The October 2006 issue of Professional Speaker, the official magazine of the National Speakers Association, has a very interesting article by Dr. Bertice Berry. It’s called Getting Back to Substance.
Dr. Berry says “our substance or essence rests in who we be”. Her “recipe” for substance has four main ingredients: Excellence, Research, Preparation and Connect and Engage. Dr. Berry’s article is directed at people like me – professional speakers. However, I believe her four ingredients can help you cook up (excuse my pun) success in any business or career. Let’s look at each of them...
Recipe for Career and Life Success
Excellence
Dr. Berry says “strive for, represent and do all things in excellence. Treat small events the same way you do large ones”. Great, common sense advice. I remember starting a job in the training department of a very large corporation over 20 years ago. My first assignment was to do a stress management workshop. I threw myself into doing the best stress management workshop I could. Guess what? People noticed. One of my colleagues said, “people have been asking for a stress management workshop for a couple of years. None of us wanted to do it. Stress management is boring. But you took it and ran with it. I really learned something from watching you.” This is just an example of what Dr. Berry is talking about. The old cliché is true: “if a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing well”.
Research
Dr. Berry says “know the essence of the entire audience so that you connect with them”. This ingredient is the one most specific to the speaking business, but it holds in a general way too. Here’s my take on it. Speakers want to influence their audiences. The same is true in business. We all are in the influence business. Get to know the people you want to influence. Learn what turns them on and what turns them off. Pitch your ideas in ways that appeal to the things that turn them on. In this way, you’ll be more likely to be influential with the people who count.
Preparation
If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that “preparation makes up for a lack of talent” is one of my favorite sayings. This is true. The more you prepare, the more successful you’ll be. I am on the Dan Kennedy mailing list. I got an e mail the other day from David Dee, president of the Dan Kennedy website. Mr. Dee was discussing the importance of preparation and he used Tom Cruise as an example. (I know, Tom has been acting kind of strange lately, but don’t disregard this example because of that.
Here’s the story Mr. Dee tells about Tom Cruise:
- "Regardless of what you think about Tom Cruise, he is a very successful actor who has made a 'bajillion' dollars. I was watching "Inside The Actors Studio" the other day when Tom said, and I'm paraphrasing, "When I'm on the set shooting the movie, I am the character. I don't have think about what I should be feeling or doing because I have so thoroughly prepared ahead of time." Tom said he prepared for over a year for the movie the "Last Samurai" and for 7 months, 3 hours a day to learn the sword technique. How many of us are that disciplined in our business? I know that I am not but I'm working on it. How many of us thoroughly prepare for every sales call we make? The top producers do and that's why they are top producers. A lot of people, especially today, look at the mega wealthy and successful and say, "Gee, aren't they lucky." Yeah, it's all luck. Right."
‘Nuff said about preparation. By the way exactly how much is a “bajillion”?
Connect and Engage
Dr. Berry says “before your audience can believe you, there must be a connection between you and them”. The same is true in every facet of life. People who make strong personal connections with the people around them – co workers, customers, suppliers – are more successful than those who do not. Interpersonal Competence is one of the five points on my career super star model. The willingness and ability to connect and engage with fellow human beings in a deep and meaningful way is a hallmark of every interpersonally competent person I know.
As I mentioned above, Dr. Berry was dispensing some great common sense advice for professional speakers, but her ingredients for success are true for all of us. Use these ingredients to create your own success.
One final note: Dr. Berry's personal motto is "When you walk with purpose, you collide with destiny". Think about it....
That’s it for today. Thanks for reading. Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense. Check out my other blogs: www.CareerSuperStar.com for common sense advice on becoming the life and career star you are meant to be; and www.CommonSenseDay.com to learn more about Use Your Common Sense Day -- November 4, and to read stories of common sense in action.
I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.
Bud
PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open. Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.
Regarding Tom Cruise as someone to model, i.e. preparation...the other side of the coin is that he is willing to take action, speak his mind, take a stand...and he has often rocked the boat in doing so.
For all the world to see, he's made huge "mistakes..." and then learned from them. He's been willing to say "I'm sorry, I made a huge mistake."
So between his willingness to prepare and his willingness to also operate from "ready, fire, aim!" he has reached great heights in his profession.
Preparation plus a willingness to put yourself out there and blow it from time to time. That gives us a glimpse of how Tom has built his empire.
Alan Allard
http:/www.geniusdynamics.com
Posted by: Alan Allard | October 13, 2006 at 07:39 PM