CMI Blog

A leader is someone who is an example for others to follow. How do we become an example for others to follow? How do we, as leaders, create meaningful connections with others? We have to be committed to a mission that is beyond ourselves. That is greater than ourselves. 

When we're committed to a mission that is beyond ourselves, then it doesn't matter what happens to us, it doesn't matter what challenge comes our way, because that becomes fuel for us on our path and makes us stronger. That only inspires us. It creates empathy within us so that we can make deeper, more meaningful connections with others. 

There's a perception that we're connected, but many people feel more lonely and disconnected that ever. This is especially true in remote work environments. A leader's role, especially when leading a team where some members are remote, is to build meaningful connections that engage and motivate people.

How does a leader make meaningful connections with others? 

The real secret to making meaningful connections with others is to not want anything from them. That's the most important thing in the world; to not want anything from others, except for their wellbeing. We run into trouble when we are making connections with a subconscious intention to only benefit ourselves. Of course we want a beneficial outcome. We want to support our families, we want to make an income, we want to make a profit. But that can't be our driving motivation in connecting with others. That’s not impressive. What's really impressive is connecting with others without any selfish motivation. And that's difficult to do. 

Leading an inspired life

The real work is connecting with others solely to benefit them. Any profit, any gain is really a side effect of our wanting to help them. The way that we inspire others is by leading an inspired life. It all goes back to that commitment to a mission that is beyond ourselves. That's how we can inspire others—when we're inspired. That's how we make our team inspired. 

People don't want to be influenced, people don't want to be manipulated, and people are not going to follow us because we want them to follow us. People are going to follow us because they see that we're altruistic, that we're inspired, that we're committed, that we're on a path. That is what will inspire better team performance and positive business outcomes.

What if by embracing a unifying perspective inclusive of all beliefs, backgrounds and cultures, we created a more powerful team than ever before? Chris Bashinelli shares how we can create safe spaces at work to share ideas and connect with each other. In an age of division, Bash brings to life a transformational and inclusive perspective, that embraces all of our “uniqueness” to create the strongest team possible.

“Charisma is a sparkle in people that money can’t buy. It’s an invisible energy with visible effects.” — Marianne Williamson

Is charisma something you are born with or something you can learn?

I am asked this question by leaders and salespeople quite often. 

Charisma is a combination of confidence and people skills and a very special and overlooked ingredient. 

I have a friend named Kenton Worthington who is a successful entrepreneur and the prototype for charisma. He’s positive, confident and great with people. 

However beyond all those fine qualities, he is genuinely focused on other people. That, I’ve decided, is what sets him apart. It’s what gives him that elusive quality of charisma. When you have a conversation with Kenton it’s about you, not about him. He asks questions. He shows real excitement over your successes and concern over your challenges. He finds ways to genuinely compliment whomever he’s talking to and engages in a way that makes the other person feel better about themselves. So to answer my wife’s question, “What is the secret of charisma?” It’s a mix of ingredients – optimism, energy, confidence – but more than anything else, it’s based on outward rather than inward thinking. That’s Kenton’s secret — and, I’m convinced, the secret of other charismatic people — and it’s really no secret at all.

The Secret Of Charisma: Outward Thinking

Here are a few thoughts from others regarding charisma:

It was civil rights activist Cornel West who said, “Humility means two things. One, a capacity for self-criticism … The second feature is allowing others to shine, affirming others, empowering and enabling others. Those who lack humility are dogmatic and egotistical. That masks a deep sense of insecurity. They feel the success of others is at the expense of their own fame and glory.”

“If you would win a man to your cause, said Abraham Lincoln, “first convince him that you are his sincere friend.”

“Some singers want the audience to love them. I love the audience,” said the wildly popular tenor Luciano Pavarotti.

Charisma is the ability to make people feel better about them for having been with you. It’s being more outwardly focused on others, their needs and their interests, rather than focusing on yourself. 

Questions To Ask Yourself About Charisma 

Ask yourself these questions: How do I make people feel after they have met me?  Do they feel inspired and listened to? How are you focusing your attention (inward or outward)? Does their body language portray them as receptive? Are you really listening to what the other person is saying rather than talking about yourself? The answers to these questions are qualities of a partner leader and partnership is the new leadership.  Whether the relationship is within your own company or with your clients and customers, we all need to be a little more like Kenton – a little more charismatic.

Ty Bennet shares how to influence people; the secret - make it all about them. Ty explains that when you connect with people and know the most you can about them, influence comes easy. 

Now more than ever, employees are looking for leadership that supports, encourages, and gives them the tools they need to create an environment that allows them to grow and make an impact. cmi is proud to represent Clint Pulver, the leading authority on employee retention. In his role as a Corporate Keynote Speaker from the millennial generation, Clint offers an engaging and fresh insight supporting your corporate leadership while giving them solid insights on how to inspire themselves and the people they lead.

Millennials are no different 

One of the biggest things that I hear from business owners, CEOs and corporations is how do we retain millennials? How do we engage millennials in the workplace? The current approach has been to treat the millennial generation differently - to view them differently than older generations. I think we have put this generation of millennials and even Gen Z, in a box. 

I believe that millennials are no different than the generation from 20 years before. The only thing that's changed is the environment that this generation has been reared in. Millennials are also the largest generation entering the workforce. By the year 2020, over 57% of the global workforce will be filled with a younger and more distinct workforce than ever before. Gallup recently stated that over 60% of this exact workforce is currently looking for a new job.

One of the things that businesses need to remember and consider is that millennials are people.  When we bring humanity back into the workplace, and we treat millennials like people, we don't stereotype them with a name. We don't stereotype them with a certain set of behaviors or strategies because they're younger than us. Instead, we need to connect with them as people, because every person wants to be seen, heard and understood.

When we simply connect as people, not as a generation, that's where we find loyalty. That’s the foundation of connection. That's the foundation of any good, stable and healthy relationship.

We need to bring humanity back into the workplace. We need to see people for who they truly are not just seeing them as a generation.

Myths about millennials in the workplace

One big millennial myth that we found in our research with The Undercover Millennial program is that they have a greater focus on purpose over paycheck. Think Undercover Boss. We go into companies and learn how engaged their employees are, why they’re not engaged and what to do about it. What we found out of the 10,000 millennials that we interviewed is money is a major factor. Money still matters.

Yes, purpose is important - doing something significant in the world. That's still important, but so is money. I think business leaders and business owners need to remember that. They need to be competitive in their pay structure, their benefit program, their bonuses, because we're in an employee market, and millennials have options. If anybody's out there saying that millennials, don't care about money, all they want is purpose - it's just not true.

It's not true that money doesn’t matter. Don’t be afraid to talk about it. Don't be afraid to get competitive there. Because it matters. It matters to companies that are retaining millennials in the workplace. They're engaging them better, and they're able to attract better talent.

Every organization needs to remember that their employees are looking to them, as a company, to survive and thrive. As an organization, you've got to make sure that people can survive. Are you competitive in paying your people? Then focus on the thrive part - that significance in the workplace, the purpose of the job, allowing millennials in the workplace to do something bigger than themselves.

Lasting loyalty and connection

I think above all, business leaders and CEOs are learning that there is no hack to the millennial generation. There is no shortcut. There is no strategy. It all just comes down to human connection. It comes down to treating people like people, making sure people are seen, heard, and understood.

Anybody that says, “because you're this age, you should be treated this way,” or that your business leader should do a certain type of strategy or tactic because of the year that you were born in - this approach doesn’t work long term. We cannot forget that millennials are really similar to previous generations. We always have a problem with the younger generation. Gen X has a problem with the millennials, the baby boomers have a problem with Gen Xers. We tend to always look down on the younger generation as entitled.

I do think there is some validity to that sentiment in terms of growth and maturity. But again, people are people. When we throw away the stereotype, when we throw away the age, when we get to the part about them, they get to the part about you. When we remember people, people remember us.

It's basic communication. Everybody wants to feel important. Everybody wants to feel recognized. The important thing is just simply asking millennials in the workplace: ”What can we do to keep you here?” “What is getting in the way of your success?” And how can you as the business owner and the business leader, help them get where they want to go? That is true advocacy. And in doing so, you create loyalty that lasts and you create a connection where your people truly like themselves best because they work for you.

Keynote Speaker Clint Pulver talks on subjects such as Business Growth, Engagement, Performance, Collaboration and Culture. Click to see cmi's other speakers and topics.

Keynote Speaker and Top Innovation Expert Tim Sanders uses a great example on how to best collaborate with everyone on your team. With these 3 rules of collaboration, your audience will learn how to communicate better and get projects done on time and in the best way possible. Learn more below from a recent keynote.

Why are communication skills so important? Why is it so important for leaders to train their “leader's instrument”?

I was super fortunate to be able to speak at the CFO summit for LinkedIn. It was really cool speaking for LinkedIn, because it's one of the platforms that I use to produce a lot of content. LinkedIn has definitely helped me create the lifestyle and speaking career that I have now. I spoke to the leaders there on a very specific topic: why it's important that leaders learn how to master effective communication skills.

Here is what I told them…

There are three reasons why communication is so important and how to improve your communication skills.

The first reason why strong communication skills are so important is: you’re only as good as you can communicate.

As you improve your ability to communicate, you reveal potential to others and you're able to amplify the best parts of who you are.

When we communicate our ideas or our vision, and people don't buy into that idea or that vision, the reason isn’t because it was bad. It’s because our ability to communicate that idea or vision is bad.

When you improve your communication skills, it allows you to amplify the best parts of who you are. That's what makes you a successful communicator.

The second reason is, as a teacher, when I run my workshops, I tell my students the following:

“I see all of you in the audience as an island, you're one person on their own island, every single one of you. It's quite tragic and lonely, I know. Depending on how well I can communicate, I build a bridge to you. If I communicate poorly, then my bridge is small and tiny, and the amount of value that I can transport is minimal. Whereas if my ability to communicate is strong and powerful, I can build a very big strong bridge and the amount of value I can deliver across that bridge to you is enhanced.”

When we think about collaborations, the stronger the bridge, the more value I can transport across when we collaborate. Therefore, collaboration is enhanced when communication skills improve.

And the final reason is that as leaders, you often need to get others to do the work you need them to do. This is the key instrument we use to connect with others.

When others connect with our vision, when they connect with our message; they give you their own. Yet this instrument we've never been taught how to use.

Until now!

When you book me for a keynote, you have the opportunity to also book my breakout session - Creating Communication Magic. Here is where I teach your audience the skills to use their greatest instrument - their voice.

cmi is thrilled to represent Keynote Speaker Phil M Jones - 5x bestselling author of Exactly What to Say, expert in leadership and sales and an international keynote speaker. Phil's philosophy is that every person in every business has something to sell. Helping people to truly understand how they can positively impact on the decision making process, drive results AND maintain integrity empowers people to really achieve.

Learn more about Phil M Jones here!

For almost twenty years, my team has been connecting some of the highest quality keynote speakers in the industry with amazing clients all around the globe. We’ve learned a lot along the way in terms of what works and what doesn’t. What helps companies create lasting impact, and what they’ve shared with us that has left events falling flat. All that information gathering has helped us to create what we know to be the magic formulas for ensuring audiences are always left feeling more empowered, inspired, and with the take-aways that they know will make a difference in their lives and careers. 

Part of what we do here is to act as a guide for clients during the event planning process. We use our knowledge, experience, and expertise to help them answer the following questions about our keynote speaker's fees.

Hire The Best Keynote Speaker: Ask These 3 Questions

1. Is He/She he right speaker for our event? 

We start with the basics such as what they hope to accomplish for their participants, what they want their attendees to walk away with, and what the actual demographics of the audience looks like. From there, we can help determine what speaker best fits by matching personality, skills, delivery style, and topics to that audience and company. 

2. How much should we spend on a speaker? 

That depends, again, on what a company wants to accomplish. If they are looking for “just a speech” on a certain topic – they can perhaps choose from the lower end of the fee spectrum. What we’ve found is that our clients are driven to ensure their audiences have not only an inspired message, but an experience as well. Some want sheer entertainment, others want strategy, solutions, and real-world application. Most want a combination. That requires a keynote speaker with a higher level of skill, experience, presentation consistency, and mastery of their craft. With that comes a higher keynote speaker fee structure. We’ve represented speakers at many different fee levels – all vetted to have the kind of skill, experience, and mastery that our clients require. 

3. How do we know the speaker we choose is authentic? 

Good question! Every keynote speaker that we represent has been fully vetted by our team in every way. That means we’ve done the homework, so our clients don’t have to.  Our keynote speakers have a strong, credentialed social and online presence (social proof), a solid business foundation, a reputation for excellence and positive reviews from past clients. They have achieved a specific level of experience in terms of number of keynotes they have delivered. 

We’re not the “biggest shop on the block” – nor do we wish to be. Ours is a boutique agency with a highly select – and carefully selected – group of speakers. While we are growing, we will always stay at a level where we can deliver, with great confidence, the kind of specialized care, consultation, and connection that our clients and speakers have come to expect and rely on. We are passionate about what we do – and committed to helping our keynote speakers continue to bring their messages of innovation, collaboration, leadership, sales/communication mastery, change, hope, endurance, enlightenment and persistence to audiences everywhere. The world is a better place because of them, and we’re thrilled to take part in that! 

Want to learn more about hiring the right keynote speaker for your next event?  Have questions regarding keynote speaker fees? Contact my team today. We’re happy to walk you through the process with an experienced and educated consultation, and a big dose of kindness. We look forward to hearing from you!