) applies a simple set of rules to presentations: exactly 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. To see an example, watch Daniel Pink’s own version at:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha
After viewing Pink’s pecha-kucha PowerPoint presentation, I felt inspired. Pecha-kucha is the answer to the “Death by PowerPoint” problem that plagues many business presentations. People misuse PowerPoint by forcing audiences to sit through lengthy and tedious presentations with too much text -- which the worst offenders tend to read aloud. Pink put it well when he said you can “transform corporate cliche into surprisingly compelling beat-the-clock performance art.”
And that brings us back to personal branding and making an impact on your audience. Are you giving a PowerPoint presentation at your next business meeting? Consider the pecha-kucha way of doing things. Transform your weary 20-minute PowerPoint into a dynamic 7-minute performance. What to do with the extra time? Question-and-answer might be a good way to follow up.
This format lends itself perfectly to the 5 to 7-minute format of Toastmaster speeches. As the President of Clayton Area Toastmasters, I’m going to share the new pecha-kucha idea with my club and use it in my next speech.
Audiences appreciate pecha-kucha. This innovative format is being used in big cities all over the world, mostly by architects and designers. A few leaders in the business world have caught on ... you can be among the first.
Pecha-kucha (pronounced peh-chak-cha) applies a simple set of rules to presentations: exactly 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. To see an example, watch Daniel Pink’s own version at:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/magazine/15-09/st_pechakucha
After viewing Pink’s pecha-kucha PowerPoint presentation, I felt inspired. Pecha-kucha is the answer to the “Death by PowerPoint” problem that plagues many business presentations. People misuse PowerPoint by forcing audiences to sit through lengthy and tedious presentations with too much text -- which the worst offenders tend to read aloud. Pink put it well when he said you can “transform corporate cliche into surprisingly compelling beat-the-clock performance art.”
And that brings us back to personal branding and making an impact on your audience. Are you giving a PowerPoint presentation at your next business meeting? Consider the pecha-kucha way of doing things. Transform your weary 20-minute PowerPoint into a dynamic 7-minute performance. What to do with the extra time? Question-and-answer might be a good way to follow up.
This format lends itself perfectly to the 5 to 7-minute format of Toastmaster speeches. As the President of Clayton Area Toastmasters, I’m going to share the new pecha-kucha idea with my club and use it in my next speech.
Audiences appreciate pecha-kucha. This innovative format is being used in big cities all over the world, mostly by architects and designers. A few leaders in the business world have caught on ... you can be among the first.
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