Diane Darling's Blog

Bob Kraft's motto

Who is wise? He who learns from all men. Who is rich? He who is happy with his portion. Who is strong? He who controls evil inclinations. Who is honored? He who honors all men.

- Boston Business Journal, March 1, 2012

Week 02 - "Thank you project" // Who has helped your career?

This week's note .... who has helped your career?

Think of people who have helped your career. For example, someone who wrote a reference for you to get a job or a client. Was there someone who suggested you go for a promotion? Did you write a thank you note? Do they know you got the promotion? Was there someone who write a reference for you to get into grad school?

----------------------------------------------

Sample #1 - Someone who gave you a job reference

Dear __________,

I was thinking of you the other day when I was at work. I remember how wonderful you were to take the time to write a letter of reference which helped me get the job.

Please let me know if I can be a resource for you at any time.

Best ~ (your name), (your cell #)

 

Sample #2 - Someone who introduced you to a new customer/client

Dear __________,

I was thinking of you the other day when I was meeting with ___________. I remember how wonderful you were to take the time to introduce us.

Please let me know if I can be a resource for you at any time.

Best ~ (your name), (your cell #)

Here's more background about the Thank You Project .... please join me and invite your friends.

Inviting you to join "the thank you project"

• Are you looking to differentiate yourself from your competitors?
• Trying to find a way to reach prospects, donors, or employees?
• Want to save money?

I'm inviting you to join "the thank you project."

According to a U.S. Postal Service survey, the average American receives a personal, handwritten piece of mail once every seven weeks. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

Here's the project ....

• Most of us have notecards somewhere in a drawer
• Find 4 of them - don't over think this. If it turns out you like this project, you can design cards later, get them printed or something else.
• For now ... think SIMPLE and SHORT
• We'll just send notes in January
• Find 4 stamps - again, you probably have them in a drawer. The best part is the USPS now has FOREVER stamps.
• Here are a few of my favorite FOREVER stamps
  • Indy 500
  • Jazz
  • Mark Twain
  • Neon Celebrate
• Use what you have - again, DON'T over think ......
• Now put the stamps on all 4 envelopes
• Write your return address on all 4 envelopes
• Put in your calendar to write a thank you note for the next 4 Fridays
• Each Thursday night I'll post on this blog some sample ideas of what you can write in your note
• Write a note to someone who has helped you that week or just say hello to someone who came to mind and you haven't talked to in awhile

Common mistakes:

• Overthinking
• Trying to say too much - 3-4 lines is plenty
• This simply should say thank you! Not explain anything about you or your business
• Blaming your bad handwriting - just print!
• Concerned you've waited too long - just send it

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are an idea for what to write this Friday, January 6th .......

Dear ______________,

Happy New Year! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season.

Just a quick note to say thank you for your business last year. I look forward to being a resource for you in 2012.

Look forward to crossing paths before too long soon.

Best ~ ___________________

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Voila! You're done! More next Friday! And yes, it will be Friday, the 13th

You're investment for this project is:

• Notecards - probably in your drawer
• Stamps - either in your drawer or 44 cents x 4 = a whopping $1.76
• 5 minutes each Friday

I look forward to hearing your results ... and yes, you can send me an email instead of a handwritten note. Just send it to: Diane at EffectiveNetworking dot com or you can send me a Tweet @DianeDarling.

Let's use the hashtag #FridayNotes .....

Before you say, "Can I pick your brain ...."

Here's some good suggestions .....

http://www.forbes.com/sites/work-in-progress/2011/03/28/no-you-cant-pick-my-brain-it-costs-too-much/

Just 13, Framingham boy is already a social media guru - The Boston Globe

CAMBRIDGE — Lane Sutton is tweeting from the second row of a social media conference at the Microsoft campus here in Kendall Square. He’s armed with an iPad and iPhone, and a consulting pitch he can deliver in a smooth minute.

via www.boston.com

I'm incredibly lucky to know Lane and his parents personally. It's great to see the creativity and curiosity of the up-and-coming generation.

Are you getting "actionable" feedback?

Sometimes I get brilliant ideas first thing in the morning. The problem is remembering them after I'm actually awake enough to process them.

Today was one of those lucky days. I had a brilliant idea AND I remembered it.

Now mind you, it may not be as brilliant as I think but here goes.

Yesterday I taught a workshop and the core of the curriculum was to provide "actionable feedback" to people. No dancing around the topic. Face it head on ... as long as you know what the topic is.

All this lead me to realize how rarely we get feedback. I mean true feedback. The stuff we don't always want to know.

I gave everyone a personality assessment. For some it was pleasant than others. 

Since I work for myself I don't get a job review. I have no idea if I'm doing well or lousy. Business goes up and down, but that's not necessarily a sign that I'm not delivering great programs. It is a sign of how much effort I'm putting into meeting prospects.

So what I did several years ago was send out a survey to people I liked and I thought would offer actionable feedback. I didn't only want to hear nice stuff. I wanted the grit!

As it turns out, what I needed to change most was .... my clothes! Who knew!

Turns out my style was a bit too casual for my corporate audience.

So here's my tip .... go to Survey Monkey. Set up a very brief survey and send it to ~ 40+ people who have an opinion you respect. Mind you all of them won't respond, but you'll get a start.

Ask what are your strengths? What are your areas for improvement? Is there something you are ovelooking that is getting in your way?

Not the easiest task, but I encourage you to give it a shot. 

3 days without a phone = some interesting networking

Last Thursday I left my phone at gate 32 at Logan Airport in Boston. I realized it as soon as the plane pulled back. It was an interesting few hours on the flight thinking about it.

Part of me was anxious and another part of me thought .... wow, a few days without a phone! I used to do it. Wonder what it would be like again.

I don't have children or ill family so there wasn't any call that would so urgent that I couldn't return it at a later time. I got to the hotel in Chicago, got online and sent emails back to the office.

It was eerily quiet and yet very peaceful. I don't think of myself as that addicted .... I didn't have a "Crackberry." But it was clear how much energy I put into it. Was I managing my technology or was it managing me?

My speaking commitment was the next day, Friday. I'd be flying back to Boston on Saturday. The optimist in me was hoping the phone would be there when I landed. (It wasn't.) I tried to file the insurance claim and have a replacement sent. The form didn't recognize my hotel.

Could I really go without a phone for a few days? As it turns out I could and I did. 

My conversations at the conference were fascinating when I mentioned that I lost my phone. Many people looked at me surprised I wasn't having a meltdown. Others commented how nice it would be to be disconnected.

As I watched people walk by on their phones or almost walking into me because they had their heads down I started to wonder ..... when our graves are excavated in millions of years, will we look like we were praying?

Anyway, I am indeed now the owner of a Blackberry. So far it has been better than I expected. I liked the quiet and notice that I am less attached to my phone than I used to be ......

Off to The Forté Foundation’s 2010 MBA Women’s Conference

May sound weird but I'm actually enjoying an hour at the airport. I'm flying to Chicago to speak to the Forte Foundations MBA Women's Conference. What an amazing collection of speakers!

It's been a fabulous but nutty few months. I just bought my FIRST home! The first one of my entire life! I'm very happy. It's quite a wonderful distraction. It's amazing how much time you can spend searching for estate sales on Craigslist. It's also amazing what people have in their homes! OMG!

I'm thinking of adopting a cat in the fall after I've lived there for a few months. That would also be a first - I've never had a pet of my own. I'll go to one of the shelters or find someone who has one that needs a new home.

This photo looked too cute!

Congrats to my client - Deloitte Honored for Women's Advancement Initiatives

Deloitte LLP has been named a recipient of the 2010 Catalyst Award, an honor recognizing innovative, effective and measurable initiatives to advance women in the workplace.  Catalyst, a global nonprofit organization dedicated to building inclusive workplaces and expanding opportunities for women in business, cited the achievements of Deloitte’s Women’s Initiative (WIN), noting it has “created significant change in the company’s culture and provided an engine for innovation, becoming a model for other organizations in the process.” This is the second Catalyst Award presented in honor of a Deloitte initiative. In 1995, Catalyst recognized Deloitte’s Task Force for the Retention and Advancement of Women.

“These initiatives exemplify our Catalyst vision - ‘Changing workplaces. Changing lives,’” said Ilene H. Lang, president & chief executive officer of Catalyst. “They impact the lives of employees, families and communities by transforming organizations, and serve as models that inspire and encourage others to embrace inclusive workplaces that benefit women, men and business.”

Deloitte Honored for Women’s Advancement Initiatives.

Yours truly quoted in Wall Street Journal

Hi all - I was quoted in the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, March 2, 2010

A Networking Pro Learns Some New Tricks

Can you teach a dinosaur to dance? More importantly, can you teach him to network in 21st Century style? I was skeptical.

But George Langis, a veteran turnaround executive, dispelled doubts by learning new networking steps that may hasten his job hunt. He went from conventional handshake networking to creating a personal brand that would be easily marketable online. Though Mr. Langis still hesitates to plunge into "tweeting," his experience could benefit countless other older applicants with rusty job-hunting skills.

Isaac Brekken for the Wall Street Journal

Our experts considered George Langis, a veteran turnaround executive, a deft conventional networker who needed to broaden his online reach.

Unemployment among Americans age 55 and up has exceeded 6% every month since March 2009, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show. That represents the highest joblessness rate for this age group in almost 60 years. The rate, though, is lower than the overall jobless rate as well the rates for all other age groups.

Mr. Langis helped fix nine small and midsize concerns since 2000, following a lengthy corporate-finance career. His last turnaround gig, as interim chief executive of Turbine Generator Maintenance Inc. in Cape Coral, Fla., ended in late November.

At my request, three networking specialists devised innovative approaches for Mr. Langis after traditional tactics, such as his recent sessions with 79 contacts in eight cities, failed to bear fruit. He embraced nearly all of their ideas. They range from drafting a "networking profile" to joining a global network of expert consultants typically retained for an hour at a time.

"Dinosaurs do dance," insists Mr. Langis, a 63-year-old resident of Henderson, Nev., with broad shoulders and smiles. "I lead change in companies. I can certainly change."

He acquired his fresh dance steps from Alicia Whitaker, a New York executive coach; Stephanie Daniel, an outplacement counselor for a unit of Keystone Partners, a Boston human-resources consultancy; and Diane Darling, founder of Effective Networking Inc. in Boston.

For starters, they consider Mr. Langis a deft conventional networker. They cite his month-long "Sell George" tour this winter to see contacts he collected during his career. And then there's the regular email and telephone interaction with his roughly 500 best contacts—even while toiling 70 hours a week on a turnaround. "George does most of his critical networking face to face," Ms. Daniel observes.

Mr. Langis doesn't send text messages, "friend" anyone via Facebook or send tweets to people on Twitter, a micro-blogging service. Bolstering his outreach will produce "a more strategic and more defined network," Ms. Darling says.

For people like Mr. Langis who aren't yet comfortable about putting themselves on multiple social networks, there are some clever ways to create a presence online. Here are the top tips from his informal advisers:

• Develop a stronger online identity by revamping your résumé. Mr. Langis's résumé contained a vague summary statement, calling him "a seasoned executive" who served distressed and healthy businesses. To better catch someone's eye online, the experts encouraged him to tout his turnaround stints. Ms. Whitaker believes he could better convey his passion and experience with this summary statement: "I make sick companies significantly better for owners and employees." Mr. Langis says he altered the wording "the day it was suggested."

Ms. Daniel urged Mr. Langis to create a networking profile, too. The document typically describes a job seeker's 20 target employers, desired positions and career plans. It also contains a brief review of accomplishments. A networking profile "could increase the productive leads he receives from his networking contacts," Ms. Daniel says. He can present the document when he meets someone face to face for the first time or "he can store it online through LinkedIn," she says.

• Make better use of LinkedIn, a professional networking Web site. Heeding the trio's suggestions, Mr. Langis revived his inactive LinkedIn account. He expanded his barebones professional description and added 1,500 of his contacts to LinkedIn. Most of his contacts are private-equity industry players.

Mr. Langis discovered only 72 contacts belong to LinkedIn, which has more than 60 million members world-wide. "I hope my being there will attract those who are not among my current contacts," he says. He then inserted his simplified LinkedIn address below his automatic signature on email messages.

Ms. Darling suggests Mr. Langis solicit LinkedIn testimonials from prior bosses. Ms. Daniel thinks he should join specialized LinkedIn groups, such as the one for consultants with expertise in management changes and turnarounds, and connect with international professionals in his field.

• Create a more visible personal brand. Mr. Langis admits he lacks a well-known brand as a turnaround specialist. He never knew he might benefit, as Ms. Whitaker suggested, from consulting for a rent-an-expert network, which provides small doses of specialized information.

Gerson Lehrman Group, for instance, has enrolled about 250,000 experts world-wide. They typically earn about $350 an hour, according to Margaret Molloy, a senior vice president of the New York concern. Clients, which include private-equity firms, tap experts' knowledge through short phone calls or consultations over meals.

Positioning yourself as a thought leader this way will broaden your pool of potential employers, Ms. Whitaker told Mr. Langis. Private-equity companies "are not necessarily out in the market scanning for new talent all the time," she notes.

Ms. Darling believes Mr. Langis could further heighten his visibility if he gave speeches, wrote trade-press articles and taught Webinars for alumni of schools where he received degrees. "When you are a speaker, you are instantly networking with 100 people," she says.

Mr. Langis addressed a College of Southern Nevada class last week at the invitation of his handyman's son, who is a student there. He says he told business students "what I do and how I got there." His last campus speaking engagement occurred around 1998, the executive recalls.

• Get a bigger payoff from industry events. Mr. Langis usually finds himself so busy doing turnarounds that he lacks time for meetings of the Turnaround Management Association, a professional group. Ms. Darling says he should find the time to help the group arrange for speakers because he'll earn a program mention that pops up in Google when hiring managers check his name.

When he simply attends a conference, Mr. Langis might obtain the participant list in advance and arrange casual events for those he wants to know, Ms. Whitaker proposes. He could invite people for drinks or sit together at a certain breakfast table. Playing host "can be more effective than generally 'working the room,' " she adds. Mr. Langis rejected some of the recommendations, such as using Twitter. With brief Twitter messages, Ms. Daniel believes, he could update contacts about his search and alert them about interesting articles. "Give and take is what networking is all about," she says.

Mr. Langis, though, considers Twitter to be "a little bit hokey." Nevertheless, "I'm willing to try new things," he says.

His multi-month job search is "just taking longer than usual," Mr. Langis observes. But with these new strategies, he's confident that his hunt will soon experience its own turnaround.

Write to Joann S. Lublin at joann.lublin@wsj.com