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When Eyewitnesses Agree
I read (or at least skim) through hundreds of blog posts every day. Sometimes the posts are on the same topic and it creates an interesting juxtaposition of events. Such was the case recently.
One blog I have mentioned before comes from Alexander Kjerulf, Chief Happiness Officer. He was writing about Stephen Hopson’s new blog titled, Adversity University. As a pilot and professional speaker who has been deaf since birth, Stephen’s blog about turning adversity into success makes great reading. Interestingly enough, Darren Rouse at Problogger used Hopson as an example of how to make your videos accessible to the deaf and reach out to virtually untapped market.
I am curious about how people frame the world; what words, pictures, and emotional bombs they use to make meaning out of their data stream. Once in a great while I get to triangulate on an event. With one valued source claiming “A” and another claiming “B,” I am given the opportunity to go from my point “C” and am allowed to find understanding. It’s like that fascinating game of gossip we all played as children where a story is passed from person to person and the last one tells a story that the first person can’t recognize. It’s like hearing eye witnesses to an event tell different versions of what they witness. I get curious about what causes the differences and realize just how data-rich my environment is. In this case, you would almost swear the bloggers were standing side by side. They both wanted to say the same things. I just had to go visit Adversity University and see what it was like. It’s a wonderful educational institution. Find out more about Stephen Hopson here.
What? Me Worry?
In the name of being pro-active, a lot of my coaching clients are starting to worry about the economy, unemployment, recession, etc. I want to reach through the telephone, grab them by the ears, stare into their eyes and ask the real question: “Do you know what you get when you worry about money?”
The answer is that you get what you think about—money worries. If you are thinking about money, then you are not thinking about the passion that drives you to work. You are not thinking about excellence in all things. You are not thinking about better customer service. You are thinking about squeezing one more dime out of a customer. You are thinking about selling your services so that you can line your pockets from a one-off deal.
You are thinking about the wrong things. If you think about your passion, you will be passionate. Do anything else and you make your worries come true. I read this post last December in Customers are Always called Focus, The Two P’s and How to Achieve Success. I added it to my favorites and go back and read it weekly to remind me of my own advice.
Leaders Learn
One project I have been working on lately has involved a large number of working leaders in direct sales. I’m talking about people who are the top performers in the top companies. “Humbling” is a good word to describe the experience. I find fascinating the common threads that are woven throughout their careers and are contained in the cloth that they are passing forward.
One universal is the requirement of all leaders (and aspiring leaders) to want to learn; to be open to new experiences and incorporation of new thoughts in their life and business. Hoping to someday be listed in this group, I try to read everything I can lay eyes on. I was truly excited to see a MYSTERY BOX offer from 800-CEO-READ. Three top ranked business books from 2007 can be yours for $20.00. You may not know which books they are, but they will all be good reads, and if you already own it, give it away and make a friend.
For the sceptics, there is even a Free Prize Inside. Shipping is included in your purchase price and all of the proceeds are being donated to Room to Read.
Web Coaches for Direct Sales Mavens?
About a month ago I was reading Seth Godin’s blog about a shortage of digital coaches. I couldn’t help but laugh at the image of corporate executives trying to deal with social web ware from a traditional sales and marketing perspective. I thought back to conversations with executives asking, “will this internet ordering ever catch on?” Direct sales leaders have even less interest. Their mantra chant is some personal variation of face-to-face-is-the-only-way. I even discovered a phrase for my thoughts (also courtesy of Godin): Meatball Sundae. I have no disagreement with Godin’s lament for the lack of digital teachers. I even applaud it. I just didn’t see it happening.
Then I had a phone conversation with someone I coached about six months ago. She thanked me for working through Citizen Marketers with her and talked about the redesign of her website as a result. Like most people in direct sales, she was using her website as a forum for her personal story of product effectiveness and income potential. As a result
of the coaching, she redesigned the site to showcase customer stories and link to snippets from them about effectiveness and livelihood. The best part is what it meant to her business. “When I can get someone to go from a convention showcase to my website, I have an eighty percent chance of getting a sale or involving them in the business. It’s a huge shift.”
Her changed attitude had little to do with knowledge of the technology. What changed was her attitude about the role of the web. Before, she would have had a sundae. Now, she has a unified basis for communication.
Neil:
What a fascinating, if not puzzling post you have here. First of all, thank you for “triangularing” the three of us together. I appreciate your wonderful compliments about my blog, Adversity University. I’m grateful that you find it a good source of inspiration for that is my intention and I hope I will continue to provide such information.
Can you help me understand what you were trying to postulate here?
Let me see if I understand you correctly. Tell me if I’m off the mark, okay? This makes for a fascinating case study and I’m your eager student.
You’re saying that the Chief Happiness Officer was trying to say the same thing Darren was saying in terms of making video posts more accessible? Is that accurate?
What happened was Darren gave me the opportunity to write a guest post at his blog about the subject matter so it wasn’t him who said anything about it - he just gave me space to make a case in the form of a guest post.
On the other hand, the Chief Happiness Officer merely posted a video of me talking about a most life changing moment, which was not subtitled because it came directly off YouTube. (My subtitled videos actually are made through Overstream, another site but somehow uses streaming YouTube videos - I have no idea how it works).
So help me here, my friend, what were you trying to say? I’m curious.
I look forward to hearing from you Neil.
Comment by Stephen Hopson — February 27, 2008 @ 10:22 pm
Thank you for raising the question. I’m never sure if I make sense and feedback is always helpful. You did understand my point, which is that I seldom see such agreement among people about an event and yet, when you are involved, they both see the same thing.
While the bulk of the work posted was yours, they used very similar adjectives and adverbs to describe you and your work. The Chief Happiness Officer uses “great little video” and “excellent blog.” Problogger asks for people to “help and support Stephen” and provides high accolades about your blog. They may not have said much, but they both described the same wonderful person.
By the way, I have subscribed to your blog and look forward to your posts.
Comment by Neil — February 28, 2008 @ 11:04 am
[…] at TeamConnections wrote a curious and somewhat perplexing and fascinating article, called “When EyeWitnesses Agree.” While Neil lavishly heaped praised and accolades on Adversity University, it seemed like […]
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