by Caroline Leach | Oct 22, 2016 | Corporate Communications, Work/Life
Stories bring people together in powerful ways.
I was reminded of this at a recent leadership offsite.
Following a day of focusing on the future and identifying imperatives for the coming year, we gathered around the dinner table.
The talk turned to people’s stories, their families and the paths to where they are today.
We heard about teachers, farmers and ranchers. We heard about people who were the first in their family to attend college. We heard about struggles and triumphs. We heard about hard work and dedication.
It was an inspiring slice of largely American history. One especially sage colleague remarked about how far each of our families had come in just a few generations.
It’s easy to lose sight of that in our fast-paced, always-on 21st-century world.
I wonder what life was like for my great-grandfather, Neils Peter Larsen. Born in Denmark in the late 1800s, he was the youngest of 9 children.
With little economic opportunity on the Danish isle of Laeso, he left his country as a young teen. As a cabin boy, he sailed around Cape Horn to San Francisco.
Some years later, he became the captain of his own ship, the St. Katherine. My grandmother and sister share her name and adventurous spirit.
That’s the ship pictured above, temporarily stuck in the ice in the Bering Sea in the early 1900s. How cold must it have been that day? How likely was it the ship would break apart as the ice moved? How scary was it to walk across the waves?
Or maybe it was just business as usual in that line of work.
According to the San Francisco-based Pacific Telephone Magazine where my mom was featured as an employee in the 1960s, “Captain Larsen made history with voyages to Alaska during the Yukon gold rush and later with the Alaskan fisheries.”
I can only imagine what those experiences were like today, as I gaze at my family’s framed sea charts from California, Hawaii and Japan that line my walls.
It’s absolutely incredible to think how far sea navigation has come in little over 100 years – from large paper charts to electronic navigation systems. What amazing advancements will the next century hold?
My great-grandparents honeymooned by sailing around the coast of China. That chart hangs in my parents’ house in Connecticut, complete with pencil markings of an uncharted island my ancestors discovered on their journey.
These stories and the ones I heard from my colleagues remind me of the hard work and determination that are the hallmarks of our country.
They remind me that when things get tough, there’s always a way through – or around or over.
They remind me that the future is exciting and that we’re each creating it, one day at a time.
We have what it takes. We got this.
As I contemplate a visit to Denmark, I’m inspired by the serendipitous family reunion that the multi-talented photographer Denice Duff experienced on a magical trip to Italy.
While looking for her great-grandmother’s house in Sicily, she had the unexpected good fortune to meet family members she never knew she had.
This heartwarming story may be one of the reasons I recently picked up a book called The Storyteller’s Secret.
In this captivating read, Carmine Gallo says that, “since the next decade will see the most change our civilization has ever known, your story will radically transform your business, your life and the lives of those you touch.”
Why is this important? Because “ideas that catch on are wrapped in a story,” he says.
Stories connect us, inform us and inspire us.
That’s undoubtedly one of the reasons behind the golden age of television, with so many compelling shows. This is why it’s so exciting to work in an industry at the intersection of entertainment and technology.
This is where great stories are told that entertain us, help us make sense of the world and prompt us to think about our own stories and the difference we’re making.
(And this is where I remind readers that opinions are my own.)
Speaking of stories, I can’t wait to hear from the speakers at next week’s TEDWomen 2016 conference. Fittingly for me, it’s in San Francisco, close to where I was born and where my daughter is attending college.
What’s your story? How are you writing it every day?
by Caroline Leach | Oct 9, 2016 | Corporate Communications, Social Media
Our incoming messages are exploding.
LinkedIn messages. Facebook and Twitter notifications. Emails. Texts. Snaps.
Just reading and responding to everything could be more than a full-time job.
You need a strategy for when you do and don’t respond.
And I don’t subscribe to the philosophy that no response is the right way to say no.
In our hyperconnected world, our humanity and good manners can too easily go by the wayside.
Sometimes it’s because we can’t help the person and we need to say no. In those cases, have a standard professional response you can copy, paste, edit and send to say you’re not interested at this time, but you’ll keep the info for future reference.
Some messages are easy not to respond to:
- Automated sales pitches, usually via LinkedIn and Twitter
- Connection requests immediately followed by a sales pitch, again, usually via LinkedIn and Twitter
- Connection requests in LinkedIn from people you don’t know and that aren’t personalized to explain why they’d like to connect with you
- Tweets that mention you as a way to draw you into an issue for which you can offer no meaningful response
Some messages deserve a response. And while it would be easy enough to ignore them, giving a response can set you apart and enhance your company’s reputation:
- Customers of your company who need help getting an issue resolved. Respond to that customer right away. Be a friendly, helpful, human face and voice. Connect them with your company’s customer care team for a rapid response.
Interesting stat: 78% of people who complain to a brand in Twitter expect a response within an hour. Another one: 77% of people feel more positive about a brand when their tweet has been replied to.
(This is where I remind readers that opinions expressed are my own.)
- People from your alma maters, past and present employers and other professional groups who ask for your advice or an introduction to a colleague for networking purposes.
- Connections, colleagues and friends who post valuable content. Read their link, give them a “like” if the content is something you want to be associated with, and leave a short and upbeat comment that adds a constructive observation to the dialogue. Social media is all about reciprocity.
And some messages fall in between.
An example? A request to connect to one of your connections, without a clearly stated reason.
Recently a LinkedIn connection asked to connect to a colleague, to invite her to an event. I suspected it was a sales pitch and didn’t want to spam my colleague. I asked the requester for more info. Never heard back. End of story.
Suppose you do decide to respond to a message to decline a request and you get a response asking for something else.
What then?
Here I take my cue from a wise colleague, Tina Morefield. She’ll send a response. One response. And after that, no more.
Unless, of course, it’s from a customer who needs your help. In that case, keep responding until the issue is resolved to the customer’s satisfaction. Because our customers are the lifeblood of our organizations.
When do you respond? When do you not respond?
by Caroline Leach | Sep 27, 2016 | Corporate Communications, Social Media
Everyone needs a great headshot.
Why? Social media profiles. Executive biographies. Email signatures. Conference badge photos.
Having a great headshot helps build your personal brand.
But sometimes being photographed is the last thing we want to do. Here are 12 ways to get a great shot and have fun in the process.
Just do it. Get a new photo taken every few years. I waited 5 years since my last headshot, which was way too long.
My colleague Roger Hyde‘s team had created such a perfect environment years ago, complete with a wind machine, that I was hesitant to do it again.
But thanks to the gentle coaxing of photographer Jessica Sterling, my husband Kevin and I finally took new headshots.
Decide what message you want to convey. What do you want your headshot to say about you? It should amplify your personal brand – what you want to be known for.
I wanted a new photo I could use in a corporate environment. It also needed to work in other contexts in my professional and personal lives.
Pick a great photographer. Ask your colleagues and friends for recommendations. Or use social media to find someone local.
On a tight budget? Find someone who’s starting out or team up with friends who need headshots.
If you’re planning a professional event, bring in a photographer for attendees to get their pics done.
The global youth media company Fullscreen did this at a recent women’s leadership event – brilliant idea!
In my case, I had the good fortune of knowing Jessica Sterling from work, and I was familiar with her visual capability with people and organizations. I personally retained her services, and so it began.
Check out other headshots for inspiration. Look at headshots of people you admire. Check out leaders and standouts in your field. Find images that express what you want to convey. Think about how you’ll express what makes you unique. Share samples and discuss ideas with your photographer.
Personalities shine through in the speaker headshots for the upcoming TEDWomen 2016 conference. I can’t wait to attend this in October and hear from these fascinating women and men.
Have your makeup and hair done. Bring in the professionals!
Whether it’s your own go-to hair and makeup glam squad, or a stop at the Dry Bar for a blowout and Sephora for a makeover, have your hair and makeup done.
Thank you, Emma Willis and Countour Fosse!
Wear solid colors. Solids photograph well and are bolder. Bright colors pop and attract more attention. Too much white can wash you out.
Bring several wardrobe options to your shoot and play around with the pieces. Have different jewelry options.
Blue is my employer’s brand color, so I chose a jewel-toned blue jacket (this is where I mention that opinions are my own). But I also love red, so I brought my favorite Nina McLemore jacket.
Try to smize. While searching for tips on taking a great headshot, supermodel and entrepreneur Tyra Banks rose to the top. Here I learned how to smize. This is all about smiling with your eyes to take a great shot.
Relax and have fun. Cue up your favorite music. Bring a friend who makes you laugh and brings out the best in you. Let your playful side emerge and enjoy all the attention. After all, how often do you get to be center stage for the better part of a day in real life?
Take “behind the scenes” pics. Among the four of us in the studio, we each got some pictures as the shoot was unfolding. These were fun to post on Instagram that day.
Choose the best image to be your personal brand. Look through all the shots on a few different occasions. Mark your favorites. Ask friends for feedback. Think about the brand you want to express. Does your selection capture that essence?
Use your headshot consistently in EVERYTHING. I used to use one photo in “professional” social media platforms (LinkedIn and Twitter) and a more casual one in more “personal” social media platforms (Facebook and Instagram). I tried to keep the two worlds separate, but the lines continue to blur.
So this time I took Guy Kawasaki‘s advice in The Art of Social Media. I picked one picture to use in everything.
Just as a business brand uses the same logo consistently, your headshot is YOUR brand. You should use the same photo consistently in your social world.
When I made a list of where I’d use my new headshot, it kept growing. Executive bio. Social media profiles. My gmail signature (another nod to Guy Kawasaki for recommending Wise Stamp). College alumni profiles. Google. Yelp. AirBNB. On so on.
My headshot is on my camera roll so I can upload it into event apps and anywhere I might need it.
Take advantage of events that offer headshots. Be camera ready to take a new pic at a variety of events that offer photography.
And don’t forget to smize!
Recent Comments