CMI Speaker Management Blog

Motivational Business Speaker Scott Burrows delivers the personal touch

Karen Harris — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:40:06 GMT

Scott received some wonderful praise from a recent financial services client. The back story: after years of booking 'industry insiders' this client was looking for something different. She wanted a speaker who could deliver a much needed shot to the arm to her association members, while still speaking to the challenges they face in their jobs every day, and the issues confronting their industry.

Scott accomplished exactly that at their annual meeting, and the customer had this to say afterwards: "He took the time to understand our industry and the issues impacting our members, and incorporated that into his own powerful and personal story. Our members were truly blown away by his moving narrative of overcoming adversity with determination, grit, humor, and the support of loved ones. We were all uplifted and inspired.”

To learn more about Scott Burrows, call us toll free at 877-307-7403 or email info@cmispeakers.com

cmi welcomes Dr. John Izzo to the team!

Karen Harris — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:36:41 GMT

cmi President Karen Harris is pleased to announce that John Izzo has joined the cmi family of speakers!

For 20 years, John has been a researcher and advisor to over 600 companies including many Fortune Top 10 best workplaces. Long before it became popular, his focus has always been on creating a positive brand strategy that inspires employees and customers alike. A best-selling author of four books including Awakening Corporate Soul and Values Shift, John shows businesses how to create a workplace environment that encourages true employee engagement and wins the hearts of their people.

As a business advisor and executive coach in the areas of employee engagement and corporate social responsibility, John is known for his ability to empower leaders at all levels in getting their people on-side. His presentations provide a fully customized set of practical, innovative solutions you can implement immediately along with insight into the future of business and how companies can get ahead of the curve.

Karen has been blown away by John's ability to reach into the audience's psyche and hearts while giving the C-suite executives all the substance they asked for.

To find out more about John Izzo, please call us toll free at 877-307-7403 or email info@cmispeakers.com.

Click here for a video excerpt of John's presentation.

Dr. John Izzo on Brand Makers and Breakers

Karen Harris — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 13:43:49 GMT

Reprinted, with permission, from Dr. John Izzo's blog. Originally posted on June 4, 2010.

Brand Makers and Breakers

If anyone doubted the impact of corporations on society just take a close look at the last two years. The decisions of large financial institutions to leverage risky assets nearly caused a second Great Depression leading to a massive bailout by governments. That bailout has lead to huge government debt and threatens now to cause what many feared -“the double dip.” Few financial firms took real responsibility for the carnage suggesting for the most part that “everyone” was doing it.

Meanwhile, oil is gushing uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico from a BP oil rig threatening not only an entire fishing industry but sensitive wetlands all along the Gulf coast. Watching how BP is handling this situation is a case study in brand making or in this case, brand breaking. Over the last ten years BP has branded themselves as the “most responsible” oil company in the world and told us that BP stands for “beyond petroleum” and yet instead of really taking responsibility for a culture that apparently let safety slip, they are spending their time pointing the finger at other companies saying it’s not our fault. Just as Exxon has never recovered fully their brand image from the Valdez and how they handled that situation, so BP may never recover unless they step up and own up.

Contrast BP’s response with similar situations in recent memory. Toyota built their brand based on quality so an accelerator pedal that does not let you stop the car is bad news. Even though the pedal was made by another company, Toyota apologized publicly to their customers saying we “let you down” and seems to be systematically trying to address the situation. Maple Leaf Foods in Canada had a food safety issue a little over a year ago that literally killed customers. That is a pretty big brand breaker! Yet by taking responsibility and apologizing deeply to their customers and letting everyone know how profoundly affected they were by what happened, the brand has come out almost unscathed.

Those of us who run companies must never forget that the decisions we make impact the lives of real people and even the larger world. Whether we sell financial instruments, cars, food, or pull resources from the ground, the decisions we make have implications well beyond the bottom line of our own enterprises. What’s more, we can never forget how fragile our brands are. The percentage of a company’s value attributable to good will has increased five fold in the last thirty years. That is, a company’s value is less about the book value of its physical assets and more about how consumers view the brand. And remember this, as we reported in my book Values Shift, the single factor that has made the biggest gain in the last decade in terms of why we buy from or want to work for, a company. You guessed it-Social Responsibility.

Warren Buffet may have put it best: “It takes twenty years to make a reputation but only five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently.” So BP, this is your five minutes.

The Passing Zone Impact Report June 2010

Karen Harris — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:30:18 GMT

"I have never worked with two more talented performers that so consistently deliver excellence and who so completely understand the corporate client. They learn each of my client’s intended message and goals; then they customize their act perfectly and deliver flawless and meaningful first rate entertainment every time." Joe Sireno

Client: The Sireno Group

Event: Senior leadership meeting for an international car rental company

Location: Fairmont Hotel, Miami, Florida

Objective: The Sireno Group’s customer has had a challenging year economically. They were addressing serious goals for changing their corporate climate and needed to end their leadership meeting on a high note. Joe Sireno brought The Passing Zone in to impart a feeling of optimism and energy. At the same time he asked Jon & Owen to take the message of the entire meeting and weave it into a memorable and meaningful presentation.

Results: With their signature wit and humor, The Passing Zone immediately addressed the current economic situation which broke the ice. Their keynote, “The Passing Zone on I.C.E.”, (pun intended) addressed Innovation, Collaboration and Execution based on the information discussed on a telephone meeting held 2 weeks prior. The audience erupted with excitement at the end of the presentation followed by a buzz in the hallways afterward. At the airport, Jon and Owen were approached by numerous attendees, expressing their appreciation for the messages in the presentation.

Bonus: Two of the top executives appeared in two separate pieces on stage. This gave them the opportunity to show their fun side and win the admiration of their leadership colleagues.

“What can I say...Jon and Owen blew the roof off the place – AGAIN! These guys bring their 'A Game' to every engagement and they just never miss." Joe Sireno

SCOTT BURROWS: Willpower Trumps All

Karen Harris — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 06:00:00 GMT

Scott Burrows recently spoke to a financial services company and the CEO was so impressed with what he heard that he booked him to speak to another one of his companies virtually on the spot. What struck such a chord for the CEO? In one word it was willpower. After the presentation he said to Scott: "you willed yourself out of that wheelchair. You willed your nerve endings to fire again. Willpower is the Grit." He went on to observe how very much his top producers needed to be reminded to will themselves up every day, and do all the little things they need do as they pursue new opportunities and grow their businesses.

Scott's keynote presentation is inspirational, but it also shows audiences how the seemingly impossible, or at least the very difficult or trying things can be done. He receives overwhelmingly positive feedback from people who say, simply, thank you for showing me the way - if you were able to do that, than I can certainly do what I need to do.

Click here to read more about the remarkable Scott Burrows, expert on Vision, Mindset and Grit.

CHERYL CRAN: Super Successful Launch of Her New Book!

Karen Harris — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 14:00:00 GMT

Monday June 7 was the official launch event for Cheryl Cran's latest business book "101 Ways to Make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy at Work". 101 Ways rolled off the press a month earlier to strong media interest - click here for the Forbes magazine article - and booming sales.

Her expert advice on how to create a happy, balanced, productive workplace for all the generations could not come at a better time - this is the first time that three (and sometimes four) generations are working side-by-side with predictable results...each a little confused about how the other likes to 'operate' in the workplace. Cheryl has conducted hours and hours of research and has easy to use, highly practical tips for blending the different perspectives and styles of the various generations.

June Sterling, cmi's Office Manager attended the launch: "family, friends, colleagues and clients enjoyed Cheryl’s story of how she put together all 101 chapters in just 12 weeks! I found Chery's book to be a fun and easy read that I will use as a daily reference guide for working with Gen Xs and Ys. I believe that anyone reading this will come away with a better understanding and acceptance of what is happening in today's workplace, and embrace the differences instead of trying to fight them."

KAREN HARRIS: When in Doubt, Go with the Relationship

Karen Harris — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:48:48 GMT

One of my staff recently asked me how to make decisions over complex issues that involve speaker bureaus or booking agencies. I told her, "I always go with the relationship instead of the money. I ask myself what's best for the speaker's and our relationship with the bureau/agency."

I've learned this lesson the hard way. About 17 years ago, I was influenced by a third party to choose the money over the relationship. My relationships with people I valued and counted on suffered and so did our business. So 15 years ago when I opened my own sales and marketing company for speakers, I decided I would always make decisions and choices from this premise. We never go after the money...we always go after the relationship.

So the next time a customer is pressuring you for an answer and you're not sure about where to direct the business...always go with the relationship...never go with the money. xoxoKaren

Generations Expert CHERYL CRAN guest on Coast to Coast Radio

Karen Harris — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 11:23:22 GMT

Generations Expert Cheryl Cran was a guest on Coast to Coast AM with George Noory on June 2, sharing her insights into the Twilight phenomenon. A mother of 3 Gen Y'ers, and having read all four books, Cheryl knows exactly why the vampire series has struck such a chord. Click here to catch Cheryl's interview (Cheryl appears in Hour 1 of the mp3 download).

Business Motivation Expert and Seriously Funny Guy STEVE RIZZO on Choosing Your Words Carefully

Karen Harris — Mon, 10 May 2010 14:59:45 GMT

The Attitude Adjuster STEVE RIZZO advises us to Speak Words That Empower:

We need to be especially careful about the words we speak out loud when things aren't going the way we want. Yes, it's true that what you think is what you get, but what you say out loud in the midst of troubling times has even greater impact on how long you stay in those situations, and how deeply you are affected by the situation.

The words you speak amplify your feelings and trigger mental images. Your feelings lead to the actions that you take and the actions that you take lead to the outcome. In other words, my friend: if what you think is what you get, then what you say is what you ask for. If you're always thinking about how badly life is treating you, and telling whoever will stand still long enough to regret doing so about how you can't get a fair shake, you will always feel miserable. Ever hear anyone say, “Misery loves company”? Being miserable doesn't exactly attract good things to you. Get it? If you want to change your life for the better, start by consciously changing what you think...and what you say.

To find out more about Steve Rizzo, click here.

Expert on Peak Performance CARY MULLEN asks "What Are You Doing Right?"

Karen Harris — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:58:44 GMT

CARY MULLEN uses his Winning Insights blog to talk about how focusing on your strengths will help you succeed:

Winning Tips:

1. Look for what you are doing well. Analyze it, celebrate it and you will be better able to replicate it.

2. Focus on your future opportunities instead of dwelling on what did not happen in the past. When we concentrate on leveraging what we have learned, we are better able to have optimal performance the next time we do something.

Newspaper and television reporters surrounded me. Lights flashed, microphones buzzed. “You came in second,” a reporter said pointing his microphone in my direction. “Doesn’t it make you mad to come in second again? Aren’t you discouraged by losing the top podium in the World Cup Downhill Championships by three hundredths of a second”

“Yes,” I admitted. “I am disappointed.”

I was happy to be on the World Cup podium for the second time but winning first place would have been great. “I am also encouraged,” I told them.

“What do you mean?” The reporter asked clearly confused by my optimism.

“I made some mistakes today,” I said. “But I also know that I did a lot of things right. I know that I can correct the mistakes that I made today and improve on my run tomorrow.”

You see, I had learned a lesson years before when I was at the US National Championships in Winter Park, Colorado. I learned the importance of focusing on strengths vs. weaknesses. During that race, I won the final training run despite making a few mistakes. That evening, I spent hours visualizing my errors and many more hours watching and assessing the video so that I could eliminate all of my errors the next day. The following day, I absolutely nailed the areas where I had made errors the day before, but I also totally blew sections where I had done well the day before. Crossing the finish line knowing that I had no hope of winning the race, I immediately realized what had happened. You see, the night before, I had only focused all of my attention on learning what I had done wrong. By not crystallizing the things I did well, I stopped doing them. Right then and there I made a deliberate decision to focus on my strengths as well as my weaknesses when I assessed my performance.

Why is it so easy for us to focus on what is wrong? Perhaps part of it comes from our Western society that encourages critical thinking andplaces emphasis on solving problems, even coming up with terms like “gap management”. Maybe our emphasis on problems is there because focusing on fixing what is wrong feels like the “real work”, where focusing on strengths (dare I say celebrating strengths) feels fluffy and not worth our time. Regardless,this problem-based paradigm is a hard one to shift out of. As easy as it is to slip into old habits of improving our areas of weakness, the risk is that we cannot fully optimize our performances unless we’re conscious of what we are doing well. Recognizing both our strengths and weaknesses helps us to succeed faster.

Imagine a chef who has focused so intently on improving his sauce for this amazing soufflé that he forgets to take the soufflé out of the oven on time and it falls. Suddenly, it doesn’t matter how good the sauce is – it has no foundation on which to be enjoyed. If that same chef only recognizes his less than perfect sauce, he might never acknowledge all the other things that he does amazingly well. As he becomes more and more discouraged, he may find his confidence waning not only in his soufflé, but in every dish that he cooks. The exact same phenomenon happens to us. When we only focus on what we are doing wrong, we skew our perspective of our talent. We limit our ability to take our performance to the next level. Worse, we rob ourselves of the opportunity to feel great about ourselves along the way.

Oh, you might be wondering what happened after I won second place in the World Cup Downhill. Well that evening, I spent half my time focusing on my mistakes and the other half of the evening recognizing what I had done right, really concentrating on how I could build upon the successes of the day’s run. The next day, I won first place in the race by a mere five one hundredths of a second. (And the press conference this time around was much more fun!) I ask you, how is this pattern of focusing on your flaws showing up in your life? Are you ignoring your strengths? When is the last time that you really recognized your successes so that you could repeat them? I challenge you to take the time to not only work on your weaknesses - that is the easy part - but to also spend the same amount of time recognizing what you do well.

excerpted from "Winning Insights" May 6, 2010

For more information on former Olympian and World Cup Champion Cary Mullen, click here.

Generations Expert CHERYL CRAN at Record-Breaking RILA

Karen Harris — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:41:15 GMT

The Retail Industry Leaders Association held its 2010 Loss Prevention, Auditing and Safety Conference on May 3 in Grapevine, TX. Event organizers were thrilled with this year's record breaking attendance!

Keynote speaker CHERYL CRAN "captivated her audience" with her talk on effectively managing communication between generations X, Y and Zoomers. Cheryl shone a light on the differences between the three generations, and made suggestions on how they can be bridged in order to create a productive and successful workplace.

Cheryl's new book, released this month, is titled 101 Ways to Make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy at Work.

Sneak Peak at THE PASSING ZONE's Creative Process

Karen Harris — Mon, 10 May 2010 12:12:34 GMT

Check out this behind-the-scenes look at our award-winning, super talented juggling duo at work. JON WEE and OWEN MORSE recently used their Facebook fan page to share what an average day on the job looks like while working on a new routine. The helmut cam is a nice touch, and the closest most of us will ever get to being in their shoes!

Click here for the facebook video link.

Business Speaker and Expert on the Generations CHERYL CRAN releases new book: 101 Ways to make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy at Work!

Karen Harris — Tue, 04 May 2010 16:04:51 GMT

Imagine the year 2020 -

What will business look like? What will companies have to do in order to remain competitive? What will companies have to change in order to attract and retain the best from each of the generations?

101 Ways to make Generations X, Y and Zoomers Happy at Work addresses the future of work and how the different values of each generation influence and shape today's workplace. Learn how companies and leaders can adapt to the generations within the modern workplace, including:

why the generations are pushing for paid sabbaticals
generational approaches to technology
how to manage remote teams of different generations
how to bridge work ethic differences

plus much more!

Click here to find out more about Cheryl Cran.

Management Expert MARK THOMPSON: new Leadership Dialogue "Defining Happiness"

Karen Harris — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 00:00:00 GMT

Super successful serial entrepreneur Tony Hsieh, founder of Zappos.com, sold his first company because even though it was a great idea, he didn't like going into the office anymore. He then went on to found Zappos with a very different vision, which he discusses in this week's Leadership Dialogue:

Click here for more information on Mark Thompson, and here to sign up for the Leader to Leader Institute's weekly Leadership Dialogues.

Leadership Expert TIM SANDERS: Mentors Wanted/A Guide to Significance

Karen Harris — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 16:31:32 GMT

One of the best ways you can create wealth is by mentoring others.

By mentoring, I mean sharing your knowledge and experience with someone to help them find traction in their efforts or reach the finish line. I wouldn't be a published author today if I didn't have mentors throughout my life: my pre-Yahoo career, my writing career, my speaking career, etc.

Mentorship is important for you and the person you help. You will enter a knowledge feedback loop through mentorship, which will only help you gain valuable insight as your mentee tries out your ideas in the real world. For them, you pass along your value, multiplying it and strengthening the 'system'. Often though, we are haphazard about mentorship programs, and often wonder what good we've done.

Here are a few rules for mentorship:

1. Pick someone based on a hunch: Don't advertise that you are looking for mentees, or take the first suggestion that comes your way. You'll know the mentee when you see her. She's got a passion for the goal, a willingness to work, a respectable level of potential - and she reminds you a little of yourself. (PS: Don't offer mentorship to a peer or someone that's arguably doing better than you.)

2. Don't be formal: Just start helping, there's no need to make a production out of it. Besides, she may not be a receptive mentee, so there's no use making a big deal about it. Just do it.

3. Listen before you prescribe: It's important to understand what her goals are, what obstacles remain and most importantly what motivates her. Don't just dive in with your list of biz-tips, take Covey's advice and seek first to understand.

4. Put your mentee on a reading program: Share some of the great books that helped you solidify your point of view. Much like a teacher, these books will serve as a foundation for your advice later on.

5. Be helpful, not Yoda: You don't need to browbeat someone for them to be a good mentee. You should already have their respect if you've really got something valuable to offer. Focus on how you can give useful advice related to getting simple things done. Go beyond knowledge, and offer to network your mentee with others to drive the progress.

6. Never collect: No matter how much you help, remember, you are in giving mode and not trade mode. If you make mentorship expensive, it becomes consulting. By giving without expectations, just like Tom Peters did with me, you'll have a friend for life that you look up to and maybe can help someday.

When you take on a mentor, and make a difference, you are creating some significance in your life. I call it "multiplying value."

posted on Sanders Says, April 12, 2010

Click here to learn more about Tim Sanders