What’s in it for me? (aka WIIFM).  You may be asking yourself this right now.  Do you think there has been a disconnect in communication, and strategy, in corporate America? I know there has! When people are not communicating transparently and with empathy, the disconnect between what people do and what leaders expect (aka Strategy) grows larger.  Reconnecting people - at all levels - into performance management systems and to the performance of the company is critical. And it is do-able! I’ll step you through.  First, take 3 minutes to watch this presentation. “Ask Lori” or email to lori (at) abrige.com.  Register on this blog at the upper right of the home page to keep tracking, and improve your performance now!

Click here to open this presentation in a new window

STEP 2: SIGN UP FOR THE M3 RACE!

In my last post I told you a bit about a group that I am so proud to be part of: Count Me In’s Make Mine a Million Dollar business. Some of us are still striving for that $1M mark and others have made it and have moved well past it. All of us benefit from the collaboration from a group of resilient, persistent, innovative and action-taking women.

Join a million - Make a $million - Create millions of jobs.
JOIN US NOW IN A RACE!

To run with me, do this:
• Step 1 - Sign up at http://www.makemineamillion.org/race and use the code LEVA

(Note that my goal is to make more per month in 2009 than was made in all of twelve prior months.  This is also called a “phenomenon.”  If you are serious about building your business - join me and join this race!) (more…)

Are you, or do you know, a woman-owned business or female entrepreneur?

>> STEP 1: CONSIDER THE “M3″ RACE

Want to know what real Collaboration + Action (spiced with competition) is about? Put together hundreds, soon thousands and then millions of like-minded entrepreneurial woman in a race toward higher financial returns - and you’ll find out! (more…)

The recent global upheaval has brought down some iconic companies, and in some cases it is obvious why these leaders failed.

But in most cases it is not that clear how exactly that leader failed, when we reconsider by visually stepping into his or her shoes without benefit of hindsight. Most of these leaders say they made the best decision with the information they had and were aimed in the direction their stakeholders wanted them to go. Could you or someone you know be next? And it is with this realization that we leaders pause.

Below is one of several news releases that depict a leader that in hindsight didn’t lead in the right direction. This one is about the SEC’s Chairman Christopher Cox. An earlier article was about AIG’s former CEO Martin Sullivan. My comments are in italics.

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This transformation guidance is more personal in nature. In the last post I posed some questions about communication in tough times.

Here are a few tips if you are open to mental work:

Take steps to rid your uncertainty with the present (or past). Be certain about the future.
How? There are many ways to do this. I’ve found some that work well for me that I’ll touch on here and can expand if you are interested. I’ll focus on leaders, who are often processers and problem-solvers.

If you are a problem-solver you may not feel settled without fixing whatever it is right now. Many will say that the best thing to do is to focus on solving the problem. That was me. I’ve made progress.  Sure I still solve problems – lots of them. It is that I select the problem and typically tackle it very early when something still can be done about it, sometimes even catching it before the problem is well known.

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What message would you communicate to your employees if you are (or were to be) a leader of a company suffering from lost profits, lost customers and/or lost value during these still uncertain times? How would you communicate it? What would you expect the employees to do next? What might you tell employees about changes you/leadership will make? How would you handle your own emotions caused by uncertainty? How might you refocus yourself, your mastermind (those around you that help with decisions) and your employees on solutions? How might you keep the communication… and the positive sparks it should create…alive?

I’m writing this to get your attention and give you some ideas about “marketing” to your own people. I mean, the people that can affect the success of your company, be they employees including management, Board, community, suppliers, outsourced entities, etc.

Parts of this blog post are excerpted from an article that originally appeared as part one of a two-part series in Steve Harrison’s Book Marketing Update print newsletter. Steve and his brother Bill are successful information marketers, who are also successful at staying on that higher ground that I so appreciate. I’m not an author yet, but when I am they will be the guys I will turn to for help.

My comments are in italics.

No matter which candidate you like (or dislike) in the current presidential race, one thing is obvious: Barack Obama is one heck of a marketer.

I will refrain from stating my political viewpoints here. This post is about using marketing skills to motivate.

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