Happy Halloween

Just wanted to wish all my readers a very safe and Happy Halloween.

Remember as you are out trickering and treatering this fine evening, it's an excellent opportunity to get to say hello or introduce yourself to a neighbor you don't know or know well. I know, I know the Ripple never sleeps - but so far I haven't been able to make a very compelling Halloween costume out of it.

Ripple On!!!

Growing Your Connections

You've made that outstanding business connection at some event.  You have a witty exchange of conversation and ideas.  Perhaps the Ripple Connection Questions helped you discover a few Connection Points along the way.  You're excited.  They are excited.

Now what?

This is the moment of truth for a lot of people.  You are at the precipice of taking that decidedly important next step that will forever cement you, and the experience of meeting you, in your new contact's mind.  Don't be like most and let the momentum of the connection slowly fade into the abysmal darkness of nothing.  If you are reading this BLOG I doubt you would do that!  Right?

Here's the thing, a new relationship is very much like your every day house plant.  It's green and fresh and full of growth and opportunity when you first discover it.  However just like that plant that you bring home from the store, if you don't take the time to give it the proper care and feeding your new connection will turn brown, wither and die in no time flat.

You see most people miss the point of a new connection and just how fragile that new connection is in the beginning.  It takes focus.  It takes time.  It takes not letting the momentum of that first encounter stop.  That first encounter is liken to cultivating the fertile soil in which the new seeds of a potential relationship can be planted, take hold and hopefully grow into something amazing.

But it won't grow all by itself.  You have to help it.  You have to make it easy to grow.  You have to be the constant gardner by providing relevance, consistency and timely follow up!  You have to be willing to take that next step to make sure that conditions are optimal for growing this new connection into something more than just a sprout of one time opportunity. No doubt it will take effort but what in life doesn't?  Sure it will take time but it will be time that will be well worth it.  Undoubtedly it takes a little bit of risk but picking up the phone or inviting your new connection to lunch "to pick up the conversation with where we last left it." Your assertive effort will be appreciated and recognized as unique and refreshing and will undoubtedly reinforce why your connection liked meeting you to begin with.

If the connection was worth  making in the first place then why not take the time to see if it could possibly grow it into something more?  You just may discover that it is the relationship you were most needing right here, right now.  Ever thought of that?

Grab your hoe and shovel and get to work.  Your garden of connection and opportunity awaits.

Ripple On!!!

Naked, Dripping & Focusing

Who do you need to connect with? Do you have a list? Do you take the time to review and focus on it daily?

If you answered no then you're missing the boat.

Each day I wake up and take a few minutes to go over in my head the people and companies I most need to make a connection with. Sometimes I think of the people I need to reconnect with, you know, those people that it's been too long since we last spoke and I need to reengage them to see what's going on. Sometimes it's people I need to introduce to one another because it would be of mutual benefit for them to meet. Oftentimes its companies or organizations I want to most connect with so that I can discuss opportunities to present at an internal training or upcoming corporate conference. More often than not, it's someone who appears on my allstar list and I need to take some decisive action forward to make the possibility of connecting with that person possible.

The entire process takes a matter of minutes and is something I do each day - often while I am toweling myself off from the shower. It's one of these few times in my day that I can put my actual physical being on autopilot and let my mind focus on what and where I direct it. By taking the time to focus, even for a few minutes, I allow my mind to get really creative. Some of my best ideas about how to connect people or how to take that next important step to meet someone like a Howard Schultz or Steve Jobs come during these times.

I leave the house each morning (of course dry) charged up and ready to take the next step and let me tell you this little bit of focus has made a world of difference in the amount of connections and Ripples that have come into my life. Though I am quite certain many of the people I've thought about would not take too kindly to my thinking of them while I am naked and dripping wet -you and I will just keep that our little secret okay?

Don't just take my word for it give it a try for yourself. What do you have to lose? You're already dripping wet and naked in the morning anyway....I'm just saying might as well use that time more wisely!

Ripple On!!!

Can't Coddle Your Employees

Another sports analogy....I apologize but this was just too good to pass up.

Mike Singletary, legendary Chicago Bear player and now interim head coach for the San Francisco 49ers made his coaching debut for the ball club yesterday and wasted no time in letting his players know who was boss. Apparently the team's running back Vernon Davis didn't live up to his self-promoted super star hype and Singletary had seen enough. It all occurred after Davis was called for an unnecessary roughness penalty. His cavalier attitude about what he had just cost his team sent Singletary over the edge and Davis ultimately to the showers. Something rarely seen in professional football - banishment by your own team.

Singletary was quoted in his post-game press conference as saying, "I’d rather play with 10 people and just get penalized all the way until we have to do something else rather than play with 11 when I know that right now that person is not sold out to be a part of this team. It is more about them than it is about the team. Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can’t do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win.”

If your a leader of anything you've got to find inspiration from what Mike says and apparently does. I have no doubt that today's leaders have a tendency to coddle those stars on the team that they don't want to lose. Heck my beloved Dallas Cowboys are proof of how far management will go to not upset their top rated players. Whether it be in sports or business in my humble opinion that is just plain wrong. Employees are an important part of the equation but no one single employee is the whole equation.

I love the passion that Singletary shows and perhaps just maybe you will find some of the same inspiration in his words and actions that I have. I know for one thing....it has without a doubt made me realize that in order to have the kind of team any of us may want, we've got to be willing to tell it like it is. Even if that risks hurting some feelings, bruising some egos and upsetting the apple cart along the way.



Ripple On!!!