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How Openness Yields Results

Written by: Laura Posey

Article Overview: As you know, I had the incredible honor of speaking at the National Speakers Association Convention this past week. My topic was creating a one-page strategic plan in just 20 minutes and on one sheet of paper. I speak on planning from a different perspective, that is, I talk about it from a right-brain or intuitive perspective, not the traditional “what I did last year plus 10%” route that many planning gurus take.

How Openness Yields Results

As you know, I had the incredible honor of speaking at the National Speakers Association Convention this past week. My topic was creating a one-page strategic plan in just 20 minutes and on one sheet of paper.

I speak on planning from a different perspective, that is, I talk about it from a right-brain or intuitive perspective, not the traditional “what I did last year plus 10%” route that many planning gurus take.

As I was doing my presentation, I was blown away by what the audience members were experiencing. At one point, I asked them to stand up and share….

… what their vision of their companies was.

Person after person stood up and told the rest of the crowd what their deepest hopes and desires were. Shortly after, many shared their big, hairy, audacious goals including meeting some famous people, becoming best-selling authors or being asked to speak to the White House.

The amazing part was that as each person stood and voiced their wishes, others in the audience called out ways in which they could support the person standing. Resources, connections, and ideas were flying around the room.

Keep in mind that these people were strangers to each other!

So, who knows your vision? Have you shared it with more than just your spouse and a few friends? What would happen if you started telling everyone you meet not just what you do for a living but how that fits into the larger plan? What if you told them what you were working towards in the grand scheme of things?

Perhaps you’d have my experience of sitting next a fellow in a room full of 1500 speakers and finding out that he not only can but wants to help me promote my non-profit dog-saving organization to major CEOs in the Northwest. Or the experience of meeting four separate people who can get me closer to being on the Ellen Degeneres show. Or Patrick’s experience of wanting to produce leadership videos for teenagers and finding a producer in the crowd who wants to help.

Human beings are, for the most part, generous, kind and caring if you let them be. But they can’t help you unless you tell them how.

Spend some time this week clarifying your vision and telling a few people about it. I’ll bet you make more progress this week than you have in the entire rest of the year if you tell enough folks.

FYI – we have added forums to the Dancing Elephants website where you can share with our network of amazing people around the world. Maybe that is a good place to start :- )

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Article Tags: marketing, motivation, sales, sales tips, small business



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