Becky Robinson's Blog, page 37

Celebrating Six Years of Weaving Influence

It’s a rather well-known statistic that around 80% of startups fail in the first 18 months, and 50% of fail in their first five years. Thankfully, Weaving Influence has made it past both of those milestones — we’ll hit 6 years on June 1 — and we’re still going strong. What’s made the difference?

Diverse Culture & Strong Values

Weaving Influence has a diverse team with remote workers all across the globe. We have team members everywhere from the local office in Michigan, to California, Wyoming, Texas, North Carolina, Tennessee, and even Jerusalem, Israel! Juggling multiple time zones with a team full of remote workers can be tricky, but we communicate well — and often — with each other and with our clients, and work hard to be clear and concise in both internal and external communications.

We are committed to cultivating an environment where people can do the work they love, create opportunities, and grow in relationships. Our team members are passionate about providing excellence and practicing our core values. We practice responsiveness in communicating both individually and as a company, flexibility in assigning or helping with projects, generosity in lending both time and expertise whenever possible, integrity in doing what we promise (both to clients and to each other), partnership in sharing each other’s struggles and successes, and growth in always looking for ways to improve as individuals and as a company.

Like our founder, Becky Robinson, has written previously: “While metrics matter, it’s the people who motivate me to work toward achieving results so that my company will thrive in the next five years and beyond.”

Unique Value & Proven Expertise

After six years of book launches and digital marketing, we know what we’re doing — and yet, we’re always learning more. Our team is committed to experimenting and developing the best strategies and most up-to-date approaches for a variety of online and offline platforms. We’ve been around a few years: we’ve seen online platforms flourish or die, social trends thrive or diminish, popular strategies succeed or fail. Through it all, we’ve uncovered the timeless marketing principles that effect real, lasting success . . . and we share those ideas freely with clients, blog readers, and other audiences.

Whatever you need to connect your real-world experience with online audiences — as a thought leader, published author, regular blogger, or keynote speaker — we’ve got you covered. We bring fresh creativity and talented experience to the table, whether through our book launch experts, web development team, graphic designers, public relations team, book production services, or social media specialists.

A Variety of Helpful Networks

Weaving Influence has grown from a simple focus on promoting book launches, to a network of online communities that work together to support and provide valuable content for companies, leaders, authors, and professionals interested in growth and networking. Those communities include:

Weaving Influence — our umbrella brand with 116 book launch celebrations, 90+ webinars, dozens of websites, and hundreds of clients served overall
Weaving Influence Lab — an online learning platform for authors at any level, and our new DIY Book Marketing Action Guide
Hometown Reads — featuring over 100 locations, with over 5,000 books and 2,700 authors, and a brand new #ReadLocal shop
Author & Speaker Showcase — featuring over 40 thought leaders involved in inspiring change across the globe
Corporate Champions — our program for corporate readers offering access to business and leadership books for use within their organizations
Team Buzz Builder — our network of over 300 leadership coaches, managers, and bloggers who play an integral part in our book launch strategy
Lead Change Group — our globally-recognized leadership media destination written for and by top leadership and business professionals

As someone who’s been part of the Weaving Influence team for over 5 years, I’m thrilled to see the evolution and growth of our company from a small startup to a thriving network of leadership and marketing communities. It’s been an exciting ride, and I’m eager to see where the road goes next!

How has Weaving Influence touched your life in the past six years?

Conversations Worth Having: How to Fuel Meaningful Engagement

This week we’re excited to launch the #1 New Release in Amazon’s Communication & Social Skills category, a book that will help you learn how to effectively and consistently use your conversations and inquiries to help people, organizations, and communities flourish.

Our conversations lie at the core of how we interact with each other. They can be critical and destructive, or they can be generative and productive. But how can you guarantee you will avoid the first and accomplish the second?

Conversations Worth Having

Conversations are at the heart of everything we do. They are key to effective leadership, high performing teams, and strong relationships. We all know that they influence us, but we rarely stop to think about how much they affect our well-being and our ability to thrive. Our conversations directly influence our present moment and possible futures.

Using real life stories, this book teaches you two simple practices for creating conversations worth having and shares five principles to help everyone communicate better and flourish in all areas of their lives.

The practices and principles originate from the work of David Cooperrider on Appreciative Inquiry, one of the most widely used approaches for fostering positive change in organizations and communities. The two practices — positive framing and asking generative questions — can to turn any conversation into one worth having. Through real-life stories, you will discover how people are using Appreciative Inquiry and these practices at work, in communities, and in their personal lives. You will learn to use appreciative inquiry-based conversations to help you:

Discover the best in people, organizations, and the world
Value all voices and inspire generativity, creativity, and possibilities thinking
Challenge the status quo and open a world of opportunity
Fuel productive and meaningful engagement
Inspire new options for better living
Help everyone communicate better and flourish in all areas of their lives

Meet the Authors

Jackie Stavros is Professor at College of Management, Lawrence Technological University, Appreciative Inquiry Strategic Advisor at Flourishing Leadership Institute, and Associate at Taos Institute. She works across all sectors and in a variety of industries in leadership development, strategic planning, organization development, and change using Appreciative Inquiry and SOAR. She has presented her research and work “in over 25 countries.

Cheri Torres is a Partner at Innovation Partners International, a Senior Consultant at NextMove.is, and an Associate at the Taos Institute. She works with organizations in every sector to support effective leadership and team excellence. She facilitates AI Summits for strategic planning and has trained thousands of trainers and teachers in the use and practice of Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Facilitation.

Jackie and Cheri have been friends, colleagues, and co-authors since 2004, when they were brought together by a passion for the positive effect Appreciative Inquiry was having on their lives and their clients. They co-authored their first book, Dynamic Relationships: Unleashing the Power of Appreciative Inquiry in Daily Living, in 2005; and have since delivered workshops, keynote addresses, and webinars to thousands of people around the world.

Praise from Readers Like You

“This book is a gem. I’m already using it to transform the conversations I have with clients, my family and myself. It provides an accessible framework and informative examples. Whether or not you’re familiar with Appreciative Inquiry, you’ll come away with tools that you can use immediately, as well as inspiration for habits that will support conversations worth having.”

— Nancy Davis, 5-star Amazon review

“The book has a ton of practical components that allow you to better understand the concepts and put them to work right away. When I read books like this, for me, having practical tips and resources as well as examples helps me to internalize the concepts. I love being able to see right away how I can use the information, and this book definitely allowed me to do just that!”

— Dad of Divas, 5-star Amazon review

“This book is for everyone, from the manager striving to lead a team more effectively, to the parent who is trying to cultivate better conversations with their children. With real-life, practical examples, Stavros and Torres help illustrate the simple, yet powerful truth of how appreciation combined with inquiry can enhance relationships and lead to better performance in organizations.”

— Lindsey Godwin, 5-star Amazon review

“This book is so well organized and is loaded with a nice blend of motivation/inspiration to ask more powerful questions AND the practical tools to make it happen. If you get through the first chapter or two and aren’t a better leader and human being afterwards, you might have been reading with your eyes closed.”

— We and Me, Inc., 5-star Amazon review

“This is a must read for leaders of all kinds, leaders of organizations large and small, communities and families. If you could only read one book to improve your skill as a leader, this is the one!”

— Scot L, 5-star Amazon review

Learn More

Visit the website to learn more about the book and download a free excerpt.
Buy a copy of the book for yourself or share your review of it on Amazon.
Join the webinar on June 5 to learn more about powerful conversations.

Theory U: Principles For Creating A Better Future

Our capacity to pay attention co-shapes the world. What prevents us from attending to situations more effectively is that we aren’t fully aware of that interior condition from which our attention and actions originate. Best-selling author Otto Scharmer calls this lack of awareness our blind spot. He illuminates the blind spot in leadership today and offers hands-on methods to help change makers overcome it through the process, principles, and practices of Theory U, a framework for updating the “operating systems” of our educational institutions, our economies, and our democracies.

Ten years ago, when Theory U was first published, Scharmer invited us to see the world in new ways and, in so doing, discover a revolutionary approach to leadership that keeps inspiring innovators and communities of leaders from around the world. But at over 500 pages, that book was a bit daunting. Now Scharmer has created a concise guide to its key concepts and applications, making his vital work and its methods and tools accessible to a wider audience.

The Essentials of Theory U

The Essentials of Theory U is a useful pocket guide for practitioners that distills all of the research and materials found in Otto Scharmer’s seminal texts Theory U and Leading from the Emerging Future. It enables leaders and organizations in all industries and sectors to shift awareness, connect with the highest future possibilities, and strengthen the capacity to co-shape the future.

Part I explores the framework and main ideas of Theory U. It illuminates the blind spot in leadership today: the “interior condition” from which we operate. Part II describes the process, principles, and practices of Theory U, showcasing hands-on methods and tools for change makers. The focus is on building the collective capacity to shift the inner place from which we operate. Part III outlines a framework for updating the “operating systems” of our educational institutions, our economies, and our democracies. This framework applies awareness-based systems change to the much needed transformation of capitalism.

Meet the Author

Otto Scharmer is a Senior Lecturer at MIT and co-founder of the Presencing Institute. He chairs the MIT IDEAS program for cross-sector innovation that helps leaders from business, government, and civil society to innovate at the level of the whole system. He is author of Theory U (translated into 20 languages) and co-author of Leading from the Emerging Future, which outlines eight acupuncture points of transforming capitalism. In 2015, he co-founded the MITx u.lab platform that attracted over 100,000 registered users within the first three years.

Otto earned his diploma (with distinction) and Ph.D. (summa cum laude) from Witten/Herdecke University in Germany. He received the Jamieson Prize for Excellence in Teaching at MIT (2015) and the EU Leonardo Corporate Learning Award for the contributions of Theory U to the future of management (2016). In 2017, he was ranked #1 of the world’s top 30 education professionals by Global Gurus. For additional information visit presencing.org.

Praise from Readers Like You

“If you want to expand your capacity for awareness of yourself and others, discerning potential opportunity, and creative, effective action, Essentials of Theory U provides a framework that can be learned and practiced.”

—LEADistics, 5-star Amazon review

“Having made Theory U the central framework for my work in recent years, I am delighted to have such a tight précis both to read and to share. I find that neither the style nor substance has been sacrificed; it retains many of the best features of the original – a theoretical foundation that interweaves multiple disciplines and sources of inspiration, powerful & widely applicable practices, and an autobiographical style that brings the work to life.”

—Eva Pomeroy, 5-star Amazon review

“As the name suggests, this version boils down the essential material into a practical and useable piece of work. This coupled with the idea of Presencing . . . is the best material I have found on using reflective practices, especially for emerging thought.”

—Joe Dager, 5-star Amazon review

“ A great and timely book. It brings hope and provides a step by step approach to transforming the way we interact & work together. “

—Cecile FR, 5-star Amazon review 

Learn More

Visit the book site to learn more, download a sample chapter, and find beautiful graphics to share with your networks.
Buy a copy of the book for yourself or a friend, or share your review of it, on Amazon.
Watch the recent webinar to learn more about implementing awareness-based change in your organization.

How to Boost Engagement in Your Facebook Group

I’ve been a member of many Facebook groups in recent years. Facebook groups for new moms, for freelancers, for Americans living in Israel, for female entrepreneurs, for healthy recipes, and more. The truth is, if I don’t get significant value and entertainment from a group, I leave. The last thing I need is endless notifications from groups that don’t really enrich my life in any way!

And after running the Book Marketing Facebook group, a growing community of authors interested in successfully marketing their own books, I have learned a lot about what makes people join, and what keeps them engaged over time.

Why People Join Facebook Groups

The main reason people go on Facebook is to be entertained, not to do hardcore learning, and definitely not to be sold to — so anything you post in your group should be, first and foremost, fun and engaging. One of my favorite groups is a humorous group for Jewish women run by a good friend of mine. This group is full of funny, cute, and relatable posts by others in the same demographic as me, and has grown organically to almost 15K members in the past three years!

Jenna got her group down pat, and you can do the same by keeping in mind some basic but important points.

Create the right “vibe”

Whether you are running a Facebook group to promote something specific, such as a book or consulting business, or to build community around an idea or topic, the main thing you want to focus on is providing value to your group members and encouraging positive conversations.

Be very intentional about the purpose of your group and make sure to communicate that with people joining. A great way to do this is by putting your “mission statement” of sorts in the group description and the pinned post at the top of the page. Keep the energy positive and encouraging, and don’t be afraid to remove members who are overly negative or rude.

Deliver engaging content regularly

Consider creating a content calendar and scheduling posts in advance using a tool such as Buffer or HootSuite. That way, you can make sure to include different types of content on a regular basis, such as quizzes, valuable/fun articles, inspirational quotes/stories, etc.
Post often — at least once a day — to keep the momentum going. Posting more often is also fine.
Aim for at least 1 livestream a week — ask your group members regularly what they need help with and DELIVER.
Acknowledge your members who are regular contributors.
Run fun polls that encourage engagement.
Ask your audience questions get to know them.
Provide regular prompts to encourage engagement.

Keep growing

The more relevant members you can add to your group, the better! One great way to encourage sign-ups is by adding your Facebook group to your email signature. Be sure to focus on the benefits your audience will receive, such as: “P.S. Are you an author? Join my Book Marketing Facebook Group to get support from me and other book marketers and authors who are committed to helping YOU DIY your book marketing successfully.”

A Facebook group can be a great way to build momentum around your messages, but make sure to always make the group about them, the members, so they don’t click that “leave group” button before getting the value that you know you can offer!

What are some stand-out features of your favorite Facebook groups?

Favorite Tools of the WI Team: Buffer

So you’ve chosen your top two social sites and set aside 12 minutes to do some focused marketing or networking. What now? How can you maximize your efforts, streamline your efforts, and boost shareability in a limited number of minutes?

One of our favorite apps to create an exponential return with a minimum time investment is Buffer. Hands-down, it’s the best all-around tool for sharing and scheduling across multiple social platforms. Even better, it offers a great free version if you don’t have too many social accounts or just want to try it out for a time.

Here’s a few things we love about it.

Social Media Scheduler

The free version of Buffer allows you to connect up to 3 social accounts (paid plans allow 10+) from any of the following:

Twitter profiles
Facebook profiles, pages, or groups
LinkedIn profiles or pages
Google+ profiles or pages
Instagram profiles
[Pinterest boards for paid accounts]

With the free version, you can schedule up to 10 posts in your queue (again, paid plans allow more) including link posts, YouTube videos, or custom images. It automatically shortens all links, so they don’t count against character limits, and automatically pulls in featured images when attaching those links. You can set custom post times in addition to creating a regular posting schedule, and easily shuffle posts around in the drag-and-drop interface.

One feature that our team especially likes is the Pause button, which allows you to quickly stop all social sharing for a set time period — but leaves all your content in the queue for later. This is a great option for when breaking news or tragic events occur, or if you just need to take a brief but unexpected break from social media.

Buffer also allows you tag other Facebook or Twitter accounts when scheduling posts. This a great way to connect with other leaders in your field, and give due credit when sharing curated content. You can also include hashtags in your scheduled posts for Twitter.

Multi-Platform Integration

We love using the Buffer browser extension to easily add content to our queue. The app also integrates with over 60 third-party apps such as Twitter, IFTTT, Instapaper, WordPress, and various RSS readers.

If  you find an article you want to share with your followers, you just highlight the quote you want to include in your post and hit the Buffer extension button. It automatically shortens the link and pulls in the quote, along with any featured images, and you can either share immediately, add to your queue, or custom schedule for later. On Twitter, instead of always retweeting content immediately, you can add a tweet to your queue for later and even add your own comment, if you desire.

Simple Image Creator

Another feature we love about Buffer is Pablo, which is a simple image generator that allows you to create beautiful quote graphics in just minutes. It pulls in thousands of royalty-free images, has preset templates and sizes for various social platforms, provides a handful of filters such as grayscale or light contrast, and lets you add up to 3 content boxes (header, body, caption) and a custom logo. You can choose from about 2 dozen fonts, a handful of preset or image-related colors, and some simple formatting to maintain a consistent look across your brand and created images.

When you’re done, you can either download the image to share later, add it directly to your Buffer queue, or immediately share it to one of your connected social channels.

Extra ‘Awesome’ Features

If you have a little more room in your budget, we highly recommend upgrading to Buffer’s Awesome plan. It lets you connect up to 10 social channels (including Pinterest), schedule up to 100 posts, add an additional team member, schedule via a calendar interface, and access basic 30-day analytics. That lets you see which posts have been most popular based on likes, comments, or other engagements, and provides an easy way to re-share them later on.

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Buffer guides here.

What’s your favorite tool for scheduling social media posts?

 

The Top 5 Social Media Platforms & What to Share on Each

There’s dozens of social platforms available online, from the ubiquitous to the obscure. You can’t be on all of them, but you can be on some. Which ones should you choose?

At Weaving Influence, we primarily focus on five channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and Pinterest. These five have shown the greatest return on the smallest time investment, and are where the majority of authors and thought leaders prefer to hang out.

However, if you’re just getting started building a social media presence, even five channels may be too much. You certainly need to have a regular presence somewhere — but your followers will generally go wherever you are. So we recommend picking two platforms to start with, and committing to showing up there with consistency and quality, before adding any others.

Facebook

Facebook is the place to build community by emphasizing engagement and driving conversation. Posting daily is optimum. Try to keep your posts under 90 characters, and whenever possible, avoid text-only posts and hashtags. However, feel free to use plenty of emojis! What should you share?

High quality images and videos with quotes, relevant data, endorsements, personal updates, or on-topic humor. Get creative, but be sure you have permission to share everything before posting.
Articles that will resonate with your audience. Embed the links so they pop up with the featured image. Share your own articles about once a week, and share other curated content a few times per week.
Consider forming a private group to build a stronger, more interactive community (more on that in a later post!), or do a Facebook Live event to give a more personal, behind-the-scenes glimpse for your followers.

Twitter

Twitter is a great place to build online thought leadership and reach a wide audience of potential audiences. We recommend posting 3-7 times per day, with a greater emphasis on early morning or late evening times. Be sure to use hashtags (up to 3 per tweet), personal tags, or emojis whenever possible. Here’s what you should share:

Images, videos, and links perform best. Share a balanced mix of original content, relevant retweets, and curated links. Repeating content does well on Twitter, so re-post your highest performing content several days later, one week later, and one month later.
Create Twitter lists of accounts most relevant to your expertise. These might be other thought leaders, authors, publishers, marketing firms, or individuals who share regularly about the same topics as you. Use these lists as a basis for finding content to retweet to your own followers.
Pin a “Twitter card” to your account to highlight a product or service, share a link to your site, or simply bring awareness to an initiative. These stay at the top of your feed, and are the first thing followers see when they navigate to your page.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn is the place to build your professional reputation. We recommend posting once per day, during business hours, for greatest engagement. Include embedded links or multimedia when possible, and feel free to write lengthier posts. Use a hashtag or two if you desire, but avoid emojis. Here’s what to share:

Inspirational images and quotes, photos or videos, or strategic curated content works best here. Share promotional content less frequently. Also, be sure to keep content distinct from what you share on Facebook.
Lengthier, in-depth articles (similar to blog posts), with helpful information at the end such as a brief author bio, relevant links, or other calls to action. We also recommend tweeting @LinkedInPulse with the link after you share an article here, to encourage inclusion in a Pulse feed.

Instagram

Instagram is the place to bring your brand to life in a visual way. We recommend posting only when you have beautiful, clear, vibrant multimedia content. The focus is on quality, not frequency! Hashtags are also important: research the most popular ones for your field, and include 3-11 relevant tags in each post (or afterwards in a comment). Share the following:

High-quality photos, graphics, gifs, or videos (nothing grainy or blurry!) that represent your brand and engages your community.
Re-gram relevant content from other accounts to increase reach and engagement; but always be sure to get permission from the original poster, and tag them in your re-post.
Add helpful links to your bio, such as your website or product page, and share occasional posts that direct fans to these links.
Consider sharing Instagram stories to offer more behind-the-scenes glimpses or personal notes. They are only available for 24 hours, so they’re great for displaying limited time offers or in-the-moment events.

Pinterest

Pinterest is another visual-only platform that acts like a bulletin board or file cabinet of helpful tips. We recommend creating multiple boards and sharing your own new blog content and other helpful articles related to your fields. Always include a meaningful description, the author’s name, and a short url to the original site on each pin — and avoid hashtags. Here’s what to pin:

Content with strong graphics. Share a mixture of blog pins with share graphics, and share more than just your own content.
Spend a few minutes each week searching Pinterest for helpful content to pin to your own boards.
Consider creating a group board for a particular topic, and inviting others in your community to share.

Bonus Tip

Make consistent progress in building your network each week by using the 12-minute per day approach! Choose one platform per day, set aside 12 focused minutes, and make serious strides in increasing awareness of your brand and strengthening your influence online.

Which social channels do you show up on consistently?

Servant Leadership in Action: A Better Way to Lead

When people lead at a higher level, they make the world a better place — because, in addition to results and relationships, their goals are focused on the greater good. Perhaps few modern leaders exemplify this truism more than Ken Blanchard, a man who has dedicated his life to helping people lead at that higher, greater-good level.

This week we’ve enjoyed celebrating the launch of Servant Leadership in Action, a collection of essays from over 40 well-known thought leaders compiled by Ken and his long-time editor Renee Broadwell. We’ve been so thrilled to see it rise to Amazon’s #1 top new release in Business Mentoring & Coaching, and hit the top ten mark in multiple other categories such as Christian Business & Professional Growth. It is one of the most comprehensive and wide-ranging guide ever published on servant leadership, and well worth acquiring!

Servant Leadership in Action

We’ve all seen the negative impact of self-serving leaders in every sector of our society. Not infrequently, they end up bringing down their entire organization. But there is another way: servant leadership.

Servant leaders lead by serving their people, not by exalting themselves. This collection features forty-four renowned servant leadership experts and practitioners — prominent business executives, bestselling authors, and respected spiritual leaders — who offer advice and tools for implementing this proven, but for some, still radical, leadership model.

Edited by legendary business author and lifelong servant leader Ken Blanchard and his longtime editor Renee Broadwell, Servant Leadership in Action is the most comprehensive and wide-ranging guide ever published for what is, in every sense, a better way to lead. With daring insights from over forty contributors, this book shows how true servant leaders lead by serving their people, not by exalting themselves.

Meet the Authors

Ken Blanchard is one of the most influential leadership experts in the world. He is co-author of the iconic bestseller The New One Minute Manager, and more than sixty other books, with combined sales of more than twenty-one million copies in forty-two languages. Ken is co-founder of The Ken Blanchard Companies, a leading international training and consulting firm. He is also co-founder of Lead Like Jesus, a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring and equipping people to be servant leaders.

Renee Broadwell has been an editor with The Ken Blanchard Companies for more than ten years, working with Ken as lead editor on several book projects. She also serves as editor on articles, blogs, social media, and special projects, partnering with various Blanchard departments including communications, marketing, and the executive suite.

Other contributors include: Cheryl Bachelder, Tony Baron, Colleen Barrett, Art Barter, Richard Blackaby, James H. Blanchard, Ken Blanchard, Margie Blanchard, Robin Blanchard, Brené Brown, John Hope Bryant,Shirley Bullard, Michael C. Bush, Tamika Catchings, Henry Cloud, Stephen M. R. Covey, Holly Culhane, Jim Dittmar, James Ferrell, Mark A. Floyd, Jeffrey W. Foley, Marshall Goldsmith, Jon Gordon, Craig Groeschel, Phyllis Hennecy Hendry, Chris Hodges, Phil Hodges, Laurie Beth Jones, James M. Kouzes, Patrick Lencioni, Rico Maranto, John Maxwell, Erwin Raphael McManus, Miles McPherson, Mark Miller, Tom Mullins, Neal Nybo, Barry Z. Posner, Dave Ramsey, Garry Ridge, Mark Sanborn, Simon Sinek, Raj Sisodia, Larry C. Spears.

Praise from Readers Like You

“When Ken Blanchard assembled forty of the wisest people in the world and asked them to contribute to his newest book, he hit the jackpot. If you are looking for pearls of wisdom on leadership, there is no better place to go than Servant Leadership in Action.”

—Perry Smith, 5-star Amazon review

“If you want to do more for the people you serve and care more about people, then read this book to learn how to empower them to use common sense and good judgment. you want to start catching people doing the right things, and great things, read this book!”

—Byron Ernest, 5-star Amazon review

“Ken Blanchard has compiled contributions from some leaders who are serving as an example of what to do rather than the usual ‘Do as I say, not as I do.’ For those of us who want to be one of those servant leaders, the book serves as encouragement that we can do it.”

—Bold Consumer, 5-star Amazon review

“This is by far one of the best books I’ve read on the topic of servant leadership . . . Not only does the book add clarity to the concept of servant leadership, it also paints multiple pictures of the potential ways one might implement servant leadership in various settings.”

—SW, 5-star Amazon review

Learn More

Visit the book site to learn more, download a sample chapter, and find beautiful graphics to share with your networks.
Buy a copy of the book for yourself or a friend, or share your review of it, on Amazon.
Watch the recent webinar to learn more about servant leadership.

What Can You Accomplish in 12 Focused Minutes?

What can you do in just 12 minutes a day? Stop for coffee. Walk a half mile. Call a friend to say hi. Wipe down the kitchen. Read 10 pages of that book you’ve been plodding through. Take a quick power nap. Catch up on paying bills and scheduling appointments.

You could also make great strides in connecting with your audience online.

I recently had the opportunity to participate in our #12MinuteBookLaunch challenge, along with others from our community of first-time and experienced authors. My book has actually been out on the shelves for almost five years, but I saw it as a great way to kick-start my own DIY marketing efforts, which have been sorely lacking.

The premise of the challenge was that you could spend just 12 minutes every weekday to identify and connect to your various online networks. This was primarily geared towards authors, but the basic ideas apply to anyone — those with a physical product to sell, those offering a service, even those simply looking to increase influence as a leader in their field.

I admit, I was surprised by the results. No, it didn’t propel me to celebrity status overnight. None of my new posts went viral. None of my new connections thought I was the greatest thing since AOL first came along.

But I found out how easy it was to set aside 12 minutes for a small task (or two), how motivated it made me feel in pursuing those more “nebulous” goals, and how effective it was in accomplishing the nitty-gritty housekeeping tasks involved with building my influence online.

Big Gains from Small Steps

You probably spend an hour on most days twiddling your thumbs, scrolling through your news feeds, or doing some other task that doesn’t really accomplish anything. What if you reclaimed that time, broke it up into five 12-minute segments, and set out to do five “little things” that could pay big dividends in time, mental space, and progress towards long-term goals.

It’s incredibly do-able to do something for  just 12 minutes a day.

We tend to get sucked into social media or other “housekeeping” tasks, and before we know it, far too much time has rolled past. (Or is that just me?) Setting a timer for 12 minutes tends to motivate more effective, productive work.

For instance, I may sit down to research a guest post opportunity: setting the timer for 12 minutes helps keep me focused, and prevents me from slipping down the rabbit hole of following links or reading posts completely unrelated to my intended topic. Or I may need to refresh one of my social profiles with current contact information, an updated headshot or cover image, and ongoing works-in-progress. Once again, setting that timer for 12 minutes helps me concentrate on the task at hand and ignore the click-bait that catches my attention along the way.

On the other hand, consider the last time you set aside a whole hour to “refresh your social profiles” or “look for guest post / guest speaking opportunities.” Failing to break those down into smaller, bite-size tasks probably weakened your concentration, decreased your motivation, and likely allowed you to get sidetracked from the task-at-hand by petty distractions.

Breaking a larger or a longer-term goal down into 12-minute tasks makes it more manageable and more effective in the long run.

It could also save you thousands of seconds in car insurance mental space.

Have you ever had that nagging feeling that you forgot to pack something for a trip? Or that you missed an appointment? Or . . . ??? It gnaws away at you, stealing prime real estate in your thoughts and distracting your focus from what you need to be doing instead.

Maybe you aren’t as concerned about your branding, audiences, or marketing as you would be about missing or forgetting something . . . but if you’re an author, artist, consultant, thought leader, or influencer in some other field, you likely have a few grey cells that are continually dedicated to considering how to increase your exposure and build your platform. The bad news is, it usually takes a lot of small tasks to accomplish those big goals. The worse news is, those small tasks take up a lot of mental real estate (and a lot of space on the never-ending to-do list!).

Here’s something to consider: once you spend 12 minutes working on one or two of those small tasks, you don’t have to think about them for the rest of the day! It no longer has to clutter up your mental space or your to-do list.

What can you do in 12 minutes?

Here’s a few ideas . . .

Record contact information for new connections
Research a desired speaking opportunity
Write a short blog post (just the facts, ma’am!)
Share a recent article across your social channels
Record a brief podcast/video and publish it
Re-share a few key posts on Twitter or Instagram
Work through the ideas in 31 Days of Twitter Tips
Refresh one of your social media profiles
Write a template for requesting product reviews
Write a template for guest post/speaking opportunities
Send a few requests to key contacts or companies

So . . . when can you set aside 12 minutes today? Maybe now, maybe during your lunch hour, maybe when you get home from work or before you go to bed tonight. Figure out a time in conjunction with other related tasks, during a transition between larger priorities, or as a bookend to a larger block of focused work.

What can you commit to spending 12 minutes on every day, that will lead toward bigger gains in the long run?

 

To read more about this idea, download our free ebook 12 Minutes To Change Your Day .

How to Attract and Keep the Best People

We’re very excited to be launching another book this week for longstanding friend and client, Mark Miller. His newest book has risen rapidly to the top of Amazon’s new releases in Business Mentoring and Coaching, and delivers a powerful message about the greatest factor in increasing wins — and opportunities for wins. More than vision, strategy, creativity, marketing, finance, or even technology, it is ultimately people that determine success. That’s why virtually every organization wants to attract — and keep! — more top talent.

But do you really know what you’re looking for? It might not be what you think!

Talent Magnet

There is a long-standing truth in the world of organizations: talent wins! But how do you attract the best people? What do they really want? Based on his rigorous and extensive research, Mark Miller learned that top performers are looking for very different things than solid contributors.

Talent Magnet uses a clever and entertaining business fable to share these findings. It tells the parallel stories of Blake Brown, a CEO struggling with winning the war for talent, and Blake’s sixteen-year-old son Clint, who is trying to get his first job so he can raise money to buy a well for a village in Africa.

Blake reaches out to leaders in other industries and works with his team to solve the puzzle of making his organization a destination for exceptional performers. But he also learns from his son. Listening to Clint and his friends compare notes on the companies they’ve worked for that summer, ranging from the awful to the inspirational, Blake realizes they want the same three things out of a job as any top performer in a Fortune 500 company.

Talent Magnet identifies these three critical aspects of a true talent magnet and explores the deeper meaning of each. It pulls back the curtain on what leaders can do to find and retain the very best people — a strategic need every leader faces.

Meet the Author

Mark Miller is an international best-selling author, business leader, and communicator. He began writing almost twenty years ago when he teamed up with Ken Blanchard, co-author of The One Minute Manager, to write The Secret: What Great Leaders Know and Do. With over 1,000,000 books in print, in more than 25 languages, Mark’s global impact continues to grow.

In addition to his writing, Mark enjoys speaking to leaders. Over the years, he’s traveled to dozens of countries teaching for numerous international organizations. His theme is always the same: encouraging and equipping leaders!

Mark started his Chick-fil-A career working as an hourly team member in 1977. In 1978, he joined the corporate staff working in the warehouse and mailroom. Since that time, he has provided leadership for Corporate Communications, Field Operations, Quality and Customer Satisfaction, Training and Development, and Leadership Development. During his tenure with Chick-fil-A, the company has grown from 75 restaurants to over 2,300 locations with annual sales approaching $10 billion.

Mark lives an active lifestyle. As a photographer, he enjoys shooting in some of the world’s hardest-to-reach places, past locations include: Antarctica, Everest Base Camp, the jungles of Rwanda, and the Galapagos Islands. Married to Donna, his high school sweetheart, for over 35 years, Mark has two sons, Justin and David; a daughter-in-law, Lindsay; and two amazing grandchildren, Addie and Logan!

Praise from Readers Like You

“ Mark Miller has done it again — presenting what might be considered complicated research findings in a practical, easy to read story . . . This should be required reading for anyone wishing to lead a growing organization!” 

—Douglas Zabonick, 5-star Amazon review

“Mark’s key elements for creating a magnetic environment that attracts quality employees are true in church work. Top talent wants to work for a caring boss who encourages growth and calls people to greater vision. As with all Mark’s books, this is a must-read for empowering leaders who want their business, organization, or church to be filled with top candidates.”

—Mike McKay, 5-star Amazon review

“The best books about business are not about business. They tell a story about life that can be applied in a business setting. And this one is about people — our most valuable asset. After a long day at work, my nightly read is my chance to escape and the last thing I need to unwind is homework, but . . . the uplifting style of the book actually inspired and refreshed and gave a new outlook.”

—Carolyn Patton, 5-star Amazon review

“Mark took months of research and data and has masterfully woven the principles of ‘A Better Boss’, ‘A Brighter Future’ and ‘A Bigger Vision’ throughout the story of Blake and the organization he leads. If you have any involvement in leadership or the HR process, this book is a must.”

—Troy Slezak, 5-star Amazon review

Learn More

Visit the book site to download a sample chapter, discover the bonus offers, and find beautiful graphics to share with your networks.
Buy a copy of the book for yourself or a friend, or share your review of it, on Amazon.
Watch the recent webinar to learn how to make any organization a destination for exceptional performers.

News Flash: Press Releases Are Still Relevant—Ten Tips to Write a Good One

If I were to write a press release about a press release, the headline would read that they are still relevant.

In today’s high-tech world, the words “press release” sound old-fashioned to many. But they aren’t. Press releases are still a worthwhile part of communications and marketing strategies.

When done right, they can garner media attention and serve as background information for future stories. Furthermore, they help build a brand by marking important chapters in the brand’s story.

One reason why press releases may have a poor reputation is because so many are poorly written. Journalists receive them in droves, and many don’t have anything to do with what the journalist covers and what their audiences should or want to know about it.

To help you avoid making this mistake, here are ten tips to help attract media attention and tell your brand’s story.

Think of the audience first.

Press releases shouldn’t be self-serving; serve your audiences (potential customers) first. Tell them a compelling story. Think: What would they like to know and how does the information benefit them?

News jack.

Even better, make it relevant. Releases that tie to a topic a reader may be interested in, particularly a timely or trendy one, can be what saves your email from being deleted.

Spend extra time on the headline.

Don’t have it be too long (stay under a line in length). Don’t make it boring but don’t make it misleading either. Try to have something that is unique, pithy, and understandable.

Get their attention.

Start your release with a snappy introduction that sets the stage for your announcement. Avoid overselling and don’t be verbose.

Get to the point.

After the intro, get straight to the facts. That means give them the who, what, where, when, why, and how. Include relevant links, e.g., where to buy your book or buy tickets to an event.

Cut the fat.

Press releases should be 500 words at maximum (not counting the boilerplate). Tell the nuts and bolts of the story in simple, straightforward, non-jargon language. Write succinctly and give contact information.

Go easy on adjectives and adverbs.

A good press release has all the facts and none of the hyperbole. Don’t use extraneous adjectives and adverbs. They make the material seem slanted and often annoy journalists.

Do your homework.

Ideally, you’ll be familiar with the work of the media who you send your release. Journalists really appreciate it when people know what they do and pitch them relevant information. Even better, build a relationship beforehand. Comment on and share their social media posts. You can also give them first dibs on a story to ensure they cover it before everyone else gets the info.

Think about the big picture.

Media relations pros think beyond the written word to images, video, and sound. They offer good pictures or video, or the opportunity to get some—and have great interviews lined up for those who are interested.

Follow-up.

Sometimes your email gets canned. Sometimes it gets ignored. Sometimes it just gets overlooked. Follow-up a couple times to see if the contact is interested or needs more info. Sometimes they just need a reminder that a great story is waiting for them to pounce on.

Have you ever written a press release for your book or brand? What did you learn from the experience?