Category: Business Advice

Five Simple Ways to Boost Your Smart Rating

Posted on by Linda Anger

So there you are, at a networking event or a business meeting, eying a couple across the room. He has a gym-perfect physique, a crisp designer suit, and carefully manicured hands. She has a few extra pounds, a button missing on her blouse, and a hairstyle that hasn’t changed since the 1980s.

Which of the two is smarter?

The bad news: We are judged by our appearance.
The good news: We are respected for our brains.

Looking smart feels great, is great—but being smart is the icing on the cake.

These five simple practices will boost your “smart” rating:

  1. Boost Your Vocabulary: Crack open that dusty dictionary or thesaurus. Commit to learning and using one new word each day. Bookmark https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-of-the-day in your browser. Learn correct pronunciations, spelling, and context.
  2. Ask Questions: Benjamin Franklin said, “Humility makes great men twice honorable.” Focusing the conversation on what the other person knows and asking respectful questions achieves two things: It gives you an opportunity to learn even when you think you already know it all, and it engages the other person in their favorite topic—themselves.
  3. Read Good Books: If time is an issue, carry a book or e-Reader with you—read a few paragraphs or pages while you’re in the waiting room. Commit to reading two or three pages each day, or listen to audio books. Buy magazines or subscribe to feeds on topics with which you are not familiar—it will help you broaden your knowledge.
  4. Speak Simply: Increasing your vocabulary amplifies your ability to communicate, but obscure words, jumbo words or industry lingo confuse the conversation. Sadly, most American adults read at an 8th grade level. Use simple, ordinary words, and gauge your word choices on the “pomposity factor.” Never use a three syllable word when a two syllable word will do, and never use a two syllable word when a single syllable word gets your point across.
  5. Listen More than you Speak: William Shakespeare said, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players.” No one likes a conversation hog, or to be upstaged. Practice your listening skills, speak simply and concisely, and understand your role in the theater of the moment.

Being smart is the icing on the cake!

Four sayings that lead to wisdom

Posted on by Linda Anger

If you’ve had any conversation of significance with me in the last two years, you know I am a huge fan of the Canadian mystery writer, Louise Penny, author of the Inspector Gamache series.

From the first book in the series, Still Life, Chief Inspector Armand Gamache tells the detectives under his supervision there are four saying that lead to wisdom. They are:

  • I was wrong
  • I’m sorry
  • I don’t know
  • I need help

Seems to me these four statements are the underpinnings of quality relationships and great customer service, no matter what business you might be in. Ultimately, much about our relationships – personal or business – depends our our willingness to admit to being human.

Why is it sometimes so hard to say, “I was wrong”?

When did it become a sign of weakness to say,  “I don’t know,” or “I need help”?

And what healing could come if we all had the courage just to say, “I’m sorry”?

I read a post recently that said we must learn to accept the apology we never received. I think we must also learn to give the apology that might never be accepted. I’ve begun, in my morning meditation, to offer forgiveness and/or apology to those I may never see or hear from again. In the end, the one we must forgive, and the one to whom we must apologize, is ourselves.

I’ve been wrong. I’m often sorry. There are many things I don’t know, and many times I need help.

How about you?

 

The Six Emotions that Impact Everyone

Posted on by Linda Anger
David Brooks

 

David Brooks, the 1990 World Champion of Public Speaking was in Toledo, Ohio last November, as the keynote speaker for the District 28 Toastmasters Fall Conference.

He talked about a trivia column he read years ago, in which the author – one L.M. Boyd, noted that every human being experiences six emotions:

          happiness           sadness         anger          surprise          disgust           fear

The gist of his presentation, relating to professional speakers, was this: The best way to connect with an audience – in person, over the airwaves or internet, is to share moments in your own life that elicit the emotion you want them to feel. When you share a moment that brought you happiness, most people will share that same sense of happiness as you tell it. As Mr. Brooks says, “They may not have been there for the moment, but they will be there for the emotion.”

How can and will you use L.M. Boyd’s wisdom in marketing your product, your service, or yourself as a public speaker?

Ben Franklin’s Business Advice

Posted on by Linda Anger

Before he became the most famous Founding Father of the United States, Ben Franklin was a businessman. His career began at age 12, when he became an apprentice typesetter.

Franklin founded his own printing business at age 22, became the official printer for Pennsylvania at age 24, and was so successful that he retired at age 44.

Some call him the Founding Father of American business.

Franklin’s – 12 rules of management make it clear where modern business gurus have gained their inspiration:

 

1)      Finish better than your beginnings
2)      All education is self-education
3)      Seek first to manage yourself, then to manage others
4)      Influence is more important than victory
5)      Work hard and watch your costs
6)      Everybody wants to appear reasonable
7)      Create your own set of values to guide your actions
8)      Incentive is everything
9)      Create solutions for seemingly impossible problems
10)    Become a revolutionary for experimentation and change
11)     Sometimes it is better to do 1,001 small things right than one large thing right
12)    Deliberately cultivate your reputation and legacy

In “retirement,” Franklin founded the first subscription library in the colonies, the first fire department in Philadelphia, the American Philosophical Society, a school that became the University of Pennsylvania, the first insurance company, and the first hospital in Philadelphia.

He eventually became a statesman, and was the only Founding Father to sign the three most important documents in America’s young history: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Paris, and the Constitution.

Despite his amazing influence and contributions to the American cause, Congress in 1788 denied him compensation for his service to the government. He died of pleurisy on April 17, 1790.