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Food For Thought

June 24, 2010 by 4 Comments

Have you ever heard of a business allowing a competitor to come into their physical plant and run their business out of the same physical plant?  Well that is exactly what Mr. Lawrence Hackney owner of the Wood Pit BBQ restaurant did.  A fellow competitor, James Turner, who owned a restaurant and catering business in Newark, New Jersey, saw his business go up in smoke as a result of a fire which started next door to his restaurant.   Mr. Turner had clients like Prudential that he had contacted to serve and no place to do business.

Mr. Tuner first found refuge in a church kitchen in Newark, but it did not have a smoker and his specialty is smoked BBQ.  In stepped a retired municipal court judge, Ernest R. Booker who frequented both BBQ restaurants.  Mr. Booker informed Mr. Hackney of the fire that Mr. Turner had experienced and wondered if he would consider helping Mr. Turner out.  Mr. Hackney reached out to Mr. Turner and said “Listen, I have a barbecue pit and two smokers. You’re welcome to smoke your meats.”  This began an unlikely pairing of two competitors working together in harmony for the better good.  You can read more  about this story at New Jersey.com

Why share this story?  To illustrate a point that we all know about but rarely see in the business world today, genuine care and concern for one another even if that person is a competitor.  As leaders in the organizations and companies which we have responsibility for leading this would be considered counter intuitive, but I would like to challenge you to look at this from a different prospective.  Not the prospective of destroying your competitor but rather partnering and growing with your competitor.

Partnering with a competitor in today’s economy will not only help save jobs and reduce unemployment but it also says something about you as an individual and the mission of your company.  Having more competition in the market place makes our economy stronger and will ultimately result in a wider variety of products going to market.  I believe that we have to stop thinking about limitations as leaders of companies and organizations but rather look at the possibilities of alternatives never attempted before.

Following the example of The Wood Pit owner, Mr. Lawrence Hackney, we all would benefit if businesses looked for opportunities to partner with businesses which may suffer the loss of closing down permanently.  The fact that this is not usually done, but it feels right to do is the reason that we should.  This is why my mastermind group decided to meet at The Wood Pit BBQ Restaurant.   We learned about the story from one of our members Pat Ferdinandi and thought that this would be an excellent place for us to meet.  You see in our master mind group we are all speakers so you might think that we are in competition.  This could not be further from the truth.  We share information with each other in an effort to make us better in our own speaking businesses.

This may sound counter intuitive, but it really is not.  We believe there are a number of clients who can benefit from our individual services and topics.  We improve individually by providing the best information in our own unique styles to our clients.  So we are not really in competition, because we are all individuals with our own unique way of presenting.    The advantage of sharing information allows us to reduce our learning curve through our own unique experiences that we openly share with each other.  This is the same thing that Mr. Hackney did with Mr. Turner.

I would like to leave you with this food for thought.  What kind of city state or country would we have if every business realized that they would benefit from a collaborative working relationship with potentially faltering competitors?  Just take a moment to think about this question.  If you live anywhere near Montclair, NJ I would urge you to visit The Wood Pit BBQ Restaurant.   It is worth the trip, some of the best BBQ I have ever had, and the sauce is out of this world.  Besides, a leader who willingly would help competitor in the same line of business is running a business that we all should support.

Filed Under: Business, Leadership, Relationship, Speaking, Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

Do Not Overlook The Details

June 21, 2010 by 4 Comments

We all have heard that we need to dress for success and I would like to clarify this statement.  Dressing for success might mean different things to different people.  Some people think of dressing for success as wearing a suit with a white shirt and tie if you are a man or a suit jacket and skirt if you are a woman.  This is true but we need to look a little deeper and pay attention to the details.

Shoes – What type of shoes are you wearing?  Depending on the culture of the organization that you are planning to do business with or going on a job interview will determine the type of shoe you wear.  This is especially true for women.  You do not want to wear too high of a heel especially if the office standard dress is conservative.  Men should make sure that their shoes are polished and absent of any marks or blemishes.  You may consider carrying a disposable neutral color shoe shine packet in your pocket just in case your shoes get scared in your travels.

Cleaners – Prepare yourself for the meeting in advance by placing your suit for this meeting in the cleaners.  Ideally you want to wear the outfit that was newly cleaned.  This will ensure that it is pressed and will present you in the best possible light.

Eat in Your Undies – Now I know this might sound strange but I recommend that you eat breakfast before you get dressed for the meeting.  This will prevent you from spilling something on the outfit you are going to wear.  It would be bad if you spilled something on your outfit for the day and had to wipe it off.  But worse than that, you might spill something and not be aware of it.  Eating and doing your morning preparations, brushing your teeth and the like should be done prior to dressing in the outfit that you plan to wear for the day.

Paying attention to these details will help you dress to make a good first impression.   Please feel free to share tips and strategies that you use when dressing for an important business meeting.

Filed Under: Business, First Impression Tagged With: , , , ,

Building Your Irresistible Brand

June 11, 2010 by 5 Comments

Do you have a dream or idea about your business?  Have you thought of developing products and services for people you know can benefit from them? But you have not been successful because you have not determined your brand identity.  This is a problem that a number of us face when we are starting a new business.  The best thing to do is to get someone to help you.  You need someone who can provide you the strategy you need to be successful.  You need someone with a proven track record and results that you can measure.

That person is my friend Lethia Owens.  Lethia is a certified personal branding and social media marketing strategist with a track record of measurable proven results. She knows there are a number of people across the country that could benefit from the information she has to share so she decided to meet the people where they are.  Lethia has embarked on a 7 City Tour that extends from one end of the country to the other.   Check out her TV news interview below.

I met Lethia about 5 years ago at the National Speakers Association Annual Conference in Orlando, Fl and she is a dynamic international speaker.   When she was in the process of putting this tour together she asked if I would be a co-manager of her affiliate program for the tour.  I accepted and would like to invite you to become an affiliate too. 

If you are not familiar with the affiliate process it is a great way to help others and make money too.  With that said I must reveal that I will make money as an affiliate if you purchase from the links in this post.  But if you become an affiliate you can make money too.  You will get all of the details from clicking the 7 City Tour Link and scrolling to the bottom of the page and click the “Earn and Learn” Affiliate program link.

If you cannot attend one of the tour dates yourself consider sending this information to a friend who can.  Better yet there may be a way for you and your friend to attend the tour at a city near you for the price of one admission.  Check out the city and tour information for details.  You and your business will benefit from the information that Lethia has to share.  If you plan to come to the New York City Tour I look forward to meeting you there.

Filed Under: Branding, Business, Soical Media, Video Tagged With: , , , , ,

Relationship Building the Key to Social Networking

June 7, 2010 by 10 Comments

As humans we are social beings.  This means that we place value to developing meaningful relationships.  This started back in childhood when we played with other children. We wanted to be friends and make friends with others.  We were interested in what the other children liked to do and the common interest we shared.   We were excited about new things that we discovered through others.

The things we did to develop good relationships with others when we were children are the same things that we need to do now with our social networks.  Why, because although there is technology that allows us to connect to one another in our social networks, the people are the same on either end of the technology.  This means that we both are looking to develop meaningful relationships if we are interested in developing a great social network.

To be successful we need to do the same thing in our virtual relationship as we do in our face to face relationship.  These points were mentioned in a recent blog post that I read by Kathryn  Griffiths, (a fellow 30 day challenge blogger) and I would like to bring them to your attention.  Kathryn said we should:





  1. Use our own picture on social networking sites not an avatar
  2. Use audio with your voice when possible
  3. Be transparent  – using an e mail and other means of contact where possible
  4. Be open to connecting off line –  in person or via phone

While I do agree with the first 2, I would like to provide an air of caution on numbers 3 and 4.  We live in a different world then we did when we were growing up.  This means that we need to not give out too much personal information when on social networks.  Using a P.O. Box is a way to provide an address without revealing your own.  This is important especially to avoid identity thief or if you have a business.  Meeting people in person may not always be practical, because of the physical distance between you (living in another state or country) and this too may be unsafe.  I encourage you to use caution and meet in a public place if you choose to meet in person.

There is one more format that I would like to suggest you use to connect with others online and that is video.  Video allows the viewer to connect with you in a way that is stronger than a picture and audio alone.  I recommend that you consider these tips when connecting with others in your social networks and I invite you read the “Virtual Relationship” post by Kathryn.

Filed Under: Relationship, Social Network Tagged With: , , ,

A Talent Based Work Environment

June 5, 2010 by Leave a Comment

Imagine a job where everyone was doing the job that they were best suited to do. A workplace where there was intentional collaborative team development was the norm not the exception. Each team member enjoys their job, has fun doing it and genuinely embraces their talents in their work.

Do you think this sound like the future? Well it could be happening in your organization, business, office or department today. There are a few requirements to achieving this success. The first requirement is to have an open mind. If you are open to the belief that this is truly possible then you have take the first step. Step two, do you have buy in from management. If management is not on board this will not work, they need to be willing to change their mindset about who can perform what tasks. Next step is for everyone to identify and embrace their talents. This can be done through a series of workshops and trainings that will allow attendees to interact and develop a true team environment centered on their individual and collective talents.

If this sounds exciting and you would like to learn more feel free to complete my contact form and let’s have a conversation.

Filed Under: Relationship, Your Talents Tagged With: , ,