If you have built your business on LinkedIn or similar platforms, you have likely received a range of sales pitches.

 

Some might be the automated response from a total stranger who promises to solve all of your problems, never mind they have no idea what your problems are.

 

Others might still be presumptuous, but at least reflect some thoughtfulness and research.

 

How, if at all, should you respond to such requests?

 

My guests on this edition of Quick Hits have extensive experience working with companies and building their personal brand. They offered insight into how they navigate this particular slice of social media networking.

 

Mayah’s Legacy CEO, Keji Moses says, “I don’t like the cold calling…it says that the other person is not really interested in me, they’re just interested in selling me a product. I am interested in people who want to find out more about me. Then I’ll give you my business.”

 

PR specialist Frank Galindo warns that “it’s the responsibility of the person accepting the request” to do their due diligence. “If you can tell right away by the person’s title that they’re probably going to sell you, if you accept them, be prepared for the pitch.”

 

Consultant Kevin Wash advises, “It’s all about the nature of the approach…If you make an effort and personalize it, then great. We might not do any business, but I’ll definitely respond to you.”

 

What strategy do you use to deal with the pitches you get on social media?

 

Connect with the panelist (but maybe not to just pitch them)

Francisco "Frank" Galindo: https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgalindo-mba/

Keji Moses CMgr FCMI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keji-moses-mcmi-61aaa6180/

Kevin Wash: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-wash-23b90915/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#socialmediamarketing #Sales #branding

This topic was suggested to me by a Quick Hits regular and I thought, “Are they different?” The thesaurus says they are synonyms. Hmmm – might not make for a very interesting conversation.

 

But I’m game for just about anything so… We gave it a try. Turns out, it was a really good, mind twisty conversation.

 

Rabbi Yonason Goldson compared optimism and hope to John Lennon’s “Imagine” and Paul McCartney’s “Let It Be,” arguing that one was more grounded in reality than the other.

 

Tim Hawkes, the managing director of Unlimited Potential, offered an engineering metaphor. “I think optimism is a belief without evidence. It’s a non-vectored point, whereas hope is vectored. It has a journey. ‘I hope I will be this.’”

 

Gary Fredericks, CEO of On Point Partners, said that optimism always stays with you. “In my business life, people ask me all the time: What are your goals? My goals are always 100%. And that’s optimism. I don’t think I’m ever going to get there, but I’m not going to quit until I get to 100%”

 

Are hope and optimism different things to you?

Connect with the panelists:

Tim Hawkes: https://www.linkedin.com/in/timhawkes/

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yonason-goldson/

Gary Fredericks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyfredericks/

 

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#Hope #Optimism #Goals

Covert bullying is a serious problem in the corporate space. It may not be obvious to everyone in the office, but it can create a nasty workplace culture.

 

It can be relational aggression - Someone talking badly about you behind your back. Or it can be direct sabotage - Someone not inviting you to meetings or sharing information you need to do your job and then criticizing you for being ill-informed.

 

Stewart Wiggins, a fractional COO at Induna Advisors and one of my guests on this edition of Quick Hits, shared his own story of covert bullying in high level corporate roles. In his initial months there, which he described as “pledging a fraternity,” his direct manager called a meeting at his office at seven in the morning. When Stewart arrived, the manager ignored him.

 

“He would just be doing his thing. And I would say, ‘Is this still a good time?’ ‘Yeah, yeah, this is a good time.’”

 

I talked with Stewart and my two other guests — performance consultant Dr. Jenna Ross and financial futurist James Lee — about how corporate leaders can recognize this behavior and create a culture where it doesn’t happen.

 

“A lot of bullying behavior is about preserving the hierarchy,” Jim observed. “The bully may be threatened by the people underneath them or they may feel insecure about their own position.”

 

Jenna encouraged corporate leaders to get to know their team and really hear out the person being bullied. “Sometimes we look at them like, ‘Oh, they’re just being too sensitive.’ Hearing that person’s story and validating what they’re going through goes a very long way.”

 

Have you experienced or observed covert (or outright) bullying in the workplace? What was the result?

 

Connect with the panelists:

Dr. Jenna Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennaross712/

James Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jleeadvisor/

Stewart Wiggins: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stewart-wiggins/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#Bullying #WorkplaceCulture

Experts often spend so much time with their subject that its most complicated minutia becomes second nature. They can quote facts, figures, articles and theories at any time or place. While this might be impressive (or maybe annoying), it is an issue when the expert speaks to someone who is new to the subject. They’re so in the weeds that they can’t adequately explain their subject to someone on the outside.

 

I feel it’s important to remind experts that they shouldn’t assume that everything they know is common knowledge. So when I had the opportunity to speak to three other people with doctoral degrees I thought it was a great opportunity for us to look in the mirror and ask the question.

 

Dr. Bob Choat quoted from Albert Einstein: “If you can’t explain something to a six-year-old, then you don’t know what you’re talking about. Those that tend to complicate even simple concepts, they have no understanding of it at all.”

 

Performance consultant Dr. Jenna Ross suggested that we bear in mind when our excitement for our subject leads us to over-explain. “There’s so much that I know that I want to share and sometimes I forget to keep it simple and not expound upon this idea that goes to this idea…Sometimes I go overboard.”

 

Grand Canyon University professor Dr. Rhonda Bompensa-Zimmerman advised that we let the expert know beforehand how best we learn. “I find it my responsibility to let the other person know, ‘Hey, I’m a kinesthetic tactile learner, so can we do some role playing? Break the information down into smaller chunks?’”

 

How have you had success getting an expert to explain something in a way that you could understand?

 

Connect with the panelists:Dr. Bob Choat: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bobchoat/

Dr. Jenna Ross: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennaross712/

Dr. Rhonda Bompensa-Zimmerman: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-rhonda-bompensa-zimmerman-138aa3b/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#Experts #ExplainBetter

We’ve spent much of the last two years lamenting the decline in person-to-person contact as we’ve started to rely on technology for most of our interactions. This has greatly impacted professionals for whom high touch relationships are the cornerstone of their business.

 

I wondered how others continue to use high touch in this new high-tech landscape.

 

I had an opportunity to ask Gudjon Bergmann and Dr. Wayne Buckhanan how it works for them. In particular, we talked about the importance of being present for the other person regardless of the form of communication and how to do so on a platform like Zoom.

 

Wayne suggested, “A lot of it comes down to recognizing who’s in the shared virtual space. Just being present and acknowledging and digging in…Little things that add up. Caring for that person on the other end of the technology.”

 

“I think the biggest present you can give somebody is just being there,” adds Gudjon. “Being present, being focused on them. It’s such a rarity that some people don’t know exactly what to do with it in the beginning. But then they learn to appreciate it.”

 

What does it mean to you to be high-touch in a high-tech world? What can others do to make your experience the best?

 

Connect with the panelists:Dr. Wayne Buckhanan: https://www.linkedin.com/in/waynebuckhanan/

Gudjon Bergmann: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gudjonbergmann/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#HighTouch #HighTech #BePresent

If you’ve been engaged in an endeavor long enough, odds are you’ve encountered that stale feeling when everything starts to slow down. The excitement you felt when you hit the ground running begins to feel more like walking through quick sand. Patterns begin to repeat themselves. You need to find new ways of thinking to shake things up.

 

On this edition of Quick Hits, I spoke with three experienced leaders about how they inspire their team to think creatively.

 

Dr. Kryn McClain, president of Paragon Behavioral Health Services, explained that a precondition to creative thinking is a healthy team. “A lot of people are experiencing mental illness right now in the workforce…If you want to inspire and motivate the team and get people really caring and connecting them with purpose, we need to first and foremost take a look at the whole person.”

 

Chris Jerjian, who has thirty years of experience in commercial real estate, added that you can always learn from other businesses, because they might have extensive experience addressing problems that are new to your organization. “The more you expose yourself to other industries, you can find a lot of answers…someone’s already done it for you.”

 

Michael Davis, founder of Speaking CPR, cautioned that “we have to be careful not to look for the complex answer. The answer is often simple.”

 

We had a wide-ranging conversation which I found insightful and fun.

 

How do you develop or encourage creative thinking?

 

Connect with the panelists:Michael Davis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaeldavisspeakingcpr/

Christopher Jerjian: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisjerjian/

Dr Kryn McClain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kryn-mcclain/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/ 

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#OutOfTheBox #CreativeThinking #Leadership

As satisfying as professional success can be, it can also come with great personal challenges. If you’re at the top, the people around you might think that you’re some kind of guru who has it all figured out. If you show vulnerability, they might become scared or worried about the future. That makes it hard to know when it is safe to be emotionally honest.

 

My guests on this edition of Quick Hits have all known great success in their careers. We had an honest and illuminating discussion about what it means to be lonely at the top and how to deal with that loneliness.

 

“You get three different types of perception,” offers On Point Partners CEO Gary Fredericks. “The folks below you either think, ‘This person is great and deserve to be where they are.’ Or they think, ‘This person is an idiot and I don’t know how they got there.’ And the people above you are trying to figure out, ‘How do I stop this guy? How do I replace him with one of my own people?’”

 

Transformational Expert Sara Oblak Speicher shares that “I personally found my support system in a very close circle of friends who are also business owners, who also are moms and homemakers and unconventional just like I am. Sometimes it can be kind of a vacuum, but sometimes that little vacuum is what I need to feel safe and supported before going out in the real world again.”

 

And financial futurist Jim Lee says that the loneliness of success can be mitigated when you take a welcoming and collaborative attitude to the people around you. “The key is when you’re working together versus working against. If you embrace other people and bring them up with you, then you’re not going to be alone.”

 

We hear, “It’s lonely at the top” a lot. Why do you think that is?

 

Connect with the panelists:James Lee: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jleeadvisor/

Sara Oblak Speicher, MBA: https://www.linkedin.com/in/saraospeicher/ 

Gary Fredericks: https://www.linkedin.com/in/garyfredericks/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#SuccessInBusiness #LonelyAtTheTop

You weren’t “wrong” you just know more now.

 

We all know that feeling when we try to solve a problem and find ourselves repeatedly hitting the same wall. We circle around to different solutions, but the initial problem naggingly persists. How do we shake out of that cycle and find new, better solutions?

 

I spoke about this with three veteran problem solvers on this edition of Quick Hits.

 

“Inviting somebody else in is very powerful,” advised business coach Shellie Berry. “If you’re ruminating and you can’t see it with fresh eyes, you need a fresh perspective. It doesn’t mean that they’re right, just that they see it differently. That can help you set aside how you’re seeing it.”

 

Simon Coles, CEO of Amphora Research Systems, concurred, provided that they are “the right brains with the right attitude.” Many CEOs and entrepreneurs have a hard time finding quality people to brainstorm with because they do not have the right perspective and background to speak on a particular problem.

 

But whatever the background, we all agreed that the best approach to solve a problem is to not see it as a problem in the first place, but as an opportunity.

 

As Shannon Phillips, founder of Unbounded Thinking, told us: “When a scientist approaches a problem, they get excited about it. In business, we look at problems as a risk to our survival…Falling in love with a problem is the first step to having fresh eyes."

 

Listen in and let us know what tricks you use to look at something from a different perspective.

Connect with the panelists:

Simon Coles: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjcoles/Shellie Berry: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shellie-berry/

Shannon Phillips: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shannon-phillips-125951211/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#ProblemSolving #Business #FreshEyes

The health and well-being of every organization hinges on how well its leadership works with the people actually doing the work. A great test of a leader is how they guides the team through a difficult decision.

 

Should the leader make that decision themselves and prepare the team to accept it? Or should they empower the team to present good options and collaborate on selecting the best one?

 

My guests on this edition of Quick Hits have extensive experience working with teams and helping organizations make difficult decisions. Doug Crowe of Author Your Brand helps CEOs and other executives become authors of influence without writing a single word. And Kevin Wash is a coach and mentor running a consultancy business specializing in sales for international property development. They provided great insight on the dos and don’ts of decision making in team leadership.

 

“What the leader needs to do if it’s a tough call is to get buy-in from the team,” says Kevin. “I’ve worked in situations where the president of the company will say, ‘OK, you guys come up with a decision.’ So you come up with a decision, go back to the president, and he says, ‘No I don’t like that, come up with another decision.’ So why didn’t he just say I’ll make the decision for you?”

 

Doug agrees: “It’s like Henry Ford saying you can have any color car you want, as long as it’s black.”

 

Do you think teams make decisions or is it individuals getting other individuals to buy into something?

 

Connect with the panelists:Kevin Wash: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-wash-23b90915/Doug Crowe: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thedougcrowe/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/ 

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#Leadership #DecisionMaking

Often team members in the workplace will get stuck because they’re afraid to make a bad decision.

 

They’re worried about the consequences they might face should their decision lead to a bad result.

 

It’s then the leadership’s responsibility to create the psychological safety so that their team won’t be afraid of making mistakes. Otherwise, they won’t be able to grow together towards that shared goal.

 

My guests on this edition of Quick Hits have a range of experience and came at this question in a variety of unique, thought-provoking angles.

 

“The leader has to take responsibility,” says scientist and entrepreneur Dr. Mohan Ananda, “Otherwise people will start over analyzing because they want to postpone. They don’t want to make a firm commitment.”

 

Racquelle Pakutz, founder of Zen Freight Solutions, told us, “My team is very young. With that, they’re afraid to make mistakes because they know that it affects bigger things than just them. So, I always make a point to let them know they can make a mistake, but we learn from the mistake. We fix it and we move on, as long as we take that knowledge with us.”

 

Psychology professor and bereavement support specialist Dave Roberts added that “You gotta have a really nice mix of individuals who have attention to detail, who also realize that any decision we make is the right decision given the current circumstances. We have the option to gradually evaluate that decision and make incremental improvements.”

 

How do you make sure that enough discussion happens but not so much that no decision is ever made?

 

Connect with the panelists:Racquelle Pakutz: https://www.linkedin.com/in/racquelle-pakutz/

David Roberts: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-roberts-56690513/

Dr. Mohan Ananda: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohanananda/

Dr Robyn Odegaard: https://www.linkedin.com/in/robynodegaard/

 

Want a summary of the Quick Hits I post every week, plus the links to the LinkedIn pages of each of the panelist to show up in your in-box every week? Just let me know where to send it: https://drrobynodegaard.com/quick-hits-notifications/

 

#QuickHits are designed to exercise your brain by letting you listen in on an unscripted conversation to get other people's thoughts on pertinent subjects. If you would like to join a conversation or have a topic you would like to hear discussed, please message me. https://www.DrRobynOdegaard.com

 

#TeamCulture #AnalysisParalysis #Leadership