The Invisible Mentor

Archive for July, 2009

Interview With Claire Stoddard, World of Work Marketing

I interviewed Claire Stoddard over three years ago by email for the June 2006 issue of Ambeck Edge. I am finding that the interviews that I conducted years ago are still very relevant because we will alsways have challenges and need ideas on how to resolve them.

Challenge: I actually enjoy business challenges. I find that the issue is not resolving them, but finding the very best solution. The process it takes to find a perfect answer has two parts. The first part can be described in two little words – Due Diligence, Due Diligence, Due Diligence.

A case in point. One of my clients is a large, multinational, nonprofit, membership-based legal association that was experiencing an ongoing communications problem with their members, all of whom are senior lawyers. Although the organization sponsors three membership meetings a year and sends out numerous emails updating members on events, there were consistent complaints that members were unaware of new products and services. Even board members seemed to be in the dark.

Many of their problems stemmed from inconsistent, sometimes poorly written communications with members. Some months emails went out fast and furious and overlapped each other. Other months there would be very little communication. It was hard for members to keep up on new products and services and membership benefits were seldom emphasized.

Solution: After meeting with senior managers about the problem, I recommended a branded email marketing campaign with online links to their web site, distributed to members once a month, with reminders of member benefits. This meant creating an electronic template for an eNewsletter. But who would help create the electronics of the email campaign?

First I turned to two web designers, both of whom offered design capabilities, but not distribution. It didn’t seem like the perfect package. Then lo and behold I received a notice of an event sponsored by the American Marketing Association, featuring a service provider that specialized in email campaigns. I attended and not only learned a great deal from the presentation but asked the vendor for a proposal. The proposal was excellent and I thought I was set. However, unexpectedly, a competitive email service provider was recommended. I was tempted to cut off the search since I had already expended a lot of time, but I thought it was better to explore every reasonable option. It turned out that the second service provider not only had an excellent product, but experience with non-profit organizations. I recommended them to my client and a contract was drawn and signed.

Almost immediately there was a legal glitch that needed to be resolved and a resulting delay. A new contract had to be signed. I considered switching service providers. And now here is the second part of the necessary process of resolving business challenges. After you have done all the due diligence you can – sometimes you have to trust your gut.

My instinct told me that I had the best solution. Even though the people involved were changing, the product offered enormous potential for my client. I stuck it out and arranged for a second contract to be signed. From then on, everything worked perfectly. The new people are honest, forthright, and extremely customer service oriented. The product, indeed, is perfect. Members are starting to feel more connected and aware of the benefits their membership provides. And, best of all, I now have a second customer signed up for an email marketing campaign.

Lessons Learned: The learning process for me was extraordinary, providing me with a new skill set, which in turn benefits my clients. It has proven to be a highly successful project which can be replicated many times.

Formula For Success

So, what is the formula for success you might ask? In my opinion, it’s those two little words, Due Diligence, Due Diligence, Due Diligence, along with a liberal dose of well-informed instinct.

Have you ever faced similar challenges? How did you resolve them? What kinds of lessons did you learn in the process? How can you learn from Claire’s experience?

Excerpt Ambeck Edge June 2006

A Book Review

Your Best Year Yet: Ten Questions For Making The Next Twelve Months Your Most Successful Ever

Jinny S. Ditzler

I reviewed Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler for Ambeck Edge  January 2007. We have passed the midway point for 2009 and I find myself losing my way somewhat. There are so many distractions around us and we have to focus on what is really important. I am saying this for myself as much as I am saying it to you. So, I decided to revisit my plans for the next year and make adjustments as necessary. Many things that I thought were important a few years ago are no longer on my radar, and that’s okay because it is the nature of life.

When planning, you can start wherever you are. You do not have to wait for the beginning of a calendar year. Though the book was reviewed over two years ago, I still find the information relevant. Below is my review.

Most people do their plans for the year at the start of a new year so I decided to review Your Best Year Yet by Jinny Ditzler. According to Ditzler, Best Year Yet is “About starting to believe in yourself again and becoming much tougher in the face of life’s biggest challenges. The approach helps you to use your commonsense and intelligence in new ways to create a happier life for yourself.” To create your plan, you are asked to answer the following 10 questions.

1. What did I accomplish over the past 12 months?


2. What were my biggest disappointments?


3. What did I learn?


4. How do I limit myself, and how can I stop?


5. What are my personal values?


6. What roles do I play in my life? (Father, wife, teacher, student, writer, consultant and so on)


7. Which role is my major focus for the next 12 months?


8. What are my goals for the next year?


9. What are my top 10 goals for the next year?


10. How can I make sure that I achieve them?

I liked this book because it gives you simple tools to use, and when you’re done, you have a one-page plan. It’s also packed with many examples and you feel as if Ditzler is right there guiding you. I recommend Your Best Year Yet.

Avil’s note: Make sure that your top 10 goals include goals for all areas of your life to achieve better balance. And, also make sure that every week you take steps to achieving your 10 goals, no matter how small. If you decide to follow this process, and you’d like a template, which breaks your goals into the various areas of your life, please email me and I will send you one.

As I revisit this book review which I did in 2007, I realize that one of the reasons that I lost my way is that I cannot see my one-page plan: “Out of sight out of mind.” I recently moved and removed my plan from my computer where I had taped it on. When I revamp my plan, I will place it where I can see it everyday. It would be great if you did the same.

Excerpt from Ambeck Edge  January 2007

If Napoleon Hill were alive, I think that he would have been a great blogger and would frequently blog about how people can attain true financial success. Like most accomplished individuals, Hill found success through repeated failures. He understood the concepts Pay it Forward and Social Responsibility and dedicated over 20 years of his life researching the formula for success. Best known for his runaway bestselling book Think and Grow Rich, he popularized the quote, ”What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

What does that quote mean to you? Do you agree or disagree with it? Why?

The quote tells me that I should be mindful of my thoughts, and live in the moment. It also tells me that I can accomplish any goal if I set my mind to it and take action.

Note: Based on what I have researched, I have written the following about Napoleon Hill. I am projecting what I think Napoleon Hill would say about personal achievement if he blogged about the topic.

About Napoleon Hill

Big Break: Commissioned by Andrew Carnegie without pay to research – which he did for over 20 years – the formula for success. The results of the research formed the basis for many of his most successful work.

Bestseller: Think and Grow Rich

Personal Mantra: What the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve

Interesting Tidbit: Coined the phrase Master Mind

Below is a short (7 minutes) video with Napoleon Hill talking about his meeting with Andrew Carnegie. If you cannot view the video here for any reason, click on the link and you will be taken to the YouTube website where you can watch the video there.

Napoleon Hill talks about his meeting with Andrew Carnegie

Napoleon Hill’s Personal Achievement 101

• Start a mastermind group because no one succeeds alone
• 13 Steps to Success in Think and Grow Rich: Desire, faith, autosuggestion, specialized knowledge, imagination, organized planning, decision, persistence, power of the master mind, mystery of sex transmutation, subconscious mind, brain and sixth sense
• Monitor your thoughts throughout the day
• Study the habits of people you would like to emulate and interview them if possible
• What you give comes back to you
• “Whatever price you ask of life, life is willing to pay.” See the poem below My Wage by Jessie Rittenhouse. Also see blog post Using the Poem “My Wage” by Jessie B. Rittenhouse to Think Differently

My Wage

by Jessie B. Rittenhouse (1869 – 1948)

I bargained with Life for a penny,
And Life would pay no more,
However I begged at evening
When I counted my scanty store;

For Life is a just employer,
He gives you what you ask,
But once you have set the wages,
Why, you must bear the task.

I worked for a menial’s hire,
Only to learn, dismayed,
That any wage I had asked of Life,
Life would have paid.

What do you think of the poem My Wage? Was Napoleon Hill inspired by the poem? Or was Jessie Rittenhouse inspired by Napoleon Hill? My Wage is featured in Think and Grow Rich.

Further Reading & Sources

Napoleon Hill Biography – Life

How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Napoleon Hill Information

Napoleon Hill Biography & Notes

Napoleon Hill Biography

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I first learned about Rikyu while watching the documentary Dream Window: Reflections on the Japanese Garden at Four Seasons of Gardens in Kyoto, Photographs by Mizuno Katsuhiko, an exhibit at the Japan Foundation, Toronto, which runs from June 17 – August 27, 2009. Please see the post Where Will you End Up? During the documentary they mentioned the concept of emptiness and that less is more. Preliminary research revealed that Rikyu was a Japanese tea master.

I struggled to understand the concept of “emptiness” and the “Way of Tea.” Many of the concepts I came across during my research on Rikyu were quite foreign to me as a westerner. My interpretation is that the notion of “emptiness” or “nothingness” focuses on frugality, simplicity, authenticity, freedom from attachments and possessions, at oneness with nature and self, reverence and a respect for life. Emptiness leads to enlightenment.

What is the Way of Tea?

Japanese Tea Ceremony is a tradition, a ritual in Japan which started many centuries ago. It was often an elaborate ceremony, and Rikyu is credited for making it a quieter and simpler affair so that everyone, wealthy and poor could practice “tea.”  Japanese tea ceremonies are not just about drinking tea, but about meditating, getting back to the fundamentals of what is really important in life. Fellowshipping with one another.

“Rikyu ‘s ceremony became known as wabichado (chado means “the way of tea”)…To truly understand tea, you must also study poetry, art, literature, architecture, legacy, and history. Tea practitioners are accomplished in the arts of flowers, fine cuisine, and-perhaps most important-etiquette (sarei). And the four principles of tea-harmony (wa), respect (kei), purity (sei), and tranquillity (jaku)-could of course be the means to any good life.” What Is Wabi-Sabi?

“Our current Grand Master summarizes the purpose of the Tea-Way thus: “to realize tranquility in communion with others within our world”. This speaks of peace: 1. within the individual as well as 2. in relationship with others as well as 3. in harmony with the environment both nature and human-made objects. The tea ceremony is a kind of meditation-in-motion with a flowing, coming into-focus of the object and movement of each moment, then letting it go in the next moment, and with a simultaneous global awareness of guests, self, and the whole seamless context as one. Ideally this kind of meditative awareness-in-action generalizes to one’s everyday activities and spreads peace naturally.” The Psychology of Peace through the Way of Tea

Who was Rikyu?

• Son of one of the wealthy Sakai merchants
• Japanese tea master who lived from 1521-1591
• Zen Buddhist monk
• Practiced the way of tea as a path to enlightenment
• Taught the four principles of tea: “wa” , “kei”, “sei,” and ‘jaku”
• Tragic death ordered by the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-1598)

For me, the way to tea and emptiness suggest that we should take comfort in the simple things in life, truly be ourselves and build community with one another. What does the way to tea mean to you?

Further Reading

What Is Wabi-Sabi?

The Psychology of Peace through the Way of Tea By Ms. Sheila Fling

Source

“An Anthropological Perspective on the Japanese Tea Ceremony,” Herbert Plutschow, Anthropoetics 5, no. 1 (Spring/Summer 1999)

The Psychology of Peace through the Way of Tea By Ms. Sheila Fling

Stress Management and Conflict Resolution via the Way of Tea? Japan Studies Association Journal (2001), Volume 3, 65-71

Photo credit: File is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License

Have you ever heard the phrase you don’t know what you don’t know? How do you discover what you don’t know?

You constantly have to immerse yourself into situations where you will learn new things.

I have wanted to add videos to this blog to have more variety and perhaps even to do a video review of books, but I really didn’t know much about video recording. I thought about taking a course but wondered if I really needed to do so since I only needed to know the basics.

I heard that Toronto Net Tuesday, a Meetup Group was having an event, Online Storytelling — How to Plan & Produce a Compelling Video at the Centre for Social Innovation in Toronto. I immediately signed up for the event which cost only $5. At that price I had absolutely nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The event exceeded my expectations. There were three presenters: Jamie Woo, Brad Dworkin and Billie Mintz, who dealt with the Why, What and How respectively of using online videos. At the end of the formal presentations, the nearly 60 attendees went into three groups depending on their interests and the reason they attended the event. I was interested in the How so I went into the group with Billie Mintz.

Before attending events, I prepare myself so that I will gain as much as possible. This also decreases the chances of me being disappointed about the event. I also align my expectations with the cost of the event. At $5, my thinking was that if I got one idea from the event I would be happy. I highly recommend preparing for events, and managing expectations based on what the event costs and what is promised.

What I didn’t know that I didn’t know

Billie explained that the most important thing in selecting a device to video record is the sound. I am supposed to know that except I really didn’t. I am a visual person so I am always interested in the way things look. The picture is important yes, but Billy explained that people will forgive you if you have a crappy picture if they can hear the video clearly. Because I was prepared for the event I knew what questions to ask to get the information that I needed.

How do you prepare for events? What techniques can you recommend? Are there Meetup Groups in your backyard that you can attend?

Take time everyday to discover what you don’t know that you don’t know!

Highlights from Online Storytelling — How to Plan & Produce a Compelling Video

• You can purchase a good quality high definition video camera for under $1,000
• Become familiar with your camera and how it works
• Learn about white balance
• Get a stick microphone or a wireless lav to feed into camera
• Create your videos inside whenever possible to eliminate noises
• Always wear a headphone so that you can pick up sounds that you would usually miss such as the wind blowing
• Think about how pictures go with words for maximum impact when presenting your stories
• What is your visual story? Who is your audience? (Be as specific as possible)
• The power of videos allow you to be “relatable” because viewers can see facial expressions
• Using videos allow you to be more targeted since you customize your message and target to only the people who will listen
• If the video you want to produce is more than you can manage, you have the option to outsource your project to video producers or crowdsource it (an open call to a large number of people to bid on the project)

These are only a few snippets of what I learned at the event. In the future, I would like to attend an event that delves a bit more into creating a compelling story in three to five minutes.

In case you are wondering how to prepare before you attend an event, here are a few things to do before hand:

1. Look at the event agenda if there is one to learn about what will be presented
2. Why are you attending the event? What are you hoping to accomplish?
3. Is there a skill gap that you are trying to fill? What specific pieces of new information are you lacking? Who at the event will have the information you require to fill the gap?
4. Make a list of questions that you would like answered
5. Are there people at the event that you would like to meet? Find out from the event organizers if they can introduce you to those people
6. Manage your expectations and align your expectations with the cost of the event
7. Be open and flexible and expect the unexpected

Photo Credit: Avil Beckford

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