The Power of Pinning

May 092012
 

Everyone is talking about Pinterest.  It is huge, but is it for business?  Since last fall it has become the third most popular social network.  But many people haven’t heard of it or don’t get it.  Unless you collect recipes or are planning a wedding, what’s the point?

Well, I think it’s the hottest thing since sliced bread and it’s time for you to get in on the action and learn how to use it for your business. I’ve found it helps indie biz people as well as big brands stop struggling and start achieving a new level of business a success.  It has a higher click through rate than Facebook for purchases.  More importantly, it’s good for:

  1. Marketing.  Joshua Kimball says, “A repin is worth a thousand Tweets.”
  2. Recruiting.   This article talks about using Pinterest to attract quality candidates for your job openings: “Make culture and values evident by pinning images with personality. Looking for a candidate that cares about networking? Pin images of your team at a recent industry trade show. Do you want to attract team players? Consider adding images of a recent team-building event.”
  3. Inspiration.  You can search key words and see what images other Pinners associate with your product, cause, or idea: see adhesive tape, pet food recall, or stress relief.

Melanie Duncan, Founder of Entrepreneuress Academy & Award Winning Pinterest Expert

You see, it’s not just about using Pinterest, it’s about using Pinterest correctly with the right strategies to get big results fast.  I learned how to do it by wasting a lot of time pinning.  Then Melanie Duncan showed me how to save time and use Pinterest to Get Exposure, Traffic & Sales.

She showed me how to use Pinterest to:

  • Gain exposure
  • Drive quality traffic, especially if your target market includes women
  • Surprising strategies to boost SEO
  • Create consistent viral marketing for my brand
  • Post an online catalogue on Pinterest
  • Make money just by pinning!

You can access the same comprehensive training materials to start using Pinterest for your business here —> The Power of Pinning.

Or click here to sign up to talk with Melanie on her next free webinar.

How To Be More Fascinating

 Assessments, PolyD, Public Speaking  No Responses »
Mar 212012
 

When you only have 9 seconds to capture someone’s attention, how do you fascinate them?  Sally Hogshead’s dazzling new assessment tools, system, and this funny Ted Talk help us use our natural archetypes to be more fascinating.  Apparently, we don’t have to learn how to fascinate, we just have to unlearn how to be boring.

If I could only recommend one assessment tool, this would be it.

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Make Better Decisions: Laura Santos on Monkey Business

Feb 092012
 

Wildly Convinced You Are Uncommonly Beautiful

Jan 232012
 

art by Kal Barteski

 

Isn’t it beautiful?

One of my favorite leaders, Karen Waldron, collaborated to design this poster to support her work changing how women and girls perceive themselves. Post a comment on her blog for a chance to win the poster and a copy of her delicious book, The Beauty of Different.

The New CEO: A Chief Emotion Officer?

Jan 192012
 

‘Feeding the Dream’ on MLK Day

Jan 162012
 

For many, Martin Luther King Day is just another day off, but President O’Bama has led the way to make it a day of service and my favorite chef is leading the way one project…  Read more at MarcusSamuelsson.com.

Marcus Samuelson Feeding the Dream

How to Thwart a Midlife Derailment

Jan 122012
 

Stacy L. Fode, partner at Brown Law Group and others share how to take a mult-faceted (or PolyD) approach to successfully manage your career and family challenges when nearing the top .   How to Thwart a Midlife Derailment.

Seeing the Unseen: Innovating Like Steve Jobs

Jan 062012
 


“What made Steve Jobs innovative?” The authors of the new book, The Innovator’s DNA identify “PolyDimensional methods used by top innovators. Unlike real DNA which we are born with, this code is behavioral and although unseen, may be developed by anyone. “…skills include associating, observing, questioning, experimenting and networking.”

Innovators DNA provides discovery tools to access the unseen aspects of innovation. ‘Question Storming’, for example, is a method of asking question about a problem before concentrating on a solution. Another trick, called ‘the five whys’ requires that, when confronted with a problem, you ask ‘why’ five times to discover different causal chains. And to have an innovative company, say the authors, takes an innovative leader. Read more at the Ontario Business Journal.

Power: The Dirty-Little-Word of Leadership

Dec 212011
 

Year-end is when I suggest clients take a few moments to review their personal leadership over the past 12 months. Time-off over the holidays offers most of you quiet moments to reflect on how good a job you did getting people to follow you.  And from those insights you can make insightful choices about how to be even more effective in 2012.

When assessing how you did in 2011, I don’t mean use 360° reviews or your performance review.  Those measures are generally about competency-based leadership.  Competency leadership models work for assessing what you’re doing.  But it does little to help you assess who you’re being.  Exceptional leadership is not about what you do, it’s about who you are.

For me, it’s pretty easy to assess if someone is competent or incompetent. That’s all about managing tasks.  Management does not always require leadership.

Management is about competency–your strengths.

Leadership is when strengths are converted to power.

Yes, there it is, that dirty word most of us want to avoid using when talking about leadership — the word power.

But isn’t that really what it all comes down to, that leaders have power?  The power to get people to follow them, the power to instill trust that their team will perform consistently over time?

Below are the questions I suggest to my clients for their reflection about leadership.  I strongly encourage writing down the answers to the questions as it gets more parts of your brain engaged and can provide a blueprint for your development in 2012.

  1. Follow the Leader.  Why did people follow you this year?  The dimensions of PolyD Leadership can help you focus on specific areas if you get stuck on this question.  Be sure to look at the seen as well as the unseen aspects of power you’ve been given and power you exert.
  2. “What Is It You Do?”  What’s the story you’re telling people you run into at holiday parties or family gatherings when they ask, “How are things at work?”  Did you reflect what you’re accomplishing?  How do you want to refine or clarify who you’re being when you tell people what it is you do at work?  How can your responses reflect more about how you handle disruption and transition (who you are being) and less about the tasks you perform (what you do)?
  3. Strength versus Power.  How willing are you to start using the dirty-little-word of leadership?  What differences do you see between the leadership models of the past and what it’s going to take to lead in the future?  If the competency based model works, where are the dynamic leaders that use it?

Women in Law Firms: Why is Progress So Slow?

Dec 152011
 

New ABA study has data on women not getting credit for work and other issues we should see disappearing, but may not.  Read more Women in Law Firms: Why is Progress So Slow?.

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