Think
back to your first professional success, first public speech or challenge.
You probably heeded Dale Carnegie's age-old advice to speak about
what you knew.
Entrepreneurs learn how to match what they know with what the market
is willing to pay for. And yet often when executives speak among themselves,
they share stories about which they have strong opinions, emotions
or passion, which do not appear in their official communications.
I find myself curious, why don't these stories appear?
The Power
of Passion
How can we use our passion to make what
we do more powerful?
Larry Winget, CSP, the "pit bull of self-improvement" is tenacious
and funny. His passion for self-improvement drives his hard-core approach.
His love of fun drives his antics. The Restaurant Doctor, Bill Marvin,
CSP, knows restaurants. His stories, humor, and programs are infected
by his passion for customer-service excellence. Speaking of excellence,
Tom Peters, ever since his book "In Search of Excellence" embodies
the energy of passion being powerful, in his constant "Pursuit of
Wow". His passion for market and employment trends is reflected in
his use of powerful, hard-hitting statistics and his high-energy style.
All three of these consultants and speakers energize their clients
with their passion. Their stories sizzle because they care about the
outcome. How can we learn from these top speakers to make our own
communications and management initiatives more energized, more powerful
and more effective?
Like other management consultants who speak professionally, I have
expertise in a wide range of business topics including strategy, marketing,
leadership and team development. Our programs heat up when we show
people what is most important to us, invite them to appreciate the
parts of our profession we care deeply about and facilitate opportunities
for them to hear our passions.
What is most important to me is sustainable, peak performance. I am
passionate about wholeness, cross-functional integration and synergy.
I am committed to customer-driven solutions; relevant, researched
data and collaborative processes. I also am passionate about creating
best-in-class health care and I care deeply about vulnerable teens,
kids and animals of all stripes, weights and colors.
My most successful programs blend a provocative positioning of organizational
assessments with future trends designed to shift strategic paradigms
with a facilitated, experiential, collaborative strategy session.
My biggest frustrations from the health care industry become my most
powerful examples of management gone wrong -- where I just happen
to have relevant personal stories that can assist me to make my management
points. Athletes and CEO's alike seem to relate to me best, when I
share my human struggle to stay fit, while being a large woman, in
light of one of the last forms of legal discrimination: size bias.
Why do these things work for me? Because these are important to me.
These are the topics where I have thousands of opinions, the most
emotional edge, the highest frustration, the most touching stories,
and the most fodder for humor, with which to connect with my audience
and make my points memorable. Where do you have thousands of opinions,
the most emotional edge and the highest frustrations?
By combining the things we passionately care about with the regular
content of our management initiatives, and our corporate communications:
- Our delivery is more dynamic
- Our examples are more alive
- We are more authentic
- Our connection with our clients,
employees and customers is deeper, because by showing what we care
about, we also have an opportunity to share our vulnerabilities
(this makes us more human)
- Our humor is sharper, driven from
the frustrations about things we care about
- Our stories are tighter, more on
target to emphasize our points
- Our ability to be spontaneous rises
to new heights
- We focus on our customer's needs,
because our individual styles are a part of who we are
- We are engaged with our clients
and customers
- Content retention and management
effectiveness rises as a result of our connected stories and humor
- Client satisfaction rises as a result
of superior results, higher value
- Referrals, loyalty and bookings
increase
- Your business profitability increases
dramatically
Strategic Fit
So, now the challenge is to match
what you are passionate about with the programs and services you are
committed to provide? Who would benefit from your views on those matters?
What trends give us new passionate opportunities?
With health care in the United States in such turmoil, I am lucky
that health care marketers and HR strategists are interested in learning
from my experience about best-in-class health care. Since the "dot-com
to dot-bomb" experience, technology companies are interested in learning
about being profitably customer-driven.
Some motivational speakers speak to the potential of living one's
dreams. Corporations who hire motivational speakers are sometimes
leery of this type of program for fear that it has the potential to
increase dissatisfaction in its workforce. Ouch. Not a good match
for corporate objectives! In a similar vein, I do pretty good running
comedy about "Being Rubinesque in an Ally McBeal World". But I am
not a stand-up comic, and my corporate audiences are not particularly
interested in paying for this particular passion of mine, unless they
have Rubinesque executives with image or self-esteem issues. If we
want to share these passions with our customers, we have two choices.
We can find a new market niche, who would benefit from our experiences
and passions or we can find ways to use these non-business passions
to add value to our regular target markets.
Corporations large and small are dealing with issues of harassment,
and discrimination. I can use my experience of being discriminated
against because of my size to connect with minority populations that
I otherwise might not connect with. I can empathize with gender issues
and racial issues, without resentment. That gives me a huge advantage
in creating programs with high impact. Now my passion has become not
just entertaining, it has become a competitive advantage. Similarly,
motivational speakers who want to talk about living their dreams might
choose to use their concepts to illustrate how empowerment can create
a more creative, satisfied, workforce with ultimately higher employee
retention. Or they might use their concepts to illustrate internal
career planning. This can be hard work, but it is worth it to mesh
passion with your existing market.
How can your passions provide added value for your clients?
Signature
Style
Your passions are your distinctiveness,
your competitive advantage, your unique selling proposition. They
differentiate you from others who consult in your field, who offer
similar products and services. Like a signature story, or a signature
piece of humor, your passions become the basis of your signature style,
which is something difficult to copy. Corporate signature styles are
sometimes called corporate cultures. Trainers and speakers signature
styles are reflected in their examples and their dialogue. Signature
styles are also reflected in a corporate image. It is the look and
the unique feel that keeps clients loyal and coming back for more.
Signature style is more versatile than an ad campaign or a single
signature story, and it's tough to copy.
Look at these consultants and speakers among us who carry off signature
styles that are all their own. Consider Chris Clarke-Epstein, CSP,
immediate past president of NSA. She played the perfect hostess at
NSA's February Western Regional Workshop banquet, stopping at every
single table, speaking with almost every attendee. Her style is one
of connection. Does it surprise you that her programs are interactive?
Alan Weiss, PhD, CSP, shows with his approach that superior strategic
results are what is important to him. He gladly plays the contrarian
to support his client's climb to the "summit" of their universe. (Alan's
company's name is Summit Consulting.) He calls it like he sees it.
Is it any wonder that CEOs call on him, when they want the real scoop?
Like comedienne Joan Rivers, whose signature style "speaks her truth
in a harsh but playful way" (June Cline Professional Speaker March
2001), Clarke-Epstein and Weiss are congruently who they are.
Look at corporations with signature styles as well. Consider the HP
Way, well known for being collaborative and supportive, vs. the Siebel
culture of German effectiveness. Consider Wal-Mart or Nordstrom's,
both of whom are incredibly customer oriented in their style. All
of these are part of who they are, and what makes them as entities
distinctive, in spite of what products or services they offer.
My signature style is big, fun and outrageous. A friend once characterized
me as the large woman, with the large, flaming-red hair, the big-picture
perspective and the big, powerful voice (I drowned out a small orchestra
once, without a microphone). I figured if I was going to big (clearly
I would never be petite) in all of these dimensions, I might as well
use it to my advantage. Big woman, big voice, big picture. Got it.
Your signature style, is yours and yours alone. Your signature
style is your branding. It is your positioning. It positions
you in contrast to every other speaker that speaks on your topics.
It positions you against every other organization that offers your
product or service. Consider these positioning phrases that give large
clues about signature style: Pit Bull of Self-Improvement. The Hard
Hat Speaker. The Contrarian from Summit Consulting. We Love to Make
You Smile. HP Way. In Pursuit of Wow. TakeRisks.com. Mental Game Coach.
CyberSpeaker. Chicken Soup for the Soul.
What are the elements that constitute your signature style?
Reap the Rewards
When we are dynamic, authentic, engaged
and connected to our clients, customers and audiences; when we are
both confident and vulnerable, with heart touching stories and content
or a message that addresses our clients' most pressing needs; when
our customers and participants remember a greater degree of the content
we offer or the persuasive proposal we offer, and apply it their own
issues and when we are positioned easily to differentiate ourselves
from others, we have staying power. Clients want us back. They seek
the value we offer! They are loyal. They refer us to their colleagues.
Our businesses flourish. So do our bank accounts.
Bernard Haldane, the founder of the career counseling firm that bears
his name, once said that when planning your career it is not good
enough to know what you are good at. He defined career success as
only those career activities that you are both successful at and that
you truly love. This is true for speakers, executives and organizations.
When we speak about what know and that which we love, care and are
passionate about, powerful success is always the result.
A How to Guide to: Passion,
Positioning and Profits
Answer these questions, and you
will have started a plan to reap the benefits of your most powerful
passions.
| What
are your Passions? |
| |
1. |
|
Who are you? (this is where
your passions start) |
|
2. |
|
What is your purpose in life?
(your mission. do you have one?) |
|
3. |
|
What do you value? What is
most important to you? (these typically unconsciously reflect
your identity) |
|
4. |
|
What are you passionate about? |
|
5. |
|
What are you most frustrated,
annoyed or angry with in the world? (seeds for humor) |
|
6. |
|
What do you have strong opinions
about? |
|
7. |
|
Why do you care about these
things? (your vulnerability) |
|
| Who
could benefit? (Strategic fit between your passions and
client needs) |
| |
8. |
|
Who could benefit from your
opinions, your experiences, your passion? |
|
9. |
|
How might you share your
passionate views and stories to illustrate points with in
your existing programs or services and with your existing
markets, in a way that would add value to your programs
by bringing your content to life? |
|
10. |
|
What future client and environmental
trends might create an opportunity for sharing your passions?
|
|
| Signature
Style = Passion + Positioning |
| |
11. |
|
Do your material or your
job while being yourself. This is the core of your
signature style. Be with your customers, your clients,
your audience. Connect. |
|
12. |
|
Authenticity is the result.
It creates loyalty and repeat business. |
|
13. |
|
Feel the power. Provide the
value. |
|
14. |
|
Then position yourself in
the marketplace in light of your passions, your signature
style and your expertise. |
|
| Reap
the Benefits (Profits, Referrals and Return Engagements) |
| |
15. |
|
Watch people remember you. |
|
16. |
|
Answer the phone. It is ringing
off the hook. (So I exaggerated a little.) |
|
17. |
|
Reap the benefits.  |
|
(2059 words) Copyright © 2003 Nan Andrews Amish. All rights
reserved.
This article was published in Professionally Speaking December
2001.
Permission to reprint this article is granted, provided original author
is given credit, and contact information and mini bio are provided
as follows:
|
Author: Nan Andrews Amish,
MBA, CLU
Big Picture Healthcare
 |
|
Nan Andrews Amish
is a management consultant, facilitator and speaker with
expertise in healthcare economics and market research. Nan
Andrews Amish and Big Picture Healthcare offer facilitation,
member surveys, management assessments, tools, workshops
and keynote addresses to help associations, leaders and
teams increase their effectiveness by seeing the Big Picture
Perspective. |
The
Big Woman with the Big Picture Perspective.
phone: 650 560-9800 toll-free 800 858-1750
www.bigpicturehealthcare.com
|
Big Picture Healthcare Nan@BigPictureHealthcare.com
800 858-1750