Check out a few of the posts on the myGreenlight blog this week:

• Jeffrey Pfeffer Says Save Generosity Until You Have Power
• Three Terrific Young Bloggers
• I'm a Fraud - Are You?
• Take on Your Professional Goals
• Relationship Roundup - a few ways to challenge yourself to get out of your shell, manage difficult tasks, and put your relationships on the right track.

Enjoy!

0 comments // In Site News and Happenings

My business partner Jeff Kaplan took a look at the people plan underlying the success of Kony 2012. Here's an excerpt:

Beneath its emotional logic, the heart of the fastest growing social action campaign in history rests squarely on the creation and execution of a people plan. Our consulting firm has been teaching this method for decades, but Kony 2012 is one of the best case studies we have seen on how individuals can harness relational strategy and leverage to breath the rarified air of true, unquestioned success.

The approach is elegantly simple: adopt the MINDSET of success, FOCUS on specific goals, TARGET the small group of people critical to your success, DEFINE how you are going to make each person responsive to your efforts, ALIGN others to help you achieve your goal and set a specific OUTREACH plan to coordinate your engagement with the people you need on your side.

To read the rest of the post, jump to Jeff's blog.

0 comments // In Relationship Mapping

MyGreenlight's next Social Capitalist event will be a great one. Check out all of the event details and feel free to share them with your network. -KF

Prepare to break the ceiling on your professional goals using the mental and physical strategies and tactics of the U.S. Navy Seals.

Join us Wednesday, March 28th at 12pm ET for our next Social Capitalist Live Event with Mark Divine, CEO of SEALFIT, NavySEALs.com, and US Cross Fit.

--> Click here to register!

Mark is the leader in providing civilians with mental toughness training and Navy Seal fitness. His insights into elite fitness, elite teams, leadership, mental toughness, and warrior spirit development were developed over his 20 years as a SEAL and business leader, 25 years as a martial artist, and 15 years as yoga practitioner. Mark is also a former adjunct professor of leadership at the University of San Diego, and a co-founder of the Coronado Brewing Co.

From Mark, you'll learn how to:

• Fine tune teamwork and accountability to drive excellence
• Forge the mental toughness that creates strong presence and leadership
• Maintain your "positive charge" – not just emotionally, but physically
• Develop your inner Corporate Warrior to excel in all areas of your life

To Learn More:

Learn more about Sealfit: http://www.sealfit.com/about-us/news/
See the program in action: http://www.nbcsandiego.com/on-air/as-seen-on/Hell_Week_Boot_Camp_San_Diego-130847008.html

I hope you'll join us Wednesday, March 28^th at Noon ET for what’s sure to be an energizing discussion.

Again, here's the link for registration.

2 comments // In MyGreenlight

I met Garrett at Summit Series and was so impressed by his success story launching his nonprofit (buoyed by advice from NEA!) that I asked him to contribute a blog. Audacity and the power of a great idea are the big drivers here. - KF

I was a college student when I co-founded SEE College Prep, a non-profit that has helped more than 1,300 low-income high school students improve their SAT scores an average of 200 points and become the first in their families to go on to college. At the time, I had no idea what it meant to raise large amounts of money, or the kinds of relationships I would need to build to do so.

Fortunately, a friend clued me in to Keith and Never Eat Alone and that wisdom has supported me ever since. It has been an extraordinary learning curve: in a short period of time, I went from not knowing a single person who could donate more than a few hundred dollars, to raising nearly $2 million in 18 months.

I followed my heart, risked embarrassment by asking simple questions, and found the courage to ask for people’s time and eventually money. I was empowered by the mission of what I was trying to achieve, and since I had a calling I knew that no request was too silly or too bold. I reached out to mentor after mentor—first professors, then non-profit leaders, then heavy hitters like Stanford University President John Hennessy and billionaires John Fisher, John Morgridge, and Laurene Powell Jobs. Not all of these conversations were successful, but I saw first-hand how little I knew and how much people were willing to help. Technology has helped people like me: many of the most impressive people I’ve met have agreed to meet following a cold e-mail; some of those people are my closest mentors and advisors today. Read more →

1 comment // In Entrepreneurship

Check out a few of the great posts from the myGreenlight blog this week:

• How to Become the Big-Idea Creative - Read Tahl Raz’s post on his Social Capitalist interview with Management Guru and Fast Company Co-Founder Bill Taylor. Boost your creativity and stand out in your industry.
• Best Relationship Posts of 2011 - Favorite relationship-related posts of last year from across the web.
  
• Relationship Roundup - Five ideas for using relationship capital to survive and thrive in 2012.
  
• Reclaiming "Resolutions" for Truly Transformative Progress - Read myGreenlight's Program Director’s take on resolutions vs. intentions for the New Year and how the distinction affects her plans for 2012.
  

0 comments // In Site News and Happenings

My interview with Robert Courteau, president, SAP North America, at Live Talks Business Forum, is up now on Vimeo – check it out!

1 comment // In Entrepreneurship

Happy New Year! To help you start your year off right, today's post is packed with goal setting resources from myGreenlight. Enjoy!

The Five Lists You Need to Set the Right Goals this Year
In honor of the recent creation of myGreenlight's Course III, we’re releasing an article from it. Create clarity around your dream career by creating five simple, yet meaningful, lists.

Set Your Goals for Success in Six Steps
You probably have plenty of experience setting goals. But for whatever reason, you haven't often followed through. It happens. They weren’t the right goals, or you didn’t have support to keep you on track. Or perhaps your goals changed over time, and now you MUST re-evaluate. This guide will provide the tools you need to set commitments that matter, and achieve goals with consistency and focus.

An Alternative to Goal Setting, Just in Time for 2012
December’s Master’s Mission from the venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and coach Christine Comaford helps you to identify not just goals, but true “needle movers” that will transform your business and/or personal life.

The RAP that Made Me a First-Time CEO
If you haven’t yet created a Relationship Action Plan (RAP), get motivated to do so by watching this video of me explaining the RAP that made me a first-time CEO.

Hope these resources help you make 2012 your best year yet.

1 comment // In Goal Setting

Ready for this month's myGreenlight master's mission? This is your chance to identify the fundamental "needle movers" that will create success in 2012. -KF

Does the idea of setting goals instantly paralyze you? Have you found goal-setting to be an ineffective way to create real change in your life?

On a recent Social Capitalist call, the author, CEO, venture capitalist, and coach Christine Comaford gave myGreenlighters the following mission to improve their 2012 planning:

Identify needle movers, rather than goals, for 2012.

Needle movers are actions that will truly move the needle forward in your business or personal life – essentially goals that change your life fundamentally. While a goal is binary and can leave you feeling great or defeated, a needle mover ends with you either reaching your target (what you want), the minimum (what you are willing to accept), or a mind blowing result (beyond your wildest dreams!). You won’t always get the exact result you want but you will have moved the needle forward.

To complete Christine’s mission, write down the three things that would change everything for you in your business life and your personal life. Three in each category. For example, Christine said that one of her 2012 needle movers will be to take at least seven personal retreats to do yoga and explore nature throughout the year. Getting centered allows her to be of better service to her network and to be overall more productive, healthy, and happy.

What are your 2012 needle movers? Please share – your ideas may inspire someone else!

18 comments // In Goal Setting

Ready for this month's master's mission? If you try it, you'll benefit not only from "vuja de" but from the opportunity to connect with two members of your network. Enjoy! - KF

On this month’s myGreenlight Social Capitalist webinar, agenda-setting writer, Fast Company co-founder and entrepreneur Bill Taylor explained what he calls “vuja de.” We all know what déjà vu means: the feeling that a new situation already happened. Bill flips the term to describe the experience of examining the industry you've been in for so long -- and suddenly seeing it differently.

The need to continually self-evaluate and evolve is necessary to be truly successful, especially in this economy. We all get into routines in every aspect of our lives and find ourselves doing things a certain way because that is how they’ve always been done. Don’t let your expertise get in the way of innovation.

Your Mission: Pick a current professional challenge you're facing. You can make this as big (raise company’s sales revenue) or small (payroll went out late) as you want. Instead of going to your staff or coworkers for advice, call two contacts in different industries and ask for their input. Have they had similar problems with solutions that could be adapted to fit your scenario? Note how these conversations change your perspective. Did they produce new insight you couldn't have come up with on your own? That's the goal.

What practices do you use to get a fresh perspective on something

3 comments // In Giving Feedback

If you’re like most of us, you know there are things that you do better than anybody else – areas where you believe you’re nothing short of genius, whether you say it out loud or not. Does your current work allow you to tap that genius?

If you’re like many people – and Gallup studies unfortunately back this up – the answer is no.

Enter Practical Genius: The Real Smarts You Need to Get Your Talents and Passions Working for You, Gina Amaro Rudan’s new book that shows you how to identify, express, sustain, and market your genius to the world.

Today I’m happy to share “Identify Your Genius,” the first step in the book’s 5-step program. The goal is to:

• Identify the foundation of your “practical genius,” which are hard assets – your skills, strengths, and expertise.
• Identify your soft personal assets – your passions, creative abilities, and values.
• Identify the sweet spot where the hard and soft assets meet.

Gina calls that sweet spot “the other G-spot.” (I’ve worked with Gina personally so can testify that her great sense of humor isn’t only on the page, she carries it with her!) She writes:

Think of your other G-spot as the ultimate measure by which you make every decision, whether it’s choosing your next employer, your next lover, or the next place you want to live. You can also consider it a formula that will never fail to hold you accountable to staying at the authentic, powerful core of who you are. The other G-spot is a place that is never tilted too far toward the soft (personal) side of who you are nor too far toward the hard (professional) side of who you are. Once you find it and learn to stay there, life becomes much easier, goals become more attainable, relationships prosper, and you will find that achieving results is far easier.

What about you: Have you identified your personal brand of Genius – and are you getting to use it at work?

6 comments // In Personal Development