Between the Lines

Recently, a client and friend of mine shared something she read online. It reflected a topic she and I had discussed numerous times, revolving around the increasingly prevalent requests by anyone and everyone to “meet for coffee.” Sometimes I may know the person; most often I don’t. Yet, I have found it amazing and am often incredulous how these conversations actually take place, especially for a “first impression” meeting.

A few years ago I offered a similar article, and due to multiple client requests, I am reposting it. In this day and age, we are constantly being tested and challenged with every decision and judgment call. Doing the right thing is often the first casualty. When do we “go to the funeral,” even though the person we are honoring will never even know we are there?

A few years ago a magnificent and transformative book was published, called “The Dragonfly Effect,” which is a model that taps concepts from social media, marketing strategy, and consumer psychology to help people achieve a single, concrete goal. They ingeniously named it after the only insect that can move swiftly in any direction – and even hover – when its four wings are moving in harmony.

The four “wings” of their model really struck me as actions we could all strive to take in 2012.

As we fully embrace the arrival of 2012, many of us are revisiting our 2011 business approaches and outcomes. As a result, we may be considering integrating changes, improvements or different disciplines and habits. A friend of mind shared a great link from Inc.com which highlights a few simple, yet salient, tactical tips on how to improve our sales results. We can all benefit from these smart suggestions, which are easy to implement – if we just make it a practice. I, for one, am going to discipline myself as we fully enter 2012:

As we enter 2012, many of us engage in individual (and collective) plans for continued growth and ongoing improvement. This ritual of writing New Year’s resolutions – from my experience – can quickly turn into depressing, heavy albatrosses hanging around our necks by the second week…or even the second day of the new year!!