The Invisible Mentor » Mentoring

Mentor Yourself With Nathon Gunn, CEO, Social Game Universe

Avil Beckford — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 13:33:14 +0000

Interviewee Name: Nathon Gunn, CEO

Website: http://www.socialgameuniverse.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Nathon Gunn: I am the CEO of a company called Social Game Universe and I also started another company called Bitcasters, which is still going. I’m an entrepreneur, and an innovator and I’m very passionate about creating new things. I work in new media and technology.

Image via CrunchBase

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Nathon Gunn: A typical day for me is spent answering a lot of emails. At the moment we’re producing a number of products, so I have creative teams who are constantly asking questions, so a big part of my day is just dealing with the constant traffic cropping of creative ideas, and moving the right pieces to the right people. But I also try to make sure that I exercise a little bit every day, see my friends and have a bit of social time.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Nathon Gunn: I’m motivated by innovation, and I’m very excited when I see opportunities to do new things, things that haven’t been done yet. That is something that gets me going naturally, I don’t have to think about it too much, but on days when I’m down, I’m often motivated by the idea that I have a whole bunch of people who have invested in me – their money, time and careers and that gets me motivated because I don’t want to let anybody down.

On other occasions I get motivated when I see other people in the market innovating or creating things that I think I should have thought of, or we are working on. So sometimes I’m motivated by competition.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Nathon Gunn: We work a lot in the internet industry, and one of the things I did in the nineties was I created a technology for uploading video to the web. I believed in the idea of users creating their own content, instead of big companies creating content and distributing it to users, and that’s what is now known as user-generated content. I worked for nearly four years trying to convince the big companies to get behind me, support me and build this. What I wish we had done differently was just built and launched the product.

We’re are living in an era with technology where you can, with a couple of people, build and launch things, and you find out very quickly if it works or doesn’t. I probably would have changed my need to be loved by the big companies, and my need to get the big companies to support me because of a psychological dependence on what I had grown up with – the idea that CBS and NBC and ABC were the big players and you had to be involved with them. So I was hampered by something that I don’t think the new generation of entrepreneurs really are as much, and I would change that.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Nathon Gunn: I discovered that I’m resilient. We survived quite a few ups and downs in the marketplace, and I really believe that one of the things that made it possible for us to succeed was the ability to weather the storm. I have discovered that I can weather the storm, and that’s something that I’ve done on a personal level, as well as a professional level. That gives me confidence for what’s coming up ahead, and we can’t expect calm skies forever, and at the moment things are going well for us, but I’m confident that I can get through any storms. So that is a discovery I made.

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Nathon Gunn:

We had lots of opportunities, and in some cases we weren’t following up on them as well as we might have, and in some cases we weren’t prioritizing the right opportunities, so we were choosing to focus on things that seemed interesting but was draining our time, away from where it needed to go. One of the ways we are dealing with that is I’ve put a couple of people who I trust in charge of business development, and have given the control to them to decide what the priorities are so they can push back on me if I seem to be putting energy into the wrong things.
Another threat to our success is the fact that technology is always changing and the kinds of products we are making are changing, and people are making other products that do a better job, or can do a better job so we have to stay on top of the competition and have to keep innovating and we have to be fast. I would say that our biggest challenge is that things take longer than we want them to and the market is changing fast. We are a small company still but we’re getting to the size now that we can’t move like two people in a basement, and that’s something that we have to deal with.
The other threat is the great unknown. We work a lot with Facebook and every day it changes its rules, so we have to stay nimble and we also have to make sure that we diversify so we’re not just dependent on one partnership, such as we are right now with Facebook. We’re very excited that Google+ has been announced and we are looking forward to working with them, it gives us another avenue for our business.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Nathon Gunn: We haven’t talked too much about the services that we provide – what the company does. We create technology that supports social games on platforms like Facebook and Google+ as I mentioned before. And what’s unique about our products is that they interconnect games. So if you’re play My Farm, and I’m playing Hollywood Tycoon, which are two different games, I can see that you’re in My Farm while I’m playing Hollywood Tycoon and I can make it rain on you, and you can see that I’m in Hollywood Tycoon and you can set a zombie loose from my horror set, and the core innovation there for us is that I have made it possible for friends to see and play with each other, even when they like different kinds of games. That provides for a lot of interesting things like being able to discover another person’s game and be able to buy things for your friends in those games. And we are actually moving that out of games. So if I were to sum that up – we silo and reconnect friends in the different experiences that they care about and we let them do meaningful things to each other wherever they are.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Nathon Gunn: I’ve had lots of major challenges. I would say the dotcom crash when we went through that in 2000, 2001 was the most significant moment in my career, and the biggest thing that I have recovered from professionally. Most of my competitors in the new media space went bankrupt. We were probably one or two percent of the companies that survived. Nearly all the people who I knew in the business were wiped out. They are still in business in some capacity, some are working for people, some have started other companies. But we were brought down from a point where we had 30 staff to me being half-a-million in debt and two staff, and I had a choice of walking away or trying to dig my way back out of a hole and I chose to dig our way out the hole, paid all our bills and we built our staff back up. We raised some money and I’m really proud of that. I certainly learned that having 30 staff in the early days of the dotcom phenomenon was a measure of success, and the lesson I learned is that lean and mean is the measure of success. The true measure of success is having revenue, your products are selling, and people are using them.

You have to focus on the right things, not growing and trying to be impressive. When you go to a dinner party and people say, “How much staff do you have?” I often want to say to them that that’s the wrong question to ask, the better question to ask is, “How many people love what you do? How many people are willing to pay to have your product? How engaged are they with you and how much do they love being engaged with you?” So I learned to focus on the right things and that’s been the biggest challenge in my career so far.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Nathon Gunn: Life has been a series of little, big breaks. I have struggled at every stage to bust through to the next. So you could say that I have had a number along the way. I snuck off the CityTV tour they used to give at the broadcast station, and I got my first job by begging this lady who worked in the graphics department to let me come in. She was sick the next day, and Steve Hurlbut who was running the newsroom thought that I had been working there and hired so he put me to work, and only discovered a few days later that I had not been hire by anyone, so that was one big break.

A few years later when I was getting involved in new media, Dr. Tom Axworthy – former Chief of Staff for Pierre Trudeau – who was running Charles Bronfman Family Foundation, was looking for someone young who knew about new media, took an interest in my career, my business partner, Duane Wall’s career and made a real effort to help us learn about business and also to give us opportunities, and I would say, in that way Tom really became a mentor.

In addition, the opportunities that Moses Znaimer gave me at CityTV were a form of mentorship. We’ve had many little, big breaks. And if you want the biggest one, it’s the support, the continuous support of Tom Axworthy throughout the years.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Nathon Gunn: In many ways I have already talked about that. One of the things I did which I mentioned before is that we created a tool for uploading video to the web, that’s the user-generated content that I was trying to get all the big broadcast companies to support. We pitched Barry Diller who runs IAC/InterActiveCorp, we presented it to the Weinsteins (Harry and Bob) who ran Miramax, we presented it to the Bronfmans, to the head of Canwest, and nobody would support it.

I think the biggest mistake I made, my biggest failure, was talking to them, instead of building it. I would say that that exercise has taught me that I need to focus on building and executing and launching, not on getting people to buy into an idea, but rather showing people that the idea makes money and succeeds.

The biggest failure was in the nineties when it was possible to raise $10 million and launch what became YouTube, and I didn’t do it. I will never forget that lesson, and I will always work to build and launch as opposed to raise money and talk people into things.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Nathon Gunn: Perhaps the toughest decision has been over the last few years to let go of many of the things my company Bitcasters was doing. Bitcasters was the company for 15 years that I ran, that was the first company that I started, and we realized along the way that we had an opportunity in social games, and although Bitcasters was making TV commercials, animated kids’ shows, we were working with Paul Martin (former Canadian Prime Minister) on his election campaign, we were doing very exciting work, it was very clear to me that if we didn’t focus my energy on one opportunity, we were always going to be proud of our work, working with great people, but we might not have that home run that would define us as winners and “succeeders” in the market, that would then open doors to us for doing the other things we wanted.

I decided to do one thing well for a little while to give us the credibility and the success in the market, which will hopefully open the door for us to do the things we love in the other areas, but to do one at a time. That’s been a hard decision to be honest, because we had some amazing people and projects that I’ve had to let go of, and it’s impacted me because I’ve lost some friends who I worked with because of that. They had invested in that direction and I had to change directions. It’s impacted me, and it has also impacted me positively as well, and I’m confident that in the long run that many of those relationships will be revived by going back with the success we realized here and revisiting the projects we want to do.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Nathon Gunn:

Travel: My family moved to India when I was about 11 years old, and we were there for a few years and then we moved to Malaysia for a couple of years, and then Australia. The travel really shaped my life. From an early age I saw myself as a global citizen, and I saw the world as my oyster, rather than thinking about an opportunity in Saskatoon, Victoria or Toronto, I thought about an opportunity In New York and Paris and Tokyo. And I don’t think you have to travel to do that, but it made it really easy for me to see that the world is a global economy, a global village that we all participate in and anybody in Canada, through technology can actually compete in that global market. So that was one thing that shaped my life.
On a smaller level, my dad brought home a Commodore 64 when we were living in India and I programmed my first games, and did my first animations on those computers – we had an Apple II E at school, so certainly the arrival of the computer into my house, and the ability to play games and my desire to tinker with those games and figure out how you change them made a big impact on my lifelong journey of working in new media and digital technology.
And I think mentorship, since it’s the topic of some of your work here. I think it’s important to recognize that it’s a major thing that happened in my life, and I sought this out. It didn’t just happened to me, but I have made a point of being aligned with, and involved with people that I admired and respected, and out of that has grown various kinds of mentorship and I would say that has shaped my life on a personal and professional level.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Nathon Gunn: I’m really proud that after the dotcom crash, even though a lot of the problems that I had, were created by me, making some of the mistakes I made, I’m very proud that I didn’t close down Bitcasters. I’m very proud that we spent the next few years building that company back up. We survived the hardest business challenge you could expect, which is a recession and a complete dissolution of a market and we survived it. We realigned ourselves and we survived it. I would say that’s one of my proudest because it meant that I was able to employ people, and it meant that I was able to continue the work that I love, and we were able to pay back the people who invested in us.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Nathon Gunn: It’s funny how mentors can influence your life. Certainly one of the most important things has been support. When things are tough, you need people who you can talk to about the challenges, and you need people who support you even when you make mistakes. Mentors have been there and they know what you’re going through, so they can lend a kind of empathy, as well as intelligent advice that you can’t get from friends necessarily. I have been influenced to be a good person, to be ethical, by some of my mentors who have made it a point of living their lives in a wonderful way by giving back to people even in their mentorship. And so by example they have led the way. I have done my best, and will continue to try to do my best and follow in their examples. I think they have influenced my life to remember to be generous to other people, and to be ethical in dealings, to take the high road whenever you can.

In some cases, I’ve had mentors who I’ve seen do things, and they’ve even talked about some of the things they’ve done wrong, and I’ve learned from negative examples or what not to do. And a good mentor will be quite candid about that, and I think in another way my life’s been influenced by mentors was simply through generosity. Sometimes a door needs to be opened and you just can’t open it yourself so I think that’s another way they have influenced my life.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Nathon Gunn: I received a lot, but if there was one core message, is to stick to it. There have been many lessons that have been important to me because of my specific strengths and weaknesses. But if there is one thing that a mentor has shared, and the mentors have brought to the table in their message is to stick to it, because these are all people who have made it through thick and thin, and we are all people who go through thick and thin, and one of the few things that you can’t get from anybody else, that you can get from mentors is the reminder that you can make it if you stick with it.

Avil Beckford: An invisible mentor is a unique leader you can learn things from by observing them from afar, in the capacity of an Invisible Mentor, what is one piece of advice that you would give to readers?

Nathon Gunn: I have to speak from my own experiences and my own thoughts. I went to Burning Man festival – camping in the desert, with 60,000 other crazy people, and you have to bring your own water, food, your own tent, and everything you have to bring in. There is no way to buy anything and it’s hours away from any hospitals. It’s what they call radical self-reliance. As I told you the story about how I tried to get my company supported by the big broadcast companies even though what I was trying to do was reinvent broadcast, I can see a parallel between going to Burning Man and needing to bring everything of your own and my problem trying to get everybody to support me in the early days and I would say perhaps the best lesson is radical self-reliance.

It’s good to know that you have mentors to support you, and it’s good to know I have friends at Burning Man, but the reality is that you have to be prepared to build these things on your own, you have to be willing to step one foot in front of the other and head out on your own, and amazingly people will come in behind you and support you but you can’t wait for somebody else to do it for you. You can’t expect to be reliant on anybody else.

Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance

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Video Credit: Waldo Emerson Self-Reliance - Uploaded by ajhande on Dec 29, 2009

Interviews for Mentoring: Invisible Mentor, Maggie Berry, Women in Technology (theinvisiblementor.com)
Mentor Yourself: Interview With Maggie Berry, Women in Technology Part II (theinvisiblementor.com)
Interview With Invisible Mentor Carol McManus, America’s LinkedIn Lady (theinvisiblementor.com)
Interview With Invisible Mentor Carol McManus, America’s LinkedIn Lady Part II (theinvisiblementor.com)
The Chief Mentoring Officer Interviews Annemie Ress, Senior HRD eBay & Global Engagement Lead at eBay (theinvisiblementor.com)
The Chief Mentoring Officer Interviews Annemie Ress, Senior HRD eBay & Global Engagement Lead at eBay, Part Two (theinvisiblementor.com)

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Adventures in Learning: Six Degrees of Separation

Avil Beckford — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:13:18 +0000

How does a phenomenon get started? You’ve all heard the phrase six degrees of separation, which is the idea that any two people in the world can be connected through six steps or less, through a chain of intermediaries.

Image via Wikipedia

But where did the idea of six degrees of separation come from?

What you may not know, or have ever heard of is Chain-Links, which is a short story written in 1929 by Frigyes Karinthy. Frigyes Karinthy (June 25, 1887 – August 29, 1938), a Hungarian author, playwright, poet, journalist, and translator, was the first proponent of six degrees of separation. Here is an excerpt from the story:

Image via Wikipedia

“…One of us suggested performing the following experiment to prove that the population of the Earth is closer together than they have ever been before. We should select any person from the 1.5 billion inhabitants of the Earth – anyone, anywhere at all… He bet us that, using no more than five individuals, one of whom is a personal acquaintance, he could contact the select individual using nothing except the network of personal acquaintances…Our friend was absolutely correct: nobody from the group needed more than five links in the chain to reach, just by using the method of your acquaintance, any inhabitant of our planet.”

The idea of six degree of separation was popularized decades later when John Guare wrote a play about it. The play was later released as a film. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon is a spin off from the concept, where any actor can be linked to Kevin Bacon through no more that six connections. According to Wikipedia, “This idea [six degrees of separation] both directly and indirectly influenced a great deal of early thought on social networks.” Kevin Bacon also started SixDegrees.org.

So the big questions are:

Who is in your network?
Do you take the time to work on building your relationships?
Can you be connected to the people you need to be connected to through six degrees of separation or less?
Where is your Chain-Links? Where will you find that one big idea that will spread like wild fire?
Where do your great ideas come from?

You can find a copy of the short story Chain-Links in The Structure and Dynamics of Networks By Mark E. J. Newman, Albert-László Barabási, Duncan J. Watts. I read the short story at Google Books, but you have to read it online, no printing or downloading unless you purchases a copy.

Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon: Inside the Game

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Video Credit: Uploaded by DaveOfTheRose on Jan 9, 2010

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Interview With Invisible Mentor Carol McManus, America’s LinkedIn Lady

Avil Beckford — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:38:27 +0000

“You want to align yourself with people who believe in you and can see things in you that you don’t see in yourself.” Carol McManus, America’s LinkedIn Lady

Invisible Mentor: Carol McManus, America’s LinkedIn Lady

Company Name: LinkedIn Lady

Website: http://www.linkedinlady.com, http://ywait4success.com/

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Carol McManus: I’m an entrepreneur. I left the corporate world in 2007 to start a coaching, consulting and leadership development company. I built that company to six figures using social media. My business has moved over to social media expertise and I’m now known as America’s LinkedIn Lady.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Carol McManus: I’m like most entrepreneurs, I don’t know if there is a typical day, but I do have a routine that I try to follow so I can stay on top of things. My day starts early and I try to deal with paper, emails and even the social media. I try to get all of those things out of the way so I can focus the rest of the day on existing business, networking and developing new businesses, and how that’s split up on any given day depends on the schedule and the calendar. At the end of the week I want to make sure that I’ve allocated enough time for each of those three things.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Carol McManus: I motivate myself because I’m a goal-driven person, so my motivation is driven by my goals. I stay focused on what I’m trying to achieve, not just monetary goals, but what the income and achievement of those goals is going to do for my life and family. To stay motivated is to keep reminding yourself of why you get up everyday and go to work. My goal summary is on my bulleting board, right in front of my face, I look at it every day. When I achieve a goal I get great satisfaction of being able to cross it off the list, or change the number, or raise the bar a bit. I think it’s that visual reinforcement that keeps me motivated and plus I have my husband who is my biggest supporter and champion and also my nudge. What I mean by that he is also the person who motivates me and if he thinks I’m straying or need a pep talk, then he is right there for me.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Carol McManus: That’s a very hard question because I am not a person who lives with regret. The challenge as a coach, one of the things that I see with people, is that they invest a lot of time and energy trying to reset the clock and change things. And the fact of the matter is you can’t. I’ve had good experiences, bad experiences, challenging experiences, and extraordinary experiences, and all of those led to the totality of who I am now. The honest truth is that I’m not sure I would do anything differently because it wouldn’t have gotten me to where I am now – it would have led me on a different path.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Carol McManus: I think the most important discovery for me is the fact that in spite of what’s going on in the world, and that’s more economically driven, that statement, than anything else, we as individuals and business people can own and take control of it, and the people who are succeeding, and in fact thriving in this environment are the people who have the right attitude. I always thought I was a positive person and had a good attitude but I never really focused on how much that has served me. I think for me the discovery was how important that was and it caused me to reinforce the need to keep a positive attitude. And I’m not talking Pollyanna with rose-coloured glasses. I’m talking about knowing that in every opportunity there is possibility. If you focus on the possibility, you’re going to end up with a better solution than if you focus on the challenges and the obstacles.

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them? Carol McManus:

I think a potential threat to any business is competition so I keep an eye on the competition, but I don’t focus on it. I think it’s more of a peripheral awareness of what other people are doing, how can I learn from that, how can I reposition my business to either respond to it or counter it. So that’s definitely number one.
I’d be foolish to say that the economy is not a potential threat because we are still in unstable times economically and there are simply things you cannot control. So a potential threat is if it spirals out of control then I would definitely have to retool and adjust.
I would potentially be the third threat to myself, and I think that’s true for all business people, is that if you take your eye off the ball, you take your eyes off the goals and become complacent, that can be the worst possible thing for your business. You always have to be checking yourself and reinvesting in yourself and recharging your own batteries so you’re always operating at an optimal level.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Carol McManus: There are a lot of people in the social media space, and there are two things that make me unique. Number One I’m a baby boomer so I’m not of the generation that grew up with electronic in the crib so to speak. They came into my business world and my life much later. It’s a learned skill for me and because it’s a learned skill I think I have a different perspective and appreciation of the technologies that are available to us today. The second piece going back to social media I think what makes me unique against my competitors is that I don’t consider myself to be a point and click approach to social media, I don’t worry about the technology and the tools and the mechanics. There are lots of people who do that better than I do. In fact, I outsource most of that for myself, what I focus on is my business experience. I focus on social media from a strategic standpoint, and when I sit with a client we talk about business goals and marketing message, ideal target client and then talk about how social media can serve that. I don’t recommend for example, that people jump in and start tweeting all day long because if there isn’t a real business objective, and a real direction as to where you want to go, it’s not going to serve your business. I think that’s a different approach than a lot of people in the social media space take.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Carol McManus: My major challenge in life is to stay focused in the moment. I have been very blessed in my career to have new opportunities offered to me, and I can think of one specific example where I was more focused on something else that was going on, another opportunity, than focusing on the job that was in the moment. This is not only a reflection for myself but also advice for everyone, that whatever your current responsibilities are whether you’re working for yourself or you’re working for somebody else you want to focus on what your responsibility is and do that to your very best ability because it’s through that accomplishment that you will get noticed and promoted, advanced or have new opportunities open up for you. You can’t always be looking at the horizon and at the next shiny object that dangles itself in front of you. You really have to stay focused on the now – the present.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Carol McManus: My big break came from one of my mentors. I was with one company for 27 years, and again I had a very blessed career, which I’m very grateful for, but this person at an early time in my career really took me under his wings and gave me reflective feedback that I needed to help shape my career, was able to point out skills and possibilities that I didn’t necessarily see in myself, and then became my champion in the organization to open up that door to new opportunities. That was huge for me, so it’s definitely tied to a mentor. At the time he was not my direct line supervisor, but he became my direct line supervisor later on, but we were at different places in the organization but he took an interest in my career and then opened those doors so again, the side piece of advice there is you want to align yourself with people who believe in you and can see things in you that you don’t see in yourself and obviously help to open those doors.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Carol McManus: One of my biggest failures, you’re only giving me one! I can think of many things that I started and for whatever reason didn’t get to the finish line. And again, there is a bigger lesson here, when I have failed, it was when I failed to follow-through. I am an idea person. I’m a strategist, so I do come up with a lot of cool ideas, some of which in retrospect I should have followed through on, so it’s a general answer to a question. But for the first 10 or 15 years of my career, it was a pattern where I would start something and not get it to the finish line, start something and not get it to the finish line. From that, I consider it to be a collective failure and the lesson is, and this is where goals come in, if you have clear goals and a vision, and you’re laser focused on what it’s going to take to get there, then you’re more likely to put yourself on a path to accomplish it, and take it all the way to the finish line.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Carol McManus: That’s a personal answer and it’s walking away from my first marriage. It was at a time where there was an age difference between us and we were at different points in our lives, there was nothing horrible, no big custody battles, there was no fighting or bickering like a lot of people go through in a divorce. But it was simply a decision that if we continued on the path that we were on, it was going to end badly, so making that decision in a timely fashion, that this was not going to serve either of us, and walking away from it. It was a very tough decision, but for both of us the best decision that I ever made. Both of us went on to live very happy lives, and we both found new spouses and it ended up having a happy ending. I don’t care what the circumstances are, whether volatile or not volatile, ending a marriage that you made a commitment and went into thinking you were going to live with this person for the rest of your life is not an easy thing, or should be an easy thing to walk away from.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Carol McManus:

Where I went to college and what I studied because I went to America University and studied political science which gave me an opportunity throughout college to work on Capitol Hill. It shaped my perspective about the country and politics in general, but it gave me a greater appreciation of not just the fundamentals of democracy, but honestly and truly, how to get things done, and it was a great foundation for my business experience.
Around that same time, I had the opportunity to go to Woodstock in New York back when the real Woodstock happened, and while I was not of the hippie generation, it was a fluke that I was even there it shaped my life because it was the antithesis of the environment that I had been living in on Capitol Hill with the free form and the music – a total different appreciation for seeing the world on a bigger platform and everything that was tied to it, not just the event Woodstock, but everything that was tied to the movement in the sixties having to do with social consciousness and the protest about the war, really gave me a life path to be able to separate what’s important and what’s really important or what you think is important versus what is important.
The third would be to sell a small boutique company I had back in the seventies and go into a bigger environment, working in a corporate environment. It was a big departure for me because I grew up in an entrepreneurial family. My early career was very much as an entrepreneur and going into the corporate world totally changed me and shaped my perspective on how I did and saw things, helped me to develop my leadership skills, helped me to see things through various different lenses – through the human resources lens, the financial lens. Now that I have come full circle back to being an entrepreneur again, there is absolutely no question that, that experience makes me a better business person, a better service provider, a better strategist, all of those skills have served me very well.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Carol McManus: The accomplishment I am proudest of is my most recent venture of claiming that title of America’s LinkedIn Lady. It’s the first time in my adult career, and in my life really, that I have had true personal brand identity, something that I feel I won, that I’m comfortable in, that I feel competent in and that has given me a personal brand. When you spend 27 years in a corporate environment, the identity is not about you, but the company and what’s good for the company. I was very comfortable with that, and it wasn’t that I wasn’t recognized or didn’t have name recognition within the organization, I did. But a very different thing happened when I went out on my own. When people meet me and say, “Oh, you’re America’s LinkedIn Lady.” I have been to events and have people say to me that they came to the event because they heard about me and wanted to hear what I had to say. That is not only flattering but it’s also daunting because it puts a big responsibility on your shoulder. It is definitely something I’m proud of, and it’s something I didn’t plan and aspire to, but the fact that it has happened, I can really enjoy it now.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Carol McManus: I worked for a company that was owned by an even larger company, a male dominated company, and I was young coming up the corporate ladder, and I had a female mentor who was one of the only women who held senior positions in the company. I sought her out in terms of guiding me about how you compete, get noticed and recognized as a professional when you’re in a male-dominated company. Her advice to this day has served me well. There were several legs to it but basically it was be true to yourself first and foremost, be who you are – don’t try to be overly feminine and don’t try to be overly masculine, just focus on the job at hand and do it to the best of your ability. Unfortunately at the time, because this goes back a few years, women have come a long way, which I’m happy about, and in my small way I was a contributor to move it along this path. But at the time, women had to be better than men at what they did. So if men operated at a 100 percent, we needed to operate at 110 or 120 percent, and do it without malice or feeling guilty, or bitter that people aren’t recognizing you or you’re not getting paid. You just do it and that advice and the guidance she gave me is what opened more doors for me and helped to shape my career because I didn’t try to play the game that other women played in the workplace.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Carol McManus: The one core message was not to take yourself so damn seriously. And I say that with a big smile on my face because it’s advice that we can all take. Another way to phrase that is don’t believe your own press. What I mean by that is not to be cynical or sceptical about people, you should be proud of your successes, but I think when people let their ego get in the way, when you do get compliments, when you do get awards, when you get promotions, it’s very easy to slip into that pattern in thinking you’re great and have all the answers. None of us do and you can’t operate in the world today, in a family, a business unit, in a company, in a church or any other organization without the support of other people. I have had more than one person share that advice with me, which helped to keep me focused and keep each others focused. You are one person making a contribution and it’s always part of a bigger picture.

Carol McManus: Always act as though someone is watching. In other words, whatever you’re doing, pretend that you’re on stage and there is an audience in front of you, even surrounding you, who is not necessarily judging, just observing what’s going on. So if you’re always doing your best, being your best, putting your best foot forward, magical things will happen. You don’t have to go out and campaign for them, you don’t have to politic for them, you don’t have to beg for them, and you don’t have to demand them. They will happen, because when people notice you, when you’re at your best is when good things happen.

Interview With Invisible Mentor Stefan Meister, Director, intercultures (theinvisiblementor.com)
Interview With Invisible Mentor Stefan Meister, Director, intercultures, Part Two (theinvisiblementor.com)
Interviews for Mentoring: Invisible Mentor, Maggie Berry, Women in Technology (theinvisiblementor.com)
Interview With Invisible Mentor Jeanne-Marie Robillard, Senior Account Executive, National Speakers Bureau (theinvisiblementor.com)
Mentor Yourself: Interview With Maggie Berry, Women in Technology Part II (theinvisiblementor.com)
The Invisible Mentor Interviews Chris Kulbaba, Career and Employment Counsellor, Resume Writer, Facilitator, Public Speaker & LinkedIn Entrepreneur
The Invisible Mentor Interviews Chris Kulbaba, Career and Employment Counsellor, Resume Writer, Facilitator, Public Speaker & LinkedIn Entrepreneur Part Two

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Mentoring in Moments at Socialize Toronto

Avil Beckford — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

I frequently talk about mentoring occurring in moments, and this was evident at mediabistro’s Socialize Toronto conference last Friday. Profound conversations can take place over seconds and minutes. By watching conference attendees you could tell by the look on their faces that it was worth their time to attend the conference. People were not shy about asking questions, and they were interacting with each other during the breaks. You could feel the upbeat energy in the room. People who had only known each other online, now had the opportunity to talk offline.

Jim Hedger shared some great Search Engine Optimization tips with me during a two-minute conversation. Though it was a short time, I felt that I was mentored during that time. It was great to discover that conferences are great places to not only meet people and learn, but are also great for people to be mentored in sound bites.

In the EdgeRank (Facebook) vs. PageRank (Google) session, a tidbit that stuck with me is that when you think of Facebook, it’s the place to ask questions, and for Google, the place you find answers – that’s how you build engagement. That short answer by one of the panellists opened up a whole new world for me.

A Few Mentoring Moments at Socialize Toronto

When writing, think AIDA: Attention-Interest-Desire-Action (attract Attention, arouse Interest, stimulate Desire and present a call to Action).
Videos that go viral appeal to body, mind and spirit.
There is a button on your Google+ page that allows you to pull in YouTube videos into your updates.
Anayltics for Twitter – Edelman TweetLevel, and Twitalyzer
To find a schedule of Twitter Chats https://bitly.com/bundles/kmullett/4
For more engaging stories, move from one-way storytelling to dynamic storytelling.

There were lots of tips at Socialize Toronto, but the biggest highlight of the conference for me was learning about 40 Inventive Principles. The reason I found 40 Inventive Principles to be so fascinating is it’s another tool to help us to be more creative, and to solve problems more creatively. Just reading through some of the examples given for each principle will give you ideas on ways to change the way you do work. For me, that was another mentoring in moments.

Examples of 40 Inventive Principles

“Principle 1. Segmentation
Divide an object into independent parts.
Replace mainframe computer by personal computers.
Replace a large truck by a truck and trailer.
Use a work breakdown structure for a large project.
Principle 4. Asymmetry
Change the shape of an object from symmetrical to asymmetrical.
Asymmetrical mixing vessels or asymmetrical vanes in symmetrical vessels improve mixing (cement trucks, cake mixers, blenders).
Put a flat spot on a cylindrical shaft to attach a knob securely.
Principle 6. Universality
Make a part or object perform multiple functions; eliminate the need for other parts.
Handle of a toothbrush contains toothpaste
Child’s car safety seat converts to a stroller
Principle 17. Another dimension
To move an object in two- or three-dimensional space.
Infrared computer mouse moves in space, instead of on a surface, for presentations.
Five-axis cutting tool can be positioned where needed.
Principle 22. “Blessing in disguise” or “Turn Lemons into Lemonade”
Use harmful factors (particularly, harmful effects of the environment or surroundings) to achieve a positive effect.
Use waste heat to generate electric power.
Recycle waste (scrap) material from one process as raw materials for another.”

I am sure that if you looked at the complete list of principles, you will find a few that resonate with you. Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. Many readers read this blog from other sites, so why don’t you pop over to The Invisible Mentor and subscribe (top on the right hand side) by email or RSS Feed.

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Mentor Yourself: Interview With Maggie Berry, Women in Technology

Avil Beckford — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 10:30:56 +0000

Invisible Mentor: Maggie Berry

Company Name: Women in Technology

Website: http://www.womenintechnology.co.uk/

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Maggie Berry: I run an organization called Women in Technology based inLondon and our strategic aim is to increase the number of women who are working and achieving in theUK’s technology profession.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Maggie Berry: I don’t really have a typical day per se as my role involves a range of different aspects from the overall strategy for the business, to getting hands on with the networking events and training courses that we run as well as spending time with our sponsors and making sure that we’re helping them to position themselves as an employer of choice for women working in IT. I’m also responsible for finding new companies that would like to work with us and I get involved with a lot of women’s business networking groups inLondon. So my days quite often involve speaking at an event – for example, I might talk to a student group to make them aware of the importance of networking from the start of their careers.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Maggie Berry: I have been involved with Women in Technology from the very beginning and I’m fully responsible for it. I’m really proud of what’s been built up over the years and of what we deliver to our members. So what keeps me motivated me is the services we provide and, especially, the networking events that we run for our members. We put a lot of effort into doing everything and making our activities good and it’s all worth it when you get positive emails coming back or calls saying, “This is brilliant, I loved it. It made me think differently about X, Y or Z.” That’s a big driver for me – the impact that we have on the women in our network.

I think my main other motivator is for myself as I want to achieve and I want the business that I run to do well and to be well-received in the market and so I put a lot of effort into that and that keeps me going.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Maggie Berry: I’m fromScotland and went to university inEngland quite far away from home and if I could talk to my 17 year old self, I’d encourage her to study inScotland and build a life closer to my family. That’s one of the things I wish was different as I’m not as geographically close as I’d like to be them. I’m close to my family and I’m obviously in touch with them regularly but I wish I were closer to home. However, you don’t think the same about things at 17 as you would tweny years later!

And if I was looking at Women in Technology, I wish we’d employed people sooner. I did a lot of the ground work on my own and we’ve only really expanded the team in the last couple of years. For five years it was just myself and one other and I think we could have achieved so much more if we had invested in some extra staff a bit earlier.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Maggie Berry: One of the things that has become a bit more apparent to me in the last year or so is the importance of having a personal business network – a personal network of people who you can call upon. I’ve always had a big network of people but I didn’t ever reach out to them for help. I’d always try to solve problems on my own but when I have reached out when I really needed advice, the people in my network were willing to come forward and help to provide me with some brilliant advice. It is a two way street, I help people and they are happy to try and help me back in return.

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Maggie Berry:

Part of our revenue is from helping companies to hire more technical women and in the downturn, that we’re going through at the moment, lots of firms are making redundancies, they’re not hiring. So we’re looking at different ways to work with those firms and support them in their gender diversity journey, even if that doesn’t involve jobs and recruitment.
I see other networks running women in IT ‘stuff’ and what I really like to do is to reach out and collaborate with them instead of there being lots of stand alone groups hosting smaller activities. I think it’s better if we all work together towards the same kind of goals because there isn’t lots of money in the space. We all want the same thing, which is seeing more women achieving and working together and collaborating is the way forward. Some groups are interested in that, and that’s great as working together is very important for me.
And as we look at how we grow and further develop the business grows, it’s important to make sure that we invest in having a bigger team giving us a further reach. We’re quite a small team which has delivered an awful lot without masses of resources and I know that people would like us to do more things, such as hosting more events in different cities. So we need to keep an eye on the team and make sure we’re working smart to make the most of all of our capabilities.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Maggie Berry: I think in theUK market our online job board, which is used by companies who would like to attract more job applications from women working in IT, is unique. Certainly there are lots of organizations out there running many styles of networking events but we specifically work with firms to help them raise their profile as an employer of choice. We’re looking at providing our network with the additional skills they need to be a well rounded technology professional who is going to achieve success in their career, whatever that success looks like for them. There are lots of fabulous networks out there for women but I think, if you are a technical woman in theUK, our network has a lot to offer you.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Maggie Berry: I have been running Women in Technology since early 2005 and, before that, I wasn’t really in any roles that gave me any particular business challenges. The ongoing challenge for Women in Technology is that companies are interested in our services but they don’t necessarily always have the budget to invest the resources that are required. We are asked to do things for free and that’s quite difficult as we’ve invested a lot to put all our services together. I think in theUS firms are more accustomed to paying for diversity related activities and that needs to become more acceptable in theUK.

I know that the firms which engage with us get a lot of value from it but we also have a number of firms who just want to work with us for a short time and although we’re happy to work with them, it’s hard because gender diversity is big picture stuff and there needs to be a long term plan. It’s not something that can be sorted out in a few months. So we’ve learned to manage expectations and push back when firms make unrealistic demands about what we can deliver and how quickly they will see a change.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Maggie Berry: In terms of Women in Technology, the organization I worked for at the time is aLondon financial services recruitment firm called McGregor Boyall Associates and they always had a strong focus on diversity. Back in 2004 they undertook a piece of diversity research about IT recruitment in the City and one of the aspects that came out was the lack of women working in technology roles. My boss, Laurie Boyall, had bought the URL womenintechnology.co.uk and he gave me the project of building a website around it.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Maggie Berry: We’ve not had any major failures with Women in Technology but you take knocks all the way through in running a business. You then have to look at each incident, ideally later after the heat of the moment is passed, and think, “How could I do that better next time?” Also over the years, as you deal with different clients, host networking events and things like that, we constantly ask for feedback and so much of what we’ve done, and how we’ve developed the business, has been done by acting upon the feedback we’ve received. That has helped us to keep on a positive path because we’ve done things that have been asked for and we constantly try to improve upon what we’re doing.

It could be something really simple. For example, someone once said to me that you need to have nibbles available at the beginning of an evening event because people are hungry after work and after sitting down for an hour-and-a-half, they’re going to leave straightaway and not stay to network as they have to go to find something to eat. Or another piece of feedback somebody shared with us is that where a venue is flat, the speakers need to be on chairs that are higher than the audience’s otherwise they’re not visible from the back of the room. So sometimes it’s just a simple logistical thing that you can easily change and even more complex changes are quite manageable if you give yourself enough time.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Maggie Berry: After I graduated, I went back toScotland and worked at home for a few years. I lived in quite a small town and I knew it wasn’t going to give me the breadth of career and life experience that I wanted. The only other place where I had friends was London so I made the decision to move here in 2000.

I was torn because I liked being close to family so it was quite hard to make that move but it’s been such a positive experience and now, when I consider it I love London but I still wish I was closer to home in Scotland.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Maggie Berry:

The choice of where I went to university had an effect on my life as it meant that my friends were not from close to home. I went to a university that was in the south and as such a lot of my friends were fromLondonor the south east and so that’s where I gravitated to.
Taking the opportunity to work on Women in Technology when that project cropped up. At the time we had absolutely no idea what was going to happen and I know we would have been fairly gobsmacked if we could have glimpsed a few years into the future and seen what it had become as it wasn’t what we were setting out to do.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Maggie Berry: I have to say Women in Technology as I live and breathe it and I’m really proud of what it has developed into. I love the network and the positive impact we’ve had on people’s lives and that we can help women find jobs and share networking opportunities. It’s a small business, but I’ve been involved in all aspects of it and I’m proud of that.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Maggie Berry: I’ve had a couple of different mentors over the last few years but I’ve never been involved in a formal mentoring scheme. My mentors are people who I’ve met through work and who I’ve thought are really great. I’ve been in a very fortunate position that they have been happy to share some of their expertise with me. I have a couple of mentors who are very senior women in business who I have met through my networking and they are always happy to offer advice, whether it’s something really practical, advice that I need about the team at work or general advice about life, happiness, marriage, all sorts of things. It’s really important to have mentors to help you in life and you don’t have to have just one, of them to only be women – it’s great to be able to call upon the expertise of many different people.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Maggie Berry: I would break that down into two areas – one is hands-on practical business advice about breaking down business problems – what is it, how can you move forward – it’s tangible business knowledge they can share with me that can help me with the situation that I am in. The other area is about self-confidence and self-belief and to have somebody who is able to give you really relevant advice from a dispassionate perspective.

Maggie Berry: Network and get involved! I’d say that to everybody. It’s one of the reasons I go out and talk to student groups to explain to them that networking isn’t just for senior people. It’s something they need to from the start of their career. You need a network of people around you so in good and bad times you have people to call on. For me, it’s the most powerful thing I’ve done and I can’t recommend it enough. It takes time though and you’ve got to find the networks and the groups and the activities that work for you, whether it’s geographical or it’s within an industry, or a women’s network. Get out there and you’ll get to meet people you wouldn’t come across in your day-to-day work and that’s just so important.

2011 Interviews for Mentoring (theinvisiblementor.com)
The Chief Mentoring Officer Interviews Annemie Ress, Senior HRD eBay & Global Engagement Lead at eBay (theinvisiblementor.com)
The Chief Mentoring Officer Interviews Annemie Ress, Senior HRD eBay & Global Engagement Lead at eBay, Part Two (theinvisiblementor.com)

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Create Your Board of Mentors – January is National Mentoring Month

Avil Beckford — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:34:06 +0000

For National Mentoring Month, consider creating your Personal Board of Mentors. Having one mentor is seldom ever enough these days, because no one person can assist you with all your mentoring needs. It is your responsibility to ensure that all your needs are taken care of. Your Personal Board of Mentors is similar to an organization’s Board of Directors, except in this instance, you are the organization. You don’t have to meet with all the members on your Board of Mentors like an organization’s board would, but you do have to be in contact with them.

Before you choose the members of your personal board, you have to first assess your needs based on where you’d like to end up in life. Whatever you do should be a part of your life plan and subsequently take you closer to achieving your big goals.

Mentoring Needs Assessment

What are your vision, mission and purpose in life?
In the next three years, where would you like to be in your personal and professional life? Are you committed to achieving your personal and professional goals listed above?
Think about your professional goals, what gaps exist between where you are now, to where you would like to be in the next three years?
What actions do you have to take to fill those gaps?
Who are the experts that you can learn from, and what are their areas of expertise?
Of the experts that you identified, which ones do you respect and are respected by others?
Why do you need a mentor? What can a mentor help you with?
If trusted friends could introduce you to five people who would be ideal mentors for you, who would you choose?
Would your ideal mentors be similar to the experts you identified above?
Could your ideal mentors assist you with achieving your identified goals, and close the gap you identified above.

After you have answered the questions above, you are in a better position to find the appropriate persons to assist you in filling those gaps. There are also specific types of people who you should have on your Personal Board of Mentors.

Connector: A well-respected person in the community who has influence, authority and access to an extensive network of people.
Industry Expert: Someone who has already traveled the path that you are now on, and is willing to share her experiences, both good and bad with you.
The Listener: Someone who you can call when you are having a down day, who will allow you to rant for a while, to get things off your “chest,” so that you can focus on your next steps.
Tough Lover: An objective person who is willing to tell you like it is, holding you accountable to keep your promises and remain on track to achieve your goals.
Sponsor: A senior level person in your organization who will open doors for you. But the catch is that you have to make yourself memorable so that he will choose you. Typically you choose your mentors, but sponsors choose you. An example of how to make yourself memorable is to take on difficult projects that others do not want, then do them successfully.
And one other person who will also help you to achieve your goals based on the needs you identified above.

All the people on your Board should care about your success, and be willing to accept a quick call from you. Be very honest and clear with the members of your Board, let them know exactly what you require from them, and make it very easy for them to help you. Mentoring is about give and take, so find ways to give back to your mentors, and always let them know how much you appreciate what they are doing for you.

When you have decided who you would like to be on your Board, ask them if they would be willing to mentor you, and explain what’s required. It goes without saying that you should take some time to get to know them first before asking for a favour. And it is even better if there is someone who could provide an introduction. With social media, this is a lot easier to do today than it was five short years ago.

Related Posts

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Interview With Invisible Mentor Stefan Meister, Director, intercultures

Avil Beckford — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 15:23:40 +0000

Interviewee Name: Stefan Meister, Director,

Company Name: intercultures

Website: http://www.intercultures.de/

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Stefan Meister: I’m an artistically inclined, sensitive person who operates in the field of training, coaching, consulting in the intercultural field. I’ve discovered my entrepreneurial spirit, and my competitive edge.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Stefan Meister: It is very diverse and completely depends on the objectives of the day. I have over 200 travel days each year, but at the same time, I work with a global team of about 100 experts, so there is usually some sort of consulting and training with the clients combined with a lot of virtual communication while I’m traveling. We also have a team at the back office that I need to develop.

I also have a private life so I communicate a lot privately as well. I write at least a poem a day and try to squeeze in some sporting activity.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Stefan Meister: I only do what I believe in, and at a certain age you reach that stage. I also only do what I can support ethically. That really motivates me. I’m also motivated by building an organization that people really belong to and that’s very important for me.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Stefan Meister: I would marry earlier. I would have gotten into business earlier. I founded my company rather late, maybe 10 years ago. I would be more radical in my decision-making. I was also a heavy smoker until 12 years ago, so I would definitely have given up smoking earlier.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Stefan Meister: In the business field it would be that I co-developed a product. I was always a service provider, a trainer, consultant, and coach, so nothing materialized and we have developed two assessment tools in the last couple of years, which went online last year and to me, that was an absolutely wonderful feeling that I could co-develop world-class products. It was wonderful!

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Stefan Meister:

The biggest challenge is myself. I need to find the right balance between work and play so I don’t burn out. Luckily I haven’t done that yet – sometimes I’m on the edge with what I do.
General dependency on the world economy – we depend on that as consultants.
There is fierce competition in our field, which customers don’t always distinguish degrees of quality. I find that a big challenge that quality isn’t easily distinguished.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Stefan Meister: We have the best crew of consultants in the field together, at least on the European level. We have a very deep commitment to quality in our processes, and this is something that consultants as well as customers feedback to us. We have a very holistic approach which means that we do not only look at training because if you look at training that’s what you try and do, but most of the trainers and consultants also have coaching skills and can switch between the interventions that are necessary for the clients. A deep employment of diversity as a guiding principle – I know for the US, that’s something that comes naturally – but for Europe, not necessarily in Berlin. In the office here we have five nationalities and we profit from that, and obviously diversity is not only national or ethnic diversity. We are able to develop and offer unique products.

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Stefan Meister: In business, everything is relative, luckily I have not lost a company yet. The biggest challenge for me was the death of my father when I was 11. What I learned from that is that you can, at least partially, change yourself if the context is challenging you. I found that moment of being responsible as the only man in the household. I was a rather shy human being, and that really changed my life.

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Stefan Meister: When I read the questions, I had to smile because they are very much American questions, if I may say so. I couldn’t say that there was one big break. I think any person that wants to operate with me or us on a deep level, that for me is a big break – that trust that’s being placed through love or wanting to collaborate and work together and share – that’s the biggest break that I can have.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Stefan Meister: For me, failure is a very American concept. Maybe it’s interesting for you that I give you this feedback, because failure to me means that there is success and there is failure. I don’t necessarily think in these categories, but I’m trying to juggle my way into the question. Probably one of my biggest failures was not to integrate very well on my first day in the US. When I was 16 or 17, I was in the corn deserts of Pennsylvania as a high school student. My neighbours were Amish. I lived in the US for three-and-a-half years but the first year as an exchange student was very tough for me, but what it did was planted in me the urge to explore intercultural dynamics at a deeper level, and it gave my life one of its major directions. It contributed to my life and the frustration that I had, was later channelled, and brought me into the intercultural field.

If I would have a first year outside of Germany, which was pure joy, I would not have pursued the issue as much as I did later on.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Stefan Meister: More than once I have had to separate from close professional allies due to professional reasons and identity challenges. That to me is always a big challenge because I’m a little bit unprofessional in that I grow attached to people who I work with, then it is often hard to separate, and that’s usually a tough decision. The person that I like or even love I need to let that person go.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Stefan Meister: Any sort of intercultural encounter shapes my life. I have lived 10 years outside my native Germany, and there have been many events that have helped to shape my life distinctly so I cannot distinguish that. And of course we return to the question of love, and any love, have hopefully changed my life. And the death of my father shaped my life.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Stefan Meister: I have always managed to remain authentic, and I always remain caring even if it’s a challenging global business environment, I’m always a caring person and I would always prefer relationships over money.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Stefan Meister: There have been several mentors whether they knew it or not, and they have helped me to grow and advance in various ways.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Stefan Meister: One core message that I picked up from Robert Dilts is that the map is not the territory.

Stefan Meister: The simplest advice is to always be true to yourself and to others.

Further Reading

The Invisible Mentor Interviews Sunniva Heggertveit Aoudia
The Invisible Mentor Interviews Sunniva Heggertveit Aoudia Part Two

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Booked for Mentoring: Review of The Flinch by Julien Smith

Avil Beckford — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:30:14 +0000

The Flinch is a great book for mentoring because it teaches us to step outside our comfort zone, and it assures us that we are not our mistakes. Because we have failed before, doesn’t mean we will not succeed. Failure is feedback, inventor Thomas Edison said, “If I find 10,000 ways something won’t work, I haven’t failed. I am not discouraged, because every wrong attempt discarded is another step forward.”

The Flinch by Julien Smith is one of the books in Seth Godin’s Domino Project, and is distributed for free to spread the message. I read it on my computer (I have the Kindle apps) and it takes under an hour to read. Smith includes homework assignments for the reader to do.

According to Smith, “This is a book about being a champion, and what it takes to get there. It’s about decisions, and how to know when you’re making the right ones. It’s about you: the current, present you; the potential, future you; and the one, single difference between them. It’s about an instinct – the flinch – and why mastering it is vital.”

The content of the book isn’t new, but it is presented in a different way, and it is easy to consume. This shouldn’t prevent you from reading The Flinch, because we often have to hear a message about nine times before it sticks. As I was reading the book, I was reminded of Martin Luther King’s quote, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase,” and Susan Jeffers’ awesome book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

There are many times in our life, when we flinch, and do not do the things that we know will make a major difference for us, and to make ourselves feel better, we work hard at justifying our actions, yet we wonder why we never have major breakthroughs in life. The Flinch is not about feeling no fear, it is about having the courage to move forward despite the fear. We avoid the perceived pain and flinch, instead of dealing with it.

I have heard that 92 percent of the times, what we worry about never occurs, yet we waste time worrying and not take action because of what we think may happen. But the funny thing is that most of the time what we worry about never occurs, and if it does, it seldom is as bad as we imagined. The author encourages us to take back our life, to take control and stop flinching.

If we stop flinching and just do the work, our future self will thank us. When you see children playing in a park, they are fearless, and when they fall down, they get up, dust themselves off and continue like nothing happened. The Flinch is about going back to that time, when we brushed ourselves off when we got knocked down. The formula for success in life is really about trial and error, experimenting until we find what works, and it helps us to understand the environment that we exist in.

In The Flinch, Julien Smith says, “…The lessons you learn best are the ones you get burned by. Without the scar, there is no evidence or strong memory…Firsthand knowledge, however, is visceral, painful, and necessary. It uses the conscious and the unconscious to process the lesson, and it uses all your senses. You fall down, your whole motor system is involved…”

A research report by The William Glasser Institute about how we learn backs up what Smith says, we learn:

10 percent of what we Read
20 percent of what we Hear
30 percent of what we See
50 percent of what we See and Hear
70 percent of what we Discuss with Others
80 percent of what we Experience Personally
95 percent of what we Teach to Others

If you experience something, you are 80 percent likely to learn from it. Nothing beats trying and testing your limits besides teaching what your learned from the experience to another person. You constantly have to test yourself to see how far you can go.

Smith recommends that you do the opposite of your habits to build your tolerance to the flinch, and the power it holds over you. In a Seinfeld episode, George Louis Costanza discovered that when he did the opposite of what he usually did, he had great success. We are socialized to respond a certain way, which is seldom the way to blaze a new trail.

The Flinch by Julien Smith is a great reminder of how important it is to stretch ourselves beyond our comfort zone. And the best part is he demonstrates how to do so in the book. Give The Flinch a read, all it will cost is an hour of your time. Even though the content isn’t new, we need a reminder. Download The Flinch today.

Book link is affiliate link.

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Mentor Yourself With Invisible Mentor Jeanne-Marie Robillard, Senior Account Executive, National Speakers Bureau

Avil Beckford — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:30:27 +0000

Wisdom of Life: “Pick the right people to surround yourself with, it will set the bar, encourage and support you. However, if you choose the wrong people, they will bring you down a different path,” Invisible Mentor, Jeanne-Marie Robillard tells her 12-year old son.

Interviews for Mentoring: Key Lessons from Jeanne-Marie Robillard

Be grateful for what you have in life and count your blessings.
Prepare for your day the night before, to help to decrease stress the following day.
Network, network, then network some more, and never let little things such as shyness or “introvertedness” stop you. (Note to self)
Allow people to get to know the real you.
People rarely remember what you said to them, but they remember how you made them feel.
Give a new job sufficient time – at least two years – before you decide if the fit is right

Invisible Mentor: Jeanne-Marie Robillard, Senior Account Executive

Company Name: National Speakers Bureau/Global Speakers Agency

Website: http://www.nsb.com

Avil Beckford: Tell me a little bit about yourself.

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I am currently a senior account executive, which is an agent to public personalities and celebrities for their speaking engagements. I’ve been doing that for 11 years. Prior to that, I was an agent to the performing arts community – groups like the National Ballet of Canada, Canadian Opera Company, to helping place them into seated environments for audiences to enjoy.

Avil Beckford: What’s a typical day like for you?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: It would be to make a lot of calls, touch base with clients, follow-up on proposals, keep speakers abreast of developments, and continue our marketing initiatives for the people who we are representing.

Avil Beckford: How do you motivate yourself and stay motivated?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I’m pretty lucky because I work with speakers who are inspirational and motivational so I’m surrounded by positive thinkers all day, every day. I’m very blessed.

Avil Beckford: If you had to start over from scratch, knowing what you know now, what would you do differently?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I would come back to being blessed. I have no regrets with my career path. I started first in the Arts working through the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council, and Art Gallery of Ontario. I did some consulting for the museums, all of that was very important, though I always struggled financially. I would say having gotten into sales, I call it the meritocracy – the more you work, the more integrity you bring to your work, the better compensated you are. Maybe I would have done that a little earlier getting into the private sector.

Avil Beckford: What’s the most important business or other discovery you’ve made in the past year?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I would say that I have gained more confidence in my own public speaking. It’s funny that I represent speakers and performers and I have been nervous for so many years to get up and introduce them, and tell audiences about them. I would read from a script and now I have more confidence in just going for it. It goes much better. If I had changed that sooner, I wouldn’t have been as nervous.

Avil Beckford: What are the three threats to your business, your success, and how are you handling them?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard:

Since I work mostly with the corporate sector placing speakers for public appearances, endorsements and sponsorships, the crash of 08/09 was a hard one that we are still recovering from. Many cutbacks occurred, lived through a time of austerity. Canada wasn’t affected the same way, but it reacted the same way as the US. We’re still seeing ourselves climb out of that. Our clients saw speakers as perhaps a luxury, and having not booked them for a year or two realized that speakers were an absolute necessity. Professional speakers bring all kinds of wonderful energy, insight and a fresh perspective to organizations, so now we’re seeing the recovery. That would be the biggest threat.
Another threat within the industry I work in is that there are many new agencies – individuals who are branching off and doing this from their homes, or from smaller offices, so there is more competition out there.
The third threat is the Internet of course which continues to be a competitor because people feel that they can contact the speakers directly, and they can, though it means being directed back and it makes the process so much longer and more complicated.

It’s all fixable but it changes the landscape a little bit.

Avil Beckford: What’s unique about the service that you provide?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I like to say I do not sell a product, but I sell an experience. People won’t remember exactly what you say, but they will remember how they feel. I’m pretty lucky, and I would say that what I love most about what I do is I get to brag about people all day long. Can’t ask for better than that!

Avil Beckford: Describe a major business or other challenge you had and how you resolved it. What kind of lessons did you learn in the process?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: The most recent was going through a separation and divorce, almost six years ago. Though I was very hurt, it was not my choice, but four months later I realized I had gone through a process where forgiveness rose to the top. Though that may sound corny to some, it honestly changed my life when I realized I had forgiven. My ex and I are best of friends – we were as of that year – and we have a son and we parent together, he lives nearby, we email constantly, and speak every other day. My health improved during that time. My health stopped breaking down, my job got better, and I’m not kidding, it happened that quickly. Forgiveness is powerful!

Avil Beckford: Tell me about your big break and who gave you.

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I’ve had a lot of opportunities. I can’t tell you that there is a single big break, but I would say that every time someone offers you an opportunity it’s so important to talk that through. It doesn’t mean to seize it immediately and jump all over it, but it does mean to talk it through. Find out what it’s about, investigate, explore it and see if it lands where you need it to land. Every single job opportunity, and I have loved every one of my jobs, has been through a break. I have been so lucky. I have had six different positions in the course of a 30-year career.

Avil Beckford: Describe one of your biggest failures. What lessons did you learn, and how did it contribute to a greater success?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: It was when I was a professional failure. We all have our personal failures on a day-to-day basis. However, on a professional level, when I did consulting for museums with one other person, the woman who owned the company, she recruited me from the Ontario Arts Council. It was an exciting opportunity, but I realized that I worked better as part of a team. She was traveling so much to Europe mostly, and I was keeping the Toronto office intact alone. I think I failed on many levels – failed myself, failed her and my clients in that I need the energy of others to stay inspired and motivated. So working in a team is what I learned out of that. I need that.

Avil Beckford: What’s one of the toughest decisions you’ve had to make and how did it impact your life?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I was adopted as an infant into a fabulous family, another blessing in my life. I was only 10 days old so I was very little. I always knew I was adopted, and when I finished university I decided to meet my biological mother. It was a big decision and it impacted my life in every positive way possible. I learned all kinds of lessons and I was able to add a whole new arm to a family of friends. I’m very lucky and I would say that was a tough decision.

Avil Beckford: What are three events that helped to shape your life?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard:

What I just talked about, landing in the family I landed in to parents who think they couldn’t have children adopted me and two years later adopted my sister. She was equally tiny when we adopted her. And mom and dad we already pregnant with my brother, they had nine months between the two of them. They had three children under the age of three. I have the most wonderful family. It has provided me with opportunities on every level, socio-economic, unconditional love and support, and encouragement. I won the lottery early in life.
Having certain people around you. I tell my son who is 12 to pick the right people to surround yourself with, it will set the bar for you and encourage you and support you. However, if you choose the wrong people they will bring you down a different path, and it’s just so true.
I would also say that one of the largest events that shaped my life was first year of university when I had a summer job as a tour guide on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. I met Pierre Elliot Trudeau. I walked across the room at a party, he was standing alone, he was the Prime Minister of Canada at the time. I walked across and introduced myself, and as a result, we had a friendship where we skied, had dinner and he invited me as a guest to parties at 24 Sussex Drive. It was a friendship that was quite exciting for about a year-and-a-half until it went in the media that I was a girlfriend which was not the case. But we never spoke after that. That experience shaped my life to learn to move through your fear to something that attracts you. Trust your gut. When you feel like there is an opportunity in front of you, take it. The worst that could happen is often not that really bad. What would have been the worst? that he didn’t say too much, “nice to meet you, see ya.”
I also think that having my son has shaped my life in a very positive way. I learned how to increase my empathy level and responsibility.

Avil Beckford: What’s an accomplishment that you are proudest of?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: It’s an ongoing accomplishment and it’s that of helping people. I really enjoy helping people further their careers and/or their personal lives in some ways when they are struggling, and it’s usually through helping people make connections with other people who know exactly what to do. I’m a very good connector, that’s what I do in my work as well. I do it for friends who are looking for love in their lives, I’m a good matchmaker. And I do it for those trying to improve their lives and meet professionals who can help them.

Avil Beckford: How did mentors influence your life?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: They taught me to stick to certain standards, to set certain standards, certain expectations of yourself so others know what you are about. There is a confidence for others in that. Mentors are also important in a continued, consistent kind of environment, so I was very fortunate to have those kinds of people as well. They are people who are dependable and there, present and engaged. So I have learned to do that in reverse for those who I have mentored.

Avil Beckford: What’s one core message you received from your mentors?

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I would say to have integrity. Integrity is key to every part of your life. Do it with intent, do it with meaning and do it with purpose. I would say that’s how I live my life as best as I can.

Jeanne-Marie Robillard: I would say it’s what I just said before, be true, do everything with intent, meaning and integrity and it will fall in the right places.

The Chief Mentoring Officer Interviews Annemie Ress, Senior HRD eBay & Global Engagement Lead at eBay (theinvisiblementor.com)
The Chief Mentoring Officer Interviews Annemie Ress, Senior HRD eBay & Global Engagement Lead at eBay, Part Two (theinvisiblementor.com)

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Using Recruitment Services to Find a Job

Avil Beckford — Tue, 27 Dec 2011 10:30:17 +0000

This is a guest post by Mao Risby, an employment specialist for local colleges.

The job market is rough and many people are turning to career recruitment services in hopes of landing a position. Recruitment agencies can help job seekers find temp, temp-to-hire and direct hire positions.

Finding a new job or switching careers can become stressful for many people and using career recruitment services is a great way to get rid of the stress of the job hunt. Recruiting companies offer a variety of services to help clients find workers and job seekers get jobs.

Here are some important tips to know when working with agencies for career recruitment services.

Build a Strong Resume

Like with any recruitment services website, a strong resume is going to put you at the top of the growing pile of resumes recruiting agencies receive. Recruiters see hundreds of resumes a day so make sure you list all your jobs, duties and skills.

Your résumé should include recent job positions that relates to the job you’re applying for. For instance, if you’re looking to switch careers to marketing then your résumé should include previous jobs that show you can handle a marketing position.

Prepare Additional Information

Depending on the job you’re applying for you might need to include writing, marketing or design samples. Make sure you have something ready so your recruiter can send it over right away with your résumé. Not having samples could cause a short delay in being presented for the position. With the tight competition out there, that’s not something you’ll want happening.

Search the Database Every Morning

While part of the recruitment services include contacting you about possible positions, it’s always good to check the job database each morning. If a position catches your eye, simply hit the apply button. You only need to send your résumé once and it’ll get stored on the website. If the recruiter feels you’re a great fit, he or she will contact you to speak about the position before presenting you to the client.

Stay in Contact

One of the biggest mistakes a job seeker can make is not staying in contact with recruiters. They’re busy and won’t always have time to contact you back. It’s recommended to follow-up with the account executive via e-mail or over the phone to get updates about the position.

Prepare for an Interview

Before meeting with the client you’ll meet with an agent at the recruitment agency. They will ask you to fill out paper work and go over your résumé and the position. Treat this like an actual interview. Show up early, dress professionally and answer their questions like you would on a regular interview. You want to make a great impression on them because they’ll push you more to the client.

During this interview ask any question you would be nervous about asking on the interview. This includes dress code, salary, insurance and time off. They will gladly go over all of this with you so you won’t have to awkwardly ask the client in the event you’re invited in for an interview.

About the Author: Mao Risby is an employment specialist for local colleges. Using recruitment services can definitely ease the burden when it comes to searchign for a new job or career, especially in a touch economy where businesses don’t do as much public advertisement of open positions.

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