"What's your word for 2013?" This question has been posted by several colleagues on Facebook and was discussed at a recent networking event I attended. It's a great one; I find it helpful to identify one key word that will help to guide my choices and attitude for the coming year. Of course, many, many words will guide me, but it helps to be intentional about at least one particular idea. The … [Read more...]
You Say It’s Your Birthday (I’ve Got a Gift for You!)
Many times over the past 15 years of my professional life, I have dreaded my birthday. It wasn't the getting-a-year-older thing. It was the let's-all-gather-in-the-conference-room-for-cake-and-forced-fun thing. Or at least, in most offices I worked in, it usually felt like forced fun to me. It got to the point where if my birthday fell on a weekday, I'd choose to take that day as a personal day, … [Read more...]
I Know I’m an Introvert Because…
Ever since I put a stake in the ground as The Introvert Entrepreneur, I've wondered if anyone would create anything along the lines of The Extrovert Entrepreneur. Well, grab your noise-cancelling headphones, because I've found something close to it!! Did you know there's a "full-service healthcare agency" called "Extrovertic"? Fascinating! Everyone who works there is an extrovert (at … [Read more...]
How to Kick Your Paralysis by Analysis Addiction
"KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid." All of us, at some point, have probably heard those words spoken to us, or have said them to ourselves. How rude! Not the "Keep it simple" part... just the "stupid" part. When we call ourselves or others "stupid" in this context, we're beating ourselves up. It's like a mental "whap!" upside the head and a wake-up call to get with the program. (And calling … [Read more...]
Why “Fake it ’til you make it” is Lousy Advice
Last week, I attended a workshop about how to create a compelling business vision and purpose. As part of the process, we were asked to name our core values, going so far as to narrow it down to one, unshakable value that we held near and dear. Even when faced with a long list of lovely words, such as abundance, creativity, excellence, innovation, quality and winning (Ha - I'll never look … [Read more...]
You Wanna Piece of Me?!?: The Fierce Introvert
You know how sometimes a word keeps popping up over and over, so much so that you have to stop a moment and wonder why? Over the past few weeks, my word-pop has been “fierce.” It’s not a word I’ve used very much, and I’ve certainly never used to describe myself or anyone I knew. I mean, really, come on… I’m an introvert!! One of my clients, though, is immersing himself in claiming his … [Read more...]
What “The King’s Speech” & “Black Swan” Have in Common
Note: This post contains no spoilers, nor do you have to have seen either movie to "get it." :-) As I sat in the dark theater last Tuesday night, enraptured by "The King's Speech" and emotionally engrossed in the stuttering troubles of King George VI - or "Bertie" - one line of dialogue jumped out at me. Speech therapist Lionel Logue (embodied superbly by Geoffrey Rush) said of Bertie, "It's like … [Read more...]
Creating Introvert Pride of Ownership with Beth Buelow
When I witnessed a recent claim - and subsequent retraction - of "I'm an extrovert" by an introvert, it got me thinking again about how we introverts sometimes negate that part of our personality. We think it's a curse. We think it needs to be changed. We think we need to hide it, because we get messages that our introvert traits are not OK. The less our personality is affirmed, the more we … [Read more...]
Why Improv is Scarier than Death
When I took a speech class in college, I learned a new word that I loved to say: extemporaneous. I loved to say it, and what it meant scared me to death. To be extemporaneous means to ad lib - to speak (and presumably, to speak intelligently) without a chance to prepare, at the drop of a hat. Another Merriam-Webster definition says "happening suddenly and often unexpectedly and usually without … [Read more...]
The Introvert Entrepreneur & Good to Great: Facts & Faith
Of all of the principles outlined in "Good to Great," the one presented in chapter 4 presents the biggest potential challenge. It’s probably where companies – and entrepreneurs – either make it or break it. Collins’ research found that good-to-great companies were able to confront the brutal facts while keeping the faith that they would not only survive, but prevail (he calls this the “Stockdale … [Read more...]