Posted on August 6th, 2010 by Sara Grace
In lieu of links this week, a peek at one of our RMA newsletters - we're sending this one out Sunday! (In the actual email of course, there are a million links to the RMA members site...)
Subj: THIS WEEK AT RMA: A Mission Results in a $250K Sale!
More wins to report this week… Hats off to [...] who scored another job lead during her Mission 10 Dinner. [...] reconnected with an old contact during Mission 4's LinkedIn campaign, which lead to a new business acquisition that should boost his company’s sales by 25 percent this year. And last but not least: someone who took our survey reported a $250K sale resulting from his or her RMA Missions!! WHO ARE YOU, MYSTERY SALESPERSON? Please shoot Alex (afradkin@ferrazzigreenlight.com) an email so she can get your story!
Need ideas or inspiration for your Lesson 10 Long, Slow Dinner? See what others are planning.
NEW LESSONS OPEN!
Develop and Broadcast Your Personal Brand and Align Your Network to Activate Your Most Important Relationships are open – create a great elevator pitch and build the ultimate force projection for your network by lining up anchor tenants and ambassadors. Time to work the program – those who finish by Aug. 19 are eligible for our RMA Idol Contest!
[DIVE INTO THE LESSONS HERE!]
WEEKLY CALL: THE SECRET TO TOP PERFORMANCE
This week’s call is How to Launch a Feet-to-the-Fire Accountability Groups that Won't Let you Fail! By popular demand, RMA Coach David Mish shares tips to structure, execute, and maintain a powerful mastermind group, either in-person or virtually – and also downloads some of his RMA Lifeline Group's incredible results! ACCOUNTABILITY and PEER COACHING are SIGNIFICANT success factors in long-term behavioral change and mega-performance – don't miss out on this opportunity to create competitive edge.
[ASK QUESTIONS AND GET INFO HERE]
THIS WEEK'S CONTEST: JUST DO IT! CALLING ALL AUDACIOUS RMAERS
Keith wrote in NEA, “Mustering the audacity to talk with people who don’t know me often simply comes down to balancing the fear I have of embarrassment against the fear of failure and its repercussions… I either ask or I’m not successful.” Help us all carpe diem by sharing an audacious moment in your own career or life path. The prize? A gift card to...
[CLICK TO SEE THE PRIZE AND ENTER]
COMMUNITY NEWS: QUICK HITS
*Help Wanted: Nicole Lisa needs tips on approaching her Big Kahuna at a book signing. Weigh in.
*Vision Boards: The Course II Lesson 1 mission report thread is full of raves from people who’ve finished their vision boards. Skeptics, take a look.
*Yet More Vision Boards: Check out the vision boards of John Boudreau and Ann Yakimovicz. Hit “reply” on Ann’s post and add your own when you get to Course II!
KEITH’S HERO: SCOTT ZIMMERMAN
Televox President (and father to twins!) Scott Zimmerman demonstrated the spontaneous, quick-thinking generosity we seek to cultivate in RMA this past Thursday by creating a one-page reference sheet for Thursday’s call with Steph Vora, Yes, You CAN Learn Charisma. Hang it in your office to keep the five social behavioral drivers at top of mind so that you can help others – and yourself – feel at ease. Thanks Scott! Get Scott’s reference page here – or download the call itself here.
RMA 101: DID YOU KNOW…
You can read a user’s collected mission reports by clicking on one of the stars in their profile? It’s a great way to check out whether someone might be a good accountability buddy match for you.
Best,
Sara Grace
Community Director
Relationship Masters Academy
“We hold this truth as self-evident: our lives, work, and well-being are interdependent. Everything and everyone is — or can be — connected.” – Charles J. Palus
Posted on July 9th, 2010 by Sara Grace
Greetings everyone. Tahl Raz and I are heading to LA tomorrow for a weekend-long company IP development meeting with Keith and the heads of consulting and training, JP and Jeff. It should be a stimulating weekend ... by which I mean that at nighttime, when the work is done, I'm hoping we'll raid Keith's wine cellar. In all seriousness, I know we'll leave armed with great new ideas that I'll be excited to push into rapid implementation for the next generation of RMA.
I would say more but I'm about to pass out from heat exposure - it's like a medieval moat in NY today - so instead I'll move onto this week's links:
- Get Found on LinkedIn: Andrea, who works in marketing for RMA, sent me this video -- she watched it and said it's worth ponying up your time and your email to learn how to optimize your profile with keywords so that more people find you. Thanks Andrea!
- The Daily Huddle: Peter Osborne won the weekly RMA contest with his accountability tip on how he created incredible results by instituting a SCRUM-like 20-minute morning huddle with his team. The link takes you to the write-up on his own blog.
- Learn to Set Boundaries: Jan Shepard was featured in Who's Got Your Back as the woman who helped coach Keith's sister Karen to lose weight and kick diabetes. I liked her blog on HuffPo which reminds us that yes, you CAN say no. Rescuing people isn't your job in life.
Share your own links with me anytime! sgrace at ferrazzigreenlight - com.
Posted on July 2nd, 2010 by Sara Grace
Greetings! Things are rolling along at RMA - great call on entrepreneurship yesterday with coach Mitch York, who quipped that his smoothie business is an "eight year overnight success" before offering this piece of advice to people preparing to take the plunge from employment to entrepreneurship: "Get yourself a full physical!" According to Mitch, you need to make sure you're healthy before you embark on what will be the most challenging feat of your professional life (and while you still have employer-assisted health care...)
Now, LINKS:
- Not relationship-related, but important: This site shows you the area of the BP oil spill superimposed on a map of your region. Thanks to @heymarci for the link.
- @alisonbzz, who's in charge of Keith's relationship management at Ferrazzi Greenlight, sent me this great piece on why getting personal gets you the job.
- Need a gift last minute? Text it! Thanks to Tanja O for the link.
- How to Be an Expert without Being an Ass. Loved this piece from social media expert Amber Naslund, who I used to read frequently but had forgotten about until user experience expert/social media enthusiast Shelley Long mentioned her on an RMA call.
Posted on June 18th, 2010 by Sara Grace
Greetings! RMA's Pilot II is launched and I've moved myself to NY... so the weekly links roundup is back!!
While I was in LA I had the pleasure of going to one of Keith's dinner parties and was reminded - the man knows how to host a great dinner! We played the question game. Mine: describe my most embarrassing moment. I blurted out the first thing that came to mind: Showing up to a birthday party at age 8 or so, in my fancy party dress, and finding out the party wasn't until next weekend.
Now, the important stuff, links:
UPDATE: I neglected to mention that you can still slide on into Pilot II and avoid the Sept price increase - but get on it quickly so that you can catch up with people who started June 14!
Posted on June 11th, 2010 by Sara Grace
There was an amazing response to Keith’s offer of 9 half-tuition scholarships for the RMA program kicking off on Monday, June 14th. (Join us!) The RMA coaches are still sifting through the applications for the last few winners, but I would like to introduce you to our first five.
Emily Campbell is a “recovering lawyer” who has a passion for helping others in the legal profession to reach their goals. She recently co-taught a session on networking at the NY City Bar and plans to use her RMA experience to learn to "go deep" on relationships and bring this knowledge to her network of lawyers and eventually to the next firm that she works with. Welcome, Emily!
Debbie Peters has a background in insurance and financial services. She has been studying for her insurance broker’s license and read Never Eat Alone as part of her training program. Debbie is working on her career search with her own personal board of directors, who offer support and varied perspectives, which are helping Debbie to see new opportunities. Welcome, Debbie!
Andrew Herrnstein has been utilizing skills he learned in “A Simple 5-Step Program to Land Your Dream Job in 2010,” a webinar Keith hosted several months ago, and is exploring ways to broaden his relationship skills and personal knowledge in order to follow his dreams and find that perfect fit job. Welcome, Andrew!
Walt Ford used his own personal and professional network to recover from huge setbacks in his cleaning business, and also to launch a new venture where he teaches other the skills they need to effectively nurture and grown their own relationships. Welcome, Walt!
Mark D.Radtke has faced professional and physical challenges over the past five years. Now that he is on the path to recovery, he is ready to get back to work and looks forward to improving the relationships with the people he feels he has disappointed and becoming a very productive member of his community. Mark has stepped up the generosity by offering to fund future scholarships to RMA once he is back at work, and to use his talents to help those in need. Welcome, Mark!
RMA’s Pilot II starts on Monday. I, for one, am excited to meet and start working with the scholarship winners and all of the other amazing people who have signed up to participate. Taking everyone on this journey is such an amazing opportunity for all of us – thanks to those who are a part!
One final plug, I can't stop myself: This pilot is great opportunity to take Keith's program for a fraction of what it will cost in September. There's no better time than summer to take what is essentially a fitness camp for your relationships. Do it!
Posted on May 14th, 2010 by Sara Grace
Greetings! After today's RMA coaching call, I'm hot to get started on my vision board - part of the launch of Course II. Yes, I've been cynical in the past about vision boards due to the stink of The Secret. But truth be told, I love to cut and paste and do believe in the power of thinking through what you want and translating it into concrete images. So bring it on universe! I'm a'callin.
Now, links:
- Help RMA's Digital Director Craig Leinoff: He needs 45 secs of your time to cheer for him in the Livestrong Virtual Tour; he's riding in the name of his mom, who's fighting cancer. Go here: http://bit.ly/c3vzvC .
- Are you an asker or a guesser? This article will tell you - and might just be the key to solving all your communication troubles. Or at the very least, 20%.
- From Forbes, best answers to awkward interview questions. Thanks to @alisonbzz for the link!
Have a great weekend all!
Posted on April 21st, 2010 by Meghna Majmudar
Meghna heads up the High Impact Teams consulting practice at Ferrazzi Greenlight with Keith. She is based in New York City. If you have questions or want to increase your team's impact, contact her at mmajmudar at ferrazzigreenlight dot com.
Do you have so much to do at work it's hard to stop and take a breath? Then it's time to SLOW DOWN! If you don't, the universe will find a way to do it for you - you'll slip up, get sick, or worse.
Think you can't slow down? Here are two big suggestions that have helped me when I hit one of these vicious cycles of overwhelm.
1. Do just enough to check things off your list – I usually get my work done early. My documents look polished. I like to go iterate over a couple of drafts of deliverables. But in times of overwhelm, I let go of these “nice to haves” and focused on the minimum I needed to get done. So my documents weren’t as pretty, and I had to work right up to my deadline – but the clients didn’t notice and we got positive momentum on a couple of new initiatives to boot!
2. Get present and breathe. I used to pooh-pooh all the stress-management advice. I’m young, I do a lot of yoga, I got stress handled, or so I think…regardless, when overwhelmed, I know my fight-or-flight behaviors take over. I noticed I was acting “fight or flight” – impatient, feeling unappreciated, craving junk food - and reminded myself to breathe, calm down, and take a second look at the situation. This pause short-circuited the feelings of hopelessness, and helped me see the right next step.
Tell me – what do you do to get back on top of your game?
Posted on April 7th, 2010 by Meghna Majmudar
Meghna heads up the High Impact Teams consulting practice at Ferrazzi Greenlight with Keith. She is based in New York City. If you have questions or want to increase your team's impact, contact her at mmajmudar at ferrazzigreenlight dot com.
Even the most motivated among us face it at some point: There’s going to come a time when suddenly, achieving your personal and professional goals, really just sounds... hard. It could be so many things – change in seasons, cosmic energy, or plain old laziness – but the result is the same: You’re just not in the game. I’ve been there more than I’d like to admit and I found the tricks below helped me to get unstuck. Try them out!
- “Flip the Script” – We tend to have a fair amount of negative self talk when we are making changes or trying to accomplish something difficult. When I start complaining or getting frustrated, I ask myself: “what if how it is, right NOW, is perfect?” Once you see the current situation is perfect, it’s much easier to see what beliefs had you stuck and you can move right by.
- Give in to the emotion and “feel it all” – So it’s beautiful outside and you feel like crap. Give yourself permission to feel really crappy for as long as want. Eat donuts, wear sweats, don’t go outside. When I do this, I get sick of that behavior in about 2 hours and then I have the energy to go outside, make new slides for a client presentation, or schedule interviews.
- Get a manicure – A colleague asked me to join her in getting a manicure last night and it felt great. Just to sit and not feel like I had to do anything other than pick the right color. (Gold!). Anything that makes you feel better about yourself can ease the way out of a rut.
- Ease up on the judgment – It’s easy to beat yourself up when you’re not achieving your goals as quickly as possible. We remind our corporate clients, we are all human – so as long as you’re headed in the right direction, you’ll get to your goal soon enough! Don’t give up just as the momentum is starting to shift your way.
What about you - What do you do to get back in the game?
Posted on April 2nd, 2010 by Sara Grace
Monday marks the launch of the Relationship Masters Academy pilot class - woot! I'll be acting as community director for the pilot period, and sharing some of the experience here. I'm hoping to get some great field reports as participants take Keith's best strategies out into their daily lives. We've got a great team of coaches and pilot participants and I can't wait to get the ball rolling.
Now, this week's links:
Define your leadership brand: Become a stronger leader with the help of this great exercise from Norm Smallwood, posting on HBR. Thanks to Dana for passing it on!
Get into Biz School: Evan Forster and David Thomas sent me The MBA Reality Check, a "no B.S." guide to getting into business school. I asked our office intern, a recent Barnard grad interested in marketing, to give it a first look. I heard her laughing twice and she asked to take it home with her. I'd say that's a strong recommendation. Expect to see a blog about it on this site soon.
Do No Evil: Don't do these things! They'll wreck your network.
Remember to send me links for next week - either your own or the best you've read. sgrace at ferrazzigreenlight dot come.
Posted on April 1st, 2010 by Keith Ferrazzi
Talking about building relationships and service at TED
Back from London, Bahrain, and Amsterdam -- what a trip. Feeling reflective as one often does after a lot of travel abroad.
The act of service has been transformative in my life personally. I grew up being taught the power of "paying it forward" in my life by all those who were there for me as a child and young man. Then it became more evident after publishing Never Eat Alone. I began to stand in front of audiences and give my personal testimonial for a life transformed through a life of stronger relationships... I had to hold the mirror up and ask every day if I was living up to my books and talk? And the answer was not always yes!
But a few years ago I began a new chapter in my life of service. It started with Meals on Wheels and the weekly transformation I gained reaching out and touching individual lives so directly in such simple but powerful ways. I guarantee I got more out of it than anyone I delivered that meal to.
Service has now become a contagion for me! I make every effort to tie in acts of direct service around every major trip I do. My work to bring our message to individul children and to help those serving others use our work to better their lives and service... This is truly the joy of my life today.
